Disclaimer: I do not own Edd, Ed, and Eddy or any of the characters within the show. I do, however, own the images and ideas of those characters portrayed within this particular story.

Chapter 1: Reunion

Once the kids of the cul-de-sac hit High School, we didn't see each other much beyond the bus rides to and from campus. I hadn't seen Ed for years now, ever since his mother had him sent off to a private school. The lovable dope was only heard from on occasion; however, Eddy was still around and about. He had finally found his "perfect scam," making money drug dealing. Eddy wasn't a big time dealer, usually just marijuana and whatever pills he could leech off of his mom's prescriptions, but he was doing okay in a profitable sense. He didn't seem to have much interest in intellect anymore and really just came to school for the marketing opportunities. Substance abuse is something with absolutely no appeal to me.

These days Mother and Father still aren't around much, either. Not that I prefer their presence; the consistent neglect has kind of molded me into a state of indifference when it came to feigning interest in their lives anyway. On the late nights when they'd return home I would often lock myself away in my room and pretend I was asleep. As long as I kept the house clean and picked up after them, Mother and Father didn't bother me. I keep to my studies, my grades as good as ever and I look forward to whatever scholarships they may award. I think my teachers may have been concerned about my occasional sleeping in class and the faint bags under my eyes, but such are the side effects of insomnia. The habit seemed to pick up as more of a lifestyle as opposed to a disorder; there was simply more time for things if you didn't expend it sleeping. I suppose after a while I lost my obsessive compulsion to have a purely healthy lifestyle and just resulted to eating well and maintaining my usual level of cleanliness. My typical daily routine consisted of awaking, school, studying, reading, and using the computer in the wee hours of the morning. Most nights I'd end up with anywhere from 2 to 5 hours of sleep.

Occasionally I run into Marie, who recently conned me into letting her do my hair. I ended up with a full head of dreads which I found totally unsuited to my persona. Marie vaguely insinuated that she would have my, uh, "nads" if I were to have them cut off; so they remain. In time, I have found a certain satisfaction with tending to my dreadlocks as stray hairs sprout here and there. I keep them what is probably meticulously neat compared to some of the other students I've seen with dreads.

During the early years of high school, Naz had become one of my good friends until she moved away to another state with her family; Rolf had gone back to his home country to live with his extended family for the duration of school; Kevin didn't bother me much after having tutored him in Algebra when he was threatened with being booted from the football team and therefore spared me the bullying I'd always known him for. Since I wasn't Kevin's target, the rest of the team and his friends kept their distance as well.

Since so few others found interest in my presence, the fact that Marie kept up on speaking terms was quite nice. I suspected that Marie Kanker had adopted the same homosexual intentions that her mother had in the last few years. Marie and her sisters were still hard-ass feminists, but had grown out of throwing themselves all over us Eds. I don't know if that's because Ed was off to private school so May wasn't quite able to see him. It was probably because some time ago her Medicaid financed her braces, then she filled in well with the onset of puberty and had become a cheerleader earning her the company of 'jocks' like Kevin. If only May's brain could compensate for her chest, pardon me. Lee on the other hand still flocks to Eddy every so often for the occasional "romping" (as Marie so blatantly puts it) and purchase of whatever illegal product or prescription he has to offer at the time.

Marie has turned to dressing primarily in black from head to toe and wears heavy eye makeup beneath her tapered blue hair. I suppose being her friend drifts several social groups from associating with me. I didn't mind, it simply established that the shallow stereotyping of High School was bound to push its more intellectually prominent students aside. Rumors ensued and Marie even joked that she had heard some of her classmates mention that my 'antisocial' ways made me a bit of a creep and went as far to say that they wouldn't be surprised if I turned out to be one of the kind to shoot up a school. I was astonished that such an absolutely ludicrous suggestion could ever arise about me but none the less it wasn't as though my introverted ways had much hope in a school that seemed indifferent to my existence.

Despite my troubles with the social aspects of High School most teachers could at least appreciate my adequate grades and lack of absence in their classes. It's pointless to say that to this day I still make the flawless grades I had since grade school. That sort of academic pursuit had just been instilled permanently in my mind I suppose. My GPA dipped perhaps half a point below a 4.0 and had only reached such a low because of the onslaught of pneumonia at an untimely point before finals my sophomore year. The only extracurricular activities I took to stride after school was Chess Club, which I only partook in when Marie was bored enough to accompany me. Needless to say I excelled in the strategical aspect of the game and sometimes longed to have my social life play out so easily.

I would be graduating early this year, once I finished my English courses because they'd been put off while I completed my Maths and Sciences. It was as much as I had planned for, to be able to get High School out of the way to move on to the more important things. Perhaps my biggest surprise was on the first day of second semester during what would be my Junior year just before English 3 began. I felt almost oddly displaced when lo and behold, who walked into class but the lovable oaf himself.

"Hiya Double D!" His dopey voice registered over the constant rumble of my fellow pupils. When I turned my head toward the classroom door I was more than pleased to see an all too familiar bulk.

"Why, hello Ed!" and the words just flowed right out of me. I was sitting in the front row farthest from the door and teacher's desk along the class's stark side wall. His grin was goofy and I smiled as well as I became overwhelmed with curiosity. Ed was adorned in a military like buzz cut and a long-sleeved, black shirt with some classic horror movie flick monster face on its front. The black and white creature was shadowed by an army green, worn out jacket with countless pockets and a few patches. Ed's boot cut jeans overlapped his classic, worn Converse and his pants sagged from his chubby waist just slightly in the back.

"What brings you back to this High School of all places?"

"Mom got mad because she was paying lots of money for that Private School and my grades weren't getting better," Ed's face was a simple scowl at the mention of his own mother but he seemed to cheer right back up. He dropped his book bag by the desk next to mine and plopped down in the chair. "Have you seen Eddy, Double D?"

For a moment my rejoicing heart sunk at the mention of Eddy. He was still fairly manipulative, but at least I wasn't being conned into helping him out with his ridiculous schemes anymore. I just didn't want Ed to fall into the same unhealthy routine; but I knew he would make his own choices.

"I can't say I have recently, Ed. He's around here somewhere." And I wanted to leave the subject of Eddy at that. "So tell me Ed, how have you been?"

"I'm good, Double D. Sarah's going to stay with my aunt to go to school and won't be living with us anymore," Ed added on an optimistic note. Certainly this was a boost to Ed's happiness since Sarah was an all too familiar handful to deal with. Despite the brief crush I had on her in my adolescence, Sarah was admittedly a loudmouthed know-it-all who I couldn't even conceive of living with and certainly did not know-it-all.

"Edd," the teacher addressed politely. "Hats off indoors," she reminded and I quickly made an 'oh' with my mouth and took off the white striped black beanie. Old habits die hard.

"Woah, cool hair, Double D," Ed grinned with a gesture toward my hair.

"Uh, thanks, Ed."

"Alright, settle down," Ms. Blanch spoke again. "Today we'll be opening class with the ten minute journal entry..."