Your review is my command. J-DOL.

Chapter 4. Party People

School always was something of a retreat for Edd, a place to forget about home and friends and regrets and just focus on something completely different. Learning new things was a great way to force everything else out of his mind and just listen to the teacher. The simple interactions, the easy rules, the numbers and letters that were so simple, so clear.

Edd couldn't think of anything better at such a confusing time.

Edd's 'home' life was nothing but simple. It was…complicated. As was his old friends that he'd left behind.

Juggling his many books, Edd headed home, trying to find a place for everything in his bag as he went. But a large grin was plastered over his face, leaving all frustration behind. He'd been invited to a party. Him. A party!

"Looks like someone's happy." Blake smiled, coming up beside Edd and immediately helping him with his books. "Have a good day?"

Nodding happily, Edd thanked Blake for his help. "Indeed I did. Yours truly was invited to a party, and not just any party, but one held by Felix and Tony Moore!"

"Felix and Tony Moore? The Moore brothers?" Blake looked impressed. "They throw good parties. Apparently. Exclusive too, invite only."

"Invites such like I have," Edd said and he smiled, thrilled that such popular kids had acknowledged him enough to invite him to a party.

"Well I'm very impressed and happy for you." Blake really did look happy for him, his face all proud smiles. "Just don't forget about little ol' me when you get all popular," he chuckled.

"That would never happen," Edd laughed genuinely. "Say, have you seen Kevin? He said he was going to school today but I haven't seen him at all."

With a shake of his head Blake attempted to take Edd's bag from him. "Here, I'll carry this for you."

"Oh no, that's okay." Edd felt a slight stab of irritation towards Blake. That guy seemed to really enjoy treating him like a girl. He could carry his own bag.

Blake was about to insist when Kevin suddenly appeared beside Edd, on the opposite side from Blake. "Just a heads up, I'm not going to be home later tonight."

"Oh, how will we cope…" Blake muttered lightly.

Edd, ignoring Blake's comment, blinked in surprise. Kevin always came home at the end of the day, even if he went out, he would still come home to sleep. "Not at all? Where are you going?"

Kevin, also ignoring Blake's comment, glared a little. "That's my business."

"Oh…sorry," Edd said quietly, his gaze dropping immediately to the ground in front of his feet, regretting asking. He didn't mean to pry, he was just curious.

After a pause, Kevin sighed loudly and proceeded to explain: "I'm going to a thing. I might not be back until tomorrow or the next day."

"You're going to a thing?" Blake questioned.

"That's right, nothing gets past you, eh?" Kevin rolled his eyes at Blake before veering off once they got inside their dorm house and easily climbing the stairs two at a time.

Edd sighed silently before also heading up the stairs, almost dragging his heavy bag behind himself.

"You sure you don't need help with that…?" Blake asked again as he stood at the bottom of the stairs watching his room-mate.

"I can manage, Blake, but thanks though." Edd waved Blake off and finished climbing the stairs. He dumped his bag in his room and fished out his homework. He had to get this done before he started to get ready for the party.

He settled down on his bed, rolled onto his stomach, and took out a pen. This shouldn't take long.

A light, yet solid knock sounded from Edd's door, once, twice, three times.

"Yes?" Edd dropped his pen onto the paper and looked up at the door, wondering what Blake could possibly want now. This was his homework time.

The door opened and Edd was surprised to see a mop of red hair poke around the corner. "Double D?"

"Kevin?" Edd knew his face must look the picture of shock, but he didn't even care; his stubborn room-mate was actually in his room, looking for him. This was a first. "Is something wrong?"

"No." Upon seeing he wasn't being ushered out, Kevin stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "Nothing's wrong- why would I come to you if something was wrong? I just wanted to know if you'd help me with my homework."

"Help you with your homework?" Edd blinked and sat up in what Kevin appeared to take for an invite for he strode over confidently and took a seat on the corner of the quilt-covered bed.

"Math. Evil in the form of school work," Kevin said blandly and with distaste. "I have to do it today because I have plans for the weekend."

Edd nodded in understanding. "Oh yes, your thing." Edd smiled a little sheepishly.

Kevin nodded. "Yup. Gonna hit a party." He sighed and scratched the back of his head as if he couldn't wait to get to that party…wait, party?

