The Last Chance
Autumn Blues
Chapter One - Fall In Line
Eddward 'Double D'
October 9th, Tuesday
The hill stood quietly against the incessant off-key chirping of the hundreds of insects awoken by the barely rising moon. Summer was over, the school year had just begun and in the air stood the thin chill that permeates a newly birthed fall season. At the crest of the hill stood a proud oak tree, littered at its base with dozens of freshly wilted autumnal leaves. Beneath all of it stood the cul-de-sac, peaceful and quiet as ever; small lights shimmering from distant windows.
To break the silence, came Double D, his wild panting disturbing the quiet songs of numerous wandering crickets. In his wobbly hands was a heavy iron-wrought shopping cart, complete with decades-old rust and rotted red paint. Behind him trailed Eddy in a similarly preoccupied state, a large heavy stone clasped in both hands and arms to which he exerted much effort to lift. Finally, trailing behind the group by some feet, came Ed carrying one closed cardboard box under one arm and a soggy comic book in the other.
At the apex of the hill, Double D wheezed, arms trembling from the immense effort of the climb. Like a marathoner, he collapsed to the soft grass below and heaved for air. Eddy grunted as he stepped past Double D, nearly avoiding stepping on one of his outstretched arms. With a loud thud, the rock dropped the ground directly in front of the cart in order to stop it from rolling away.
"Okay," Eddy finally said after a few labored breaths, arms at both sides of his hips trying to catch his breath. "Do me a favor sockhead," he said, eyes never wandering from the thick forest that laid just beyond the small hill.
"What's that Eddy?" Double D responded, eyes closed, sweat dripping from his face.
"Find that party," Eddy said. Double D rose from his spot, looking quizzically at his friend with a sharp worried frown on his face.
"And how exactly do you want me to do that?" Double D chuckled. Eddy looked back towards him for the first time and rolled his eyes with an indignant scoff.
"The campfire, brainiac."
Double D stood up from his grassy spot with a groan, dusting himself off. Ed finally crested the top of the hill at that moment and simply set the box down with a small thump. He laughed, deeply entranced by whatever story was being woven through the pages of his nearly destroyed comic.
Eddy snapped his fingers impatiently, "Hurry up, Lumpy, get the stuff." Ed froze in place, his eyes wide, "Okay Eddy!" Be bellowed loudly with a sharp salute and wide smile.
Double D took leave of his friends and ventured close to the edge of the hilly overlook taking a seat at its edge, his eyes searching for signs of smoke. Yet despite the given task, his mind wandered with the levity of a nostalgic parent. Four years. Four short years had passed since the Eds had played their final scam. As such a lot had changed since those days and the thoughts of recently passed youth drifted by Double D's mind with a small smile. Double D, for starters, was a recent graduate of adulthood, having very recently turned eighteen. Though very little in the way of looks had changed since his youth despite his rather incredible height. At least in comparison to Eddy who never quite hit that growth spurt he had always dreamed of. Though the thin goatee and wild array of 80's style of dress had earned him at least a few passing glances from respective females. The wildest change by far would mostly come in the form of Ed's thick and mostly unkempt bush of facial hair that never seemed to get shaved despite school regulations against it. Nevertheless, the Eds were positively beginning to grow into their soon-to-be adult lives and senior year would be the final time any of them would see each other for a while.
'A beautiful night,' he mused inwardly, his eyes drawn to the rising stars high above the now nearly invisible light of the setting sun.
Finally, through the fog of remembrance, Double D finally sighted a thin column of dark gray smoke rising from the northwest of the forest. He studied the scene with trained eyes, before remembering his sextant nestled within his backpack's organized pockets. He retrieved it with a grin and studied its unmarred frame, freshly polished, and newly purposed.
"Oh no, sockhead's playing with his Sex-er," Eddy giggled with a loud snorting chuckle. Ed snickered in compliance, both terribly amused by the immature comment.
'"Sextant, Eddy," Double D said shortly, his right eye pressed against the glass lens.
"Right."
