Chapter 35
It was 6:00 p.m Wednesday night. Rethink Avenue and it's surrounding blocks were darker and quieter than usual, the dominate source of light being the large ornate tree acting as the centerpiece of the cul-de-sac. Due to Peach Creek High Schools annual holiday talent show, set to begin in an hour, many of the families had flocked to the school to see their loved ones perform. This of course, included the entire Kanker family, the McGee family, and Double Dees family out of support for the Kankers. Due to Ed's father being away on a long haul to Idaho (set to be back in three days), only Ed's mother and Sarah represented Ed's family. The remaining children had also decided to attend to support their friends without the remainder of their families, Kevin's prime reason being to poke fun at his stout acquaintance.
The activity level of the parking lot, corridors, and auditorium of Peach Creek High were in stark contrast to the peace and tranquility of the cul-de-sac. Outside, a school security guard was directing the large influx of traffic to their parking spaces, and showing them to the main doors of the school. Inside, a few individuals from the student government sat at a table positioned near the door, admitting those who had pre-purchased their tickets, selling extra tickets to walk-ins, and providing raffle tickets for an opportunity to win a holiday chocolate basket.
The corridors had been segmented off by large roll-down gates, preventing patrons from accessing other portions of the school, and funneling them towards the auditorium. Due to it still being relatively early, the auditorium was sparsely populated, though parents and other students were flooding through the doors at an alarming rate.
Several of the first floor classrooms have been arranged to serve as "green rooms" for the night of the talent show, in which the participants could warm up and/or change into costume for their performance. In one such classroom, all of the desks had been pushed to the edges of the room to free up space. A tall mirror stood propped against the wall in one corner of the room, next to which hung an empty suit bag on a hanger. The four windows were cracked open and, due to it being a windy night, the shades were waving slightly in the chilly breeze.
It just so happened that Ed, Edd and Eddy had been provided this particular classroom to prepare for Eddy's ballet performance as the nutcracker prince. Eddy had fully changed into his custom, which Double Dee had altered using his sewing and tailoring skills to suit his frame. Eddy was currently dressed in a red long-sleeved jacket with golden buttons and epaulettes, exactly as a traditional nutcracker or British soldier would wear. On his legs, he wore a pair of jet black tights, and black dancers shoes. His thin hair was styled backward using gel, and his hands were covered with white gloves. Eddy appeared extremely distressed; his face was bright red and beads of sweat were rolling down his cheeks as he stared at his reflection in the mirror, pulling on his collar to relieve tension.
Double Dee was currently standing behind Eddy conducting final verification of the costumes fit while using a tailors tape to take measurements of Eddy's shoulder width. Ed stood further behind the two boys with his typical absent-minded expression, daydreaming about a new comic book collection he had read about the previous night in one of his magazines.
Double Dee lifted Eddy's left arm in the air to verify his sleeve length, after which he backed away and began speaking.
"Well, it appears all is in order," said Double Dee in an exuberant manner as he hung the tape around his neck, "I must say, I feel as though I am standing with the dancer that played the role of the prince in the production Marie and I watched on television a few days ago."
Double Dee giggled as Ed approached Eddy from behind.
"Good thing Eddy's a nutcracker, cause I'm in the mood for a munchie!" said Ed dopily as he reached into his pocket.
Ed searched around inside his pocket for a few moments, finding what he was searching for; a walnut. Ed walked towards Eddy, and placed the walnut in his mouth, situating it between his teeth. Eddy, too paralyzed with nervousness to notice, stood still as Ed took his right arm, pulled it behind his back and forced it down toward the ground with force as if it were a lever. Somehow, someway, cartoon physics caused Eddy's teeth to bite down on the walnut, splitting it in half and exposing the tender insides. Ed happily removed the cracked nut from Eddy's mouth, placed the edible portion in his mouth, and discarded the hard shell.
"Not too shabby!" said Ed as he smiled.
