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"Damn, no one is answering. I really thought Nazz or Nat would have answered. Neither of them told me they had plans for spring break."

Kevin Barr was bored. It was that simple. He had got home yesterday from school and decided to spend the night playing games and watching sappy chick flicks with his mom. She had loved it, laughing every time he cringed at the corny romance and cheesy pick up lines. His father had apparently thought it was hilarious as he did not come to his sons rescue. last night was great, spending time with his parents and just having fun, but today, today had sucked.

He had woken up to his dad yelling into the phone that he wasn't even supposed to have a shift today and how the idiot who didn't show up was gonna need a cast for pulling this stunt. By the time he had wandered down stairs his dad had already left the house and his mother was snuggled on the couch working on her computer. He asked her what was for breakfast and was a little annoyed when she mumbled something he couldn't hear. Instead of asking her again he just went in to the kitchen to see what he could find. He decided to make it easy on himself and just eat some Pop-tarts from the pantry since he didn't see anything already made. After scarfing down his mildly dry breakfast and grabbing a soda out of the fridge Kevin went back to the living room to check on his mom. She was still typing away on her computer completely oblivious to her surroundings. The ginger boy tried to get her attention and er only response was that she was busy and could he please let her work while she has the energy to do so. Elizabeth Barr had promised to spend time with him after finishing the current account she was working on.

So here he was, bored with nothing to do as Rolf had said he was going to be busy planting something or another all spring break and neither Nat or Nazz had answered their phones. The athlete laid back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He was trying to figure out if anyone he enjoyed spending time with would be available to hang out.

What about Brandon?... No he said something about his grandma's house and cats, I don't want to get involved in that...Frankie? No, new girlfriend...dammit what is there to do!

*bang bang bang*

"What the hell was that?"

Kevin looked out his bedroom window and couldn't see anything that could have made the noise. He decided to go check it out and see what he could find. Kevin hopped off his bed,grabbed his baseball cap off his desk and got dressed. The young teen ran down the stairs, shouted to his mom that he would be back later and bolted out the door before she could give a response. After getting outside he figured that jogging around the neighborhood would be the best way to find out what the noise was. He hoped it worked because he had not heard the noise again.

Kevin had been walking around for about thirty minutes before he came across where the noise had come from . He was actually mildly irritated because he felt like it should have been so obvious from his childhood, that of course the Ed's were up to something. He made the decision to spy on them because he didn't want to get caught in what ever scam Eddy had pushed the other two into this time. Kevin pulled up a large wooden crate next to the fence right behind a tree in the yard so he could see what the trio was up to.

I really thought they would know better, I mean big Ed hasn't been doing this shit for almost a year now and he lets Eddy drag him into a scam now...weak. Double D is worse though, he is so smart and I'm sure he could talk circles around Eddy to make him stop this crap ,instead he just play along like a lost puppy...

"Come on guys, we have to have this all ready by Saturday when everyone will be back!"

Eddy is standing in the middle of his yard looking impatient and trying to figure out what all has to be set up before hand.

" Eddy, we have a week will ya calm down?"

Ed had been bringing all the boxes of stuff that Double D had said they would need into the back yard. The large teen was actually having fun building something with his friends as it had been since October that they had lat had fun as the trio they used to always be.

"Ed is right Eddy. Besides almost everyone will be gone until Friday night or Saturday day this year, Ed is even spending the week at my house because Joyce wanted to take Sarah somewhere just the two of them. Rolf has planting to do and Jimmy and Johnny's fathers took both of them camping again. Nazz had a cheer leading camp in another city and I believe it is just us and Kevin until Friday night. Therefore we have plenty of time to finish preparations on our event."

Eddward had been going over the plans for where everything would be set up in the large back yard and figuring out costs of everything. The slender boy wasn't going to say anything but he knew for what they were planing they would be lucky to make even on money. He also was never going to let his friends know that any money that was necessary would be coming out of the debit card his mother had sent back in December.

"How do you even know all that about our neighbors? Are you spying on them ? Double D that's great , its will make out plans go so easy!"

Ha figures the dweeb would start spying on people...I bet he'll help Eddy blackmail everyone in the cul-de-sac...why is my chest hurting at the thought that Edd may not be as good as I always thought?

"No Eddy, I am not spying on anyone. Goodness, what kind of person do you think I am? If you must know I listened when everyone was discussing their plans on the bus yesterday and the day before. Kevin said he was irritated that his family would not be going anywhere this year and it started an entire conversation between out neighbors about what everyone had planned."

"Oh yeah, cause that's when Sarah started bragging about having plans with her mom! Right? "

As the boys were talking they were going through some boxes that Kevin couldn't see the contents of. Double D was checking everything of on some sort of checklist and Kevin was unable to hear what he was mumbling.

