Author's Note; Here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!
Eddy
We are in an abandoned backyard and testing out a new invention that will hopefully work as a scam. Not to the neighbourhood kids but others close to us. Mean ones.
"Come on! How long is this gonna take? We don't have all day!"
"Patience, Eddy. I still need to make the final touches."
"I touched the ground, guys!" Ed laughs.
"And…voila! It's finished!" Double-D presents it in front of Ed and me. It is a white jetpack that has a black arm belt.
"Finally! Let's do it!"
"Oh, and Eddy, be careful when pressing the button on your left arm strap. When activated, it will-"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it," I interrupt him. I press and hold down the button for a couple of seconds but nothing happens. I growl at Double-D.
"Hey, Genius! It's not wor-Aaaaaaaaaah!"
Melissa
While I was helping Dad with the garden, I heard screaming not too far away from here.
"What was that?"
"I don't know. I'm going to take a look."
"Wait!" Dad says just as I begin to run. "It could be a baddie."
"Thanks, dad. But I can defend myself, remember?"
"Of course, Jelly Bean."
"I'll be right back!"
I dash to where I hear the commotion. And sure enough, I'm in a backyard where there are two boys. The red-haired boy with the baggy green jacket and the one with a hat were looking in horror above. I glance up and see another boy who is screaming like crazy. He has spiky black hair and wearing a yellow shirt with a vertical red stripe on the one side. And he's flying around with a jetpack that looks out of control.
"Hey, what's going on?" I say to the two, who turn to me. "Is he okay?"
"I don't know," replies the hat boy. "There's supposed to be an automatic safety precaution that operates when it behaves like this."
"Watch out!" says the baggy jacket boy.
"Ah!" I get hit by the jetpack boy and land on the ground, trying to get up and shaking my head from the pain.
"DOUBLE-D!" he shouts. I see him as I'm on my feet. Then suddenly, the engines stop working. "AHHHH!", then a parachute appears on the jetpack. Maybe that was the safety precaution the hat boy meant. He perches down.
"Oh, Eddy! Are you okay? Speak to me!" cries the baggy jacket boy who is hugging him tightly.
"Yeah, yeah, big guy," he says just as he escapes the embrace and runs to me. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Thanks, it's just scratches. I'll be fine," I say as I dust some dirt off my black shirt that has neon green stars all over it. I also get rid of the filth that is on my black denim shorts that reach to my knees.
"You're the new girl, right?"
My glasses are rubbed clean when he asks me that. "Yeah. How did you guess?"
"News around here spreads like wildfire," responds the hat boy.
I chuckle. "In that case, hi," I extend my hand. "I'm Melissa."
One by one, they shake it while smiling.
"I'm Eddy."
"I'm Ed."
"And I'm Edd, but everyone calls me Double-D."
"Intriguing," I say then notice the big mess that the jetpack left behind. "Uh, do you guys need help with all this?"
The three look around.
"That would be most kind," Double-D says.
While gathering all the stuff together, we talk.
"Hey, Eddy. Are you okay from what happened not too long ago?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine," he repeats my words. It looks as if he is trying to be smooth about it. I'm unconvinced but I don't show it.
"So, where did you come from, Melissa?" Ed says.
"From Cape Town."
"The Mother City of South Africa?"
"Bingo on that, Double-D."
"What's it like?" Eddy asks me.
"Mostly beautiful. It has great beaches, restaurants, theatres, shopping malls, places of nature, and offers opportunities one would usually find in the city."
"So, why move here?" Double-D says.
"My dad got a big job here and he thought it would be great for us to live on another continent."
"But what about your family and friends back home? Don't you miss them?"
"Yes, of course I do. Which is why now and then I Skype them."
"You what?" Eddy says with confusion.
"Don't you know the program?"
"When it comes to programs, that's Sockhead's department," he points to Double-D.
