Disclaimer: Still not the owner of Harvest Moon. But, anyways, I'd like to tell you that Claire didn't forget to put her chickens inside, she put them back in the coop before she walked inside her house. :D Ahahahahah...I'm stupid for leaving that little thing out, but you know what, it's okay. Oh! And thank you to the people who reviewed the first part! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! :D
Friday Summer 11 Claire's P.O.V.
I groaned as a slobbery, wet tongue licked my ear, telling me it was six in the morning. This ungodly hour was when I was always awoken by that devilish puppy, Rizo. He just wouldn't let me sleep if it meant he could eat now by waking me up.
"Just five more hours, Rizzzzzzzzz..." I trailed off, falling asleep again. I was never the kind of person to wake up at my first attempt. It usually took Rizo ten attempts to wake me up.
Before the conniving beagle could even so much as look at me again, someone had started banging on my front door. My poor door sounded like it was going to break from the amount of excitement, or fear, that someone was trying to display to my sleeping form.
"Claire! You wake up before I break your door!" A familiar voice shouted through my door.
"Okay, okay...I'm getting up." I let out a frustrated sigh as I got out of my bed and walked over to my front door, not caring that my sleeping clothes were far from "decent".
I turned the knob and was almost instantly tackled to the ground by an extremely excited redhead girl in overalls. I should have been used to her rough hugs, and how early she showed up at my farm, but gosh dang it I was a human being.
"Claire! My brother came home muttering to himself about saying something stupid! Did he say something rude to you? 'Cause if he did, I'll kick his sorry blacksmith ass into next year!" Ann shouted in my ear, shaking me violently to show that she meant business.
"Ann!" I shouted, grabbing the redhead's shoulders to stop her from making me queasy. She stopped almost instantly, giving me a sheepish grin.
"Heheh, sorry, Claire. But, seriously, what the hell did he say that made him storm up to his room and lock the door?!" She gave me her best pouty face in attempts to get me to spill a big secret, or something like that.
"Ann...I can promise you that it was nothing. He just reminded me that I could call him at the Blacksmith shop to get my tools upgraded. It wasn't stupid at all." I explained, crossing my arms over my chest and shaking my head at the redhead.
"Aw man! I thought it would have been better blackmail than that!" She sighed.
I raised my eyebrow at the waitress, but then shrugged and got up. "You want to decide what I should wear today?" I inquired, knowing all too well what Ann's answer would be.
"You know I do!" She beamed, going over to my clothing chest and rummaging around for her favorite of my overalls. After a few moments of muttering and sighing, Ann finally turned back to me with my dark blue overalls. "Now I just have to find you a suitable shirt!"
I took the dark blue overalls from my best friend's hands and waited for her to find my light blue short sleeve shirt. In a few moments, she did just that. She found my light blue shirt, which was also thin and very comfortable to work in during the summer heat.
"Ta da! Okay, now get dressed! I'll go ahead and start weeding!" Ann chirped, a lot more cheerful than when she'd first arrived.
I'm sorry, but I feel another explanation coming on...So, I bet you're wondering, "Why, Claire, is Ann so eager to weed your field? What could she possibly accomplish by doing so?" Well, to tell you the truth, I have no idea. About two weeks ago when Ann and I were having a nice picnic with the food she brought from her father's Inn back in Mineral town, she randomly decided that she would help me weed my field on Fridays because it was her duty as my best friend to keep me healthy or something strange like that. Okay, I appreciate the thought, I really do, but do you have any idea how frustrating it can be having her always talking about how much better my life would be if I moved to Mineral town? Okay, it sounds like a nice place, it really does, but I can't just ditch everyone here to move over there! I love my friends here in Forget-Me-Not Valley, and I'm always excited when one my Mineral town friends comes to visit, but I wouldn't go so far as to abandon this farm and the Harvest Sprites that I've yet to save. Sometimes I wonder what she's thinking...
I quickly got dressed, brushing my golden tresses and fed Rizo and Key, making sure to pet them both lovingly before I stepped outside. I looked up and noticed the white fluffy clouds overhead.
"Hey, Claire! I didn't know you were getting Gotz to build you a barn!" Ann shouted, waving me over to the patch of weeds she had been working on.
"Yeah, I just ordered it on Wednesday, so it'll be done by Monday, hopefully." I shrugged, not really worried about it getting finished soon. I didn't have an extreme need for a cow or a sheep just yet.
"At least it's nice and cool today, unlike yesterday." Ann commented, pulling a weed up. "So, Claire, you should take care of your chickens and corn, and then we can...talk."
I rolled my eyes, "Alright, alright. I'll tell you my dirty little secrets after work."
She smirked at me and got back to pulling weeds. I sighed and walked into my chicken coop. Pudding and Rice waddled up to me and clucked happily. I smiled down at the hens and shook my head a little. They slightly huffed, but understood that there was a good reason for being cooped inside.
"Sorry, girls, but Ann is here and she's probably going to end up talking to me until midnight again. So, I'll make it up to you somehow." I picked each hen up and cuddled them.
Each gave me an affectionate nuzzle with their beaks and then waited over by their feed boxes. I laughed a little and got out their feed, putting some in each box.
