Blood in the Water

Chapter Eight

That night, Kevin got almost no sleep. His whole body, every inch of skin and bone, was alive with anticipation. He was aware of every heart beat, every breath and his mind spun around the thought that Edd had kissed him. His lip still hurt in a phantom way as he recalled the sharp bite that sent a shock through him.

He had kissed plenty of girls and he was pretty damn sure that never had it felt quite like that.

Though he tried to focus on homework, his mind was completely wrapped around the visage of a certain swimmer and the little pieces coming together with the help of his unknown pen-pal. He had been getting messages over the last two days, someone who had intimate knowledge of Edd in a way that made Kevin possessively jealous.

'His parents are super tough on him, they don't even treat him like a son. He kills himself trying to please them.'

'He gets really excited over bugs, if you ever want to see him smile just take him to the bug exhibit at the zoo.'

'He used to be scared of lightning.'

'His favorite movie was 'March of the Penguins' because it was both educational and made him cry like a baby.'

Kevin let all of these come in, coaxing them out piece by piece. As much as he enjoyed learning about Edd, he was also learning about his pen pal. At first he had thought it was Marie, his number would be easily accessed if she was as good of friends with Nazz as was claimed.

That next morning he kept communications open.

'How do you know so much about him? You some kind of stalker?' Kevin asked. He had grown tired of the constant insults to his grammar and spelling and had been correcting himself more often than not.

'If I was stalking him, why would I be giving you all the info?'

'You tell me.'

'I'm not a stalker.'

'Then why won't you tell me who you are?'

'I'd prefer to stay under the radar in all of this.'

'All of what?'

There was no response and Kevin found this irritating. He discovered that if he was not thinking about Edd he was wanting to ask about him, during math he even attempted to focus on the material only to be reminded of Edd's voice talking about the baseball calculations. He groaned loud enough that attention was drawn to himself and he was called upon to answer a question he was not even aware had been asked.

After school he was happy to find that baseball practice had made his mind into static. He focused on the bat, the ball, his team. In fact, he found himself on top of his proverbial game, with more energy than usual and more patience for mistakes.

He strutted into the lockers feeling damn good about life. He joined in on the banter and roughhousing, and found that he seemed to be intentionally taking his time. He put off putting away his gear and changed slowly while talking to his team, and soon found the swim team filtering in.

"Dude, Edd's a fucking demon." He heard one of the players gripe, Kevin had never bothered listening in on their conversations, "Didn't coach talk to him about being so rough?"

"Shut up Oliver, don't complain. He's a lot easier on us now than he has been. Besides, he pushes us hard and-"

"You both sound like fags," barked a third.

One of them snorted, "Easy for you to say Hector, he doesn't hassle you like he does us."

"You guys gotta give back what he dishes out." Hector explained, "I told you already, if Edd knows you can take care of yourself he lays off. Hell, I think he likes being pushed back sometimes."