OK readers, here's the conclusion to my story. I've wondered what Jonny would do after becoming an outcast and chose to explore that (among other things) in this chapter. Here are my final responses to reviews:
Lightblade1121: I thought it was obvious that the Kankers went beyond unwanted kisses in the bathroom during "Out with the Old, In with the Ed" given how Ed yells "Holy schmoly!" in a shocked tone sounding like he went through a new experience, plus Eddy had a stunned look of horror seeing what happened to him and Double D (heavily suggesting it crossed lines) before fearfully saying "OK, that's it; I'm telling the teacher on you!" only for Lee to be unfazed and just lunge after him with a smooch in response. That (along with the not-very-subtle name of "Touchy Feely 101") led me to conclude it was a rape. Here's the finishing touch to my fic and I'm glad you liked the bus addition along with perspective exploration. On another note, I whole heartedly agree about EEnE being one of Cartoon Network's best series!
Brutus Creed: You are correct that the show always unambiguously painted the Kanker sisters as evil for their behavior. It's understandable to not like how the last chapter talked about rape, but your accusation of me bringing it up "just to shock the audience" is unfounded and misses the point it was making: I actually was having Eddy criticize their predatory actions as well as how the sisters never even got expelled for it. It was also added to show that they'll never receive forgiveness in-universe and he condemns how there are people who think of rape as always being male-on-female when in reality both this and female-on-male rape have often happened (and it's terrifying no matter who is the victim or culprit). I don't understand how that comes off as "cheap". If you have suggestions on how I could've phrased that portion to better get the point across, then I'm open to hearing those. I either way am sorry that my shortcomings ruined the story for you.
Now to finish things off!
Over the next few days, Jonny had abandoned his "Captain Melonhead" shtick and taken on a villainous persona known as "The Gourd", throwing eggs and toilet paper at everybody's lawns as retaliation for the others turning against him. This only dug a deeper hole for Mr. Wood Lover. He only stopped after his parents caught him red-handed the act and grounded him for a week as punishment. The guy gave a very weak defense of "Plank said it was the best thing to do!"
A couple months after the grounding ended, Jonny moved away from Peach Creek after his dad got a new job somewhere out of town. I guess he had nothing to lose at that point. We didn't hear from him again until seven years later when my brother died in the freak accident involving a carnival ride that I mentioned earlier. It turns out Jonny was coincidentally at the same carnival that day and had not only survived the ordeal but also protected Ben's 5-year-old daughter Elizabeth aka Lizzy from harm. Because of that, Mr. Jordan was the first one to expose the carnival's negligence to outsiders, including my parents and me. We did get some financial compensation to cover Benedict's funeral and burial expenses. My niece didn't know of her father's problematic past yet and was the only one to mourn him. In all fairness, she luckily never endured abuse from my sibling unlike his ex or me, so having fonder memories at first was understandable.
Jonny had changed by that point, no longer doing anything dressed as "The Gourd", and had calmed down considerably. By sharing his story with the press, that carnival faced a scandal that forced them to shut down after losing all customers. Surprisingly, Ben did manage to marry someone plus have a child with her, though they went through an acrimonious divorce one year after becoming parents due to his spousal abuse. I did get along with my former sister-in-law, Elizabeth Turton, when we met before the wedding. She goes by "Beth" to help distinguish herself from her namesake child. I still talk with both at least once a week. Beth and Ben agreed to alternate custody of their Lizzy every two weeks in exchange for him having no other contact with his ex-wife, who was glad to have full custody after he died. Anyway, I was grateful enough for that rescue to start respecting Jonny again. That's when we both exchanged apologies and I explained to him how things had changed at Mondo A-Go-Go when the others met my sibling.
