ATWN: Chapter 3

It was a somewhat quiet, peaceful Saturday Fall morning here in the little cartoon town of Peach Creek as we came upon the site of a neighborhood called the Peach Creek Cul-De-Sac. It was here in this neighborhood that we came upon one house in particular: Eddy's house. In this house, we could see Eddy in his room, sleeping under the dark, purple cover sheets of his round-shaped bed. It was while he was sleeping that he started to toss and turn in his bed, a few beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead.

Suddenly, Eddy jolted upright from his sleeping position on his bed with a little yelp. He breathed heavily in and out afterward. Eddy soon calmed himself down from all the heavy breathing; realizing that what he had just experienced was a dream. He then made a little growl of annoyance.

'Grr… why? Why do I keep having that stupid dream?!' Eddy thought as he made an exasperated sigh, 'It's bad enough that I keep having it, but these dreams don't even tell me who she is or anything at all!'

He made an irritated groan, 'Now that I think about it, that girl looks so different than anyone I've ever seen; she didn't look like she belonged here,' he started to rub his right hand on his right temple as if he had a headache, 'What the heck does this freaking mean?! Ugh! Stupid dream girl…?! Wait a sec; that sounded wrong!' he only shook his head at that thought.

Suddenly, Eddy started to sniff the air; something smelled good, and it was coming from his kitchen. He arched an eyebrow as he got out from under the sheets of his bed. He then proceeded to get himself ready for the day, changing from his pj's to his everyday clothes after getting his shower. After that, Eddy exited his room and proceeded to walk down the hallway that led to his living room and kitchen.

He then got to his living room only to see a girl in his kitchen. Cooking breakfast?!

Eddy widened his eyes at the girl, 'Geez! How the heck did I forget about that?!' he thought as quickly hid back in the hallway, 'It's that Amelia girl from yesterday…' he then peeked back into his living room, where the kitchen was located on the other side another room, 'What the heck is she doing anyway…?'

A thought crossed his mind for a moment, 'Wait, is SHE the one that I kept seeing?!' he thought about it for a second before shaking his head from side to side, 'No, they look completely different… I think. Freaking weird.'

Soon Eddy started to hear Amelia sing a song while she was cooking; it was a song that he never heard before. And… she sang it beautifully. While Amelia was singing, something struck with a cord with Eddy. He made a cunning smirk; he had just thought up the most perfect scam ever!

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Eddy stated as he then came into his living room, heading towards the kitchen.

This surprised Amelia greatly as she widened her eyes, "Eddy?!" Amelia questioned with a bit of a gasp as she turned around to see him coming to her, "What are you doing up this early?"

Eddy scratched the back of his head a little, "Eh, I had a bad – Hey, wait!" he paused when he processed what she said in full, "How do you know when I wake up?!" he asked with a suspicious look.

"Err…" Amelia muttered a little before coming up with an excuse. She then turned her back to him, paying her attention back to what she was fixing for breakfast, "You, uh, seem to be the kinda person who would sleep in at this hour."

"Oh… uh-huh," Eddy muttered as he sat down at his kitchen table. He then thought of something else that seemed rather suspicious, "So, uh, how'd you know where everything was for you to fix your breakfast?"

"I woke up early this morning because I couldn't sleep well last night," Amelia replied as if to counter that question immediately when he asked it, "So, while I was up, I decided to see where everything was in your kitchen," she then turned back to him, "I hope you didn't mind that at all…" she finished with a smile to him, "Right?"

"… Right," Eddy replied as he crossed his arms across his chest.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Someone was knocking at Eddy's front door, "Huh…?" he muttered, "Who the heck is that? And at this time in the morning…?"

"It's only eight o'clock now, Eddy," Amelia stated as Eddy got up from where he sat to go and answer the door, "I'm sure there are plenty of people up now."

Eddy seemed to make a little grumble with slight annoyance as he then came to his door and opened it.