He adjusted the trajectory and distance levers with an idle hand until thoroughly satisfied by the calculations. Rereading the figures to his comrades, he finally added a 'fantastic device' to the end of his sermon and placed the device pack into his bag with a careful hand.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Eddy waved, "Just come over here." Double D stood from his perch, once again dusting himself off of dirt and grass blades before turning to look at his friend's handiwork. Before him sat the same old nasty, rotten shopping cart with a few added features. For one party streams floated from the bottom rungs of the shopping cart, hastily passed with thin scotch tape. Secondly, he noticed the half-deflated balloons that hung low, barely kept afloat by the quiet autumn breeze with different shades of off-kilter colors. And finally at the front of the cart hung a small wooden sign, dark marker lines imprinting the words, 'Happy Birthday Sockhead', in crude uneven lettering.
"Pretty nice right?" Eddy chimed, arms crossed in pride. Double D couldn't help but laugh with a loud snort. Eddy uncrossed his arms and scowled, "What's so funny beanpole?" He asked defensively.
Double D leaned over in laughter, his abdomen tight from laughter, waving an arm over his head. "N-nothing Eddy!" He stuttered between chuckles. With the wipe of his eyes, he snorted, "It's perfect." Eddy sighed, before hopping into the shopping cart with one graceful jump.
"Well Bozo, funs just getting started, get in," Eddy stated matter-a-factly with a small grin forming across his face. Double D froze in place, watching his friend in almost abject horror
"What?"
A horrific groan of strained metal met Double D's back as he gingerly laid himself against the frame of the shopping cart.
"I am going to need TWO tetanus shots after this," he murmured in a barely audible whisper. Eddy turned, his wide grin never wavering as he stood up from his perch at the helm of the cart. The thing groaned accordingly and the thin snap of something made the growing puddle of sweat at Double D's forehead larger.
With a loud cough Eddy, who looked as proud as an electoral candidate, cleared his throat for the grand speech that would once again land Double D into another heap of trouble.
"Welcome one and all!" He bellowed boisterously, his fake salesman voice ever-present through his curled lips. "The 'Party Crasher 2000' will be taking off very shortly but first I would like to say a few words." Double D grimaced so hard he could feel the muscles in his face begin to memorize the feeling.
"For too long we Ed's have sat at the rear of Peach Creek's social circles!" He took a stance, his fist high, once again eliciting a mighty creak from beneath his rather stout center of balance. "I say no more! Today we will give the cul-de-sac an experience of a lifetime!" With another dramatic pose, he turned and pointed a haughty finger towards the very faint gray lines of the smoking campfire. "Down there the enemy is sitting back in front of a fire swigging down cans of cheap beers and liquors."
Double D went to stand as if the absurd antics of the shortest Ed had finally short-circuited the well-used intellect of his brain. But with yet another shift and another creak, the will to move fled his body and he collapsed once more into the cart, resigned to his fate.
"But I say nay!" He bellowed, "We, of which the foundations of this cul-de-sac were founded from, were not invited to such a wonderful bush party!" He cleared his throat once again before turning his face towards the forest and its unwary denizens. "The time is nigh! Ed start your engine!"
Double D unwittingly closed his eyes, fear gripping him as he could imagine the cart free wheeling of the hill into their inevitable demise. Yet nothing came, Double opened his eyes with shock and sighed lightly with a relieved smile.
"For a second I thou-"
Then came the shove. Ed clinging to the handle and rear rack of the cart like some kind of deranged bob-sled racer. The force was so intense that Double D fell back, the air of fast speed pushing him against the shopping cart. A loud wail escaped his lips as the cart plunged down the hill at what he perceived was mach-speed. The wind whipped past the ladened cart with so much force that even Double D's eyes had to strain to see the impending doom that was fast approaching.
"Lumpy! Adjust left!" Eddy called back like the captain of some great war vessel. Ed once again saluted dopily before shifting all of his, rather immense weight, to one side. This abrupt change in momentum caused the right two wheels to become free of the earth's might resistance. With this the cart whined loudly but surprisingly did as it was bid, shifting towards the left around a thin oak tree. Once clear of the obstacle the cart roughly came back to center with a loud crack.
Ahead the treeline was coming in quick, like a great wall of tired orange and soft red. It was then that Double D noticed the trail leading imperceptibly into the dark maw of the forest. Clatter. The cart dropped sharply off the embankment and onto the trail with a heavy splash of wet dirt and mud. Double D could feel his shorts and some of his socks were thick with large clumps of earth and he restrained the urge to scream.
