Disclaimer: I do not own Ed, Edd n Eddy, and all characters belong to their respective artists and legal owners
Forever is a tricky thing. Double D was a smart enough lad though, he knew that Forever was undoubtedly a physical impossibility, and yet he still believed it. Why? Because somewhere under all that science and reasoning, Double D was still a child, a boy who had hopes and dreams, even ones that were impossible. He thought his friends would be there forever, but time is cruel, and so is fate. He exceeded in all his classes, that much was obvious, and his friends were either failing, or barely surviving. It was only a matter of time until the school board decided to move him up the food chain and away from the common riff raff. He was a prodigy, they said.
The trio don't talk much anymore. They were not angry with each other, nor did anyone blame the other. These things happen, they understood that. They disliked it, wanted to change it, but people just simply grow apart. That was all. Hardly anyone calls him Double D anymore these days. Only the people who knew him from childhood did that, but they hardly talk to him to give themselves the opportunity of using that name. They were no longer The Eds, but three separate Ed's. Ed the dumb who got left back, Eddy the miser, sophomore, and jackass, and Eddward the brainiac, senior, and there because of his insane smarts. But Eddward still called himself Double D. "Eddward" was what his parents referred to him as, their perfect little son. The parents that leave him on business trip after holiday after business trip and don't know a thing about him. He is Double D, he has decided that, and his parents cannot say otherwise.
Marie was also another person that time had changed. He recalled once that she yelled at him whilst he fled from her "Don't run lover boy, I'll chase you down forever." Forever, there was that impossible perplexing word again. But that was then, and this was now. Now was where she sat next to him, a lab partner to most classes, and didn't bat a single eyelash. She didn't doodle in her notebook like she did in her younger days. Instead, she stared straight at the board, and from time to time, a look of confusion, a biting of her lips in frustration, not understanding the lesson. But that didn't last long, because in a split second, she would blink, and that look would vanish. Instead she would stare at the board, with a fire in her eyes. A look that challenged the board to an eternal duel, for daring to mock her. She was determined to understand everything, to exceed in everything, and only then, once she had gotten out of here, and into the world, she would take a break and enjoy herself. Model student was a poor word to describe her with. No, her posture hunched, she never adhered to the school dress code, she cursed and thrashed and ran through the hallways, but she was without a doubt, a very clever girl. A clever girl who had a lot of potential.
She had a band now. It was an all girl's band, except the drummer, who was a tall man of tan complexion and a wild, but kind, grin. It was composed of people he didn't know, but passed in the hallways. It was assumed they were her friends, not that he would know. Apparently, her own sisters weren't in the band because "They sound like dying elephants". He heard that one from her, when he was walking by her table in lunch to get to his own. She was the bassist and the lead singer at the same time. An odd combination (He assumed, current music was not his forte, maybe there were several bass/guitarists in today's music culture and he didn't know.) but she would make it work. The name of band? Trailer Trash. She picked the name herself. But it was not an insult, instead, it was the opposite. Trailer Trash, the name she and her kin were given, would rise up out of the garbage and the ghettos and shanties, and make their mark on the world. She would make her mark on the world, and she would do it no matter what people called her.
Now back to Double D. He looked at this girl sitting next to him, so proud, so strong, so focused on her dreams, and he couldn't help but feel admiration. Perhaps the smidget of something more, but even with all that genius, he couldn't figure out what. He remembered when she chased him around the neighborhood. She remembered the smile, the honest smile that showed she was having a good time. With him anyway. Now they were strangers, and he couldn't help but think that was also his fault. He really shouldn't have expected her to be head over heels with him –what was that word? Oh yes, head over heels with him Forever. But he was a kid too, he still dreamed. He watched her from the corner of his eye, using his hat as cover, and he felt the smallest squeak in his stomach. He couldn't identify it, but was certain of one thing: It felt uncomfortable. He was not a romantic, was never taught how to be. It's not that love didn't pique his interest, he was human too, and also a child, but it was just that love wasn't science. It was absent in the mountain of textbooks in his room, and void from the few conversations his parents had for him. His arm moved in robotic motions, filling out (correct) answer after answer until the bell rang startled him from his daze. The first thing she did was bolt up, hand the teacher their assignment, and rush off to band practice. Prodigies had immensely busy schedules, he would know.
Watching her figure run off in haste, Double Dee thought about himself. He decided that he regretted hoping. Friends are amazing, wonderful, brilliant (Lovely), but as hard as you try, forever doesn't work. The same went with girls. He was a child, of course he would hope, but perhaps it's time to stop. To grow up. Marie did, and things worked out great for her. The days of scams were over, the days of her were long gone. Double Dee looked to the future. He saw himself, still lonely, working in a high paying job. A scientist shut off in his lab. He would marry a nice girl, a lovely girl, a bland girl, and even with her, he would still be lonely. This future, seemed more realistic than Forever.
Double Dee thought of his old friends and current crush, and sighed, carrying the hopes he had for them away and gone in that bitter exhale.
A/N: A bored -story I wrote because I'm a bored person. I haven't uploaded anything in a long time, so I figured, why not?