"WHO BULLIED YOU?"

Under the shocked gazes of the three boys, Emma squirmed a bit. 'Did she say anything wrong?', she thought. She had just mentioned Melvina only. A tiny thought at the back of her head nagged her a bit. It seems Melvina wasn't just a common somebody; her instincts had been right.

Ever since she had discussed with her on the chair across the woods till when they got to the eatery, she knew there was something more to her. But till this moment, even for the life of her, Emma just couldn't seem to place her finger on it, on who she actually felt Melvina was. She guessed she would have to wait on the boys to perhaps slip up the answer.

"What did you just say?" She heard a voice which she could tell was Clem's, ask.

Tearing her gaze from Derek which her traitor eyes had settled on for a minute, she looked sideways to see Clem staring at her; his eyes widened in surprise.

''Did you just say Melvina?" He asked, in a lowered tune, like in reverence; still staring at her in surprise.

'What's wrong with these people.' Emma thought.

"Yeah, I said Melvina. I had met her when I had gone on the strolling. She showed me some places around, and also took me to the Fill-up eatery where we ate together; She paid for the food too." She concluded, now staring at the guys with open curiosity.

"You ate together with the lu…Melvina at the fill-up?" Leo asked, totally bewildered.

"Yeah, I just said that." Emma said, getting irritated with the not-so-funny questions and stares. "Quit the stares already… I'm tired of being looked at like that." She said, eying Derek in particular. His stare was setting her off.

"Tired?..Did you perhaps encounter some other people?" Clem asked anxiously, getting closer to her, not even for once looking at the food which now laid forgotten on the center table which was made of a fine thoroughly polished wood.

"Yeah, it was much." Emma replied. "They looked at me like I was some kind of freak." She said.

"Which people?" Shane asked, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he stood peering at her; like a mystery he was trying to ravel.

"I don't know them particularly..but they stared at me so unabashedly. I think it has something to do with Melvina though." She stated.

"..And why do you think so?" Derek asked, his curiosity increasing as the time ticked by. He wanted to know what the little witch thought of his mother.

"Well...." Emma dragged on, trying to guage the facial expressions of the guys; and so when she saw that the guys were all listening in, with rapt attention, to get what she had to say; she smiled. She had gotten them where she wanted them. She just had to play her cards right.

"Well..for one, the stares didn't start until I met up with Melvina." She said, not thinking it necessary that they should know that Melvina was actually the first person she saw in the neigbourhood while she had strolled ; that is, discounting the little girl she had seen running after her cat.

"..And it was worse in the eatery." She said, pausing to see whether she still had their attention. She smiled inwardly when the answer was positive.

"What happened then.." Leo asked, getting slightly impatient with the intermittent pauses.

"When I entered the cafeteria with Melvina, I heard sharp loud gasps and even seen the looks of surprise on their faces. But I don't know how Melvina did it; she just looked at them, and they all shushed up like robots, in a twinkling of an eye. Who is she?" Emma talked and asked up in a rush, looking at the guys with expectant eyes, knowing fully well that they knew the answers to her question, their earlier reaction when she mentioned Melvina's name had called them out.

But there was no answer.

Emma looked up at the guys, her face scrunched up in concentration, she could notice that the guys had that bland look again, the one that had been on the faces of the people in the cafeteria when Melvina had glared at them. Are they robots or something..she asked herself. No they can't be, especially Derek. A robot can't make her heart race like that.

"Hey.." She snapped her fingers at them, after watching them for a while. "Who is Melvina?"

"Oh, she is the governor's wife." Derek replied, battling his eyelids. He couldn't believe that the little witch already met his mother. Is this fate playing a joke with him or what.

"Oh, that tells it then." Emma stated, rubbing her forehead; trying to get rid of her bugging hunch that insisted that there was more to what they were telling her. But she decided to let it go, for now. Her mother would usually say that time reveals all things hidden in due season. She guessed she would have to wait.

"What do you mean?" Shane asked, his thoughts still muddled from the human's narration.

"What do you mean by.. what do I mean? Didn't you see how you guys balked when I mentioned her name, like she is some kind of a god. And then the eatery event. I could swear that I saw them bowing to her, she muttered to herself, not knowing that the guys could hear her.

"So how do you see her? Was she any good?" Derek asked in curiosity. He wanted to know what the little witch thought of his mother.

"Very beautiful" Emma signed dreamily, as the images of Melvina filled her fore thoughts.

"Very kind too. She was the one that paid for all these." She said, pointing to the food that laid on the table in sheets of white nylon bags with the inscription fill-up.

"She also stopped me from being bullied." Emma said, her lips turning up in disgust as she remembered the blondie that tore at her head. She is really a psycho, she muttered to herself, sitting on the fluffy chair, not remembering for a second that she had balked at the sight of it the first time, with it's content of molds and cigarette packs.

"Which psycho?"

"Who bullied you?"

Clem and Derek asked at the same, stepping in front of her. This movement startled Shane and he nudged Derek, to remind him of the agreement earlier.

But Derek's caveman instincts wouldn't let him stop. Who had dared bully his mate. Wait did he just call her his mate?. He would get back to that. Now he needed to find out who the hell had touched his little witch.

Emma could recognize male competition whenever she saw it, and it pleased her, no small deal, that she was the center of attention of two very handsome boys, especially Derek. Looking up at him, she could see his deep blue eyes glistening in rage. Did he really care for her that much, Emma thought to herself. She blushed at the thought.

"Emma?"

Oh, she had zoned out again; lost always, whenever she stared at Derek's lips.

"A blondie." She replied. "Melvina called her Claire."