Chapter 30: The Negative One
When it came to today's... day of school for the lads, the first thing that had to cleared up first is the thing that Eddy and Chris planned to do. They went as fast as they could to the school, so that they wouldn't be seen by anyone that weren't their friends. Of course, Ed carried Double D while running at the pace similar to that of the other two lads, as Double D's running abilities... well, leave a lot to be desired. Anyways, back to the main thing, Chris and Eddy enter and... mission unsuccessful. Somehow, all 3 Kankers were already there, so putting the note there we beyond off-limits. Granted, one of them could've done a distraction, and the other could've done the process of leaving the paper, but that would've been very much improvised beyond belief, and it's success rate is quite low. So... waiting it is!
Around 5 minutes before class...
"Dang! That sucks... oh great." Chris said, slightly annoyed.
"Now what?" Eddy asked.
Chris thought for a second, before simply stating, "Lunch. That's the only other possible time. But again, fast and quick, like the wind my dude. Speaking of which, lemme get this potion drank and all." Chris said, before drinking the potion right before class.
"Gotcha. Well fellas, I guess we should get prepared to head to class?" Eddy said, obviously annoyed that he had to go to class.
"Precisely Eddy." Double D said. "I shall catch you fellows in break!"
"Cheers my friends!" Ed yelled out.
Chris and Eddy went to Math, and something... or someone, catches Chris's eye.
"Who is that? That looks, yet doesn't look like Skylar."
"Figure it out." Eddy responded.
Chris goes over to the table, takes his seat, and since he has no other way of finding out if it's Skylar, says, "Skylar?"
"Yes? Notice what I mentioned?"
To save you the trouble of guessing, she simply got a hairstyle change. She went with a small ponytail, but her hair wasn't cut in order to do that. On top of this change, add a color change to the list too, as it went from the darkest red, to just flat out black. Chris was too used to the red and long hair style, that when he saw that... is it any surprise why he was confused?
"Oh, uh... yeah."
"What's your two cents on it." She said while smiling a little.
"Why is she asking ME!!!??? Okay, just answer it dude." Chris screamed in his mind, before he, out loud, says, "It looks, well... amazing?"
Skylar explained, "Thanks. I was going to get it changed before this school year started, but I ran into delay issues, and other stuff. Ya know?"
"Uh huh... wait umm... why did you want to change it?Just curious."
"I just wanted a change after three years basically. I liked my last hair style and color too, I just got bored. Ya get me?"
He will not admit it, but Skylar's new look was actually really attractive to Chris, he just kept his opinion about the whole matter... "under the radar", so to paraphrase it. Fun fact, Skylar is the only female now to have black hair, just to let you know.
When it came to the rest of the classes, unfortunately, minus some funny things occurring, such as Eddy pulling a prank with the assignments on the teacher in English, which, hard to believe I know, Mr. Araya found funny, but told Eddy to not repeat that, otherwise he'll be forced to do a punishment. It was when it was time for break, things picked up in activity. Let's see what the girls are doing in the cafeteria.
"So, your style and color changed huh? Marie asked Skylar, as all the girls acknowledged it.
"Yeah." Skylar rssponded. "I told Chris this too, but I'll tell you guys that I wanted to get it changed before the year started, but delays occurred so... sadly I couldn't do it. No matter, I'm happy with it."
"Why did you want it changed?" A curious May asked.
"I had the previous style and stuff for like three years almost. I liked it, don't get me wrong May, but I got bored of it, and wanted to change. Nothing more to it then that." Skylar explained.
Marie was about to poke fun at her in a way, but she held back, as she didn't want to make the change... "weird" or "awkward" for Skylar. I think you know where Marie was about to go.
Speaking of which...
"Chris, do you have a quick second to talk?" Double D said.
"Sure."
Chris was just relaxing on the bench, while the other were playing basketball, but Double D decided to quit, as he wasn't really a huge fan of the sport itself anyways. Either way, Double D asks, "Was the lady that accompanied you and Eddy to English Skylar or someone new?"
