"I know you two will feel uncomfortable about this, but you'll get used to it," Mrs. Aguilar said as she stood in front of the two boys.
Edd swallowed the lump in his throat, knowing the moment was here to practice their kiss scenes. He had been both dreading it and just wanting to do it already to have it over with. It really wasn't anything to be nervous about, but he merely didn't feel like doing it at all.
"Okay, Kevin," Mrs. Aguilar began, "When you're leaning in, make sure the audience doesn't see as your carefully caress Edd's face, placing your thumb on his lips." She looked at the sockhead and smiled. "You're going to have to hide his face with your head a bit to cause a better illusion that it's a real kiss."
Edd nodded.
"Kevin, of course, you'll only be kissing your thumb," she told the redhead, and Kevin sighed, seeming to sound relieved that Edd almost couldn't help but feel a little offended.
Would it really be that terrible to kiss him?
"Okay, you two," Mrs. Aguilar said. "Let's make magic." She clapped and Kevin licked his lips as he began to lean in.
Edd's eyes widened at how close Kevin was. He could feel the other's breath against his lips, and then, they just both stood there, just like that. Kevin felt frozen up about what he had to do, but he tried as he lifted his hand and placed it on Edd's cheek, his thumb slowly touching Edd's lips.
Edd held his breath as Kevin closed that small gap between them. Though Kevin was merely kissing his own thumb, Edd could practically feel it, and slowly, he closed his eyes, tilting his head slightly to the side.
"Very real," Logan said as he walked by. "I kind of thought they were making out."
Kevin pulled away and shook his head. "Jeez. Later personal space."
Double D laughed and nodded. "Yes, it is quite uncomfortable."
"Oh, but like I said," Mrs. Aguilar spoke up, "you'll get used to it! Just keep practicing. That was great for a first try."
Double D and Kevin exchanged looks. The sockhead worried slightly about how awkward so much closeness would make Kevin, but with the expression on Kevin's face, the redhead seemed unphased. In fact, he seemed a little too okay about the whole thing, which only further surprised Double D. He expected someone like Kevin to be beyond grossed out and almost want out of the play completely. Then he realized he wasn't being fair and he needed to give Kevin more credit. They went ahead and practiced the entire scene with the kiss added in to see how it all played through, and when Mrs. Aguilar gave them a thumbs up, they knew they were done for the day.
"Alright," Mrs. Aguilar said, "I'll see you guys tomorrow at the same time. Smile! Opening night is closer than you think!"
Double D gulped at the sound of that, because she was right. The days were practically flying by and he didn't want to be suddenly too nervous about performing, but the closer the big day came, the more butterflies formed in his stomach at the thought. He looked out at the seats. Most of them would most likely be filled with families and friends, and Double D shuddered at the thought of all those eyes on him.
It'll be alright, he reminded himself, there is no need to panic. It'll be fine.
And he knew it would. He knew his lines, his blocking, the kiss had gone okay, but he still couldn't help feel a bit nervous. With a sigh, he headed backstage to begin cleaning up as the actors changed out of their costumes.
He could hear most of them talking about opening night, about who was coming to see them. They also mentioned having a cast party after the final night's show in which everyone agreed to going to, except Kevin. Kevin made sure to be on the other side of the changing rooms, away from the others. He didn't feel uncomfortable with them, but he just liked having his alone time when most of the actors were tied to the hip with each other.
Double D was invited to the party, but he merely smiled at them and told them he would attend if he didn't have things to do after the play. They all laughed and said he wouldn't because by the time the play would be over, it would be nine at night. But Double D just told them he would let them know later. And they left it at that, hanging their costumes up and heading out.
Kevin did so as well a few moments later, giving Double D a side smile before quickly walking out. Double D returned the smile and continued on with cleaning. Mrs. Aguilar gathered her things and thanked Double D for always staying longer than he needed to.
"I'm always happy to help," Double D told her.
"And I appreciate it so much," she told him, grabbing her purse, "thank you again. Lock up the room on your way out!" And with that, she was gone, too, leaving the sockhead alone in there.
He heard the squeak of the metal door opening and then closing as Mrs. Aguilar walked out.
It was eerie being in the theater room alone, but Double D didn't dare allow any of those thoughts getting to him as he finished up. He did a triple check - to make sure everything was where it had to be, checking to see if every costume was hanging with its properly labeled hanger.
"Everything seems in place," he said to himself, smiling proudly at how cleaned up the room was now.
He changed out of his own costume before picking up his things. He walked onto the stage to head out and froze as he looked out again. With no one around, the place really did feel creepy, but Double D only laughed at himself for getting freaked out about being alone. Yet, he hurriedly walked off the steps and towards the door, keeping his attention on that door and nothing else... just in case.
