A/N: Didn't expect this, did you?

Pen: Why is it just when I'm almost free of this, you drag me back into it?

Because if Sword is going to pester me all day and night and keep me up with ideas, you're going to deal with it too.

Sword: Yeah! This'll be fun! And I haven't even told you about my 67-part Supernatural crossover idea!

Let's stick to one thing at a time, shall we? As usual, Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy belong to Danny Antonucci and Cartoon Network. The story, Sword, and Pen belong to me. Please do not use without permission. Please enjoy.

Chapter 1 – Grade Ed Poorly

"That'll be $7.66," Edd told the customer, printing off the on-screen order and attaching the ticket a metal clip behind him. He spun the wheel of clips, sending the ticket to the back kitchen, then turned to the next person in line. "May I take your order, sir?"

"Yeah, can I get two number sixes," the next person said, staring slack-jawed at the menu above Edd's head. "A number six large, uh, a number four with extra sauce, a number one, two number fives, one with cheese, and a diet soda."

Edd finished tallying the amount and delivered his best gap-toothed smile. "$36.98, sir." Another ticket printed and attached to the clips.

"Order up!" the cook behind him shouted.

"I got it!" May skated from the other side of the restaurant with all the grace of a hippo on stilts, still crashing and slamming into chairs, tables, and people after all their months working here. The wall broke her high-speed roller-skating, knocking yet another tile loose that she quickly picked up and wedged back into place before grabbing the tray of food.

Edd shook his head. At least there wasn't a dull moment working alongside May. The atmosphere of the Café 50's wasn't really for him – a fast food restaurant done up like a soda joint, but not very well. The checkerboard floor blended with the red booths and stools, and neon jukeboxes belting out the likes of Elvis and Chuck Berry all day, but only because they were all so tacky, they somehow meshed together. The waitresses all wore poodle skirts and old-fashioned roller skates, tending to drop more food than they served, while Edd was forced to wear a paper cap on top of his beanie and a white uniform that he kept fastidiously clean, the same outfit for all those behind the counter.

May's constant antics kept him entertained. The blonde zipped all over the place, balancing tray after tray, and seemingly always delivered the food successfully. He didn't know how she did it, but he admired her coordination.

The chef laid another set of food, this in a paper bag, with a couple of drinks beside it on the counter separating the registers and the kitchen. Edd checked the receipt and searched for the familiar name in the restaurant. "Nazz!"

The girl poked her head up from conversation with her boyfriend, Kevin, and squeezed through the crowd. Before giving her the food, Edd snatched another fry from the kitchen, stuffing it into the bag. After how Nazz had helped him enter the best relationship of his life, he was only too happy to sneak her free food.

"Thanks, Double Dee," she said, rummaging through the order. Kevin slunk up to the counter as well, wearing his usual unimpressed face, and a frown reserved for the Ed's.

"No problem," he said, ignoring Kevin much to his own misfortune. Before he could blink, cold soda seeped into his uniform, through his undershirt, and froze his stomach and legs. He seized up, taking stock of the brown liquid staining his perfectly kept shirt while Kevin laughed.

"Whoops. Butterfingers," he said unconvincingly and shook his now empty cup. "Can I get a refill?"

Edd grabbed fistfuls of napkins, futilely wiping the stain that he would have to painstakingly clean out tonight. "One moment, sir," he said, taking the cup and refilling it. He had the strong urge to spit in it, but restrained himself. That's something Eddy would do.

He handed the drink back to Kevin and the pair left, Nazz offering him a sympathetic "Sorry" for the incident. As they exited, Edd shivered again while the soda chilled him. One would think that the years would lighten Kevin up, especially since the Ed's hadn't tried to cheat him out of any money in a long time. But for whatever reason, his attitude toward them remained the same. Worse in some instances, and Edd couldn't figure what he had done recently to earn such ire.

With his last customer taken care of, Edd watched May skate over to him, crashing into the counter and pulling herself up on shaky legs. "Woah, what happened to you?"

"Nothing," he said, tossing the wads of used napkins.

"How much longer do we have?"

"Fifteen minutes," he said, checking the clock.

"Ugh," she said. "I really need to quit this job! This was supposed to be just for the summer!"

True, he and May had each secured these jobs this past summer after finishing their freshman year, as had the other Ed's and her sisters in nearby stores. A bit of extra money never hurt. But as summer rolled to an end and the new school year started, all of them found they liked having extra spending money on hand.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about quitting too," Edd said. He had promised he would save up enough for the school year, then the holidays rolled around, necessitating more money, then Valentine's Day with its demands for gifts, not to mention birthdays and anniversaries. And now, with summer only a couple of months away, part of him argued that he may as well stick it out and keep his position.

