I made the end of this chapter a little sweeter. Just to help guide into the next chapters. :3


Soon enough the clocks on the walls all showed 7:55 and teenagers and adults alike started to pour in all of the doors of the school and crowded the halls, forming an ocean of different bodies and faces and boisterous noise of chatter, laughter, lockers slamming and other things, filled the air. When he wasn't with Eddy or Ed, it was extremely easy for Edd to become invisible in the mass of students. Not that he minded, it just meant that he could use the time between classes to organize himself, plus the bullies couldn't see him as easily.

Lucky for Edd, it was Government class and he shared it with his two best friends and also Anna, but she sat further away from them, so they didn't really get to talk all that much. Edd already had gotten his textbook out and opened it up and put out his notebook and pen on the desk by the time his friends groggily trudged in. Eddy collapsed into his seat and Ed sat down in his and yawned loudly. Edd watched them both with a smile and then merrily "Good morning, gentlemen! What a wonderful day, isn't?" He dodged a pencil half-heartedly thrown by Eddy and turned to look at Ed, who lay face down on his desk, drooling.

Edd tutted and said "For goodness sake, Ed! Don't drool everywhere, why that's unsanitary!" Just then, the wave of people came in the door just as the bell rang, signaling 8:00 and drowned out Edd's nagging. As everyone came in, Edd looked at each face. It was kind of a secret habit of Edd's to memorize all the people in his classes and count them to himself as they came him.

However before the teacher came into the classroom, he spotted his friend Anna slinking in the door and over to her chair. Eddy caught him watching the girl and narrowed his eyes at him, then at her. "Who's that chick, Double D?" Edd smiled and said "Oh that's Anna. She's a rather new friend of mine." Eddy smirked and said "Your girlfriend?" Edd snapped his attention to Eddy and said "Of course not! Where'd you get a silly idea like that?"

Eddy was too tired to keep up the paltry talking. He simply 'hmmed' and looked over at her then shrugged, turned around and crossed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes, lifting his feet up onto his desk. Edd once again exclaimed about cleanliness, but Eddy didn't even so much as crack an eye open at him. The teacher then stood up in front of the class and began the lesson. Everything else began as just a normal classroom day, Eddy was relaxing in his spot, not even bothering to care about the lesson he was missing out on, on Edd's other side was Ed doodling monsters eating stick figures on his paper, and Edd was jotting down as many words that the teacher said as he could.

About 20 minutes into the class, Edd had just turned his page over to start a new page of notes when suddenly out of the blue; he had the urge to use the bathroom. "Oh no!" Edd thought to himself. "I've never had to leave the classroom to use the bathroom before. I can't afford to miss all this valuable information!" He looked down at his notebook, which was already filled with notes from the first 15 minutes of class.

He looked over at Eddy, who still had his feet up and was lightly snoozing. "Eddy!" Edd whispered "Psst, Eddy! Wake up." Eddy blinked a few times then said "Wake me up when the lesson's over." Edd shook his head and said "No! I need you to take notes for me. I have to use the restroom." Eddy snorted then said "Just go, sockhead. You'll be fine."

Edd tried to plead with him but Eddy ignored him and went back to sleep. Finally, Edd couldn't ignore his body anymore and he raised his hand and asked to go to the bathroom. The teacher called him forward to take the hall pass and told him to be quick. Edd didn't need to be told twice and was out the door.

The trip to the bathroom was rather uneventful, and even in the bathroom Edd was all by himself. Which was fine with him, he just wanted to get back to the lesson. However, after relieving himself, Edd was on his way back down the hall towards the classroom when he caught sight of someone else in the hall, standing by the water fountain. Nervous energy filled his senses when he realized that the person was Kevin, wearing the yellow hall monitor's sash around his body. Drat! He had forgotten that Kevin was still the hall monitor, even in high school! How could he be so ignorant?

Edd picked up his pace, figuring he'd just give Kevin a quick hello out of politeness, stop at his locker to grab a sanitary wipe for himself and get back to the classroom. Easier said than done. Kevin caught sight of him and straightened up, coming towards him. Edd pulled the hall pass out of his pocket and said "Greetings, Kevin. I trust you're having a good morning?" Kevin ignored the hall pass Edd tried to offer him, looked around the hall to make sure nobody was out and about, and replied "Yeah, sure. Walk with me." Kevin turned and started walking and Edd had no choice but to follow after him, knowing he would regret it if he didn't.

