Chapter 10: And Off We Ed

"These rehearsals are stupid." Kevin complained. The week right before their graduation, everybody was gathered in the auditorium where the ceremony would take place, and rehearsing their line ups multiple times. They've all already taken their photos and received their gowns, caps, and whatnot.

"Better than doing nothing in class, right?" Nazz chuckled. "Besides, feel how soft the robes are!"

Kevin shrugged. "It's still stupid."
Yet on he went through the rehearsals. Walked up to the stage, mockingly pretended to receive a diploma, and then walked off stage to the left, as many of the teachers kept emphasizing.

He plopped down on one of the many, many seats of the auditorium, not so subtly choosing to sit down next to the three Eds. He was aiming to chat with Double D, but as always, the thin boy was wedged in between the other Ed and Eddy. A bit disappointed, but he was content to just eavesdrop.
Everyone else, Nazz, Sarah, and Jimmy, were busy helping with the graduation decor. He had a few other friend groups, but they were all situated in the far corners of the auditorium. And Rolf was absent, helping his family pack up for the long trip back home. He was going to leave as soon as graduation was done.

He sighed. Before Kevin could get any bit sentimental again, he heard a certain boy's hyperventilating catch his ear.

"Dear goodness, what in heavens else am I supposed to say?!" Double D pulled at his hat. Ed was listening, but not doing much else, while Eddy tried his minimum to comfort him. Nothing much has seemed to change with Eddy's personality since his news of behind held back, except for his surprising nonchalance with Double D. He would usually try harder to either get on his nerves, or support him. Always polar opposites, there's no in between with him.

"So you gotta deliver a speech to the whole wide school- so what? You've done it hundreds of times in front of class.." Eddy yawned.

"But that was biology!" Double D lamented. "As valedictorian, I've a grand responsibility to deliver an inspiring, farewell address. And I don't think this is long enough!" Double D unfurled his one sheet paper into a long, rippling scroll.
Eddy seemed unfazed, used to it, but Kevin's brow went up above his hat. It just kept rolling and rolling and rolling, until finally it hit the base of the stage.

"Oh.. should I change something?" Double D asked.

Eddy scoffed. "Maybe cut off 90 percent of it? Here, take my scissors." Kevin couldn't believe that he was agreeing with Eddy, but he was. If he wanted to stay in the ceremony for less than a couple of days, he was gonna have to make Double D shorten the hell out of his speech.
Shoving Ed's face out the way, Kevin butted in.

"Hey dweeb." He directed at Eddy. Then he turned to Edd. "Hey Double D."

Eddy rolled his eyes at the stark contrast.

"Seems like you're panicking over something."

"Was it that obvious?" Double D peered over his ridiculously long paper.

"When is he not?" Eddy said. Ignoring him, Kevin continued to lightly suggest that Double D should cut the speech.

"Yea... y'know, I was thinking that maybe for your speech.. you could make it more uh.. brief?" He scratched his head.
"I mean, you know what they say about speeches.."

Double D began the long process of rolling his scroll back up. "Indeed? What do they say about speeches?"

"Uh, that shorter is better? Like it makes a bigger impact sometimes..?" Kevin didn't know what he was saying. He just really didn't want to stay sitting in an auditorium for eleven thousand hours. He likes Double D, but no one can deny that the guy still has an issue of overdoing it sometimes. Endearing, but not enough for him to sacrifice his soul to boredom.

Thankfully, Double D did a serious consideration. "I suppose it would be for the best if I.. limit it a bit more." Kevin sighed in relief.

"I spent all of last night working on it. I admit I got a bit carried away. Guess it's been a while since we've had any real, challenging tasks." Double D pocketed his speech away. "Mind helping me edit it?"

"Right now?"

"No, afterschool..." Kevin's voice hitched for a moment, not sure if he was ready to spend a one-on-one with his crush, IN his crush's house just yet.
"… in the library perhaps?"

Oh. Kevin laughed, enthusiastically agreeing. "Course! Right." Then he eyed Eddy, who was looking at him weirdly. Or maybe he wasn't, and maybe that was just his imagination, but he still took it that way, and Kevin quickly retracted his words.

"I mean er, maybe. Yeah maybe. Cause I might be a bit busy afterschool and stuff.."

"Oh, I see…" Double D looked down. Kevin internally winced. He didn't want to do that, but God knows Eddy will never let him hear the end of it if he got any real, concrete suspicion about his crush, so he didn't want to seem too eager and obvious.

Ugh… this is all so complicated. Kevin rubbed his eyes.