"You're going to the Moore brothers' party?" Edd blurted, the hand that had picked his pen up dropped it again.

Pausing for a moment, Kevin frowned slightly in confusion. "How did you know…?"

"Because that's the party that I'm invited to tonight- I had no idea it was a weekend thing though…maybe I should reconsider…hm…"

Eyebrows raised as far as they could go, Kevin gave Edd the once over with his eyes, looking as if to see if he'd missed something that could in any way whatsoever make Edd cool enough to be invited to a Moore brother's party. He seemed to come up blank. "How did you get an invite to that party? And no…It's just kind of a tradition for some people to stay for the weekend."

"Felix Moore invited me." Edd smiled happily, feeling rather proud and dare he admit it, even a little smug?

"Felix…? -No! You can't go!" Kevin suddenly jumped up from the bed, towering over Edd with a full-blown glare adorning his features.

Edd blinked, his smile dropping away from his face like it had been melted off. He leaned back a bit. "W-what? Why on Earth not? I was invited."

"Because…Felix- the Moore brothers…I... Look, just keep away from that dorm house!" The redhead balled his fists and closed his eyes momentarily.

The shorter of the two just sat there and blinked with his mouth hanging open; Kevin had never spoken to him like that before. Sure he'd been rude and obnoxious, but he'd never risen his voice like that. Nor had he ever seemed as threatening as he did now. He was rather scary.

"K-Kevin…"

The redhead hesitated, looking slightly unsure of himself, which was utterly unlike him, before he reached out a hand towards Edd. Double D flinched away from the advancing hand with a quiet gasp, clamping his eyes shut as if the redhead were going to hit him.

When nothing happened, Edd opened his eyes to find the room void of anyone bar himself, a last flash of colour exiting via his door.

Edd's mind was racing and his heart was, too, as adrenaline coursed throughout his entire body. He really had no clue as to why Kevin would be so horrible towards him just because he'd gained the same invite as him.

Was that the reason? Could it be that Kevin thought Edd would cramp his style? Embarrass him? Maybe a nerd like him really shouldn't be going to such a party… But he was invited. And by Felix Moore, too! How dare Kevin tell him what to do like that!

Frowning in determination, Edd leaped up from his bed, forgot about his homework, and flung open his wardrobe.

-~x~-

The large dorm house towered over Edd as he stood before it, hands grasping each other nervously. His determination to not let Kevin tell him what to do had dwindled down into nearly nothing as soon as he'd laid eyes upon the lively, teenager-filled house. Same went with his courage.

There were blitzed young people everywhere, staggering about or making out with each other all over the lawn, on the balcony and on the other side of the windows. It froze Edd's already few nerves.

If Kevin hadn't rudely told Edd not to come, he guessed he would've high-tailed it out of there by now. But as it were, Kevin had been unnecessarily rude and Edd would be damned if he was going to let his less-than-friendly house-mate dictate where he could and could not go.

So, with a deep breath, Edd strode up to the front door, stepping around the laughing teenagers who seemed blind to his existence. The door was already open so Edd just walked inside, making sure to be careful not to disrupt anything or anyone. He didn't want to get on the bad side of someone here.

The inside of the house was worse than the outside. Edd suspected that one could not find a surface that wasn't covered in either drunk teenagers, alcohol bottles and cans or something unsanitary of the sort.

The place stank of alcohol and the music was loud enough to make the walls vibrate. Edd couldn't even hear himself think. It was all deeply unsettling for the clean-freak indeed.

Walking gingerly through the crowded rooms, Edd searched for a familiar face. One of the hosts, a classmate, anyone.

A random kid who was handing out alcohol thrust a bottle of beer into Edd's face, his expression not entirely friendly but not hostile either.

"Oh, no, thank you," Edd refused the drink politely. He didn't drink alcohol; it tasted bad and was completely pointless to him.

But the impatient kid didn't listen and just thrust it harder into Edd's chest so he was forced to take it before disappearing into the crowd, still passing the unopened bottles out.

"Well…that was rude," Edd muttered to himself before looking at the beer in his hand. Deciding that it might as well serve as a useful prop, he just carried it around with him as he wandered. He felt rather uncomfortable, but it wasn't enough to send him home.

"Edd!" A vaguely familiar voice called Edd's name and a warm hand placed itself on his shoulder from behind.

