Running back to the cul-de-sac, Hannah skids to a stop in the middle, wondering which was Jonny's house. After a moment, she risks it, the thought running through her head that the boys were probably getting kissed by now.
Knocking on the door of the nearest house with a shudder, she prays to see a friendly face.
When the door opens, her mouth does too, ready to speak. She quickly shuts it afterwards, her eyes traveling up to meet Kevin's down-staring ones.
"What do you want, dork?" He asks impatiently.
Hannah folds her arms, sighing. "I got the wrong house, sorry. I just need to know where the Kankers live."
"The Kankers? Aren't the Dorks your friends?" Kevin asks, leaning against the doorframe boredly.
Hannah rolls her eyes. "Yeah, and they're more friends than you'll ever be. Just please tell me already, it's life or death." She says dryly, her eyes half-lidded.
Kevin sighs, pointing dully. "Down the lane, take a left, straight. Their trailer is blue."
"Thanks!" Hannah says brightly, giving him a smile and turning to leave.
Kevin shakes his head, shutting the door. "Whatever." He mutters, walking up to his room.
Hannah, looking over her shoulder, shakes her head. "I wonder what's bugging him." She muses, jogging off down the lane.
In the forbidden trailer of doom, the seemingly forgotten Eds shiver violently, Ed speaking quietly. "What do we do, guys?"
Double-D answers with a frightened squeak, hearing another yell come from outside the closed door. Eddy bites his lip, suddenly wincing. "Ed! Get off!" He hisses, his friend having grabbed him in one of his famous hugs. "They're gonna hear us!" He yelps.
Double-D nods, covering his eyes. "Yes, and the small walls of this closet won't do much good to keep us safe…" He whines.
Outside the closet, Lee stands on her tiptoes in the living room, facing Dana. Her hands on her hips and her mouth pulled down in a fierce frown, she yells once again. "DANA! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO KEEP HER AWAY!"
Dana folds his arms, staring calmly at his sister with one eyebrow raised and his head slightly tilted back. "Now, now, sis. I didn't lead her here, she ran in the other direction." He says soothingly. "Besides. She offered to tango, and you know how I tango."
May laughs, snorting. "Yeah, that's how we got that dent in the wall, huh Marie?"
Marie nods absently as Lee punches May in the face with one quick jerk of her arm. "Yeah, yeah." She yawns, painting her nails.
Dana leans against the wall, looking deviously at the pictures his sisters had drawn of themselves and the Ed-boys. "So. These guys don't look so great. What do you see in them? And what do I get for being such a good big brother and helping?" He asks slyly, looking in Lee's direction.
Lee shrugs, flopping down on the sofa and making Marie's paintbrush flip up and hit her in the face.
With a splat, it hits the girl's eye, leaving a red splot that actually goes well with her green eye shadow. But Marie obviously doesn't seem to think so, for both hands fly to her eye, and, with a high pitched shriek, she leaps off of the couch and races around the trailer, running into things and all the while keeping up the siren-like scream.
Lee groans, jumping up and beginning to chase after her sister while yelling "soothing" comments like "Slow down, you'll break somethin'!" and "Quit wrigglin', stupid!"
May yelps, running to the phone. "Slow down Marie! What's the number for 911, Dana?" She squeals, hopping up and down.
Dana's eyes drop to annoyed half-lids as his sisters go crazy around him. With a sigh, he blows the small tuft of hair poking out of his hat up. "I'll go see about Hannah." He says blandly, walking to the door and letting it slam shut on the chaos behind him.
Hiding behind the fence surrounding the Park n' Flush trailer park, Hannah watches warily as Dana walks out of the trailer. Listening to the tumult from inside, Hannah winces as she whispers to herself, now looking at the ground. "Ow. I wonder if they're okay…"
Dana suddenly steps in front of her, smiling so his missing tooth shows. "They're fine. That's just my sisters being idiots. But I'm sure that when they get the nail polish out of Marie's eye, they'll pounce on the Eds."
Hannah stifles a giggle. "Nail polish? Ew." She stands up, eyeing the bully in front of her. "What do you want?"
Dana stuffs his hands into the pocket of his hoodie, shrugging. "You offered to tango, so I'm taking you up on your offer."
