Chapter 3: Doubt
A/N: New Chapter! Again I would like to thank everyone for their support on this story, didn't think I'd get this much followers already after just 2 chapters! Thanks a lot keep up the good work!
Marie casually strolls into the trailer park, where she sees her familiar looking trailer that she shares with her sisters. She stands outside the door, she starts to regain her composure to try and hide her excitement on what just happened. Taking a deep breath Marie opens the door.
"Then I told him, you want a piece of me?!" Lee is sat on the couch speaking to May, Marie walks towards the couch and sits down with her sisters. Lee and May turn their attention back to Marie "Where have you been?" Lee asks.
"Detention, what of it?" Marie answers, Lee scratches the top of her head, whilst May turns her attention back to the TV.
"When do you ever go to detention?" Lee asks, Marie looks away from her sister and looks at the TV along with May "Hey, I'm talking to ya!" Lee shouts across the couch although Marie is just a few inches away from.
"Yeah...Yeah I hear you Lee" Marie says, Lee begins to get frustrated.
"I said when do you ever go to detention?" Lee repeats her self, Marie did her best to avoid the question.
"The head of year saw me in the corridor and made sure I went to the detention" Marie lies to her sister, Lee looks intensely at Marie. Lee suddenly breaks out into a giggle.
"Sucks for you then haha" Lee laughs at her sisters misfortune. Marie has a sigh of relief knowing her sister couldn't see through her lie.
"So what happened today with your man?" May asks, both Lee and Marie looks surprised that May actually asked a question. Lee looks up at Marie also curious about it.
"er...nothing, he's a stick in the mud, can't get away with anything" Marie again lies to her sisters, the two buy it like it's on sale. The two sisters giggle amongst each other. "How these two are passing and I'm not, I will never know" Marie thinks to herself.
Double D opens the door to his home, he walks inside his clean bacteria free house. Double D walks into the kitchen to see two familiar faces, Eddy and Ed are looking in his fridge. "I swear, the guy doesn't eat anything!" Eddy mutters, Double D drops his back and frantically approaches his friends.
"What are you two doing in my house?! This is breaking and entering!" Double D yells, Eddy closes the fridge door. Ed as fast as he can hides under the table in fear of the angry Double D.
"Breaking and what?" Eddy asks, Double D opens his fridge to make sure everything is where it needs to be.
"Double D is mad Eddy" Ed states the obvious, Eddy looks over at his no chin friend to see he's still hiding under the table. Double D carefully inspects the food in his fridge until he's satisfied, as soon as Double D is done he closes the fridge door and takes a deep breath before turning to his friends.
"Again, what are the two of you doing in my home and how did you get in?" Double D asks as simply as he can. Ed peeks over the table to see a reserved Double D, Eddy stands there with his hands in his pockets.
"We know where you hide the spare key" Eddy says as he takes the spare key out of his pocket and throws it at Double D. Double D almost trips as he catches it hesitantly.
"Okay, what business do you have?" Double D asks, Eddy shrugs his shoulders as he takes a seat around the kitchen table.
"I don't know, we got bored" Eddy answers honestly, Double D has a disappointing sigh. "Also we wanted to see the look on your face after you had a detention haha" Eddy falls out of his chair laughing at his friend.
"There's nothing humorous about it Eddy" Double D says as he puts his hands on his hips. Eddy finds himself back on his feet after being lifted up from Ed.
"Ahh...you know you'll get plenty more of them, the more you hand around with a Kanker" Eddy says truthfully, Double D looks away from Eddy not wanting to keep eye contact because in a way Eddy is right.
"Kankers are Double D!" Ed repeats what Eddy said in a much simpler way, Double D continues to hesitantly look down and fidget with his hands.
"Never Trust a Kanker, Double D that's our motto" Eddy drills in the motto into Double D, who is doing his best to not pay attention to his friends.
"Anyway...how did the scam go?" Double D asks, Double D attempts to change the subject.
