Author's Note; Here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Melissa

During the walk, the boys are telling me more stories about themselves.

"No way, you actually swelled up and became a balloon after being exposed to bunnies?" I say to Ed.

"Yip. They are soft."

"And you trying to teach them how to behave themselves by bandaging them behind their heads?" I say to Double-D.

"Yes. And fair warning, I would do it again if necessary."

Ed and Eddy flinch nervously.

"And you went temporarily quackers when there were no kids to scam due to them having chickenpox?" I say to Eddy.

"Still not one of the proudest moments of my life."

"Wow. What intriguing stories. Suitable for a cartoon," I say.

"Let's hear one of yours," Eddy says excitedly.

"Yeah!" exclaims Ed.

"Okay…" I begin. "Here's a not-so-proud kind of story. I was thirteen and there was a point when I had a lot of milk. Little did I know that it would give me an allergic reaction."

"What kind?" says Double-D.

I blush. "The one that gives you the wrong kind of muscular arms. In this case, my arms swelled up horrifically. Full of red and…you can guess the rest."

"Oh," says Eddy.

"Hey, that is a cool necklace, Melissa."

"Thank you, Ed."

"Can I touch it?"

"Sure, but please be careful with it."

He holds and looks at it gently. Then lets it go.

"Are we close?" Eddy says.

"Yeah…" I turn in a way an owl moves its head. "There!"

We reach my house.

"Ah! There you are, Jelly Bean!" says Dad. Looks like he's been working in the gardens all day.

"Hi, Dad," I smile.

"Jelly Bean?" Eddy smirks.

"Kinda a long story," I tell him. "Remind me to tell you guys sometime."

"Was that a good walk?" Dad says.

"Yeah, it was…intriguing." I decide to leave the Kanker sisters part out. "Oh, Dad. These are my new friends and neighbours. Ed, Double-D, and Eddy."

He shakes their hands warmly. "Hello, I'm Victor Powell. Glad to see Melissa has made new friends here. So, Ed, Double-D, and Eddy. What's your real name?" He's referring to Double-D.

"It's Eddward sir, hence the nickname to avoid confusion among us. We sort of share the same name."

"How interesting," Dad says. "Please excuse me, gentlemen. I gotta get this muck off of me."

I giggle. And he saunters to the front door.

"Gentlemen?" Eddy chuckles. "Your dad seems cool."

"Oh yeah, he is." I smile. "Well, thanks, you guys. For all the fun events of today."

"Wanna do more fun stuff with us?" says Ed enthusiastically.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Yay!" And he surprises me with a hug.

"Wow!" I say stiffly. "You really are strong."

Double-D and Eddy just laugh.

After the embrace, I salute them as I head inside. "Later, dudes."

"See ya!" says Eddy.

Eddy

"Anyone of you detected something about Melissa's necklace?" says the genius.

We are walking to our places, side by side.

"What are you getting at?" I say.

"She mentioned earlier when May expressed interest in it that it's precious to her."

"So?"

"So, it indicates a kind of attachment. Maybe she inherited it from someone."

"Or maybe it belonged to someone she lost," says Ed.

We stop and turn to the big guy before all of us look sad.

"It's possible, Ed. It's possible," says Double-D, looking down.