Yet his body terribly ached nonstop these days. "Between this and my advanced classes, I haven't been getting much sleep." Not to mention homework and chores. He felt like there weren't enough hours in the day and had seriously considered cutting back on sleep. Yet that was a short-term, misguided solution for sure. He could feel the bags dragging his eyes down and every customer-friendly face strained his cheek muscles more and more. With any less sleep, he would fall apart.

May blew a raspberry at him. "You're smart! You'll get through it," she said, completely unaware of how intense the advanced classes could be. "I need to pass English. I'm failing already. If I don't learn to write goodly, I won't pass."

Edd winced at the mangling of the English language. "Have you tried a tutor?"

"When would I have time?" she asked. "And I don't have the money. I need to work here for the money, but then I don't have the time."

"I could help," he offered, but she laughed at that.

"Yeah, right. You and Marie can't even bring yourselves to study. Whenever you try, you two are always distracting one another." She jammed a finger in his chest, her buck-teeth grinning deviously. "Don't think we don't know. The walls in our trailer are very thin."

He hid his reddened cheeks as another customer approached and ordered a soda. May wasn't incorrect, per se, he admitted to himself. But he did think he had a little more control over himself than that.

Then again, he was anxiously looking forward to the end of his shift because of Marie. As much fun as it was working with May, he was counting each second until he could leave. Marie's face drifted into view, winking at him, and his bones seemed to melt in his arms. How was it that after a year, the mere thought of her could continue to turn his mind into lovesick mush?

"Aw, thinking about my sister again?" May asked, head propped in her hands and staring at Edd, breaking the spell. "That's adorable." She reached up and pinched his cheek, jerking his head. "Now I expect some grandbabies from you there, sonny," she said, speaking like an old grandparent.

"Cut it out," he said. Then he spied the clock. "We're done."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he saw a massive tangle of blond hair, skates, and poodle skirt flail to the check-out clock. Then May tore off her skates, threw open the door, and chucked them into the street. She breathed a sigh of relief, wiggling her toes in the open air as Edd clocked out as well.

They grabbed their belongings in the back of the restaurant, then snuck out some hamburgers and fries with the help of the cook, who kept an eye out for the roaming manager as May and Edd shoved them in bags.

Once outside, Edd started to walk across the street, but May dragged him to the record store next door, picking up her discarded skates on the way. "Hold on! I just saw Big Ed go in there!"

Shoved roughly through the door, gripping the bags for fear of dropping the food, Edd was assaulted by posters of the latest albums and artists plastered all over the wall, covering up last month's biggest hits, and the ones before that. He wouldn't be surprised to find artist posters from the 60's if he peeled back enough layers.

Rows and rows of albums, CD's, DVD's, and more stocked the waist-high shelves. A few regulars milled around, teenagers checked out the newest albums from their favorite bands, and some older, grungier adults, tattooed from head to toe picked up and examined items in the corners. In the background, the radio was playing a countdown of the number one songs that week.

At the counter, Lee watched Ed lifting a door and carrying it to the back room by himself. She perked up when the bell rung above the door. Her massive tower of red curls may have hid her eyes, but not her drooling mouth. Edd knew what she had zeroed in on when they walked in.

May placed her bag on the counter and Lee immediately dug in. The smell wafted through the store and Edd mentally counted down to himself. Three…Two…One…

Ed poked his head through the door. "Double Dee! May!" He dropped the door in the back room, ran to the counter, completely bypassing May's outstretched arms for a hug, and grabbed his food.

"Gotta love a man with an appetite," she said, as if expecting this. She draped an arm around his neck while he ate and spilled grease and ketchup everywhere. She patted his head and he nuzzled into her side, like an affectionate, messy dog. Edd and Lee exchanged a glance, neither still seeing the attraction for either, but not questioning it either.

"Been busy today?" Edd asked.

"Not really- Hang on," Lee dropped her sandwich and marched over to the door, standing between it and a couple of younger teenagers. She grabbed each of them by the shirt and leered in their faces. "Empty your pockets. Now." She lifted them off the ground for emphasis.

Shaking, the two boys emptied their jeans of a couple of albums they had attempted to steal. Once she was satisfied, Lee threw them out the door. "Don't let me catch you in here again!" She muttered curses to herself, picking up the albums and placing them behind the counter for sorting later. "Second time this week," she said.

"Lucky they have you," Edd said. "Ed, how's the lumber yard?"

Ed looked up, mouthful of fries, and mumbled something unintelligible, but that sounded like things were normal.

"Well, I better get these across the street before they get cold," Edd said, holding up the other bag of food. "I'll see you later."

"Tell that little weasel of mine to come see me on his break," Lee said as he left.