"It would have gone better if you was there, anyway...I got this idea to create a-" Eddy begins to give a lecture about how his scam went, Double D does his best to listen but his mind is on different things. The three friends spend the remainder of the night at Double D's place where he assisted them with their homework.
Morning arrives next morning, with a picture perfect sunrise over the Kankers trailer. Marie is first to wake up, she sits up in her bed and has a small stretch. "Why did I wake up so early?" Marie wonders as she climbs out of her bed. Marie looks over her shoulder to see Lee and May still asleep. "Wish I could skip school...but then Double D won't let me go over to his house" Marie reminds herself, she walks into the bathroom to wash her face and freshen up "I need to look good for my man"
Marie finishes her preparations for school, before she leaves out of the bedroom she looks over at her sleeping sisters "Wish I could sleep in" Marie complains as she leaves out of the door.
Marie shields her eyes from bright morning sun "Ugh...I'd probably go to school more if it started at 1 and finished at 2" Marie complains whilst on her way to school.
"Eddy, as I reminded you I don't want you or Ed invading my home uninvited" Double D lectures, Eddy who has his eyes half shut not listening. While Ed is watching the flies buzz around his head. "Another thing-" Double D gets cut off.
"Hey Dorks!" Kevin rides up on his bike next to the three, the three friends stop in place.
"What do you want? I've got enough problems" Eddy challenges, the Eds are able to see the anger in Kevin's eyes.
"I want my money back!" Kevin demands, Eddy's eyes are now wide awake and worried, his hunched figure is now standing up straight.
"er...I have no idea what you're talking about..." Eddy says as he casually shoves Double D and Ed to walk forward, Double D looks confused as Eddy.
"Money back?" Double D speculates, Kevin continues to follow the Eds to the side of them.
"You've got 5 seconds or else I pound you" Kevin says, Kevin begins to countdown on his hand. Eddy begins to bite his nails, as Kevin counts down. Eddy gets a brilliant idea, before Kevin gets to 1 Eddy pushes Kevin off his bike making him stumble.
"Run Ed!" Eddy instructs as he sprints towards the school with his tall friend. Kevin angrily gets back on his bike and begins to chase the Eds.
"DORKS!" Kevin yells his trademark, as he continues to chase the Eds. Double D stands there confused as to what Eddy didn't tell him about the scam the previous night. Double D continues his walk to school with no interruptions.
Marie has a short sigh as she takes equipment out of her locker, her actions are sluggish as she's not usually a morning person. "I hope Double D doesn't expect me to do this every morning..." She gives a disappointing groan. Marie looks over both of her shoulders to feel a sense of loneliness "It's kinda quiet without Lee and May..." Marie thinks to herself, Marie slams her locker door and walks down the corridor.
"What do you mean I need to grow my hair out Plank?" Jonny asks his wooden friend, Jonny holds out Plank in front of him until it's blocking his vision "You what? Now that's not fair Plank..." Jonny continues to converse with Plank. Suddenly a loud thud his heard, Jonny is knocked to the floor with his expressionless friend. He looks up to see a blue haired girl with a scratch under her right eye.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Marie calls out, Marie stands back to her feet after brushing herself off. Jonny hesitantly stands to his feet expecting the worse, Marie pulls out a small mirror out of her pocket to see she has a scratch under her eye from the Plank's splinters. "A scratch..." Marie mutters, Jonny holds Plank in front of him like a shield.
"Plank said he's sorry..." Jonny says in panic, Marie puts her mirror away and clenches her fist tightly ready to strike Jonny. Jonny flinches with fear, as a group of kids gather around the two of them.
"Sorry isn't going to cut it!" Marie says, just as Marie is about to vent her anger out on Jonny. "Don't get into any trouble whilst at school..." Double D's words echo in Marie's mind. Marie lowers her fist, she sighs loudly "Just watch where you're going creep..." Marie says as she walks away from Jonny, Jonny stands back to his feet confused.
"Huh, I don't know what happened either Plank..." Jonny says to his friend, suddenly the crowd of kids begin to gossip amongst each other.
