As soon as dusk fell all the kids were in the ballroom. They all dressed up in their nicest outfits, even Eddy, who this time didn't draw the manly hairs on his chest. The time would come eventually when he'd have a hairy chest.
The ballroom was huge, with chandeliers dangling from the ceiling and party favors decorated on all the tables. There were so many places one could go in this place. Before Jimmy entered the ballroom, Sarah pulled him aside.
"What say we go to that neat entertainment section upstairs, Jimmy?"
"But, Sarah, isn't that for the older kids only?"
"Not if we slip through the crowd, come on, it'll be more hopping than this place." Sarah said pulling them along, only to bump into Ed.
"Going somewhere sweet, sister of mine?"
"Uh... upstairs. Only for a little bit... think about it, Ed, you can show off your dance moves."
"You need to stay down here, Sarah. Mom wants me to keep a close eye on you both." Ed said guiding the two back into the ballroom.
Sarah scowled. She'd been being treated more as the baby of the family since the summer ended. She was going to turn ten in the year to come. She was grown up, Ed didn't need to look after her that much. She and Jimmy would be able to escape from her brother's supervision at some point tonight, being the gullible person he was.
"Ed, look at that food table!" Eddy shouted as his eyes went wide with excitement.
"Chicken!" Ed shouted as he and Eddy dived into the table full of delicious food.
Almost everyone back away from the table as the two made a mess, throwing food everywhere. Edd his himself under his hat. Some things never changed.
"Ed, Eddy, control yourselves! Save some food for everyone!"
Ed touched a gooey surface. He took his finger in an out from jello. "Eddy, look, aliens made the water all gooey!"
"It's called jello, Ed. It..."
Before Eddy could finish his sentence; he was hit in the face with the squishy dessert. "It's a jumper, Eddy!" Ed exclaimed holding down the spoon that had cannon balled the jello into his face.
Oh dear, Edd said to himself, knowing ow this was going to turn out. In a matter of seconds a food fight started, with Ed mainly catching whatever was thrown in his mouth.
"Ed, Eddy, decease this deplorable behavior!"
With that statement a pie hit him in the face and he walked backwards into someone, both making them fall to the ground.
"Are you alright?" A girl's voice asked him. "Here, let me get you a napkin."
As soon as Edd's vision was clear, he was captivated by who stood in front of him. It was a girl his age, with thick brown hair that flowed around her shoulders. Her cheeks were spotted with freckles. The smile she wore was what really caught his attention.
"Hi." She spoke shyly.
Edd's tongue felt as if it twisted up in a knot. "H-Hello."
"My name is Nadine." She said holding her hand in front of him.
Edd just stared at it. He was mesmerized by its smooth texture. With a shaking hand he shook it. "uh... my name is, Double D."
Her eyebrow slightly furred. "Double D? That's interesting. Is it short for anything?"
"Oh, um... my name is, Edd. You see my friend's and I, we all have the same name, and I use Double D to differentiate myself with Ed here." He explained as both his friend's showed up.
Just then both of them perked up when a familiar song came on throughout the ballroom. "This is my song!" Nadine and Edd exclaimed.
Edd stared at her and blushed as he listened to her cute laugh. "Do you want to dance with me?"
His eyes bulged and he began sweating profusely. "Me? Well, I... well..."
"Go on, sockhead, this is your chance." Eddy whispered into his friend's ear. "He'd love to!"
Nadine pulled Edd into the crowd and they started dancing.
"Don't get a hernia!" Ed said waving to Edd.
"You call this a party? Turn up the music!"
Oh no, that couldn't have been...
Lee picked up Eddy and started swinging him around the dance floor. "How did you three get on this ship?!" Eddy said escaping out from Lee's crushing embrace.
"Ever hear of a stowaway? It's more fun than buying a ticket. Now come on, let's shimmy!"
Eddy avoided being taken away and ran to Nazz who was thankfully close by. "Wish I could, but I'd rather dance with my girlfriend."
"Isn't he the sweetest thing?" Nazz said to Lee.
"Where's, big Ed? He's going to love what I did with my hair!" May said.
"You mean your ugly spaghetti hair? Where'd you put the meatballs?" Marie laughed.
"Up your ugly nose where they belong!" May retaliated.