When he opened the door, he saw Double D and one of the other girls from before; Lily was her name, "Good morning, Eddy," Double D greeted as Eddy let him and Lily come into his house, "I've suspected that you already have thought up of something for us to do today, am I right?"

"Err, yeah; I have!" Eddy replied as he took the two of them to his kitchen, where they saw Amelia still making up some breakfast, "We're gonna do a concert!"

"A concert?!" questioned Double D as Lily thought the same thing.

Amelia stopped in her tracks a little as she turned a little to Eddy, 'So, he did hear me sing a while ago…' she thought as she made a little gulp in her throat and turned back to making the breakfast, 'I hope he doesn't realize that I was singing to him! That would be awkward…' she then started to think about it a little more, 'Or… would it be that bad?'

Suddenly, there was another knock at the door; but this time, it was at Eddy's kitchen door. Eddy quickly got back up to answer it, only to see Ed standing there, a goofy grin expressed on his face when Eddy opened the door for him, "Eddy!" he greeted as he gave Eddy a little hug, "How are you? I saw a squirrel gathering some nuts outside and—"

"Yeah, that's great; just put me down now!" Eddy muffled from under Ed's shirt.

Ed then dropped him like a sack of potatoes, "Oops, sorry Eddy!" Ed replied as he then came into the house; but then something caught his hearing attention, a panting sound behind him.

Ed turned around to see what was making that noise, only to see Naomi, the other girl from yesterday, leaning up against Eddy's kitchen door frame, panting like she had run a marathon; she was also clutching her chest a little, "What's wrong?" he asked.

"There's – n-nothing wrong," replied Naomi as she slowly came inside and flopped down one of Eddy's kitchen chairs, "I was running after you… and I must've pushed myself – a-a little too hard…"

Ed only blinked in confusion as Eddy scratched his head, "Uh…"

Double D quickly concluded what was the problem, "Oh, I guess you must have low stamina like me, do you not?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah…" Naomi replied as she finally regained her composure, "Don't worry, I can recover pretty quickly."

There was a bit of split-second silence before Lily said, "Well, uh… what is this about a concert?"

"Uh… oh yeah; I forgot about that!" Eddy said as he made a little laugh of embarrassment for forgetting. He then made a little cunning smirk, "So, here's how I had it planned out for today…"

It was now ten o'clock here in this little Cul-De-Sac. We could see some kind of development taking place in the Lane. It was the three Eds, along with Amelia, Lily, and Naomi; the six of them were currently working on building a platform stage for Eddy's latest scam, a concert starring Amelia! Of course, Amelia was getting a case of fright. She had never sung out in public; heck, not even in front of Lily or Naomi!

"Please Amelia, be calm about all of this," Lily stated as she bent down to her ear and whispered, "You know once Eddy gets something going, nothing can stop him."

"I-I know that!" Amelia replied with a bit of irritancy as she made an exasperated sigh, "It's just…"

"A case of stage fright?" questioned Naomi.

"Yeah, of course it is!" replied Amelia with a quick nod of her head.

Meanwhile, not too far away from them, at the entrance to the Lane near the Cul-De-Sac, we could see the other kids; Kevin, Nazz, Jonny 2x4, Rolf, Sarah, and Jimmy. They were all walking towards the Lane, to see what that ruckus was in that location.

"I think those Dorks are up to something again," Kevin stated aloud, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Yeah, I can tell something weird's been going on," Sarah started to say as everyone turned to her to see what she meant, "I woke up to get a glass of water last night, and I thought I saw someone else in the bathroom as I passed by. I knew it couldn't have been Ed because he uses the bathroom that connected to his room. And I knew it couldn't have been my mom or dad because they're at work…"

"Ooo, spooky!" Jimmy muttered a little at the story.

Kevin made a little growl of annoyance, "Well, whatever's going on around here, I don't like it one…" He suddenly trailed off at what he was saying and walking when he saw something further down the Lane.

