It was already halfway through the school day and Kevin couldn't really complain about much. He'd only been harassed one other time today, by Jimmy, one of Edd's other goons. Jimmy was another case of a "strange" bully. Overly flamboyant and obsessed with fashion and even baking, his preferred method of harassment was annoyingly taunting you on your poor taste in clothing and accessories. A few people even claimed he would break into people's lockers and cut up clothing he truly despised during PE. Of course this had never been proven but it would explain the array of sobbing teenaged girls who'd spend some afternoons shuffling through the hallways in their gym clothes. Jimmy only wore the latest fashions himself, a constant braggart and know-it-all. Even with his horrible personality and horrendous insults girls still flocked to him for advice and pointers. Jimmy ended up leaving Kevin alone after a few halfhearted attempts to mock Kevin's attire. He'd become too busy boasting about how many likes his latest ensemble had gotten on Instagram.

Now it was lunchtime and Kevin felt he didn't have to hold his breath any longer. His friends all talked around him, all enthusiastic about the sports season starting and other small things happening around the school. Kevin listened halfheartedly, not wanting to offend his friends, but he also didn't care for hanging around after school just to watch people run back and forth with a ball. He preferred to do more productive things with his free time, like build robots or figure out how things worked. Many nights had faded into mornings while Kevin pulled apart trinkets, watches, old cell phones and other discarded objects and put them back together.

"Yo! Dude! You are coming to the football game this Friday, right?" Adrian's voice ripped Kevin away from his thoughts. Adrian elbowed Kevin hard in his arm, nodding his head in Nazz's direction. Nazz was staring expectantly and wide eyes at Kevin, who felt embarrassed thinking about how long she must have been patiently awaiting some acknowledgment. "We have to support Nazz's solo debut, y'know?" Adrian subtly reminded Kevin.

"Oh... Uh, yeah. Of course!" Kevin smiled sheepishly and Nazz cheered. "Thanks so much, you guys!" She exclaimed.

Suddenly a loud crash burst though the noise of the cafeteria followed by the sound of Johnny yelping in pain. "No fair, Plank!" He hollered. Everyone looked over to see Plank holding Johnny's arm behind his back, head slammed into the table. Plank was the last of Eddward's "henchmen." He stood nearly six feet tall, with slightly tanned skin and sandy blond hair shaped into a tousled mohawk. His face was decorated with vast array of piercings, ranging from a couple studs in his lower lips, to ear gauges and bars. Many kids whispered rumors of how Plank thought of his piercings as nails, in honor of his odd nickname which he'd acquired when he got "2x4" tattooed onto his neck right underneath his earlobe. Plank dressed relatively simply like his counter part Johnny, whom many were still trying to figure out if they were brothers, cousins or just strangely close friends. He sported mostly plain t-shirts and cargo pants, but he was rarely seen without his shoulder sling back pack that Johnny'd painted a pair of crooked misshapen eyes on. They were red circles with blue dots for pupils and it gave you the sensation of looking into a doll's lifeless eyes.

Eddward was watching intently, his hand placed on his chin. Edd gave a slight nod of his head and Plank relinquished Johnny's arm.

"At least gimme some warning next time you're gonna to use me to teach somethin' to Edd, Plank!" Johnny whined.

Kevin swallowed hard. Plank had been taking martial arts and self defense classes since he could basically stand up on his own, and the fact that Eddward was interested in learning about it made him feel nauseous. Edd's eyes wandered over in Kevin's direction, and Kevin flinched instinctively. However, as soon as Eddward realized Kevin was already looking at him his eyes darted back to Johnny, who was leaning over the table rubbing his shoulder.

"Could you barbarians possibly make ANY more noise?" Jimmy complained, wrinkling his face in disgust. Just like any other day he was surrounded by some brainless group of girls asking for advice on "accessorizing" and getting dressed in general. As if they weren't old enough to figure out how to do so on their own. Sarah sat at the front of the chattering girls, her red orange hair cut straight to about shoulder length. Today she was wearing a sleeveless pink crop top and a denim skirt, complete with a teddy bear belt Jimmy had given her for her birthday. Despite her small stature and girly demeanor, rumor had it she'd replaced the former fan club president through brute force. She'd joined every girl's sports team available and been kicked out of nearly all of them for a "Lack of Sportsmanship." Many bruised teammates would whisper the stories of how Sarah would purposely trip them or even toss a ball at the back of their heads if they made her angry enough. Her temper was a force to be reckoned with, which is what landed her in "Garage Band Club," because if she couldn't beat other people at least she could beat some drums.

