Blood in the Water

Chapter Three

Kevin sat back, resting against the headboard of his bed as he stared at the scattering of books and papers. His head hurt and he had yet to really begin, his muscles ached from practice and the sun was setting in the distance - the last thing he wanted to do was study.

His room was a wasteland of dirty t-shirts, baseball and band posters, a television settled on a dresser with all of the drawers unable to close properly. For Kevin, it was a perfect teenager's den of comfort and familiarity.

Off in the corner a tan and white figure shifted. Molly stood from her lavish dog bed and stretched before she padded over to Kevin, sensing his discomfort and shoving her nose into his hand as she sat beside his bed. He smiled and happily petted the border collie, scratching behind her velvety ears. "Good girl," he cooed, lavishing her with praise for no other reason than being his best friend.

She was a well trained dog, as intelligent as any human Kevin knew, with four times the emotional capability. Yes, a good dog indeed.

He stared down at the books and papers, the blank notepad and the pen that had gone untouched. He had no motivation or desire. His eyes moved to his window, watched the cul-de-sac outside as if waiting for some divine intervention to grant him the desire to dive into his math books.

A black car turned onto the street and slowly slid down the lane until pulling into the driveway of the Vincent residence. Kevin frowned as he watched the door open, Edd's figure was barely visible in the long shadows cast across the road.

It had been over a week since they were forced to work together. Though working together had only meant that Kevin was to find himself a tutor so that he and Edd could move on with their lives. However tutors were hard to come by, and schedules conflicted consistently, he had little time to devote.

A knot of worry was lodged in Kevin's stomach. He had a math test that next day and little confidence in his ability to pass. He could only hope for multiple choice, and yet even still he had a strong feeling that he would be better off trying to read braille.

He knew he had more to worry about than his own future - he remembered the look on Eddward's face as he read the rejection letter, saw how he tried to hide the dread but his face paled so swiftly and his eyes had widened in shock. He was not used to seeing fear in the swimmer's face, it was always annoyance or cockiness. Though the two got along like kerosene and a lit match there was still a long history behind them, a childhood of pranks and teasing and though they had never been friends they always stuck up for one another when it counted.

They always helped each other when it was absolutely necessary.

He remembered the blood...

Kevin sat up sharply and gathered his books and papers, throwing them into his bag. "Stay Molly," He instructed, giving the collie a gentle pat on the head. She gave a little whuff and jumped onto Kevin's bed to keep his spot warm as the man walked to the door.

Kevin thought about combustion as he made his way across the street. Whenever the two teenagers were around one another it inevitably erupted into a brilliant explosion of testosterone - though Kevin was aggravated by everything the swimmer did he could not deny a sense of thrill when he locked horns with the brainiac.

He knocked on Edd's door and stood back. He was prepared for a fight, prepared to have to shove his way in and demand help.

Silence...

He knocked again, louder.

Silence.

He rang the doorbell.

Suddenly the door swung open swiftly and Edd stood on the other side, soaked from a shower and donning little more than a towel around his waist and his black beanie. Those azure eyes locked onto Kevin and showed annoyance, then he opened his mouth and a slew of what Kevin thought was French spilled from his lips before he finally ended with, "Now what is it you need so urgently?"