As they walked towards Edd's classroom Kevin cleared his throat and asked, "So…what's new?" Edd was taken aback, feeling very wary of the situation. However he was a chivalrous teen, so he replied, "Um, well most recently I've broken my own promise to never have to miss a lesson to use the lavatory."

Even Edd knew that Kevin couldn't care less about that sort of monotony. As they turned the corner to the Government room Kevin started again, "Hey listen. Do you wanna maybe, after school...hang out?" Edd was thrown off at first by such a bold question. Hang out…with Kevin? Did people even hang out anymore? Was this some kind of joke? Edd let out a nervous giggle and scratched his head. "Heh, that's a good one, Kevin. Very amusing"

Kevin seemed to get annoyed and said "I'm not playing with you, dor- uh, Double D. I'm serious." They stopped and stood in front of the Government room door for a moment, and Edd looked Kevin in the eyes. Surely he was teasing? He had never once shown any sort of interest in Edd before. Besides wouldn't the other athletes make fun of him?

Seeing that Kevin was waiting for an answer, Edd tilted his head slightly and asked, "Will Nathan or Nazz be there?" Kevin shook his head and said "Nah, just you and me." Edd smiled just enough to show off the gap in his top teeth and said "Well okay, I can accept your offer Kevin. However there is one condition I must ask of you." Kevin shoved his hands in his pockets and said "Alright shoot."

Edd inched closer to the door and said "It is important that I walk home today after school. You see, I have a friend who I always chat with at the end of the school day and I don't want to-" Once more he was cut off as Kevin wheeled around and said "Got it. See you when you get home, then." As he sauntered off, Edd waved at his back before turning and walking back into the classroom.

His two Ed friends were exactly as he left them and when he sat down and tried to concentrate on the teacher again, he felt that he was three chapters behind. Oh, the lost information… Edd continued as best that he could and when the bell rang that signaled the end of the class, his hopes of catching up was sunken.

When they exited, Eddy feigned shock and exclaimed "Sockhead, you were gone at least 5 minutes. I expected you back in 30 seconds. Think of all the stuff you missed out on!" Edd glared as Eddy and Ed laughed. "For your information Eddy, Kevin caught me in the hall." Ed jumped and said "Kevin?!" Eddy clapped his hands together and said "Oh boy. What'd he do? Throw your pass in the trash or something?" Edd scowled and said "No, he actually walked back to the classroom with me. He was…friendly!" Eddy raised an eyebrow and said "Don't screw with me, Double D." As they rounded the corner to their lockers Edd tried again. "I am absolutely serious, Eddy! He even asked me what was 'new' in my life."

Eddy outright laughed again and said "Don't get your hopes up, sockhead. You know Shovelchin will do anything to us to get a laugh. He probably had a camera hidden or something." Ed grinned at Edd and said "I drew a picture of you, Double D." He handed the crudely drawn picture of Edd being ripped apart by a space alien to Edd, who took it and put in on the shelf in his locker among all the other drawings Ed had given him. "Thank you, Ed."

Edd sighed; he knew trying to tell Eddy what happened would be a waste of valuable time. He opened his locker to put away his English book and pull out his math book. He found that he was actually looking forward to after school. He was excited to hang out with Kevin, even at the risk of him looking like a fool. As he was walking away, Eddy came to his side and said, "Shovelchin oughta know by now, if he wants one of us Eds, he gets all of us."

Edd looked at him, "What do you mean?" Eddy jerked his head over across the hall in Kevin's direction, who was standing among his large group of friends, not even aware of the Eds existence at the moment. "I don't trust Shovelchin talking to one of us alone, especially you. I know how those jerks do their thing. If Shovelchin wants to see you, then he's gonna see me and Ed, too."

Edd nodded silently, he knew what Eddy meant. Last year Eddy was mostly the victim of the jocks' wrath. Eddy would get caught away from him and big Ed and faced the torment alone, much like Edd did this year. "I assure you, Eddy. You don't need to be around Kevin and I. If he were going to do something to me, you know I'd run away." Eddy merely grumbled in response as they parted to go off to class.