Of course, whatever gets Kevin's attention will get everyone's attention as well. And what they saw surprised them. It was three girls that they had never seen before in the Cul-De-Sac: heck, not even in Peach Creek period!

"Who are they?" questioned Nazz, Rolf, Jonny, Jimmy, and Sarah all at the same time.

'Whoa…' Kevin thought as he glanced at one girl in particular: Amelia.

"Eddy!" Ed stated as he and Double D came over to Eddy, who was leaning up against the fence, watching the two of them work, "We're finished building the platform, and it's ready to be used," Double D finished off.

"Alright!" Eddy stated as he then thought about the other important thing to make this scam work, "Lumpy, go and get the other kids; and don't tell them what this is about until they get here; got it?"

"Okay!" Ed said with a little salute as he ran off to find the kids; luckily, he did not have to go far at all.

"Are you ready for your big performance, Amelia?" questioned Eddy as he turned to Amelia, only to see her shaking a little. This surprised Eddy a little; Amelia seemed to be the kind of person to be more outgoing than acting this nervous, "Something wrong?" he asked.

"I… I-I think I'm gonna mess up or something," Amelia replied as she looked down to the ground a little, "I can't shake off the feeling that I'll—"

"Don't worry about it!" Eddy stated as Amelia looked back up to him, surprised by his statement. Even Double D, Lily, and Naomi were surprised, "Just pretend that everyone is in their underwear or something like that; piece of cake!"

Amelia could not help but laugh at the comment; now that was a sight you do not think or see of every day; nor did she want to, but it could help, "Yeah, thanks for the help, Eddy!" she stated as she then started to walk towards the stage, 'I needed that… a lot.'

"Strange…" Double D muttered as glanced at Eddy for a second; he went over to the other side of the Lane for some reason, 'Why do I have a feeling that Eddy is being a little passive today?'

"… Something on your mind, Double D?" questioned a voice next to him as Double D turned to see Lily next to him.

"Oh, it was nothing much," Double D replied as he made a sigh, "Just pondering on why Eddy is being a lot nicer than usual."

"Hmm…" Lily muttered along as if she did not know what he meant, even though she did, "What do you mean?" she asked, deciding to play along with the conversation even more.

"Well, you see, Eddy has always been a bit; well, how I say this, umm…"

"Self-centered or stubborn?"

"Yes! That's what I would call him if I had to," Double D stated as he then turned to Lily, "That was also a very good guess."

"O-Oh…" Lily stuttered as she made a nervous laugh; her and her big mouth, "I guess that was a good guess, huh?"

"Indeed," Double D replied as he made a little gaped smile at her.

Soon or later, Ed finally came back to them; this time with the whole Cul-De-Sac behind him, "What are you Dorks up to now?" Kevin asked as he looked at the three girls there with them; Amelia in particular, "And who're these girls suppose to—"

"They are foreigners," Rolf stated as he walked up to the three girls and the Eds, "Rolf welcomes you to the Cul-De-Sac, strangers from another place!"

"Err, uh…" muttered the three girls, "… Thank you?" Lily replied.

"It is not a problem!" Rolf replied as he went back to the others.

"… So, uh, who are you three anyway?" Kevin asked for the rest of the group.

"I'm Naomi," Naomi replied.

"My name is Lily," Lily replied.

"And my name's Amelia," Amelia finished off.

'Ah, so it's Amelia then, eh?' Kevin thought.

"Well, it's very nice to meet some new kids once in a while," Nazz stated with a greeting smile, "My name is Nazz."

"Uh, yeah," Kevin stated as he came up to the three girls a little bit, "The name's Kevin. And, uh—"

"Hiya, new kids!" interrupted Jonny as he ran past Kevin and came up to the three girls with Plank in his arms, "I'm Jonny, and this is my buddy Plank!" something soon caught Jonny's attention, "What's that, buddy?" he questioned as he put Plank up to his ear for a moment before making a laugh, "Plank says you three are not from this world!" he stated, "Ha, that's a good one buddy!"