Pushing open the door, Double D gasped and jumped at the sight of Kevin standing there, leaning against the wall.
He sighed in relief as he clutched his chest. "Oh, Kevin," he said softly, "I had no idea you were there."
"Man, you look like you saw a ghost," Kevin teased, smirking at the sockhead.
Edd forced a smile on his face. "What are you still doing here?"
"Waiting for you," Kevin answered so nonchalantly that Edd furrowed his eyebrows.
"You were?" He asked.
"Yeah," Kevin shrugged. "Why not? We live like right next to each other. Just thought... might as well walk together."
"Walk? Where is your bike?"
"I walked today."
Edd didn't get why Kevin would bother with walking if he had transportation, but he didn't question it and smiled as they walked down the hallway. He was actually happy, though, since he wasn't really in the mood for a quiet walk home anyway.
Marie heard mumbles coming from the hallway, and she looked up from her doodles to see Kevin and Edd laughing at something Kevin had just said. Her eye twitched at the sight of those two together... again.And in frustration, she groaned as she grabbed the paper she was doodling on and crumbled it up.
Jonny was sat next to her and at the crumbling paper noise, he looked over and raised an eyebrow.
"Hey stop that," he told her, "you're scaring Plank." Jonny held the wooden board against him, apparently "protecting" Plank.
Marie slowly turned her head to glare at him and Jonny immediately regretted saying anything at all. He went back to looking forward, completely ignoring the glare from Marie. Marie huffed and took out a new piece of paper as a devious smile spread across her face.
"I'm not worried," she said quietly as she picked up her pencil, "I know just what to do about this." Her smile didn't leave her face as she looked at the paper to scribble down a few ideas she had in mind.
During the walk home, Kevin could feel the awkward silence between him and Edd getting to him. The dude would barely look him in the eye, too, whenever Kevin attempted to start a conversation. He figured he needed to get Edd to loosen up, to not feel so weird about their up close and personal scenes.
"Hey Double D," he spoke and the sockhead barely turned his attention to him, "sorry if that kiss thing was bad. I ate the school lunch's specialty and-"
"I didn't need to know that, Kevin," Edd quickly replied, making Kevin grin with the horrified look on his face.
"See what I did there?" Kevin asked.
Edd blinked and looked at him more. "I don't think I did."
"Lame," Kevin said as he rolled his eyes, "but I'll tell ya anyways. I got you to talk more. You've been acting like the dork you are since we left the school."
Edd narrowed his eyes at Kevin and crossed his arms. "I'll have you know that I'm not acting any different than I usually do."
"Sure."
"Is that sarcasm?"
Kevin smiled innocently and shook his head, "Nah."
And Double D sighed as he shook his head.
"It can't be that bad, right?" Kevin asked, and at first, Double D tilted his head slightly as he was confused by the question.
"I mean the fake kiss," Kevin clarified and Edd's eyebrows rose, "You're not that disgusted by me, are you?"
Double D halted in his tracks at the question. He knew he definitely wasn't disgusted from having to be that to Kevin. It wasn't that. No, it had nothing to do with that. At least, he didn't think it did. Was he really acting strange?
"Of course not," he answered, shaking the thoughts away.
Kevin turned around and shrugged. "So, there's nothing weird about this then."
Double D smiled softly, though his heart began to speed up. "Not at all," he said, quite quietly. He didn't have a problem being that close to Kevin, and that's what the problem was if there was any problem at all.
"Listen up, May," Lee said as May kept going on about a girl in one of her classes giving her attitude, but hearing Lee's words, the blonde obliged.
"Marie's got something on her mind," Lee told her.
"What's wrong, Marie?" May asked, sitting up on the couch as Marie stood up and walked to the center of the room to stand in front of them.
"I have competition," Marie explained, "as you girls saw the other day when the losers of the cul-de-sac sat around to watch that stupid, barf-inducing play where my boyfriend," she smiled proudly as she pointed to herself, "is the star lead, but so is that good for nothing, boyfriend-stealing, Kevin."
May raised her hand and Marie rolled her eyes.
"What?" She asked.
"Are we sure Kevin's trying to steal-"
"Yes! I saw it with my own eyes. They walked home together."
"Kevin doesn't need to walk home."
"Exactly! He did it on purpose, to purposely get alone with Double D. And he's gonna pay for it."
Lee grinned at the sound of that as she sat up as well, "How badly are we talking here?"
Marie tapped her chin as she thought back to the ideas she had written down during detention.
"I had a few ideas in mind," she told them, "but I liked one idea in particular."
