Sorry for the long wait! I've been busy with work and stuff related to work. Heckin' Corona!
Chapter 3
Undone
Both Eddy and Ed had been silent throughout the entire bus ride to school, listening to Double-D telling them about the morning he had shared with Mel and how well it had went. None of them interrupted him – not even Ed who usually does in order to make some random comment about some random horror movie or comic book – and he could've sworn that some of the other cul-de-sac kids where listening in on their conversation. Not that he minded. This is one topic he'd gladly let everyone know.
As soon as they had entered the bus, Mel had told Double-D to go and sit with his friends instead of sitting with her, which was something he originally had planned to do since his father had told him to get closer to his sister every day. However, Mel was quick to put an end to that thought – as if she must've known about Edd's ability to read too much into things – and had simply told him that it wouldn't be fun or fair for either of them if he had to sit with her against his will. "We'll see each other throughout the day and at home anyway. No need for us to be stuck to the hip on each other all day." Though that might've sounded cold by itself it was the way that she said it that convinced Edd that she wasn't trying to avoid him, but rather telling him that he didn't have to be by her side nonstop every day if he didn't want to be.
Thing is, her saying that made him start to want to, but he couldn't find it in himself to say so, and thus he went and sat down with his friends, immediately telling them about his morning with Mel.
They arrive at school a few minutes later, stopping by the entrance of the schoolyard that leads to the Junior High. Once everyone is out of the bus, Double-D stops and turns towards Mel and notice her looking a little bit lost. He tells Eddy and Ed to wait for him for just a moment before walking up to her and telling her where the entrance for the High School is.
"Ah, yeah that makes a lot more sense…" She says while looking in the direction Edd's pointing. "Thanks bro. Catch you later… whenever that is." And with that she gives him a smile and a soft pet to his head, messing up his beanie just the slightest, before walking away towards the High School entrance – but not before waving "bye" to Eddy and Ed.
Almost appearing star struck, Edd turns back to his two friends with a big smile on his face. "Did you hear that?" He says happily. "She called me 'bro'!"
"Y-yeah dude!" Eddy says with a big surprised expression. "That's great!"
"Oh, Eddy! It's most wonderful!" Edd says giddily and follows his friends to the Junior High's entrance, ready to start the wonderful day at school.
Throughout the day Edd couldn't help but smile whenever the subject of his new sister was brought up, chocking everyone with the sincere smile he gave them when he told them that things might not be as bad as they all first thought. Sure, he might've left some details out, but that was because he didn't manage to mention them as he rambled off at how happy he was that he could feel safe in his own home still… and then the bell rang, every time.
When lunch eventually came around the corner he was both happy and hungry. He had prepared his lunch beforehand as to not have to eat anything from the cafeteria, but Mel hadn't, and as she was standing in the line to get some food Double-D saw her and learned that they did indeed share the same lunch period. How ironic how something you first thought you would fear would end p making you incredibly happy. He smiled greatly when she walked by his table, tray of school food in hand, and waved at her to catch her attention. When she noticed him she smiled at him, walked up to him and nudged his beanie before walking off to sit at a table that was out of sight. Ed and Eddy soon joined him at their table and they talked about their usual stuff. The good news about Mel had made Eddy comfortable to plan for scams again and he didn't waste any time to tell his two friends about his brand new idea. They eventually finish their meals and heads on to put their trays away to go and hang around at the library… when Eddy suddenly stops in his tracks.
"Hey, uh, Double-D?"
"Yes Eddy?"
"Isn't that your sister over there?"
Following the direction his shorter friend is pointing, Edd's eyes eventually land on Mel, conversing with a couple of jocks, while not looking happy. Unable to hear what they're saying, the three friends watch as Mel suddenly stands up and walks away from the jocks, scowling like she was ready to commit a murder… and who's to say she wasn't? She storms out of the lunchroom, leaving her tray on the table with the jocks that seem to be happy, angry and confused over what just occurred.