Looking both ways, Edd hurried across the street and down the block to the mattress store, which was, as usual, dead during the week. Mattresses of all kinds of quality and marked up prices lined the store. The soft fluorescent lighting, along with his own exhaustion, made the cushy mattresses look very inviting. All they needed was a fluffy pillow and a blanket, and it would be heaven to him.

In the corner, he spied Eddy delivering a sales pitch to a young couple. He caught his friend's eye, who nodded his way, and continued to show off the cheap mattress.

Edd gazed around the store and easily found the blue-haired beauty he had been dying to see, stretched out on a mattress near the back wall, hidden from the cameras. He headed over to her, yet upon approach, noticed her mouth was pulled tight and thin in worry. Before he could say a word, she said, "Come to join me?"

She opened her visible eye, giving him a lazy grin that made his heart flutter and invaded his thoughts with many late afternoon "study sessions". He straightened up and held out the bag. "Brought you some food."

"Great, I'm starving," she said, diving into the bag much like her sister. She pulled out a fry and nibbled on it. "Although," a coy expression danced on her face, "I could go for something else." She took his hand, pulling him closer. "Might make a mess though and need to buy the mattress afterwards. But I think I can cut you a deal."

"Oh, I, er," he fumbled over his words until she shut him up with a kiss. He leaned into her and they fell back onto the mattress, narrowly missing the food, and rolling to the side. He had missed this all day and didn't want to move at all. Just lay here, her warm body pressed to his, her tongue flicking across his lips, and little moans reverberating out of her throat and into his. Pure bliss.

The loud ding of the cash register interrupted them, as the customers came into view, with Eddy ringing them up. Reluctantly, Edd and Marie sat up, her turning to the food while Eddy finished his sale.

Despite wanting to continue scamming people for quick cash when they first started searching for jobs, Eddy had succeeded the most, even loving his job and having his manager take him under his wing. Then again, with the store's business practices, it was as close to legally scamming people as one could get, with a much larger payout through commissions. Once Eddy realized that, the dollar signs in his eyes carried him away and he never looked back.

Even now, as Eddy had one of the movers help carry the mattress outside, Edd's keen eye caught him carefully snipping off the warranty and tag, away from the eyes of the couple. That way, if there was a problem with the mattress, they would only get partial store credit.

Edd shook his head and turned to Marie, absently-mindedly watching her eat. Unlike Eddy, she hated the store, goofing off most days. She had originally been hired on with Lee at the record store, both of them tough enough to handle the customers and would-be thieves.

In Marie's case though, too tough. After a few heads slammed into the countertop, mostly from obnoxious customers ridiculing a band t-shirt she wore or making unwanted advances, she had been let go. Eddy had wrangled a job for her at the mattress store. With the dearth of customers and quiet atmosphere, no more injuries had occurred.

"Alright, food," Eddy said, coming back in and taking his burger. "Last sale of the day. Five, count 'em, five total!"

Marie belched and pounded her chest. "Woop-dee-doo. Let's get out of here already."

"Lee wants you to stop by once you leave," Edd told his friend as he headed to the employee breakroom.

"Yeah, yeah. Okay."

Marie picked at the fluff on the furniture, distracted and her eyebrows furrowed. "So, want to come over tonight?" she asked once Eddy was out of earshot.

Edd quickly calculated all the homework he had. "Uh, I better not. I need to really focus on my homework if I hope to pass my classes."

"We can do our homework together," she said, stretching out in his lap. "C'mon. Are you really going to deny all this?" She waved her hands over her uniform polo.

"Well, the uniform does drive me wild," he said sarcastically.

"Oh, so does yours," she said, playing along, tugging on his shirt. "Why don't you whip up a couple of milkshakes for us to use?"

They laughed, but Edd noticed Marie's stopped rather quickly and that same worry reappeared, now creasing her brow and pulling her mouth down. She turned into Edd's shirt, but he rolled her back to face up at him.

"Is everything okay?"

She avoided his eyes and sat up, again picking at the stuffing until a sizable hole formed in the mattress. He waited, tapping his knees and kicking his legs, somewhat afraid of the answer.

Marie tucked a tuft of fallen hair behind her ear. "Well," she said, "it's nothing much. Just something about school."

He tilted his head. "What about school?"

"I may kinda, sorta, be…" she trailed off, mumbling the last part.

"You might be what?"

She groaned and tore out a large piece of fluff, flicking it away. "Held back this year."

His heart stopped. "What? Why?"

"Because I'm flunking, okay?" She grunted and stomped into the back room, leaving him sitting in stunned silence.

A/N: Now will you let me sleep?

Sword: For now. Thank you peoples for reading! Please let us know what you think of it! Love you all!