My first fanfic ever! A friendship fanfic about Claire and Karen from Harvest Moon. please enjoy :)

Claire's POV

"What do you mean?" asked Karen.

"I think Anna does not like me," I explained.

"How do you know? What did she do to make you conclude such a thing?" Karen asked again.

"I'm .. I'm not sure ... But from how she looks at me. I'm sure of that," I said, looking down.

"That makes the two of us then," Karen smiled at me.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Sure she's one of my mother's closest friend, but I think she's talking about me behind my mother's back. She's like the queen of gossip in this town. I know she is a woman who is like a perfectionist, and I'm sure she could not tolerate my bad traits, so do the math," Karen explained calmly.

"Bad traits? Like?" I asked again.

"Hahahaha oh Claire, can you not mention one thing about my bad character? I can spell a hundred for you," Karen laughed.

"Karen, seriously. Like what?" I asked, getting rather annoyed.

"Getting drunk, Slacking ... Can you see it Claire?" Karen asked.

"Oh? Hahahaha. Those are the bad things you want to say? It's not bad for me. That's part of life. Besides, life can not be too serious, or it will be boring. Moreover, because of those things, you are my friend Karen!" I said as i hugged Karen tightly.

Karen just laughed and hugged me back.

But the thing I said was true. Karen was, is, and will always be my best friend. Or to be more specific, my only one. And I think I was her only friend. But we both do not care. As long as we have each other, we will continue to live.

Honestly, i don't think i could live without her. Not that I want to exaggerate.

When I first got here, everything was so bad for me. I had to take care of an abandoned farm. None of the residents in this town seemed to be a friend to me. Indeed, most of them were very friendly. But I personally was never too comfortable with hospitality. I was too scared to falsehood. And this was all because the dark past i once had. It is indeed very difficult to explain.

To fix the abandoned field, I began to visit the supermarket frequently. Not that i liked visiting people, but this one could not be avoided. I had to eat, I had to buy seeds to plant in my field. So that i could continue living. This is where I first met Karen.

Initially, she looked mysterious and unfriendly. However, over the time I realized that she was just a lonely girl like me. I began talking to her. Our relationship was initially very awkward because none of us were fluent speaking with new people. Recognizing the many similarities of us, we started to build a friendship.

Over the time we became very close. Karen was very real. There was no fakeness inside of her. If she did not like something, she would say it directly. Karen was the person who was being herself. And you did not know how difficult it was to find people like this in this century.

I am very grateful to have a friend like her. Finding a friend is not a job that could easily be done like finding enemies.

We walked down the hills near my field. Karen helped me to take wild plants that can later be sold to Zack. Along the way, we did not stop talking. Here's another thing that can be done by me only in front of Karen, and Karen can only do it in front of me: talking without stopping. To be near people who make you feel comfortable will make you feel more comfortable to be yourself. Around others, i'm a very awkward person. Same thing happened with Karen.

Actually in this city there were four other girls who were about the same age as me, other than Karen. They were Elli, Mary, Popuri, and Ann. Elli was quite close to Mary. Both of them were the type of girls who are dignified, calm, and charming. You would find it very difficult to find any mistakes on these two girls. But unfortunately, my personality with those two didn't fit. I'm counted as a girl who liked to relax and do anything as my will, just like Karen.

Popuri was close to Ann. Maybe not too close, because Ann herself was closer to Cliff and Gray, two boys who live in the inn. Popuri herself was often isolated because of the protective treatment of her brother, Rick. However they both were often seen spending time together at the Goddess Pond in the morning. They both had this sort of happy-go-lucky trait, although Ann was more of a tomboy while Popuri was very feminine and more authoritative. Ann and Popuri were both very friendly though.

Finished helping my work, Karen said goodbye to me.

"Do not forget tonight at 8 at the bar! See you later," Karen said as she waved to me.

After receiving my salary today from Zack, I hurried to the bathroom, clean myself from all kinds of dirt that clung to me because of my job as a farmer. I immediately took my pink tank top and black pants and wore them immediately. After finished cleaning myself, I immediately went to the bar. Actually there was still an hour to 8PM, but I did not know what to do at home. I was planning to go for a drink first, Karen might joined in later, i thought.

when I got to the bar, I was greeted warmly by Ann. Typical Ann, full of friendliness. The wide smile never left her face. I just smiled at her behavior. I immediately took a seat at the bar and ordered a drink. People say, a drink in the evening is the right thing to eliminate all the fatigue after a day of work. I immediately perked up my drink without thinking. What an exhausting day, I thought.

At the end of the table, I saw Cliff and Gray were sitting together. Cliff just smiled at me. Cliff was a friendly person. Even so, He was very shy. This was reflected very clearly from him. I gave a small smile to him, only to return the hospitality.

Gray on the other hand was very different from Cliff. They were both quiet, but Gray was so .. What was it? Spooky? I was not sure. He just looked at me with a sharp look from a distance. Just a fact about me, I'm a person with short temper. But I was willing to bet that Gray had shorter temper than i did. I'd better just ignore him, I thought.

Ann came up to me and asked me to chat. She asked about my farm and others. After that she left me alone. I was left sitting alone until Karen finally arrived.

"Claire! How could you come first?" Karen asked with a chuckle.

"Well then, i guess the drink for tonight will be treated by you right?" I asked, joking.

"Where did you jump into that conclusion? No way!" Karen said hysterically while laughing.

Me and Karen sat right next to each other, drinking, chatting about alot of things. Some people were staring at us. I didn't know if it was because we were to loud, or they were confused at us for being loud because we were always known for being mysterious, quiet or should i say awkward. Or, it would probably because we were the only young ladies in the city who drinks.

Yeah, i guess it was probably because the last part. I mean, the way they stared at us were...

Oh, to the hell with all of these people! We're the best duo in the century!

From what i had seen, i knew that me and Karen were probably the most hated young ladies in the city. We didn't have the manners they expect us, young ladies, to have. We liked to slack and get drunk. We're not very friendly and often awkward. If we didn't like something, we would say it directly without holding back; we avoid being the gossip ladies in this town as much as we could. But i guess, not everyone in this town liked honesty. We were often considered as rude because of our honesty. We often become the hot topic for the gossip queens in the city, Manna and Anna. But you know what, we didn't care, or at least try to not care. It was indeed difficult, but I wasn't going to be someone else just to be liked by the town. Who cares if it was only Karen who liked me, as long as i can be myself.

I looked around to see some unfriendly stares at us, but then i looked at my bestfriend's face, as she was smiling at me.

To have a bestfriend like Karen, i didn't mind all the hatred that i got.

It was worth it.

A/N: How was it? I'm sorry if i had grammar errors, honestly i'm not a native speaker, so i tried my best not to make any major mistakes. :)

Pairings in this story are not decided yet. Next chapters will be posted soon hopefully :) Review? :3