A/N: Been a while, huh? Sorry, had a bit of a mental block.

Sword: I blame Pen.

Pen: I'll take the credit for that. I don't care.

Well, we're back now. So Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy belong to Danny Antonucci and Cartoon Network. The story, Sword, and Pen belong to me. Please do not use without permission. Thank you and please enjoy.

Chapter 4 – Letting Off a Little Ed

"Hey!" Marie snapped her fingers in Edd's face, jerking him out of his peaceful slumber. "If you don't at least pretend you're listening to my sales pitch, then my boss will make me work for real. And if I have to deal with one more person asking if this mattress is 'good for their particular back alignment,' I'll re-align their back permanently."

"Sorry," he said, stretching his arms, the soft comforter he laid upon cradling him in the mattress like a fluffy cloud, siphoning off his worries and replacing the empty space with lethargic daydreams and naps. A small smile played at his lips. "You're so convincing, I just had to try out this bed for myself. Why don't you take a load off? I need to test this for two people in the bed before I consider purchasing it."

She pursed her lips and flicked him in the middle of his forehead, but did plop down onto the mattress while her boss was busy up front. Taking Edd's head in her lap, she traced the reddened spot on his head, then her fingers danced down the side of his face, twisting the fringes of his hair sticking out from his beanie around her finger.

The sensation was heavenly. Edd hadn't felt this relaxed in weeks. He was happy he had quit his job, because with how little time he had now, he didn't see how he would have squeezed shifts in.

With final exams coming up, he had taken on more work helping Marie study for all her classes, hoping that maybe, perhaps, they could bring her grades up to scratch to pass and not have to cheat. Between study sessions with her, Eddy, Ed, and watching the cameras religiously each night, he had no time for anything else.

At least Marie was more hardworking than Eddy and Ed were, making his time with her easier. Since planting the cameras, his two friends had shirked off even trying to bring the failing grades up to straddling the success line, believing that their plan would work fine.

"Why worry?" Eddy had said. "Let's just focus on the other classes."

"Because I still don't know if we'll be able to get in!" Edd had shouted after yet another round of complaining from the two.

The cameras, rather than make things easier, were simply sapping away Edd's time monitoring them. There had been a few wasted days where Ed had had to re-adjust his camera, as he had placed it at too low of an angle so that Edd could only view the teacher's back, and most of the footage was filler that Edd cycled through until the wee hours of the morning, hardly finding any sleep. The handful of times that teachers had entered their credentials to input grades, Edd had spotted a couple of letters and numbers, but nothing significant. Having dozed off from exhaustion during the middle of viewing the footage over the past few days, he was terribly behind.

It wasn't until a couple of days ago when he found the gym coach's credentials, clearly visible while the coach talked to another teacher. For the English and History teacher, he was sure he knew most of the letters and numbers by the movements of the arms and hands. But the Math and Biology teacher was still a mystery.

That didn't solve their largest problem though. As Eddy has pointed out, the only window all three teachers were gone from their computers was during the lunch period, lasting a mere forty minutes. Forty minutes to hit all the computers and get back to class with none the wiser.

"We would have to each take one ourselves," Edd said.

"But what about a lookout?" Ed said

"A lookout?"

Ed nodded. "Yeah. I never get away with anything at home cause I never have a lookout for Sarah."

Surprised by his rare observance, Eddy said, "He's got a point. Teachers and the jerk with a hall monitor badge. What do we do about them?"

Edd had given a noncommittal mumble and returned to the cameras. The teachers and Kevin were known to check classrooms for any wandering students and pranksters. He supposed they could double up for one computer, but that still left one person alone. Perhaps they could use more cameras, but he didn't have time to build them.

"Something wrong?" He looked up into Marie's face, where a crease formed between her eyebrows. "You look worried."

"Just finals," he lied for the dozenth time. She accepted it and moved onto playing with his ear, the little tickling sensation sending shivers down his neck and arms, and he squirmed in her hold.

