Acapulco
Chapter 1: Kevin and his Weirdo Friends
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I don't own Ed, Edd n Eddy. I also don't own that Nat dude. Some girl on DeviantArt created him. Her name escapes me.
A bit of a note: this fic contains OCs other than Nat. Do you really expect Kevin to only hang out with Nazz and Rolf at school. Nah, I didn't think so. Also, this takes place in the same universe as my other recent Ed, Edd n Eddy fic, 'The Other Side'.
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The day Nat showed up for the first time at Peach Creek Junior High started out normal. Of course, there was the matter with one of Kevin's friends being stuck at home with the flu, but that guy annoyed him anyway, so that was that. Kevin was sitting around bored, doing typing drills in his Computer Literacy class when a pair of kids, one a normal-looking eighth grader and the other not, came in. The eighth-grader, obviously a student aide, handed the teacher a slip and then left. The kid, with his bizarre green hair and gold earring stayed behind.
Kevin turned away, even as the teacher announced that there was a new kid, introducing Nathan Kedd Goldberg to the class.
"Please call me Nat," the green-haired boy said, smiling at all of the kids in the classroom. Kevin continued his typing drills. He hated those, especially since he couldn't touch type worth anything.
"Well, I guess you can sit next to Kevin for today," the teacher, a bald man in his late thirties told the boy. "There is normally a kid there, but he is sick at home with the flu."
"Okay, thanks!" Nat said, grinning smugly.
What the teacher had said didn't register until the green-haired boy pulled the chair out. Kevin then realized that he was stuck next to the weirdo and he looked to his right past the chair that was soon to be filled at a black-haired friend of him with severe discomfort. His friend looked the same way.
"Hi, I'm Nat," the green-haired boy greeted as he sat down, holding his hand out to shake Kevin's.
"Kevin," the redhead introduced himself, shaking the other boy's hand while trying not to cringe.
"Nice to meet you," Nat replied, his back partially turned toward Kevin's black-haired friend who didn't even live in the cul-de-sac. He wasn't that good looking anyway, with all that excess weight. "So, what are we working on today?"
Kevin was getting all sorts of strange vibes from the boy. "Typing. We're practicing keys Z, X, C and V, dude."
"Ooh, goodie. You know, it's a good thing I already mastered the keyboard at my old school," Nat said, getting to work on the assignment and blowing through it while Kevin sat there, preferring to look at skateboards or bikes on Amazon or something instead.
Kevin knew that his sick friend wasn't going to like having his seat taken away by some green-haired weirdo.
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"So, what was with that Nat dude?" Nazz asked on their way to their English class.
"Dude, I have no idea," the redhead replied. "He's weird as heck, man."
"Oh yeah, that guy is!" Kevin's big, black-haired friend from his computer literacy class exclaimed. "There's just something about him that bugs me."
"Yeah? A part of me feels like socking that smug face in," Kevin remarked.
"Hey, I wouldn't go that far," the black-haired replied. "Personally, I just feel like avoiding him like the plague."
"Yeah? I don't think he even noticed you, Gabe," Nazz told him as they walked into their English class.
"Let's see if he notices Hans when he's not sick from the flu," Gabe joked.
"Dude, it would be kind of hard not to," Kevin said. "Heck, even if you guys weren't friends when I first met that dude, I would have noticed him."
"What the heck are you guys talking about," said the smooth, deep voice of one of Kevin's other school friends. He was black, wearing glasses and already had his notebook for English out on his desk.
"Hey, Shaun, so, there's this new guy in our computer literacy class," Nazz answered, sitting in the desk behind the black boy. "He's kind of cute, but Kevin doesn't like him."
"Yeah, because he rubs me the wrong way," the redhead added, sitting next to Nazz while Gabe sat in front of Kevin.
"Okay, man, I'll have to see this new guy before I give you guys my opinion," Shaun told Kevin and the others.
"Who is this 'new guy' you speak of?" Rolf asked, sitting down next to Kevin.
"Nat Goldberg," Gabe told the foreign boy. "Anybody else trying to resist the urge to joke that he's related to Whoopi?"
"Sorry, his lips are too small," Shaun said before everybody started laughing.
"How do you know, dude? You never met the guy," Nazz said as she recovered from her laugh.
"Hey, it's either that or he's Jewish," the black boy replied.
Just then Nat walked into the classroom. "How's it going, Kevin?" he asked, sitting in front of Gabe.
"Oh, hey, dude," the redhead greeted uneasily as Nat sat behind Kevin.
"So, these must be your friends," the green-haired boy remarked, grinning smugly at the group. "The name's Nat."
"Hi, I'm Nazz."
"And I'm Rolf!"
"The name's Shaun."
"And I'm-"
Gabe got interrupted by Nat flirting with Nazz. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Nazz," he said with a smile. "Who would have known that I would have met a girl of such beauty on my first day here?" Nazz just blushed as Nat turned to Shaun. "And it's good to meet you, too, Shaun. And Rolf, what country are you from?"
"Ah, yes, Rolf is from the Old Country," the foreigner replied.
"Which is?"