When the clock finally struck 3:00, Edd was giddy with excitement. He quickly ran to his locker and grabbed his jacket and made for the front doors, where he quickly put it on and waited in anticipation for Anna to get there. When she did, Edd practically dragged her down the street, unable to control his excitement. He told her all about his day, watching Kevin that morning at practice and up to Kevin inviting him over to his house. Anna smirked and said, "Sounds great, Edd. What are you going to do there?" Edd had no idea, he just knew that he was making another new friend. However Eddy's words from earlier rang in his ear still, and it made him slow down a bit. Surely if Kevin were going to do something malicious to him, they wouldn't be alone at his house.

As they continued down the street Anna broke the laconism, "So, do you like this guy?" Edd listened to her, and thought about the question. All the things Kevin used to do to him and his friends still burned in the back of his mind, yes. Part of him was still slightly uncomfortable with being around Kevin, even if they were alone. Especially if they were alone. However most of him was eager to befriend the popular jock. "He is just an acquaintance. However I'm excited to see what it is like being his friend for once. He's always been the antagonist of my friends and myself. However even back then, I have always admired him." Anna smiled but said no more.

Soon Edd found himself walking alone, with the cul-de-sac in his view. He was so deep in his excitement and talking to his friend that he never saw the yellow bus or even Kevin on his bicycle go past. But when Double D got to the circle of houses, he could plainly see Kevin waiting outside for him. Edd went directly over to him and the jock nodded at him. "Hey." Edd smiled and said "Greetings, Kevin."

Kevin put his bike up and led the other into his house. Edd stopped to take off his jacket and bag, but realized he had no place to put them. Kevin was taking his hat off and putting it on a hook by the door and looked back. "Just go put them in my room." Edd stayed put and looked at him. Kevin then realized that Edd had never been in any part of his house except for the bathroom one time, which was an accident, and responded, "Oh, here. You can chill on the couch or something."

Edd walked over to the couch and looked at the spot where he was going to sit. It looked clean enough, so Edd turned and sat down. When Kevin reappeared his hair was rather mussed like he had been running his hand through it, and he had two video game controllers. He tossed one to Edd, which hit him square in the chest. Kevin smirked and bit back a laugh.

He walked into the other room to grab them some drinks and as he did, he called "So, can I ask you something?" Edd immediately responded "Of course!" Kevin reappeared a moment later with a soda can and a bottle of water. He handed Edd the water and asked "Why do you always wear your hat?"

Edd immediately became uncomfortable with the question and obviously showed it. He bounced his legs and tapped his fingers on the couch and said "Uh, well. I can tell you that what is under it is not attractive at all."

Kevin then sat down next to the sockhead and opened his soda and said "So?" Edd looked around and continued "Well, there is a rather large laceration on one side of my head. In fact, most of the right side of my head was lacerated. It happened a long time ago when I was very small, and even after all these years I am never able to grow hair in that area." Kevin was surprised. He knew that Edd hid something under his hat, but his first thought wasn't a scar. Maybe a huge growth or maybe part of his brain stuck out of his head, but a scar? Wicked.

He put his can down and reached out to his hat. "Cool, can I see it?" Edd shifted backwards, reaching up to grab the sides of his hat and squeaked, "W-Well, maybe another time. It rather disturbing." Kevin nodded and said, "That's cool, man. Whenever you wanna show me." Edd looked over and asked him, "Really?" Eddy and Ed never gave him that option when they first asked. After Edd had told them no, Eddy just had Ed forced his hands away from his head as the shortest Ed ripped off the hat.

Kevin nodded and continued on. "Pick a game." Edd looked over to the games. He then inched over to the console where they all were. Major League Baseball? Dead or Alive? Halo? What are these ridiculous games? Edd looked and looked, never having actually played a video game before. Kevin's impatience overcame his gentleness and he growled at him, "Hurry up, Double dweeb."

Edd's eyes stumbled over the games until finally he just picked one based on the cover art. Kevin snatched it from him and glanced at it "Resident Evil, dork? I didn't know you liked these kinds of games." Kevin quickly popped it in the console and started it up.

Edd was never more regretful of anything in his life. Already 5 minutes into the game and Kevin had destroyed him at least 8 or 9 times. Edd hadn't even time to learn how to control his character, whom had just been pegged down again by Kevin's rifle. Edd let out a groan of frustration and exclaimed "This game is in no way shape or form, fair to those who have never played it!"

