Chapter 8

Double Dee was standing in his room counting and observing the behavior of his insects. All 4,837 ants were accounted for, and the rest of his pets were as healthy as could be. With a quick check on Jim, the cactus, his room inspection was complete. As he prepared his bed for a good nights sleep, there was a knock on his bedroom door.

"Come in mother!" he yelled, assuming it was his mother knocking on the door. He turned around and to his delight and surprise, saw Marie Kanker standing in his doorway.

"Guess again love." said Marie in a cute voice while smiling at him. Double Dee ran over to her and embraced her. As he hugged her, he picked her up and spun her around in a circle twice. Marie chuckled as he did this. Double Dee put Marie down, pushed her hair out of her covered eye with his hand and stared into them.

Double Dee placed his hand on Maries face, and began inching closer and closer to her, his lips preparing to contact hers.

"Double Dee." she said as he inched closer.

"Yes my turtle dove ." He said back inching even closer.

"Double Dee" she repeated.

"Yes my turtle dove." he repeated once more. He was just about to touch her lips, when she apparently yelled.

"DOUBLE DEE!"

Double Dee jumped out of the chair he was sitting in startled, finding himself standing up behind his lab bench in the middle of the classroom. He took a quick glance around the room and noticed that all of the students were staring at him. Ed was gazing at him in a confused manner, while Eddy was grinning at him with a cocky smile. Kevin couldn't help but to do the same. Nazz was trying as hard as she could not to explode in laughter.

The whole class let out a big "OOOOH." and began laughing. Eddy leaned into Double Dee, bumping him with his elbow.

"Way to go Double Dee, I didn't think you had it in ya to hit on a teacher, it must be the season." He said while grinning.

Double Dee had realized the unthinkable. He had inadvertently spent the last five minutes of class in a vivid daydream about Marie, and in doing so, confused the teacher's voice calling his name for hers. Double Dee was embarrassed beyond belief.

"I apologize whole heartedly for my Freudian slip, Ms. Fulep." said Double Dee in an extremely nervous tone. "I hope that we can surely put all of this behind us."

The teacher stood stone faced for a few seconds before nodding. She gestured Double Dee to take his seat. Double Dee sat back down in his seat and opened his notebook to a blank page.

"So who's the lucky lady?" asked Kevin, turning around in his desk to make eye contact with Double Dee.

"What lady?" Double Dee said nervously.

"The one that you were dreaming about and confused the teacher with." said Kevin.

At this point, Eddy, Ed and Nazz were also glaring at him waiting for an answer. Double Dee struggled with what to say next. The thoughts he had been having about Marie over the last few days were quite unexpected, and overwhelming. After a year of doing everything he could to avoid her, it seemed that the events that had transpired over the last few days have caused him to reconsider his outlook on the blue-haired girl. Marie's sketchbook had revealed that she thought of Double Dee as much more than her "boy toy", and the conversation that had transpired in the hallway prior to biology, in addition to the note that Marie had provided to Double Dee, affirmed this conclusion.

In addition, the vivid day dream about Marie had confirmed the unthinkable. It seemed that Double Dee was beginning to develop a crush on Marie, something completely unprecedented, considering the way she had treated he and his friends over the last year. While Double Dee held honesty in the highest regard, he knew now was not the time to tell anyone about, as it could possibly cause even more trouble between the Eds and the Kankers. Although he felt terrible lying to his best friends, he had to do something to protect his secret.

Fortunately Eddy decided to chime in

"You gotta be kidding, Kevin. You think Double Dee has a girlfriend? He was probably just thinking about math or some geeky experiment of his!"

"The dork's got a point!" said Kevin as he and the rest of the kids in the group began laughing.

"Double Dee's got the right idea going after Ms. Fulep, the old hag is so desperate, she'd be willing to put up with anything!" said Eddy.

The last joke was followed up by even more laughter than the previous one. Although Double Dee was once again the subject of one of Eddy's childish jokes, he did not feel the slightest bit upset. In fact, Eddy had just saved him from an extremely difficult decision.

However, although Double Dee was now safe, the ruckus the jokes had caused did not go without consequence. The group of five soon found little white detention slips sitting on their desks. Double Dee in particular had two, the incident he pulled earlier in the class coupled with him being involved in Eddy's antics had earned him both a lunch detention and an after school detention.

The rest of the day was a blur to Double Dee. During both detention periods, Double Dee began to question what he has become. Throughout the course of the day, he had done numerous things that did not fit his character, such as being late to class and daydreaming. He had also gotten his first two detentions, which he wasn't particularly proud of. He began to wonder if being infatuated with someone was a blessing or a curse.

Finally the day was over, and Double Dee was released from his late detention. Because the rest of the kids only had lunch detention, Double Dee was forced to trek home all by his lonesome. In addition, to his misfortune, the "Ed-Mobile" was no longer where Double Dee had placed it; all's that was left was a sticky note that read.

I hope you don't mind that we took the bike, the chain was so loose that it was begging to be stolen so we did you a favor and took it with us. It will be in your shed when you get home.

