It wasn’t long after the exam that Amy and Nina got their letters of acceptance to the Academy. Everyone had been so surprised when they found out how well Nina had done too. They had expected her to do well but to have perfectly completed the exam, which was historic. There wasn’t a soul more proud than Edward.
“This is just amazing,” he said as they say around the dinner table the night after the girls had received their letters.
Amy brooded a bit. She was happy for her twin sister but did everyone have to be so gushy? Why was Nina getting all of the attention anyway? She had been accepted too, why weren’t they falling all over themselves congratulating her too? Amy was jealous and knew it; there was no way of denying it. She was used to being the center of attention in this house so it just seemed awkward for it to be Nina. She was trying to make sure that no one noticed the way she felt.
“I can’t believe you scored perfectly,” Edward gushed. “Just goes to show how talented this family is.”
“That goes for Amy too,” Natalie said seeing that Amy wasn’t doing as good a job as she thought hiding her jealousy. “We can’t forget she had the second highest score in history.”
Finally someone recognized her achievement. “Thanks for that Mom,” Amy said with a laugh.
“Well I want to make sure you know we’re proud of you both, right Ed?” Natalie said giving him a look.
“Of course! Though I had no doubt my girls would succeed,” he replied with a wide smile.
Nina and Amy both just laughed, so did Natalie. “You sound like Hughes used to when he gushed about Elicia, Ed. Be careful, you might start to get just as bad,” Natalie said with a devious smile.
Edward narrowed his eyes at her for a moment before he started laughing too. “Well now I understand why he did it. How can a father NOT gush when he has kids like I do?”
That made Amy and Nina both blush. “Daddy, come on, you’re being embarrassing…” Nina said.
“I don’t care. I’m proud of you two and I’ll make sure all of Amestris knows it if I want to.”
“Please don’t Dad…” Amy said rolling her eyes.
Edward just laughed. “I don’t think I’d have to anyway, just one look and they’d know how proud of you I am.”
“So when are they expecting you girls to be there?” Natalie asked, changing the subject a bit.
Nina picked up her letter and looked for the answer. “Looks like we have to be moved in at the dormitories two weeks from now then orientation is the next day then classes start a few days later.”
“Did they tell you yet what your classes are going to be?” Edward asked.
Nina and Amy both shook their heads. “No, it says here we’ll get our schedules after orientation,” Amy answered.
Just then there came a knock on the door. Natalie got up and went to open the door. “Al! May! Maes! It’s so nice to see you!” she said as she moved out of the way and letting them inside.
“Hi Natalie,” Alphonse said with a smile.
E.J. got up from the table and ran over and nearly tackled his uncle to the floor. Luckily Alphonse caught him at the last second. “Uncle!”
Alphonse laughed and picked E.J. up following Natalie and the others into the kitchen. When they did Edward stood up and took E.J. from Alphonse. “Hey Little Brother,” he said with a grin. “No more patients today?”
Alphonse nodded. “Yup and we heard that the girls got their acceptance letters so we came over to congratulate them.”
Nina and Amy stood up and smiled. “Thank you Uncle!” they said together.
“Did you hear how WELL they did Al?” Edward asked with a grin. “Nina got the country’s first perfect score and Amy had the second highest score. My girls are geniuses.”
Seeing Edward beam and carry on about the girls made Alphonse smile. He loved seeing his brother this happy and knowing that everything they had done all those years ago hadn’t been for nothing. Every little bit of proof gave Alphonse joy. “Is that so huh? We’d heard they’d done exceptionally well but no one said just how incredibly well.”
Amy and Nina blushed. How many people already knew? How did they know? “Dad…” Nina started.
“Nina…” he replied being a bit of a wise ass.
Nina narrowed her eyes looking unamused. “How many people did you tell already?”
Edward put E.J. down in his chair and made it look like he was thinking, counting off on his fingers. “Only a few…” he finally said.
“Daddy…”
“OK, OK, I told everyone in my classes this afternoon.”
Amy sighed and hung her head. “You’re so bad for my image Dad,” she said with a huff.
“What? You don’t want people to know how brilliant you are? Having a reputation for knowing what you’re doing isn’t exactly a bad thing you know,” Edward said, not being so goofy anymore. “Besides, if you want to be in the military that reputation will help. You guys get a lot of leeway because you’re my daughters but I know you can make it on your own merit and I’d rather people know you for that instead of because of me. Don’t blame me for helping people see your talent.”
Amy just crossed her arms and sat back down. At this rate she’d end up with the same book worm reputation that Nina had. She wanted the bad ass reputation like he’d had, it suited her better and she knew it. “I don’t want to live in your shadow either Dad, far from it. I just don’t want people to look at me and think ‘book worm’ that’s all.”
Nina on the other hand was happy that her father was bragging about her. He hadn’t really been able to brag about her too much over the years anyway so she wanted to enjoy this if only a little. “What’s wrong with being a book worm?” Nina asked sounding a bit insulted.
“Nothing if it works for you and for you it does. It just doesn’t work for me…”
May went over and gently smacked the back of Amy’s head. “Why do you have to be as pig-headed as Ed?”
“Hey!” Amy said turning in her chair so she could look at May. “What did you do that for?”
“So you’d wake up. If you ever want to have a prayer of making it as an alchemist and in the military you need to learn a little humility and self control. Being a bad ass will only get you into trouble. Ask your father, he knows better than anyone.”
Edward blushed and looked embarrassed. “May…”
Natalie just laughed. “She has a point Ed.”
He just huffed. “Whatever, this isn’t about me anyway…” he grumbled. Alphonse just laughed.
“I can’t wait until next year, and then I’ll be eligible to take the exam too. I wish I was going off to school with you guys,” Maes said sounding kind of sad. “I’m going to miss having you two around.”
Nina got up and went over to him, messing up his hair. “You talk like we’re never coming home. There are breaks you know.”
“I know, but…” he started then looked down at the table. “You’re my cousins but I feel like I’m giving up my older sisters.”
E.J. got up and jumped into Maes’ lap. “But I’m still here Cousin! You can come play with me whenever you want! You will come right?”
Everyone laughed as Maes ruffled E.J.’s hair. “I sure will E.J.; someone has to keep you out of trouble while Nina and Amy are gone.”
E.J. smiled at Maes and stayed sitting in his lap. He knew how his cousin felt, he didn’t want his sisters to go away either but when he’d cried to Natalie about it earlier she’d explained that he had to be a big boy and support his sisters. She’d also explained that they weren’t going away forever, that it was more like the longer business trips that Edward took from time to time. E.J. understood and had been alright after that.
This was going to be a long two weeks, Nina and May knew that already. There was so much to be done and considered all of Resembool probably knew about their acceptance, there was probably going to be a lot of congratulatory visits interrupting things.
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