"The former." Chris responded. "I thought it was someone else too, but Skylar decided to change her appearance, as she just got bored of her appearance from before. So... we have a new Skylar. In a way, but I digress. I expect Ed to confuse her with someone new though."
The two of them share a laugh at that, before Double D said, "Thank you for informing me of this change. I'll be sure to note that she has changed her look."
"Yeah, no issue. I mean... okay, KEEP THIS BETWEEN US, but she looks great. It's just a compliment, nothing more."
"Don't worry Chris." Double D said. "I understand what you choose to imply with your choice of words. After all, don't we all have our own opinions on the table?"
"I suppose so."
Later... at lunch, more specifically.
Everyone planned to play "spin the bottle" once more, as they didn't do it yesterday, for reasons not understood. It doesn't matter, as everyone got into their spots, and the game started. But before it actually began, Ed got confused, as he saw Skylar with the new look, and did NOT recognize her in anyway. He then says, "Who is that guys?"
"Oh for gods sake." Chris said. "Ed, this is Skylar. Just... changed up."
"Skylar has red hair Chris! That isn't red! Clearly it is a new friend to the town!" Ed said, misunderstanding the situation completely. Skylar laughs a little, as it didn't really bother her, the fact that some peeps didn't know that she changed her style completely. She thought it more funny than anything. Anyways, Ed, unnecessarily introduces Skylar to everyone.
"These are my friends, Double D, Eddy, and Chris!" Ed said, pointing at the specific three. Ed then stands up and points towards the other Cul-De-Sac kids and tells Skylar who is who. Granted, she hasn't exactly met them fully yet, despite having a handful of classes with them. Either way, the trio of 4 say hello back, and then Ed moves on to the Kankers.
"These are the fellow good Kanker Sisters! May, the one who likes the funny, has the long yellow hair! Marie, the one who is dating my best friend Double D, has the blue hair, and lastly, Lee, the one that is like Eddy, has the red hair!"
"Hang on a moment!" Lee yelled out. "What did you say Marie is doing?"
"Oh! Uh..."
Chris, Eddy, and Double D were all signaling to Ed, "DON'T SAY IT!", but...
"Marie is dating Double D! A great love story it is indeed."
Lee, oh no, isn't very thrilled to hear this news. "So, you got some explaining to do!"
"He's probably just thinking about some movie he watched!" Marie fires back, but unfortunately, Lee doesn't buy it. Not, one, bit.
The other kids caught on aswell, "Wait... Double Dweeb and Marie are getting together?" Kevin asked.
"The dog has been made friends with the cat!" Rolf exclaimed.
"They seem too different to be together..." Nazz, who wonders if this is even true.
"Holy moly! Plank, isn't this a hoot!" Jonny said.
Well... in the span of less than 10 seconds, the news of the two lads spread across. Wow. Lee is very much still annoyed, and the fact that Marie lied about it did NOT help her case at all. "So, you think you and continue your lying huh? Well, I'm glad I know now, so that you can't keep visiting him!"
"WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE ME!?" An EXTERMELY angry Marie fires back.
"Who's the leader? And who's the follower, huh?" Lee said.
Marie's frustration is growing beyond belief, and fires back, "IF YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE GONNA STOP ME, THINK AGAIN!"
"And why haven't you fought back huh? Too scared?" Lee said, obviously very unfazed by Marie's attitude.
Marie's anger is getting dangerously close to the "Get This" levels of angry, and we all saw what occurred the last time she was that angry. Oh goodness.
However, Skylar, stood just shocked. What in the world did she even unintentionally start? In her mind, it makes no sense why Lee would say that, considering from what she's seen for Double D, he seems like a good dude. So, this is making no sense to her. However, she realizes that Chris is nowhere to be found. Where is he? Well, actually, he is just about leaving the cafeteria, into the hallways. Skylar notices this and goes after him, to see what's up, and if maybe he has some answers to what's going on. "Chris!"
