Hello guys!

This is chapter two- July 15th. It's twice as long as last chapter! I think it's the longest chapter of anything I've ever written!

Woot, personal record! :D

Enjoy!

July 15th, 2011

Dear Journal,

I realized yesterday how stupid of me it was to write in you in the middle of the day. Now I have to write extra to get you caught up on what happened today and yesterday.

Where was I? Oh yes, getting off the bus. I stepped onto the grass off the concrete ramp that was the bus stop and breathed in the country air.

"Now," I said to myself under my breath, "To the town hall."

"You're looking for, like, the town hall? I can take you there, niblet!" cried a voice from behind me.

I whirled around to face a squirrel. She was a few inches shorter than me and she had huge eyes with tiny pupils, making her look crazed. Her teal fur was contrasted by long yellow stripes down her back and over her bushy tail and she had a spray of- I'm not making this up- white freckles. But the oddest thing about her was her huge buck teeth.

"I'm Nibbles! What's your, like, name, niblet?" She exclaimed, grabbing my hand and shaking it hard.

"Uh, Gilly…" I replied, overwhelmed by her energy.

"Gilly…" she trailed off, dropping my hand and stroking her chin like a detective. "Now where have I heard that, like, name…?"

"Well," I started, but was promptly cut off by Nibbles shouting, "SHUSH! I will, like, figure it out myself! Now, it's on the tip of my, like, teeth…"

I opened my mouth to tell her that the expression was "Tip of my tongue" not "Tip of my teeth" and that she didn't have to say "like" all the time when she cut off my thoughts yet again.

"A-HA! I, like, know who you are! You're, like, the new girl! The first human in GemCity!" She blinked at me expectantly.

"Wait, you didn't realize until just now that I was a human?" I asked, bewildered.

"Like, of course not, niblet!" and with that she grabbed my hand and began dragging me somewhere.

"Uh, where are we going?" I shouted nervously. I did not want to be dragged somewhere by this peppy squirrel-thing.

"To, like, the town hall, niblet!" She answered, not stopping her pace, "Duh!"

She dragged me to a big brown building with a clock tower on the top. There was a billboard announcing a "bug-off" or something in two days right next to it.

"Here we are niblet!" She cried.

"Okay." I said, opening the door. "Thanks for showing it to me, squir- I mean, Nibbles."

"No, like, problem, niblet!" Nibbles grinned at me, showing off her oversized front teeth even more. She saluted to me. "Just, like, call me if you need anything!"

I stepped inside the Town Hall, feeling rather relieved I didn't have to deal with that crazy Squirrel anymore.

"Hello?" I called.

"What's your favorite animal of the following!" Someone shouted at me. "Cat, raccoon, turtle, or pelican?"

"Huh?" I cried.

I looked around, but saw no one.

"Hello? Who said that?" I yelled out again, stepping inside a little more.

I heard another voice. "Mr. Tortimer," it started quietly, "If you want to talk to the villager, you need to come out of your office first."

There was a rustling of papers and a pelican poked her head out from behind a door.

"I'm terribly sorry about that. Our mayor wants to speak with you." She said, bowing.

Suddenly, an old turtle hobbled out of the room the pelican had just come from. He walked the front counter that the pelican was standing behind and came to face me.

"Well, what's your answer? Cat, raccoon, turtle, or pelican?" He said in a shaky voice.

"Er-um…Raccoon?" I answered in uncertainty.

The turtle paused, still smiling, for a second, and suddenly, his face fell.

"Kids these days-" he muttered, shuffling back into the room from which he came.

"'Um… what did I say?" I asked myself, but the pelican heard me.

"Oh, nothing, Mayor Tortimer is just a little sensitive. Now, you must be Gilly, right?" The pelican said with a smile, something I didn't realize birds could have. "I'm Pelly. I run the town hall's main desk in the day and my sister, Phyllis, runs it at night. It's an honor to meet you finally."

"An honor? I didn't think it was that special." I remarked.

"Well, you're the first human I've ever met personally." Pelly chuckled. "Now, take this map. I've marked your home in red. When you get there, your new employer, Tom Nook, should be waiting for you. You two need to talk payment."

I blinked. "Payment?"

"Yes. I thought you knew your parents took out a loan to pay for your house." Pelly looked at me with a questioning look in her eyes, "You owe 19,800 bells."

"Er… um…. I need to make a call. Can I use a phone?" I said, shocked.

Pelly nodded and handed me an old yellow phone.

"Thanks." I said.

I dialed my parent's number numbly. It rang three times and then I heard, "Hello?"

"Megan? Can I speak to dad?" I mumbled into the phone.

"Dad's out right now." Megan replied.

"OK, can I speak to mom then?"

"Sure." There was a click and the sound of rustling.

"Honey?" My mom came on.

"Mom… Nineteen THOUSAND bells?" I exclaimed.

"Huh?"

"I owe nineteen THOUSAND bells?" I specified.

"Oh dear, we forgot to tell you about that, huh?"

"NO KIDDING."

For the next half-hour, my mother proceeded to tell me that, in order to get used to living on my own and the responsibilities of an adult and such, I needed to pay for my own house.

"Wasn't it a birthday present?" I asked in horror.

"The bus ticket was, not the house….oh I'm so sorry we didn't tell you this before, honey!" My mom apologized, "But your father got you that part time job at Nook's, so I'm sure you'll pay it off in no time!"

"Ok. Bye mom."

"Bye sweetie."

I put down the phone, in shock.

"Are you alright?" Pelly asked.

"Yeah…yeah I'm fine."

After some paper-signing, I was on my way to see the house I would have to pay 19,800 bells for. I opened my map, and had my nose buried in it, not wanting to get lost along the way when I bumped into something and felt water droplets hit my hair.

"Oh!" cried a voice from in front of me.