"Oh my." Double-D mutters. "I wonder what happened."
"Beats me, Sockhead." Eddy says.
The three of them eventually make their way out of the lunchroom, feeling just the slightest uneasy from the moment they observed. They make their way to the library, the one place they all can agree on is rather ok (well, obviously Edd thinks its way more than merely 'ok', but that's beside the point). Ed immediately heads down to where they keep all of their comics and Eddy follows suit to see if they have some new magazines to check out. Edd however, wanders around for a bit, making his way to the more advanced educational books and novels, meant for actual reading and learning and whatnot. On his way he manages to catch a glance of someone far too familiar to ignore. Mel.
Sitting in a corner of the library while reading a book, she appears to be alone… and still has a scowl on her face. The scowl is enough to let Edd know that something isn't right about this. He carefully makes his way towards her, hoping not to disturb her but also not wanting to ignore her when he might be able to help. When his shadow gently touches the edges of her book she looks up and the scowl vanishes as soon as she sees who it is.
"Hey bro." She says, leaning back in her seat with a hand still on the book. "How are you?"
"S-salutations… um… I am quite well." He begins but slowly starts to pick at his tie, the nervous habit as it is.
Mel watches him for a moment, noting the way he appears to be way beyond nervous... Did something happen? "Are you sure?" She asks. "You-uh… you're fidgeting."
"Oh dear…" He sighs quietly to himself. "I-I just wan-ted to make sure th-that you're… ok?"
She looks at him, taking in the way he's looking at her. If she didn't know better she would've easily guessed that he's seen a ghost of some sort, just by how frightened he appears to be. What happened? Did something happen during lunch? Things seemed to be well when I saw him… but things can happen I guess. Now to the fact that he's asking about whether she's ok or not. Is… is he concerned for her over something? Did he hear someone say something about her?
Sitting up more properly in her seat, she gestures for him to take the seat next to hers. As soon as she gives the signal he follows through, warming her heart without knowing it from just being too precious to cope with. Seeing him sit down next to her is enough to make her smile.
"I'm fine, bro." She says and reaches out to pet his head and nudge his beanie a little more. "I'm just getting used to being new at school, but other than that I'm great. Nothing to worry about."
"O-oh… ok." Edd fidgets as she places her hand on his head. Something tells him that he's going to have to get to used to this; her touching and messing his head all of the time. Well, as long as she doesn't remove his beanie by accident.
"Ok." She repeats. "Now, what are you up to being here at the library?"
"Oh! I just come here with Ed and Eddy every lunch to get as much studying in as possible." He says with a big smile, his nervousness gone for now. "Although…" He says while getting a little more serious. "…they more than often tend to 'escape' the study sessions to go and read comics and whatnot at the magazine corner."
Mel chuckles. "Yeah, something told me as much." She says with a smile. "Well, I may not be the most study loving person, but I do enjoy reading. Why don't you grab a book of some sort and come back? We can talk a little about what we've read when the bell rings."
Another smile from him is her answer before he stands up and hurries away to get something to read. It makes her smile, like everything else that has with her brother's happiness does, the fact that he wants to spend some time with her, even if it is something as simple as just reading.
He returns in no time with a thick book. I mean – WOW! That book is thicc! It's almost three times the size of the one she's reading! He sits down at his seat after placing the book on the table first – yeah, ain't no way he would've been able to sit down while carrying that thing. It's like Godzilla of books! Once seated, he reaches to bring it slightly closer before opening it. Noticing how Mel has stopped moving, he looks up at her to find that her eyes have practically doubled in size while looking at the book he brought. His chuckle is what brings her back around to the real world.
"You did tell me to go and find something to read." He says, smile still intact.
"Yeah… sorry for staring, I just sort of thought you'd bring a… you know, a book. Not the freaking Bookzilla."
He chuckles some more, lighting up with joy. "Nonsense! This isn't even large compared to the ones in the world history section."
