A/N: Alright, next chapter's up. This one gave me a fair bit of trouble, especially the bit near the end. I've been thinking, too. The story's secondary character is Marie now, mostly because we'll be seeing a LOT more of her than of Nazz. As always, I still don't own EEnE, which belongs to Danny Antonucci. Enjoy, and don't forget to R&R!
Chapter 3
The next morning, the first noise to come out of the Kanker trailer was a panicking scream. Lee and May sat up bolt outright as Marie turned the room upside-down in her pajamas, frantically searching for something.
"Where is it?! WHERE IS IT?!" she asked out loud, throwing a pair of May's shoes out the window in her frenzy.
"Hey! Those are mine!" May cried, and she jumped up, ready to slug her sister.
"CAN IT, MAY!" Marie roared with enough lung force to blow the blonde's hair back and frizz it up. May blinked, dazed, and returned to bed without a word as Marie kept tearing a strip of destruction through their shared room. Lee pursed her lips and sat back to watch as the middle Kanker drove herself insane in her search.
"Yo, Marie!" the bluenette turned at the sound of her name, her visible eye crazed and her mouth foaming. "Check your bag!" Marie paused. The foam dribbled down her chin a little, and she slowly turned to look at her schoolbag, sitting pristine and untouched in the middle of what looked like the aftermath of a hurricane. With slow, jerking movements, she lifted the top of it, revealing two neatly folded pieces of paper inside it.
"THERE they are!" the relief in Marie's voice was palpable. She was honestly worried she'd lost them for a minute there. She was so sure she'd left them on the writing desk… must've put them in the bag before bed last night. She was suddenly aware of the four eyes currently piercing through the back of her head.
"That's it?!" May exclaimed. "That's what you tore up my room for?!"
"Shut it, May. This is MY room," Lee replied. She turned to Marie. "Go make us breakfast!" she ordered. Marie growled.
"Go make it yourself, lardass!" Next thing she knew, Lee had thrown her bodily into the kitchen.
"I want eggs! Sunny side up!" Marie got up with a grumble and got to cooking. As she did, she couldn't help but think about the day that awaited her, and a grin spread across her face. A grin that would have made Edd piss his pants.
By the time breakfast was done, both her sisters were dressed and ready. May blew a raspberry at Marie. Marie let May's eggs burn a little in response, then flipped them directly at her. May stared at her, shocked. Marie grinned back at her… right up until she was pelted in the face by bacon.
The rest of the details aren't important. The point is, the Kankers got into one of their traditional food battle royales, until May and Lee's strategic alliance forced Marie to retreat into her room and get ready for the day. With a stretch and a sigh, she shrugged out of her striped mid-thigh shorts and her nightshirt, a green tee that hung over one shoulder, and into her normal clothes. Baggy green pants, a black tank top, and her oversized brown jacket. She checked herself quickly in the mirror and applied the final touches, makeup, fluffed up her hair a bit, unzipped the jacket so it hung below her shoulders.
Marie took a couple steps back and checked herself out in the mirror. A curving grin spread over her lips. Aw, yeah. She was ready to rock Edd's world.
She jumped down the stairs two at a time, and made a beeline for the door. Much as she loved her sisters, she did not want to talk to them at the moment. She needed to be alone. She always plotted better when she was alone. Once outside, she set out to get to school early for once.
To say Marie was ecstatic would be an understatement. She'd thought up a plot that had a rather decent chance of winning her oven mitt. He would be hers and hers alone. No blonde bimbo would get their claws on HER man.
"Slow down, bitch," she thought, putting a stop to her mental rejoicing. "You're halfway there, but the home stretch is still in the works." It was true. Everything was set and ready to spring on her oven mitt. But if she messed up here, he'd get on the defensive. She had to play it cool. Work some of that psychology stuff on him. Get him to agree to her terms. And for that, she'd need help from a very specific source.
"But," she thought as she saw the school building ahead, "that can wait til later."
Edd's morning was less pleasant than Marie's. For starters, he didn't hear his alarm go off, and slept in until Ed came to get him.
"Hiya, Double D!" was the lovable oaf's enthusiastic greeting, his head poking through the floor of Edd's bedroom. "You're being a sleepyhead today?" His response was a very groggy Edd blinking and stretching.
"Huh? Ed, why are you-?" Edd glanced at his alarm clock and felt his heartbeat accelerate in panic. He was late! Very, very late!
"Yo, Sockhead!" Eddy's voice came from downstairs, somewhere around his kitchen. "We're waitin' on ya!"