Looking back, my only regret about reconciling with Jonny is not laying out the truth for him sooner. Over the next two weeks, he also made amends with our other neighbors aside from the Kankers, who had moved out of state a month after what happened at Mondo A-Go-Go. Their mom had also got a new job and thankfully took all three with her, declining all their requests to stay near "cherished boyfriends". By the time Mr. Jordan patched things up with others, I had become engaged to Nazz, who initially was worried that the former Captain Melonhead would go into a jealous rage. To our relief, he accepted it and didn't interfere even when both of us could sense some envy from him. I don't know how long that lasted before our marriage the next year.
Here's something I can tell you: how she ended up in a relationship with me. Things started off slow between us. A month after the vandalism of "The Gourd" had ended and we weren't sidetracked by that, I approached her in private with "About what happened at Mondo A-Go-Go: you wanted to meet alone to discuss it, right?"
"Yes, I did, also it seemed like you weren't yet ready to go through any big changes outside of gaining more pals. That's another reason why we didn't talk about it sooner." Ms. Van Bartonschmeer affirmed. "With that said, before things go any further, I need you to be sure you know what you'd be getting into. Remember that friendship in itself is a great thing to have and a painful thing to lose."
She had a good point: there are times when couples started off as friends and could never go back to that following their breakups. Conversely, other former partners could stay amicable afterwards. We had no way of telling right away what a romance could lead to. Gulping nervously, I responded with "I see what you mean, and as much as I would hate to lose the good things we already have, I was hoping maybe we could get dinner or a movie tomorrow night. Just the two of us, and my treat!"
Nazz accepted with "Sure, that would be fine, and I imagine you've waited many nights to offer this."
My cheeks went red when asking "Was it that obvious?"
"As clear as day!" she replied with a chuckle. "You were never very subtle about your desires, especially not when competing with Ed, Double D, Jonny, and Kevin for my affections. I also know at least one of your scams, namely the fake gold jewelry display, was an attempt to wow me over."
Blushing even harder, I felt sheepish when responding with "Sorry for the five of us overwhelming you that day. We acted like complete fools around you, and I don't blame you for running away to get space."
Her next words were "You're forgiven and have clearly learned from past mistakes. Another thing you didn't have to do was put on some bravado façade or try to impersonate an aspiring lothario with things like a kissing booth, joining football solely because of how the outfit makes you look, and signing up for a dance date. It never did you any favors. When the only one you really wanted was me, all you had to do was drop the fake acts and ask me for a simple thing like you did just now. I might have said yes earlier depending on what it was."
"Well, I wasn't always sure of that. Your eagerness to dance with Double D at school and once smooching him on the cheek in a clubhouse gave me the impression you would've preferred him." I confessed.
"Understandable, but he never got up enough courage to take things beyond friendship after dancing, and his opportunity passed him by." she revealed.
Part of me envied the fact that Nazz was once willing to date sock-head. However, hearing that the guy ran out of time for it was enough of a hint for me to not let my chance slip by. As a result, I inquired "So, with all of that out of the way, it's still a date?"
She pecked me on the lips and followed up with "It is, see you tomorrow!"
Walking away with a huge grin, I had a hard time sleeping due to excitement. After the disaster of competing for her affections, us Eds had privately agreed that if Ms. Van Bartonschmeer by some chance ever went out with any of us, then we wouldn't turn against each other over it or try to get in the way of things. Our friendship was too valuable to toss aside just because of jealousy. Even so, I could tell that deep down Monobrow and Mr. Hat Lover were envious of me getting a date. Thankfully they never interfered with it.
The first date went well, and for the next couple of months, we experimented with weekly outings before increasing it to twice a week. Part of it was to avoid bad reactions from Jonny, who likely would've become bitter at the time upon noticing any of our initial dates. We also didn't know yet where things would lead us even without him around. I also sensed Kevin had some envy, though he still did keep his promise not to interfere. Nazz officially became my girlfriend five months after our time at Mondo A-Go-Go, and we've made things work with both ups and downs in our relationship. While she's not a perfect person, and neither am I, we managed to resolve any issues that did come up. The two of us became engaged shortly after finishing high school and agreed to wait until our college studies were done before getting married. While our parents were initially surprised to see a teen romance last into adulthood like this, they all wished us well.