He had the inkling to tell her each day about what he was up to, as the stress of studying and long nights were getting to her as well. The purple bags under her eyes, headaches every morning she dragged herself into school, and her cranky attitude toward customers – more so than usual. Several times, due to Marie's exhaustion in the mornings, Edd had been obligated to discretely pull her aside in class and inform her that her shirt or pants were on backwards.

Yet he knew telling her what he planned to do would compound that anxiety and she had enough to deal with. So he kept encouraging her and helping her study to the best of his ability, drawing up study guides, making flash cards, and reviewing practice tests with her.

"Half an hour to go," she said suddenly, stirring him again. "Want to take a break, see a movie after this?"

He raised his head, rolling out his stiff neck. "What about studying? Remember our Government and Economy session yesterday and how that went?"

"I'm going to be repeating anyway," she said. "What's it matter?"

He cast around for an excuse and settled lamely on, "Well, what if you do really good in some classes and they let you go through anyway?"

She stared at him and clucked her tongue. "I need a break," she said, emphasizing each word. "You coming with?"

"I can't," he said. "I'm supposed to help Eddy and Ed study tonight."

"C'mon," she said, rolling over on top of him. "I think those two can handle one night without you."

You'd be surprised, he thought. "I promised I'd help them. They're really struggling."

"And I love that you always want to help. But let me help you de-stress a bit." When he didn't reply, she added, "I don't get to see you anymore outside of studying these days."

"Well," he wasn't sure how to respond, "that happens during finals."

"I'm not dating a tutor," she said. "I'm dating you. One movie, just tonight."

He badly wanted to go. But as he did the quick mental calculations of how much footage he still had to review and how long it would take to go through Ed and Eddy's material - even searching through the footage while helping them, he knew he wouldn't have the time. "I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head sadly. "Maybe another night?"

She looked down at him, her upset eyes narrowing, and heaved out, "Fine," in a sullen tone, bouncing off him so the wind was momentarily knocked out of his lungs. He watched her shuffle to the front, stooping and her hands in her pockets, and Edd dug his knuckles into his forehead, wanting to scream.

Remember, it's for her, he reminded himself. It's for her. It's for her. All for her.

Once Marie clocked out, they entered the nearly empty street, walking to their separation point along the sidewalk. Very few people passed by, making Edd uncomfortable in the deafening silence and unsure what to say or do to soothe the mood. It was almost with some relief when the tense air was broken up by a familiar voice calling out to him.

Unfortunately, he wished it could have been any other voice besides this one. "Watch it, dork." Kevin slammed his shoulder directly into Edd's, spinning him around and knocking him toward the street. Marie grabbed Edd's hand, pulling him back onto the sidewalk as Kevin guffawed, his arm draped around Nazz, pulling her closer to him.

Nazz had just pushed Kevin an arm's length away and started telling him off when she suddenly screamed. Edd looked around. Marie was no longer by his side, holding his hand to save him from the asphalt. She straddled Kevin's back, raining blow after blow on his head as they both crashed to the ground. It took Edd a second before he realized the situation and rushed over to the brawling pair.

Both Marie and Kevin swung at one another, fists flying, feet kicking, teeth chomping down anywhere there was an exposed weak point. Strings of curses and guttural threats broke up the thudding impacts and cries of pain

"Get off-!"

"-won't look good missing your-!"

"C'mere!"

"Kidney shot!"

Edd and Nazz glanced at one another, unsure how to tear the two of them apart for fear of being knocked out themselves. Finally, when Marie grabbed Kevin's shoulder and kneed him in the gut – or was it below the belt? – Edd seized the opportunity to wrap his arms under his girlfriend's armpits and drag her flailing and kicking away from Kevin.

"Crazy trailer trash!" Kevin called, raising to his hands and knees and massaging his side.

Marie jerked toward him, but Edd held firm. "Don't mess with my boyfriend again!" she said, wiping a trail of blood from her nose. "Not so big now, hall monitor."

