Author's Note: Bless all you wonderful people for believing in the idea of a heartbreakingly realistic fanfiction.
"Oh c'mon, Dee! It'll be fun! Besides, it'll be good for us too." Marie said with an all too wide smile as she practically dragged him to her brand new Jeep Wrangler whose color nearly rivaled her hair in its intense blue color.
Normally, Edd would have protested. Normally, he would have been cooped up inside his safe haven of a home with his nose stuck in a book. But no, Marie was insistent on them going to the pool that day. It was the last week of summer vacation and instead of relishing the feeling of central air, they were going to a public pool that was probably overrun with bacteria in this godforsaken heat. And judging by the determined expression on her face, protesting wasn't even a possibility with Marie at that point.
Edd sighed as he climbed into the passenger side of the jeep and fastened himself in. "You're gonna have fun, I promise." the blue haired girl said as she revved up the engine and proceeded to back out of his driveway. The raven merely sent a sideways glance at her and then settled his gaze to the passing scenery out the window. "...You okay?" she asked after a few minutes of silence.
The raven chewed on his bottom lip a little as he tried to come up with the right words. "It's just...couldn't we have just stayed in and watched a movie instead? I mean, it's a public pool, Marie!"
"Nope." she said, popping the P at the end. "It's the last week before our Junior year and dammit, we're gonna spend it in style." Edd said nothing as they continued to drive. Sure, Marie was his best friend and had been since the middle of sophomore year, but sometimes she really just didn't get it.
...
The public pool was swarming with obnoxious kids, snobby preteens, and lazy sunbathing parents when the duo arrived. They quickly found a spot to set all their stuff by and Marie dug out two waters from her backpack. "Cheers." she said as she bumped her water bottle Edd's.
"For what?" he asked.
"Good times, clean pools. The usual." Marie said as she lounged back in the pool chair and took a swig of her drink. Edd copied her by leaning back in his own chair, but instead decided on picking the label off of the bottle. "You're not gonna swim, are you?" she eventually asked after a moment or two of people watching.
"Nope." Edd said, making sure to mock Marie's happy demeanor from earlier by popping the P at the end. The middle Kanker rolled her eyes and blew a piece of blue hair out of her face.
"Why?" she asked.
He wouldn't take off his shirt.
"Too many people." he said and Marie knew exactly what he meant. If it were just the two of them, Edd wouldn't hesitate to shove her in the water and jump in after her. But it wasn't, and she knew damn well that he was just going to lounge in the shade on his phone until she was ready to go home.
"We need our own pool." she said and Edd gave a curt nod. "And better bodies."
"Cheers to that." Edd said as he lifted his drink in the air and then finally cracked open the lid. Puberty hit Marie like a truck; curves that she didn't even know that she had popped up everywhere and even some of the cheerleaders were jealous of what she had. But then after she started dating Nazz last year, she settled, nested, got comfortable and suddenly the cheerleaders weren't jealous anymore. They were mean.
But she was still beautiful with her amplified curves and if anyone disagreed, Nazz was there in a heartbeat to sock them in the face. And unlike Edd, she wasn't afraid to whip off her cover up and jump into that crystal clear water with the dozens of other people. Marie was fearless and Edd admired that greatly about her because he was absolutely certain that he was in no way, brave. He was an insecure mess that wore oversized sweatshirts all the time because he had no idea that his AP classes would be that challenging, that his teachers would push him so hard, that his friends would move into other clicks without him. Well, most of them did. Edd still had Marie, Nazz, Big Ed, and a new kid named Trevor to stand by and it was a comforting thought to have people that care for you because these days, hardly anyone did.
The funny thing about high school was that it had the tendency to change people.
"Hey guys," a voice said and Edd jumped as he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. When the duo craned their necks to see who was behind them, they found no one other than Big Ed, who had in fact changed for the better in the midst of his high school career.
He was still taller than ever, but through immense amounts of tutoring and life lessons via Edd, was now a fairly smart individual who knew the value of a shower. He still fucking loved chickens though. "I brought May along, I hope that's cool."
Marie just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she settled further into the chair. Edd sent a concerned look over towards his friend, knowing full well that the Kanker Sisters hadn't been close to each other in years. Lee opted for her GED and skipped town to travel until she eighteen. She never told anyone what would happen after that.
May, on the other hand, was just going into her sophomore year. She was slender, athletic, and braces had did the girl's teeth wonders. But along with gaining a beautiful body that people like Ed drooled over, she had also gained a terrible attitude. Remarks about Marie's weight were said loud and proud by May inside and out of the Kanker residence and that wasn't why she and May were at constant odds. It was the fact that because Nazz and May were both on the cheer squad and her sister hated Nazz with a fiery passion.
"...Sorry, Marie." Big Ed said as he climbed into the chair next to Edd and gave his friend a pat on the shoulder. "Well now that I've royally pissed the blue one off, how's life Dee?"
Edd shrugged. "Pretty mediocre, but Marie's been dragging me everywhere for the past week. I'd give anything just to sit in my central air for five uninterrupted minutes."
Big Ed laughed and leaned back in his chair as he watched May climb up the ladder of the diving board. "Man, that sounds like heaven right now...you guys down for some horror movies and pizza tonight?"
"Depends on who's all gonna be there." Marie said as she leaned forward to see past Edd.
Ed hummed and pretended to count on his fingers. "Me and Trevor so far. May has some other stuff to do tonight. You can invite Nazz too if you want."
Marie thought for a moment before nodded and flopping back in her seat. "If Edd's going, I'll go. We're a package deal, son."
The tallest of the Eds let out a snort and nodded. "I'm very aware of that, thanks. So what's the verdict, Dee?"
"I'll be there." Edd said with one of his famous gap toothed smiles. Big Ed stood up from his chair and pumped his fists up in the air in victory.
"Perfect!" he said and walked over to Marie to offer his arm out like a gentleman. "Miss Marie, would you care for a swim? I'll let you throw me in since I made you mad."
Marie took his arm with a giant smile and hopped up out of her seat. "Well, if you insist!" she said and the two walked arm in arm over to the edge of the pool where she promptly proceeded to throw the six foot two football player into the water as if he weighed nothing.
Edd smiled a little at his friends and pulled out his iPhone to pass the time. After a few minutes of being totally engrossed in scrolling through his Tumblr feed, the raven couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.
Keeping the phone to his face, he let his eyes flicker around the pool and when his eyes locked a pair of bright green ones, his heart stuttered a little.
Kevin.
Shivering a little despite the intense heat, the raven forced himself to look back at his phone and ignore the piercing gaze of the best quarterback that Peach Creek had seen in twenty years.
...
"Oh, you guys are gonna love this one! It's about this group of friends that gets lost in the woods and there's this bear and the water's weird...you'll just have to watch it..." Ed said excitedly as he shoved the DVD into the player and settled himself on the floor against the couch. Marie and Nazz sat together in the overstuffed recliner and Trevor was busy making little braids in Edd's hair.
"Gonna watch the crap out of it, man." Trev said as he raked his fingers through Edd's silky locks to shake out the braids. He was the new kid at school last year who had shown up on the first day with a black eye and a semi-permanent bitch face. Trevor stood a couple inches shorter than Big Ed and had these icy blue eyes and shaggy blonde hair that reminded everyone of a certain Horror Story psychopath but as it turns out, he's just a big softy with a special place in his heart for the girl who worked at the local bakery.
The friends settled down into their spots as the movie started to play but Edd couldn't pay attention to save his life. All he could think about were the certain pair of eyes that seemed to burn holes into him at the pool and more importantly, why were they looking at him?