Getting a Girl is Hard Stuff

Edd packed up his black monochromatic clothes into his black suitcase. He was so anxious to leave home because of the thought of not having to deal with his parents at least for a year. He said goodbye to his three younger brothers but not to his parents. Edd figured the parents would not care too much, besides, they only "job" was to make his life as miserable as possible. They were constantly complaining about how their four sons were always getting on their nerves. Edd hated it the most when said they never get enough sleep because of their three year old. Why don't they just stop watching adult movies every night!? That was what Edd has been asking himself since his closest brother was born.

Edd has had to work for four summers in a row to be able to pay for his college fee. When he finally got enough money, all his parents could say was "Perfect! Now we only need to worry about these other three kids until we get rid of them!" For years they have been saying they just couldn't wait to "send em all" to college.

"I gotta look at the positive side," Edd would say to himself "my family is not exactly a functional one, but hey, at least my parents are not alcoholic." Not anymore. He would be free from them. Freedom. What a magnificent word. Edd kept thinking about it even as he climbed up the bus.

When Edd arrived to his apartment, he started setting his stuff on the drawers. He thought he should get some rest before unpacking everything else, but first he picked up his phone and gave his friend Joe a call

"What's up Joe, it Edd"

"Yo!!! Wassup brotha??" answered Joe. "How is the whole moving in part going along? "

"I'm getting there man, still got a bunch of stuff to unpack dude" Edd asked.

"Damn it man, I bet you're still fantasizing about hitting on a girl dude." Edd could hear a loud laugh coming from Joe. "You don't need a girl man!"

"Its easy for you to say, you already have one" Edd exclaimed. On and on they talked about girls. When Joe told Edd he was hoping to get a taste his first year in college, Edd was startled. "Dude, you have a girl man, what if she was listening to us?"

"Relax dude, she never does that. I she did I would just get a better girl. Besides, it doesn't matter if you're on a diet, no one says you can't look at the menu!" and broke into a laugh while Edd chuckled a fake laugh. At that moment, Edd heard screams coming from the other end. It was Joe's girl. She had heard their conversation. "Dude, she heard us! I gotta run. I'm in big trouble!" Joe said quickly and hung up.

"Ok, later dude" Edd hung up the phone. He felt sorry for Joe's girlfriend, it's awful to have someone talk shit about you behind your back. Edd began to wonder if he would be able to get a girl this year. He has not had a girlfriend since he was a freshman in high school. He began to miss having someone that cared for him and stood by his side. "Oh well," he thought "I can only hope..."

Edd lay on his new bed, extremely tired after settling in, and tried to fall asleep. As each song went by, Edd kept awake. "Maybe I should have brought sleeping pills" he said. "Then again, I can just get 'em after I unpack everything else, besides, my money's still packed up."

After what seemed like hours, he heard a door slam. "Must be my roommate" he told himself, and he went over to say hello. When he got to the door, he saw a very tall and strong guy with long blonde hair down to his shoulders. His pants and T-shirt were extremely tight. His arms were covered with bracelets and his fingers with rings. He the stroked his curls with his hand and saw Edd. He raised his head as if saying "what do you want?"

Edd did not know how to react. He was used to having most people get along with him. He turned and lay in his bed confused. Maybe that guy just wasn't in the mood, he thought. Just by looking at him though, you could tell he was home schooled. He completely looked like a little stupid rich guy.

Edd then decided to try and start a conversation with him, but the guy just nodded at everything he said. So far, the only thing Edd found out about him was his name. "It's Brad" he had said with a strong tone of disgust. Finally, Edd just gave up. This was going to be a long year.

The next morning, Edd went over his school supplies set off towards his first period class, Physics 301. Edd did not wan to take that class, and he was practically forced to take it. He has never been able to understand physics no matter how hard he tried and constantly struggled with trying to understand the concepts, but no matter how hard he tried, he never understood. Now just for getting the majority of the answers in the SAT correct, he got to stay in a class filled with nerds. But Edd never thought nerds were "geeks" who spent every second of their lives studying, he completely admired them. They could understand things that he would never even dream of understanding.

Edd took a step inside his class and saw a whole multitude of faces staring up with bright eyes, but when they noticed it was only another student, they continued their business. Edd looked at his watch, The class did not start until seven. His classmates however, were as attentive as if the class had already started. Edd quickly took a seat in the very back of the class, lay on his desk and closed his eyes.

Minutes later, Edd heard the door slam. A tall and robust man was standing beside the door. His round glasses made his eyes look abnormally big. "Good morning class" he said "My name is Jascha Penrod. I am from Germany and I have been in this country for over a week now."

"Great" Edd thought "Another teacher that tells you about his whole private life." When he said this, he felt a slight kick from the girl next to him. Edd looked up to see a short brown haired girl that stared at him with a how-dare-you-interrupt-the-teacher kind of look.

