Cry me a River

Ch.1 – The Beginning to No End

"Well, have a nice day, Chelsea!"

I stood there, silently. I watched Taro leave, still trying to understand what he was saying. Yes, I got drunk. Yes, I shoplifted because of it. But did I really deserve to have to farm for it? And not just for today, but for the next 5 years of my life? Taro tried to teach me the basic farming skills, but, mind you, it was much harder then it looked. And besides, I had to grow turnips! I had always hated turnips! God, this was terrible! And to add all this up, they just had to completely remove me from my life, and made me move! I missed Forget-Me-Not Valley, I missed Muffy, Celia, and Lumina, but most of all, I missed my beloved Skye! I didn't care that he was a thief; I missed his loving gaze, his strong arms wrapped around me, his charm… and even all the times he broke into my house… But all that seemed so far away now, like a good dream that I had to wake up from to live a nightmare… But I wasn't in Forget-Me-Not anymore. Here I was, on the Sunshine Islands. Ranch Island. My new home. This was all too much for me. I hated my life. I ran into my new (ugly) house, and felt the hot tears running down my cheeks. I didn't care if anyone found me. Right now, I didn't care about anything at all. It just made me feel better when I cried… I felt myself going dizzy until my world blacked out.

Why was the sun so bright? I looked at the clock on the nightstand beside me. 6:00am? Wow! I could still feel fresh tears on my cheeks. Did I really cry myself to sleep? I got up lazily. I always did seem to over-exaggerate! I stepped outside. I knew Taro would want me to tend my crops, but I was still too moody to care. So, instead, I walked up to the waterside, sat down, and waited. What was I waiting for? I don't even know. Just something, anything…

I don't know how long I was sitting there. Minutes, hours? Not important. I jumped when I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned to see a boy with blond hair and emerald green eyes, similar to Muffy's, but the first thing I had noticed about him was the big wide grin pasted on his face.

"Hi!" he exclaimed. "You're the new farmer girl, right?"

He didn't even wait for an answer to keep talking.

My name's Mark. What's your name?"

I didn't dare tell him, but he was kind of scaring me. And when I'm scared, well… I seem to stutter.

"M-My name?" I managed to say. "I-It's uh… It's Chelsea." He laughed, and I felt a little insulted. He wouldn't be the first to make fun of my stutter, but I could still feel my cheeks heating.

"You're kind of cute!" he said, and what I thought was a blush became a pure crimson.

He started looked around my island, and paused a few seconds when his gaze fell to my un-watered turnip seeds. When he turned back to me, I could see, no matter how hard he tried to hide it, that he was not impressed, and I automatically felt a source of guilt. He looked at me as if expecting an excuse.

"What?" I snapped at him defensly. I didn't really mean for it to come out so harsh, but it had.

He looked a little offended, but that didn't stop him from asking me the obvious.

"Why didn't I water my turnips? Why? I'll tell you why!" I shouted. "Maybe I was upset over losing my friends, my family, my boyfriend… MY LIFE!"

Then, surprise, surprise, he… hugged me? I don't know why, but I felt so safe in his arms, yet it still felt… wrong… I eventually came back to my senses, and pulled away from him, my cheeks once again turning bright pink.

"I'm so sorry…" he said. "I didn't know…"

I sighed. Of course he didn't know, I hadn't told him.

"No, it's OK, it's my fault. I shouldn't have overreacted."

"No, really! I didn't mean to pry, I-"

"Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"It's my fault, so shut up."

He laughed. "Here, I'll help you water those darn turnip seeds." I scrunched my nose, thinking of the horrible taste, which made Mark laugh even harder!

"Yeah, they're not my favourite either. Stupid veggies!"

He was sweet…

After tending the turnips, we both sat down in the grass. "It's still early enough…" said Mark, checking his watch. "…only 2:00. We still have time to meet the other villagers."

"Do we have too?" I whined. He laughed at how childish I was.

"No, but you should." And so we went.

First, I met Natalie. She had a cute pink bob held back by a red ribbon, hazel eyes, and reminded me a lot of my good friend Nami, due to her stubbornness. I had a really good feeling we would become good friends… Then I met Elliot, Natalie's brother. He had the same pink coloured hair and slightly brown eyes, but he had the opposite of Natalie's personality. He was sweet, but shy, though I couldn't see why. He also couldn't stop blushing, especially with Natalie calling him names. Thank God I am an only child! After them, I met Felicia, their mother. She looked a lot like Natalie, but older, and with her longer hair in braids. She kept on telling me that her family owned the shipping business, and that Elliot would pick up the shipments everyday at 5:00pm, and blablabla until Mark told her, thankfully, that it was time to go.

I met Mirabelle and Julia next. Mirabelle was a plump little woman, with a mix of ginger and gold coloured hair. She had a sweet smile, but I was afraid of what I'd be facing if she got angry. Hopefully, that would never happen. The first thing I thought when I first saw Julia was: past hooker. What? She sure looked like one, with a sky-blue top that made me think of Britney Spears, daisy-duke shorts, tall white high-heeled boots, and an ultra-skinny body! But if you concentrated on her face, her golden strands of hair, and her blue eyes, you see an average teenage girl… sort of… She seemed a little… over-cheerful…

As we exited the Animal Shop, where they lived, Pierre went by us. Call me stupid, but at first, I thought he was a gigantic purple penguin. He wore a purple tux with a matching top-hat. The only thing that differenced him from a penguin was the spiky blond hair poking from under his big hat. It was blond, so blond it almost looked yellow. Over-blond, just like Muffy… I missed her so much… OK, stop thinking of that!