"My nose is prettier then yours any day!"
"Really, then why is there a pimple right there?"
"Enough you two! This is a big night so don't mess it up!" Lee yelled breaking up the fight.
May agreed, but separated herself from her sisters. Sometimes she just needed a break from them as she could be herself. This year was going to be different. She wanted to be her own person, instead of being the same as her sister's. She wasn't going to be placed in the shadows like she always was.
"That's so cool. They actually let you have an internship to work on this ship?" Kevin said to a young officer named Will.
"Yeah, the freshman in my college have to have an internship that goes along with their major. I get to do this for another three weeks, until I go back to school. Did you know that the hull of the ship is only one inch thick?"
"One inch? But, isn't it easy for someone to crush us?" Kevin asked.
"Well, luckily this ship doesn't have the same amount of lifeboats like the Titanic. It's guaranteed that we can all get off this ship alive.
Eddy eyed Kevin and guided Nazz closer to him. Eddy showed off his dance moves and slid Nazz under his legs.
"Wow, Eddy, I never knew how well you could dance!" Nazz exclaimed almost out of breath when Eddy flipped her over his shoulders.
"Only with you, doll face. I bet those moves Kevin taught you made you feel like a chimp."
Kevin's heart burned with anger. If he were any stronger he would have broke his cup.
"Care to repeat that comment, you..."
"Gee, Kevin, my eyes still haven't healed all that well since this summer, or since my childhood for that matter."
Kevin growled to himself. Every once in while Eddy would return to his old annoying self and then use his brother as a free card to not beat him up. It's always worker, but one of these days he had to let it slide.
"Excuse me, everyone," The Captain spoke through the microphone. "I hope you all are having s great night so far. This evening we would like some of you to come up and sing a song. Any takers?"
"Ooh, ooh! Wait until you hear one of Plank's songs!" Jonny yelled running up to the stage.
He held the block of wood up to the microphone. The whole ballroom was silent, looking confused as Jonny snapped his finger to the tune he made up in his mind.
"What is this?" Someone yelled from the audience.
"Hey, kid, are you stupid or something?!"
"Go back to the mental institution you freak!"
Immediate tears flew into Jonny's eyes. He jumped off the stage and ran through the crowd of laughter.
The cul-de-sac kids looked at one another, but none of them went out to make sure he was okay. Jonny needed to learn on his own, that he didn't need Plank anymore.
"Rolf has a tune that may suit you frowny faced individuals."
Rolf got out his accordion and sang a song from his homeland. Within the time the kids got into it and danced around. Ed started swinging his two pals around, that eventually everyone started watching him.
"Come on, Jimmy." Sarah said tugging Jimmy along by his shirt.
"Where are we going, Sarah?"
"To the entertainment center, silly."
"But, Ed said..."
"Ed said, Mom said... it's only for a little while. Come on, Jimmy, be a rebel, it's fun."
Jimmy eventually went with it. Sarah was never wrong. And he lay never have the chance to come on this ship again.
May approached Ed who was spinning his friends around still. If she just replaced them, then she'd be able to dance with him.
Her plan backfired when Ed shot Edd through the air. Edd found himself falling with nothing to grasp, when suddenly he landed in Nadine's arms.
Both of them blushed so hard, but they never stopped staring into one another's eyes.
Eddy crashed into May and they smashed into the table full of food.
"Ed, you are dead meat, you..."
May grabbed Eddy. "Don't you dare hurt my man! He needs to be awake to see my devilish good looks."
May didn't notice Eddy snickering, but she walked up to Ed.
"Oh Ed," she said tapping him on the shoulder. "How would you like to dance with me?"
Ed's eyes grew and he screamed. "It's the evil, hideous temptress from mars! Run away!"
Everyone in the ballroom was laughing now. May took a peak of herself in the reflection of a spoon and ran bawling out from the room.
"Looks good on yah, zit face!" Marie taunted.
"Marie, enough. Let her cry in peace." It wasn't long before Lee couldn't hold her straight face anymore and began laughing.
May collapsed in a lonely hallway and sobbed. Why did her sisters always have to be mean to her. Because she was the youngest? This had all gone far enough.
This was the year she was going to show them she was boss.
