Chapter 1

Edd was sitting at his desk.

The school week would be over in 3 minutes. He sat quietly as his classmates talked to each other. Edd knew everybody here but he didn't talk to anyone. In fact, all he did during his classes was do work and leave the talking to everyone else. Of course, he did presentations in front of his class but that was only for the grades.

He was a very tidy A student in high school. The younger students looked up to him but since he didn't talk to many people, no one really knew what he was like outside of school. That was okay for Edd. He didn't think that having a social life would detour his education but it would hinder it slightly. All he wanted to do was have a good, prosperous, predictable future. He just had to keep up his grades so that meant little to no contact with many people, the only exception were his teachers.

Edd packed up his belongings just in time for the final bell. He took his time as everyone else rushed out of the classroom. He was in no hurry, he was going to go straight home and get ready for tomorrow. As he got out of the classroom, a familiar face was outside of the door.

"Double D?" she called out. Edd turned around. Sarah. "I haven't seen you in like forever!"

Edd nodded and smiled. "It seems that way. So, how have you been?"

Sarah shrugged. "Not much. Jimmy and I are in the school play. He's gotten a lot more confident since he got his head brace removed."

"That's interesting." Edd nodded. "It was really nice catching up with you. I guess you want to see the teacher. Well, I'll see you later." He started to walk to his locker, which wasn't that far from his classroom.

Sarah caught up to him. "Well, I've came here to see you. I don't know if you've heard but Ed is going to have a birthday party at his house tomorrow afternoon. Me, Jimmy, Nazz, Johnny, Rolf and Eddy are going to be there. I was wondering if you would be there."

Edd looked at her, scratching the back of his neck. "Well, it's kind of short notice. I have to get a gift and all." They arrived at his locker. "Why wasn't I at least informed about his party?" he asked, as opened his locker.

Sarah sighed. "Everyone tried to call you but you don't have a cell phone. We try your house phone, but no one answers. You don't reply to the emails we send you. Even when one of us tries to reach you at your house, you're either not home or don't answer. We go to the same school and we barely see you. The only reason I know where you are now is because I know people who are in your last class."

Edd pulled out several books out of his locker and put it into his backpack. "Well, I'm usually very busy on the weekends." And with that, he shut his locker and walked away.

Sarah caught up to him. "You mean just doing homework and working at the library?"

"I like working on various projects and the library helps me with new ideas." He replied.

"The only reason I don't bother you at work is because I'm at work also." She goes in front of Edd, which prompts him to stop. "Please, be at Ed's party. You don't even need to bring a gift. He has a ton of them. Just be there."

"I'll try to be there." He said. He was about to walk around her but Sarah blocked him again.

"Do you know what Ed wants for his birthday, which was a week ago? He wants to see you. In fact, a lot of us around your house barely see you. But Ed, especially Ed, misses you. He just wants you there."

"I'll try…"

Sarah looked at him, eye to eye. "Please, don't try. Just be there. If you won't do it for me, do it for Ed. I've treated him like crap for a long time, but he's always happy whenever you're around. The least you could do for him, after all the years he's protected you, is show up for a couple of hours."

Edd sighed and thought about it for a few seconds. "Sure, I'll be there."

Sarah smiled. "Great! I won't even tell Ed. It'll be a surprise for him!" She walked away as she said, while waving. "I'll see you tomorrow afternoon!"

Edd waved back. "You got it." He said, under his breath.

Well, this is going to change a few of my plans. He thought as he walked out of the building and into a bright, sunny day.

He walked alone to his house, which wasn't that far from the cul-de-sac.

He opened the door to his house which had a sticky note on the back of it. He read it.

I had to go to a conference. Your father is going to be at work late. Dinner is on the stove. Love Mom.

Edd nodded at the note as he went up to his tidy room and threw it into his wastebasket. After setting his bag on the floor, he sat on his bed, thinking about what tomorrow at work was going to bring. Then, he thought about his homework, as in, which subject he would do first. It wouldn't be a problem since he did most of his homework during his lunch break at the school library, so the homework was only English and Math. He took his work out of his bag and went to his desk.

"I better get started." He said to himself.

His homework was done he had taken his shower, his dinner was eaten alone and he got himself ready for tomorrow. He packed several books into his backpack and put on his pajamas after putting his clothes for work on his dresser. Edd checked his watch: 8:25 pm. It was still pretty early to go to sleep. He took out his laptop from inside his desk and turned it on. He opened his Microsoft word and went to a saved document that was marked Untitled. The title was made on purpose. Edd was writing a novel and he already had the characters set up and some terms of storytelling.

He looked at the 15 page document but didn't do anything. The only problem was that he couldn't think of any plot that he liked, which was keeping him from writing anything outside of the introduction of characters. The story's plot was supposed to be underway but there was nothing he could think of. For the past 12 weeks, this had been happening. He had tried books to help him but to little or no avail. Working at the library helped at first, which explained the 15 pages his wrote so far but he felt stunted.

Edd looked at his watch and saw it was 9:25.

Time really flies when you can't write anything. He thought as he closed his laptop and put it inside his desk. He suddenly remembered Ed's party! He grabbed a sticky note from his desk and wrote himself a reminder and put the note on his bedroom door for tomorrow so he wouldn't forget. He crawled into bed and looked out at the night sky out his window. He did this until he drifted to sleep.