We went on to meet the fishing freaks, Denny and Lanna. Lanna was almost as blond as Pierre, but not quite. She had hazel brown eyes, and wore a teal green dress, that looked like the type of gowns porcelain dolls wore, with a lacy teal headband to match. Apparently, she was a pop star, but when her popularity decreased, she came to the Islands to relax.

"But I will go back to make my comeback!" she was quick to add.

That thought seemed to make Denny sad, even if he tried to hide it. It was way too obvious he liked her. Denny was dark-skinned, with chocolate brown eyes, and dark hair. He wore a purple bandana, and there was some sort of bird perched on his shoulder, who kept on repeating everything we said. It took a lot of effort not to tell the parrot to shut up! Eventually, it was time to leave. It took me a few seconds to recognize where we were going.

"Why are we back at the Animal Shop?" I asked my companion.

Ignoring me, he entered the house and asked Julia:
"It's Monday. Where's Vaughn?"

"Well, hello to you to, Mark." Julia said mockingly. "Vaughn? He's done work for today, but he should be back soon. My guess is that he's with Sabrina."

Sabrina? Oh, yeah, I remember her. We met her shortly before Denny and Lanna. She seemed kind of shy, but was still polite. She wore a purple plaid dress with a little pink knit jacket. She was wearing a matching pink bow in her long black hair, and her lilac coloured eyes were hidden behind big round glasses.

"Do you know when exactly he'll be back?"

"Nope, sorry." Julia replied, carefree.

I didn't know how, but the name, Vaughn… It sounded familiar…

"Who's Vaughn?" I asked innocently.

"He's my bud…" Mark answered with a smile. "Why?"

For a reason I didn't know of, my cheeks went pink.

"Just wondering…"

He looked at my slightly flushed face with a confused look mixed with… something else… a feeling I couldn't seem to recognize…

We decided to end the day at Mystic Islands. Oddly enough, one of the islands were shaped head. Although my curiosity screamed to go that way, I followed Mark over to the other one. We had just sat down in front of a clear blue spring, when a teenage girl about my age came out of the church behind us. She had light brown hair, which looked kind of pinkish in the warm spring sun. Her sapphire blue eyes, who had just moments ago shimmered with joy, had now noticed me, and turned to sadness.

"Oh, uh… Hi Mark… Uh… Who's this, your uh, g-" she swallowed. "Your girlfriend?"

"Oh, hi!" Mark beamed, then understood what the girl said. "W-What? Girlfriend?" He laughed.

"No, this is the new rancher. Chelsea?" He motioned towards me. "This is Alisa. Alisa? This is Chelsea." A surge of relief appeared on the girl- Alisa's – face.

"Oh, OK! Nice to meet you!" she said ecstatically.

"Nice to meet you too, I guess…" I answered nervously. As Mark and Alisa chatted together, I took off the farming boots Felicia gave me and peeled off the socks underneath. I dipped my feet into the water of the spring. It was so cool and refreshing! I noticed, as I relaxed, that Mark and Alisa's voices were growing quieter and quieter…

I woke up. Where was I? It looked like… some sort of park… kind of familiar… Oh yeah! The park on Castanet! CRAC! A twig snapped, and I froze. The sound came from behind the bushes. Was someone there? I took a peek, and… there was a boy with silver hair. He had his back to me, and was facing a girl with hazel brown eyes and slightly darker hair… Wait! That was me! A pretty, younger version of me! Then who was that boy… Skye? It sure looked like him, but he was too young. The kids I was looking at were about 8 years old… And look at the dress I was wearing! Even covered in mud and grass stains, the yellow floral print and white laced fabric was astonishing!

"What is it? You know my mother has forbidden me to speak to you." Ah, my past sophisticated language. Great.

"Because I'm an orphan?" The boy snorted. "Screw that!"

'Hmm, nice choice of words, little boy, you just got little-me pissed!' I thought to myself. This was true. Little-me was bubbling with rage.

"Don't you dare talk about my mother that way!" The boy only sighed. "Sorry, it's just-"

"Just what?" Little-me practically screamed. But the boy remained calm, and continued.

"I know I've only known you for a few seasons, and that…" He sighed again, and looked away. "And that if you're seen with me, your life will be ruined, but… Chelsea… I… I…" He looked back at little-me. "I'm in love with you."

But I and my younger self gasped. Slowly, the boy took my chin, tilted it forward, and kissed me softly. It was the perfect love scene. When I had seen it in movies, I had thought it ridiculous, but now, having seen it in reality, I would definitely stop judging it. My heart thumped just at the sight of the two young lovers.

"I-I-I l-lo…" Little-me held on to the syllable for a few seconds, before sighing and shaking her head. She straightened up, looked at the boy straight in the eyes, and said confidently:

"I love you too, Vaughn…"

-End of Ch.1-

Yes, finally finished! This took forever to finish! This chapter itself is 2096 words! Yep. In written form, this was actually 9 pages! I'm really proud of myself. Anyway, just to help clear a bit up, the last part, when she "woke up"? She actually fainted and was having some sort of flashback. And, I find it kind of annoying how:

1. Chelsea is always so bubbly and cheerful. I know I made her a little OOC, but that's because I find the happiness overused.

2. How Julia always seems to become Chelsea's best friend. I know that in other fics, if Chelsea is Miss "happy-go-lucky", their personalities are really similar. In this fic, Chelsea is most like Natalie, so they'll have some sort of connection.

Also, just thought I'd apologise at all the OCCs going on here, it's my first story based on something else. Anywho, I've got 4 chapters already written and ready to be typed, so keep tuning in, and…

PLEASE REVIEW!

Thanks.

Natasha