As the years went by, I kept in touch with everyone other than the Kankers, who we thankfully never saw or heard from again after they moved away. None of us Eds could ever forgive them. After realizing that Edd would never return Sarah's desires for them to date, she later moved on and got with Jimmy. I could tell that guy was jealous during the day we tried to use a four-leaf clover for good luck only for that girl to keep getting in our way and calling Double D her "boyfriend". They eventually got married and had twins together. She also thankfully started treating her brother with more respect after we were no longer the outcasts of Peach Creek. Ed is a fun uncle who loves having a niece and a nephew. Rolf on the other hand never showed the slightest amount of interest in romance or sex with anybody, and proudly remains a childless bachelor. I don't foresee his stance ever changing.
One month after finishing college, I got married. I had two best men there, namely Sock-head and Mr. One Eyebrow. It initially took me by surprise when Sarah became the maid of honor, but this made more sense once I remembered her close friendship with my then-fiancé. Nobody had objections when Lizzy insisted "Please let me be the flower girl for Uncle Eddy's wedding! I'd be perfect for that."
Two years after Nazz and I wed, our only child Edward Van Bartonschmeer McGee was born, who we generally call "Van" to distinguish him from me. He's a chill dude who inherited her blonde hair and my shorter-than-average height. At the time I share this with you readers, Van is a 13-year-old boy who's struggling to get the attention of a particular girl from school, and there are many other female classmates who wish to date him. Unfortunately for them, his preference is quite firm, and he has no interest in being more than friends with anybody else. In a way, he knows how both parents feel, going through different aspects of our experiences.
It's now been 24 years since my amusement park idea backfired, and I'm glad to have abandoned scheming. Life is easier without it. I instead opened my own candy store and I sell lots of treats to both kids and adults. My beloved became a fitness instructor at Peach Creek Junior High and runs the cheerleading squad, often drawing on her own cheerleader experiences to guide students. In case you're wondering whether any of the other guys besides Jimmy found someone to marry, the answer is not yet. Kevin found a girlfriend sometime after college and it's possible they'll at one point get engaged. Double D and Ed have recently found partners of their own, but neither feels ready to introduce them to the friend group. Whenever Jonny brings Plank on any dates he gets, they're quickly irked by a grown man carrying some old piece of wood. Even when us Eds have repeatedly advised leaving the board elsewhere for things like this, the wood lover struggles to follow through on that. I don't know how long this will keep up for but am wishing him luck.
THE END! It was fun revisiting the movie and expanding on elements that it didn't fully answer. I did feel sorry for Jonny when the others had turned against him over a misunderstanding, even though it was logical for him of all people to be the new outcast once the Eds were accepted by Peach Creek when they often see that guy as a nuisance. After seeing speculation that Mr. Wood Lover discovered the truth later on and got re-accepted, I implemented that. Looking ahead, I plan to at some point write more EEnE stories, but am not yet sure what they'll involve. The soonest I could possibly start another fic for that show or anything else is July 2024. As for Nazz and Eddy being happily married, while I didn't want to rush their relationship before that part, he's the only dude from the series besides Edd that I could plausibly see her ever dating. This is due to both guys getting kisses, the school dance with Double D, mistletoe flirting with Mr. McGee, Ed and Jonny not having many signs of a chance to begin with, Rolf never having any attractions at all, Ben being abusive, Jimmy seeing Ms. Van Bartonschmeer as more of a sister figure, and Kevin screwing up any opportunity he may have had by prioritizing his bike over the girl's well-being. Hopefully whoever reads this last chapter likes what I came up with. Shout-out to Lightblade1121 for reviewing all previous chapters!
Chapter posted: April 30, 2024.
