*Disclaimer: I do not own Ed Edd n Eddy, the characters belong to their rightful creators.*

Chapter Three…Ok so, I got a few reviews (Yay~) saying that they liked the story in general, so thank you everyone who read it and reviewed. Also, a HUGE thing that I have trouble fixing is the line breaks. I said I fixed them in the last chapter, but it didn't work…I have no clue why. I might just use the horizontal lines they let you use when you edit the documents. ANYWAY…

Edit: Yay, fixed the line breaks on all the chapters~ :D I just needed to use the horizontal lines.

Ed Edd n Eddy: Salt and Vanilla

Ch. 3

As Double D walked home from the school after his detention, a thought persisted in his mind throughout the entire trip. After he and Marie had shared that…event in the detention room, he noticed something about her actions that day.

First, Marie hadn't taken the chance in the hallway this morning to smother Edd with kisses like her sister May had done to Ed. Double D felt as if she were holding back for a particular reason.

Second, she had willingly accepted the detention slip from Kevin before second period without any problems. Normally, something like that would involve Marie becoming infuriated and Kevin ending up knocked out and tied to a tree. Edd sensed no anger in her attitude as she quietly took the slip from Kevin, and even acted happy to get to spend time with Double D.

As Edd walked into his house, he puzzled the final thing: he and Marie's kiss. It wasn't unusual to have Marie kiss Double D, for obvious reasons, but why had Marie been so…gentle? Double D chuckled at himself; thinking of 'Marie' and 'gentle' being used in the same sentence.

Edd felt like catching up on his studies, but he felt a more pressing matter. He took out a blank notebook from his desk drawer and began writing down everything strange that was going on with Marie today. He didn't understand why himself, but he felt figuring out Marie's, and possibly the other Kankers', intentions, was important. Who knows? Maybe he could finally crack this 'Kanker code,' so to speak, and be completely rid of their abuse.

Double D stopped and smiled at that thought. He pictured Ed, Eddy, and himself being normal acquaintances with the Kanker Sisters. It seemed farfetched, but he felt confident in his way of scientific reasoning to make that somewhat of a reality.

Just then, he felt something fall out of his pocket and hit the ground. He perked his head up and looked to the side of his chair. "Oh my…" he said quietly, gazing at the golden cylinder sitting on the floor. Oh dear, how could he have forgotten to return Marie's lipstick dispenser?!

He quickly got up and put the dispenser back in his pocket. Of course, Double D's morals got the best of him, and he decided to go to the trailer park and return what was rightfully Marie's. As much as he regretted doing this, he himself knew the feeling of losing something valuable.

Double D grabbed his brown button-down coat and reluctantly walked out of his house, then headed for the Kankers' trailer park.

Marie approached the door to her trailer and threw it open. Not surprisingly, Lee was sitting on the couch, watching some sort of horror movie. May was nowhere to be seen from where Marie was standing.

"Hey, what took ya, Marie?" Lee yelled, her eyes glued to the television.

"Nothing important," Marie responded with a blank face. She sat down at the other end of the couch, taking the remote from beside her sister.

"Hey, what are ya-?" Lee took her eyes off the TV and glared at Marie, who was resting her head on her hand and flipping through channels with the remote in her other hand.

Marie didn't respond. She showed no sign of emotion, nor did she even glance at her sister.

Lee lunged for the remote in Marie's hand. Her younger sister finally responded with moving her hand away from Lee's grasp. "Gimme that back, Marie! I was usin' it!" Lee yelled.

"You're not the boss of me, ya know!" Marie yelled back, pushing her sister off with her free hand. "It's my remote too!"

"Yeah, right! Like you got any right!"

"It's mine!"

By that time, they had gotten into one of their usual fights. Lee had pushed Marie down onto the floor in front of the couch. Marie retaliated with grabbing her sister's afro-like hair and using her foot to push her off. Lee turned around and bit Marie's arm.

Throughout the quarrel, the remote lay on the armrest of the couch.

Double D walked through the dimly lit path of Park n Flush trailer park, heading towards the Kankers' trailer. He was unsure on how he would give the lipstick back to her, which was mainly because he was terrified of being mauled by one of Marie's sisters.

He stopped and looked up at the door to their trailer. He could hear yelling and fighting, but he supposed that was to be expected from the Kankers' home. He reluctantly knocked on the door.

After what seemed like an eternity of Double D waiting at the door, sweating profusely, he opened the door himself. This was against his manners, but it didn't seem like anyone would come to the door during all this fighting.

"H-h-hello?" at the sound of his voice, all activity in the trailer stopped. Marie and Lee looked like the ones to be fighting, with Marie's hand seemingly trying to tear out Lee's hair and Lee's teeth biting onto Marie's arm.

"I-I dearly apologize, but it seems t-that this…" Edd pulled out the lipstick dispenser out of his pocket. His hand noticeably sweating and shaking nervously, he continued, "belongs to one of you…"

Marie let go of her sister's hair and calmly walked over to Double D. Grabbing the lipstick dispenser, she said, "Thanks, Oven Mitt," and slipped the lipstick in her pocket, walking upstairs to the Kankers' room.