"Coming, Eddy!" Edd answered, already rushing to put on his clothes for that day. White shirt, pants, tie, green ski hat. Moving quickly, he made his bed, lamenting he didn't have time to iron it properly. He'd just have to do it when he got back from school that afternoon. He yanked Ed up through his floor, his arms straining from the considerable mass his friend possessed. Then he ran to his stair-levator.
"Gee, Double D!" Ed said as they descended and the "stairs" peeled away to give them passage. "I didn't know you slept in! Usually you wake ME up!"
"I'm sorry, Ed," Edd said remorsefully as they made their way to the kitchen. "I don't know what's with me this morning!"
"It's okay, buddy! It's not like you're being controlled by the slime creatures from Zorbon 7! A haw haw!" Ed laughed loudly as they entered the kitchen. Suddenly he stopped and looked at Edd seriously. "You're not, right?"
Edd had to smile. For all the growing up he'd done, his large friend was still as wonderfully goofy and prone to nonsense as always. "Some things never change, I suppose..." he thought, not entirely displeased by the idea. After all, he was doing pretty well for himself these days. He had two friends who were amazing (most of the time), he did well in school, he had a promising future ahead of him, he was going to kiss Nazz, he was going to get his face pounded in by Kevin...
Oh. Right.
Edd's face fell a little. There was still THAT situation to deal with. "I hope I can find a way to surpass this obstacle soon," he thought, ignoring Eddy's excited monologue about his new moneymaking scheme. "For the sake of my general health."
"Hey, Shakespeare! You listening here?" Eddy's voice snapped Edd out of his daze. "I'm trying to make us rich over here, and you're off in tra-la-la land!"
"I'm always in tra-la-la land, Eddy!" Ed said, his dopey smile never faltering. Edd sighed.
"Well, some things never change, after all," he thought.
Nazz was probably the only person with something resembling a normal morning. She woke up as she always did, stretched as she always did, made her bed like she always did. She did her morning exercises like she always did, took a shower afterwards like she always did, and ate her breakfast like she always did.
But unlike normal days, when the blonde would be chipper and ready to spend the day at its fullest, today she chewed slowly, a single thought in her head. Double D.
She worried about him, honestly. He was such a nice guy, always willing to lend a helping hand or a kind word, but also so shy, so easily led around. She'd never spoken up back in their elementary school days, but she'd never approved of many things that had gone on back then with him. From the way Eddy seemed to exploit his talents, to the way he usually wound up paying the price for his two friends' antics. That had never been cool.
Nazz always thought the boy just needed a little more confidence. He was always wary of new things, of adventures, but he was plenty brave when someone had to be. He had been the only one to stand up to Eddy's brother, and had volunteered to face down the wrathful Edzilla when even Rolf was too frightened to do anything. He just needed a little push to become that brave man more often, and Nazz thought she was the girl to give him that push.
Alright, so maybe she had a little crush on him. So what? It wasn't like she and Kevin were actually going out, and it wasn't like Double D had a girlfriend.
So she'd approached the teacher before class and suggested Double D as the protagonist for the play. The teacher had agreed it was a great idea, especially since the young man could use the extra credit. At first Nazz thought that would have been the end of that, but she saw how he'd reacted. He'd panicked! Tried to turn down the role! Nazz couldn't let him. She had managed to convince him to take the role by applying a little bit of her charm.
At that moment, she already planned on volunteering for Helena at that point, deciding to keep him calm through the play. She'd been honestly surprised when Marie Kanker had tried to land that same role. Nazz honestly felt sorry for the girl when nobody voted for her to have the role. The look of defeat and anger on her face had spoken volumes about what she was thinking then, and Nazz could almost believe she genuinely wanted to be in the play with Double D.
Almost.
Marie wasn't good for Double D. Nazz knew this in her guts. She was loud, abrasive, selfish... She was the young genius's exact opposite! She didn't put any effort into school, and she relished pushing other kids around like it wasn't anybody's business. She tortured Double D in full view of everybody, for crying out loud! Just like she'd done yesterday, during the play rehearsal.
"Trailer trash," the hateful term came unbidden to her mind, and Nazz clapped her hands over her mouth and blushed bright red, embarrassed at herself.
"SO not cool," she muttered angrily. She didn't like the Kankers, but that was still a horrible thing to think. She genuinely hated Kevin and Jimmy and Sarah when they said it.
