Edd was shocked by the fuming redhead in his doorway. "K-Kevin! Why are you here? How did you even get into the build-"
"Shove it, dork." Kevin slammed the door shut behind him and stomped over to Edd's desk. "Where do you get off giving my sweet little baby sister a WEEK of detention and screwing over her chance to graduate?!"
Edd huffed and mumbled "Ms. Barr is anything but sweet."
"What did you say?!" Kevin slammed his fist against the top of the desk.
Edd flinched at Kevin's action and then cleared his throat to speak up "Your sister has displayed a consistent pattern of disrespect and lack of will or motivation to apply herself within the classroom. She has weeks worth of missing assignments, enough that she should have failed out of this class after the first semester. Truthfully, this minor consequence was a long time coming, considering her track record throughout her high school career."
Kevin blinked down at him. He remembered the slightly sarcastic and smart boy from his youth, but was shocked at the nonchalant confidence exuding from this now man. It had been 10 years since they truly interacted. Sure, coming back on holidays throughout the years, they would see each other in passing. And thanks to the power of social media, he would see a post now and then about the successes of the former neighborhood nerd. But he never really paid too much attention. Once Edd left in the middle of the summer following their graduation, he just seemed to stay up in New England. Even in the summer, the brunette would stay and take summer courses at Harvard, found internships at local engineering labs, or studied abroad learning God knows what.
Kevin allowed his mind to briefly acknowledged how handsome Edd had grown to be. He noticed the slight build of his biceps and shoulders hidden underneath the burnt orange button up he wore, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, allowing his pale forearms to shine in contrast.
Kevin shook this out of his mind and quickly grabbed a chair, swinging it over to sit adjacent to the side of the desk.
Before Edd could protest, Kevin was seated and placing his feet crossed on top of the edge of his desk.
It took a moment of shock for Edd to really let the image of this man before him sink in.
Kevin Barr somehow had managed to become more attractive from when they were teens. His presence was large, but Edd imagined that came mostly from his personality. It was hard to tell from their seated positions, but Kevin couldn't have stood taller than 5'11". He still had a very strong yet slim build, like that of K.J. Apa or 2014 Zac Efron. Edd's heart fluttered noticing he still had that vibrant, fluffy red hair. Perfectly coiffed and defying gravity, peeking from underneath his backwards forest green baseball style "St. Daniel's Academy Football" cap.
His face was perfectly chiseled, framed by a warmer red scruff across his chin and jaw. His natural tan highlighted his mesmerizing deep green eyes. Good Lord, those eyes could still make him melt.
He was dressed in a sporty black zip up hoodie, a tight navy t-shirt, and slim fit charcoal gray Nike joggers.
Edd tried to not let his eyes linger on the sweatpants. He felt a deep blush cross his face and he quickly averted his eyes to Kevin's sneakers. His filthy green Adidas that were on his desk right next to his lunch!
"Kevin! Please remove your disgusting shoes from my desk this instant!" Edd quickly pulled what was remaining of his sushi away from Kevin's feet.
Kevin chuckled, he sort of forgot how much of a germophobe Eddward Parkin was. He slowly placed his feet flat on the ground and leaned forward towards the teacher, resting his elbows on his knees- allowing his biceps and chest to flex. "Ya know, I never pegged you for a bully. Especially to teenage girls. A pretty dick move, if you ask me."
Edd whipped his head towards Kevin, a blush on his face and bitterness in his eyes. "Excuse me, Mr. Barr! I was doing my job, and I do it quite well, thank you. Speaking of which, don't you have some overly privileged boys to coach at your fancy private school?"
Kevin smirked and crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair "That's pretty funny coming from the kid that went to the most overly privileged rich kid school in the country. What, did you not have enough kids to pick on up there so you needed to come back here to little old Peach Creek?"
Edd glared at the redhead, but remained silent. He didn't like to be reminded of his return to his old life. He had no choice, but Kevin didn't deserve that knowledge right now.
Edd briskly stood from his desk, picking up a stack of review sheets to distribute onto each student's desk. "I'll ignore your rude interruption of my lunchtime and let you know my decision stands. Ms. Barr should really be on suspension, but I settled for a long detention. I look forward to her making up her lost credit next school year." He avoided looking Kevin in the eyes. He felt it more stern and strong, but really the thought of looking his childhood crush in the eyes any longer threatened to bring back old meek behaviors.
"That's bull and you know it, Double D. You really need to get some sort of social life instead of holding back students from their earned graduations like you're some big, tough man. Damn, you really need to get laid or something so you lighten up. Do you even go on dates, dude? I don't think I've ever even seen you in a relationship. That would explain why you're so tightly wound. You need to go out and find someone to help you release some tension so you're not such a dick to these kids."
"Excuse me?!" Edd absently dropped his papers and turned sharply on his heels towards the man sitting by his desk. "How dare you...I'll have you know I...." Edd had not been so frazzled in quite some time. He was losing his composure and he really hated that. How did these Barr's know just how to push his buttons?
He squared himself and seethed out "Shouldn't you be at some bar hitting on another drunk newly 21 year old blonde?" He knew this kind of confrontation was beneath him, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. "I'm sure there are still a few naive young girls out there waiting to be dominated by big, strong Kevin Barr. You can woo them with tales from your glory days as the football captain of your *high school team*, since you haven't seemed to grow out of that immature jock mentality well into your late 20s."
Kevin slowly nodded inward toward himself and let out a shallow sigh. He wasn't prepared for this side of Edd. He imagined the dork must've been holding in these thoughts since high school. However, this means he atleast has been thinking about him and checking his social media over the years. That last thought brought a small smile to his face.
Silence filled the room.
Kevin finally looked up to meet Edd's flustered deep brown eyes. "Nah. They're fun and all, but not really my type. I'm more into tall, nerdy brunettes."
Edd's mouth opened in shock, allowing Kevin a view of the gap in between his top two front teeth.
Edd wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a small blush cross the bridge of Kevin's nose.
And with that, Kevin stood up and headed for the door. Grabbing the handle, he turned his head towards Edd, who was still standing shocked in the center of the room. "I'll see you around, Dork."
Kevin exited the room as the bell rang for the start of 5th period.
"Oh dear."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That evening, as Edd was laying in bed, his mind kept running back to the days events.
It frustrated him more and more with each passing thought.
As his cat Albert jumped onto the bed, he picked up his phone and typed in Kevin's name on Instagram. His private feed was filled with photos of him coaching on the sidelines of high school football fields, drinking at trivia nights with his friends, college throwback action shots from his Penn State football days, and photo after photo with beautiful women under his arms on nights out at the different bars in the city. Each woman looked almost identical. They were all fake influencer attractive and all very clearly between the ages of 21-23.
Edd lost his breath for a second, but then absently clicked on the message button and began to type.
"Mr. Barr,
I will have you know that I am an excellent and fair educator. We are far too old for these childish games and name calling.
How dare you come into my classroom accusing me and bullying me for doing my job?
And to comment on my love life is such a low blow, even for you. Just because my timeline isn't filled with photographs of myself and a different female conquest every night, does not mean that my love life is lacking and uninteresting. I choose to keep my private life as such and don't feel the need to flaunt any intimate relations I may have.
To mock me with your words of faux attractions and threaten my moral standards is deplorable.
Your dear sister is not an ideal student and it ceases to surprise me as to where she learned her disrespectful behavior from.
Good day.
Eddward M. Parkin"
He paused.
This was beneath him. How could he let this get to him in this way?
He quickly deleted the bitter message written in the box and set his phone aside.
Kevin and Katie Barr were not worth this reaction.