I woke up the next morning in a bed that already felt uncomfortable to me. The sheets felt tight and suffocating, the house felt stuffy and dolled up. This entire room was the opposite of how I wanted things to be. (By the way, yes, I found the house. I figured when I saw the giant farm finally, but it took a bit of wandering to do.) I crashed easily into bed before I actually could inspect the room, and now with the light peering in through the windows, I could see everything. It reflected Sophia in the weirdest way.

I slid out of bed, and looked on the dresser next to my bed. There was a notebook, and on the cover, there was a post-it that said CHELSEA, OPEN ME in large, block letters. Puzzled, I opened in. On the first page, there was a small little letter in Sophia's perfect script handwriting. It said:

Chelsea,

Thank you so much for doing this for me! You're truly the most amazing sister anyone could ask for. Now, there are obviously some important things you need to figure out before you leave this house and spend the year as me.

1. You need to learn all of the names of the locals. It's all inside here! So once you finish reading this list… you should do that.

2. Your farm work. Now, I'm a shitty farmer myself but it's pretty easy to pick up on, I'd say. Or not. Um…

3. How to act like me. You've known me for all my life, so… that shouldn't be too hard, right?

Well, that's the important stuff. If you ever need any help just call me on my cell phone at the bottom of this page. I love you soooooo much Chels! I swear, if you make it through the year I'll do anything you want me to and never ask you of anything again. I couldn't ask you any more how much I am so thankful that you're doing this for me. All of my usual clothes are in the closet and there's a toolbox by the door with all of the farming stuff. Have fun being me!

Love,

Sophia xoxo

I slowly turned the page, and the first thing I noticed was a loose sheet of paper, folded twice. I opened it up, and there was a poorly drawn map of the islands. It didn't seem too hard to navigate, but it also seemed pretty difficult to actually figure out as if I actually lived here.

Just by looking at the map, I discovered that I owned the entire island to myself. Ranch Island, as I remember Dr. Trent mentioning to me vaguely at some point in the late night. I then saw Verdure Island and Sprout Island labeled. The three islands were the largest out of all the surrounding. She left a note that she rarely went to the surrounding islands, except Meadow Island. Noted at the bottom of that note she said how there's a shrine for the Harvest Goddess "or something".

What did this all mean? I fumbled through the pages again, getting a bit stressed.

Each page was a picture of a resident on the islands and a little description. Some had little stars next to their names to indicate they're someone that worked in a store so she would know how to confront them.

*Mirabelle: Owner of the animal shop. Buy all animal feeds and animal supplies (and animals) here. Nice.

Julia: Daughter of Mirabelle. Our age. Dressed kinda slutty, but still somehow nice.

Vaughn: Lives with Mirabelle. Cowboy. Comes every Monday and Tuesday because of a job in the city. Weirdo.

I stared at all of the faces and names before my eyes exploded out of my head. They all looked like genuinely nice people. Some faces freaked me out more than others, some I wondered how they were related to each other. I then looked at each face and tried to place a voice with each personality. Mirabelle seemed like she had a sweet, southern motherly voice to her. Gannon looked as if he had a deep, rugged voice to him. It was almost like a little game, trying to match imaginary voices with pictures of strangers. Strangers that were probably walking around right outside my door. I

How did I ever think this was possible? I groaned, pulling my hair angrily. I couldn't have possibly thought that I could live here and fool this entire town that I was my sister.

Except that I'm here now. And I have to figure out a way to make it work. I don't know how and I don't know where to begin, but I guess I should start with my farming. At least that way I could start my profit. I walked across the room and opened the toolbox to find almost new looking tools all scattered around and on top of each other. I recognized how to do this, somewhat. My uncle was a farmer and he showed us all of the tools when we used to visit him out in the country. So I knew I needed a hoe, a watering can, and a sickle if necessary.

And once I stepped outside, boy was it necessary.

Her farm was completely dead. There were weeds sticking up everywhere, and the soil looked completely dry and infertile. Was farming even going to be possible in this field? I sighed heavily, slowly blinking. It was really starting to dig in that this was going to be extremely difficult. Every aspect of it: the farming part, the social part, and just the living part. How was I going to make my way into a foreign world and pretend to be someone that I wasn't?

I decided to get started on the weeds. I crouched down in front of each one and sliced them with the sickle. I broke any tree stump with the axe that I had to retrieve from inside. And I hacked and sliced away, clearing an entire field of every blemish it had. And just by that, I was exhausted.

"Working hard or hardly working?"

I looked up to see a face that, of course, was only familiar in my book. But it looked so much different seeing him here before me, now. He had blonde shaggy hair and a hat to cover up the bang in front of his green eyes. He wore overalls and looked like a farmer himself. And he knew all about farming, except he didn't own a farm. At least, that's what Sophia's little note said. It also said that he was one of the people that helped her get to a start… before she nearly gave up on the job in a whole. She also noted that he visited the farm often, so learn his name immediately. And that was how I knew it was Mark.

