"Come on Jack! Let's go play with those kitties!" Karen exclaimed to Jack.
Jack was visiting his Grandpa's farm for the first time this summer. He had been spending most of his time with his Grandpa: helping him with farm chores, going fishing in the mountains, and listening to Grandpa's amazing stories about his adventurous life. Other times Grandpa would take Jack up to the vineyard to visit with his friends, Gotz and Sasha. It was then that Jack met Karen, a feisty, outspoken little girl with a passion for dancing. Jack and Karen quickly became best friends. They had a summer any kid would dream of. Sometimes Sasha would take the two swimming at the beach and other times they'd chase each other around the grapevines at the vineyard. A few times, Grandpa would need some chicken feed, and would take them to Green Ranch so they could play with Ann and Gray.
One day, Grandpa had some business with the Mayor and let Jack and Karen tag along. They quickly grew bored of what the Mayor and Grandpa were talking about, and decided to wait outside. It was then that Jack noticed a little girl he hadn't seen before. He was sure he met all of the kids in the village, so who was this? She was a shy little thing with long brunette hair tied up into a braid, eyes with a far-off look set behind a pair of glasses, and a book curled underneath her arm.
"Who's that?" Jack asked Karen.
"Oh that's Maria. Her daddy's the Mayor. She's really strange." Karen told Jack.
"Strange? How come?" Jack asked her.
"She's so quiet, all she does is read and draw. Plus she likes bugs. Yuck!" Karen exclaimed.
"A girl that likes bugs? That's so cool!" Jack said, beginning to really like this girl.
Karen rolled her eyes. "Well I'm gonna go play with those kitties, while you can go play with her. Besides, she's not even gonna talk to you, she'll be too scared to," Karen said, beginning to get jealous.
"Okay," Jack said completely entranced by this new little girl.
Karen felt like she was going to cry, she held back her tears as best as she could, and stomped away from him towards the tabby cats that were in the Midwife's yard. The tabby cats, feeling her anger, ran away from her, which only made Karen even more upset.
At this point, Grandpa came out of the Mayor's house and saw Jack about to go into the library and Karen crying hysterically in the Midwife's lawn. The Midwife and her teenage son, Zack, had also gotten out of their house to see what all the commotion was.
Grandpa ran towards Karen to see what was wrong. Jack noticed this and decided it best he go comfort Karen. So away from the library he turned and ran towards his sad best friend.
"What's going on out here?" Zack asked.
"JACK DOESN'T WANNA PLAY WITH ME ANYMORE!" Karen shouted out.
"I do too! I just wanted to go say hi to Maria," Jack said with concern in his eyes.
"Already a lady killer at such a young age, eh?" the Midwife said to Jack.
Jack widened his eyes at her. "I don't kill ladies!" Jack shouted, utterly shocked at this lady's accusation.
"She didn't mean it like that Jack. You'll understand when you're older," Grandpa said to him.
"Now how about we head back to the farm and I'll whoop you guys up some milk and cookies! Doesn't that sound good, Karen?"
Karen sniffed. "I guess so."
"But Grandpa let me say hello to Maria first!" Jack exclaimed.
"We won't have time to Jack. It's going to get dark soon, and remember we have to walk Karen back to the vineyard before it gets dark. You can say hello to Maria another day." Grandpa said.
Jack knew that that other day would probably not come soon. For summer was almost over, it was almost time for him to go back home. Even with that thought in his head, he still had fun eating Grandpa's yummy cookies and drinking milk that had come from Jack's favorite cow, Bessie. They walked Karen home and on their way back to their house, nighttime engulfed the land. When they got back, Grandpa took out a lawn chair, and sat down in it with a glass of iced tea. He watched while Jack ran around the fields, playing with his dog Sport. After a little bit, Jack got tired and laid down on the grass. Sport laid next to him. Jack closed his eyes only for a little bit and when he opened them he saw something so beautiful, he had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. A ball of light was flying right in front of his face. He carefully reached out his hand to touch it, and it quickly flew away towards the tomato patch. Jack walked towards it ever so slowly, but the creature noticed and flew away towards the mountains. Jack stood and watched it fly, until he could no longer see the bulb of light anymore. He wished he could see it again. It had reminded him of Maria, so small, shy, and beautiful. A sparkle of light to add to the magic that was Flowerbud Village.
A/N: I promise you all that Karen will not be a brat in this story. Fiesty, she will be, because hey she's Karen, but not bratty. I know that she may have come across as a brat in this chapter, but she was just really upset that her best friend would forget all about her. So if you liked it or didn't, give me a review! Tell me what you liked or what I could improve on. Thanks ahead of time!