The overcast of the moon was suddenly gone, replaced by the deep obsidian black of the forest. Thick branches and harsh shrubs inched out towards the path as if to snatch the cart right from underneath the trio. Fortunately, the cart remained steadfast and after a few moments, the smell of burning would begin to fill his lungs. An end to the madness was fast approaching and a small smile crept across his lips. That was until the cart ripped into two pieces at the base. The cart now free from the wheels flew away like an elegant bird ready to take to the skies.
Time seemed to slow down as the cart collided with the undergrowth, its wayward frame crumpling under the inertia and weight of its three occupants. Then came the rolling, the spinning, the meeting of bodies hitting the earth in random scattered directions.
When Double D had finally come to his senses, the world looked very much foreign. For some reason, the sky was beneath him as if gravity had been replaced. A bright orange light caught the left side of his peripheral vision and he pondered its existence. Then a face came into view, however, its features sat ensconced by the drastic shift in light and dark, as if the face looked away from the source of light.
"Are you crazy?" It murmured almost incomprehensibly. Double D could not speak, as at the moment he had forgotten how to.
"Oven Mitt?"
Double D sprang up so fast he nearly knocked heads with the person looking over him and they recoiled with a small yelp. The features of the face were not foreign at all, and with the changed perspective of light and field of view, he could see that it was in fact NOT Marie Kanker, but rather Rolf. His face was contorted in a mixed mess of confusion, anger, and concern and so his normally candid features were incredibly difficult to read. An acute sensation overwhelmed the middle Ed all at once and suddenly he became aware of both pain and of being watched.
A dozen eyes sat fixated at varying levels of unrest towards him. A great heat overtook his skin and he quickly shot to life, dusting himself off with nervous fear.
"Uh…," he stumbled out, his mind blanking when confronted with so many hostile eyes. Then came rustling, and the eyes were drawn away and towards the edge of the clearing. Wreckage of the 'Party Crasher 2000' lay in a strange heap, entangled by weeds and bush vines. Eddy stumbled out from the brush, feet unsteady and eyes unfocused, obviously still dizzy. Ed followed shortly behind, his blank expression left little to interpret and so Double D did little at this exact moment.
"Why am I not surprised?" A rough and hoarse voice sneered vehemently. Attention changed once more, this time towards the center of the clearing closest to the bonfire. Kevin stood, arms folded over his chest in a frustrated posture, his eyes boring holes into Double D's fragile frame. Naz stood close behind, her eyes feverishly watching the scene that was about to transpire. Besides them, Double D could make out the shadowed figure of Johnny, Plank in hand. As well as a wide variety of people Double D had never seen, or at the very least paid little attention to.
"Why do you numbskulls always turn up when I have a good thing going?" He let the question hang for a minute before shifting his focus towards Eddy who had now gotten a good enough bearing on his surroundings to see Kevin. Eddy laughed an almost hateful laugh before striding up towards Kevin and putting a finger in Kevin's face.
"Pfft, a good thing?" He chuckled. "You're missing the lifeblood of the party, shovelhead," his voice was cool and yet his posture seemed almost agitated
"Yeah, and what's that short stock?" Kevin retorted with a sneer.
"Us!" Eddy bellowed, arms outstretched as if to point to himself and his compatriots. "We have just brought life back into your dull party, no need to thank us," he finished. Then with the grace of a drunken badger, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a party popper and fired it directly into Kevin's face. The sound startled a few, except Kevin whose face had yet to change, though the flush in his face was beginning to build. Seconds of uncomfortable, awful silence persisted before Naz spoke in a placating tone.
"Babe...calm down," she said in a hushed whisper, referring to Kevin, who was in fact her boyfriend. Kevin ignored her, opting to instead shove Eddy hard into the ground with a loud thud. Eddy laid there, a look of deep offense sprawled across his face. Kevin stepped over Eddy and towards the edge of the clearing. He bent down and picked up the old wooden sign that had been used to denote the gift intended for Double D.
Suddenly a cold sweat overtook Double D and he tensed up. Kevin, his anger on full display now tossed the sign away with a horrid clang.
"So it was you, Sock-dweeb?" He said in a malicious tone, quickly closing the distance and gripping Double D by the shirt with both hands.
"Kevin, stop!" Naz tried, but a sharp glance from the agitated quarterback closed her mouth shut.
"They need to learn, Naz," He paused looking directly into Double D's eyes as he wound up a left hook.
