Leap of Faith

14. Sweaters and Booze

He was home, finally. Edd bursted through the door to his room and quickly jumped into his neatly made bed; he took a moment to just breathe peacefully and enjoy the familiar comfort of his old room. His desk, his books, his closet, Jim the cactus, everything was intact and well kept, as if he had never left to begin with. Part of him wished he hadn't. He loved learning, and university was going just fine for him as far as his grades were concerned, but everything else was a complete mess.

The only friends he had were Kevin, Nazz, Nat, and that guy from his English class that swore at everything and everyone he encountered. But Kevin and Nat came and went, Nazz was in a whole other area of the campus, and the guy from his English class...well...he was difficult to befriend...he tolerated Edd though, and spoke to him normally - albeit with constant swearing and sarcasm; but that was still good enough for Edd - and otherwise, he just felt alone.

It was so different from high school. All those promises of "friends forever" and "I'll see you soon!" and "I won't forget you!" honestly, who actually kept them? Yeah he and the other Edd's were still best friends, and they likely would be for the rest of their lives - he hoped - but even they hadn't seen each other for a long time, and texting can only do so much.
"I'll see you soon!" Yeah right, more like "I'll see you when I'm not too busy with my own classes and my own life and manage to find a little time for you!"
"I won't forget you!" More like, "Yeah I remember you, but I don't feel like saying hi, so I'll pretend I'm checking my phone so I can avoid eye contact and avoid an awkward encounter because seriously we only spoke like once in math class."

And then it hit him, most of those 'promises' were made by people he didn't even know that well, classmates who were too nice or didn't really know what to write on your yearbook, or what to tell you, so they just gave you the go-to-messages like "have fun and good luck!" Not that they necessarily didn't mean it, but they just kind of show who knew you most and who didn't.

"Yearbooks... yearbooks, yearbooks," Edd repeated the mantra as he stood up from his bed and went over to his library in search of the items. 'Dictionary, encyclopedias, Botany 101, old textbooks, ahh there we ware.' He pulled out the 5 thin books and sat back in bed with them. "Let's see...should I go in chronological order, or shall I go backwards? Perhaps by the year I think was my best?... Chronological of course!" He smiled softly as he opened the book and with it, his memories.

8th grade. What an awkward year that was. First year in secondary school, and everyone was now once again at the bottom of the pack, the little fish in the big pond, and puberty was starting to show signs of the biological and hormonal storm to come; but there wasn't much difference from 7th grade to this; no growth spurts, no facial hair, no change in style, nothing, or at least not statistically significant. They were still just kids, just 13 year olds starting their secondary educational career and learning to play by the rules of high school. Edd flipped slowly through the pages, through the club photos, school team photos, assemblies, spirit week shenanigans, 'my, how nostalgic...'

He got to the section of portraits for each grade, and of course, his group was first; 'There's Josh...hah, he had just gotten his braces then...Amy back when she had no tattoos...oh!' The faces of all his friends from the cul-de-sac almost seemed highlighted in his mind, and his peripheral vision made him notice and zoom in to each one; he giggled, 'Eddy was never too photogenic when it came to school pictures, and being his first one ever in highschool I remember him having a huge tantrum back home about it; how the photographer didn't know what he was doing and how he totally missed his good side.' He giggled and continued looking.

"Ed looks as lovable as ever, not a care in the world; I somewhat envy him for it, I must admit...Ah, there's Rolf...wait...is that?...did Victor photobomb Rolf? How did I never notice the goat in the picture?... Ahh well, it is Rolf...what is he even wearing?... Nazz, beautiful as always, hah, and there I am...not my most photogenic year I must admit, but decent enough I suppose." He sighed and continued looking around, but stopped at the shock of red hair and serious green eyes that were so familiar to him. "Kevin..."