MT: Chapter 2
The Monday morning sun was rising more and more over Peach Creek, signaling the start of a new day. It is here where we zoom in on Eddy's house, with him starting to get ready for the day. He had just put on his usual daily attire, combing his three tuffs of spiked blue hair in front of his mirror. After that was done, Eddy left his room to go to the kitchen to make himself some cereal for breakfast.
As he was heading to get the milk from his fridge, Eddy noticed a handwritten note that was attached to the fridge by a magnet. He rolled his eyes at it; he knew it was from his parents, they usually attach a note to the fridge when they were too busy to talk to him.
"Wonder what they want from me this time…" Eddy grumbled in irritation, taking the note off the fridge to read it.
As he was reading the note, his eyes started to widen in horror, his face began to grow pale, and he started to tremble slightly.
"… N-No way," Eddy stuttered in disbelief.
'Evan will be coming to stay at the house for the week while we go on vacation. He will arrive sometime today, so please be on your best behavior.'
Evan… his older brother.
Meanwhile, we zoom in on Double D's house, with him exiting his house and locking his door behind him. He soon walked over to the playground to meet up with his friends. Of course, he was the first one to arrive, as always.
Double D then glanced over to Jennifer's house, which was not that far away from the playground. Before he thought about what he was doing, he started to walk over to her house, 'She might be awake now,' he thought.
It did not take Double D long to arrive at Jennifer's house, he could see that her parents' car was gone from the garage. He approached the front door and was about to ring the doorbell but stopped himself before doing so.
'Wait, I should have waited for the others before coming here,' Double D thought, looking around slightly to see if anyone was around to see him, 'I certainly do not want anyone to get the wrong idea…' He then made a sigh, 'Well, as long as I'm here, I might as well check on her.'
Double D then rang the doorbell. It took only about a minute for Jennifer to come and open the door, "Good morning, Jennifer," he greeted.
"E-Eddward?" Jennifer questioned in surprise, "What are you doing here?"
"Well, umm, I wanted to know if you like to meet up with us again at the playground near here," Double D started to say, "Ed and Eddy are probably there by now."
Jennifer was silent from shock for a moment before replying, "S-Sure! Just hold on a moment."
She dashed off back towards her room upstairs for a moment before coming back down, "I wanted to grab my phone before leaving," Jennifer stated.
Jennifer locked the door behind her before the two of them left to walk towards the playground. As they were walking towards their destination, Double D noticed Jennifer looking around. He made a concerned face to her.
"Hi there, Double D! Hi Jenny!" called out Ed's voice from up ahead as he came rushing up to them.
"Hello Ed," Double D greeted before noticing something out of place, "Did Eddy not arrive yet?"
"Nope," Ed replied with a shake of his head, "I guess he's still asleep?"
"… That's a little worrisome," Double D stated, "He usually doesn't arrive this late."
While the two Eds were talking about Eddy's absence, Jennifer was looking around again from where she stood before noticing someone coming towards them from the Lane. She widened her eyes and hid a little behind Double D and Ed, which got their attention, "What's the matter?" Double D asked.
They then glanced at why Jennifer was hiding; it was a girl that was around the same age as them, maybe older by a year. She had long, straight blond hair with a part of it covering her right eye, while revealing her left eye to be blue. She wore a purple hoodie over a white shirt with a yellow star design on it, a pair of black leggings and navy-blue tennis shoes.
Ed widened his eyes at her, "Another new kid!" he stated with a big toothy smile.
'Strange, I didn't know of anyone else that was moving to here…' Double D thought.
"Hey there," greeted the girl with a wave as she came up to them, "What's up?"
"Hello there," Double D greeted back in a polite tone, "I didn't expect to see someone new today. Did you just move here?"
"Kinda, I'm staying with some family in a neighborhood not far from here; I think it's called Apple Lake Subdivision?" the girl stated, "Decided I wanted to look around the area more, and that's how I got here."
"I see… That's nice," Double D stated with a smile.
Ed turned his attention towards Eddy's house for a split moment, his face brightened from the person approaching them, "Hi Eddy!"
Everyone turned to Eddy, who was running up to them; a little out of breath, "Sorry I'm late," he stated.
"That's quite alright," Double D stated, "Though I'm very curious on why you slept in. You usually don't do that."
Eddy flinched a little at the statement before masking it away, "It's nothing," he replied, looking away from them. Double D could immediately sense something was wrong but decided not to question it further.
It was then that Eddy noticed the other girl with them. He started blankly at her for a short moment before asking, "Who's this chick?"
"Wooow, what a way to ask who someone is," the girl stated with a small bit of sarcasm, "My name's Zoey."
Eddy furrowed his brows a little at the new girl, "The name's Eddy," he replied before the others introduced themselves to her.