"Yep, her and Joyce are doing some mother daughter thing this whole week."

Edd was stacking all the boxes back onto the patio after Double D checked inside them all. Kevin was beginning to get irritated, he had been standing on the crate for awhile trying to find out about their scam with no results.

"Okay Eddy I think that everything for now. The other items will be delivered by Tuesday and we can set everything up on Wednesday and Thursday. I think doing a obstacle course /water park for everyone will go great. After all everyone was pleasantly surprised by the haunted house we did for Halloween."

Eddy grinned and ran inside to use the bathroom. Kevin scooted a little closer to ED and Double D to try to hear what they were saying. Needless to say he was very surprised by the conversation that took place when Eddy left.

"Dee? You made eddy change his plans. Why?"

"Well Ed, we are not children any more we are technically young adults and I do not want Eddy and by association us to still be thought of as scam artists. I feel that showing ourselves as entrepreneurs put us in a much better light. Also I enjoy not having everyone in the neighborhood and at school hating us. They will not continue to forgive us as we get older Ed you know that."

"Yeah Dee, I know. It was really hard last year without you two . Specially when I was put on the football team, they all thought I was going to let Eddy make bets and throw the games so he could make money and shit. I asked them why they all treated me like a criminal and the answer floored me...they all said I was Eddy's lapdog and couldn't be trusted. That's why I stopped doing any of his scams last year and kept giving him excuses so he wouldn't get mad. Eddy is our best friend, but thanks to his idiot brother and how his dad always praised that his brother was making money even before he left high school Eddy usually acts like money is all that matters. The great thing is that he always remembers that money wont replace us, and he thinks we are much more important than it."

After hearing all of that Kevin hopped off the crate and left the alley. He realized that despite Ed and Double D never really doing anything wrong he always blamed them for Eddy's scams as well and he actually felt guilty for it. As he walked back to his house he started to think about how often the two went out of their way to help others and apologize for Eddy's stunts. Kevin spent the rest of the day in his room playing computer games and checking out his window, he didn't know why but he really wanted to make sure Edd got home alright,he thought it might be because he had allowed himself to think badly of the younger male and just needed to know he was o.k.. At about seven in the evening Double D and Ed appeared on the sidewalk in front of Double D's house and went inside for the night. Kevin after watching the light in the house across the street come on, went down stairs and spent the rest of the night with his parents both of them tired from working all day.

The next morning Kevin grabbed a fishing pole out of his garage and took off for the creek, It was Sunday and he knew is father had plans to spend time with his friends and his mother would want her usual quiet Sunday to herself. He decided to spend the day fishing and being mildly lazy in the shady areas near the creek. When he got home he checked his phone and saw there were no messages and there was nothing on social media that he needed to respond to.

Kevin spent the rest of spring break in a similar vein. He called up a few of his teammates from school on one day but for the most part he was cut off from all his friends until they came back on Thursday evening and Friday afternoon. He had finally heard back from Nat and was told the teal haired boys parents had surprised him with a trip out to the film site they were working on. He had walked past the trio of Eds a few times during the week as they had built their event for everyone and by Friday morning.

The trio decided to make the front yard a party with drinks and snacks instead of doing a concessions stand. They told everyone the were only charging for the obstacle course in order to pay for the supplies it took to build it,the people who came thought that was fair and had no problem paying to play on it. Ed had invited the football and wrestling teams, Double D had let his friends and class mates from school know as well and Eddy had gone by everyone's houses that morning to let them know what they had planned.

It looked great. It didn't even remind the ginger boy of the stuff they used to put together a few years ago. The obstacle course looked like a professional had set it up. It started with a set of sprinklers that you had to jump over or evade, then it led to the first giant slide that you had to climb up and slide down to the pool at the bottom. After the slide they had set up a net you had to crawl under while more sprinklers sprayed you. The next part was a huge slip and slide that went out to the alley, after that you went up a set of monkey bars leading to a tire swing both were over small pools filled with mud. He was surprised by the mud until he noticed that the second giant slide had bubbles all over it. They had filled it with baby soap that was safe for people eyes so everyone could get cleaned off after the mud pools! The last part was the most interesting, It was a small maze made from some sturdy tarps and every time you went the wrong way a water balloon with colored water was launched at you. Once you were done with the course you were led to where they had the snacks set up in the front yard. They also had brought out a ton of old water guns that they filled with more of the soap and water for a bubble gun fight for everyone.

By the time he got home that evening Kevin wasn't even mad about how boring most of his week had been. The athletic boy really did feel like the water party with all of his child hood friends and his new friend from school was completely worth the solitude he had spent his week dealing with. He had such a great time that he almost didn't remember the silence he had been subjected to while his little piece of suburbia was almost empty. Almost.