"Mark!" I said, smiling.

He cocked his head at me, a smirk appearing across his cheeks. "A smile while working? That's not very like you."

I nervously shrugged my shoulders. "Uh… well…"

He laughed loudly. "I'm only teasing you, Soph. But really, I haven't seen you work this hard in seasons. What's up with you?"

I shrugged again, and sat on the soil. "A late New Years' resolution? I decided I'd try the farming thing out again."

Mark nodded, looking at the field around me. He kept nodding, smiling wider than he was several seconds ago. He placed his hands on his hips and said, "Well, you cleared it pretty well. Luckily you've still got two more days until summer actually starts, so you don't have to do any real farming just yet."

"Yeah, phew!" These plants run exactly by season?

Mark stared at me. He cocked his head in the other direction, his green orbs staring directly into my sapphire ones. It was scaring me. There was no way he could've been figuring me out already. I'm not that bad at being my sister, am I?

"You look tired," he said slowly. "Like… the bags under your eyes look like you just went on a shopping spree in the city."

I stared at him. What kind of reference was that. "Mark, you're literally ridiculous."

He laughed. "Okay, but you look really tired. Rough sleep?"

I smiled, and nodded. I stood up from my place and got a better look at him. He was cute. I wasn't going to try and hit on him of course, he seemed too far into Sophia's friend zone to do that. I already liked him though. He set a good tone for a first day as Sophia.

"Yeah, I had some trouble getting some sleep." I pretended to look at my watch. "Oh I have to get running!" I ran up to Mark and gave him a hug.

Wow, I hated being my sister.

"I'll see you around!" I said, as I quickly ran back inside my house.

I closed the door, sighing. Was that a good impression of Sophia? Before running to go feed my animals, I decided to take Sophia's notebook, and placed it in the rucksack I picked up to start. I then stepped back outside cautiously, in hopes that Mark wasn't there. Not that I didn't like him. I just didn't want to confront him. At all. Not right now while I was still trying to figure out everything else.

I looked out the doorway and it looked as if he had made his way back to Verdure Island. I sighed, a gentle smile spreading my cheeks, and made my way to the back to go to the barn and the chicken coop. I went to the barn, first. And the first thing was that it reeked. I smelt a mixture of hay and poop and it took me a few seconds before I could truly walk through the barn door. And when I did, I had to be honest. It was a little disappointing.

She had one horse, one cow, and one sheep. They all looked miserable and underfed. And dirty as an animal could possibly be.

"Oh, jeez," I brought my hands to my mouth. "You poor souls."

All of their sad, beady eyes pouted at me. I immediately brought each one over, one by one, for a bath. On the board near the feeder, I learned each of their names: the horse was Pearl, the cow was Missy, and the sheep was Bambi. And as I combed through each of them, cleaning them with shampoos and water, I watched their tiny eyes light up. How could Sophia have left them like this?

I then filled each of their feeds with fresh hay, and watched as they all munched away. "I'll take you all outside to roam tomorrow, when I have a better idea of this place, okay babies?" I kissed all of their noses before leaving the barn.

They all made their typical barnyard noise before I left. I must've made them extremely happy. And, I couldn't lie; it brought a weird joy to my stomach. As I walked from the barn to the chicken coop, I couldn't help but keep a strange smile on my face. But walking into the chicken coop was worse.

So much worse.

There were four chickens. Three hens, one rooster. And each hen had laid eggs in each of their beds multiple times. Eggs were rising from their hay beds, and they barely had any feed left. They didn't move from their spot on the floor—they didn't even look up to acknowledge my entrance. They were dying.

"Sophiaaaaaaa," I murmured under my breath.

I didn't care if she ignored the locals or even destroyed her farm. What really bothered me was the way she easily let her animals die.

I collected all of the eggs and placed them in the shipping bin. They were horrible quality but at least they were out of the coop. I refilled their feed, and then proceeded to pick each chicken up, and pet them. I cuddled each one in my arms for several minutes, kissing their heads and letting them know that I cared about them. To show them that someone cared. How Sophia couldn't was what astounded me.

As I placed them down, they seemed much more cheerful. They clucked and actual began walking around their coop.

Was I making a difference already?

I exited the coop, and looked at my barren field. I looked at the strange house that I had no business living in. And then I figured that maybe it wasn't so hard being Sophia. And maybe it wasn't so scary. Hell, I looked exactly like her. I knew her terrible personality inside and out. I knew her. All I had to do was become her. And to start, maybe I should go down to the other islands and actually try and communicate. Just like Sophia would: excitedly, half-heartedly, and obliviously.

With that, I walked down to Verdure Island and saw the bigheaded man that Sophia had distinctly noted in the book to say hi to every day. She said she didn't enjoy it, but he always gave her the weather forecast for the next day. His name was Taro.

"Sophia!" Taro exclaimed.

I turned to look at him. He was smiling wide and proudly.

