Forfeit

Chapter 4

Ed sulked outside of his front door a few moments, wondering if he would go inside or go and see what was wrong with Edd. He was genuinely concerned about his sock-hatted friend, and thought that if Eddy wouldn't go and see what was bothering him, he would. When his eyelids started to feel the weight of sleep, however, he couldn't fight the urge to go inside, curl up on his filthy mattress, and get to work making Z's. He jiggled the handle to his front door and found it was unlocked. He stepped inside of his dark house and quietly shut the door behind him. He leaned up against it and looked around the living room, trying to use the moonlight streaming in through the windows to aid him in his quest to identify where the hallway was so he could get to his room. To his surprise, the lights suddenly flicked on, and, lo and behold, there stood Sarah, her face red with anger, and her best friend right behind her, looking on with delight at what his friend could possibly have in store for her brother.

"ED!" Sarah yelled, snapping Ed to attention and clearing away the drowsiness that had clouded his mind.

"Yes, baby sister?" Ed asked, wanting to get whatever yelling or cursing Sarah had in store from him over with.

"Mom sat up for an hour straight worrying about where her precious little boy went off to!" Sarah began mockingly. "Should I tell her you were out with your retarded friends at the trailer park?" Sarah asked angrily. Ed gulped. He feared that she had seen them going to the trailer park to get Kevin's bike, but now it was official.

"But we were trying to get something for Kevin!" Ed protested, hoping that he wouldn't get in trouble; but even Ed, as dense as he could be, knew that it was a losing battle every time.

"I don't care if you were trying to get something for Kevin, going to goof around in the woods, or going visit your trashy girlfriends! When mom says to be home at eight, she means at eight!" Sarah scolded angrily. Ed's emotions were swirling around inside of him. He was angry at Sarah for being so mean and being the biggest tattle tale around, but he was also fearful of her wrath; scared of his mother's wrath even more so.

"They're not our girlfriends!" was all Ed could think to yell back, absolutely hating the label she had decided to assign to the Kanker sisters, girls who he knew that he would never date, not even in a million years. Ed noticed that Sarah's friend could barely contain himself behind her, and was fighting the urge to burst out in laughter.

"I know they're not Ed..." Sarah said as she stepped toward him, her tone and demeanor suddenly changing from one of anger to one of sorrow and kindness. Ed almost wished it was true; but he knew that every time she did that meant that the real pain was coming. "But I won't tell mom about you being at the trailer park, on one condition..." Sarah began, Ed suddenly perking up at the suggestion that there was an alternative to his mom punishing him. "You forgot to go buy me a new brush, Ed, and I want one right now." Ed's face sunk a little. He had forgotten to go get Sarah a brush earlier when she had shoved her only one down his throat, but it had slipped his mind since he was still moping about how much Sarah hated and tortured him.

"But... where can I get one at night?" Ed asked. Sarah grinned evilly.

"I'm sure someone around here has one that you could borrow, Ed," Sarah explained. Ed pondered her suggestion for a moment.

"Nazz is a girl, and she has brushes... but what if she doesn't want to give me one of hers?" Ed reasoned.

"I never said to ask," Sarah quipped. Ed had to once again stop and think about what she said, and froze up with fear when he realized what she meant.

"But I can't steal from Nazz... mom said stealing's wrong and is for stupid thugs," Ed said, hoping that would be enough to sate Sarah's lust to see Ed in trouble. Sarah shook her head furiously.