Spinning around, Edd blinked at Felix's grinning face. "Felix!"

"I was hoping you'd come," Felix said loudly to be heard over the booming music. "You're late."

"Sorry about that," Edd apologised automatically, clutching his unopened drink to his chest. "It took me a while to get ready."

Felix just smiled and gestured towards Edd's drink. "I didn't take you as a drinker."

Grinning sheepishly, Edd shook his head. "Someone just passed it to me, I don't usually drink alcohol."

Nodding and smiling, Felix nudged him and pointed to the staircase. "Wanna head upstairs? It's not so loud or chaotic up there."

Relieved that he wasn't the only one who thought the party was completely chaotic, Edd smiled and nodded in agreement. "Sure thing."

Felix gestured for Edd to follow him before pushing his way through the crowd and acceding the staircase, his rich, chocolate-coloured hair bouncing with every step.

True to his word, the second story was both quieter (but not by much) and less crowded. It eased poor Edd's nerves just a little.

"Are you going to drink that or what?" Felix asked as he lead the way down a hallway and into another sitting area. Edd looked at his drink.

"Well, no, I told you I don't really drink alcohol," Edd said.

Felix scoffed as he plopped down onto a red, three-seated couch. "It's just beer, it won't kill you."

Following suit and sitting on the couch himself, Edd frowned. "But it tastes bad," he protested.

The older teenager blinked at Edd then laughed heartily. "That's probably just because you haven't had enough of it," he said with amusement. "C'mon, drink up."

It briefly occurred to Edd that he was being ordered about again, but he pushed it aside. He was at a party, which wasn't something he had a lot of experience with, so if Felix said drink beer, Edd decided he'd just do it. He wanted to make friends, not make everyone think he was some weird pansy.

So Edd opened his beer with some difficulty and raised it to his pink lips. After an encouraging look from Felix, Edd shrugged and took a gulp, and it tasted terrible, just as he knew it would, but he managed to swallow it.

His company laughed at his disgusted expression and applauded him. A couple of others in the room had laughed too, but went back to whatever it was they were doing beforehand.

"See, that wasn't so bad," Felix chuckled.

About an hour later found Edd surrounded by various beer bottles and shot glasses, the other red couches full of slurring, giggling teenagers. About five others had joined in on Edd's and Felix's drinking and the entire group, including Edd, were all drunk. The soberest, if one were forced to pick one out, would've had to have been Felix.

"Hey, Edd," Felix said, nudging the smaller boy to get his attention. "How do you feel?"

Edd tried hard to focus on the blurry image of his new friend, but found it rather difficult. He giggled. "A bit sick, actually."

Everyone laughed. Felix suddenly stood up and grabbed Edd's sleeve. "Do you want to go throw up? You can't here…the carpet's new," he hiccuped.

Edd, suddenly feeling as though he could really go for a stomach-pump, nodded and scrambled to his feet.

Steadying Edd, Felix lead the boy down another hallway, laughing as Edd stumbled and dragged his heavy feet. "Almost there," he said as he approached a door and pushed it open.

Edd stumbled into the room and blinked a few times. "…Where's the toilet…?" he murmured, slightly confused. Suddenly, Edd was falling forward. It took him a moment to realise he'd been shoved, but by that time he was lying on a bed, too heavy and dizzy to define up from down. He rolled over and squinted, trying to determine what was going on.

"Felix?" Edd asked, his brow furrowing as his wrists were clamped together and raised above his head.

"Yes, Edd?" Came Felix's voice, sounding decidedly more sober than it had just minutes ago.

"W-what's going on? This is- this isn't the bath…room?" Edd stumbled over his words, still confused in his drunken state.

"That it isn't," Felix chuckled darkly. A hand was fumbling with Edd's belt, and it was then that his mind caught up just a little.

"Lemme go, Felix," he whined, wriggling. "I want to...to go home."

Felix didn't respond to that, and merely undid Edd's buckle and zip.

"Nooo…" Edd frowned deeply, still blinking and trying to see what was going on, trying to grasp the situation at hand. "What are…? St-stop. Lemme go!"

Next chapter is called, More than Just a Bad Hangover.

Teaser: Looking thoughtful, Kevin nodded slightly. "There's so many things I'd like for you to think of me. And that's confusing, because…I'm not supposed to care."