"Alright then," Mr. Penrod resumed "Enough about my life, lets turn our pupils to the board." The class burst out laughing after he said this. Joe felt confused. "Not you," Mr. Penrod interrupted "You guys are already facing the board." Once more, the class exploded in laughter. Edd still did not get it.

And so was the rest of the class. Joke after joke after Joke.

After his long day, Edd arrived to his room and lay back on his bed, exhausted. His head was aching with a tremendous intensity. The very thought of having all of his homework due tomorrow made his entire body heavier. He wanted to sleep but his conscience kept him awake. He had to work on three projects due in four days, and he didn't even want to remind himself about the rest. After what seemed like hours, Edd was caught in a deep slumber.

When Edd woke up, he found it was getting dark, "I better get some work done" he said, and he walked over to the desk. He noticed Brad was sitting on the couch flirting with a girl. For a while, Edd could not take his eyes off of her. Her two green crystal eyes looked like they could glow in the dark. Her straight hair was dyed black with a slight touch of violet. Her majestic voice echoed through Edd's ears over and over as she spoke.

Their eyes met.

"Who's he?" Edd heard her ask.

"Him? Oh, he's my roomie." Brad said looking at Edd with a you-better-get-outta-here kind of look. "He was just on his way to the store. He can't stay"

Edd waved his arm and smiled, she smiled back and said hi. Then Edd looked back at Brad's infuriated face. "Well, I.... better get going to the store" Edd said quickly as he walked out the door. He did not want to get Brad mad. He would surely beat the living crap out of him. Just before Edd closed the door, he heard a faint "Bye" coming from her.

As Edd walked across the street, he felt as if he was carrying a stone inside his stomach. She's obviously Brad's girl, he thought. I have no chance with her. She's out of my league.

He arrived to the corner store and bought some sleeping pills. He decided not to buy coffee since he did not have a coffee machine, besides, he could just stop by the coffee shop early every morning and buy it there. Same with all nighters.

Edd was about to open the door when he heard a scream and Brad's girl came running past him. She was covering her face with her wrist, crying. Edd turned to face Brad sitting calmly on the couch. He was not upset, mad or even glad. His face stood expressionless as he puffed up one of his cigars.

"What?" Brad yelled when he turned to see Edd "mind your own business, punk!" he told Edd as he was walking away. Edd was bothered by this, so he stood there for a second and walked towards the door. "What the hell do you think you are doing? You are not going outside with her!" Brad shouted at the top of his lungs. But Edd had already shut the door.

Edd walked down the stairs hoping to find her. She was there, at the bottom of the staircase embracing her knees to her face. She looked up to Edd with a startled look. Her soft cheeks were smothered with dripping makeup.

"Oh, hi" she said cleaning her eyes with her palm. "I'm sorry about that, Brad's always this way, he always..." she stumbled suddenly, doubting weather she should continue. For a while, neither of them spoke a word. Edd was not sure of what to say. He was thinking of asking her to continue, but he thought it might be rude, and he thought of telling her it was OK and it was over, but that would be like saying shut up and get over it. She was the one that broke the silence "I'm sorry, you're Edd right?" These last words gave Edd a wonderful shock. She knew who he was. "Brad talks about you all the time" she told him as if she had read his mind "He talks shit about you all the time, probably because he's jealous. He always think of himself as this 'god'. He hates it when people are above him so What he does is insult everyone."

Edd was speechless, he could not believe what she was saying. He suddenly came back and realized she was still crying. Edd quickly asked her if Brad hit her, but she just did not answer.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that. I...." he stopped, feeling extremely guilty.

"No, no, no. It's OK" she replied. "I.... I'll tell you...." and she told Edd all about her relationship with Brad. A crude relationship. She mentioned they met at a party when they were both drunk, she said Brad asked her out and from that day on he always hit her.

"Whoa, hold on" Edd interrupted "He beats on you everyday and you still put up with it?" He asked in surprise.

"I.......I........I don't know. I just hope he might stop it someday. He is a jealous guy and I understand that, but I have always reassured him I had no intentions of cheating on him, but he doesn't believe me and still does it. I really hate it because he is much more stronger than me. And....and...."

"You don't have to put up with this" Edd interrupted rather loudly "Jealousy isn't love, especially if there's violence in there. You cannot allow him to hurt you. He does not have the right to physically hurt you!"

Edd expected her to feel relieved, but instead, she stood up and ran away crying. Edd watched as she disappeared into the darkness. She was terribly confused, but Edd did not know that. He felt a giant stone hit his stomach. He felt as if he had thrown away a precious pearl down to the depths of the sea. For hours he regretted what he had said. "I wish I was dead! Instead of making things better, I made things worse!"

Just as he was standing up to go to his room, Edd felt a hand touch his shoulder. It was her. "You were right Edd," she said "thank you so much" and kissed him. They held onto each other's embrace for a while. "I'm Gabrielle" she said, and she headed to the door to the room. Edd could only stare at the door and smile.