Kevin stood next to Edd's locker rubbing his eyes and yawning. Edd slowly sorted through his books, pulling out the ones he needed and squinting at them before shoving them into his bag. He glanced up in time to watch another yawn split Kevin's face and grinned as it sent a yawn onto his own face. Kevin laughed and nudged him with his hip.
"Come on, dork. We're going to be late."
Edd shut his locker as Kevin shoved himself off the wall. Together they began to wade through the unpredictable current of students mingling in the halls. Edd chattered away about his science fair project, hands flitting about animatedly, bright eyes trained on Kevin's face. He was paying little attention to where he was going, bumping into several people and nearly falling to his death after tripping on a stray backpack on the ground. Kevin threw an arm around Edd's shoulders to direct him through the halls, smiling and nodded at what he determined to be the appropriate places in Edd's narrative.
Edd resisted the urge to lean into Kevin, instead keeping a reasonable distance between their bodies. Kevin did in fact manage to maintain straight A grades for the entire first semester. This semester he was struggling with a B grade in math, but Edd was confident that he could pull it up. Of course, this meant that Kevin had earned the right to keep their relationship a secret, much to Edd's unspoken disappointment. He couldn't complain; after all, it had been his idea, and he was exceptionally proud of Kevin for keeping his grades up. Besides...
He smiled up at Kevin, back hunched slightly to accommodate for the muscular arm resting on him. Thanks to Kevin and Nazz's combined efforts, Edd had been generally accepted into the "cool" crowd as their pet dork. Between tutoring sessions, science jokes at parties, and the unintentional hilarity that was his speech pattern, Edd had earned himself a special place in their collective heart. The fortunate result of this was an open friendship between Kevin and Edd, allowing them to hang out at lunch and in between classes without attracting suspicion. Even an arm around the shoulder could go unnoticed if they were careful. It was practically heaven, as far as Kevin was concerned. Edd could stand to change a few things, but a deal was a deal, and he would just have to wait until their senior year.
Classes flew by with the promise of seeing his favorite redhead in between them. Before Edd knew it, the lunch bell was ringing. He retrieved his lunch from his locker and entered the cafeteria, scanning the lunch line for Ed and Eddy. Today was their day to have him at lunch, and to be honest, Edd was glad for it. It was exhausting socializing at the highest level of the high school pyramid. He had no idea how Kevin and Nazz managed all the time. Ah! There they are. He took a step toward his friends. A hand on the back of his shirt brought him to a halt. He flinched and peeked over his shoulder.
"Oh, Jonathan. It's you." Edd let out a laugh and adjusted his bag on his shoulder. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Yeah, listen. I know today's the day you sit with those dweeb-I mean, your friends. But I was wondering if maybe you could skip out just this once? We want to talk to you about something."
"Oh..." Edd glanced back at Eddy. His short friend stared back and motioned him over. He bit his lip, debating.
"Come on, dude. Please? It's kind of super important."
"Oh, I suppose. I'll join you in a moment. Let me inform my friends that I will not be sitting with them today."
Eddy took in Edd's apologetic smile as he walked up, and sighed. "You aren't gonna sit with us, are you."
Edd winced and nodded. "I do apologize. Something has come up, apparently. I would like to make it up to the both of you. Perhaps pizza and a movie at my house for dinner tonight?"