"Night-night, dweeb"
Then the world went black.
October 10th, Wednesday
The loud crashing of a distant thunder-strike awoke Double D from his restless slumber, his body wet with sweat. He wiped his face with a lone hand and his eyes scanned his darkroom. Instinctively he looked over towards his alarm clock, eyes still wide with adrenaline.
'4:59 AM'
He sighed, turning the alarm switch to the off position and rustling himself from his sheets and comforter. A trained hand patted down the sheets, while the other adjusted to slightly unkempt pillows propped against the headrest. With a calm and rather satisfied sigh, he turned towards his large wooden working desk. The remnants of a mostly finished Calculus assignment sat neatly at his desk, pencil still waiting to be used. He sighed, taking up the papers and placing them back inside his calculus folder. Then he set up his bag, replacing the beanie he had taken off last night and placing it atop his mess of wild black hair. Searching through the front pocket he pulled out his sextant, cracked and bent in several different places. Last night's collision had completely destroyed it. A pang of sadness went through his body and he sighed again, placing it at his desk for later repairs.
Outside the window, just past the curvature of the great oaken desk, sat a still, calm, and very dark morning for Peach Creek. In the distance, the not-too-subtle lines of large black storm clouds came like a wild giant barreling in a straight path. Double D shook his head from his thoughts, chores were to be done before school and he would only have so much time before his friends would arrive to drive him there.
Throwing on a long black undershirt and his trademark orange tee-shirt, he moved from his room and into the upstairs bathroom. Flicking on the light, he could see the same image he was used to seeing every morning; a thin body, gapped teeth, bookish appearance, and of course the newly forming bruise across his left eye. He poked at it with two fingers and winced at the resulting pain, noting to doctor it before leaving for school.
The downstairs was quiet. He knew his parents would not be home until Friday, and yet he felt the incessant need to call down to them as he strode down the carpeted stairs. He frowned as he rounded the corner into the living room as though he had hoped his mother would be in her chair sipping her morning coffee. With a loud sigh, he moved forward into the kitchen slightly dreading the long list of chores to do before leaving. The sticky notes pasted across the fridge sat uninvitingly against the alabaster surface. Placing his book bag down at an adjacent chair he began the monotonous work of tidying up the house.
With the final posted notes taken down and crumpled into the small kitchen trash can, he turned towards his work and smiled if only for a few seconds. After chores, he made himself a healthy serving of eggs, bacon, and pre-made biscuits and washed it down with a glass of refreshing water. After finishing his breakfast he set to work completing the remainder of his calculus homework. Then his phone rang. He pulled the sleek device from his pocket and put it up to his ear.
"Eddward speaking," he started.
"Hey, sockhead! Ed and Me are up early," Double D rolled his eyes a faint smile on his face.
"It's Ed and I, Eddy," Double D corrected, pencil etching in the last few lines of his answer on paper.
"Yeah, Yeah, Brainiac; look we need to get this homework done before first period, or Ed and I flunk out," Eddy shot back. Double D placed his dishes into the sink and placed a hand on his forehead. He sighed, "Fine, Eddy, but do hurry up. I'd like to be punctual this time around."
"Yes, yes I hear you Downer-D, be there in a few," then he hung up. The things I put up with, Double D groaned to himself, taking a seat at the table once more. After a few minutes, the rain started, first in sprinkles then in a downpour and Double D sighed, his eyes transfixed by droplets forming on the sliding glass door ahead.
Then bang.
Double D shot up like an athletic racer ready off the line. He stood up and inched his way towards the glass door with quiet footsteps. Then Eddy came into view, soaked to the bone, a scowl etched into his face as if it had never once been anything else before. Double D grabbed the handle gently and allowed the soaking Eddy to trounce into the dining room with an agitated gait.
"Water-logged, Eddy?" Double D chuckled, taking an apple from the nearby basket of fruit.
"Can it, Double D," He grumbled, taking his shoes off and tossing them onto the shoe rack haphazardly. "Lumpy back there knocked me into a puddle."
Ed, who had been lagging behind, held a half-soaked comic book in both hands. He stumbled in and knocked his shoes off before closing his comic with gusto. "Eddy! Look at you! You look like a newly born Glorgnak!" He laughed childishly. Eddy grumbled a swear under his breath and took to unloading his soaked backpack, searching for his homework assignments. Ed did the same, though, still distracted by his comic book.
