Calling All Crows (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Chapter 1 – Shameful

"Mom, you can't be serious about this! Military camp? Oh, great, whose bright idea was this?" I lamented angrily to my mother as she shoved every single thing I own into suitcases. My anger was beyond belief; I couldn't believe she actually considered this. It's all because of the fact that I just so happen to live near a military base and they just coincidentally have a boot camp for misbehaved teenagers. So I got into a little –okay, a lot- of trouble? Is that really worth sending your daughter away from you for a year or more?

"Young lady, you wouldn't listen to me or the school board when they told you to calm the hell down, and what do you do?" She snapped at me, obviously ending with a rhetorical question, "You went and became a street fighter to earn money!" I thought it best not to tell her that I'd been street fighting since 6th grade and when I came home with bruises, that it wasn't from tripping. Biting the inside of my cheek tenderly, I thought of a better argument to come up with. Really, Rocky, you couldn't have hidden that letter from the state better? On second thought, why hadn't I burned it?

I knew there was nothing I could say to change her mind, and so I decided to make a run for it. Typical for a teenager to run away from home right when something shitty happens to them. Glancing outside my window, I realized that some military personnel had come to pick me up from my house on a bus with other kids. Cursing loudly to myself, I flipped the lock on the back door and stepped outside, running to the fence behind our house where I began to climb it. Nobody came to get me, and so I looked back just once and came face to face with a tall man in a uniform.

I cursed again, this time out loud, and then muttered with a weak smile, "Hi, I'm the neighborhood landscaper, and I was just finishing up here…" Oh god, that was the most incredibly dumb lie I've ever come up with. There's something about tall people that drives me insane. This man didn't buy it, I could see it in his eyes, and the fact that he physically told me 'You're lying', and dragged me back inside my house.

Son of a damn gun, I'm screwed this time. The man stood at my front door while I got my things and pulled on a black hoodie to cover my light grey tube top. I could see him staring at my chest, and half of me wanted to clock him, but I restrained myself and clenched my fists tightly around my arms. 'My eyes are up here.' I thought to myself as he chatted with my mom for a moment, 'Maybe I should wear loose shirts.' The thought of getting raped at boot camp frightened me suddenly.

"Well, good day mam." The man muttered to my mom and motioned for me to follow. My mother reached in for a hug, but I smacked her away and walked after the tall man, grumbling to myself. She was hurt, I could tell by the way she lingered by the door. That's what she gets for sending me to what I will consider hell. All of my friends ditched me when the cops came at the last brawl. They're worthless to me now. Maybe I can make new friends here. Yeah, like that's likely.

He stuck my things into a luggage truck and shoved me on the bus, getting into another car as we drove away. The only seats available were at the front, but don't most kids steal the back first anyways. I growled angrily, and stomped to the back anyways. Kids glared at me as I stopped in front of the last seat to claim it. Two irritated looking boys sat there, staring up at me as if I'd just raped their second cousin and the girl in the seat next to them called to me, "You can sit here if you like!"

I turned around to look at her and she scooted over so I could sit down. Glancing around quickly, I took her offer and plopped down next to her. She was wearing baggy khaki pants and a light grey tank top that had messy scrawl on it that I couldn't read from this angle. Her feet were covered in heavy duty army boots and her hair was pulled up into a messy bun, topped off with a black ball cap. I could tell she was staring at the skull design on my shirt, and she peered down at my black sneakers that were half-covered by my tight, black jeans. Typical for any girl, to see what the other person is wearing and then asses them by that knowledge. My long hair was a dark burgundy color, with orange highlights here and there.