Kevin laughed and paused the game "What's wrong, dork?" Edd was fuming. "What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong! I've been invited over to the house of a meathead who throws a game controller at my chest, tells me to choose the videogame we're going to play, then cannot wait five seconds until I've learned enough controls to protect myself! And another thing-"

Kevin just bit his lip the whole time to keep from laughing in his face. It was so funny when Sockhead blew up. Edd took notice of Kevin's face, which was screwed up and contorted, and he stopped and bellowed, "AM I AMUSING YOU, KEVIN?!" Kevin shook his head then straightened up, turned and quit the current game, then said "Alright princess. We'll start over. This time you're going to do it yourself." Edd was furious "Princess?!"

Kevin then handed him the first person controller. Edd looked down at the controller, then at the game, which was now single player. His rage melted away and he looked at Kevin and asked, "What's going on?" Kevin smirked and scooted closer to Edd and said "You're gonna do it yourself, I'll help you." Edd tried to back out, but Kevin wouldn't allow it. So Edd turned and faced the game, and started randomly pushing control buttons, trying to figure it out.

Sure enough after about 20 minutes, with Kevin coaching him, he was finally able to maneuver his character around corners, aim his gun at the enemies and fire. Whether he actually hit them or not was another thing in itself. It was most interesting how Edd had never played a video game like this before, and now he almost never wanted to stop. Even though Kevin coached him roughly, a few curses and harsh words, the fact that he was teaching him how to play was enough for Edd.

His train of thought was broken when Kevin's voice rang out, "Alright, be careful on this part, the wolves will jump out at you around the corner…" Sure enough, Edd was attacked a moment later, and instead of fighting back, he just yelped. He heard Kevin sigh beside him and shift, but without warning, Kevin had leaned in against Edd's back, brought his arms around Edd and put his hands over Edd's on the controller.

Edd froze to the spot. He had never been this close to anyone before, not even Ed or Eddy. Did Kevin even realize what he was doing? Edd let his fingers grasp the sides of the controller and let Kevin take over. Edd watched his character fight off the wolves and continue on. Kevin's hands were not even sweaty like his own. His hands were warm and soft. Edd breathed in slowly, with Kevin being so close, he could smell that wonderful musky scent. Kevin only looked at the game. What would have taken him an hour or more took Kevin about 5 minutes. Soon the level was complete.

Edd then chose to speak "Uh…Kevin?" Kevin immediately moved away from Edd, his face somewhat pink. Edd could feel his own blood rushing to his face. He quickly looked around for a clock. He'd been over at Kevin's for an hour and a half. He laughed nervously and said "Well…maybe I should go?" Kevin shrugged but as Edd stood up to leave he called out "Hey dork." Edd looked at him and he smiled and said coolly "You smell pretty good, too." Edd paused, then a grin spread across his face. Kevin stood up and said "I'll walk you to the door." Edd said "Oh, you don't have to do that, Kevin." Kevin kept that cool smile on his face and said "Yeah, but it's the proper thing to do." Kevin ran upstairs to quickly grab Edd's stuff, then headed back down to the door.

At the door, Kevin and Edd stood together as Edd put his bag over his shoulder. Kevin told him "See ya, Double dork." Unable to contain himself, Edd turned around and quickly hugged Kevin. It was Kevin's turned to be shocked, but he didn't push the other away as he would have in middle school. Middle school grudges meant nothing, even their completely different statuses in the school meant nothing at this point. As aggressive as he was, Kevin felt the cold part of his heart where he had held Edd for so long melt. His hard face softened into a tiny smile and he wrapped his arm around Edd's shoulders.

For some reason, this was what he wanted. He had held Nazz and various other cheerleaders like this before and while it was warm and accepted, Kevin felt that this was way better. The moment was brief but sweet, and as Edd pulled away he said "See you at school tomorrow, Kevin!" Kevin turned and closed the door, but watched through the window with a smirk as Edd hustled across the street to his own house.

Edd was positively radiating happiness. As unusual as that interaction was, Edd was glad that Kevin wasn't pushing him away. He liked this side of Kevin. This Kevin didn't strike fear in him, instead he felt rather protected in a way. Tomorrow was Friday, and then the weekend. He would have a lot more time to possibly hang out with Kevin, and he surely couldn't wait for it to come.