Disclaimer:Harvest Moon certainly does not belong to me, I've simply borrowed a few characters to make this possible.

The Art of Attraction

"You go ahead, I'll be there in a sec," Chelsea called over her shoulder, pushing the bathroom door open and walking inside.

For a second, she thought maybe something horrible had happened – some fumes had wafted over from the science labs and she was hallucinating; she'd slipped on some water and hit her head; a wormhole to another galaxy had opened and that's where she was now, maybe.

But no. The brunette rubbed her eyes until it hurt and then her temples just to be sure, and was contemplating leaving and then entering again until the voice of the other person in there piped up.

"Chels, what are you doing?"

Chelsea gave the blonde girl an incredulous look. "What am I doing? What in Goddess' name are you doing?"

"Oh you know…not much."

"Not much?" Chelsea repeated, as the situation in front of her could only be described as Lanna completely losing her mind and not her doing 'not much'. "Would you care to tell me why you are stood in the girl's bathroom sticking a safety pin into your ear? That thing can't be sanitary!"

Lanna raised a perfect blonde eyebrow and tried for a reassuring smile. "Chelsea, don't worry…You're starting to sound like Sabrina."

The mere idea of the sweet, adorable, innocent, dark haired female walking in to see Lanna stabbing herself in the lobe was enough to cause Chelsea to clutch the front of her school shirt. "Lanna! What if Sabrina had seen you doing this? Dear Goddess-" She closed her eyes and counted to ten, breathing out slowly. "Let's start again: hey Lanna, whatcha doing?"

"Oh y'know," her friend replied absentmindedly, turning back to the task at hand and squinting at her reflection, "piercing my ears…I'm thinking maybe three in this ear, two in the other." She paused and wrinkled her face in pain, the pin slipping off her lobe. "Ooh…so close that time…"

"I see," Chelsea answered in a tone that suggested she didn't. "So, uh, why are you doing that exactly? If you're that set on getting your ears pierced, it'd be waaay better to go to a professional…Not that I doubt your piercing abilities or anything," she added sarcastically as Lanna once again failed to stick the pin through.

"Because it'll give people this impression of me – that I'm cool, mysterious, dangerous."

"Uh huh…So who're you trying to impress?"

The blonde girl had the sense to look mildly offended before dropping the expression and blushing a little. "You know the new guy that just moved here? Brown hair, purple bandana, kinda scruffy uniform?"

"Mmm…Denny, right?"

"Yeah, Denny," Lanna said happily, once again turning to attempt the piercing.

"Lanna, what makes you think that the new guy is going to want to talk to you if your ears have holes in them?"

Sighing, Lanna flopped back against a sink and began, "Okay, so the 411 on Denny is that his parents sent him here because they think it'll be a good place for him to be. Judging by his appearance and the fact that he hangs out with Vaughn, you put two and two together and realise he probably won't talk to me because I'm a goody two shoes blonde…so I'm trying to show him that I have a different side to me!" She stopped. "I know you're not supposed to change yourself for a guy but I read somewhere that it helps to be interested in what he's interested in…I think it was called 'The Art of Attraction'…"

Chelsea mulled over the words spoken, refusing to believe this was the same Lanna that laughed at lunch and ate copious amounts of apple pie whenever the canteen served it…He must be some guy. "I don't think you can just assume he's like that, it's kind of rude…Besides L, if he doesn't talk to you based on how lovely and amazing and pretty and caring you are, you shouldn't want to get on his radar at all!" She folded her arms and looked away pointedly. "A-and hey, Vaughn talks to me and we're not really alike."

A smile worked its way onto Lanna's face and then she giggled. "You know what? You're right. I was being really silly….I'm glad you came in here and stopped me." The safety pin was clasped back together and put in her bag.

Huh, that was easy, the brunette thought, grinning back at her friend. "Anytime you get a little crazy, I'm always here to stop it. Now let's get some lunch okay? I'm starving!"

"Right!" The two linked arms and exited the bathroom, Chelsea glad that this meeting hadn't resulted in her having to call the nurse to stitch Lanna's ears back together or something.

All was well.

"Chels?"

"Mhm?"

"D'you think you could get Vaughn to put in a good word about me to Denny?"

"…You had chemistry last period didn't you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh nothing."

"Chelsea, could you do me a favour? Run this note to the music department, would you? The date of the teacher's meeting has changed and I'm not sure if the message got around to everybody."

"Yeah, I'll be back as soon as I can!" Chelsea jumped out of her seat and headed towards the music rooms.

Having handed the note over, the brunette left the main office, only to see another person exiting one of the classrooms ahead of her. "Denny?"

The guy turned around; it was indeed the curly haired male. "Ah, Chelsea, what's up?"

"Oh y'know, just delivering a note." Despite the fact that he was in the year above her, she spoke easily to him – he was a lot nicer than Vaughn so half of the usual difficulties weren't there. "What about you? I didn't think music was your thing; d'you play an instrument?"

"A-ah no I don't, I was just, y'know…free period, exploring the school…"

"Oh gotcha…It's funny actually, I'd half expect Lanna to be down here if anyone was; she's really into singing, I think there's gonna be some school performance soon and she'll have a solo number!" Chelsea smiled as Denny began to look nervous, attempting to cover it up.

"Lanna's into music? Ha, you don't say!" He laughed although it sounded fake, causing the girl to get suspicious.

Blue eyes narrowed, Chelsea asked him, "You knew she liked music, didn't you?"

"I- I don't know what you-"

"You're down here because you were hoping to see her, aren't you? Wow Denny, I thought you were way cooler than that!"

"Hey, what'd you mean? I'm still cool…"

"A-HA! You didn't deny it. Damn, you two are crazy…" She trailed off, amused at how stupid the pair were. Something had to be done soon or else Lanna might try to stab herself again and Denny could potentially break someone's eardrums. "Hey Denny, Vaughn and I were gonna grab something to eat tomorrow…I don't suppose you wanna join us? I could bring someone to make it less awkward for you…say, Lanna, perhaps?"

The dark haired guy appeared taken aback at the abruptness of the question before his face relaxed. "S-sure! That'd be great!" He coughed and tried to look serious. "I mean, I could've asked her myself if I wanted to but since you're offering…"

Chelsea shook her head. "Hopeless, you are utterly hopeless…However, I'm glad you accept! I'll have Vaughn give you the details. See you then!" She waved and began to walk back to class, though she quickly had a thought and spun around again. "Hey Denny?"

"Yup?"

"Should you get the chance, tell Lanna she's fine the way she is, okay? Like there's no need for her to get…Oh, I don't know…Ear piercings to impress someone for instance." Giving him a thumbs up, she turned back around and carried on, grinning to herself. It seemed the art of attraction was to make sure you had a sensible friend to step in when the going got insane.

end

i feel like this fic is slightly similar to another one i did ('Temptation') as once again Lanna is...misinformed. bless her, i love her, it's just i can always picture her doing various crazy things to help people...or herself, in this case.

please review! i love this couple but it's only my second fic for them so constructive criticism would be appreciated! i also haven't been writing very regularly so i do need to know how i'm doing ^.^

thank you ^-^