Chris stops in his tracks and responded to Skylar, in an annoyed tone. "Oh, hey."
"What's uh... wrong?"
Chris sighs in annoyance, and says, "They are about to get into a yelling and arguing contest, and guess what? I'm not about to get involved in this. I've done much more than I think I should've at this point."
"I don't understand." Skylar said. "Is there something to the whole story that I don't know about that explains why Lee just... disapproves of the whole thing between Marie and Double D? The guy seems nice and all, I don't understand..."
Chris rolls his eyes, before saying, "I'm just gonna let you know, there's so much history between the Eds and the Kankers that is important to know why this occurred. Unfortunately, I can't explain it to you here... so... yeah."
Skylar moves up closer to him, and says, "Why don't we talk in private about it? I'll want to know more, so is that okay?"
Chris thought about it for a second, before ultimately saying, "Sure. Where should we go? Let's make sure no one will see us either."
"They're gonna be too busy there anyways." Skylar responded. "But here, I know one place I like. Let's get away from this ridiculousness..."
"Thanks. I despise this stupid crap." Chris, in a emotionless tone said.
"It's alright. Let's go." Skylar said.
And off they go to talk. But if you think that the craziness has calmed down in the cafeteria, oh you couldn't be more than wrong lad.
Back in the cafeteria... oh no...
"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM WITH HIM?" Marie shouted insanely loudly.
Lee responded, "He can't be trusted! I'll place money on the fact that he's just doing some trick to get to you and break your heart! That's all that men do! They just take from you until they want no more and they leave ya!"
At that point, Marie couldn't take it no more. She uppercuts Lee INCREDIBLY hard, but does that stop Lee though? No it does not. In fact, Lee pins down Marie, and tries to punch her, but May gets in the mix, trying to stop them from hurting each other. Lee shoves May away, sending her flying back QUITE a bit. Marie, gets pissed, and literally kicks Lee off with her two feet with insane force, before pinning her to a wall. Unfortunately, Lee dodges a punch to the face, which results in Marie hitting the wall, leaving a slight damage mark.
In a bold choice of action, Lee charges at Marie, and the two of them literally start hitting everything. Such as, the tables of the cafeteria? Yeah, they slam each other onto them, and Marie flips one of them in a fit, plus in attempt to mess Lee up. Marie manages to grab a chair and literally hits Lee with it, but this backfires, as Lee does the same thing by grabbing the side of it and starts to hit Marie with it. Marie manages to avoid a hit, and elbows Lee directly in the face, before pinning her down, but then Lee successfully kick her off, before reversing the roles.
The rest of the people watching were split into two sides. First, the people chanting "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!", and randomly making "Ohhh!" or laughing noises. As for who they are cheering for, it doesn't seem like that matters to anyone there. Second, the other group of people being the Cul-De-Sac kids, who just watched, shocked, dumbfounded, confused, or a mix of all three.
Speaking of which, The Eds can't really do anything, as they would end up in a situation like May did. However, Double D couldn't believe what was happening. It all seemed like some bad horror movie. None of it seemed real, yet it did in a really weird way.
"DON'T GO NEAR HIM!" An angry Lee yelled out, but Marie growled loudly as a response to what she said, only fueling said conflict.
"Lee Kanker! Get off Marie this instant!" Mr. Araya yelled.
Mr. Muta and Mr. Araya entered the scene, after they were told from a student who witnessed the commotion what was going on. They IMMEDIATELY went to see what the heck was going on.
The two sisters were trying to hit each other, but the kept countering each other's hits, and it was just a stalemate for the both really. Of course, Marie stopped at the moment that Mr. Araya yelled that out, but this let Lee get three hits to the face, along with a hard elbow to the face. Mr. Muta runs in and gets Lee off Marie, before anymore bad stuff occurs. The two teachers, are anything but amused.