"There are bigger ones?!" She gasps.
The reading moment is interrupted by this notion, and Edd soon finds himself showing his sister around in the different sections of the library where they keep the "great books of knowledge" just so that she can see these massive books in person. For some reason, he finds himself enjoying her reactions whenever she spots one of the books he's mentioned or just spots one random book on a shelf.
The bell eventually rings, causing Mel to groan annoyed from being interrupted by discovering books, which on itself causes Edd to chuckle. She gives him a playful glare before they exit the library and heads to their respective classes. Mel heads on to the High School hallways while Edd heads back to the Junior High. The rest of the day goes on as normally as it can… that is… until the final bell rings the school out. Now, from what Edd can remember, Mel's school day doesn't end until around 3:30, or something like that, where as his ends at 3:00, meaning her classes shouldn't be over yet… but then… why are the jocks from earlier, from the lunch period, standing at his locker? Why are they even at the Junior High at all?
He carefully approaches them, merely because he needs to get his things from his locker so that he can go home and prepare dinner… but he just can't help but wonder why they're there… or ignore the feeling in his guts that is basically yelling at him to run. They soon spot him.
"There he is!" One of them calls and stands up from his locker to approach him menacingly. The other three follow suit, making their way up to the small shaking boy.
"G-Greetings!" He tries to sound normally, but fails miserably. "I-is there s-some-thing I c-can h-help you w-with?"
The first jock grins down at him, baring his teeth like a menacing canine. "Actually little man, there is." He says and one of the jocks behind him cracks his knuckles. "You see, we got a message to deliver from one of our girls. Apparently you've been pestering her throughout the day and she doesn't like it. So she sent us here to deal with it."
Confusion writes itself over his face. What girl? He hasn't been pestering anyone! "O-oh!" He says. "I'm s-sorry to have b-bothered anyone… b-but fail to s-see who…?"
The other three jocks circle him in, making him realize just how small he is in comparison to them. "Her name is Mel." The first jock says. "Pretty sure you know that already, and I'm gonna be honest with ya. I don't like liars."
Mel?
The first punch throws him backwards, right into the arms of one of the other jocks, and thus begins the torture. Fists are thrown, forcing him both back and forth, directions he currently can't comprehend at the moment. The pain is too much for him to handle and he feels his legs give out after a short while. Falling to the ground he can hear them snickering at him, however they are far from being done with him it would seem. As soon as he hits the ground, the kicks begin. Hard kicks to his back, spine and shoulders, to his stomach, guts and face. He tries to crawl into a ball to hide from them, but it doesn't help. If anything it agitates them to try harder, and harder they try.
He doesn't know when they stop the torment; all he knows is that after a while he blacks out. When he comes to the halls are empty and silent. How long has he been here? His body hurts terribly; he can't even stand at first. Forcing himself up on four, he looks around to see if there's someone who's there to help. No one. Everyone has gone home already. He crawls over to his locker and rests, leaning towards it and contemplates at the few things he remembers from the incident.
They said they had to deliver a message from a girl… a girl named Mel. They said they did this because she had told them to go and "deal with it", him being "it"… but… why…? Everything was going so well, so why did she…? Did she really not want anything to do with him? Then why was she so nice to him? Why did she tell him to hang around at the library? It doesn't make sense! Then he remembers the incident from the lunchroom. They had talked to her, the jocks, and something they said made Mel angry at them, causing her to storm out of there just to get away from them. She hadn't told him why or what they had said to her, as she hadn't even said anything to let him know something had happened at all. All she had said was that she was getting used to being new at school and that she hadn't managed to make friends with anyone yet… that was it.
He eventually manages to stand up at his locker, opening it at getting his things to put in his bag that just got oh so heavy. Closing the locker door, he turns and heads to the school entrance. When he reaches it he can see that the High School just let out, meaning he wasn't out that long, but long enough for there to be people to see him in this state… good lord, what it Mel sees him like this? He finds it hard to think she sent the jocks to beat him up, but at the same time he's never had a sister before so who's to say she didn't? Still… he just can't find it in himself to believe that. Meaning if she didn't send those jocks, she has no idea what they did to him, meaning she has no idea of the state he's currently in.
