Chapter 7: Turncoat, making friends with the Eds.
Today Kevin hosted a huge party for all his "friends" to come to, complete with free jawbreakers, cake and soda and fun. And of course, once again the Eds sat on a corner of the street, watching through furious and angry eyes and clenched teeth, clutching at their empty tummies as they could but watch as the partying and fun continued, a party that they would have given anything to be allowed to come to, but were of course excluded from on account of Kevin's law and vendetta against them for things that were never their fault. They were guilty of nothing, the only thing they were guilty of was trying to fit in with their neighbours and trying their hardest to earn some cash for a jawbreaker they could never have. Everyone else had eaten a jawbreaker in this neighbourhood, Kevin had no less than several a day, and the others, at least one a day, as did I.
Yet the Eds, would never have one, once when I heard them talking amongst themselves, they said that it had been so unbearably long since they last tried a jawbreaker, they had forgotten the taste of the sweet that was the one thing that made their miserable, tragic lives worth living for.
Seeing such expressions as I cast a glance at them, I could no longer resist the urge to simply leave them sobbing in that corner, and so, after grabbing as many jawbreakers and soda's as I could hold, I told Kevin I was sorry to be leaving so soon but had things to take care off at home, and sprinted off.
And as I passed the Eds by, though I said nothing, I dropped the jawbreakers and soda's by them hoping they would enjoy them as much as I did, before turning away and leaving so as to be clear of Kevin, when he came. The look the Eds gave me before I turned a way, a look showing gratitude in its most concentrated, powerful form, no words were needed to express the sincere thanks that they wished to shower me with for my gift to them. "You are welcome" I said silently, too shy and nervous to say it aloud, before turning away to leave, fearing that at any second I would feel the strong, muscular grip of Kevin's hand against my collar.
Yet something that day gave me strength, something that day gifted me with courage, something that day made me no longer wish to continue my life in a cold, forced silence, and, after a quick glance back, making double sure that everyone was totally absorbed in the celebrations of Kevin's party, I turned back to the trio, who were, despite the appreciation they had clearly expressed at receiving so many delicious, juicy and edible jawbreakers, they still watched me with an air of suspicion, distrust and coldness. It was clear that hostilities were not so soon forgotten, it would not be so easy now to earn their trust.
I was not surprised and though I thought it would be a shame if the one chance I had at open communication with them was wasted, and a conversation could not be started, and yet if that were the case, I would have every reason to believe it was a justified response and not at all rude or ungrateful. After all, how had I treated them any better than the others in the cul de sac had treated them? And how many times had it been that when they were being mercilessly beaten by the other children, that I had refused in the slightest to help?
And hence, why should they want to talk to me, to them, I was another one of "them", one of their tormenters who showed no kindness or sympathy whatsoever to them, and the air of resentment and bitterness around the Eds, was so strong, that it felt as if they would not say a word to me if I were to pay them a thousand pounds. We therefore stared at each other pretty fixatedly for a few wordless seconds, before at last Eddy, the most talkative of the trio finally broke the silence.
"What do you want?" he demanded, in a tone that was somewhat shy and reclusive, yet more disdainful than shy. I opened my mouth to reply but was cut off as Eddy continued to speak, in a untrusting, curt manner "we don't want you here, you're one of them, one of the bullies , and we don't like bullies, we've already had enough trouble for one day, we don't want any more trouble, now leave!" said Eddy impatiently , his voice almost rising to a shout.
"Eddy, please stop" said Edd, in soft, gentle and mild tones, putting an arm around his shoulder as if to comfort him "I know its been a long, sad day for you, but please try to calm down, I'm sure Nazz isn't here to hurt us, and look, she brought us some free jawbreakers, isn't that what you wanted Eddy ?". Edd's calming words had their effect, and although Eddy still watched me through shy, nervous and distrustful eyes, he took several deep breaths and stopped shouting.
Edd turned to me, it was clear that though he did not feel so strongly averse to my presence, my presence nonetheless intimidated him into speechlessness and sweat like it always had done.
I knew it was because he, like many of the other boys around the "cul de sac" held a crush for me, and was therefore flustered by my appearance and charm, and yet I loved that fluster, it was such a cute and adorable expression. The other boys blushed too sometimes when they saw me, but it was not the same blush that Edd now tried, without success to conceal, a blush that filled my joyless and empty heart with warmth, sweetness and joy. His blush was like sun to a flower that had been trapped in a dark room where light did not shine. His blush renewed hope and gave me strength to face the sad, depressive life I led, and showed his courage.