Thankfully, Edd hadn't seemed hurt or anything. He just nodded and told him that he could manage to edit himself alright. Which he did later that night.

And the graduation did embark and go all according to plan that following next week (aside from Rolf's unceremonious yaks), and the after party did indeed have all the pizza and soda the administrators promised.

It went by slowly, but at the same time it was all a blur. By the day's end, when Kevin shut the car door and collapsed against the front seat that his father finally permitted him to sit in, he felt drained. Dusting off the petals from flower bouquets and little remaining wisps of yak hair, he yawned.

"Had a good graduation kid?" His father drove out the school parking place. Kevin nodded, not saying much and letting the post-graduation feeling wash over him.
He was done. Finally, middle school was over. It took forever.

He leaned against the window, staring at the passing neighborhood and flashing lights blurring past. It wasn't going to be a long drive, but he relished it anyway. It put him in a nice, sleepy mood.

Damn.. so much has changed. Just a year ago I never would've thought I'd become friends with the Eds… much less get a crush on one of them..
He knew he'd always gotten along with Edd better than ever possible with Eddy. If it weren't for Eddy's association with him, he probably would've become friends with Double D anyhow. They had plenty of civil moments with each other before the final scam. But that doesn't always precedent for a crush, does it?

With Ed, he just tolerated.

It COULD have been Double D just.. being funny in his own dorky way. I never really got to see him as he is since I hated Eddy so goddamn much. Eddy still annoys me now, but not as much as before. Heh… he's gotta redo eighth grade. Man that's gotta suck.

Throwing a wrench in his train of thought, he suddenly saw something on the sidewalk whizzing by. Quizzical, he squinted at it. It was underneath a single city headlight, lying in plain sight. Center of the spotlight; a small, rusty yellow board with some gibberish scribbled on it, splintered and chipped for wear. Kevin blinked his eyes, feeling a twinge of remembrance.

Wait.. was that? Holy crap, I think it was. Was that "Plank"? Jonny's plank? That dumb thing with a face drawn on it? Kevin twisted his neck to look back more, but the car was fast, and it was too late.

Huh… weird… after that fiasco last year, Jonny just sort of disappeared? I mean, we didn't really care because he was a jerk, beating up the Eds when they were down.

Kevin could see the driveway now. They were pulling up into the Cul-de-Sac.

Erm… but still, we technically did that too before. I wonder what happened to him? Kevin would've and should've summoned more energy to care, but at the moment, he was fatigued enough from all the confetti and tears from the graduation party. He got out the car and headed straight to his bed, blessing not a single thought more to Jonny… at least for now.

Plopping down on his bed, reminiscent, he let his dreams wander off to race cars, football, and… oh wait! Rolf's leaving tomorrow!

...

"AAHHH!" Nazz screamed, trying to convey the entire Cul-de-Sac's sadness as Rolf stood in line with his family, who was not nearly as terrifying as the kids recalled.

"We'll miss you!" Sarah hollered as Jimmy repeated it while hopping up and down behind her. The people all around were visibly annoyed.
"Yes, yes, yes, Rolf knows!" He called back. He had a thick woolly mammoth coat he insisted on keeping on the entire flight, and his bulky bag lay next to his side ready to combust with whatever he had stashed inside.

"Never forget my gravy! Wuaaagh!" Ed wailed tearfully. Rolf brought up a soggy gift basket dripping with what was clearly gravy, and gave it a half pleased and half disdainful look.

"Certainly."

Another wave of gifts showered Rolf on the day of his departure, so not only did he have his luggage around him, but multiple bags and boxes of final "for realsies this time" goodbye send offs.

"And don't you dare forget to write!" Kevin yelled.

"We are only half a squid away, there is no need to shout at Rolf." The tall boy replied. "But yes. Rolf will send his cow utter telegram to Kevboy and the rest of you do-higgies as soon as Rolf can kiss the ground of the Old World!"

Double D just kept reminding Rolf of all the safety protocols in case of an emergency on the plane, while Ed hugged at his legs in sorrow. Double D was a little mad at Eddy for not coming, but he had a reason pitted up against him:
"I have to get ready for summer school sockhead. Just say my goodbyes and whatever for me."

Regardless, everybody else has put in effort to say their farewells personally, despite the grand graduation ceremony the other day, so Double D couldn't stop that one sliver of annoyance from touching him.

Oh well.

"And Rolf!" Double D said, deciding to finally say something else other than how to put an oxygen mask on. "You and your family have a safe flight, okay? I mean.. we'll all miss you, truly."
The rest of the group shouted their agreements and they all waved him off for the last time as Rolf finally reached the front of the line. He smiled at them, waving, then took off.