"Which is?" May asked, intrigued.
The corners of Marie's lips slowly rose.
"I'm telling ya, May," Lee said as she and her sister walked down the hallway, "Marie's losing her taste in plans."
"I agree," May said, following right behind Lee, "this is the dumbest plan ever. It's not getting back at Kevin at all! If it was up to me, we would be threatening him with needles."
Lee laughed at that and nodded, "Yeah, but I guess Marie wanted to be different this time."
"What is she really planning on doing after we get Kevin?"
"She wants to steal the role," Lee explained, "she stayed up all night memorizing the first three scenes. She wants to be Double D's Romeo."
May giggled at the thought of Marie being up on stage, and acting. It wasn't about the fact that Marie was a girl trying to play a male, but the fact that... well, Marie... acting. May just didn't think her sister had the right attention span for it.
The girls turned another corner and smiled as they spotted their victim standing in the middle of the hallway, doing his duty as hall monitor. Kevin had his back to them, his arms crossed as he made sure no one passed him without a hall pass. He liked being hall monitor. It gave him a sort of power over the other students who feared sneaking out of class because they didn't want to find themselves dealing with Kevin.
Eddy was one who tried doing so many times, but Kevin always got him back.
Lee and May exchanged glances before laughing a bit. The redhead raised an eyebrow at the sound and looked over his shoulder. No one was in sight, though, so he shrugged and looked forward again.
"Now," Lee whispered, and she and May came out of their hiding spot as they ran up to Kevin.
Kevin spun around, hearing the sound of their squeaky shoes against the floor.
"Hey," he growled at them, "you can't be out here without-"
"One of these," May said, holding up her pass.
Kevin paused as he read what was scribbled on the piece of paper, and once he read it, he glared at them. "That's a pass to the nurse's office. Don't you think you're going the wrong way?"
"Telling our stupid teachers we needed to go to the nurse's office was just an excuse to get out," Lee explained.
Kevin held up his notepad, "Okay, skipping class. That's gonna- Hey!"
Lee and May had lunged forward, tackling Kevin to the floor. Kevin groaned in pain of both of them on top of him and as he lied there, the girls jumped up to their feet.
"Let's go, May," Lee said, yanking Kevin off the floor.
She held his arms as May held his legs. The bell for the last class to end rang as the sisters ran off towards the janitor's closet.
"Jeez, finally," Eddy mumbled to Double D as he stepped out of his class, "I thought we'd be in there forever."
"I thought it was a wonderful lecture," Double D said, "I couldn't complain."
"You never complain about school."
The two headed down towards the theater room, stopping at another classroom to get Ed first.
"Can't wait until this stupid play is done with!" Eddy told them. "I'm tired of hearing Sockhead go on and on about it."
Double D rolled his eyes and sighed. "It'll all be over soon, Eddy."
"I can't wait to come see you, Double D," Ed told him, and the sockhead smiled, happy Ed was excited about it.
"Thank you, Ed. I'll be looking forward to it."
"Yeah, yeah," Eddy said, "he's told you that already."
As they came to a stop in front of the auditorium, Double D turned to look at his friends.
"I understand this play has taken all my time away from you both," he started, but Eddy held up his hand to stop him right there.
"Yeah, but don't get all sentimental on me," he joked, grinning slightly.
"I'm not. I'm only saying."
Ed wrapped his arms around Double D, giving him a tight squeeze and letting go to step back.
"If you have time, come to my house after you're done," Ed told him.
"I will," Double D assured him.
"Yeah, see ya later, Sockhead!" Eddy waved at him as he and Ed made their way towards the front doors.
Double D waved back at them, watching them walk a bit before entering inside. Most of the actors were already there, along with the whole tech crew getting where they had to be and setting up the stage. Double D hurriedly put his things down to help.
"I got this," most of them told him, "just go get dressed."
Double D merely furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at them and continued to help anyway. He didn't want to be excluded from the crew. Just because he was inthe play didn't mean he wasn't apart of the tech crew anymore. He sighed, not trying to let it get to him. It wasn't worth being upset for feeling left out, but he did hate feeling left out.
"Move out of the way!" Kevin shouted at Lee and May as they stood in front of the door on the outside.
They had locked the door - having had retrieved the keys from the janitor during lunch when he was distracted - and they were now leaning against it, keeping Kevin trapped inside.
Kevin banged his fists against it. "Come ON!" He continued to shout.
Students passing by could hear and turned to stare, but Lee and May's threatening glare forced them to walk on.
"I have something to do!" Kevin yelled, kicking at the door.
"It's taken care of," Lee casually told him.