I put down my map and saw…a little gray cat. She was holding a watering can in her gray paw- which explained where the water droplets came from- and she was wearing a pink plaid summer dress.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, bonbon!" She cried, putting down her watering can. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I said with a hopefully reassuring smile.

"Oh good." She stuck out her paw. "I'm Lolly. You must be new in town. Your name was…Gilly, wasn't it, bonbon?"

"I must be famous around here." I remarked.

"Well, we've all been excited for the arrival of the first human. Hopefully not the last either." Lolly clarified.

"Oh. Well, it was nice meeting you, Lolly." I said, "I should probably get going- moving in to do and all."

"Of course, bonbon. If you need anything, just give me a call." She smiled.

"Right." I said.

As I walked away, I realized how remarkably similar Lolly's offer had been to Nibbles'. I guess all of the viallagers here are friendly.

I found my house relatively easily after that. It was tiny, but I figured I'd be able to manage. It had a bright red roof that matched the color of the mailbox. It was homely looking- kind of like the cottages you hear about in all the fairy tales. I looked around but saw no sign of my employer, Tom Nook. So, I decided to take a look inside.

Using the key Pelly had given me, I opened the door into my new house. It smelled like new paint and candle wax, the latter scent confusing me until I saw what was inside the house. There were three furniture items inside. A cardboard box, an old-looking CD player, and a candle that, by the looks of it, was used.

"Huh. It's…" I paused, "nice, I guess."

I opened the door, meaning to look for Tom Nook some more when suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard a voice.

"Ah, hello, you must be Gilly!"

I turned to see a raccoon with a blue apron on. The apron had the image of a maple leaf on it.

This guy must be Tom Nook. I thought, but before I could get a word in otherwise, he spoke again.

"Yes, yes, I've been hearing so much about you!" He gushed, "Welcome to GemCity! My name is Tom Nook, and I run a shop here in town. I look forward to you working there, hm? So how was the house, hm? You are very much liking it, yes?"

"It's okay, I guess." I answered truthfully.

"Good, good, so you'll be paying off this house soon, yes?" He asked expectantly.

"I hope so." I answered. "Is all that stuff in there mine?"

"Yes, yes, of course. The box and light come with all houses, and think of the CD player as a moving in gift from me, hm?" He mumbled something under his breath.

"Come again?" I asked.

"Oh nothing. You did see the attic, yes?"

"Uh, no."

"Well, that's ok. There's a bed in the attic, along with a telephone. Although, if you want to contact your parents, I would suggest writing a letter, seeing as phone bills can get expensive. Just a tip." Tom Nook added, smiling, although it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"OK. When do I start working for you, to pay off my house?" I asked.

"Tomorrow." He nodded. "So be sure to rest up in that attic, yes?" He only paused a second, so I couldn't answer. "OK, see you tomorrow."

With that, my new employer left.

So now, Journal, we are here today. Honestly, I'm going to tell you that not that much really happened today. I woke up and left for Tom Nook's. Using my map, I found it rather easily. He told me the first thing I needed to do was introduce myself to everyone. So that is what I did. I ran around to every house, introducing myself, answering questions, and gathering opinions on the citizens of GemCity.

The first villager I met was Yuka. She was a dark blue koala wearing a yellow plaid shirt.

"Is plaid in season right now, or something?" I asked her, remembering Lolly's shirt.

"Oh, of course, darling, tsk tsk. I'm always up to speed on what's hot and what's not." Yuka replied.

The second villager was Pierce. He was an extremely buff white-and-blue eagle, so buff to the point that it was almost disgusting.

His yellow eyes peered me down as he said, "You have arms like noodles, Hawkeye."

With him was his "friend" although I observed that they had nothing in common. His name was Chester, and he was a rather plump panda bear with rosy cheeks.

"Don't insult the poor girl!" He exclaimed to Pierce, "She's kinda cute, rookie!" He added quietly.

I was thoroughly disgusted.

The final villager was a wolf by the name of Lobo. From the looks on the faces of both Pierce and Chester when I asked them where he lived, he was not the kindest bird in the flock- or in this case- villager in GemCity.

"You don't wanna mess with Lobo." Chester warned, "He'll swallow you without chewing! I mean, how scary is that, rookie!"

"Yeah, someone as tiny as you doesn't stand a chance against Lobo, hawkeye." Pierce added.

"Yeah sure." I replied sarcastically.

But I was still a little nervous as I knocked on Lobo's door.

"He-hello?" I called.

I heard a slam from inside and jumped. The door opened.

"Whaddya want." Growled the wolf in the door, Lobo. He was black with a graying muzzle and graying fur. But the scariest part of him was his glowing yellow eyes that seemed to stare right into your soul.

"H-hi, I'm Gilly." I stuck out a shaky hand.

"Hm. Lobo, ah-roo." He grumbled, and slammed the door in my face.

You can imagine my thoughts on him.

After that, Tom Nook guided me through a couple of other mundane tasks. Mostly delivering items and such. After delivering the third item, I came back out of breath.

"OK, you're done." Tom Nook said.

"Alright." I said, relieved. "What time should I come back tomorrow?"

"Hm? Oh, don't come tomorrow." He replied.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You're done. No need to work for me anymore. I took 1,400 bells off your debt."

"B-but…How am I going to pay off the other 18,400 bells?" I exclaimed.

"Just pick fruit, catch fish, catch bugs, etcetera and sell them to me." He remarked.

"But…that'll take forever!" I protested.

"Then you better start now." He said, "I sell plenty of fishing rods in the back."

And that was my first and last day of work.

I'm seriously thinking of giving up, journal! But I have five days left until my mom will let me come back home, and I'm worried I'll starve by then!

Well, at least there are plenty of apples here.

Freaking Out,

Gilly