Chapter 68
Monday morning snuck up rather quickly on the denizens of Peach Creek. After a nice relaxing Sunday full of much needed rest, the kids had fully recuperated from the fun, yet exhausting Saturday night spent at Double Dees house celebrating Eddy's party. After their long night of fun, cleaning up and a monster movie sleepover, the Ed's had decided that Sunday would be time to recuperate and spend time with their own families.
The project that Double Dees father had been working on in Guam was completed early. He had surprised his son with his return, late Sunday morning. To make things even better, Double Dees mother was off call for the rest of the day and night. It was a rare instance that Double Dees entire family could be together; they had decided to spend the day playing board games together, and planned an extravagant dinner later in the night.
Likewise, Ed's father, who worked as a long-haul semi truck driver, had returned from his most recent one-week haul and had decided to take the entire family sight seeing in the mountains. The family shared many laughs, and was sure to take countless photographs for remembrance. While sibling rivalry usually plagued Ed and Sarah's relationship, the break away from the monotony of the cul-de-sac seemed to bring out the loving relationship between the two that was typically masked. The two cooperated on hikes, shared the camera without question, and spent time together admiring nature while smiling happily. It seemed however, that the beauty of nature and the fresh mountain air could not stop them from arguing who sat where in the car.
Eddy had spent his Sunday divided between watching television in his room and assisting his father with the installation of a new shed. After watching his older son display irresponsible behavior whilst coming of age, and eventually become the evil adult that he was, Eddy's father had vowed to spend more time with his younger son and teach him important life lessons and the meaning of responsibility. Unfortunately, due to Eddy's immaturity and his constant desire to hang out with his friends and be away from home, Eddy's father began to believe that any attempt to teach his son responsibility would be futile. However, the events of the Saturday party seemed to prompt a change in the stout Ed boy; as part of his attempt to become more responsible, he had promised his father that he would spend future Sundays with him performing upgrades to the house, fixing plumbing fixtures, installing new electrical sockets, and any other handy work that needed to be done around the house. Previously interactions between Eddy and his father were limited to lectures, or punishment administrations for failing grades or broken windows; now the conversations carried a mutual respect between men, and served as a mentorship role. Both couldn't be happier.
It was now 8:00 a.m. Double Dee had gone to school early in order to assist the biology teacher in setting up the lab for the day. He had finished his task, and was currently waiting near the front door of the school for his friends to arrive. He had not spent five minutes on the front steps before he saw the familiar profile of his two best friends round the perimeter fence to the school yard. Double Dee smiled as his two friends walked to the top of the stairs. Eddy was dressed in his typical yellow shirt/blue jeans combo, and Ed in his signature green coat, red and white striped shirt combination.
"How ya doin Sockhead!" yelled Eddy as he smiled.
"Hiya Double Dee!" yelled Ed in his usual dopey voice.
"Greetings gentlemen!" said Double Dee, "Aren't you just thrilled to embark on this wonderful new day of learning?"
Double Dee opened the large wooden doors of the school, and stepped to the side allowing his friends to pass through.
"Are you kidding!?" said Eddy as he walked down the hallway, "After that kickass party I threw, who wants to be back in class?"
The boys stopped at their lockers to exchange their books. Double Dee unlocked his locker, and slowly opened it, after which he turned towards his stubby best friend.
"Well Eddy," said Double Dee, "To be perfectly honest, as much as I enjoy academics and the multitude of lessons one can learn from being in the classroom, I must admit that I would rather spend the day reliving the events of Saturday night than attending classes."
Eddy grinned as he playfully punched Double Dee in the arm. He rubbed his arm slightly as Eddy responded.
"Well I'm glad to see that you're loosening up a bit Sockhead," said Eddy, "I told ya hanging around me would do you some good."
Double Dee sighed and then smiled at his friend.
"Some things never change." said Double Dee, after which he placed his hand on Eddys shoulder. Eddy shared a smile with his friend.
"That night sure was fun!" yelled Ed, "And the food was good too!"
"Yeah" said Eddy, "But you know what the best part was!?"
Just as Eddy was about to continue, a trio of feminine voices sounded out from behind the boys in a long drawn out manner.
"Hiya Boys"
This particular phrase had been heard what seemed like hundreds of times by the Ed boys since the previous summer. Up until the faithful events that had occurred over the last couple of weeks, the Eds general reaction to the sound of these voices was that of disgust and fear; however, those emotions had changed to those of happiness, excitement and bliss. The Ed's slowly turned around with smiles on their face, all three in what seemed to be a euphoria.
