Family History

Chapter 17

On with the story, one last time!

-_-_-_

Lily blinked and smiled to herself as she noticed her friends in the next hall. She quickly turned to the left, almost running into some guy with earbuds, and bounced up to pull all of her hair out from under her backpack straps before moving quietly towards them.

John and Matt were currently having a conversation with a guy that she faintly recognized seeing on her way to classes. She waited for a break in their chatting before tapping on Matt's shoulder, making him jump and whip around to see what scared him.

"Oh, it's just you, Lily," he sighed in relief, and she giggled at the face he'd made.

"Sorry for being such a ninja." She glanced over to the stranger. "And sorry for interrupting, but, even though school hasn't started yet, I figured I could give you the books now instead of waiting for lunch." She dropped her shoulder down to swing her backpack around, and quickly went to work to get inside the big pocket to take out the volumes.

"You don't have to do that," Ed replied as he reached into his own bag. "We're just gonna return the ones we already have."

"What? But you barely started with the series!" Lily protested as the books they had borrowed overnight were shoved into her hands.

"We don't have any more time, and we figured if there was anything important from them, we can find out there."

Lily put on a confused look, knowing he was implying something, but for a second couldn't think of what. One heartbeat later, she suddenly figured it out and her eyes widened.

She dropped the books in her hand.

"...Don't tell me..." Lily whispered.

Al confirmed her thoughts with a serious nod.

"No. No. NO." She started repeating the word, not noticing anything like her dropped books, the worried stranger, and her fiddling with the hem of her shirt anxiously. "NO! You can't do this!"

"Lily, we are doing it!" Ed interrupted her, wagging a finger into her face. "You knew we would from the start!"

"Couldn't I just hope you wouldn't in the end?" she pleaded. She then blinked as she remembered something. "Wait a minute... You never promised. You never promised! You guys said you would tell me your decision forever ago, and you never did!" She jabbed her finger into the blond's face, reversing their positions. "I gave you all the reasons to not go, and the time to decide, but you guys always changed the subject before you would tell me anything! You BUTT-HOLES!"

"You don't know why we are doing this!"

"Because you never told me!"

"Um, should I go?..." the guy the boys had been talking to before said weakly with a tap on Al's shoulder.

"No, it's fine. Hold on." Al stepped between his arguing brother and friend, and turned to the latter. "Look, school's about to start. We can tell you everything you want to know at lunch. Okay?"

He gave her a small comforting smile, but it did nothing to change the disappointed expression on her usually-cheerful face. In fact, it sank a bit lower instead. She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but nothing came out. The males regrouped as they walked away and awkwardly left her standing there, staring after them, her eyes threatening to produce tears.

A few seconds later, Lily was suddenly filled with anger again and she exploded at them from across the almost-empty hall. "It's because of idiots like you that women live longer, ELRIC!"