"Shut up ya sissy fruit loop." Johnny retorted and Plank grinned. Jimmy rolled his eyes and went back to his ramblings with the girls.

Kevin had seen enough, he turned back to his own friends and rolled his eyes in an overly dramatic fashion. "Crazy how they even pick on each other, huh?" Kevin tried to joke. Adrian nodded his head knowingly. "The only thing they have in common is that they all like to pick on people in some way. I wouldn't really say any of them are even friends."

"I don't really want to talk about them. It's bad enough they're all jerks, let's not make them the center of attention all the time, too." Nazz grumbled and the boys all nodded back in acknowledgment. Raph chose to change the subject to something he found more enjoyable, which turned into a lecture on how long is TOO long to pickle radishes. Thankfully before Raphael could get too entrenched in his lesson, the students started putting away their trays signaling the end of lunch was mere minutes away. Kevin started piling his trash on to his own tray getting ready to leave as well when he felt a light tug on his sleeve.

"So you'll really come to the game?" Nazz asked one last time, her eyes focused on Kevin.

"Yeah, Nazz, I'll really come!" He reassured her and she let out one final excited yelp and threw her arms around her friend and gave him a light squeeze. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She repeated before she suddenly pulled away from him. Kevin felt a pressure on the back of his head and before he could really comprehend it his nose was a couple inches away from his tray.

"Hello, Pumpkin." Eddward's voice came out like a mischievous purr next to Kevin's ear. "I do hope you were able to enjoy your lunch today? Aren't you even grateful for how thoughtful I was in allowing to go about your break unmolested?" Eddward paused for a moment, tapping one finger to his chin, acting as if he were lost in deep thought. "Well, mostly unmolested, I suppose." He grinned widely, the gap in his teeth exposed like dab of black ink on an otherwise clean sheet of paper. Kevin strained to look from the corner of his eyes to his friends, who were all preoccupied with a bully of their own. Plank held Adrian in a firm headlock and Johnny kept flicking Raph in the nose. Meanwhile Jimmy was holding onto a fistful of Nazz's hair, loudly smacking on a piece of fruity bubblegum.

"What do you want, Eddward?" Kevin growled, angered by how Jimmy could possibly pull a girl's hair like that. He knew Adrian and Raph could take care of themselves in the long run, although they might end up a bit bruised and sore in the end, but he couldn't tolerate a guy that would ever seriously bully a girl. It was especially infuriating given what a good friend Nazz was and how good of a person she was in general. She would never hurt a fly, so it wasn't fair that a slug would hurt her.

"Just enjoying some conversation with my favorite customer." Edd replied. "Oh!" He suddenly exclaimed in feigned jubilation. "I also learned a new trick today that I wanted to try out. I'm sure you saw it earlier?" Kevin swallowed hard, remembering Johnny's face twisted in pain. His joints ached just from the memory, he didn't want to experience the actuality.

"..you're not serious.." He stammered out, trying to keep his breath even and refrain his body from shaking.

"Oh, Pumpkin, you know out of all my fine qualities, I am nothing if not completely serious about my work." Edd was staring down intently at him, every muscle in his face relaxed into an expression of total apathy. "However..."

Kevin let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. His lungs pulled in fresh air like a man finding water in a desert.

"Perhaps you could persuade me otherwise." Eddward continued.

"Well what do you want?!" Kevin panicked. Eddward's lips twisted up into a sinister grin once more. "My dear friend Jimmy has suggested a slight alteration to your girlfriend's overall appeal for her big day this week. Naturally, I agreed to take up the task since any friend of Pumpkin's is a dear and cherished friend of mine. However, we're at a loss as to what to do with her. Jimmy specializes in wardrobe, but history clearly shows the most effectively drastic way for a woman to reinvent her appearance has always fallen in the styling of her hair. Since you know her so much better than we, perhaps you should be the one to give her this little modification." Eddward placed a pair of craft scissors on the lunch table next to Kevin's cheek.

Kevin looked over at Nazz, who had tears welling in her eyes. He couldn't imagine butchering Nazz's hair in order to save his own hide, not when she took such great pride in it. Her hair always had a glossy sheen to it, and given the length, it wasn't due to any lack of care or good genes. Nazz likely spent hours styling and tending to her hair every day.