That comment made the three girls surprised; how the heck did Plank figure something like that out?!

'Maybe… Maybe that is the case!' Lily thought to herself in shock as the other Cul-De-Sac kids, Sarah, and Jimmy, introduced themselves, 'But if that's so… how the heck did this world show up on TV as a cartoon where we live? I'm very certain none of this is fake OR our imaginations,' she made a sigh, 'It's too much to think about now…'

"Alright, alright; enough with the intros here!" Eddy stated as everyone looked at him, "We're gonna be holding a concert here in a few minutes."

"Oh yeah?" Kevin stated, "Well, who's going to be singing? You?" Of course, the other Cul-De-Sac kids laughed at that little jab.

"Nope!" Eddy replied, not even budging at the remark, "It's gonna be Amelia singing!"

Now that got Kevin's attention, "Really?" he questioned with no kind of smart remark back, "Mind if I ask; how much?"

This surprised everyone, even Eddy, "Well, how much, Dork?" Kevin repeated back, this time with a 'Dork' remark to get his attention.

"Uh, it's twenty-five cents, like everything else I do; duh!" Eddy replied.

Kevin dug into his right pocket and gave him a quarter, "This better be worth it."

Soon everyone else followed Kevin's example and paid Eddy their quarter, 'Whoa, what luck!' he thought. Eddy then thought about Amelia, who was starting to feel nervous again; he could tell because her hands were shaking a little, "You alright, Amelia?"

His voice snapped Amelia out of her nervous state, "I-I think so…"

"… Hey, I just got an idea that won't make you mess up," Eddy stated as he took Amelia off to the side a little, so it was just the two of them, "Just try to look at something out there and focus on it instead of the crowd; maybe that can help! Also, try the underwear thing if that doesn't work."

"… I think I'll do that," Amelia said with a smile afterward as she walked up to the stage and Eddy went to the front row of the crowd.

Amelia stood there for a moment before locking her gaze with Eddy. As she did, she began to sing…

It was while she was singing that Lily and Naomi noticed that Amelia was looking at someone in the crowd as she sang; it was Eddy, 'Figures…' they both thought.

While she continued to sing her song, Eddy noticed that Amelia was looking at him the whole time, 'Heh… I guess she took up my advice!' he thought. Too bad that he did not realize that she was singing to him for a reason.

Amelia then sang the last verse of the song she was singing; she could feel herself start to tremble, this was the first time she had sung in front of anyone. There was a bit of pause afterward after she finished singing but was short-lived when both Eddy and Kevin started to applaud her. Soon everyone started to clap. This whole situation started to make Amelia blush, "T-Thanks!" she stuttered loudly as she jogged a little off the stage, only to be greeted by Lily and Naomi, "That was amazing, Amelia!" Naomi congratulated her, "We didn't know you had such a good singing voice!" Lily stated.

"Y-Yeah…" Amelia muttered, "I-I guess I did well, huh?"

"Heck yeah you did!" stated Eddy's voice from beside Amelia as she, Lily, and Naomi saw Eddy, Double D, and Ed coming up to them. They also saw the crowd of kids leaving the Lane, going back to the Cul-De-Sac, "Look at all the money we got!" Eddy continued to say aloud.

The three girls chuckled to themselves at his attitude, "And I'm guessing we're gonna go spend it now, right?" asked Amelia; they knew what was going to come next.

"Err, yeah, that's right!" Eddy stated with a wide smile.

"Jawbreakers!" Ed cheered with excitement, hopping up and down a little as he did, "Oh boy, oh boy!"

"Well, my friends, let's trek forth to the Candy Shop, shall we?" Double D stated as they soon walked back out towards the Cul-De-Sac and started to walk down the sidewalk toward the candy store.

Author's Note (November 30th, 2023): It's almost December! Yay!