"Anyway," Gabe started to say as he stood up, "My name is Gabe."
"Don't interrupt," Nat chided, annoying the black-haired boy.
"You know, I actually narrowed the name of Rolf's village down to along the border between Russia, Finland and Norway," Shaun told the group, slightly ticked at Nat telling Gabe off for interrupting when he, in fact, had interrupted Gabe in the first place. "According to Wikipedia, it was apparently colonized by Romani, Jews and Sami, isolated for hundreds of years and only rediscovered after the Iron Curtain fell."
"Ooh, so, you're Russian?" the green-haired boy asked.
"Oh, yes, well…" Rolf stuttered, letting the air out of his shirt.
"I've met a few Russians, but they're from like Moscow and stuff," Nat remarked. It was just then that the teacher started the class, forcing them all to pay attention. Kevin still didn't like Nat that much.
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At lunch, Kevin hoped that Nat wouldn't show up. Unfortunately, the green-haired boy came and sat down at their table after getting some food. Kevin could tell that having him there bugged Gabe immensely, even as the bigger boy worked on his food.
"So, are there any good restaurants around here that you go to for lunch sometimes?" Nat asked, surprising Kevin that he would suggest such a thing.
"Dude, this school is closed campus," Nazz told him. "I know the high school is open-campus, but definitely not us."
"Besides, there's no way I'd even be able to afford any food from any of the restaurants around here with my allowance," Shaun told the green-haired boy.
"Oh, okay, just asking," Nat responded.
This baffled Kevin. For one thing, it suggested that wherever Nat's old school was, it was open campus despite being a middle school. From what he knew, even some of the high schools in the city weren't even open-campus. It also seemed that Nat had more money for lunch than any of them. Then again, there was so much that the redhead didn't even know about Nat.
"So, man, what do your parents do?" Kevin asked the green-haired boy.
"Oh, they run a fishing business in San Francisco," he replied.
"Who, you're all the way from California?" Gabe asked. "My dad is originally from Vegas."
"That's pretty cool," Nazz told the green-haired boy. "What brings you to Peach Creek?"
"Oh, this and that," Nat answered, putting a hotdog into his mouth. "San Fran is pretty fun, but I just needed to go someplace smaller. So, here I am."
"Wait, are you here but not your parents?" Gabe asked, wondering the same thing that Kevin was. There were quite a few things that just didn't add up.
"Is it just me or is your food here slightly off?" the green-haired boy questioned, changing the subject and continuing to ignore Gabe. The black-haired boy was slowly getting more and more visibly agitated at the newcomer, gritting his teeth.
Finally, he took a deep breath and breathed out before talking to Nazz. "Hey, Nazz, you mind if I borrow your cell phone?"
"Sure dude! Who are you going to call?" she asked, pulling out the iPhone she had gotten for Christmas and handing it to him.
"I was thinking of calling Hans to make sure he's alright at home and not completely bored."
"Knowing him, he probably is. Then again, this is Hans, so you never know." Nazz smiled as Gabe walked off, phone in hand, to walk just outside the front doors so it wouldn't get confiscated.
"So, who's this Hans guy?" Nat asked out of curiosity.
"Short, kind of annoying," Shaun remarked.
"Is he from Europe?" the green-haired boy asked, his curiosity piqued.
"Nah, he was born in El Paso," the black boy responded. "Man, I hear that guy got hit with the flu bad."
"How was a kid with the name Hans born in El Paso?" Nat asked.
"Dude, why don't you ask him in a couple days when he comes back?" Kevin replied. "Either that, or you'll ignore him like you ignore Gabe."
Nat looked confused and after a beat, he asked "Who's Gabe?"
Before any of the others could answer that question, a dark-skinned girl came up to the table. "Hey, Nazz, what's up?" she asked, sitting down.
"Oh, hey, Jenna!" the blond exclaimed. "What made you so late?"
"Oh, just Mr. Duncan holding the class back… again!" the Mexican-American girl groaned before turning toward Nat. "So, who's this cutie and how come you haven't told me about him?"
"Oh, hi, I'm Nat. Pleased to meet you," the green-haired boy introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you too. I like your hair," Jenna complimented with a seductive smile.
Kevin couldn't get over Nat's behavior toward Gabe, practically pretending the bigger boy didn't even exist, so he got up. "Kevin, where are you going?" Nat asked as Kevin walked past him.
"To check on Gabe," he replied, continuing on.
"So, who is this Gabe guy?" Nat asked inquisitively, causing Shaun to slap his forehead and Nazz to bury her face in her hands.
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"Okay, good, good, just checking up on you. Bye," Gabe then pressed the hang up button on Nazz's phone before groaning.
"So, how's Blondie doing?" Kevin asked, leaning against the school entrance. Gabe looked up at him, surprised.
"Sorry, I didn't realize you were there," the big, black-haired boy replied. "He's doing alright. It's funny, he's a lot less talkative when he's sick."
"Dude, I think everybody is," the redhead remarked.
"So, how long were you standing there?" Gabe inquired.
"Hey, I had just walked out the door," Kevin replied.
