~Note: This is my first Fanfic. It may suck. All Characters belong to Natsume. Enjoy, Dear Readers!

*Chapter 1: A bad start*

"Julia…Julia…" I sighed. My best friend Julia was asleep again. So, I was trying to, er, wake her up with a rubber fish I found in my attic, since she hates fish. However, she wouldn't respond to me poking her. Over and over and over…. I lost patience, and pressed the fish's rubber lips to her face.

"Wha- EEEEEK!!! GEDDITAWAYFROMME!!!!" I tried not to laugh as she jumped up, and shuddered at the sight of the fish in my hand.

"Ha ha, Julia, I'm not done yet!" I said maliciously, raising the fish above my head.

"Oh, no you don't!" she retorted, grabbing a pillow off her bed. Uh, oh.

I dropped the fish and ran into the hallway, trying not to laugh as I turned and saw her angry face.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU SNEAKY-!"

"Jules, it was a joke! Nooo, don't hurt me!" I gasped.

I spun around to try to talk some sense into her when I lost my balance. Again.

"Whoa-!" Instead of crashing to the floor, I was caught by a pair of strong arms. I looked up into two violet eyes with a shocked and slightly annoyed expression.

"Uh, sorry…." I scrambled away as Julia walked in the room.

"Oh, yeah, Chelsea, that's my cousin, Vaughn. He's an antisocial grump, and he's easy to ignore. He's the animal dealer."

I looked at my savior with interest, although he seemed to be trying his hardest to look anywhere but at me. He was dressed in black cowboy attire, with tan vest and boots, and a black Stetson perched atop his mop of silver hair. It was only when Julia broke the silence that I realized I was staring at him.

"Chelse, when you find the time to stop staring at my cousin, I hope you'll remember we had plans today. Or did you forget again?" she said sarcastically.

"Oops, we'd better be going!" I said hurriedly, turning to the door. I tripped, as I always do when I embarrassed myself, and crashed to the floor. Clearly heard over Julia, who was rolling around on the floor busting a gut, was Vaughn, who muttered, "Klutz."

Excuse me?! I jumped up and, glaring at him, said," See you later, Julia." I left the shop, trying to hold back tears, and headed towards the forest.

~*~*~later~*~*~

I was hiding, hoping Julia wouldn't come looking for me. The last thing I needed was for her to interfere again. Wiping my eyes on my sleeve, I looked at my surroundings, thinking. I often got teased by other people for being a klutz, so I couldn't understand why it had hurt so much this time. I just met the guy! I heard a rustling behind me and, fearing the worst, I turned around.

"W-who's there?" I asked shakily. I saw Vaughn, looking surprised.

"Crap…." He mumbled, turning to leave.

"What d'you want cowboy?" I said, hoping my eyes weren't red from crying.

"I, uh, didn't think anyone'd be here…." Whoa, he had a really cute southern accent….Wait, WHAT?! BAD CHELSEA!!!

"Oh, well, I was just going anyway…" I tried to brush by without him seeing my face but….too late.

He said, "Wait…" I looked at him curiously. He looked pretty uncomfortable as he said, "Look, I wanted to apologize…"

"Well, I suppose I overreacted, anyway. Sooo…. Friends?" I held out my hand. He hesitated, then, shaking my hand, he said, "Friends." I smiled. Life was about to get a little more interesting….

After Julia taped me to a chair and threatened me with carrots, my most hated vegetable, I told her about Vaughn's apology. That explained why I wasn't trying to kill him, as I would have normally done.

Spring soon passed, and, pestering nonstop, I was able to learn a bit more about Vaughn. He proved to be a good friend, although the one thing that bothered me was how he acted whenever Denny was around. Denny and I have been going out longer than Vaughn's been coming to the island. And even though there were rumors that he'd cheated on his previous girlfriends, I felt I had no reason not to trust him, so I did.

~Okay! I know this is short compared to other chapters on much awesomer fanfics, but I'm new to this. I dedicate this to a really creepy dream I had, minus Taro going psycho and murdering my dog. JUST KIDDING!! Please R&R? Not too harsh, though.