Nazz helped Kevin to his feet, yet he still leaned over, favoring one side. "Have fun repeating a grade." He gave a wicked toothy grin as she growled, then limped off in the opposite direction, his arm thrown around Nazz's shoulders for support.

Once they were out of earshot, Marie stopped struggling against Edd and her breathing slowed to normal. Wiping away more blood, she turned to Edd and asked, "Are you okay? You're not hurt?"

"I should be asking you that," he said. Her left eye had started to swell and despite continually cleaning it, her nose, and now lip, were both bleeding. Yet the Kanker hardiness had kicked in and she stood tall on her own a lot better than Kevin.

"That was nothing," she said, sniffing.

"We better keep going," he said, taking her hand. "You need to get some ice on that."

When they reached their separation point, he offered to come home with her and make sure she was fine. "I got this," she said. "Like I said, it's nothing. And you got to tutor, remember?"

"O-Oh. Right," he said, having completely forgotten about the camera. "Call me if you need anything. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Sure," she said, no longer as frigid as in the store. The fight had burned out that fire, but a downhearted note lingered in her voice. She pecked his cheek, turned, and shuffled off home, leaving Edd with his throat constricted and unsure what to say. He wanted to assure her everything would be okay.

In the end, he kept walking along the sidewalk, making his way for the cul-de-sac, and kicking small pebbles along the way.

Once at his house, Edd already felt the urge to lay down in bed overwhelming him. As much as his body yearned for it, he instead grabbed his laptop, a couple of cans of tea out of the fridge, and walked over to Eddy's house, slowly knocking on the door.

The door cracked open and Eddy peered out. "Oh, right. The review," he said, then nervously looked back inside the house. "Uh, how about we do this another night?"

Edd raised an eyebrow. "The exams are in a matter of weeks. You and Ed need all the studying you can get."

"Right," Eddy said, lowering his voice to a whisper. "I think we can study on our own for one night."

"I've seen how you study on your own," Edd said. "It's the reason I locked up your filthy magazines for the time being."

"And I'll gratefully hate you for that until summer," his friend said. "But right now isn't the best time."

"The best time?" Edd felt something inside his brain snap, as if the overworked gears had finally busted a belt and refused to work. "This whole thing for me isn't the best time either! But I've been the one watching the cameras, helping everyone study, and getting very little sleep! How would you and Ed like to watch the cameras instead? Help me out a bit and work with me here?"

Eddy shushed him, his eyes widening and glancing back inside. "Look, Sockhead. Let me get dressed and I'll come out. Just keep your shirt on."

The door started to close, but Edd wiggled his shoe in, ignoring the squeezing pain in his toes. "Oh, no, you don't. I know you all too well, Eddy. You're not going to slack off tonight." He rammed his shoulder in the door, yet Eddy's side held firm. For the umpteenth time in his life, he cursed his predilection to avoid the gym.

Next summer, pull-ups, he swore to himself, an empty promise that floated away as he banged on the door again and again. Just for once – wham! – let – wham! – me – wham! – get- wham!

The door suddenly relented and he tumbled inside, somersaulting across the shag carpet. In? He came to a rest on his back at the foot of Eddy's bed, staring up at the ceiling. Ed and May hopped off the bed and crowded around Edd's body, looking him over.

"Hey, Double Dee!" Ed said loudly in his ear.

"What," he looked around, "what's going on?"

"We were waiting for you," a husky voice said. Edd craned his neck back at the door and saw Lee shut it, Eddy glaring at her. She joined her sister in peering down at Edd and lifted the mass of red curls out of one of her eyes. "We hear tell you got a way to raise our grades." Edd's breathing hitched. "And we want in."

A/N: Whew, that took a while.

Sword: I think I can keep Pen out of our way. It'll be tough, but it's for romance's sake!

Whatever helps. Anyway, thank you all for sticking with us. Hope you're enjoying it and please let us know what you think.