A/N- Hey guys! I'm back and I'm back for good! I'm taking a hiatus from my Time Warp Trio fandom and I'm going to continue this story as well as more EddxMarie oneshots, the Welcome to Peach Creak series School Store Wars, and requests. So Please enjoy this chapter and review!
The second hand ticked by so slowly Marie could have sworn it wasn't moving at all. It was 2:56 and in four more minutes school would end and she would be reunited with her sweet cutie pie Double D. Or… she could be reunited with her card buddy Short Stop.
It was a weird problem to have. Stay out of trouble for four minutes and be with her cute, smart, but sorta over bearing boyfriend? Or get detention and play cards with Squirt who actually wasn't that bad once you get to know him?
The teacher cleared his throat and slapped a graded paper on her desk. Marie turned it over and cringed. A 67 D. Again.
"Perhaps you should start spending less time on make overs and spend more time studying, Miss Kanker?" The teacher smirked.
The whole class began snickering and Marie felt her ever present temper rising.
"And maybe you should spend more time teaching and less time combing that fake toupee." She mumbled under her breath.
The teacher froze and Marie mentally slapped herself in the forehead. The teacher quickly wrote her a detention slip and dropped it on to her desk. The class laughed again and Marie sunk into her seat miserably.
"Disrespectful behavior?" Double D frowned as he read the detention slip. "Marie please tell me that you didn't make fun of his toupee again."
"Hey! He was disrespecting me!" Marie frowned. "He totally made fun of my make over after he gave me this D!"
Double D glanced at her paper and his frown deepened. "Marie, this paper is very well deserving of this grade. Why didn't you ask me for assistance?"
Marie's jaw dropped. "Seriously Double D? No sympathy? No 'I'm sorry you had a bad day babe'?"
"My apologizes if I seem cold, Marie, but my parents always taught me that we are responsible for our own actions." Double D smiled and laid a hand on her shoulders. "But as your boyfriend I shall be happy to start tutoring you in lieu of our usual dates."
Marie looked into his smiling eager face and didn't feel her usual airy flutter. Instead she felt nothing but irritation and weariness. She brushed his hand off her shoulder just as the after school bell rang.
"Whatever Double D, I'm late for detention." She muttered and walked away without even attempting to kiss him good bye.
There was a pit in her stomach as she walked towards the detention room. Being in an actual relationship was nothing like she thought it would be. Magazines, television, and the occasion movie showed her guys bestowing affection and gifts on their ladies, while the girls would giggle, bat their eyes, and serve them dinner.
But not her and Double D. Nope. He just criticized her for her temper and "poor school attitude" and pretty much refused to shower affection on her like she deserved.
She entered the detention room and dropped her slip on the desk. The teacher dismissed her with a wave and went back to reading her book.
"Yo Marie," Eddy waved her over. "Get over here so I can take some loose change from ya!"
"No gambling." The teacher croaked, still reading her book.
Marie ignored her though and felt herself smiling as she made her way over to Eddy.
"Are you sure you want to play me, Short Stop?" She smirked. "I'm not in a charitable mood."
Eddy laughed. "Could have fooled me dressed like that."
She pressed her lips together to suppress her laughter and hid her face behind her cards. Her hand wasn't great but that just made the game more exciting. And judging by Shorty's scowl his hand wasn't that great either.
"You wanna make this a regular thing?" Marie asked suddenly. "Without the detention room I mean?"
"Yeah right, and have Lee jump down my throat?" Eddy scoffed. "No thanks."
Marie gave a half shrug. "Whatever. I was just thinking that since we have so much fun playing cards together-"
"I'm in detention half the time anyway." Eddy mumbled. "Why ruin a good thing?"
"I meant we do both, moron." Marie laughed. "We play cards in here, and I don't know, hang out outside of school too?"
Eddy laid down his hand with a relieved laugh. Marie frowned. Shoot, he had won.
"You know Kanker, for a minute there I thought you were going full dorky on me." Eddy said quietly. "Next thing I know you'll be using big words like Sockhead."
"I'm not turning into him you know." Marie impatiently shook her pony tail out. "This make over is just temporary until he feels more uncomfortable with me."
Eddy laughed out loud and reshuffled the deck. The teacher promptly shushed him and he struggled to smother the rest of his laughter. Marie glared at him, but his laughter had a cutting edge to it. May's confused words came back to her, If you two are dating, shouldn't he already be comfortable with you?