"Good, because otherwise it would have been kind of creepy," Gabe joked.
"Hah!" Kevin scoffed. "Anyway, I was just checking to make sure you were okay."
"Thanks," the bigger boy responded, looking down at Nazz's phone. "Did you realize that Nazz's wallpaper is a picture of you and her?"
"What? You're joking," Kevin replied, going over and looking at the girl's phone.
"Nope. I think you're her best friend in the whole world, that is, if she doesn't think of you as something more."
"Yeah, right, dude. I'm nowhere near good enough for Nazz," Kevin objected. "Besides, I'm here for you, just not like that. I'm sorry about how Nat's been treating you."
"Hey, it's not your fault. That guy just showed up today," Gabe told him, pocketing Nazz's phone. "And even if he decides to join our little group, you can always kick him out if he's a repeat offender."
"Yeah? Well, man, I'd rather not do that," Kevin told him. "Besides, this guy's nowhere near as bad as Eddy with his scamming."
"Yet," Gabe added. "By the way, thanks for being there for me. It's not easy."
"Heck no, man," Kevin replied.
"Hey, I've known you for years. You've been pretty consistent as a friend." Gabe glanced over at the trees that were starting to bud. Just a few weeks more and it would be spring break. Kevin looked forward to that.
"Yeah?" Kevin asked.
"Well, sure. I remember how when we first met, I was pretty isolated and I didn't have any friends at school. Then you let me play football with you guys."
"Dude, that was because you'd make a good lineman," Kevin remarked.
Gabe chuckled. "Maybe. I'm pretty tall for my age, though I think Ed might have me beat in that department, if you can get that guy to focus on the game, that is."
Kevin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but you're at least smarter than him, so that counts for something." Just then, Kevin spotted Edd carrying a pile of papers, presumably for one of the teachers. The redhead sighed. Why couldn't the hat-wearing dork just have a normal lunch. It was then that he realized that Double Doofus was heading straight for one of the eighth-grade jocks, the baddest of the bunch too: Cletus Jurgemeyer.
"You want to do something about that before it gets too hairy?" Gabe asked.
"Not really," Kevin said before noticing the concerned look in his friend's eyes. "Okay, sure, just this once."
Even though Edd was one of the dorks, Kevin had to do something or else it would end badly. Cletus had ferocity that rivaled what Kevin had heard of Eddy's Brother.
Still, Cletus had one Achilles' heel that he could take advantage of. Gabe noticed what Kevin was doing and followed the redhead, figuring that he could be backup, just in case things turned sour. Besides, he was almost certainly a better diplomat than Kevin was.
Unfortunately, they were too late and Edd bumped into Cletus, spilling the papers all over the ground in the process.
"Oh dear, I must apologize for… uh… this…" Edd said in a mumble, trailing off as he saw the big, blond jock cracking his knuckles.
"Yeah?" the jock asked, his voice deep but softspoken. "Maybe we'll see just how sorry you are when you're eating some of those papers, sockhead."
"Hey, dude, you might want to leave him alone," Kevin called out.
"Oh, hello, Red. I don't think this involves you," Cletus said, still softspoken but with an intense fire in his eyes.
"Yeah? Well, just think about what it would be like if this wound up on your permanent record because one of the coaches found out about it?"
"Yeah? Then I'd cream you as well," the burly jock replied.
"Except that there's more than one witness," Gabe threatened. "Not to mention, there's that camera over there." He motioned toward a camera on the side of the building. "Should I mention that with the passing of anti-bullying legislation that the school is getting even stricter on that?"
Cletus looked up and realized that the duo was right. "Okay, chumps, I'll listen to you this time. But next time I see you guys outside school grounds…" He made a throat slice gesture and walked off.
"Oh, man, I can't believe you got that jerk to back off," Kevin remarked as soon as Cletus was out of earshot.
"Trust me, once a bully realizes that there's nothing to gain and everything to lose, he'll back off," Gabe commented. "Especially since he doesn't want to risk his place on any of the school teams which is what will happen if he's caught on camera beating up an honor student."
"I, uh, have to thank you both for coming to my aid here," Edd told them in gratitude, picking up the files and papers on the ground. "Oh, the school nurse is going to have my head if she finds out that I dropped these."
"Okay, let me help," Gabe offered, kneeling his large body down to pick up some of the papers. When he realized that Kevin was just standing there, he looked up at the redhead. "Uh, Kevin, are you going to help."
"Uh, yeah, sure," the redhead answered hesitantly, picking up the papers alongside his friend.
None of them realized that Nat Goldberg had seen what was happening from the sidelines. Of course, he decided to make sure Kevin was okay, but he got out to see Kevin tell off one of the older, bigger jocks with the help of some fat kid and help out some skinny boy with a sock on his head.
Kevin and the sock-headed boy… They would make a good couple. I think this is proof that Kevin likes him, the green-haired boy thought before disappearing inside. Now, all Nat could think of doing was finding a way to get Kevin and that mysterious sock-haired boy together.
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A/N: If you're wondering why this fic is called Acapulco, wait a couple chapters.