Chapter 1- Reflections

"Rick, can you fetch me some milk and eggs from the store?" Lillia asked, leaning against the oak desk, frail as always.

"Yes Mother." Rick replied instantly, grabbing a few hundred G and dashing out. As usual, his morning was to be spent at the Supermarket, along with Karen. The rain poured down, and he had to run, arms above his head, to keep himself from becoming soaked.

A streak of forked lightning lit up the dark sky, and loud booms of thunder echoed loudly, startling Rick. Reaching the safety of the Supermarket, he ducked in, shaking his hair and wiping his glasses.

"Hello Rick." Jeff sounded as cheerful as the weather. Jeff's face contorted with pain. Unperturbed, Rick picked up a carton of eggs and a gallon of milk as Jeff ran out of the store, hand over his mouth. Lightning lit up the building, and the lights flickered, before going up. Darkness shrouded the building. Rick fidgeted nervously. This meant his mother and sister had no power either. What if something happened?

"Rick?" Karen's voice rang out through the darkness. A lavender candle flickered. "You're not thinking of leaving now, are you?"

"Karen, I have to! You know that my mother and Popuri have no power either. I can't loll around now!"

"Rick! You'll kill yourself getting home." Karen pulled up a chair, and with some more persuasion, he decided to ride the storm out here.

He and Karen sat in a comforting silence, the candle set on the cashier desk. Rick's memories drifted away to his childhood.

Hadn't anyone wondered why he acted so geeky? It was to fend everyone away. After that mysterious girl had crushed him, he had been afraid to get close to anyone. Her name was Jess, and she had given Rick every reason to fall in love. She was beautiful, animal loving, and she was the sweetest girl. Or so he had thought.

A few days before her family left to return to their countryside home in America, she had brought Rick to the Goddess Pond. She admitted to really liking Kai, who happened to be there when she was.

She told Rick she hated him, and she was the best actress. Worst of all, Jess had called him a chicken-obsessed geek. Crushed, Rick was afraid that anyone willing to get close to him was a fraud, and he had fended them off by playing a geek.

Only Karen had stuck close, being the one Rick spilled the story to after Jess had broken his heart. She had been there through the hardest time, and so Rick had relied on her.

The lights flickered again, and Rick stood up. "I'd better go home."

"Well, alright." Karen seemed reluctant to let him leave, but she let Rick get to the door before standing up uncomfortably.

"Rick, I-" She began, but she stopped. "Never mind." Karen looked down, and shifted her foot uneasily.

"I'll see you later then." Rick said, waving.

Karen smiled weakly. "Bye."

The rain was still pouring down, and the red brick road had flooded, leaving Rick to wade through. What had Karen wanted to tell him? They had never let something stay unspoken.

Making a quick stop to feed the chickens, Rick continued to ponder over what Karen wanted to say. It was obviously important if she had been uncomfortable.

"Rick? Did you walk home in the storm?" Popuri seemed flabbergasted at the idea.

"Yeah. You know I'm worried about Mom. She's looking worse every day." Rick pointed out.

"Well, I wanted to show you this." Popuri handed him the newspaper and showed him the front page. A picture of a blond girl winking and making the peace sign with a heading above saying, "New Girl To Take Over Star Fields". "Maybe she'll be our friend." Popuri suggested.

Skimming through the article, Rick's worst fears disappeared. Her name was Karie, and she was twenty. She used to live in the city, but after reading the MT Realtors ad, she had bought it. She had also attacked the mayor with a hammer once he explained that MT Realtors had stretched the truth. Despite that, Karie had gone and bought it anyways.

"So? What do you think?" Popuri asked innocently.

"I don't know." Rick said skeptically.

Popuri frowned. "Well I'm going to bring her cookies to welcome her to Mineral Town. She's arriving tomorrow." Popuri turned on her heel and went upstairs into her room.

Rick put the milk and eggs in the refrigerator, wondering if maybe he could trust this girl.

He would find out tomorrow.

The sun streamed through the second story window, blinding Rick as he stretched and got up.

"Rick!" Popuri called to him from the kitchen. As Rick treaded downstairs, yawning, he saw Popuri's "cookies".

They were black blobs of dough, burnt to a crisp, on a nice plate. Rick chortled. "I hope you don't plan on giving her those."

"No." Popuri blushed. "I couldn't find the recipe, so I tried to do it from memory."

"Lets cook Karie some brownies." Rick recommended. He overlooked as Popuri baked them.

At eight o'clock, they were ready. The sweet smell drifted through the house. Popuri sighed happily.

"Why don't you take them Rick?" Popuri asked.

"Well…" Rick couldn't really see a reason to not bring them.

"Just take them and say they're from us." Popuri demanded. Rick walked out the door into the morning light, and he walked nervously to Star Fields. So much could go wrong! What if Karie turned out to be a snob?

A girl approached him at the entrance to Star Fields. She blushed. "Um, I need some help unpacking. Would you mind helping?"

For some reason, Rick automatically agreed. "I'm Rick. What's your name?"

"I'm Karie." Karie led him to the small farmhouse. Rick helped her unpack, and then set up. Instead of being cool and collected as Rick thought she might be, Karie turned out to be quite forgetful, although her kindness and sense of humor made up for it.

"All done?" Rick asked her. She nodded, and glanced at her clock, munching on the brownies.

"Omigosh! It's past noon! I am so sorry!" She pleaded.

"It's okay. I actually had fun. It's Sunday, so as long as I'm back by one, it's okay." Rick consoled.

"You'd better get going." Karie urged. "I don't want to give you a bad reputation or anything."

With a wave, Rick departed, and returned home to a steaming mad Popuri. "Mom doesn't feel good, and you've being hanging out with Karie all morning!" She fumed.

"I'm sorry. Karie needed help unpacking. I'm not sure she can really live alone. She had trouble doing a lot of the unpacking." Rick laughed. "She's really nice, and she's funny too."

Popuri raised her eyebrow. "I have the feeling you're in love." Popuri gloated.

"Oh please. I just met her. I helped her as a friend. You would have too had you been in my shoes." Rick insisted. "Here, I'll go fetch Mom some Turbojolt, okay?"

Popuri sighed. "Well, make it quick."

A/N: How is it so far? Too corny? Well, please R&R!