Both Lee and Edd looked up at the stairs, dumbfounded. Then Edd's presence brought Lee's attention. "Hey, ya need somethin'? If not, then scram!"

Edd perked up and ran out of the door, frightened at Lee's outburst. As he ran, he reached into his hat and pulled out the notebook from earlier. He pulled out a pen from his pocket and started scribbling more notes on Marie, and this time some for Lee's aggressiveness and May's absence from the whole ordeal. As he kept writing, he felt himself getting closer to figuring the Kankers out.

The next day, Double D was having another off morning. When he passed by Ed's and Eddy's houses on his way to school, neither house had anyone there. Double D immediately pushed away bad thoughts, such as burglary or kidnapping, and decided that Ed had woken up early and brought Eddy to school. By force, no doubt.

As always, Double D brushed off the events that had happened last night with the Kankers, although being involved with the Kankers on his own was rare, because he was usually with Ed and Eddy. Also, none of this needed to be told to those two, or anyone else he knew for that matter.

As Double D walked through the doors of the school, he was greeted with a tackle hug by none other than Ed. "Double D! Eddy's all good and healthy! Right, Eddy?" he exclaimed, getting up off of his friend and pointing to a rather angry- and pale-looking Eddy.

Double D got up, re-adjusting his tie and looking over at Eddy. "Good morning to both of you, gentlemen," he said, "And Eddy, you're…better?"

"This stinks," Eddy groaned, "All I wanted was some peace and quiet, then Monobrow had to ruin—" he stopped talking for a second, then let out a loud sneeze, "—my day off…"

"Well, as I always say, nothing beats a good day of learning!" Double D said, putting his hand on Eddy's shoulder. "Now, off to class, gentlemen!" he said, proceeding to his first period class.

"M-Marie, can you please tell me why you're walking by me like this…?"

Marie was walking alongside Edd, holding his arm and leaning her head on his shoulder. "I just don't wanna get away from you, sweetheart~!"

It was just after second period, and since she and Edd had the previous class together, Marie decided to tag along with her love muffin. Since Edd had lunch next, he didnt have to worry about being late if Marie were to stop him from getting to his destination.

"Y-you know, Marie, you have math class next, so I suggest you head there now," Edd said nervously, "The administrators wouldn't like you skipping class…"

Marie stopped walking and looked up at Edd. "Ya really don't want me to get into trouble, do ya, dreamboat?" she asked, smiling.

"Well, of course not. I wouldn't wish it on my worst—" Double D paused, widening his eyes. Marie WAS supposed to be his worst enemy…right?

"I-I really must go to lunch, Marie, so if you don't mind…" he managed to pull away from her grasp,, and he sped off into the cafeteria where his friends awaited.

Marie looked back at him as he ran and giggled. Double D just said he cared about her~…I'm glad I love that guy, Marie thought, heading to her next class.

Double D sat down at the lunch table, placing his tray down. "Afternoon, gentlemen!" he greeted his friends.

Since Eddy hadn't had time to make lunch at home, he turned to Ed. "What ya got for me, Lumpy?"

Ed turned to his friend, mouth full of his onion, Swiss cheese, and bologna sandwich. "Here you go, Eddy!" he handed him a piece of his sandwich, which made Eddy groan.

Double D wagged his finger at Ed. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Ed. It's horrible manners."

"Manners are for sissies, Double D." Ed said, his breath reeking of onion and cheese.

Eddy ate a piece of Ed's sandwich. "As soon as I get home, I'm gettin' some shut-eye." After that, his eyes widened, and he clasped his hands over his mouth and ran to the nearest bathroom.

"Good Lord, Ed!" Double D exclaimed, "What was in that-?"

Rolf sat next to Edd, interrupting his sentence. "Ho ho! Hello, there, Ed boys!"

Ed spoke up, "Hi Rolf!"

"Good afternoon, Rolf." Double D said, after wiping his face with a napkin.

"Afternoon to you too, Lady-pursuing-Ed boy!" Rolf nudged Double D with his elbow.

"W-what?" Edd asked, confused.

"Rumor has it that Brainy-Ed boy and the Blue-haired Kanker girl are in a…what do you call it?"

"Double D's got a girlfriend~!" Jonny came from behind, teasing Edd.

Double D's face fell. Oh, how did rumors come to this?

"We saw it with our own eyes, huh Plank?" he looked at his wooden pal for approval.

Ed seemed completely oblivious to the whole conversation. He was stroking and cuddling with his sub sandwich, much to Double D's disgust.

"Please, Jonny! I assure you, there was nothing to see at any given—" Edd paused. He remembered the time in the detention room, when…

Oh dear.

Fortunately for Edd, the lunch bell rang and students began getting up and walking out of the cafeteria. Double D quickly picked up his things, threw out his lunch tray, and walked out of the cafeteria, trying to put as much distance between him and Jonny as possible.

Ch. 3 End

Woo~! Pretty good chapter, I guess. Not too much romance, but that's what I'm going for. Half classic EEnE, half EddxMarie. Please review, it really helps with ideas for future chapters. I can't thank you enough for the reviews on chapters 1 and 2, it was really uplifting. Character accuracy in RP's and Fanfictions are very important to me, so I'm glad to hear I'm doing a good job. Bye for now~.