"Lee and Marie Kanker, go to the principal. Now." Mr. Araya said to the two ladies.
Marie does anything but that. She storms out of the cafeteria doors, and... disappears from the scene entirely. Lee couldn't do the same thing, as Muta walked her to the principal's office. Everyone was either laughing, shocked, dumbfounded, confused, or a mix of some of those emotions. Or all. Double D knew what he had to do. Marie was his current priority, and he had to go after her, as god knows what will happen if he doesn't accompany her right now. But Eddy and Ed? Well...
"Ed! What the heck is wrong with you? Why did you say that? WE HAD TO KEEP IT A SECRET!!" Eddy, very irritated, said.
"I'm sorry Eddy. I wanted to introduce our new friend to our fellow pals!" Ed, in a slightly upset tone responded.
"Ed, THAT GIRL IS SKYLAR WITH A DIFFERENT HAIR COLOR AND STYLE! How did you not see that?"
"But Eddy, didn't Skylar have red hair? And wasn't it longer?"
Eddy groans in utter frustration, as Ed is failing to understand the point of, that "new person" is just Skylar in a new look in terms of hair. May, joins in on the conversation, and she is... full of conflict, to say the least. She isn't injured in anyway really, at least not much, but she is very much disappointed with Ed, but at the same time, she understood that Ed... isn't 100% "there" when it comes to very specific details about people. She didn't know what to think about her crush right now. All of it was just conflict.
We should probably check on Double D.
Double D is speeding across the hallways in a manner that he usually never does. Until, he sees that the janitor's room is open, and there was a shadow that he could see of a person he already knew. This is actually the same janitor's room as when Double D found May crying, due to Ed rejecting her. That's a whole other story. Double D enters the room, and sees Marie, with her back facing him.
"Marie?"
"WHAT DO... Double D?"
Double D shoots the smallest of grins, and he enters the room, closing the door in order to give themselves privacy. Anyways, Double D asks Marie, "Are you alright Marie? I'm very much worried about what Lee did to you."
"I'm fine!" Marie, very much frustrated, responded. "It's just..."
Here come the tears. Yeah... Marie couldn't even spit out the words she wanted to say, as she just didn't get why Lee is the way that she is. Double D, just decided to comfort her, by holding her as tight as he can to him. Sometimes my friends... it's better to try to comfort people, then it is to try and resolve their issues 100 times out of 100. Regardless, Double D just had no other means to resolve this crap right now, and it didn't help either that this occurred at lunch. Granted, it's better than the break, because god forbid they be late, but the problem is that how much will it take up now that it occurred at lunch?
Back to Ed, Eddy, and May.
"Now what? We are left here now, without Double D, and without your two sisters..."
Eddy pauses for a second, because he realizes something.
"What?" May asked.
"Where the heck did Skylar and Chris even go!?!" Eddy asked in utter confusion. Obviously, he missed when the two of them went outside in order to, one, avoid the inevitable drama that was going to occur in the cafeteria, and two, for Chris to talk about some stuff that Skylar didn't understand, so that it made more sense why that occurred.
"Maybe they went to find aliens?" Ed said.
"Ed! Zip it!" Eddy IMMEDIATELY fired back.
"I don't think Lee is going to be in school for the rest of the day..." May boldly stated.
"Yeah." Eddy said. "I doubt Mr. Antonucci will be thrilled about this craziness. He's one rude teacher."
"Principal, he doesn't teach." May responded. "But yeah... I can only hope mom isn't home, because she doesn't need this news on the first week."
Speaking of Lee... in the principal's office.
Mr. Muta explained what the situation was that occurred In the cafeteria, to Mr. Antonucci. Muta explained it that Lee provoked Marie in some way, and started a fight where the two fought, but Lee, after being ordered to stop, still threw punches. Lee remained silent, as if she were to do a "fireback" at what he was saying... let's just say it would be like trying to put out fire with gasoline. Two uses of fire there. Funny. Anyways, after Muta explains it...