"Kanker, you are way too good for Sockhead." Eddy wiped a tear out of the corner of his eye.
Marie blinked in shock and felt her face warm, but this time it wasn't from anger. Did the runt actually make her feel good? As they continued playing, she ran a critical eye over him. Eddy was short, barely had hair, and he perpetually smelled like cheap cologne. Whatever Lee saw in the twerp, Marie definitely didn't see it. But so far Eddy was more of her friend than Double D was her boyfriend.
"This is so messed up." Marie mumbled. "I think I actually like you more than my Dreamboat, Short Stop."
Eddy gave her a look full of horror and she laughed.
"I didn't mean like that!" She chuckled. "I just meant- ugh, dating Double D was more work than I thought it'd be. And it's so weird but I think I feel more comfortable talking to you than I do talking to him."
"That's because he's a brainiac and you're a stupid Kanker." Eddy scoffed. "Trust me, it gets less intimidating and more annoying the longer you get to know him."
"But that's just it, he's not intimidating at all." Marie sighed in longing. "Not only is Double D smart, but he's also a total sweetie pie."
"Aww! Mawee just woves Eddaward!" Eddy teased in a baby voice. "Do you two kiss and whold hands and skip arwound?"
Her temper snapped and she grabbed Eddy by the shirt collar, yanking him to her face. The teacher slammed her book down and cleared her throat, but Marie could hardly hear anything over the hissing of blood in her ears. Eddy struggled to break out of her iron grip, fear clear in his face.
"Whoa, whoa Kanker! Calm down will ya!? I was only joking!" He yelled.
"Kanker! Let go immediately or it'll be another detention!" The teacher added.
Marie took a deep breath and dropped Short Stack back in his seat. Her breath came in ragged gasps and she counted backwards from twenty until her face and neck cooled down. She slumped down in her own seat and tugged at the collar of her turtle neck. These stupid clothes were becoming way too uncomfortable.
"Sorry," She mumbled. "I've been having a rough day."
"Seemed like you were having a good day to me." Eddy grumbled, rubbing his neck. "Rumor had it that you and Sockhead were holding hands earlier."
"He was just trying to drag me to class. It was no big deal."
Marie didn't know why she down played it like that, but if she wanted to be honest it was the truth. Eddy eyed her skeptically and reshuffled the deck for a final hand before the end of detention.
"This is exactly why I like to play the field nice and loose." He gave a cocky grin. "I wouldn't want some chick tying me down and causing a lot of drama."
Marie scoffed. "Yeah. That's totally the reason you don't have a girlfriend."
The final bell rang and while the rest of the class, including the teacher, basically stampeded out, her and Eddy took their time finishing their hand.
"So you and Sockhead got a hot date planned after this?" Eddy mumbled.
"Nah," Marie grunted. "It's spaghetti night and my mom's actually off work for once so I have to eat dinner with my stupid family. What about you?"
"Monster movie night at Ed's. And Sockhead wants us to do homework together." Eddy scoffed. "I was hoping you'd keep him busy for me."
"Haha, no thanks. Better you than me."
Eddy laid down his hand with a shout of triumph and even though she lost Marie chuckled. To be honest she didn't want to leave but it was getting late and the janitor would be by any minute to chase them off or report them to the principal. But once they were out in the hallway, Marie was surprised to see Edd and Ed out in the hallway.
"Oh, nice of you two to show up after my detention's over!" Eddy yelled angrily.
"Actually Eddy, I had an after school activity to attend to and I thought I would stay behind and walk Marie home." Double D smiled nervously at Marie. "Forgive me Marie, but once again I felt that we parted on angry terms again."
"And I came because I had nothing better to do, Eddy." Ed cried happily.
Marie rolled her eyes. "That's sweet of you Dreamboat but you really didn't have to. I was just finishing a card game with Short Stop. The guy is almost a good player."
She then leaned on Eddy's head and noticed the Double D's smile fell just a little at the corners. And instead of getting angry, Eddy merely rolled his eyes and wrapped in arm around her waist.
"Whatever Kanker. I'm the one who just beat you at poker." He chuckled.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY MAN MARIE!?" A scream boomed out through the hallway.
Marie jumped away from Eddy and spun around, absolute terror running through her veins. And the last thing she saw was Lee midair with her teeth barred in an angry snarl.