Kevin sneered at the door. "What do you mean?" He asked through clenched teeth.
"That it's taken care of, obviously!" May answered.
"What the HELL DOES THAT MEAN?!"
But the sisters only looked at each other and laughed.
Kevin couldn't quite remember the last time he felt this angry. The kind of anger that had his hands shaking and had him breathing hard. It was their laughs - they were laughing at him. They were so amused they had captured him, and he just didn't, no, he couldn't give them the satisfaction. He just couldn't.
After Double D finished getting dressed and placed his wig on, he stepped out of the dressing room to see all the actors gathered around. He scanned the crowd, trying to find a certain redhead, but Kevin wasn't there. Double D's eyes widened as he quickly headed onto the stage. Kevin wasn't there, either, or sitting in the seats next to Mrs. Aguilar.
"Oh dear," Double D whispered, beginning to feel nervous.
Kevin was always on time. They were about to start... and Kevin wasn't there. He was late... but he had always been on time...
It was the kiss scene, Double D thought to himself as he looked around backstage again, oh... it must have scared him off. When he was thinking I was the one who was horrified by it, it was actually him who was.
He should have known Kevin would eventually find the entire play, the entire situation, too much for him. Kevin was still just Kevin.
Double D bit his lower lip.
They were about to start.
"Okay!" Mrs. Aguilar clapped, and the actors knew that was their signal to get on stage.
"Oh, no," Double D practically squeaked, but he followed the others out there.
"Opening night is coming up," Mrs. Aguilar began to say, "and-" she stopped, her eyes widening slightly. "Where's Kevin?"
Everyone looked around at each other, shrugging as they realized he was nowhere to be seen. Double D continued chewing on his lower lip.
He had scared Kevin off.
And he felt bad about it.
"Oh my goodness!" Mrs. Aguilar yelled, "Where's our Romeo? Hasn't anyone seen him?!"
A few students nodded, mumbling how he was in certain classes with them and he was present.
"Then where is he now?! We can't practice without our Romeo!"
"And you'll have your Romeo," everyone turned their head to the sound of the voice. Marie smiled as she entered the room, wearing what looked to be a Romeo costume.
Mrs. Aguilar turned around to see her and gasped. "Where did you get that?"
"I found it," Marie admitted. "I heard that Kevin say something about skipping out on the play."
The corners of Double D's lips fell into a bigger frown that he was sure he was probably pouting like a small child.
"So here I am," Marie continued, "here to save the day and this play. I'll be a better Romeo than he was." She grinned as she made eye contact with the sockhead.
"No, no, no," Mrs. Aguilar told her, "we can't change actors again! Opening night-"
"I already have a lot of the lines memorized," Marie said to her, "stop freaking out. I can handle this."
"I have to go find and talk to Kevin," Double D said, heading off the steps.
"No, stay!" Mrs. Aguilar and Marie simultaneously said to him, and Double D halted in his tracks at that.
"But we need Kevin," Double D told Mrs. Aguilar. "He plays his part well, and..." he sighed as he looked at Marie, "we aren't even sure if you can act-"
"Shut up," Marie glared at him. "I can act. I can do whatever I want."
Mrs. Aguilar sat back down and rubbed her temples, "Oh god. Kevin can't do this to me. I can't deal with this. I'll just cancel the whole play."
"What?!" The actors and tech crew all choked out.
Marie rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms, "What part of 'I'm here to save the day and this play' don't you understand?"
"I don't know you, sweetie," Mrs. Aguilar told her, "but I know Kevin, and I trust him. You... not so much, by the looks of it."
Double D had to cover his mouth to prevent himself from laughing.
"But I can do this," Marie said, trying to remain calm, but this teacher was getting on her nerves.
The doors opened and everyone looked up in anticipation, but it was only Nazz who walked in.
"Oh," everyone said in disappointment.
Nazz momentarily stopped walking as she said, "Wow, thanks." She smiled anyway and continued her way towards Double D, "What's going on? I came to watch the practice and-" looking around, she squinted her eyes, "Where's Kevin?"
"Ugh," Mrs. Aguilar covered her face with her hands.
"You see, Nazz," Double D spoke, "that seems to be the problem."
Marie turned to smile at the blonde and Nazz's lips parted.
"Where did you do?" She asked the Kanker.
"Why do you think Kevin not being here is my fault?"
Nazz scoffed. "Why wouldn't it be?"
Marie scowled at her and said, "I have nothing to do with it. I overheard him talking to a friend about dropping out of the play. It was his choice. I had no influence in it." She turned around to face Mrs. Aguilar again, a smile unable to be contained forming on her face. "Do I have the part, then?"