After a few moments, about eight homework assignments sat half wet on the newly polished dining table, only the barely literate scribbles of the aforementioned boy's names scrawled atop.
"I thought you needed help with Algebra."
"Well yeah," Eddy began, "and History, and English, and Physics." He smiled through a mouthful of apple. Double D simply sighed and got to work "finishing up" his friend's homework for them as quickly as possible.
After cleaning the mess that had become the dining room, the three Eds were finally out the door with only ten minutes for the passing period. Double D grabbed a dark brown leather windbreaker and locked the front door behind him. Eddy's black van sat parked a few feet away from the front of the house, rusted in all its glory. Eddy hopped up into the van with a smile, reaching over to manually unlock the passenger door for Double D to step inside.
The smell that assaulted him was new and fresh and was almost so bad Double D almost gagged.
"Gotta fix that leak," Eddy concluded, not even noticing his friend's valiant struggle to keep his breakfast down. Double D leaped quickly into the van, nose plugged with his free hand while shutting the door with his other.
"I really must insist you clean this filthy vehicle."
Eddy rolled his eyes with a grin. "She's perfect the way she is, sockhead," He said indignantly. "You're just jealous you couldn't afford your own," Eddy chided, cranking the key in the ignition. Double D frowned, pondering that last statement. While it was most indeed true that Double D had never had a job and therefore could not afford his own vehicle he questioned if he really needed one. Though judging by the horrific smell, getting his own would save him from this van.
Cars were dangerous, any statistic would tell you that. As such Double D would be remiss to voluntarily get behind the wheel of one of these metal death machines. More memories of the night prior flooded his mind again and he shook the images from his head.
Finally, after the third attempt, the van roared to life with a sputtering. "See?" Eddy laughed, patting the car dash with one hand. "She's still got it!"
Double D offered a weak smile, to which Eddy ignored with a scoff.
With Ed situated in the back of the van with no seatbelt, of course, the Eds were finally on their way to school with just a few minutes to spare.
Peach Creek High School stood tall against the foreboding obsidian storm clouds beyond. It was an older building, not entirely kept up with but still in decent shape. From the parking lot, Double D could see cars lined up against the relatively small space provided for student parking. Dozens of young, tired looking students moving towards the singular goal of getting to prearranged classes whilst partaking in light conversation.
The van pulled into a spot close to the front of the building and shut off. Eddy, a smile on his face leaped out and yanked his bag from the back seat. Ed who was still entranced sloppily climbed out of the car and into the light autumn rain. The trio shared light conversation, climbing up the few stairs to the double doors leading to the mouth of the school building. The building was mostly packed with students, most of them carrying on about their business with half-enthusiastic chatter about the coming day.
Double D, Ed, and Eddy had their lockers one after another in line. So their chat continued into the hallway and up to the lockers. Eddy stopped for a second, gazing at his appearance in the mirror before turning to Double D who stood to his right, picking out the right books and supplies needed for the day.
He grumbled, "Stupid Kevin," under his breath with a small frown.
Double D simply shrugged, "We should know better than to spark his ire." Closing his locker he placed his materials under his arm before pushing them gently into his messenger bag. Eddy scowled but did little to refute Double D's point, simply slamming shut his own locker and hiking up his bag onto his shoulder. "Yeah, well, it's stupid," he muttered in protest.
Then they went their separate ways to get to their first-period classes.
The lunch period ringing brought a sigh of relief to everyone in the class, save Double D who was still working dedicatedly on his calculus assignment. He furrowed his brow, eyes intently focused on the numbers and letters and symbols scrawled across the page in his relatively neat handwriting. It was only after everyone had left that Double D noticed that the bell had rung and the lunch period had started.
He sighed deeply, finishing up a final problem, before returning to the empty teacher's desk and placing it onto a pile of papers. Eddy came rolling in just as Double D went to return his used materials back into his bag. He wore a smirk, hands deep in his jean pockets, wallet chain dangling in circular motions. "Hey, guess what, sockhead?" Eddy laughed slyly. Double D gave a small look of confusion to which Eddy chuckled at. "Get to the Cafeteria and I'll tell you about it," He seemed proud of himself and Double D usually took that as a bad thing. But before he could protest about his student council meeting Eddy was off, humming something to himself while swinging his chain.