"So, what do you guys do for fun around here?" Zoey asked.
"We sometimes hang out around the neighborhood with the other kids," Eddy stated, "Not much else to do."
"… Huh," Zoey stated before making a small smirk, "That sounds pretty boring, if you ask me."
Zoey's comment made Eddy furrow his eyes even further; he could tell she was going to be annoying.
"Oh, that's right!" Double D gasped a little at something he remembered, "I don't believe Jennifer has met everyone else, did she?" he then turned to Ed to ask, "Ed, do you mind trying to find everyone and bring them here?"
Ed nodded his head, "Roger that, Double D!" he said before dashing off to find the other kids.
"Wait, did you also move to here?" Zoey asked Jennifer.
"Y-Yes, just yesterday," Jennifer replied.
"Cool," Zoey stated with a small smile, "Good to know I'm not the only newbie here."
Quite some time passed by as the four teens waited for Ed to come back with everyone else. While they waited, Double D and Eddy got to learn more about both Jennifer and Zoey, with Jennifer seemingly opening more and more as she talked. Eddy, in the meantime, started to feel less annoyed by Zoey's snarky attitude.
The four teens finally see Ed coming back to them, along with the other kids and teens right behind him, "I'm back!"
"Welcome back, Ed," Double D greeted.
"So, what the heck is this sudden meetup for?" Kevin asked.
It was Rolf who noticed the two new faces in the crowd, "Ah ha! Rolf sees why; we have two new visitors!"
The other teens turned their attention to Jennifer and Zoey, with Jennifer making a nervous face and Zoey making a wide grin.
"The name's Zoey," Zoey greeted first with a small wave.
"A-And my name is… Jennifer," Jennifer stuttered out quietly.
The rest of the kids/teens introduced themselves to the newcomers; Nazz, Kevin, Rolf, Jonny 2x4, Sarah, and Jimmy.
"You know, we should totally do something to celebrate your arrival!" Nazz stated.
Everyone looked to Nazz, "What do you have in mind?" Jonny asked.
"I was thinking about a party at the lake nearby!" Nazz replied, "It's been so hot lately, it could be the thing we need to cool off from the heat!"
"Sounds good to me!" Sarah cheered.
"Yeah, that'll be fun!" Jimmy chimed in.
"Let's meet up here around lunch tomorrow so we can walk there together," Nazz stated with a smile to the two newcomers.
"Okay, will do!" Zoey replied.
Soon the other kids walked away to continue what they were doing before Ed came to get them, leaving behind the Eds, Jennifer and Zoey.
"Well, that was certainly interesting," Double D stated to the others before looking at Eddy, "Anyway, what's the plan for today, Eddy?"
Eddy stood there for a split second before realizing he was asked a question, "Oh! Well, uh…" he muttered before deciding to come up with something on the spot, "Why don't we hang out at Jenna's place? She said she has video games there, right?"
"Wait, really?" Zoey asked with a bit of surprise.
Double D looked towards Jennifer, who was also shocked by his suggestion, "Is that okay with you, Jennifer?" he asked.
"… Y-Yeah, it's okay," Jennifer replied, "I have a game we can all play."
"Yay!" Ed cheered with happiness.
As the five of them walked over to Jennifer's house, they failed to notice a cruddy-looking van drive into the Cul-De-Sac behind them, parking into Eddy's garage. A man in his mid-twenties exited the van; he had a look of annoyance across his face.
"Ugh, why the hell did I agree to this?" the man grumbled to himself as he went to the garage door, closing it shut, "Could they not hire anyone else for this damn babysitting job?"
He then opened the back of his van to get out some items, a suitcase and two, big bottles of vodka, "Oh well, might as well make the most of it."
A few hours passed by the Cul-De-Sac; it was now 5pm. We zoomed in on Jennifer's house, where the Eds and Zoey were still visiting with Jennifer; everyone was in her living room. It looked like they finished playing a game of Mario Party Superstars; you could tell because Eddy was a bit heated at the outcome.
"I got third?!" Eddy stated in exasperation as he looked at the results screen.
First was Yoshi (Ed), second was Rosalina (Jennifer), third was Wario (Eddy) and fourth was Waluigi (Zoey).
"Yay!" Ed cheered loudly, "I won the big prize! What do I win?"
Zoey laughed a little at Eddy, "You should have better luck next time!"
Eddy slightly growled at her, "Well, if someone hadn't made that laser go off, I would still have all my coins to buy that star!"
"It sure was a humorous moment, that's for certain," Double D stated with a chuckle.
While Eddy and Zoey continued to bicker at each other over the game, Double D looked over to Jennifer, who was closing the game they just played on the Nintendo Switch. He could tell she was in her element while she was playing with the others.
It was then that Double D looked at a clock nearby, seeing what time it was, "Oh dear, it seems like the hours flew by too fast."
