Greetings and salutations lovely people! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. I had fun writing it. I know this type Rev!KevEdd is unorthodox in comparison to its origins but I kinda like how Edd is turning out. I will slowly start bringing in other familiar characters soon so stay tuned!

Love Eden

Kevin's life fell into a good routine over the next few days. His father would be up before him, cooking breakfast for the both of them. They would idle talk about school before Kevin went to catch the bus. School was rather normal for him, minus the fuzziness of the pills. Edd would check on him all the same but it became more casual really. There was still a lurking fear of the swimmer but it was not as constricting as it was previously. Edd kept his distance as if knowing he was walking on proverbial egg shells with the ginger.

The afternoon fell into Marie's care as she and Kevin set up to "study" for her upcoming test. She was right that it was the coming Friday and pretended to be nervous about it all. Lying was not something she was proud of but it was for a good cause really. It was only for a short while and she would have to set aside her unease and focus on the task at hand.

"Okay, that makes more sense when you explain it like that. So the new origin is (3,4) which is why it's not centered where the planes cross." Marie mused as she looked down at the worksheet in front of her.

Kevin beamed. "Exactly! When written down, the equations is y − 4 = |x − 3|."

He wrote it down next to the graph.

"When you enter that into the calculator that V will show up on the graph as the result of the information you gave it."

It was very difficult for Marie to keep her composure. She had never had anyone to talk about math with on this level other than her teacher. Kevin's enthusiasm made her want to discuss more advanced equations but she couldn't. It would blow her cover and most likely make Kevin mad at her.

Marie checked her phone and let out a held breath. "Looks like it's time to hit the dusty trail. May wants me to make dinner tonight since Lee is incapable of making anything remotely edible. I'll go over the work sheet and hopefully it will help on the test."

Since it was Wednesday, Kevin and Marie would not be meeting up before her test. This was their last session together. If Edd did not come up with a plan soon, Marie felt like she would have to lie again to keep their tutoring appointments ongoing. She did not know if she could keep up the facade though. It had only been a few days and it was wearing on her mind. Growing up in a house hold built on broken promises and half truths, Marie really disliked lying.

"I think you are ready for the test. You'll get an A for sure." Kevin smiled. "You were picking it up rather quickly. I think you have a math brain behind all that artistry."

If only you knew how true that was. Marie thought a little sourly.

Edd paced around his living room, his cell phone held up in front of him. On the screen, Marie lounged on her bed, chewing her thumb nail.

"What do you mean you don't have a plan yet?!" Marie yelled, the image blurring as she moved her phone suddenly closer to her face. "I can't keep playing dumb with the dork. He already noticed how quickly I was able to understand the last chapter. I was this close-"

She held her thumb and index finger so close together that they almost touched.

"- to discussing some of the equations in later lessons that I read up on while bored in class. I won't be able to keep this up much longer without him finding out the truth of it all, Edd."

Edd let out a long sigh and ran his hands through his hair, under his beanie of course. The past few days had been spent trying to figure out a way to stay close to Kevin without him realizing they were babysitting him so he would not return to the pills. He had been very defensive when Edd finally got him to talk about it earlier in the week. No, this had to be done in a very delicate manner.

"I still have a ways to go teaching him how to swim so I have a little more time. I will think of something or inspiration might take hold for you, I don't know. Just keep being friendly, earn his trust. Greet him when you see him in the halls. That's all I can think to tell you at this point."

"This is just a band aid for a much larger problem Edd and you know it." Marie huffed, resettling on her bed.

There was a long moment of silence between them. It was a tense silence that made Edd anxious. He did not like not having a well thought out plan. Things tended to go awry when plans were not made nor kept properly. He was not prepared in the slightest for anything that they came upon as they tried to assist their classmate.

"I will give it more thought. Have a good night Marie. I will see you tomorrow." Edd said finally.

Marie bid him good night and the video chat ended.

Edd sat heavily on his couch, leaning his head back so he was looking at the ceiling. Gravity grabbed a hold of his beanie and it fell to the floor. In the safety of his home, Edd was not bothered by the absence of his comfort blanket. The cool air felt nice and the weight of his hair spread out, no longer confined by the fabric. Edd shook his head to let the curls fan out more. He stayed like that for a while before remembering homework which needed tending to.

Kevin set down his pen and stretched his hands up towards the ceiling. Mr. Jamison's essay over English poetry was finally done. Literature was not really that difficult for him but some of it was just strange. Keats's poem on sleep made the simple task something else entirely. The concept of writing poetry to something as intangible as sleep was hard to comprehend really. But it was part of the curriculum so he could not get around it.

There was a knock at the door and Kevin's dad poked his head into his room.

"I was thinking about ordering pizza. Do you want pepperoni or sausage?"

Kevin shrugged. "Either would be fine."

His dad opened the door further and stepped into the room. "Oh, and I think I heard the dryer go off as I was coming up the stairs. Did I see you put your trunks in the wash earlier?"

Of course something like that would not go unnoticed by the larger Barr. He had sense Kevin trying to be sneaky as he brought a pile of clothes into the laundry room after he got home from school. It had been a while since he had seen Kevin pull out his swim trunks. He knew his son preferred other summer activities over swimming hence why he was now so curious.

The question caught Kevin off guard. "Oh- um, yeah… A friend is teaching me how to swim after school."

"Isn't it still a little too chilly for swimming?" His dad asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's all done inside, at school, once the swim team gets done with their practice. Edd's the swim captain so he has a key and permission to stay later."

If it were possible, Mr. Barr's eyebrow would have gone further up his head at the mention of the all-state champion swimmer that lived across the street. He knew that Kevin and Edd were not as close as they were as kids so how it was that Edd was teaching Kevin how to swim.

Kevin seemed to sense his dad's unspoken question and came up with a quick lie. "I had told Edd that I could not swim while we were in class and he offered to teach me. Being almost 17, I feel like I should know how to swim. It's embarrassing to be honest."

A warm blush crept onto Kevin's face, the red bright in contrast to his pale skin. Saying it out loud that he didn't know how to swim made him flush with embarrassment. He could have hid it a little better but it would help sell his dad the lie. The last time he wanted was for his dad to pick up on the real issue at heart. He was learning to swim to help strengthen his leg in the hopes of breaking a very bad habit that was starting to form.

"No that's great Kev," his dad said hurriedly. "It's a good thing to have under your belt at any age. Well, I'm going to order the pizza. I'll holler when it gets here."

Kevin only nodded and he was left alone once again. Looking down at his open text book, he saw a poem by John Clare that caught his attention. Without meaning to, Kevin read one stanza aloud:

"I ne'er was struck before that hour
With love so sudden and so sweet.
Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower
And stole my heart away complete."

The image of Edd's face came to mind, the one from the night Kevin when over to his house. Something had changed since then, something in Kevin. When he was around Edd, Kevin couldn't help but look at the dark haired boy. After getting a good look at his eyes the first afternoon in the natatorium, just the thought of clear, blue eyes made his heart flutter. The more he was around Edd, the more a tight feeling in his chest grew. It scared him, if he was being completely honest. Fear mixed with that tight feeling making him on edge whenever Edd was close by. It seemed that Edd had sensed the unease and kept a comfortable distance from the ginger.

Kevin laid his head down on his desk, the wood cold against his cheek. All the emotions of the past week or so made him tired and his leg ache. Maybe after eating, he could take a pill and sleep peacefully for the first time in a while. The storm in his mind needed to be still, if only for a moment.

Thanks for reading the newest update! I hope you enjoyed. Remember to favorite, follow, and leave your lovely comments.