As the boys turned around, they caught sight of the three girls they expected to see. In the middle of the bunch stood Lee Kanker, with her hand on her left hip and pelvis relaxed to the left. Even though Eddy had spent half the night with her on Saturday sharing funny stories of memories past and emotional secrets, he still could not believe the attractive young woman standing before him was once his nemesis. She was wearing a pink form fitting t-shirt, hip hugging blue jeans and a pair of black winter boots. She stared at Eddy with an amorous grin, as her now long silky smooth ginger curls hung to her shoulders, her blue eyes glistening under the school hallway lights.
To her left stood her youngest sister May. She stood with both hands on her hips, smiling cheerfully at the sight of her "Big Ed". The metal braces lining her teeth glistened in the light. Her hair was parted into two pony tails that hung over her shoulders, each secured with blue bows. She once again donned her new outfit of choice, a green ranch dress, accented by a brown leather belt with silver buckle, and brown leather cowgirl boots.
Finally to Lee's right, stood Marie. Her blue hair was parted on the side, complete with her signature black side-swept bangs that served to conceal her right eye; a yellow flower served as a nice accent. She too was wearing her new outfit of choice, a long maroon tunic accented with a graphic of a gold music note, green capri leggings, and white shoes.
The Ed's stared at their three girlfriends, wide-eyed as if in a stupor. If their bodies were capable of doing so, it was most definitely sure that they would have began melting as if they were a sedentary bowl of ice cream in the heat.
The girls giggled at the sight of their men, after which Lee decided to be proactive.
"So boys?" she said gently as she twirled a lock of her red curls, "Are youse just gonna stand there, or are ya gonna walk us to class?"
The boys were broken out of their trance at the sound of Lee's voice, after which they shared a glance at one another. All three Ed boys shut the aluminum doors to their lockers simultaneously, picked up their back packs and began walking towards the girls.
Double Dee was the first to reach his girlfriend. He smiled as he reached down and grabbed Marie's hands in his.
"I suppose some things will never change," said Double Dee, "We are still at the complete mercy of you and your sisters!"
"Damn right you are," said Marie as she leaned towards Double Dees face, arching her foot up behind her back, "Just be happy you're on our good side now."
Marie giggled flirtatiously at her joke as Double Dee smiled.
"I would enjoy nothing more Marie." said Double Dee as he touched his palm to Marie's face with a smile. Marie responded by kissing him on the cheek and grabbed his hand in hers.
A few feet away, May and Ed stood staring at each other, both teenagers in a romance induced trance. It was May who decided to speak first.
"Hiya Ed," said May shyly as she ran her fingers through her hair.
"Hiya May," said Ed with a smile.
"I sure did have a lot of at the party on Saturday!" said May as she smiled up towards Ed's face.
"So did I!" said Ed, "And it was even more fun spending it with my Little May."
"Oh Ed." said May as she darted forward, wrapping her arms around Ed's waist and pressing her cheek to his chest.
Ed waited a couple of seconds before quickly embracing May in a tight squeeze of his own with a smile. While Ed still felt somewhat awkward expressing romantic emotions, it was obvious that he had completely shattered his fear of the opposite sex.
Finally, Eddy approached his tall red-headed girlfriend to give his proper hellos.
"Hey babe," said Eddy with a grin on his face as he looked up towards Lee, "What's happenin'?"
Lee leaned down into Eddy's face and lifted her hand to pinch his cheek.
"Nothin much Little Man," said Lee, "Glad to see that you haven't forgotten how to turn on the charm!"
Eddy, as much as he would never admit it, was just as fearful of romantic interactions with females as Ed. The confident, suave ladies man that Eddy portrayed himself as would instantly transform into a shy, socially awkward individual when put on the spot or faced with a young woman who he was truly attracted to. Lee of course had taken notice of this character trait and while she had used it as a means of ridicule the previous summer, she had now found it to be quite "cute".
Despite Eddy's natural awkwardness around his attractive girlfriend, his interactions with her on Saturday night had allowed him to gain the confidence to flirt with her in his own little way.
"Hey, it's the least I can do." said Eddy, "The best I can do for the hottest babe in Peach Creek is to let her walk down the hallway with me!"
Lee giggled.
"Just be glad I'm letting you walk next to me to make you look good." said Lee with a grin
Lee waited a few seconds before she kneeled down, placing her hands on her knees and leaned into Eddy's face
"But between those sexy good looks of yours and that hidden sweet side, I don't know what girl wouldn't want you." said Lee in a whisper, after which she pecked Eddy on the lips.
Lee stood erect and grabbed Eddy's hand in hers.
"C'mon," said Lee, "Let's get to class."
All three Ed's proceeded to begin making their way towards homeroom, smiling from ear to ear as they walked with their right hands cradled in their girlfriends left hands. The Ed boys had no idea what the future had in store for them and their Kanker girlfriends, but they knew one thing for certain; all along the Kanker sisters were nothing more than bad girls with big hearts.