Chapter 11: Something Never Noticed Before

Ed's eyes opened just as the clock struck 6:00pm on the dot. He took the time to survey his surroundings, he was in a..hospital? Is this a dream? He sat up and tried to stand but found his hand hooked up to an IV bag. Yep he was in a hospital alright, the monitors the IV bag, that uncomfortable draft he had from wearing a hospital gown, it was all there.

He began wracking his brain for a cause to his admittance and then the memories started flooding in. He met May Kanker for the first time after 5 years, she tackled him to the ground (he still can't explain how he let that happen) and she basically confessed her feelings for him with a deep sensual kiss. Remembering May's face, her bright smile made him blush but it went away with what he remembered next.

He let the trauma of the crash consume his mind and momentarily forgot everything about his master's training, all the memories after the crash, completely gone. Ed let out a groan and held his head in embarrassment rather than shock. He can't believe he let her get to him like that but it made him curious how meeting May would impact his mind so much.

Thinking clearly he remembered what he was musing about before his 'breakdown,' a relationship with May Kanker? Where the hell did that come from? By now Ed's fear of girls and the romantic stuff had all but gone. Now looking pass his initial fear he began to think seriously about it.

Her younger self wasn't really appealing to him of course she was 12 no 11 and not very attractive, well neither was he. He looked pass the superficial thingsl now and focused on her actions, this was going to take a while so he got in his meditative state

"Inhale through the mouth and exhale through the nose. Clear your mind, relax and let it open." He chanted this and began to calmly drift into his mind palace to find everything about May once again.

She was a bully, gave him overbearing affection and basically stalked him. But that was when she was with her sisters, so it could just be their influence. He tried to find something, anything else that she did in their past because the girl he saw on that field didn't look like someone who wanted to bring him any harm to him.

He started reliving the memory of when they first met, she along with her sisters were very hospitable but he didn't make the best impression in terms of manners and they did get weird in the end when they made them clean the house, kicked them out only to stop them while producing their 'kids.' Ed shuddered.

Then another memory popped up, it was Valentine's Day and as always he was doing everything in his power to prevent any girl (if there were any) from coming even close to him let alone giving him a valentine's card. He ate garlic, kept a spider, didn't shower for a week and wore a bag with an 'ugly' drawing on it. Yet she didn't even seem to care and gave him a valentine's card anyway like all that other stuff didn't matter to her and he trampled over her figuratively and literally.

Ed's eyes opened with guilt shown, he sighed before pressing the buzzer to call a nurse, he was ready to go home now.


The initial drive home was silent with his father at the wheel, he knew he had to explain himself or May might get blamed for his error in judgment.

"Ed," his father began "your friends already told us about your, uh 'meditative state.'

Ed was pleasantly surprised "they did?"

"Yes, so if you feel you have to explain yourself then it's alright, your mother, Sarah and I already understand." He replied softly.

Ed made a sigh of relief as they pulled into the driveway. His return didn't spark any kind of celebration as everyone sat down to eat. Although the revelation of Ed making the football team did make his father happy, proud even.

Ed had wondered why and searched his mind and to his hunch, all the times he remembered his father reading the newspaper or seemingly ignoring his mother to watch the TV, it had something to do with football. He remembered once upon a time that he even tried to teach him how to play but Ed's limited attention span prevented him from learning the game thus disappointing his father immensely.

After dinner Ed was in for a pleasant surprise when he entered his room, there was a bed inside, a queen sized bed. He smiled but his mind was far from sleep at the moment, and why shouldn't it? He'd been sleeping for two days straight. The only thing he can think of now was to inform his friends of his recovery, personally.

He came out the window of his room and headed straight for Eddy's house since it was closer. He knocked on the door and Eddy moved the curtains with a frown but it lightened up when he saw he saw it was Ed.

"So you're finally out lumpy?" Eddy asked as he slid the pane open. "What took ya so long?"

Ed veered to the side and Eddy seemed to understand "that bad?"

Ed nodded "Yeah." He replied sheepishly.

Well c'mon lets tell sockhead" Eddy began while taking up some books "God knows he's been worried, plus we got homework due and I think he took some notes for you."

At that realization Ed began to panic a little, "how much homework?"

Eddy grinned "a lot."

Ed lifted his friend by the collar "which ones Eddy!?" He exclaimed.

"Calm down would ya! Look just get back home grab the stuff on your schedule for the two days ya missed and meet me at sockhead's house alright?"

Ed nodded and made a bee line for his house; Eddy shook his head and headed out for Double D's house. Eddy was casually walking there and since Ed was in a hurry he made it next to Eddy in about 2 minutes so they could both come up and Eddy rang the doorbell.