"Kanker gone soft?" The group begin to gossip amongst each other, Jonny finds himself in a crowd. He swiftly leaves the crowd and walks down the corridor.
"Ugh...he's so going to notice the scratch, I look terrible!" Marie complains as she looks at her small mirror. Marie puts away her mirror and looks up to see Double D putting stuff in his locker, Marie looks around to try and hide herself. "He can't see me looking like this!" Marie tries to find a place to hide but there is very little places to hide, she stands face to face with a locker to try and hide herself.
"I wonder where Eddy and Ed disappeared to..." Double D wonders as he gently closes his locker, as he walks away from his locker he sees the distinctive blue hair of a certain study buddy. "Marie?" Double D questions, just as he's about to approach her he doubts himself "Probably be best, if I converse with her during lesson" Double D walks away down the empty corridor to his lesson.
"Phew he didn't see me..." Marie comes to the conclusion, she takes out her mirror again to see the small scratch. Marie takes a deep breath and begins to walk to classroom, whilst standing outside the door she tries to think of a plan. "erm...I could just have my head on the desk all day? That could work..." Marie begins to set up her plan. Marie pulls down the door handle of the classroom.
Marie enters the room, to see there are very few students there, she's come to the realization that she's early. She sees Double D sat there busy getting his equipment out of his bag, Marie sees this as a perfect opportunity to sit down whilst he's busy so he won't notice. Marie tip-toes to her seat as silently as she can, her mission is successful as she finds her seat. Marie goes with plan A and lays her head on the desk. Double D looks to his side to see he's no longer alone at the desk "G..good morning Marie" Double D says formally.
"Mornin'" Marie says whilst still having her face covered up, Double D finishes his pre-classroom preparations, he sits there facing the classroom. Double D again notices Marie has her head down on the desk.
"What seems to be the problem with her, yesterday at least she was sat up looking the part to learn" Double D speculates, Double D turns his attention back to Marie "What's wrong?" Double D whispers.
"Nothing" Marie gives a short answer, Double D isn't buying it.
"er...remember, if...if you need help just ask..." Double D reminds Marie about their discussion yesterday.
"Okay" Marie gives another short answer, the teacher begins her lecture. Double D gets constantly distracted by Marie keeping her head down.
"Marie concentrate" Double D whispers over, Marie thinks about looking up at Double D but thinks against it.
"I am" Marie whispers, Double D places his hand on his forehead.
"This is most unusual, I thought the deal may have motivated her to listen in class" Double D questions if the deal is actually working.
"Can you all work in pairs to answer the questions on page 82?" The teachers instructs the students, Double D looks at Marie.
"Marie, can you sit up and assist me..." Double D hesitantly asks, Double D fears that he may have angered the beast "Perhaps I'm being too pushy, she may not be having the best of mornings?" Double D questions his actions.
"H...he's trying to help me...he might think wrong of me if I don't do anything, but I look awful" Marie's thoughts are bouncing around in her mind, Marie clenches her fists and lifts her head up off the table. Marie looks deep into Double D's eyes, Double D gives a reassuring smile.
"Good, Marie we should start with question first" Double D instructs as he looks down at the textbook, Marie looks stunned and confused at Double D. Marie puts her hand on her face to feel if the scratch is still there and it is.
"He didn't even look at the scratch? What's going on here? Hasn't he noticed?" Questions begin to raise in the mind of Marie. Marie looks down at the textbook with Double D, Marie squints intensely whilst looking down at the textbook.
"She squints a lot when reading...I wonder..." Double D begins to question while looking down at Marie squinting at the textbook. Marie looks up at Double D, she's now making full on eye contact with Double D. Marie gives a flirtatious wink towards Double D, Double D immediately looks away.
"As if he hasn't noticed the scratch yet!" Marie thinks to herself, Marie quits squinting at the textbook and lifts her head up. Double D turns his attention back to Marie.
"So...do you need any assistance on the questions?" Double D gently asks, Marie shrugs and writes on her notepad.
