Adolescence didn't make sense
A little loss of innocence
Chapter 25
Teen Idle
Letting out a sigh as he puts the bowl down in the sink, he carefully turns the faucet on; making sure it's not too loud for the others as he does the dishes quickly. Small and quick washes are better to take care of immediately instead of leaving them in the dish machine where they'll be left for an unknown amount of time before they're washed. It truly doesn't sound so bad, but all Edd can think of is how the dirt will start to set and get harder to get rid of, even for machines. He's seen some examples where the so called "clean" dishes weren't so clean…
Turning the faucet off and reaching for a towel, he wipes the bowl and spoon dry before he puts them back in their respective places. He's just about to turn around to clean the table with a cloth when the front door suddenly gets kicked in, a thick cloud of dust hiding the culprit from his line of sight. If only this had been the first time he'd seen this happen – then the irritation wouldn't have been so strong.
"DOUBLE-D!" The shrill sound of Ed's screaming voice echo through the house as he looks around, desperate to find his friend. So much for trying to keep it down.
Edd frowns and pinches the bridge of his nose as he can hear commotion occurring upstairs, footsteps rushing from Mel's bedroom and down the staircase and… yep, there she is. Hair standing in all kinds of directions, eyes wide and hysterical; with her metal bat in hand she appears to be nothing but ready to fight to the death and not feel sorry for it. A frightening sight to behold, no doubt – or, well, as frightful as one can appear in their pajamas, newly awake. Oh well. Turning towards his sister, he's just about to tell her what happened when Ed finally finds him.
"Double-D!" He shouts yet again, although not so loud this time, rushing towards his friend. Hugging Edd tightly, Ed doesn't let go and merely carries him like a child carries their oversized teddy, hurrying out of the broken down door and down the cul-de-sac. "EDDY! I FOUND DOUBLE-D! HE WAS IN A HOUSE WITH A MONSTER!" He shouts as they leave one confused and just slightly offended redhead behind.
Still standing with the bat in hand, ready to throw down, Mel huffs in annoyance as she finally snaps out of it and registered what the weird kid said. "And I bet you look like a model every time you get out of bed then, huh?!"
Being carried by his friend, Edd knows better than to try and fight the gentle giant that is Ed. He may be dense and a bit slow, but once he sets his mind into something and takes action, there isn't much that can be either said or done to stop him. As much as he really doesn't like being handled like this, he knows from experience that it's better to just let it happen.
They make their way to Eddy's house but they only stay there for a mere two or three seconds before Eddy joins them and they start running again. At least Eddy is nice enough to say hello to them and telling Ed he did a good job fetching Double-D. Ed smiles brightly as they make their way to wherever they're going. Now that there's a third party, someone he can actually talk to nonetheless and give the answers he wants, there's only so long Edd can wait for them.
"May someone please tell me what is going on and where we are going?" He asks, feeling only slightly annoyed at the moment.
"Away from your house, that's where!" Eddy explains, almost sounding stressed.
"To the junkyard!" Ed exclaims loudly only to get snapped at by Eddy.
"Keep it down junk-brain! No need to tell the whole neighborhood!" He glares at Ed. "Don't worry Double-D; we're going to help ya! Just need to get some supplies first!"
"Supplies? What on earth for?" Edd asks, feeling the confusion wash over him like a wave. A wave of saltwater on the beach, something that feels very nostalgic and easy to recognize, yet you know there's reason to not feel too comfortable about it. It splashes him in the eyes and leaves him cold as neither Ed nor Eddy answers him anymore; they just keep running towards the junkyard.
The familiar stench soon reaches his nostrils and he scrunches up his face in response. There is little joy to be found in this place and currently the only thing he will find in his interest is the reason as to why he was brought here to begin with. Reaching the familiar abandoned van, Ed finally puts his friend down to fix his wrinkly clothes and catch his bearings. He then turns towards his two friends who appear to be very busy searching for whatever they can find to aid them with whatever mission they're on. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he fights the urge to snap and yell at them and instead takes a very unsatisfying deep breath.
"Now that we're here, could someone please tell me what we're looking for?" He asks, feeling his stomach acid act unnaturally in its enclosure. Whether it's caused by his annoyance or the stench is to be determined.
Eddy stops his searching for a brief moment to look back at his friend. "I already told you; we're looking for supplies." He says and immediately returns to the search.
"Supplies for what?!" Edd shouts, having finally reached the limit of what he can take so early in the morning. "What is it we need to find supplies for?"
Finally Ed and Eddy stop what they're doing and turn towards their genius friend. They almost seem surprised to find that he's annoyed, frowning at them even. Standing still and just looking at each other for a few seconds, Eddy eventually walks up to his friend and looks him in the eyes. Staring for a moment, he points at his friend's face.