Nazz finally got done with her scrambled eggs (had she really been sitting at the table for 20 minutes straight? So weird...) and decided she still had time for a quick jog before school started. She went upstairs, changed into her running clothes, and tied her blonde hair back into a ponytail.
She left her house and locked it, relishing the blast of cool, crisp autumn air outside her house. Perfect to cool down a little bit. The blonde started running, expecting to be completely alone, but she was surprised to see some people start moving. Rolf was an obvious constant, he always got up early to tend to his animals and... talk to his turnips or whatever weird tradition he fulfilled on Wednesdays.
What surprised Nazz was the blue-haired girl walking calmly in front of her. Nazz hesitated and jogged in place for a moment. She REALLY didn't want to talk to a Kanker right now. Especially Marie. She was still angry at the trailer girl ("That term again! What the HELL is wrong with me today?!") for the stunt she'd pulled the day before. Not only for breaking the harmony in the gym, but especially for distressing Double D more than he already was!
It seemed Nazz wouldn't get a say in the matter, though, since Marie heard the soft pitter-patter of the blonde's sneakers on the concrete, and turned to face her, a grin slowly spreading over her face.
Well, Marie couldn't say she'd expected this stroke of luck. Here she was, thinking about how to make her plan move forward, and life just so happened to deliver the enemy to her lap. She could just as easily skip the whole thing and just pound the little ditz then and there.
"Well, lookie who it is," she purred softly, dangerously. "Little miss homewrecker herself!" She stopped walking and turned around fully. Nazz stepped back.
"Good morning, Marie..." Nazz greeted warily. She expected the young delinquent to spring at her any second now. Marie snickered, that irritating, lilting laugh of hers. Nazz could never stand it.
Marie herself was thinking about how she couldn't stand Nazz either. It would be so easy to stuff her into a trashcan right now... There was a dumpster half a block away, it wouldn't take her even ten minutes to place the happy little cheerleader inside.
"The plan, Marie," she reminded herself. "Remember, play it cool."
"Well, Blondie," she said calmly, "Normally I'd beat the absolute PISS out of you for what you did yesterday, but I'm in a good mood, so... smell you later." With that, she turned and kept walking to the school. She grinned nastily when she heard Nazz stop jogging in place, probably in surprise at still being in one piece. Her grin only became wider when she heard the cheerleader running at her hurriedly, and she did her best not to cackle when the blonde's concerned face popped up in her field of vision.
"Like, what do you mean, 'what I did', dude?" she asked Marie, anger starting to tint her tone. "You're the one who's constantly harassing Double D!"
"What I do with my boyfriend is really none of your business, don't you think, homewrecker?" Marie snapped back. Nazz went red in the face.
"He's not your boyfriend!" she said loudly. Marie had to suppress a low growl. This little twat was getting on her nerves VERY quickly...
"Listen, twerp. I'm really kind of busy right now. So either you get outta my face, or I MAKE you get outta my face," she said in a very calm tone, shouldering past the other girl, who started fuming.
"Trailer trash," she muttered venomously, then spun on her heel and stormed her way back home. She didn't feel like jogging anymore.
Inside the school building, Marie slammed her fist against her locker and fought the urge to scream. The little tart had grown a spine, it seemed. Marie took in a deep breath and let it out, like the TV said.
"You're in control, Marie," she reminded herself once more. Still, the very fact that the blonde little idiot had tried to stand up to her meant her job might be the teensiest bit difficult. Marie needed to move fast. She reached into her bag and pulled out the notebook her mom had bought her at the beginning of the term. She opened the brand new, untouched notebook and pulled out her pen. She paused and thought very carefully about what she'd write. Finally, she decided, and quickly jotted it down.
'Dear Double D,
I thought a lot about what you asked me yesterday, but I'd rather tell my love-muffin in person. Come to the boiler room at 9. Alone.
Love,'
Marie thought about signing, but in a touch of artistic inspiration, kissed the end of the note instead, leaving the pink imprint of her lips on her note. She smiled giddily, and had to force herself not to run to the locker belonging to the object of her affections. Once there, she carefully slipped in the folded note, feeling a bit silly about the whole thing.
Marie placed her hands on the back of her head and walked away from Edd's locker, heading back to the boiler room. She had to make it presentable for him, after all...
A/N: Well? What'd you think? Story still interesting? Characters still in-character? That scene with Nazz and Marie had me tearing my hair out by the clumps. Hope I did alright with it.
Well, hope you enjoy it! And please don't forget to review!