Double D answered the doorbell after a few moments and was happily greeted by Ed who held him in a bear hug. The next hour went on as they did their homework together, Double D and Ed enjoying it more than Eddy. They also caught Ed up to speed on how they explained things to Nazz and May, Double D didn't mention Marie for whatever reason.

"By the way Eddy, you never did tell me about your time in the club I recommended." Double D asked with a smile.

Eddy knew that he would hold this over him for months "I joined" he grumbled under his breath.

Double D cupped his ear "I'm sorry Eddy could you repeat that please I didn't quite hear you."

Eddy fumed "I SAID I JOINED. " He shouted much to Double D's joy and Ed's confusion."Are yah happy now!?" He exclaimed.

Double D leaned back with a triumphant smirk "quite" He stated simply.

Eddy grumbled something under his breath before sulking quietly.

Ed and Eddy left their friend's house and journeyed back to theirs for some rest.


::FLASHBACK::

Ed shot up on a snowy bank with a dumb blank stare, he gazed at the snow before blinking twice, then a wide smile came over him

"Cool!" he exclaimed before shuddering "c-c-cold."

He got up but felt woozy all of a sudden and reflexively grabbed his head and felt something liquid on his head. He brought his hand down and stared at his blood for a few seconds before thinking it was ketchup and licked it only to spit it out immediately.

He could feel the 'icky red stuff' run down his face and used his sleeve to wipe it off. He then went to run aimlessly, admiring the snow and make snow angels. He got up to admire his work but made a pout when he saw red at the top. He started feeling woozy again and wiped some more blood from his forehead.

The constant lightheadedness didn't seem to slow Ed down as he traversed the landscape. Ed suddenly stopped when he came across a plane wreckage, completely oblivious to what happened prior he compared it to a scene he read in a comic and happily went to explore it.

There wasn't much to explore but his attention was turned toward someone who was under large wreckage. Ed approached slowly while thinking that it must have been uncomfortable to sleep under there

"Hello." He said dumbly.

There was no reply

"My name is Ed. What's your name?"

Still nothing

Ed pouted and turned to walk away but he turned back around as if realizing something, he ran over to the wreckage that was three times his size and pushed it off him. Ed struggled with it before he became lightheaded from blood loss. Since pushing the wreckage proved futile Ed opted to pull the person out from under it. He hung on to the person's arms and pulled with all his might until there was a disgusting squelching noise.

The momentum flew Ed several feet; he got up to check on the 'man' but was wide eyed with what he saw. The man was lying on his back but his legs were gone, there was a bloody trail from where he pulled him to where he currently is while his intestines hung loosely out with blood spurting out forming a pool.

Everything stopped making sense to him, even more than usual as he stared at the grizzly scene, his body started trembling as sweat began to form and his breathing became pants. He hadn't felt fear like this before, his sister's wrath even the Kanker sisters and taking a bath combined didn't make him feel like this.

Ed fell to his knees and threw up in the snow and he began sobbing uncontrollable. He didn't know how long it took but Ed stayed like that for what seemed like an hour until he heard a faint crash in the distance. His bloodshot, tear soaked eyes turned and after a few moments he heard

"ED, DOUBLE D!" sound off in the distance.

The revelation that it was Eddy's voice surprisingly didn't change his mood, the grizzly image of the man torn in two still burned in his mind. Nevertheless he sprinted desperately towards the voice of his friend, for the first time he was completely focused on something and that was making sure that what he just saw didn't happen to his friends.

First find Eddy then Double D, with his new resolve Ed picked up his pace, he came over a clearing where fires were present. He didn't care about the cold anymore and bypass it

"EDDY!" he screamed out when he saw a shadow in the distance, it was obscured by the whirling snow.

The closer he got the more the 'one' shadow resembled two, he smiled a bit and shouted "DOUBLE D!"

Sure enough he turned around and raised his good arm above his eyes to see the rapidly approaching figure that stopped once they were in clear view of each other. Charlotte was confused and looked at Eddward who had a relieved smile

"Ed!" he shouted curiously

::FLASHBACK END::


Ed opened his eyes calmly; pictures of the dead man flashed before his eyes and made him frown. He has gotten over that image but having something like that on your mind first thing in the morning can throw anyone off. He needed to think of something else, his master, his friends, May Kanker? As the thought made its way in the image of her bright smile seemed to spread across his mind like wildfire.

A wide smile spread across his face for some reason as he sat up and stretched his limbs, no meditation for him this morning, he's going to do two straight hours of kungfu practice followed by some reading ahead for some of his classes, he felt obligated to do it since he missed a day. It was 7:30 am when he met up with his friends, the walk to school was surprisingly quiet for the most part when Ed decided to break the silence

"Are you gonna join a club Double D?"