"That." He mutters out. "That's what."
Face growing red in anger and confusion, Edd glares at his friend. "What?!" He snaps. "What does that mean?!"
Turning around and walking back to where he was earlier, Eddy throws a hand up in the air to Edd. "Don't worry about it Double-D." He calls over his shoulder. "Ed and I have been planning the whole night and come up with the perfect plan to get Kevin out of your house once and for all." Looking back down the pile of junk he was searching earlier, Eddy moves a few things out of the way to see what else is there. "We just need to find some stuff to make it happen."
Sighing and face palming, Edd understands that his friends are just trying to look out for him, but there's just nothing they can do about this situation. "I appreciate the thought, however I don't believe there's a need to take actions such as this. After all, Kevin didn't just waltz into my home, he was invited to stay."
"Yeah, we know – by Mel." Eddy says nonchalantly, though he does stop looking for a moment, gesturing to Ed to pick up the search while he looks back at Double-D. "Look Double-D, we don't know what Kevin's done to you while he's been staying at your place, but from what I can see you're real pissed off about it."
Edd's face grows emotionless at his words. Well, you're not wrong about that.
Seeing the expression on his face, Eddy knows that his suspicious were correct and he's happy they took the time to try and find a solution. "Don't worry Edd." He says, turning back to search the pile. "We just need to find some of these things and then we'll convince Mel to have Kevin kicked out right away!"
Standing put, he watches for a moment as his friends hunt for the objects of their needs. With a soft sigh and small shake of the head, he walks up towards them and looks at one of the piles of junk. "What is it we're looking for exactly?"
Sleeping soundly and deeply, Kevin is suddenly jolted awake by some loud commotion from downstairs, followed by the sound of someone's fast footsteps rushing down the stairs. It takes a moment or two for his foggy mind to come to its senses as it still requires a proper restart to function normally. The commotion eventually quiets down and things seem to be going back to normal for now. Sitting partially up, he leans on his right hand as he uses his left to rub the dust out of his eyes, before kicking his feet over the edge of the bed he's in. It takes him a little while to remember that he passed out in the dork's bed. Heh… awkward… but speaking of which; where is the dork?
Stretching his body till it pops here and there, he stands up from the bed and tries to make it as close to what he thinks the dork's standards are before he leaves the room. Looking back and forth in the hall, he can see Mel's bedroom door is wide open. She must've just kicked it open as she dashed downstairs to deal with whatever happened. He's curious to see what it looks like, but not curious enough to actually try something stupid like that.
Walking down the stairs, he finds the redheaded teen in the kitchen, sitting by the table with her head resting on her hand, eyes closed. Seems like she isn't a big fan of early mornings either. Taking a few steps into the kitchen, she opens her eyes and looks at him before he can even say anything. Yawning loudly, she rubs her eyes much like he did earlier, with one hand, her other and high above her head in a stretch.
"God morning." She yawns. "Did you also wake up by the bomb that went off?"
"Heh, yeah." He says, scratching his neck a little while he walks over to the sink to get a glass of water. "What was it that happened?"
"Ed. That's what." She says, monotone voice as if she's experienced it far too many times. One time is still too many times after all.
Chuckling in response as he drinks some water, he doesn't really need more to understand. "Really?" He says. "What did he do this time?" He doesn't need more, but he wants more.
Mel groans. "He broke down the door, but luckily it wasn't damaged so I managed to fix it again. Anyway, yeah, broke down the door and then he grabbed Edd and left." She says only to get jump scared by the sound of Kevin slamming the glass of water into the counter while exclaiming "what?!" at her words. Turning to look at him, she only manages to catch a look of his back as he storms out to door, slamming it open as he hurries out of the house. At least it didn't come off this time. Sitting in silence, staring at the wide open door, millions of thoughts running through her head… "I feel like I've missed something." She mutters quietly to herself before she stands up from her seat and goes to close the door.
Sleep deprived and completely out of it mentally, Kevin runs as fast as he can down the street of the cul-de-sac (or the little part of it) towards Skipper's house. Running around to the back he pounds on the door, demanding entrance. Not a sound can be heard coming from the house. Growling in anger, he hurries to the other dork's house and pounds on the door again. This time there's an answer, someone who opens the door. As the door swings open an angry little ginger girl stares daggers into him as her terrified little friend hides behind her.
"What?!" Sarah snaps at him, hissing like a cat. She may not hate Kevin like she hates Eddy, but she really doesn't like anyone who's not Jimmy, and she's not afraid to show it. "What's with the pounding?! You're scaring Jimmy!" Point noted, point earned.
Kevin groans at her, rolling his eyes even. "Ugh… sorry! Where's your brother at?"
"Don't know, don't care! Now SCRAM!" She shouts and slams the door in his face. Urgh… fine. There are only so many places that the morons like to hang out anyway. Shouldn't be too hard to find them.
