A/N: This Chapter's pretty short. It's purpose is to resolve an issue w/ Marty. Big plot point coming next time.

Chapter 7 - Dea's Words of Wisdom

Another week passed and life went on. Marty had been acting stange around her friends, which concerned them. One day the brainiac retreated from them completely. She passed quickly between classes and hid in the library during lunch. She gave them no hints as to why she was behaving in such a manner.

At Peach Creek High, Edd was causing concern among his friends too. The usually upbeat, talkative boy was being unusually dismal and quiet. Both Ed and Eddy had tried to talk to him before school, but he had only hidden his face from them and refused to speak. If there was one thing Eddy couldn't stand, it was being ignored. So he cornered his friend by some lockers on the way to lunch.

"Hey, Sockhead! What's with you? You've been acting all weird and pouty all day!"

Edd looked at the ground, "I'd rather not talk about it right now."

He tried to slip away, but Eddy blocked his path. Big Ed was there too, standing beside Eddy.

"Yeah, well I want to talk about it," Eddy said.

"You can tell me, Double-D," said Ed.

Edd looked back and forth between his two friends. It was clear they weren't going to let him get away. His back was against the locker bank, Eddy was determined to keep him there, and Ed was obeying Eddy now. Edd felt his bottom lip quiver and swallowed hard.

"...Marty broke up with me," he said softly.

"What? Why?" Eddy asked.

"I don't know. She didn't provide a specific reason."

"Of all the..."

Edd could hear the anger in Eddy's voice and for once he was comforted by it.

"Who needs her, Double-D" Eddy said, "there's plenty of girls out there. You can do better."

"I appreciate your support, Eddy. I just wish I knew why...I mean, everything was fine between us and then out of no where she just informed me that she didn't want to see me anymore. Where did it go awry?"

"It's OK, my friend," Ed said, patting Edd on the back.

"Thank you, Ed," Edd smiled and wiped at his eyes.

"C'mon. Let's go get some food," Eddy suggested.

The three guys started walking to the cafeteria together, with Edd in the middle.

"It's so nice to have friends I can depend on for emotional support," Edd commented.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get all weepy on me, Double-D," Eddy replied.

"Aww, he's a keeper, Eddy!" Ed exclaimed. He picked Edd up in a characteristic bear hug, like he used to do all the time when they were younger.

After school that day, Edd went home where he planned on studying or cleaning house all night. Ed's parents had driven him to Amy's house to play video games and Eddy was at Dea's house.

"Why did Marty break up with Double-D?" Eddy asked Dea, taking a seat next to her on the bed.

"I didn't know she had," Dea answered, "she's been putting me and Amy off all day."

"Well, find out, would ya?"

"Yeah, I'll ask her next time I see her."

"Call her and ask her now."

"Right now? You have to know right now? She hasn't even told me they split yet, it would be kind of weird to just call her up and demand to know all the details."

"I don't care about details," Eddy said, "I just want to know why she dumped him. Double-D deserves an answer."

Dea stared at him and nodded. She picked up her cordless phone and began to pace around the room as she dialed. Three rings later, Marty picked up on the other end.

"Hey, Marty. This is Dea...look, why did you break up with Double-D?"

Eddy motioned for Dea to put it on speaker phone and she consented.

"Who told you I broke up with him?" Marty asked.

"Eddy told me. Double-D's upset because you left him and didn't give him any reason why."

There was no reponse on the other end so Dea continued.

"Frankly, I'm a little upset too, Marty. He really cares about you. What did he do to make you not like him?"

"Nothing..."

"Then why would you dump him?"

"I don't know..."

"Marty, you've got a sweet, intelligent, caring young man there. Do you know how rare that is?"

Dea ignored the evil glare she got from Eddy and continued, "You two have so much in common. You know what I think? I think you're afraid to let anything good happen to you."

There was a long pause and Dea thought maybe Marty had hung up on her.

"Marty?"

"...you're...you're right."

"What?"

"You're right. I am afraid to let something good happen to me. Something that big anyway. Science has shown that over time all things deteriorate. I don't want to get involved with something that isn't going to last."

"Oh, for Christ sake, Marty! Forget science! The rules of science don't apply here. This is love. Love is unpredictable and that's part of the excitment! This is the best thing that's happened to you, Marty. Don't let it slip away."

"...but what if we break up in the future?"

"Then you shed your tears and you get over it! What if you run away and never know how good it could have been?"

"I know. You're absolutely right...do you think he'd take me back?"

Dea looked at Eddy and he nodded.

"Yes," she told Marty, "just tell him why you did what you did and promise to work on it."

"What do I say?"

"I just told you what to say! I'm not going to put every word in your mouth for you. Be creative, I know you can do this."

"...Ok."

"So you're going to call him when I hang up this phone, right?"

"...yes. Dea, can I ask you something personal?"

"Um, I guess so..."

"Do you think you'll be with Eddy forever?"

Dea looked nervously at Eddy and blushed. She cursed the speaker phone and studdered for an answer.

"...a...I certainly hope so. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. You act differently around him than you did any other guy you ever dated. Different in a good way."

"So are you gonna call Double-D or what?" Dea asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, I'm calling him. Thanks, Dea."

Dea stopped her pacing and clicked the phone off. She heard Eddy get up and sensed his presence behind her. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck. Wordlessly, she turned around in his arms and started kissing him on the lips.

Meanwhile, Edd was shuffling through stacks of science homework in his room. He was in the middle of filing last semester's lab reports when the phone rang.

"I wonder who that could be," he said absent mindedly.

He put his papers aside and picked up the phone. He was more than a little surprised to hear Marty's voice on the other end.

"...I wanted to apologize," Marty was saying.

"I just want to know what I did wrong," Edd said.

"You didn't do anything. It's me. I'm the one with the problem."

"What provoked this sudden change?" Edd asked suspiciously.

"I was talking to Dea and she made some very good points. About me being afraid of good things happening and then she made me realize how much worse off I would be if I just kept running from things. I'd never know if it could be good or not."

"So what are you saying?"

Marty was silent. This was so much harder than Dea had made it out to be. She took a deep, shakey breath.

"I'm saying, I'm sorry I destroyed our relationship over nothing."

"...I wouldn't say destroyed," Edd said after a long pause, "...perhaps we could start anew? As friends?"

Marty felt as though a huge burden had just been lifted.

"I'd like that," she said.

Edd talked to her a for few more minutes. It eased the tension Marty had created between them. After he hung up the phone that night, he made a mental note to thank Dea for her rare words of wisdom to Marty.

A/N: Next time the tragedy starts. Stay tuned!