"Ed, I have no idea how you just did that," said Double Dee with a confused stare, "But I must admit that it was a clever use of the nutcracker euphemism!"
Double Dee giggled, after which he turned his attention back toward Eddy. He couldn't help but notice that Eddy had not been phased in the slightest by Ed's display, and he continued to stare into the mirror while sweating bullets.
"My word Eddy," said Double Dee, "You look as though you just spent twenty minutes in a sauna, are you feeling alright?"
Eddy swallowed rather hard, after which he quickly turned to face his nerdy friend.
"Am I okay!" yelled Eddy as he grabbed Double Dee by the shirt collar, "Look at me, I'm a nervous wreck! I'm about to go out on stage dressed like this and make a fool of myself. Everyone's gonna be there, I'll be the laughing stock of Peach Creek High."
"Calm your nerves Eddy," said Double Dee, "It's not like you to forgo your confidence in your abilities!"
"That's just it!" said Eddy frantically, "What if I mess up? I could fall off the stage or forget my steps and look like an idiot! Then everyone would be laughing twice as hard. My God I'm helpless."
Eddy turned back towards the mirror. As he did, his foot caught one of the laces on his left dance shoe, which had managed to come loose, causing him to trip and fall to the ground.
"Ed," said Eddy rather quietly as he laid on the ground, "Go get me a soda will ya?"
"Aye aye Eddy!" said Ed as he saluted his friend, after which he briskly ran out of the classroom to grab Eddy a refreshment.
Double Dee, being the observant individual he was, sensed that Eddy's frantic behavior might be caused by something more than pure nervousness. Just as he was about to pose a question, Eddy chimed in with a question of his own.
"Is he gone yet?" asked Eddy in a rather calm manner.
"Yes, he is." said Double Dee.
At that instant, Eddy jumped to his knees in front of Double Dee.
"I'm at a loss Double Dee," said Eddy, "I don't know what to do!"
Double Dee glanced down toward Eddy, noticing an expression he had seen only twice from his best friend: once when he confided in Double Dee that his selfish, antisocial personality was due to mistreatment from his brother after their encounter at Mondo-A-Gogo, and the other when he admitted his insecurities after destroying Edd and Marie's relationship. He proceeded to kneel down to engage Eddy at eye level.
"My word Eddy!" said Double Dee, "I had no idea that your nerves were bothering you this much. Is there something I can do to assist?"
Eddy stood up, looking into his friends eyes with a sincere, disheartened expression.
"I ain't gonna lie Double Dee," said Eddy, "I'm petrified. I'm afraid I'm gonna make a fool out of myself, mess up and worst of all I'm gonna let Lee down."
Double Dees eyes-widened at Eddy's previous statement.
"I've never met anyone like her Double Dee!" said Eddy, "Up until earlier this year I'd never thought I'd even want to be near her, but now I don't want anything else!"
Eddy paced back and forth as Double Dee observed his friend with concern.
"She's so smart, pretty, and nice." said Eddy, "There's nobody in the world I know that has a sexy badass streak on the outside, but as sweet and motherly as church girl on the inside. It's crazy, she's the first girl I've ever dated, and I never felt like this about anyone else before."
Eddy stopped pacing and glanced back toward Double Dee, looking his best friend in the eye.
"I think I love her Double Dee." said Eddy in a rather low tone of voice.
"Love her?" asked Double Dee, "Why Eddy, that's wonderful! What a delightful feeling to have about your significant other."
"Yeah," said Eddy as he blushed and looked toward his feet, "It's nice."
There was a pause, after which Eddy turned towards the mirror, glancing at Double De standing behind him through the reflection.
"I'm scared Double Dee," said Eddy, "I know I love Lee, but I don't know if she feels the same way about me. I mean, we do a lot of things together, she always helps me with homework and she always tells me I'm cute and that she always helps the people she cares about. Despite all of that , she never opens up about her emotions and, with the exception of one time, she has never told me anything about her childhood. We have been spending a lot of time together recently, but it's always been about Lee's plan to bring down Lindsay.