Double D was surprised by this question and was silent, Eddy picked up from Ed's question

"Yeah sockhead, you've been riding me about doing the stupid extracurricular but so far you're the only one who gets to go home early now." Edd glanced at Eddy before looking forward without so much as a word. "I thought you'd join every science related club or something. So what the hell's going on?"

There was silence and his friends took it that he was in deep thought as to how he could reply to Ed's and even Eddy's question. "That is truly a good question" he finally said as he looked to the sky.

Eddy and Ed glanced confusedly at each other and then to their friend who was still looking to the sky.

"Well?" Eddy asked while gesturing his hand in a circular motion.

"I suppose, I just do not have the drive to excel in academics as I used to." He glanced down at Eddy to find a shocked expression. He smiled before turning to Ed, "as for your question Ed, I have not joined a club because I simply do not wish to at this moment. After all I have just returned and have not properly settled into my environment long enough to guarantee that my schedule will be clear for extracurricular activities at this juncture. To put it simply, I just do not have the time right now to do any club activities."

"Oh, okay then." Ed replied simply.

Eddy was a bit skeptical, especially about him not caring about his academics, then it started to make a little sense as he remembered yesterday. Eddy went into his room and on his work desk was a paint brush next to a vile of ink and large white paper which could only mean one thing, calligraphy. It was one of his favorite pass times in Tian Shan and even though he is home, he still does it and if he is doing calligraphy then he could be doing the other things he did in China, not just the training. Eddy nodded in approval at his thoughts and left it at that.

Eddy's analysis was indeed correct in assuming that he still did activities at home that he did in Tian Shan. Truth be told when he was younger he didn't overly study or invent things because that was how he was raised even though that was part of it. No, it was because those were the only things he was good at, he couldn't do any form of sport because of his frailty and made his lack of confidence more prevalent but in studying and schoolwork he had confidence in.

His lack of confidence had often times made him talk in scientific terms which made it seem like he would lord his intellect over other persons. His attempts to share his passion for these things often annoyed others and made him alienated just as Eddy's attitude and Ed's hygiene did.

However his eyes were opened during the 5 years in Tian Shan, his horizon has broadened and more doors for opportunity opened. With his rigorous training, his body is at its peak physically, the constant meditation has left his mind at peace, and the horrible crash has left him with a new outlook on life. So yes Double D still loves to go to school, he still studies and he still uses intellectual words but that is just mannerism. He doesn't need to study or has to go to school and can also not take a bath without going insane and stomach getting dirty without going into a panic attack.

He has also reduced his nagging to friendly advice as opposed to shoving his views down someone's throat (in an annoyingly friendly manner of course). He simply does these things because he wants to or that it is the right thing to do and the only thing that has never changed about him would be his moral conduct which he will never jeopardize and after his training, never will.


The Eds arrived in class and unfortunately they would have to split up for the first period, Ed had literature, Eddy had math and Double D had Physics. 'How ironic' Double D mused in his thoughts. He entered the classroom and to his surprise Nazz was present and she was talking to another rather pretty girl surrounded by more beautiful girls. He remembered seeing some of their faces on the field two days ago so he deduced that they must be a part of the cheerleading team.

A black haired girl immediately took note of his presence when he entered the classroom and so did Nazz who waved hello to him and he returned the kind gesture.

"Who is that?" She asked while staring intently at him as he took his seat at the front of the class, he pulled his queque around his shoulder.

Nazz glanced where she is looking as did everyone in the circle. "I know him, he was one those three losers in the cafeteria on Monday." A blonde girl with her hair in pig tails said obnoxiously. The brunette was surprised to hear this and Nazz frowned at her.

"You mean he's one of those queers your ex talked about Nazz?" A brown hair girl said with a smirk. She had her hair in a ponytail.

Nazz scowled at them "his name is Double D Amber" she replied to the black haired girl "and for your information Tiffany, every story that Kevin ever said about them is a lie! They've just been overseas for 5 years" She angrily stated to the brunette.

The blonde scoffed "What kind of a name is Double D?"

Nazz sighed "his real name is Eddward but everyone calls him Double D because his friend's name is Ed."

"Wait a minute they all have the same name?" Amber asked.

"Well yes and no" Nazz scratched behind her head. "His name has two D's so everyone calls him Double D; his taller friend's name is Ed with one D and the shorter one's name is Eddy." Nazz finished.

"I don't really care what he's called." Amber said while staring at his back dreamily.

Nazz grinned "you like him don't you?" she teased

Amber blushed and looked at her "maybe" she answered and Nazz beamed making her a bit defensive "so what I do? What's it to you?"

Nazz held her hands up in mock surrender and "oh nothing really" she turned to Edd "he's a good guy, he gets straight A's, talks proper English and is like a gentleman."

