Several years after the Big Picture Show, the Ed's are now in Peach Creek High as seniors. At the end of the movie, the kids from the cul-de-sac finally come to accept the troublesome trio into their fold, and life seems to get better for them.

"Edward, and impressive thesis! You've really outdone yourself this time," the teacher whispered as she handed back my paper. I grinned happily at her, then quickly hid it, self conscious of the gap in between my two front teeth. I flipped through the essay, searching for corrective red marks, and not finding any. At the end of my final paragraph, in red ink, a glowing review of my paper was hand written by the teacher, complimenting my wonderful effort and final product.

The bell rang, and after I slowly packed up my things, I called back to the teacher a brief and polite thank you for another day of education before being the final one to march out of the classroom. Kevin slapped me a high five before turning and walking backwards to talk to me as I headed in the opposite direction towards my locker.

'Yo, Double D, what'd you get on that history paper?" he called out.

"An A+," I replied proudly, turning likewise and talking to him.

"Choice! What about that statistic's test?"

"Also an A+," I called out again.

"Dork!" he laughed playfully. The word that he had used to torment myself and my two closest comrades as juveniles merely made me laugh. I cupped my hand to call back a response when my back slammed into somebody behind me.

"Oh, humblest apologies, Nazz, I wasn't vigilant as to where I was walking," I choked, trying to remain calm and I snaked past her. I opened my locker quickly, my hands shaking at her proximity as she leaned against my locker, smiling at me.

"Oh, it's ok! I was actually looking for you," she chirped, her red, red lips shimmying.

"For me?" I croaked as the metal door swung open with a crash. I tried to remove the books from my brown, cross body bag, only to have them fall heavily to the floor. Nazz giggled charmingly at my nervous clumsiness and I quickly snatched the textbooks from the ground, shoved them in my locker, straightened my yellow tie in the magnetic mirror, and closed it quickly. "How can I be of assistance?"

"Well," she said, straightening her hair and admiring her nails, "ya' know that stats test?" I nodded to confirm and reminded myself to keep my eyes on her face; puberty had treated her very well. "I didn't do so good on it," she pouted, her lipstick red lips sticking out, causing me to grow hotter under the collar. She tugged the white tank top she now wore without the black undershirt lower, revealing more of her cleavage, and sighed in sadness. My subconscious corrected her terrible grammar, and I smiled cheerfully at her.

"I'd be more than happy to help you study for the retake," I replied, tugging on my black sock hat nervously. Her eyes lit up, and she bounced up and down, thanking me profusely, saying to meet her at her place that night around six, before sashaying away, her denim mini skirt drawing my attention.

An encouraging pat on my back drew me from my reverie. "I don't know how you do it, sockhead, but nice work! Another date with Nazz." Eddy swaggered up beside me, winking at me suggestively.

"Come now, Eddy, she only needs help in stats," I whined, trying to hide my blush.

"Whatever you say, Double D!" Ed nearly shouted, his goofy grin shining down on me.

"So, gentlemen," I asked, eager to change the subject, "what tomfoolery do we have on the agenda for this evening?" Eddy's teasing grin instantly twisted into an angry groan.

"None. I got detention again," he growled, shoving his hands down into his pockets.

"You really should stop leaving chewed gum on Harrison's desk, Eddy," I chastised. "He knows it's you." Eddy stomped away angrily, and Ed and myself strolled out into the autumn afternoon, warm and comfortable. He blathered about some new comic book he had read, but soon Sarah came outside, and together, the siblings walked home.

I smiled as they walked away, and I turned to take a longer but more scenic route, enraptured by the palette that Mother Nature had used to paint the oaks and maples with this year. After a few moments, my footsteps weren't the only ones I heard.

"Hiya, cutie," came the high pitched, taunting voice. I swallowed heavily, and tried to steady my voice.

"H-Hello, Marie." After middle school, things had changed. The Kankers stopped the physically abuse and torture, and we all became better acquainted. Once they stopped beating us up, we found they weren't nearly as awful as before. "H-How was your day?"

"Boring and lame," Marie sighed, pulling a something I hadn't seen before from her pocket. "That stupid Ms. Telleuh is a totally windbagging bitch." I winced at her language, still unaccustomed to such rough prose. "She called me out again in class, asked why my chem. Lab was so awful again." Desperate to change it to a better subject, I scratched my arm nervously.

"How are things at home? How's Lee?" Several months ago, Lee had stopped coming to school all together, and I hadn't seen her since. I saw May around, and she spent most her time either with May or with Ed, reading comic books at lunch. They'd starting dating a few weeks ago, and Eddy was baffled that of the three of us, Ed was the first with a girlfriend.

"Fine." Marie's answer was short, curt, and seethed with unspoken warning. Anxiously, I searched for a safe topic, something that wouldn't insult and upset her, and my eyes landed on the metal tube in her hand.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing.

"What, this?" She shook the little tube at me for a second and raised it to her lips. She pressed at the bottom of it, and a crackling noise filled the crisp air as her thin chest rose with an inhale. She pulled the tube away and blew a unexpected smog into my face. I cried out and batted away the smoke, noting the fruity scent that filled my nose. "It's my mod," she cackled, laughing at my timid display. She blew another cloud at me, and I cried out again in anger.

"Cut it out!" I used my yellow tie to cover my nose and mouth, not wanting to inhale it anymore.

"Relax, dreamboat," she sighed, closing her eyes with a teasing grin, showing her blue eye shadow. "It's just water vapor; ya' know, like from a pot of boiling water?" I ordered her to nevertheless stop blowing the particles at me and after one more small puff of gas spat at me teasingly, she agreed to stop before shoving the mod back into her cargo pants pocket. Unlike the other females of the neighborhood, Marie hadn't changed with time. Her hair was still shaggy and blue, and she wore a cropped black tank that exposed her flat midsection, driving the teachers batty. Her pink belt and holey cargo pants, topped off with her ratty black Vans were the same things she wore as a kid. The other girls opted for tighter, sexier things, but Marie stuck with her comfort.

"See ya later, buttercup," she called out as she turned to take a different path to the trailer park.

"Please, Marie, aren't we too old for the pet names?" I sighed, straightening my tie.

"Nope, never!" she began walking away, but I called out to her, offering to swing by later and make some corrections to her chemistry lab for her. She chewed her lip for a while longer. "Yeah, alright, you can come by, see ya' around six?"

"Actually, might I make my appearance ever so slightly sooner? I promised to help Naz with her studying at six." Marie's eyes clouded over with something I didn't recognize, but she said that five would be fine. I hurried home and requested Mother to make dinner early, explaining that I had a tutoring session with Nazz at five. For a reason I couldn't identify, I felt the need to hide the fact that I would be stopping by the Kanker residence first.