I'm stunned. "First of all, it's a cool program where people can talk to each other with a webcam and microphone from all parts of the world. Second, that is not a nice thing to say."
I couldn't tell if Double-D was either impressed or shocked by my attitude, or maybe I'm misreading the reaction.
"Thanks, Melissa, but it has become a rather weird and frequent term of endearment from Eddy."
"Oh," I say awkwardly. "Okay then."
"Is it time for lunch yet?" Ed says.
I thought that was random yet kind of funny at the same time. I glance at Eddy with a puzzled look.
"Just go with it."
I softly giggle. "So, here's a bit of an ice breaker but-"
"Ice? Where?" Ed says, looking around.
I smile. "No, Ed. Ice breaker is a figure of speech. It means…how do I put it?"
Their eyes are on me now.
"Well, it's one way of getting to know someone."
"Oh. What was your ice breaker then?" says Ed.
"What are your stories?"
"What do you mean by that?" says Eddy.
"Like your hobbies, interests, quirks…"
"Jawbreakers!"
"Education!" Double-D says.
"Monster movies!" Ed exclaims.
I'm surprised. "Ah. Interesting. What else? And how about we go one by one? Let's start with you, Eddy."
"Interests, listening to music, coming up with cool ideas, and jawbreakers of course."
"Cool. Double-D?"
"Hobbies…reading, learning, inventing, pretty much anything that involves evolving the human brain."
"Fascinating. Ed?"
"I like anything from monster movies and comics, eating gravy and butter toast, and just being there for my friends when they need me. Do those count as quirks?" he says with a thinking expression.
I grin. "Close enough."
"And what about you?" Double-D says. "I'm curious to know what yours are."
"Oh, my interests include-"
"Well, that's all folks," Ed interrupts me, referring to the pile of broken things we just gathered and cleaned up.
"Uhm, what are you going to do with all this? Fix it? Put it in your garage?"
"Actually, you read my mind, Melissa," Double-D says. "Since Eddy's idea on how to use it didn't work as anticipated, I hope to fix it for another purpose."
"I see. But how are we going to get it back to your place?"
We turn to hear a scuffle and we see that Ed is effortlessly carrying everything.
"Wow, Ed. I'm quite stumped," I say. He just responds with an adorable goofy laugh.
I gasp. "Place? Oh, my gosh! I forgot! I need to get back home. My dad probably thinks something bad happened to me."
"Want us to come with you?"
"Thanks, Double-D, but I can find my way back. I have a photographic memory." Now I'm running and waving. "It was nice to meet you guys!"
"Nice to meet you too!" Ed says.
"Bye!"
"See ya!" shouts Eddy.
I smile at them one more time before focusing on my way home.
Eddy
We watch until she is no longer in sight.
"She seems nice."
"Butter toast!" Ed says.
"Yeah," I say. "There's something about her. Don't know what it is but there is something."
"Very intriguing."
I turn to Double-D. "What's intriguing?"
"Melissa has a photographic memory. Not a lot of people I know have that."
"And what does that mean?"
"Eddy, it means that she can remember things almost instantly. Where's she's been. What she's been looking at. Not eidetic memory but it is close."
"So? Don't we kinda have that, except Ed?"
"My head feels funny," says the big guy, astoundingly scratching his head with one of his feet while still holding the broken stuff.
"I wouldn't exactly say that, Eddy," says Double-D.
I shout to the birdbrain of our group. "Thanks a lot, Ed! If you hadn't interrupted Melissa, we would have found out what her interests are!"
"Why are you suddenly upset about not hearing what Melissa's inter-?" then Double-D pauses and his face changes to a mischievous smile, "You like her, don't you?"
I react. "No! As one of her new friends, I'm just curious."
"Uh-huh, sure."
"No, really, dude. Anyway, let's get this stuff to your garage, then let's do something else," I say.
We start to walk to Double-D's house with Ed in front.
"Why do I have a feeling that 'something else' might be bad?" says the nervous genius.