Hannah snorts, hooking her thumbs in the pockets of her jeans. "I assume you read up on that song. Tango with you? As if! Besides, I don't even know how to tango, thankyouverymuch." She says sarcastically, running a hand through her hair. "You know, the same song is running through my head now that did when I met Kevin."
Dana raises an eyebrow. "And what song would that be, darlin'?"
Hannah smirks, choosing to ignore the 'darlin''. She slowly takes steps around the boy, her eyes wide and innocent and her hands clasped politely behind her back. "Happy birthday…to you." She sings slowly.
Dana looks confused as he swivels around to face her.
"Happy birthday…to you!" She continues, stopping her circle when they have traded places.
Dana's face changes to an angry one, anticipating what comes next.
"You…look like a…MONKEY!" She giggles, whipping around and racing off to the trailer, leaving Dana behind her, growling and pulling his hands out of his pockets. "And you smell like one too!" She shrieks over her shoulder, diving behind the trailer.
Dana follows her, his face red and furious and his arms held straight at his sides.
Hannah, hearing him coming, quickly yanks open
the back door and squeezes inside.
Dana skids around the corner and frowns, not seeing her anywhere. Blowing his hair frustratedly, he growls. "You can run, sweetheart, but you can't hide from me." He murmurs, reaching for the door.
Inside, Hannah, hearing the handle turn, yelps and races to the nearest door, opening it and sliding in just as the door opens. Slamming the door shut with a squeak, she quickly sits down, feeling something skinny and warm under her. "OW!"
"Yipe!" Hannah yelps, turning her head to look behind her. "Sorry…" She winces. "Didn't know you guys were in here."
Double-D gasps, croaking a response. "It's perfectly alright...but if you wouldn't mind…"
Hannah slaps a hand to her forehead, quickly shifting her weight to try to get off of Double-D. Leaning over, she accidentally loses her balance and falls on top of Eddy with a small yelp.
"Gah! Lose some weight, elephant!" He gripes, shoving her off of him into Ed's lap.
Hannah gasps. "Eddy…that was mean." She says quietly, self-consciously putting her hands on her stomach.
Ed huffs, quietly moving Hannah to the floor at his side. "Yeah, Eddy. You're as wide as a pole."
Double-D raises an eyebrow. "A pole, Ed?"
Ed nods once, folding his arms and looking away. "Yep.
Eddy snorts. "Am not!"
Hannah leans against the wall, stretching her legs out, then yelping as they bang against the walk. "Dang. This place is small…why're you guys in here?" She asks, putting her hands behind her head.
Eddy snorts. "Why do you think? We ran in here to hide while they were distracted with Dana."
Hannah sighs. "There's got to be a way to make them stop!"
Double-D taps his fingers together, thinking. "Some sort of bribery may suffice, but I doubt they'll wait long enough to consider our terms. Reverse psychology has been proven to not work."
Hannah
continues thinking, then speaks slowly. "What do you guys think
about killing them with kindness?"
Eddy scoffs, waving a hand
in the air. "They'll never fall for that!"
Double-D nods. "For once, Eddy's right. It's too much like reverse psychology."
Ed suddenly speaks up, his eyes fixated in a blank stare. "Music may soothe the savage beast!"
Hannah sits up straight. "Ed, say that again!" She says excitedly.
"What?
"What you just said!"
"Oh!" He grins, striking a dignified pose. "What?"
Hannah sighs, giggling a little. "Never mind. Look, music soothes the savage beast! The Kankers are savage beasts, so why don't we soothe them with music?"
Double-D quickly claps a hand over Eddy's mouth, stifling the cursing that was about to overflow. "Music? Hannah, be reasonable. The Kankers wouldn't stop long enough for you to catch their attention!"
Hannah's face falls and she slumps against the wall. "Oh well, it was worth a try. Thanks Ed." She says, patting the now sniveling Ed boy on the shoulder. "So what do we do now?" She asks quietly.
Double-D slowly sits up, beckoning Hannah to come closer. "Would you be willing to do a little acting?" He asks when Hannah leans her head towards him.
She grins. "Would I ever! What do I do?"