Eddy glanced toward one of the classrooms windows.
"I can't help but wonder if all of our time spent together is just because Lee is using me as part of her plan to get rid of Lindsay," said Eddy, "I know Lee, and ever since Lindsay moved to Peach Creek, she seems like she's been on edge. Lindsay's got her more spun up than anyone else I've ever seen get on her nerves, and for whatever reason she seems like she's got some kind of point to prove to her."
Double Dee bit his bottom lip, attempting to stifle his speech. Honesty is something that Double Dee held in highest regard, and with his knowledge of Lee and Lindsay's past courtesy of Marie, he knew the reason for Lee's behavior as explained by Eddy. Nevertheless, he did his best respect Marie's desire to keep it to himself, although he decided to attempt to talk around the issue in an attempt to help his friend.
"Eddy," said Double Dee, "I wouldn't worry too much over this ordeal. You must understand that Lee and Lindsay have an explosive past, and that Lee's emotions were substantially affected by Lindsay's actions. These emotional turmoils have obviously spilled over into the present day and have unfortunately managed to impact the holiday season."
"That's the other thing," said Eddy, "I thought and thought, and thought some more, but I can't figure out what to get Lee for Christmas. I want something that will make her really happy, something that will change her life. Something that will make her smile like she never smiled before."
"Eddy," said Double Dee as he smiled, "You do not know how happy I am to hear this. I had begun to think that the holiday spirit had completely left your heart. While I am glad to hear that you are still thinking about Lee's happiness and prosperity, I must remind you that your source of income for the holiday season has been severed due to quitting your job out of frustration."
Eddy sighed.
"I know Sockhead," said Eddy, "I know I said I was going to get Lee a custom winter ball gown, but the more and more I thought about it, I realized it was a stupid idea. Lee hates wearing dresses and skirts, and even though she's naturally pretty, she hates getting all dolled up like most girls. I know in the bottom of my heart that the whole winter ball queen thing is all because of Lindsay, and Lee's hatred for her. That's why I gave up on that, Lee deserves something better, something that she actually wants for herself."
Double Dee stood speechless, with a blank expression on his face as he listened to Eddy pour out his emotions.
"There is one thing you have to understand Double Dee," said Eddy, "I love Lee, and I never want to see her hurt. She has been frustrated beyond belief by Lindsay for the last few months, and I can't stand seeing her like that. You're right, I feel bad for lying to Rolf and using him to drive Lindsay away, and I promise moving forward that I will stop actively trying to trick him. But I will not lie, I'm not going to try to stop it, because it may just help Lee in the long run."
Eddy glanced at Double Dees reflection through the mirror.
"Even if Lee doesn't feel the same way about me, I love her and will do anything to make her happy and make her feel better." said Eddy, "Everything I do, I do it to help and protect her, you just remember that next time you pass judgement."
Double Dee and Eddy stood in silence for a few moments, at which point the wooden door to the classroom opened with an audible creak.
"Here's your soda Eddy!" yelled Ed exuberantly as he ran into the classroom, "And May said they're doing the final roll call of the performers back stage in five minutes, so you guys should come on out. I'll meet you guys out there!"
As quickly as Ed entered the room, he was gone on his way to meet May backstage. Eddy adjusted his collar one last time, after which he turned to face his intelligent best friend. With a smile he held his hand out to shake Double Dees.
"Double Dee, thanks for listening, you're a pal," said Eddy, "I know I can always count on you to be honest with me."
Double Dee said nothing. Realizing the irony of Eddy's statement and while struggling to maintain a smile of his own, he took Eddy's hand and shook it.
Eddy took a deep breath, after which he continued speaking.
"Well Sockhead," said Eddy, "What are we waiting for, it's showtime!"