"Remember, I'll ask for help when I think I need it" Marie dictates, Double D simply shrugs and gets on with his own work. Marie begins to answer the questions in the textbook "...I haven't got a clue what I'm doing..." Marie thinks to herself truthfully, she peeks over her shoulder to see Double D going through the questions with no problems at all "If I ask for help, I'll look stupid" Marie doubts her abilities.
"Well that was simple enough, I wonder how Marie is coping" Double D thinks to himself as he finishes the questions, Double D looks over at Marie who is leaning over her work.
"M...Marie? Are you positive you don't need any help?" Double D asks, Marie looks back at Double D.
"I said I'm fine, I can do it by myself" Marie stubbornly says, Double D tries to have a peek at her notepad but Marie covers it up.
"C...can I have a look to see if your doing it correctly?" Double D innocently asks, Marie peeks down at her notepad to see she's not even written anything for question one. "We're meant to work together..." Double D says, Marie sighs to herself and stops covering her notepad showing Double D the notepad. Marie lowers her head expecting to be scolded.
"Now I'm going to be lectured...I don't need his help I can do it in my own time" Marie thinks to herself, Double D looks down at the notepad with a puzzled look.
"She hasn't written anything...she needs my help, but I can't give her help unless she accepts the help" Double D is in a tough predicament and isn't sure what to do.
"C...can you help me with this question?" Marie utters the words that Double D has been meaning to hear for what feels like a long time, Double D gives a short smile and grabs her notepad.
"Sure, what part of the question are you struggling with?" Double D asks, Marie points at the question on the textbook.
"I don't get it, what is the value of X?" Marie asks, Double D's speciality and one of his favourite subjects is algebra. Double D clicks his pen and writes the question down on the notepad.
"It's the process of elimination with algebra" Double D gives some advice, Marie tilts her head confused.
"Huh?" Marie is confused again by the choice of Double D's words.
"Try testing X as other letters, to see if it's the right answer. If it's not that number you have an idea if the number is going to be higher or lower" Double D explains, Double D writes down a table in Marie's notepad. "What number do you think X could be?" Double D asks.
"erm...12?" Marie guesses, Double D nods and begins to show Marie the equation he's using.
"Look at this, replace the X with 12 and work out the sum if that's the correct answer" Double D says, Marie nods her head and reads Double D's hand writing.
"It's not right, with 12 it adds up to 71 when it should add up to 83" Marie says, Double D nods his head.
"Correct, that means..." Double D begins to lead Marie on to continue what he was going to say, Marie clicks her fingers.
"Wait...I got it, it means the number will be higher than 12. Now I think its..." Marie begins to ponder over at the work looking down at her notepad. Marie begins to work things out in her own mind "It could be...17 instead" Marie gives an educated guess, Marie looks down at the notepad replacing X with 17 to see what answer she'll get. "That means it'll add up to...83!" Marie found the correct answer "I'm right! Thanks Double D!" Marie gives her thanks as she slides her notepad over near her.
"I didn't do anything, your the one who found the answer all I did was give advice" Double D says, as Marie proudly writes the correct answer in her notepad. Double D sees Marie's eyes sparkle as she writes the answer down "She looks overjoyed after getting the answer" Double D thinks to himself.
"I got it right...but Double D helped me...I'll do the next one on my own" Marie sets her next targets. As soon as Marie finishes writing down the answer she looks up at Double D "Does this table thingy work with other stuff?" Marie asks a very open question.
"Depends on the 'stuff' your talking about, it helps helps on the process of elimination" Double D gives a weak answers, Marie shrugs and begins to work on the next question.
"I can do this one by myself" Marie says with full confidence, Double D bows his head allowing Marie to continue onto the next question.
"Let's see...erm...erm..." Marie begins to stumble on the question "I'm not going to ask for help this time..." Marie psychs herself up. Marie begins to write down possible answers the X could be.
"She does have what it takes to achieve in school, but she rarely shows it" Double D speculates on Marie's sudden change of attitude. A few minutes pass, Marie throws her pen on the table out of frustration.