"My elbow is telling me it'll be sunny tomorrow! So get your field ready for the summer season!"

I gave him a nod and kept walking… considering that was something that Sophia would do. I didn't realize that parts of his body could tell the weather. It was an interesting concept and I really didn't know what to make of it. But I decided to walk down the paths as I tried to figure out where I was going. What day of the week was it even? I sighed, and realized that I hadn't even eaten anything today. So I went inside the Diner and there I saw a man behind the counter. I forgot his name but I don't think it was very important. I ordered an omelette and sat down at a table by myself. There were some other people in the Diner, but I didn't care to say hi to any of them. They waved to me from across the way, but that was all the attention I gave them. They didn't need anything else. Sophia wouldn't have given them anything else. She really only cared about herself and her prissy city friends.

And it got me to think and wonder. Why did she spend all of her time here when she didn't even like the locals? Why did she want to live here so bad when she barely tried to make the profit? It was perplexing.

The people surrounding me in all of the other seats all seemed as genuine as Dr. Trent, and Mark, and Taro. Taro was interesting but his smile permeated me with happiness in the strangest way. Was that why this place was called Sunshine Islands? I quickly pulled out the notebook to try and match each face with a name and a personality. And as I scanned across the room, I was able to make some connections.

There was Felicia and her two kids, Natalie and Elliot. They were all having breakfast together. Sophia noted that Natalie was younger than Elliot, but she always picked on him. It was also noted that Taro was their grandfather, and Felicia's father.

Pierre and Sabrina. Pierre was the avid cooker while Sabrina was the shy girl who lived in the mansion on Sprout Island. (I wouldn't have been surprised if Sophia tried to be friends with her.)

And lastly, there was Alisa. Sophia had absolutely nothing written about her, so clearly they never talked.

But looking across their faces, they all had something about them that seemed unique and vibrant. I could tell just by their aura from across the room. Hearing Natalie's and Elliot's petty arguments, and Sabrina's quiet laugh and Pierre's jubilant shouts, there was something about all of these people just sitting here in the diner this morning that made me realize how pure everyone was here. There was so much innocence and happiness spread in everyone. I could tell just by six people sitting across three tables that it was such a tight knit community. They waved to me even though it was obvious through Sophia's small journal entries that she rarely talked to anyone here. But they still gave me the attention that I didn't deserve. Well, maybe not me, but my sister.

They all just seemed so happy.

The bell above the door rang, and a face came through. A familiar one already—it was Mark. Once he said hi to everyone at the tables, he came over to me. He didn't sit down; he just leaned on his hands from the other side of the table and grinned.

"Hello again!" he said excitedly. "See you finally came down for some breakfast."

I twitched my lip and tried to choke up a Sophia-style answer. "Yeah well. You know me!"

He raised a blonde brow and sat down two seats away from me. He folded his arms together like a second grader ready to learn for the day, a kiddy smile spread across his cheeks. Might I say, he looked pretty adorable.

"I really don't know you, actually. I mean you know I check on your farm every now and then, but c'mon, let's be honest, you know I do that so one day I could take this farm away from you."

Threatened. I feel threatened.

"But," he continued, "seeing you this morning was different. I haven't seen you care for that farm in so many seasons and it made me kind of hopeful. So I wanna get to know you because I think something sparked in you."

I now raised a brow at him. Alright, who is this Mark guy, really?

"You want to get to know me?" I almost snapped. Sophia reaction: A+. "I've been here for a year and a half, I really don't understand—"

"I know you're not here often but I think we could be… friends?"

I stared blankly at him. "You're forcing something, and you should stop it now. If you knew me you'd know that I'd rather be back home in the city than in this little island. I just… I'm not who you think I am or who you want me to be. Please."

I stood up angrily and stormed out of the café, as dramatic little Sophia would do. It felt so awkward doing it, though. I hated doing it. Because I wasn't Sophia.

It was that moment when I realized how difficult it was going to be becoming my sister. I barely even began my new life as my sister and I realized how hard it was going to be. She and I were polar opposites, and anyone who knew both of us knew that. We had no similarities and nothing to bond with. And yet, so easy as a resemblance can fool people to thinking I'm her. She must've never told anyone her personal life because none of them knew that I existed.

But how was I going to make it out as portraying my sister all year? She was so distant from what I could ever be. It was a real challenge she put on me.

"Hey hey hey!"

Aw shit. Was that Mark following me? I showed him too much Chelsea and not enough Sophia. And I think that little bit of Chelsea was the glimpse of hope that Mark was not going to let go.

"Sophia."

He grabbed my arm and turned me around. He stared at me with wide green orbs. He had beautiful eyes, yes. But the look he was giving me. He was reaching out for something I wasn't going to show him. I was trying to show him lies and I've already failed at that.

"Mark, let go of me. Just stop it. We were never friends before, so why would we be friends now?"

I broke my arm away, and trudged up back to Ranch Island.

Who would've thought that I would have to play the jerk on Sunshine Islands.