Despite both Nazz's and Rolf's reassurances, Kevin spent the following Monday avoiding Edd like the plague. He knew it was a shitty thing to do-he saw the disappointment and frustration written all over Edd's face at lunch-but he couldn't help himself. He was scared to death that he'd messed up. He had never cared about someone like this. If he couldn't fix it with an apology and a hearty slap on the back, he just let it drop. Suddenly Edd's accusation made sense: "If you can't punch it into the next dimension, it isn't even worth your time!" It was true. He wasn't much good at working through his issues, but this was different. Edd was different. For reasons he still wasn't clear about, Edd did matter. He mattered more than anybody except maybe Nazz, but she mattered in a different way so he wasn't sure that even counted. He watched the clock tick away, counting down the seconds until the end of the school day. He stared in disbelief as minutes that usually seemed to take forever flew by. He briefly wondered what higher power he'd offended before the bell rang. It sounded much like he's imagined a closing prison cell to sound, but at this point he was pretty sure he was just being dramatic. He set his head on the desk as the students filed out of the room.
"Goddammit," he muttered.
He pulled himself up, slung his bag over his shoulder, and stepped out into the hall. He kept a wary eye out for the black sock hat, but he made it to his locker without incident. He spun the combination in and took one last look around before turning his attention to his books. A touch of cool metal and a click quickly alerted him to the mistake of letting his guard down. Memories came flooding back as, horrified, he followed the line of his arm down, across the pink handcuffs, up Edd's arm, and finally to a pair of mischievous eyes.
"Greetings, Kevin."
"Goddammit," Kevin repeated, rubbing his face. "Fine. I had this coming. But the pink ones? Really?"
"They're the only pair I have," Edd replied. For now...
"Alright, fine. Let's just go." Kevin moved to walk away but stopped when he realized Edd was not following. "What?"
"We're leaving through the front, not the back. You don't have to go to practice today. I already spoke with the coach."
"What?!"
"Yes. I informed him that your grade in math is absolutely atrocious. As your tutor, it is my duty to let him know that you need extra assistance to maintain your grade and therefore your position on the team. It is not, however, my duty to inform your teammates. You will be doing that on your own."
"What."
"Come along, darling."
"What?"
Edd led him down the halls. He followed in utter disbelief. When they came around the corner and found the baseball team horsing around in the front hall, Kevin felt his face grow hot. Maybe they won't notice and we can just sneak past...
"Dude, what the hell, Kev?"
Or maybe not. Kevin winced and smiled nervously. "Hey, Matt. What's up, guys?"
"What the hell are you doing with this dork? Are those fucking handcuffs?"
Edd stood silently a step behind Kevin and watched with guarded eyes. Eddy and Ed were just outside if he needed them, but he only felt slightly reassured.
"I told you, he's my tutor. I totally bombed that math test, so coach is sending me home to study so I don't get kicked off the team." Kevin shrugged and shoved his free hand into his pocket. He tried his best to look cool about it, but he felt his hands shaking.
Cries of "aw, how come you get to skip practice?" and "lucky!" ran through the team before Matt held his hand up for silence.
"That doesn't explain the handcuffs," he said threateningly. He turned his glare to Edd. "Speak, dork."