After a long while, when they could no longer see Rolf's tuft of dark blue hair, the gang lingered around the airport a bit, before they finally left through the parking lot and decided on what to do next.

"Dear! That certainly was emotional." Double D flicked away a stray tear.

"Ugh yeah, my mascara is all ruined now." Nazz sniffed. "Sure am gonna miss the guy."

Double D turned to Ed to see if he had calmed down by now. Sure enough, he had; Ed sobered up quickly and was back to his goofy self. Sarah and Jimmy also didn't seem as particularly devastated as the rest of them, but everybody did hold - to a certain degree - some level of sorrow.

"Gee, I wonder who'll move into his home now.." Sarah wondered outloud. Jimmy knocked her lightly on the arm.

"Sarah!"

"What? It's gonna happen." Sarah shrugged. "I'm just pointing out the obvious."

While understanding where Jimmy was coming from, Double D held agreement on Sarah's part. With all the new kids and families coming in to Peach Creek, it won't be too long at all before Rolf's home would be taken again.
Whoever it may be, he hoped for one who'd fit in with the gang just right. A Cul-de-Sac is far more intimate and close knit than an apartment ever could be.

"Come on." Kevin sighed, still clearly unhappy. "Let's go grab a bite or something before we take the metro back home."

"Alright. Where to?" Nazz asked.

Kevin shrugged. "I dunno, maybe one of those fast food joints? I think a whole bunch opened up a couple streets away here. I've never seen em before."

Ed nodded enthusiastically while Nazz muttered something about her diet.
"Dutch, I assume?" Double D asked with a sheepish smile. He'd normally offer to pay, ever since his parents had upped his allowance and gave him a four hour long talk about managing finances and how to be generous, but today he had only one five dollar bill. Kevin nodded, uncaring.

"What's a Dutch?" Ed asked.

...

A short bus ride and brief walk later, they were all chilling in a Burger Queen sitdown. Ed dug down on some "Triple Whammy" burgers, Nazz and Sarah shared a helpful of fries (though Nazz did order several plates more afterwards), Jimmy got a simple cheeseburger, and Kevin tore at his beef deluxe aggressively. Double D preferred a salad, but was dismayed to find the salad just as greasy as the fries.

Their topic of discussion was yet again, especially now that they've just graduated, high school.

"Okay so, let's get this straight. Ed is going to that art school of his.." Sarah listed, showing a rare moment of pride for her brother.

Nazz nodded. "And me, Kev, Double D are going to that new school that just opened up some streets away from the Cul-de-Sac 1. They still covered up the top of the door that has its name, but I think it's gonna be called Peachy Falls or something like that."

"Seriously? That's the lamest name ever." Kevin huffed between bites.

"Perhaps." Double D chuckled. "But any school made by Hazard, I'm willing to go, no matter how silly the name."

Nazz gulped her soda too fast and a coughing fit exploded. "Wait- wait." She gasped, flicking away tears. "Did you just say HAZARD is the company funding the school?"

"Indeed!" He confirmed. "I overheard my parents talking about it. It's one of the main reasons we applied there."

"Huh. My fam only applied there because they're gonna have a famous athlete be the football coach there." Kevin said. "And cause that school's the closest. I didn't bother to apply to any other school."

"What? But Kevin! What if you hadn't been accepted! That would've.." Double D sighed. "That's awfully risky to do. You should always make sure to have multiple options, at least a backup!"

"Relax dork. Why wouldn't they accept me? It's literally brand new, and I passed all my classes." He shrugged. Double D mumbled.

"Still. Don't you go and do that with colleges…"

Kevin smirked. "Aww, you care about me." Double D blinked back.

"Well... yes. I do." Kevin stared, not expecting such an honest and direct answer. He couldn't do much in response but turn his head and try to hide his blush from the others with his hat.

The group munched on noisily for a bit, before Sarah went on and completed the list.

"Oh, and Eddy isn't gonna go to highschool at all, right?" She said with no remorse.

Double D sighed. "Unfortunately, yes. I suppose all of you had to have found out when he didn't walk the stage."

"Poor dude." Nazz commented. "He's gonna be a freshie while all of us are sophomores! That is, if he comes to Peachy Falls."

"Such a stupid name…" Kevin repeated with a groan.

"And we'll be 'freshies' too Sarah!" Jimmy said.

"Haha, Eddy will be the same age as us!" Sarah snickered.

"Now now Sarah." Double D leveled his eye at her. "That's not quite nice. I find it very regrettable for him to be held back." Sarah waved a hand at him.