"Time to water the corn and then listen to the ham." I sighed, walking out of the chicken coop and walking over to my little corn garden. I wonder how she'll try to persuade me this week...
"Hey, Claire, hurry up and water your corn! If you take too long, I might just have to do something drastic." Ann grinned, waving a weed at me.
I ran my pale fingers through my hair and shook my head. "I swear, Ann, sometimes you make me think of that one saying...you know, 'With a friend like you, who needs an enemy' or however it goes."
I instantly tuned out the redhead as I filled up my watering can almost full and began watering my precious corn. Maybe after I get an oven I can...oh, listen to yourself, Claire! You're already trying to make his favorite food to see if he'll like you more! You idiot! I sighed, gazing at the stalk of corn in front of me and shaking my head.
"Cla...Clai....aire...Claire?" Ann's voice finally reached my ears.
"What? Oh, I'm sorry, Ann...I guess I kind of spaced..." I gave her a sheepish grin and scratched the back of my head.
She gave me a skeptical look, but then waved it off as unimportant. I finished watering my corn and helped Ann pull one of the really difficult weeds.
"Oh, Ann, I almost forgot! I was going to call the blacksmith to get my watering can upgraded to silver!" I exclaimed, shaking Ann slightly to get her attention.
"You need to call Gray, eh?" She gave me a playful smirk and rushed into my house.
"Ann! No, don't call him! You'll just embarrass him!" I yelped, sprinting toward my house.
"Hello, Saibara's blacksmith." I heard the familiar voice from the other side of the phone as Ann snickered and held the phone out for me. "Hello?"
"Oh, uh, hi, Gray." I managed to say as I twisted the phone cord nervously.
"Oh, it's you, Claire..." Gray mumbled, and I swear I heard him pull his hat over his eyes.
"Yeah, so, um, I was calling because I was wondering if you would possibly upgrade my watering can to silver...maybe..." I felt my cheeks heat up as the words fell from my mouth.
"Goddess, Claire, stop being so forward!" Ann sniggered, snorting as she tried to hold in her laughs.
"A-Ann?!" Gray shouted through the phone.
"Uh...a-anyways, can I send my watering can with Ann so you can upgrade it?" I started twirling a loose strand of hair, releasing the phone cord.
"S-sure. It'll be done in two days, and it'll cost two thousand gold." He stated, regaining his usual grumpy-like composure.
"Thanks, Gray! Um, bye!" I tittered, hanging up the phone. I placed my hand over my heart and heaved a sigh. "Goddess, Ann! You ended up embarrassing me more than Gray!"
"Anyways, let's talk, shall we?" Ann stated, changing the subject completely.
"Fine...What do you want?" I pouted, crossing my arms over my chest like a child.
"Well, Clarisse," She began, and I snorted at her, "I'd like to make a proposal."
I raised my eyebrow at my best friend, "What kind of proposal?"
"I know you like living here, and I know you don't want to move to Mineral town, but...I want you to spend a day in Mineral town to see what it's like."
"What? No! I have too much work here to even consider taking a day off!" I put my arms in an X form and shook my head.
"Hold on, hold on. It'll just be one day, and I'm sure one of your friends from here will be willing to take care of your farm while you're away! But, I was thinking it would be a Friday thing. I could come here and pick you up early in the morning, and we could walk together to Mineral town. We could spend the whole day looking around the town and then you could decide if you liked it or not!" She smiled wider with every sentence.
Okay...it would most likely be a Friday and part of Saturday morning...so I'd have to get someone who would be willing to water my corn...and I can get the harvest sprites to take care of my chickens...Goddess...Ann actually made a decent argument. "Well, if it'll get you off of my back for a while...I guess I'll go..."
"Yes! I bet you'll love it in Mineral town!" Ann beamed, tackling me to the ground.
"Sure I will..." I rolled my eyes, but couldn't stop the corners of my mouth from curving up into a smile.
For the rest of the day, Ann and I wandered around looking for grasses, flowers, and grapes I could sell to get a little more spending money for the trip next week. Ann babbled on and on about how she wouldn't tell anyone and it would be a surprise for the day after her birthday and that's when she wanted to have a little party with all of the Mineral town girls at the Inn. I just nodded and continued to listen to her plans, hoping that I wasn't making a mistake by agreeing to her proposal. Oh well, right? I mean, what's done is done.
Later I went back home and walked inside my house, noticing a small beagle and a small rubber ball.
"Goddess...okay, Rizo, we'll play for a little while...but then I've got to get some sleep." I sighed, taking the ball from Rizo's mouth and tossing it over his head.
Rizo and I played fetch for about ten minutes before he refused to even look at the ball anymore. I quickly got into my sleepwear and hopped into my bed, making sure I didn't disturb Key as I got under the covers. I had a lot to think about, but I still managed to fall asleep. Who knows what next week will hold? I just hope I don't embarrass myself in front of the people I've never met.
Whoop...That was extremely difficult to write. I mean, I had the idea in my head, and it was as clear as filtered water, but I just couldn't find words for all of it. So, anyways, the next chapter will be the trip to Mineral town. I hope you liked this part, and tell me how I did!