It showed that though he suffered such back breaking abuse and mistreatment each day from Kevin and his gang, as well as the 3 rats known to us all as "the Kanker sisters", he did not let it get in the way of his life and emotions, the way I let my feelings of depression and helplessness get in the way of my own. And mostly, it showed that he was not like "Kevin", he was not the devilish scumbag I only liked because I wanted to avoid a beating from him and so that I would finally get to have my cake and eat it and in this case my cake was the jawbreakers Kevin gave to those who he called "his friends". It showed that he was a kind, caring, considerate and polite, well intentioned and mature boy who tried always to be generous and helpful to those around him, and who always stuck by his two closest friends through both thick and thin. And because of that I loved seeing that lovely blush.
"Erm, er, so hey there,N, Nazz" stammered Edd nervously, it was evident from the stuttering in his strained voice that every word he said, took every ounce of his courage to force out of his shaking mouth "Th, thanks for the J, jawbreakers".
"It was the least I could do" I replied, managing for once to speak normally and confidently like a normal person should, and managing to overcome the dreaded speechlessness, the beating given to me years ago had left me with "I hope you like them, I know how much you've wanted to have a jawbreaker, so I brought you some as a present"
"Th, thank you" replied Edd, shyly, yet gratefully. "Er so, is there anything we can h, help you with" he asked, but before he could continue, Eddy cut him off "Why are we talking to her" he blurted out "She's probably just here to get us into trouble with the others"
He turned to me, and when he spoke, his tone was far from friendly "I know what you'e up to" he said, and despite his shyness over my presence (for some reason, my presence made many people around me shy) he managed to look me in the eyes as he spoke "You just want to get us all into trouble so that Kevin, your friend, will come and beat us all up again, right?, RIGHT?"
Despite the fear and nervousness his words filled me with, and despite the vehemence and rudeness in his tone, I managed after several deep breaths to work up the will to reply.
"And here I thought you liked me, I thought you thought I was cool" I replied, for I knew that though the Eds said no words when I passed them by, the blushes they tried without success to cover up when they saw me said more than words could ever say.
"We did" said Eddy, watching me through suspicious eyes "We thought that you were better than the other kids, we thought you were better but boy were we wrong, you're just as bad as Kevin, Rolf and the others, and actually, you're worse" "Why?" I asked, I had an idea already of the answer but I wished to hear it from Eddy anyway. I was never expecting a particular formal reception from the three outcasts whose plight I had never attempted to assist in till now.
And when Eddy replied, his two friends listening in silence, he only fulfilled my grim predictions. "Why?" he spat out, his tone was furious and far from calm "Can you give us one episode in this bloody show where you've done anything other than stand there in silence when Kevin and the others came to beat us up and abuse us". I opened my mouth to protest, but Eddy resumed his lecture before I could speak, silencing me. "And when you don't stand there in silence, watching as Kevin and the other jerks in this dirty, rotten neighbourhood beat us up, you join in, y and you beat us up as well"
"You disgust me" shouted Eddy angrily and disgustedly "you disgust us all, we thought that you would be a nice, friendly person ,like the other kids say you are, but they clearly don't know you for who you really are". "Eddy, anger is wrong, you need to calm down and resolve the issue calmly" said Edd, in an attempt to soothe him. "Shut up einstein!" Eddy shouted, shoving his friend away "I don't need your advice, I need this liar to back away and never come back"
I was tempted to respond in kind, but realized that a nice, polite person should not do so, and if I did it would only serve to make the three Eds, especially Eddy hate me more. So I listened in silence, having given up any hope of making friends with the three outcasts who had never had a friend their whole lives apart from each other. "We don't like liars, do we Ed?" asked Eddy. "No Eddy, no we do not" replied Ed, agreeing with him before turning to me.
He pointed accusingly at me and said "Liar, liar, plants for hire" and though his tone was calmer and less loud than Eddy's, it was clear he was equally as angry at me.
This fanfiction is now finished, please comment to speed up production of sequel (for details of sequel see last chapter) any comments would be greatly appreciated, and you would be an epic person. Thank you in advance.