"I can't do it, I'm such an idiot" Marie says as she lays her head on her notepad, Double D picks up the pen she threw.
"What seems to be the trouble, I can help you" Double D tries to assist his study buddy, Marie continues to have her head held down "I believe she needs to be more patient with the work, she's seems to be too stubborn when it comes to assistance as well" Double D thinks he has the answer to Marie's sudden change in attitude. Double D begins to try and slide out the notepad that Marie laid her head on.
"Don't bother, what good am I if I can't do it without you helping me. I'm so stupid" Marie doubts herself, Double D wants to assist but Marie isn't allowing him to.
"Marie, learning takes time. You can't expect to know something right off the bat" Double D attempts to help Marie again, but she's not having any of it.
"Sorry muffin, I can't have you helping me all the time" Marie apologises in her head, she remains like this for the remainder of the lesson.
"Maybe, I'm not strong enough to be her study buddy?" Double D remains quiet for the rest of the lesson.
The lunch bell tolls, just like that students are standing up out of their seats and exiting the room. Marie finishes packing her stuff up, she looks over at a defeated Double D. "I'm sorry Marie" Double D apologises. Marie tilts her head and sits on her desk.
"Sorry for what? I'm the one whose dumb..." Marie's voice breaks on the final word of her sentence. Double D places his notepad in his bag and closes his bag.
"I'm...I'm not a good study buddy, I'm not doing enough to help your needs" Double D doubts his abilities, Marie looks up at her broken study buddy. Marie hops down from her desk, she suddenly embraces Double D in another tight firm hug.
"It's not your fault, your a great study buddy!" Marie says, Double opens his eyes to see Marie Kanker embracing him in a hug. Double D attempts to break the hug of Marie but it's too tight.
"I'm not, Marie let me go..." Double D utters, Marie shakes her head swiftly and tightens her grip around him.
"On one condition, say your a good study buddy!" Marie lays down the deal with Double D, Double D again attempts to break out of the hug but as his gym class grade shows he has very little strength. "Come on say it!" Marie is giggling with a huge smile on her face.
"You need say...you're not dumb then..." Double D lays down the checkmate, Marie's grip loosens after hearing that. Double D gains the opportunity to breaks free of the grip, he uses this to his advantage and breaks free of the Kanker hug.
"I'm not dumb, now it's your turn" Marie says, Double D regains his once lost smile on his face. "Come on...say it...or else I'll hug you again..." Marie says mischievously.
"I'm...I'm...a good study buddy" Double D admits it, Marie gives Double D a reassuring smile.
"Told you, you're a good study buddy" Marie says with a joyous smile, that seems to be infectious as Double D gives a small smile in return.
"Remember Marie, you can ask me anything during lesson if you're struggling" Double D feels like he's repeating himself to Marie, he hopes this time she'll take it into consideration. Marie leans closer towards Double D, Double D backs up that he can't go any further, their faces are inches away from each other.
"I can ask you anything then...will you be my boyfriend?" Marie asks with a flirtatious smile and looks on her face, Double D feels his nerves begin to rise.
"er...I mean...it needs to relate to the lesson in some capacity" Double D explains himself better, Marie shrugs and backs up away from Double D.
"See ya next lesson!" Marie says, Double D nods his head. Before Marie leaves the classroom, she blows a kiss towards Double D. Double D looks away acting like he didn't see that.
"I need to put my foot down, she made excellent progress during the lesson. She loses her patience and doubts herself so much, that needs to change" Double D picks his bag up, as he's walking towards the exit "I wonder how she got that scratch under her eye..."
As Marie is walking down the busy corridor she realises something "I didn't see Lee or May in lesson...they didn't come in...who can I hand out with at lunch?!" Marie stops in place as she tries to think about what to do during lunch, Marie looks over her shoulder and sees Double D walking into the cafeteria "I'll go spend time with my study buddy..."
A/N: Although in the last chapter I said I'd use more characters, don't worry that will be coming in the next chapter. This was done in a way to set up to the situation that's going to happen in the cafeteria, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Keep up the good work!