"So in other words, he's a nerd." The blonde laughed

"Yes Jessica, he's a nerd" Nazz said between her teeth, getting impatient with her attitude "but he also cares about people so yeah if you like him Amber then go for it" She urged with a warm smile.

Amber smiled "alright, I will" she concluded

"Um wait before you go and approach him you should know he might be a little harder to deal with than most guys" she cautioned

"What do you mean?"

She looked to Double D who was reading a Physics text "I mean unlike most guys he won't drool all over you because you look good" this got her attention "like I said he's kind of a nerd so I'd suggest appealing to him with your knowledge."

"Alright I will!" she said this with fierce determination

Meanwhile Double D with his shuddered. His eyes darted back and fort "strange" he said before shrugging and returned to text.


Eddy was annoyed in his class, it wasn't so much the lecture that got to him, it was his classmate. As if fate had some sick twisted plan, Kevin was in his class and hasn't stopped glaring at him since he entered the room. Now, Eddy could care less about 'shovel chin' as he had gotten pretty good at ignoring people and letting things fly as opposed to just kicking their asses.

One of the fruits of his training that he was very thankful for was patience: He's patient enough to let Kevin get over his stupid grudge with him and his breakup with Nazz, he's patient enough to let Kevin actually show some humility and grow up after he was embarrassed admittedly by him. But as the 6th paper ball knocked against his head, Eddy's patience with his immaturity was wearing thin and he is currently fighting the urge to just leap over to Kevin's desk and do a spinning back kick right in his teeth.

He exhaled and looked across to Kevin and strangely enough he looked to be getting frustrated, as if he wanted him to retaliate. Eddy could tell he was being baited and shook his head disappointedly at him, then continued to take down what the teacher was writing on the board. The nod rubbed Kevin the wrong way as he prepared to throw his seventh paper ball, Eddy simply used his free hand to scratch his head.

Kevin threw the ball at Eddy and Eddy simply used his hand still scratching his head to flick it forward without even so much as stopping his writing. To Kevin's (and everyone's who witnessed it) surprise the paper ball went faster than how Kevin threw it and smacked the teacher square in the back of the head.

The teacher turned around and picked up the paper ball "who threw this?" He demanded while looking around the classroom

Kevin grinned and pointed at Eddy who didn't even spare him a glance as he was still taking notes. The teacher approached Eddy

"Mr. McGee" he began to which Eddy looked at him with a neutral expression. He held up the projectile "did you throw this?"

Eddy looked at him confused "sorry teach but ah, I've been taking notes the entire time." Eddy held out his book to which the teacher took and flipped through the pages. True enough all the notes were there and there were no ripped pages for him to throw.

Eddy then leaned forward and whispered "I think you should check Kevin's notes Mr. Freeman, he's been throwing paper at me since class started." Eddy then gestured to the ones currently surrounding his seat.

Mr. Freeman looked in shock at them then turned his attention to Kevin who gulped. He marched over to his desk "May I see your notes young man?" He asked but took up Kevin's notebook before he could stammer an answer.

His notes were blank and had ripped out pages shown, Mr. Freeman glared at Kevin before issuing two detentions: one for disrupting class and the other for trying to pin it on someone else. Kevin's complaints were ignored and the class resumed, Kevin glared at Eddy who looked in his direction with a smirk then shrugged. He then turned his face forward and scratched the side of his cheek with his middle finger clearly visible for Kevin to see, all the students who saw this began to snicker and Kevin could feel his blood boil.


Meanwhile Ed was both happy and nervous at the same time: happy that he was participating in class because he took Double D's advice and read ahead. Yet nervous because he was sharing the class with *gulp* May Kanker in yet another twisted game the fates have laid. Somehow he got the impression that she was watching him, it's like he could feel her eyes on him.

For May's part she was indeed watching his actions and found something else to admire about him. 'When did he get so smart?' she thought dreamily.

Ed gulped as he knew what having her in class meant, he would have to at some point approach her about what happened on the field. Even worse, he needed to try and make friends with her somehow, but something was wrong. Every time he thought about her, his palms would get moist and his heart rate went up, true he could calm them down but he just didn't understand his reaction towards her.

It was like he was 12 years old again yet it was different, it used to be fear but now it was something else an emotion foreign to him. No not foreign, he felt something like this before when he was young, it was for Nazz but he long got over that crush. Wait crush!? Then does that mean?

He glanced over at May who was staring at him, she quickly turned away and he could see the skirt of pink on her cheeks and his heart rate rose. He slowly turned around and could feel his face getting warmer. He cupped his cheeks and at that moment he realized that he was blushing, a feeling of dread ran over him

"Oh no" he whispered.

To Be Continued…

Author's notes: Oh Yeah and the flag has been raised, all you EdxMay fans can now salute. Seriously though, how did I do with this one because, was it good or was it bad, please voice your complaints or agreements in the reviews.