Automatic

Chapter 1. The Problem

Kevin Barr was never one to pry. If he ever needed to know something it would come to him eventually. Gossip always seemed to spread fast in Peach Creek. Like last year at school it took approximately eight minutes for the entire student body to find out that Jon White had slept with Selina Parker and threw up afterwards. At the moment however, Kevin was sitting on the floor of his garage attempting to tinker with his babe. Or motorcycle, whatever you wanted to call it.

Loud sounds from the house across the cul-de-sac kept distracting the teen. After a while Kevin just sat on the ground with his dirty rag and wrench while clenching his jaw tight. "Something is happening over there...something annoying for sure. I bet the dorks are behind this..." Kevin was holding himself back from heading over to that stupid white house and banging on the door to get Double Dee and his dork friends to shut up. Although he did have a short temper, he wasn't going to be that neighbor. You know, every neighborhood has them. That one old man yelling to get off his lawn.

Kevin almost chuckled at himself before getting up and throwing the greasy rag across the room and walking inside to clean himself up. It was obvious he was done for the day with all that racket going on.

The next day when Kevin walked into the school he could tell it was going to be a good day. He looked good, his friends were happy to see him, hell he felt great. Nazz immediately latched onto his arm as soon as his group made it to his locker. "Hey Kev,"

Kevin glanced at her as he dug books out of his backpack. "What's up Nazz?"

"Have you noticed anything weird today?" she asked, squinting her eyes suspiciously. Kevin shrugged and shut his locker firmly. "Okay I'll give you a hint since you aren't gonna bite. The Eds aren't here today. Weird right? None of them. Even Double Dee! That dude never misses anything school related." she rambled on, once again clinging to the taller teens arm.

"Eh. Don't think too much into it. Probably another scam." Kevin sighed and broke contact with the blonde to walk to his first period. She grumbled something incoherent and walked away quickly. Kevin shook his head and sighed. Something was up, he could feel it. 'So much for being a good day. All the dorks are gone and that means a prank and then a serious ass kicking.'

...

Edd sat at his unusually cluttered kitchen table with his head in his hands. One of his legs bounced furiously under the table as he stared at the papers before him. 'How could this be happening? This is preposterous. Mother and Father would never..! Maybe something happened to them? No. Someone would have contacted me surely...'

Edd was so consumed by his thoughts that he didn't notice his friends walk into his home. Ed gave a nervous glace at Eddy as they caught sight of the crumbling teen before them. Bills were scattered everywhere and even onto the floor. Edd said he had been receiving some bills in the mail but assured himself that his parents had taken care of it like they always have. "I should have been more attentive..." Edd mumbled, pulling his hat over his face in shame.

"It's not your fault 'D." Eddy said as he sat down next to the taller boy. Usually he would have slapped him on the back and told him to buck up or force his latest money making scam on him, but even Eddy knew when to draw the line.

Right now one of his best friends was having an actual swear-to-God crisis. The worst part was that he didn't think he could help Edd out of this one. "What about the credit card they got for you?" Eddy asked hopefully.

"I-I don't know. All of my currency is just..gone. I called all of the banks, I-" Edd sobbed into his hands. "T-There's no more money left."

His parents had left his best friend high and dry after how many years? Now they also left their son with no money, which meant his bills had been piling up. Poor 'D still thought they were keeping up until his electricity was shut off last night. "Did you call them?"