"..No." Kevin's voice broke through the brief silence.

"No?" Eddward repeated.

"I won't do it!" Kevin shouted back defiantly. "Do what you want to me, but I'd never hurt one of my friends to keep myself safe!" Eddward glowered down at Kevin as if he actually expected him to be weak and frail enough to desecrate Nazz's appearance.

"A charming notion, but an unwise decision all the same." Eddward reached for Kevin's wrist, and Kevin closed his eyes tightly his whole body tensing up in preparation for the pain. But it didn't come. Instead the piercing blare of the school bell, signaling the end of lunch rang through the cafeteria. Edd frowned slightly and loosened his hold on the back of Kevin's head. He leaned in closely to Kevin's ear, "Time favored you this time, Pumpkin. But I'll be waiting for you after school in the locker rooms for the swim team. If you felt this was unfavorable, I implore you to imagine what might occur should you choose not to show up."

Kevin didn't do anything, he didn't move a muscle, didn't let his gaze shift to see what Eddward's face looked like in that moment. All he could really focus on was whether or not Jimmy was going to let go of Nazz's hair. Eddward seemed to notice where Kevin's attention laid, so he glanced at Jimmy and gave a slight nod of his head and pointed coldly to Nazz. Like an order for execution had been made, Jimmy spit his gum into his palm right into Nazz's hair and he clenched his fist tightly. Nazz shrieked in disbelief and reached for hair, but as soon as she touched it her horrified expression showed it was already too late.

"Au revoir." Eddward laughed before exiting the cafeteria, followed by his group.

"Nazz!" Kevin exclaimed and rushed over to her. Her eyes were red rimmed as tears welled in the corners and she was trying to quiet a fit of sniffles.

"I'm sure it's not as bad as I think it is." She tried to joke. "I can probably get it out with some peanut butter or something once I get home."

"Geeze!" Adrian choked, rubbing his neck. "That has got to be the most vicious attack that guy has made yet. What the hell pissed him off so bad?" He placed a hand on Nazz's shoulder comfortingly. "Look, we'll get it worked out, okay? Don't worry." Nazz tried her best to smile encouragingly, but all she could manage was a nod and another sniffle,

"Those boys are scarier than the starving boars from my home country!" Raph yelped.

"Kevin, are you okay? You look super pale, did Eddward hurt you?" Nazz was rubbing the back of her head where Jimmy had pulled her hair. She didn't look like she was about to cry anymore, but she definitely still looked hurt." Kevin couldn't keep himself from frowning, feeling responsible for the position his friends had just been placed in.

"...just the usual stuff.." Kevin lied. "You know... He just told me to watch myself and not doing anything I would regret later, like tell a teacher."

"Whatever! Like we'd bother turning tail and running to the adults who won't even help. This seriously just happened out in the open, and if we even tried telling someone, then what? Jimmy gets a week of detention? And we probably get some lecture about how 'boys just tease girls they like.' The system is practically built to coddle bullies." Adrian fumed, slamming his hands down on the table. "Let's get out of here. Class is about to start again." There weren't many things that deterred Adrian from his calm and cool demeanor, but Nazz was definitely one of them. Kevin knew Adrian was probably riddled with guilt as well for not having been able to help Nazz, when realistically it had happened so suddenly no one would have been able to. The four of them put their trays away without another word and followed the stragglers out of the cafeteria, waving goodbye to each other and heading to their respective classes.

'I'll be waiting for you after school in the locker rooms.' The phrase kept ringing in Kevin's ears, replaying itself over and over again in his head. It was like the modernized version of, "Meet me in the playground after school so I can pound you to a pulp." Kevin didn't want to think about Eddward's threat right now, but it weighed heavily on his mind. He swallowed hard, but focused his mind on his resolve to tell Eddward off once and for all.

Good afternoon everyone! Here it is! My updated project. I'm sorry for the delay, I was sure I would have these up yesterday. ANYWAYS, I'd like to remind everyone from here on out, I am catching up with re-editing the story right now, which means Nat hasn't been replaced by Adrian in all chapters, etc. SO, I'd like to kindly request your patience and I apologize in advance for the confusion that may occur because of this. But I hope you can bear with me and I hope even more you'll enjoy these revised chapters even more! Thanks for all your patience!

~Chrono