Holding his bag close to his side while pushing his beanie more down to his face, he makes his way across the schoolyard attached to the Junior High and does everything he can to remain invisible to the High School students. Success. He makes his way home without being detected by anyone. He hurries inside, closing his front door behind him as he lets out a sigh… but then the fear returns. Mel was nowhere to be seen at the schoolyard… meaning…
"Hey Edd!" She calls out from the kitchen. "I'm thinking about making dinner, got any ideas?"
Dinner? Oh dear! "U-uhm… No unfortunately. J-just prepare something you'd like! I have to go to and take a shower!"
Without leaving any room for her to answer, he takes off his shoes and coat before dashing up the stairs to lock himself in the bathroom. Running the shower, he removes his clothes and looks himself in the mirror. Cuts and bruises are decorated across his chest, back and face. Thank goodness for Mel wearing makeup! He's going to have to borrow some from her… but he can't ask her for permission without raising suspicions… I'm sorry sister… Stepping into the shower, Eddward hisses as the hot water makes contact with his wounds, but it's necessary to prevent infection and other problems further on.
Back in the kitchen, Mel is finding herself staring at the staircase where her brother dashed up not even seconds ago before locking himself in to bathroom to take a shower. Her phone is still in her hand and Amanda is still on the line, but both have gone quiet to appreciate the odd moment that just occurred.
"Is your bro okay?" Amanda eventually asks, breaking the silence.
"I'm… not sure…" Is all Mel can say. "He did seem a little concerned about something at lunch today, but other than that I didn't notice anything being out of order."
"Huh…"
"Yeah…" She steps back into the kitchen to try and figure out what to make them for dinner. "I hope he'll tell me about it after his shower."
"Hopefully… unless someone told him not to."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I don't want to jump to conclusions but, maybe someone told him not to say anything."
"Are you saying he might be bullied?"
"I'm not saying anything, but I'm also not, not saying anything."
"Well… if he is… what do I do?"
"Honestly, I don't know. Maybe talk to a teacher? Call the kids parents and tell them what a jerk their kid is?"
"I highly doubt that would work."
"Hey, I did say 'I don't know'!"
"That you did."
"So… what are you going to do?"
The sound of the shower shutting off catches her attention. Seems he's done with the shower and will come downstairs soon. Thinking for a moment at what to do, she ends up with nothing, but that might be because of that voice that's trying to get her attention on the other side of the line.
"Hey! Are you still there?"
"Yeah I'm here!" Mel answers and hears the door to the upstairs bathroom opens. "I think… I think I'll just wait and try to see what's going on." Edd carefully looks into the kitchen, drawing Mel to wave at him. "I think that would be wisest, for the time being. I don't want to jump to conclusions to quick."
"That does sound smart. You should probably do that." Amanda says. "By the way, is he there?"
"Yeah, he's here." She says, this time catching Edd's attention.
"Put on the speaker will you?"
Furrowing her brow she pulls the phone from her ear and puts the speaker on. "You're on."
"HI EDD! I'M AMANDA PANDA, YOUR SISTER'S BEST FRIEND!"Amanda yells out as loudly as she can, making the two siblings jump out of their skin.
"What the heck Amanda?!" Mel yells and only receives laughter as an answer from the other side of the line.
"What?" Amanda giggles. "I just wanted to say hi to your kid bro! I'm not allowed to do that?"
"Not if yer' gonna put him in the grave from it!"
"HAH! Your accent just broke!"
"Goodbye Amanda!"
"Bye!"
"Jeez." Mel sighs as she hangs up the phone, missing the small 'goodbye' that Edd called out to Amanda, but being the person Amanda is, she sure didn't miss it.
Tada!
