A/N: Whew. This is my first fanfic! Yay! Hope you like it.
And this is set in Summer, Year 2.
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Chapter 1: Guest
Claire POV
I was excited. Too excited, I was already on my feet, tapping my shoe lightly on the floorboards. I was finally going to Mineral Town; Jack had said a lot of things about it. He was a friend of mine back in the city, but the last time I saw him was a long time ago. Somehow we managed to contact through mail, and he invited me to come here. I gladly accepted the offer, I was sick and tired of all the things in the city, the noise, the pollution, the crimes, and it was all too tiring. I wanted to be free from the urban land, to go back into the tranquility of the rural areas. And this was my chance.
I felt the cool air breeze gently blowing against my cheek. Then I saw it in the horizon, a small island in the middle of the sea. I can't believe it, I was finally here.
The boat slowed down near the dock. I heard someone shout my name, I looked around the crowd, and I saw a guy in blue overalls waving at me. I realized it was Jack, and then waved back. I jumped down from the boat, ran down the dock to where Jack was, and gave him a friendly hug.
"I'm so glad you came! Long time, no see," he said. I laughed, and noticed a man wearing a white undershirt and jeans coming up to us. "Claire, this is Zack, he helps me in the farm," gesturing over to the tall dark man. "Hello," I said shyly. "Zack, this is Claire, she's a friend of mine back in the city." "Nice meeting you Claire," I replied with a small nod, "Well Jack, I'll see you later, I've still got a lot of things to do."
"Let me help you with that," Jack said, reaching for my luggage "Let's go in the Inn, I asked Doug to reserve a room for you there." I blushed, thinking of the fact that Jack may have told everyone in the town about me.
We walked through the Rose Square, then to a small cobblestone street. We then stopped in front of a two-storey building. "This is the Inn. You'll be staying here for the next few weeks," He opened the door for us, and I saw a few people inside. A dark-skinned guy with a purple bandanna was lounging in one of the tables. A long haired guy sitting next to him looked up, but hastily hid his face from view. Shy, I guess... Another guy wearing a blue baseball cap was next to him. He was eyeing us suspiciously, especially me.
We were then greeted by two red-haired people, a girl with a long braided ponytail, with a man by her side. "Hey Doug, Ann," Jack greeted to the red-haired man and girl. "This is Claire; she's my friend from the city, the one I was telling you about." "Hi Claire! I'm Ann, and this is my dad," the girl said." Welcome to our Inn, your room is ready upstairs." "I'll bring your luggage upstairs," Doug volunteered "Hey Ann, would you mind serving them with drinks?" He grabbed my bags then went up the stairs. "I'll be right back, why don't you sit down in that table over there?" she said, gesturing over a vacant table two tables away from the three guys.
"So Claire, what do you think of Mineral Town so far?" Jack asked as he plopped down his seat. "I kind of like it, its pretty nice" "Would you like a tour of the town? I'll show you to everyone here." He asked, grinning. "Sure, that sounds great!"
Ann came back with our drinks, ice-cold mango smoothies. I was so thirsty I chugged the drink without using the straw. I finished the drink in a few seconds, slammed the glass on the table and looked up. Jack and Ann were staring at me, open-mouthed. "What?" I asked them. "Nothing," said Jack. He looked at his watch. "Oh no, I'm late. I'll see you later Claire, I still have a lot of farm work to do. Bye!" He ran through the door in a flash.
"Hey Ann," I called, "Yeah?"
"Can I ask you something?" I lowered my voice, so only she can hear me "Who are those three?" I said, looking at the three boys.
She must have followed my gaze, "Those three?" I nodded.
"That," she said, pointing at the blue capped guy, "is Gray, he doesn't talk much, he's the grandson of Saibara, the blacksmith. They don't have a good relationship though, I hear Saibara doesn't appreciate Gray's work as an apprentice."
"Then there's Kai," she then said, while gesturing over to the guy with the purple bandanna. "He always goes here every summer, and he opens his summer shack at the beach. Almost every guy here hates him, I don't know why, especially Rick, maybe because he likes Popuri, Rick's sister." I looked at her questioningly. She must have noticed, "They work at the Poultry Farm with their mother Lillia."
"And there's Cliff. He's new in town, and he's kinda shy… Between you and me though," she said, lowering her voice "He looks kinda cute" she winked at me. I grinned back at her "Anyway, wanna see your room?" I nodded, and followed her upstairs.
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End of Chapter 1
A/N: I'm gonna skip the tour part, let's just say Claire met everyone…So there's no disaster yet, but I'll try to post it in the next chapter.