Zoey perked up at that statement, "Huh? Is it already that late?" she asked.
Zoey then got up from where she sat, "I should get going now. It's gonna take a while for me to walk back home," she turned to Jennifer with a smile, "Thanks for having me over!"
Jennifer glanced back to Zoey for a moment, "I-It's no problem…" she stated.
Zoey then turned to the Eds, "I'll be sure to be back tomorrow for that party at the lake, see you later!"
"Bye-bye!" Ed waved to her as Zoey left through the front door.
"I think we should be going soon too," Double D stated as he turned to Ed and Eddy.
"Aww…" Ed stated sadly; you could tell he wanted to stay and play more games.
Eddy, in the meantime, had his whole body stiffen up in fright, remembering the note from his parents this morning.
'Should I tell them that my brother is here for the week?' Eddy thought to himself before shaking his head, 'No, they don't need to know. I gotta make him stay away from everyone.'
"Don't worry, Ed," Double D stated, "I'm sure we can come back here another time," he turned to Jennifer, "As long as you're okay with that, right?"
"Yes, o-of course!" Jennifer stated with a small smile, "Today was good!"
The three Eds soon left Jennifer's house, walking back to the Cul-De-Sac as they did.
"I gotta go; a show I need to watch is coming on soon! Bye!" Ed stated as he ran off to his house, leaving behind Double D and Eddy.
Double D yawned a little, "Today has been pretty eventful, I'm very tired," he then looked towards his house and started walking towards it, "I'll see you tomorrow, Eddy."
Eddy said nothing back to him, which made Double D stop walking towards his house and look back to him. He could see Eddy looking at his house, almost as if he was scared to go in. Double D then noticed that there was a light on in Eddy's house, around his living room, "Eddy?"
"Huh, what?" Eddy gasped slightly, realizing that Double D had not left yet.
"Are you alright?" Double D asked, "It looks like you zoned out for a moment there."
"… Yeah, I'm fine."
Double D made a worried face to him. He could tell something was wrong, but he knew Eddy would be too stubborn to say what it was, "Okay, if you say so…"
Double D then started to walk back to his house again, still glancing back at Eddy occasionally; he was still standing there in front of his house, even when Double D got to his front door. Double D entered his house and made a small sigh, "I really wish he was less stubborn about what's troubling him," he stated to himself.
Back where Eddy was standing, he continued to stand there on his front lawn, trembling slightly.
"Okay, okay…" Eddy stated to himself, slowly breathing in and out, trying to calm himself down, "You can do this, just don't let him see you…"
Eddy soon walked up to his front door as was about to turn the doorknob, when suddenly the door opened because of someone from the other side. Eddy's face turned pale in fright.
"Hey there, Eddy!" Eddy's brother, Evan, greeted to him; he smelled too much like the vodka he was already drinking, "About damn time you got your ass home," a smirk creeped onto his face, "We should catch up on what's been going on! I have plenty of things to share with you."
Before Eddy could even react or yell, Evan tightly grabbed onto Eddy's left wrist and forcefully dragged him into the house, slamming the door behind him as he did.
Meanwhile, about ten minutes away from the Cul-De-Sac, we could see Zoey walking down the sidewalk towards her aunt and uncle's house in the other subdivision nearby. As she continued to walk home, she could see someone up ahead, leaning up against a light pole on the sidewalk.
The person was a girl that was the same age as her. She had short red hair that was covered up mostly by a yellow bandanna. She wore a white shirt underneath a black leather jacket, blue jeans, and a pair of fancy brown boots.
"About time you came back over here," stated the girl as she looked to Zoey, "Did you learn anything else about that weakling?"
"I did a little bit, but it's gonna take more time than you'd think, Viper," Zoey stated to the girl, "I'll be going back tomorrow as well."
"I see," the girl named Viper stated as she propped herself off the light post she was leaning on, "Remember to act buddy-buddy with them, lure them into a false sense of security," she then made a smirk, "Then I can swoop in and get my revenge for what happened to Python."
Zoey stayed silent to the girl, holding back her tongue on what she wanted to say, but could only sigh internally in defeat at her, 'Man, how did I get stuck with this psycho bitch?' she thought.
"Anyway, go rest up at your place or whatever," Viper stated as she then started to walk away, "Gotta take a bus back to Sunflower Shoal. Later."
Zoey stood there for a moment in silence as she watched the girl named Viper walk away from her, making a heavy sigh as she did.
"I shouldn't think about what will happen to her…" Zoey stated to herself, "I have to do what I'm told; at least for now."
Author's Note (May 26th, 2023): Phew, got the chapter done! Wish I finished it faster, but other things can be very distracting. Can't wait for June to come around when Final Fantasy XVI is released.