Eddy

Double Dee knew that Eddy did not take the bike because he did not want it to get stolen, but rather, seeing the opportunity to free the bike from the rushed and improperly attached chain job that Double Dee had performed that morning, took the bike to avoid having to walk home. Double Dee was disappointed that he would have to travel back to the cul-de-sac by himself, as it was a long walk and the winter sun had already begun to set.

As Double Dee passed through the town's business district, he heard familiar voices from around the corner. He peeked around the corner, and standing about thirty feet in front of him in front of the cosmetology store, were Marie and May Kanker. The girls were holding bags of supplies and had apparently just exited the store

"Come on let's try this one!" said May, pointing to a store across the street.

"They're not going to have it stupid!" replied Marie. May placed the bag of supplies she purchased on the ground and proceeded to go through them with Marie.

"I hope this is the makeup Lee wanted, because it's the stuff she's getting!" said Marie as she picked up a black tube from the bag. May pulled out a jar of perfume and sprayed it in the air in front of her, inhaling the smell.

"Do you think this smell will drive Big Ed crazy" asked May.

"How am I supposed to know?" said Marie, as she continued to go through the bag of supplies.

"I can't stand it! Why do we always have to do Lee's shopping for her while she sits in front of the TV like a fat slob." said May.

"Tell me about it," replied Marie "And she had the guts to use the last of my Crankshaft #5, which by the way is not going to be in that store either May!"

Marie leaned closer into May's face.

"And do you know why? Because it's out of production! I will never have it again!" yelled Marie.

"Hey, don't get pissy with me!" yelled May in her adenoidal and slightly lispy voice. "Just because you can't you can't find your perfume and you didn't get to kiss your man today doesn't mean you're the queen of the world!"

"Ahh shut up May!" said Marie as she pushed May down the street away from Double Dees position. The two girls continued arguing even as they rounded the corner and out of Double Dee's sight.

Double Dee stood at the intersection for a few minutes, immersed deep in thought. He pondered the note he had received from Marie earlier that day and her request to meet her at the carnival on good terms. He had already made the decision to accept, but couldn't imagine what he would say, as he was not nearly as skilled at social interactions as he was at science.

Upon this realization, he began to fear going to the carnival to meet Marie. The last thing he wanted to do was embarrass himself. He needed something to break the ice, perhaps a nice gesture, or a gift of sorts.

After brainstorming for a few seconds, Double Dee had come up with an amazing idea for Marie's gift. He quickly ran down the street towards the cul-de-sac to promptly begin working it.

Double Dee had finally reached his house. Double Dee couldn't help but notice that the "Ed-Mobile" was sitting on his lawn out in the open, instead of placed in his shed as Eddy had promised on his sticky note. No matter, he had serious work to tend to.

Double Dee ran up to his room, opened the door and closed it behind him.

"HI DOUBLE DEE!" yelled an obnoxious voice that startled Double Dee. Double Dee turned around and saw Ed standing in his room.

"Ed, what are you doing here. How did you get in here?" asked Double Dee, as he rushed to take his coat off.

"Through the window." Ed said nonchalantly.

"I probably should install a lock on that window." said Double Dee with a dry tone.

"I was wondering if you can help me with the algae homework. It's really really hard." said Ed.

"Ed, I would love to help you with your algebra homework, but I have serious business to attend to." said Double Dee.

"Please Double Dee, the teacher said if I miss one more assignment, she is going to call my mom." said Ed desperately.

Double Dee sighed. "Okay Edd, let me see your notebook." Double Dee ordinarily did not approve of students doing other students assignments for them, but he was extremely pressed for time, and it wasn't in his heart to put his best friend in hot water with a teacher. It didn't take long for Double Dee to do all of Ed's homework.

"Here you go Ed!" said Double Dee.

"Thanks Double Dee, you're the best pal a guy could have!" said Ed.

"Now I don't mean to be rude, but I must be getting to work now." said Double Dee while he hung his coat on his rack.

"Whatever you say Double Dee." said Ed, "I have to get home in time to watch my movie anyway." Ed ran out of Double Dee's room before he even had a chance to respond.

Once Ed had left, Double Dee closed the window that was notoriously used as gateway to his room for the last few days, and sat at his computer desk. He spent an hour researching before he even began working on Marie's gift. After he was sure he knew what he was doing, he traveled down to his garage, where he kept all of his chemicals. Luckily, he had all of the chemicals he needed to do what he needed to do. Double Dee spent hours precisely measuring various chemical compounds, using all of the instruments he had at hand. After he was finished measuring, he placed all of his chemicals into a large flask and swirled the flask, being sure to blend all of them thoroughly. After he was sure he had properly mixed the solution, he added the last few ingredients.

Double Dee had spent six hours perfecting his concoction. It was now time to determine if his hard work had paid off. He gently loosened the lid of the container and leaned down placing his nose at the same level as the container. He began to gently wave the fumes from the substance into his nose.

"Perfection!" he said to himself.

The aroma that hit Double Dee nose was the scent that he had become accustomed to smelling when being smothered by a certain blue-haired girl. It was the same smell that he himself had been drenched in by Marie during a "Canadian Squirt Gun" duel the Ed's had with the Kankers over the previous summer.

Double Dee had successfully reproduced an exact imitation of Crankshaft #5.