Disclaimer: I do not own, claim to own, or pretend to own the characters involved in this work of fiction. I would very much like to claim Claire, the ultimate Mary-Sue, but even she's owned by Natsume. Dx

Enjoy, su!

Chapter 2

Karen hadn't cared much for the news of the new farmer down the way, even though she had been acquainted with her almost long before anyone else in town. While she didn't care much for her position as Supermarket heiress, it did make her privy to far more information then the town gossips, so she didn't complain as much as she wanted to. It was how she'd figured out Rick had the hots for her, after all.

Aside from being the town's next Manna, Karen was also the prettiest girl there. She had long flowing blonde hair, intelligent green eyes as bright as emeralds, flawless skin and a body most men would—and did—die for. It had been decided long ago that she was the town beauty, so she usually went to great lengths to make sure it stayed that way.

Mary had been easy enough to convince she wasn't cute; the dark-haired girl was insecure enough as it was about her glasses, so a few more words was all it took to keep her in mousy frocks and sensible shoes since their early teens. Ann may have been a bit harder, but not by much; she had been wired as a tomboy from the start, so showing her how hard it was to maintain one's appearance and telling her no man would ever marry her anyways was what sealed the deal for her. Even Elli had been a cinch!—the woman was in that frumpy nurse's outfit almost 24/7 anyways, and seeing as she was far more concerned with that old bag of hers and her runty brother, she wasn't even a threat. Besides that, she was brunette, and we all know that brunettes look boring and dull when sat next to a perfect blonde like her.

Thinking about it, Popuri was really her only threat as far as looks went. The girl had unusual bubble gum pink hair, striking red eyes, and flawless skin, all courtesy of her sickly mother as far as she could tell, and a bubbly personality that made all who met her love her. That was her biggest strength, Karen decided with a stiff nod, but her biggest weakness was her naïve (i.e., stupid) attitude and overbearing brother; Rick never let her out of his sight if he could help it, and in turn she'd turned into a spoiled brat.

But all that was going to change.

The arrival of Claire had sparked a kind of excitement that hadn't really been present in Mineral Town for a long time, and she just knew scandal was afoot.

At first, when she had first come in to inquire about seeds, Karen had ignored her while her father and the girl had chatted away, far too busy manicuring her nails to pay attention. It was only when she heard Jeff sigh that she looked up and caught a flash of golden sun blonde as it disappeared through the front door that she began to wonder if maybe she ought to have at least sized her up. But then Karen had never had any real competition, so she brushed the idea off and finished her nails for her date with Rick.

How pretty could the girl be if she bought that dumpy farm just to get out of the city?

Her answer came at the end of that first week when she came round again to meet her and her mother.

At first she'd been shocked; not only was the girl pretty, but she was TALL!—at least by Mineral Town standards anyways. Even in her dirty overalls Karen could see the long shapely legs just begging for a pair of shorts in place of the hot denim pants, her wide (but not too wide) hips that swayed with each step, and a sizable bust that would probably be just right for cupping. Her messy hair was indeed sun gold and glimmered even without the proper hair care products, skin as flawless as her own but with just a hint of a tan instead of the full-bodied one Karen got at the beginning of every Spring so she would be ready for Summer. The smile she flashed them was engaging and impish, with just a hint of innocence, and suddenly the other girl was very, VERY worried.

The new girl's eyes were what drove the final nail in the coffin; they were bright and intelligent, darker then sapphires while mirroring the endless sky at the same time. This wasn't good.

"I've actually never done anything remotely close to farming," she heard her tell Sasha. "So I'm pretty beat by the end of the day. But Zack has been really nice and been showing me how to use my tools properly so I could at least get those turnip seeds planted, and I go up to Mother's Hill each day with Gotz to collect herbs and flowers so that I'm at least making some money until they ripen."

And such a hard worker! She could see in her mother's eyes the sudden desire to keep this girl like she was her own daughter, who was lazy and would much rather take care of her looks then her duties. Obviously Claire didn't care much for her own appearance if the twigs stuck in her hair were any indication, but instead of plucking them out in embarrassment, she wore them like badges; Karen would never dare to let anything get caught in her hair except Rick's fingers, if even that!

Sasha disappeared into the back after her husband for a few moments, and immediately Karen's polite indifference toward the other girl changed to raw, animalistic rage.

"You're not welcome," she hissed quietly.

At first Claire was taken aback, but very quickly it turned into annoyance. "Apparently I am if everyone here seems to like me so far," she snapped.

Huh, she had a bit of a backbone; this one was no meek mouse like Mary. "You don't belong here, so just leave before you cause any trouble."

The blonde stared at her for half a second before breaking out into a knowing grin. "You're threatened by me," she stated.

Karen bristled at her, but did not deny it.

"You were the shit," and the purple-clad girl was surprised that the farmer gave way to cursing so easily. Obviously she had no problem with it like Elli did, who scolded you if you even said the word 'crap', "And now you think I've come to usurp your position."

Speaking elegantly and intelligently after cursing meant she was definitely smarter then Popuri, who would have cocked her head to the side and asked what 'usurp' meant before shrugging it off and returning to her chickens. "Like I said, leave before you cause us all trouble and ruin everything."

Blue eyes sparkled with the kind of intelligence usually attributed to Ann, who was notorious for knowing things about people before they even said anything. The problem with Claire was she was better at it and apparently had no scruples about using it against her; in that way, she was much more ruthless then Karen herself.

"I don't know what you think I'm here for, but moving in as the Queen Bee is the last thing I wanna do. So just shut the hell up and let me get on with my business, and you can get on with yours. I won't bother you if you don't bother me, savvy?"

Honestly Karen didn't want to let her get on with her life—just her being in town meant that she was now number two in every guy's thoughts, and Karen had never been second best at anything. So she told her to fuck off in a very unlady-like tone and smiled smugly at the cross look she received in return.

"Alright, suit yourself," Claire shrugged after she'd calmed herself. "But just remember you asked for it when this whole thing blows up in your face."

She left ten minutes later, when Jeff gifted her with a bag of grass seeds while Sasha wasn't looking (and probably wouldn't have minded since it was Claire). Karen immediately went back to primping to cover up her insecurity and fear.

End

Second chapter ftw! Honestly, don't kill me for portraying Karen this way—I don't actually hate her you know. I mean, I don't like her, but I don't hate her enough to bash her. I actually wasn't planning on turning her into the villain of this story, but a slice of life story really isn't my style, and after the way I ended one, I needed SOMEONE to instigate psycho Claire. And as the quote-unquote 'town beauty' in MFoMT, I figured it would be easy to make her really shallow and mean—far easier then I anticipated! So obviously I had to make her smart to go with it, and she just turned out awesome, which meant I had to tweak the other girls to keep up with her. Mary's shy as it is, but I made her meeker and insecure thanks to Karen, Ann has always been a tomboy, but Karen filled her head with the thought that she'd never find a husband so she wouldn't bother prettying herself up, Popuri, bless her heart, is just an airhead, and Elli is a frumpy nurse. Not much competition if you think about it, but that's the beauty of Claire, who will not only end this reign of terror, but bring out the best in the other girls as well. I'm not telling you all how since I don't even know yet myself, and the ending is still a mystery! We'll just see how this goes, yeah?

Also, I don't have any pairings decided, so I'm open to suggestions. Just send them in a review and I'll tally them up later. Thanks!

Reviews save lives. And can be used to build a raft and get the Author off the God forsaken island in Lost.