Sympathy For The Devil

1. For Want of a Nail

"Swim meet today evening! Come give soup to the team!"

"That's 'support', Ed..."

Nazz turned away from the spectacle on the screen to shoot Kevin a meaningful look. "You going again?"

"Might as well," Kevin sighed, his cheek still stinging from where he had peeled off Eddward's latest label. "God, you know, the place is always packed and I'm pretty sure Eddward just calls me 'pumpkin' because at this point it'd be too awkward to ask me what my actual name is. I don't get why he insists on me being there all the time when he clearly doesn't care about my existence in any other area."

"Dude, once was enough for me," Nat grumbled. "Youreally want to go to another one?"

Kevin shrugged. "I dunno, Nat, I just feel like blowing him off would be asking for trouble, you know? And it's a couple hours out of my Friday, so it's not like I'm losing much."

Nat rolled his eyes. "Suit yourself. Let me know if anything interesting happens."

"Heh, sure."

"I'm pretty sure Marie's going, so I think I will, too," Nazz offered. "Wanna go together, or should we meet up here?"

"I'm gonna be taking my bike, so..."

"Right. I'll meet you here, then."

"Ha ha, very funny."

The rest of the period rushed by, until the ringing bell brought sighs of relief from nearly all students present. Kevin kept close to his friends as they left the classroom. All around them, their classmates chattered noisily about anything from the evening's event to weekend plans to some hilarious incident that went down in the cafeteria. The hallway was nearly choked with a veritable throng, as it usually was when school let out on Fridays, and Kevin gladly ducked out of it when Nazz paused by Marie's locker. Nat and Rolf were moving on already, seemingly heedless, but Kevin was grateful for a break from all the shoving.

"Hey, Marie!" At Nazz's greeting, Marie promptly did that adorable thing where she pretended the sound of Nazz's voice didn't make her melt on the inside, and Kevin pretended to notice something across the hall so that neither girl would see him grinning. Sometimes he wondered if Nazz was really as oblivious to their friend's crush as she seemed. Not that he was about to ask. Marie had already sworn him to secrecy a while ago, and even if she hadn't, he wouldn't have had the heart to spoil it for either of them.

Marie grinned, looking tired and distracted. She had been focused on her phone, but at their approach she pocketed it. "Hey. Are you guys coming to the swim meet again?"

"Yeah, me and Kevin are." Nazz blinked at her, looking concerned. "...Hey, are you feeling okay?"

Marie's face, previously pale, turned slightly pink. "Uh. Yeah. Just, um... woke up with a pretty nasty headache, and I'm a little tired, that's all. But I still plan on going. Wouldn't miss a swim meet for the world. Save me a seat, will you? I may run a little late."

"Okay, sure thing!"

"We'll see you the-" Kevin began, only to be cut off when another, much taller student shoved past him, nearly knocking him over.

"Watch it, dweeb!" Nazz looked ready to shout back at him, but Kevin nudged her quickly to keep her from jumping into a needless argument.

"You okay?" Marie asked. Kevin nodded, re-shouldering his bag.

"It's fine," he said, hoping he sounded carefree enough. "Happens enough that it doesn't bother me anymore."No point in complaining when jerks don't hear you anyway.