Running past his own house he stops for a little moment, tries to listen to the sounds coming from it. Not hearing anything fills him with anticipation and hope; he should be able to sleep at home tonight it everything's calm and quiet again. A small smile finds its way to his face and he hurries away to the play ground, where some of their more advanced scams usually take place; nothing. Alright, how about the creek? Not that there's something that special about it, but there was a time where they tried to take their scams to the waters. Approaching the creek however, he finds nothing once again… or, not nothing. He didn't find the dorks, but he did find someone; Marie Kanker. Not feeling the need to mess with those girls, he turns quickly on his heel and rushes towards the next place to search; the junkyard.
As he runs in the direction of the junkyard, he contemplates on how he should approach the dorks once he does find them, wherever they may be. If they're not at the junkyard he really doesn't know where else to search for them. The candy store maybe, but he highly doubt they managed to get their hands on any money.
Taking a deep breath, he tries to think it through as carefully and thoroughly as he can. Find them, approach them in a way that doesn't tick off Skipper and get Double-D to go with him without the other two, and lastly; talk to the dork. Seems like a solid plan… if only he knows how to actually see it through like the dork can see their stupid scams through. He really isn't much for planning ahead like this. Maybe that's why Nazz is so surprised he's so good at football?
The familiar stench snaps him out of his thoughts, bringing him back to reality. He's reached the junkyard – now he just needs to search it. He slows down to a jog, sparing his legs a little from an unwanted and uncalled for round of exercise. Walking past and in-between the many piles of worthless junk, it really doesn't take him that long find what he's looking for. Hearing the sound of Eddy shouting and yelling at the taller dork of the trio, all Kevin can do is roll his eyes as he follows the sound of Skipper's voice. For as much as they run away from everyone once their scams backfire, they really haven't learned a lot when it comes to hide from people. Step one; Stay out of sight. That they got. Step two, however; BE QUIET!
Coming to the corner of a big pile that keeps him out of the dorks' sight, Kevin remain hidden as he tries to think his plan through again. He knows that Skipper really doesn't like him and that it's absolutely the reason why they snatched Double-D like they did earlier. Normally having them snatching up their friend like that wouldn't concern him at all, but now that he really needs to talk to the know-it-all-dork, it's kind of a problem. A problem he really doesn't know how to solve. He does remember one small and short occasion where he called Double-Dork away from the other two to ask for the time and the dork actually went to talk to him without the other two… had it not been for the fact that he's currently "living" under the same roof as the dork, that sort of strategy would've been the one to go for. Maybe if he claims Mel is looking for the dork and asked him to look for him as well? That might work.
"Don't be ridiculous Eddy, of course there's no need for that." Double-D's voice suddenly calls out relatively close by, catching Kevin off guard.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Skipper calls after him, dodging whatever it was Double-D was referring to. "The treasure's right here!"
"I'm just going to the electronics section. I want to see if there are any computer parts that aren't too damaged." He answers over the shoulder, waving back at his friends without looking back at them.
Hearing the dork's footsteps approach rapidly, Kevin momentarily panics and doesn't recognize this as something that would actually help him in his endeavor to talk to the dork in private. Instead he hurries behind some big pieces of junk, a desk or something, and hides as Double-D walks past him. He walks awfully close, cutting the corner a bit more than normal, almost as if he's scanning the wall of trash that he's walking past before he heads towards the electronics like he said.
Watching the dork walk away in the direction that he recently came from as he searched for them, it suddenly dawns on Kevin that hiding might've been a stupid thing to do and that he now has to follow the dork, which just doesn't look very good, does it? Groaning at his own level of stupid, Kevin emerges from his hiding place, dusting his clothes from junk dust as much as he's able to. Putting his hands in his pockets, he follows the dork, pondering on how he's supposed to approach him now. Feeling his brain hurt from having to think things through too carefully, he closes his eyes in a frown and scratches the back of his neck as he goes, letting the hand drag down the side of his neck as he stares up in frustration. Letting out a sigh, he rounds a corner of garbage, following the dork aimlessly at this point, not really knowing what to do or say even if he does manage to talk to-
"Salutations Kevin." A cold and calculated voice says from behind him, causing him to jump in surprise and turn around. Double-D is staring at him, eyes emotionless and calculating his every move, probably searching for motives, reasons for being here. "What brings you here, if you don't mind me asking?" He asks after a quick scan, not finding what he was looking for.
Eyes wide in surprise and somewhat horror, Kevin fails to find any words to say in response of the dork sneaking up on him like that. So much for his plan, I guess.
Song: Teen Idle – MARINA – but she also goes by "Marina and the diamonds" sometimes. I think.
Life happened and now I'm late. Sorry.