"Lee." Antonucci stated. "I would've thought you smarter than to cause trouble for yourself on the first week. You realize that this doesn't give you favorable circumstances. You disappoint me. You will be suspended for today, and for the rest of next week, you will serve after school detention. Miss it, and it will be extended. Understood?"
Lee shook her head as to say, "yes", and Antonucci writes the information down. Mr. Muta leaves the office to join back and help out Mr. Araya with anything left in the cafeteria.
"Is your mother available to pick you up?"
"No." Lee said, with a hint of frustration.
"You shall have to go home by yourself, as class isn't far than starting. Please be careful."
Before Lee leaves the office, Mr. Antonucci gives her a note, noting what happened, the punishment, and also adding how she got home.
"Learn from this." Antonucci says.
Lee seemingly ignores that statement, and walks out, slamming the door. Oh goodness...
Back to Ed, Eddy, and May.
"Now what happens? We still got like two or so classes, and like half of us are missing!" Eddy said, in utter annoyance.
"What do you mean, what happens?" May said. "We just keep going! We have no other thing to do, and we still have the others too."
"Have anyone seen them?" Ed said, curiously.
Eddy wanted to look for the other 4 people missing, specifically Double D, Marie, Chris and Skylar, but he wasn't sure where to even start. After a second of two of thinking, he said, "Forget it. They'll show up for class anyways, as the teachers seem to have this thing against kids being late."
"I know Double D went to go talk with Marie for sure, but where did Chris and Skylar go? They just disappeared!" May said.
"I don't know." Eddy said. "Hope they aren't doing anything stupid. I can only pray that Double D is just comforting Marie..."
Speaking of Double D and Marie...
Double D and Marie spent 10 or so minutes being in each other's arms. The former just wasn't sure what to say, and quite frankly, didn't want to say anything. The main reason was, simply put, all of this felt like a "heat of the moment"... moment, and to come up with resolutions already seemed ludicrous. Strangely enough, Marie also wanted to speak, but she couldn't find the words in order to express her emotions. She was just insanely overwhelmed, as the fact that the way the relationship with her and Double D was revealed, was not at all how she wanted it to go. The fact that Lee reacted the way she did and caused that big scene was of no help either.
"Double D?" Marie said, finally being able to speak.
"Yes?" Double D responded.
"I don't know what to do now..."
"Well," Double D stated. "It's too early to think about that Marie. I would much rather be concerned for the possible injuries that Lee left on you. Are you currently okay?"
"Yeah, sorta. Some pain, but it will pass." Marie said, managing to make the weakest of grins. Double D grins back a bit at her, even though he thought she was underestimating the injures.
Marie then brings up the fact that there isn't much time until class, saying, "I wish we could stay here, but class is about to start. I know you care about that so... yeah."
Double D thought about how he was going to deal with the whole situation, and he decided on something... very much unbelievable. "Marie... I wish to stay here with you, I will be okay missing just the beginning of class, if it means that you will progressively feel better."
Yes, don't get Double D wrong, he DOES consider his academics very much important in terms of shaping what he wants to do and all, but right now? That's just unimportant, as one, it's barely the start of the year, and two, honestly? His girlfriend is more important to him right now. Especially considering the circumstances, he can really only just be here, after all... he had to show that he would be there for her too, and this expresses that. His friends will just have to wait for him and Marie really.
Back to Ed, Eddy and May once more...
"Great, now class is about to start, and I have to go to Spanish all alone, because Chris and Skylar just left us here!" Eddy exclaimed, in slight annoyance.
"Where did they go exactly? I still haven't seen them anywhere." May said.
"Maybe they went on an adventure guys!" Ed randomly stated. Eddy only groaned in response to that.
Honestly, that's not a bad question... where the heck are Chris and Skylar at???