Summary: When Jack's mother dies, the seventeen-year-old boy moves in with a father that abandoned him before he was even born. Then Celia, a sweet sixteen-year-old that lives not five minutes away, comes into his life and makes him feel guilty for his discontent towards his father. Will Jack be able to reconcile with his father before it's too late?

Hey, I'm back~

Anyway, I have an interesting story to tell you guys. This morning after church, my youth group had a fundraiser dinner in our commons area. My friend's six-year-old little sister was chasing a high schooler around the area when we were cleaning up afterwards. By some of the tables, we have plastic mats so the tables won't roll. Another one of my friends had been cleaning the mats with a wet cloth. Next thing you know, BOOM! The high schooler was under the table, holding his knee. LOL!

Chapter Two

I woke up the next day to, ironicly, the sound of a rooster crowing. I thought daggers to said rooster and sat up in my futon. The shed door opened, and Jon walked in. "Rise and shine, boy. It's five, and you need to ge gettin' up so you're not late for school."

"'Kay, old man. Just tell that damn rooster to shut up."

Jon chuckled. "Good ol' Carl never misses the dot." The bane of my existance left the shed, and I got out from under the covers, wondering who would name a rooster Carl.

An hour later, another knock came on my shed's door. It opened to reveal a blond boyd a girl with bright red hair. Both were around my age.

"Heya!" the boy said. "I'm Rock Inner. My parents run the Inn down the road. That's Nami Runner, a resident of the Inn."

"I'm not a resident, Rock." Nami protested. "I'm just going through."

"For nine months?"

"...Shove it."

I chuckled at their antics. "I'm Jack Ernstine. It's nice to meet you two. I assume Jon asked you to show me the way to school."

"Righto, Jackie-boy." Rock said. There're some other kids in town, but we're gonna meet up with them at the bridge. Come on, we don't wanna keep 'em waiting."

I knew Rock and I would be good friends.

We set off, bags slung over our backs. When we reached the old, wooden bridge, there were five other kids there. One was a girl of about ten, with short, caramel-colored hair and dark eyes. Another, a guy, had black, slicked back hair like a poor imitation of Elvis Presley. A girl with long, dark hair and equally dark eyes stood next to a girl with curly blonde hair and a rather impressive bust. The last, a guy with dark hair and vaguely reminded me of a hippie, had a guitar slung over his back instead of a bag.

"Hey, guys!" Rock shouted. "This is Jack Ernstine!"

The young girl bounced over to me. "I'm Lumina Evans! I live in the villa, if you ever wanna visit me!"

"I'm Muffy," the busty girl said. "Muffy Harris. I'd love to get to know you better, Jack." She was uncomfortly close, and I was sure my face resembled a tomato.

"Don't tease the poor guy like that, Muffs." The long-haired girl said. She walked up to me calmly and held her hand out. "I'm Celia Brown. It's nice to meet you, Jack."

I shook her hand. "Same here."

She turned to the Elvis dude and said, "Marlin, introduce yourself."

"Marlin Williams." he grunted. "You don't look too infuriating, but I haven't know you too long."

"I'm Gufusta." The hippie said. "If you're ever lookin' for a song to soothe the soul, I'm your man."

"And that's everybody." Rock announced. "Let's roll, homies!" He slung his arms around Gufusta and Marlin, the latter of which growled.

"Get off me, you queer!" Muffy giggled, and Celia looked flustered. Lumina grabbed my hand.

"If you don't stop being men over there," Nami warned. "we're gonna be late for school."

That seemed to snap them out of it, and the eight of us began our walk to the school.

The school was a few towns over, and we had to go to Mineral Town to get a bus. It was a school for kids who lived in small farming towns, so it was almost free, but at a cost-if you failed even one class, you got booted out.

After school, I walked home with Celia, since everyone else had clubs and such.

"What about you?" I asked. "Are you interested in anything?"

"Just farming, and the botany club just deals with flowers and herbs." she replied. "You?"

"Animals. I've always liked them. Probably my Mom in me, though. She owned a small pet store in New York."

"Where is your mom? Rock said that you came to live with your dad, but..."

"She...died. About a month ago, actually."

Celia nodded, as if she understood. "Hurts, doesn't it? My own parents died a while ago. I moved in with Vesta, Marlin's older sister, and I live with them now. They take really good care of me, but I wish Mom and Dad were still here."

I didn't know what to say. "Sorry." I said finally. We were walking down the long hill from Mineral Town to Forget-Me-Not Valley and, somehow, I became reluctant to say goodbye to her.

"Don't be." she said. "It wasn't your fault, Jack." Her right hand touched the back of my left, and I stretched my fingers out. We were holding hands, fingers intertwined like puzzel pieces. She smiled at me. I smiled back. We stayed that way the rest of the walk, which ended at the bridge.

"That's my house," Celia said, pointing to the small, two-story building farthest from the bridge. "Come visit anytime; Vesta is a great cook and a wonderful person. You'd like her."

"I just might take you up on that offer." I said. "When you get to Jon's farm, my room is the old shed near the biggest field."

"Okay." she said. "Bye, Jack."

"See ya later, Celia."

As I was sitting in the pasture later, I though of Celia. She was pretty and down to earth, which was more than I could say about the girls in NYC. And, after everything that had happened to her, she was so cheerful! She's perfect a voice in my head said.

I quickly shushed the voice. After all, what chance would I have with her? After all, I-

"Jack!" I immediately stood up to see Celia running towards me, something bundled in her arms.

"What's wrong?" I jumped over the fence and ran towards her, only to see her crying.

"The dog...it isn't breathing!" She was right, the dog's chest wasn't rising.

"Give it here!" I demanded. She did, and I used what little knowledge of animal CPR I had.

I got lucky.

Within moments, the dog was concious.

A female with a large stomach.

"She's pregnant." I told Celia, who was now crying from joy. "Due pretty soon, from what her teats look like."

"You're kidding."

"I'm completely serious. If she's yours, you should build a box big enough for her puppies to all fit in, and tall enough that they can't get out. And put some blankets in it and feed her puppy food for the extra nutrients."

"Y-Yes! I will. Thank you, Jack!" She threw her arms around my neck, and I flushed at the contact.

"No problem." I stuttered. I just might stay here for a while.