Claire

Bonding

Professor Stein cleared his throat as he entered the classroom. "Today, you'll all be getting in groups of four. Well, for one group, a group of three. We'll be dissecting and labeling a frog."

When Stein finished talking, the entire class got into groups of four. Except Soul and Maka. They were practically stuck with me. "Guess we're in a group, huh?"

Just yesterday, I'd gone home and showered, hoping the day before had been nothing but a dream. Come to find out, it was all reality. "Yeah. Guess we are." Stein put a tray with a frog before us and I stared at it.

Maka spoke first. "I guess I'll get dissecting then..." She sighed and picked up the scalpel. We all waited for the frog to be cut open completely before I spoke. "So you guys are going to be with me on my first mission, eh?" I asked calmly, watching as Maka tried to figure out what organs were what. "That's the-- Yeah." I nodded when she found the stomach. Soul nodded, referring to me. "What? You nervous?" I shook my head. "Nope. Not at all." I answered truthfully. He glanced at me suspiciously.

"Ya know," He leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head while propping his legs up on the table. "It's okay to be nervous." I smirked and kicked out the chair legs, chuckling as Soul fell to the ground. "But what's not okay is that you don't already know that leaning back in your chair could result in major head injuries." I smirked. Maka smiled, rolling her eyes, as Soul stood up and sat back down.

Maka got the stomach labelled with a shiver. "Okay, Claire. Your turn." She pushed the tray idly. I picked up one of the small tags that said "Lungs" and immediately found the frog's lungs, then passed the tray on to Soul. "Go ahead, Soul." Maka gaped at me. It's taken her a good five minutes to get things situated with her, while it took me only a few seconds. It felt as if I was showing off, but I wasn't.

Soul took a few minutes to find the organ he'd grabbed the tag for and, not long after, we had the entire frog labelled.

Maka raised her hand politely. "Professor Stein?" He looked up at her with a general interest. "Yes, Maka?" "We've finished labeling our... Frog." Stein smirked and nodded, taking the frog and sitting back down. "Thank you, Maka."

I suddenly felt every pair of eyes in the room on me.

"They only finished so quickly because Maka's over there." "I'll bet you that new chick didn't even help!" "Did you see what she did to Soul? Kicked his chair right out from under him!" "Uh! What a jerk!" "I wonder how she even got into the academy!" "I doubt she's even a good weapon." "She doesn't even have a Meister!"

It took everything in me to not turn around and fight every student in the class. One, because I was out numbered, no matter how good I was. Two, because I could get expelled. I think.

Maka looked at me, her eyes filled with sympathy. Soul looked... Angry. He looked like he was ready to jump up and kill someone. It didn't scare me -- nothing like that upset me -- but it was strange to me. He didn't barely know me.

The bell rang and I sighed as I stood up. I started walking down the stadium, when someone stuck their foot out and tripped me. I caught myself on the person's coat and growled as I turned to them.

The male had golden-blonde hair streaked with blue. His eyes were a shining green, which contrasted perfectly with his hair.

"Sorry! Didn't see ya coming!" He smiled kindly, almost apologetically, as I kept a grip on his sleeve. "Hey! You're that new chick everyone's been talking about right? The lone weapon?" I kept silent. "Not that it's a bad thing--"

I let go of the boy and finished my way down the stairs. I doubt he truly cares whether or not I was a lone weapon, or if I was that new chick everyone was talking about. And, honestly, I couldn't care less about him, either.

Soul and Maka met me outside the classroom door. "That pisses me off." Soul grumbled, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. "What? Having to listen and not be able to do anything about it or just that they do it?" I asked calmly. Never let them see you cry. That's what I'd learned. "Both, actually." Maka answered and Soul opened his mouth.

Everywhere around me, students were wandering. I walked past a sign that said "Library" and smiled, turning back and jogging into the room.

It was huge! Every wall lined with bookcases, that were all filled with books! Informational books, fictional books, novels! They had it all! I smiled as I looked about the library.

Soul smirked beside me. "Didn't see you as the reading type." I frowned. "You don't have to. No offense or anything, but you barely know me anyway." Soul smiled, then scowled and turned around as the lights went out.

"Soul." Maka whispered harshly. When I looked to my right, I saw that Soul had, indeed, turned into a scythe. This confused me. "Guys, the school, isn't it--"

A body jumped out with a wicked scream. I slashed at it with a scythe from my forearm, and it's head fell to the ground with a thud. "Wow. I sure am glad that wasn't me... Thanks Tsubaki for changing my mind." I looked up to find that Black Star kid.

Maka frowned, and Soul was back to, well, Soul. "You know, it wasn't very funny scaring us like that." I frowned once more. "I wasn't scared." Maka glared at me and, for once, I felt a true hate in that glare. I just shrugged it off; I had a feeling we weren't going to last long.

Black Star laughed a truly obnoxious laugh and waltzed right by me, as if I were a ghost. He started talking to Maka, getting in her face like a useless child. I groaned and shoved my hands into my leather jacket and pulled my hood up over my head. "See ya." I mumbled and left the library.

There seriously wasn't one place you could be left alone to relax in this academy. You'd have to leave it and go home.

Which was what I did. I walked home, alone, with my iPod playing Linkin Park. When I did get home, it was too soon.

Death the Kid, Liz, and Patty were sitting at my doorstep, apparently waiting for me. I externally groaned, and pulled out my ear buds. "What do you guys need?" I sighed as I made it up the steps. Kid almost jumped out of his skin when he saw me. "What's up with you?" I sent him a sideways look that told him to ask otherwise. He nodded once. "Well, actually, I came here to... What were we here for again, Patty?" Patty groaned and face palmed. I don't see how she could deal with them. "Maka's throwing a party, last we heard, and knowing the two of them, they didn't bother to invite you. So we're welcoming you to come." Her attitude was rather sour.

Was it just me, or did every girl I said a word around hate me?

I shrugged as I opened the door and let the three in. "Don't--Just don't mess up anything. It took me forever to clean this place up..." I threw off my hood and smoothed down my hair a bit, catching a glance from Patty as I did so.

Did I do something wrong?

Kid stepped inside cautiously, looking as if he were expecting a ghost to pop out and make him scream and flinch. "Hey!" He said, straightening up. "All symmetrical!" I looked around and shrugged.

My couch was a dark purple, the carpets black. The walls and appliances were white, the curtains and tables gray. The pictures that were hanging on the walls were all completely straight. Letters I'd received from family and friends were symmetrically hanging on each wall, each word had been already read about five times.

"Er, thanks?"

Kid sat down on the couch freely. Patty and Liz joined him. "So. How did you find yourself in the DWMA?" I tensed. Slowly, I looked over my shoulder. "It's very complicated. I'd rather not talk about it." With a raised brow, Kid sighed. "Alright, well, are we going to the party or not?" Patty stood, Liz already at the door.

Yeah. Sure. Let's go to a party. Why the hell not?

I followed the three outside and down the cobble streets. The moon was out now, grinning creepily. The night sky was dark, stars beginning to shine their way through the blanket of darkness. Kid, Patty, and Liz were quiet, talking quietly amongst themselves until we reached a house.

Without a word, the Miester climbed the stairs and opened the door. The two weapons followed him, while I stood reluctantly at the bottom of the steps. "What am I doing?" I asked as I climbed the stairs.