Double D let out an exasperated sigh. With all of his materials cleaned up, he gently pushed his chair back into the desk and made his way to the open doorway. He stopped when he heard a cackle.
Not a laugh, a full-on witch's cackle from right outside the door frame. Double D froze. Kankers.
Sure enough, the three Kanker sisters strode by laughing about something that was oh-so particularly funny. "Did you see his face?" Lee, the eldest, laughed through yellow teeth. Her hair, red as fire, sat in unkempt curls across her head, her eyes almost completely obscured by the length. She wore a red and white polka dot tee-shirt and high-waisted blue jeans. Gold hoop earrings sat incandescently against her earlobes and she smiled, showing her silver capped front canine.
May, the youngest, snorted in her usual nasally voice. "Hah, I sure did Lee!" Her long, straight blond hair reached down to her mid-back; clad in a gray shirt and red shorts. Her prominent buck teeth shone through her crooked smile as she laughed along with her sister.
Then came Marie, the middle Kanker sister. She was the source of the cackling, her bright blue hair flipping about as she wheezed. She wore a sleeveless black tee with a yellow lightning bolt emboldened on the front which exposed her midriff. Her green cargo pants filled to brim with some unknown contents, a small silver chain dangling from her belt loop. She kicked a bit as she laughed, her knee-high black and blue canvas shoes tied against her calves. Though her right eye was commonly hidden behind her blue-colored bangs, her wild laughing made visible her phosphorous blue eyeshadow and black eyeliner.
"He nearly peed himself!" Marie wheezed in snorts, causing her sister to laugh even more emphatically. Then she stopped, having caught something in the corner of her eye. Then she sighted Double D and her smile grew wider. Double D froze under the intense gaze of her single unobstructed eye and his palms began to sweat profusely.
"Hey, ladies look," Marie announced, pointing a finger in the direction of the open classroom. All at once the sisters stopped laughing and turned their attention toward Double D.
Lee nudged her sister with a loose elbow, "Why don't you go check lover-boy for some loose change." Marie grinned wider, small bits of teeth showing through her pulled lips.
"You got it, Lee," she smirked, covering the small distance between her and Double D.
"And hurry up," Lee called after, "I'm starving!"
Marie waved back annoyedly, "Yeah, yeah keep your shorts on."
I guess I won't be eating today, he frowned. In defeat, he simply pulled out his wallet from his messenger bag and retrieved his five-dollar bill. He had intended to use it as lunch money since he had failed to pack a lunch with all the commotion this morning.
In a few short seconds, Marie had approached Double D and sidled up to the right side of his desk, looking up at him with a strange expression of glee. Then her smile faded as if by magic. Her smile turned into a deeply furrowed scowl as she looked towards the left side of his face.
"Hey, Oven Mitt, what happened to your eye?" Though her voice was tepid and icy, their seemed to be just a modicum of care in her voice as she spoke. Double D stood in shock for a few seconds, as if his brain had failed to comprehend what he had just witnessed.
"M-my eye?" He asked, almost inwardly, placing a finger on his face absent-mindedly. He winced from the pain on instinct.
"Now, Double D. Who was it?" She commanded, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling his face closer. He recoiled, pulling himself away from her black painted fingernails.
"M-Marie?" He trailed off nervously. She took one lone index finger and traced out the size of the bruise with an absent-minded finger then scoffed.
"Won't tell me, huh?" She said flatly with a crude smile on her lips. He pulled back again and reorganized himself with an indignant scowl.
"Just give me the money," pointing towards the bill creased between his fingers. He sighed loudly and handed her the five-dollar bill. She snatched it from his hands and examined it in the light, checking for its authenticity. Satisfied, she placed the bill crudely into her front pocket and jumped off the desk. She grabbed him by the collar and half-drug him with her down the hallway.
"W-Where are we g-going?" Double D finally said. Though his courage faded the instant he said it. She stopped, still holding him by the collar, and turned to face him. She opened her mouth to say something. But nothing came out, instead, she simply released his collar and pointed him in the direction of the nearby nurse's office.
"Take care of yourself, Oven Mitt," she said flatly. Then she whipped around and took off down the hallway in the direction of the cafeteria to meet up with her sisters. Double D stood dumbfounded for a few seconds, his eyes watching her disappear around a nearby corner.
Huh?