"Yeah, yeah. But he sorta had it coming, you gotta admit." Double D stayed quiet for a second. She wasn't entirely wrong; Eddy had been neglecting everything school related for the longest time. He cleared his throat.

"Well, I'm sure he'll learn from his mistakes now."

"Say, where is the guy? Didn't even come to say bye to Rolf." Nazz asked.

"He.. told me that he had to prepare for summer school?" Now that Double D said it aloud, it didn't sound so stable of an excuse. Why wouldn't he come too?

Double D's neck jerked back.
Wait. If he's redoing the year, he doesn't have to take summer school at all! There's no need.
Double D gulped down his water, as if that would try and slow his heated thoughts.

How did I not realize that before? Oh, I knew I spent too much time making that Old World aid kit for Rolf. Why would Eddy lie to me? The only reason he's being held back is because the counselor wouldn't let him make it up with summer school. Why?

Double D slid out the booth seat. "My apologies, I'll be right back." He pointed at the bathroom and hurried off.

Once locked inside, he pulled out an old phone. It was given by his mom since she decided to get a new one. It certainly wasn't as advanced or tech savvy as the newer ones, but it worked.

Double D dialed Eddy's number and waited. His voicemail eventually picked up. Double D was so used to having him pick up quickly, or reaching him through the home phone, that he'd nearly forgotten they recorded a voicemail together at all. He listened to it.

"Sup." Eddy's sleazy voice rolled out the speakers.
"If I'm not getting rich, or am already rich and sitting on top of my skyscraper, I'm probably with the Eds. You know who…"

And then a shuffling was heard. Ed's voice boomed in.
"ED!" More shuffling.

"Uh.. Edd?" Double D cringed at his own voice.

An audible swipe. "Aand Eddy! If you wanna reach me, you gotta make an appointment. BYE!" The voicemail ended.

Huh. Double D caught himself smiling. Goodness, what a voicemail… I should probably change mine too.
Double D tried calling him some more, but gave up fairly quick. He knew there was no use in it. If he wanted the truth, he should go and confront Eddy face to face.

By the time Double D returned to the booth, everybody was done and packing up.

"There you are!" Nazz said. "Come on, let's go back. After all, it's vacation now!" Double D smiled.

"Right. Sadly, I only have two days to enjoy with you all before I have to go to my summer program." Double D sighed, calling back to their disappointed, but understanding faces when he told them with Kevin, a few days before graduation.

Nazz laughed. "Aw, don't look so gloomy. We'll make sure to pack all of your summer fun into those two days!" They all chattered some more as they made it back home, discussing what to do in those two days.

By the time everybody parted ways to go to their house, it was already late into the night. Turns out public transportation took longer than what anybody expected. Despite it being very late, much more than he was used to, Double D passed his own home and went straight to Eddy's. The lights were on, so he knocked on the door hopefully.

A minute passed before somebody finally opened the door. Double D looked up and saw Eddy's mother, big and intimidating.

Surprised, Double D coughed, "Oh! Um, um would you uh.. mind if I could see Eddy?" The mother gave a hefty sigh.

"Sorry. He ain't here."

"I see.. well, could you tell me where he is then?"

"He told me he was invited to some party and sleepover. I let him go, it's probably some sort of post graduation thing you kids do."

Double D stayed silent, mouth open as he thought of how to respond to that piece of information.

"Huh… a-and, who invited him?"

"Oh, the sweet Kanker sisters down yonder." Double D's shoulder seized up.
The Kankers?! No WAY would he voluntarily go there! Oh, I have to go save him!

"Thank you!" Double turned around. Then he turned again. "Did.. did you say 'sweet'?"

"Why yes! Eddy told me last week how they were finally starting to warm up to him and stop 'harassing' him. Haha, honestly, 'harass'." She chuckled, clearly unaware of the limitless torture they put the Eds through.
"I met one of them a few days ago, seemed like a fine lady."

"... Did she have blue, blond, or ginger hair?"

"Blue. Striking, but you know teens nowadays. All of them are dying their hair! Maybe I should too…" She wondered.

"I-I see. Well, thank you! I'll be off now!" He turned and sprinted to his house, leaving a bewildered mother to close her door.

I need to gather supplies to help rescue him! And I'm going to need reinforcements! I know Ed could accompany me… perhaps Kevin would too?

Double D unlocked his front door and took a few elephant steps in, before he jolted to a halt. Two figures overarching him stood in cross positions. One in the back, and one standing right in front of him. And she didn't look happy at all.

"M-m-mother?!"