Chapter 2

"I don't know how your parents trust you to sell all of this stuff, Petula!" Leafos declared as she cast a critical eye over the merchandise in the piñata accessory store. "You have no fashion sense of your own; no wonder most piñatas these days look like disasters!" She plucked a medallion from a bargain bin and made a most unpleasant face when she saw her likeness inscribed on the 100CC accessory.

"Ohmigod, Leafos, I can't believe you just, like, waltzed in here just to insult me!" Petula stomped a foot behind the counter. "And you have no idea what you're talking about; your clothes are, like, totally gaaaaah-ross!" She gave Leafos a dismissive gesture with a pawed glove.

"Hmph! At least I don't parade around with a fishbowl on my head!" Leafos planted her hands on her hips and shot a sharp glare back at Petula.

"Um, DUH, it's called a 'fashion statement', and all of my friends say it looks totally cute!" Petula knocked on the side of the fishbowl as she talked, frightening its occupant. "Your clothes are just a huuuuuuuuge mess. On the other hand, I, like, have an awesome color beam going on."

"You mean 'color scheme,'" Leafos rolled her eyes.

"What-ever, Leafos," Petula waggled her hand dismissively again.

"Hmph, I bet you couldn't transfer your wonderful 'color scheme' onto someone else," Leafos turned around as if she made to leave and smirked at Petula.

"What do you mean?" Petula gave Leafos a blank stare.

"I bet you can't dress anyone up to look as…good as you do. Teehee!" Leafos giggled.

"I could make anyone look, like, totally adorable! Much better than YOU could!" Petula pointed an index finger at Leafos with one hand and pounded the counter with the other.

"Oh, really, now?"

"Yah." Petula had a notoriously expansive vocabulary.

"I have an idea…" Leafos walked over to the counter and leaned on it. "Let's both make over a girl from around here; whoever made over the girl who looks better wins!"

"OH, you are SOOOOOO on!" A smirk crossed Petula's lips. "Dibs on that teeny girl in the giant suit thingy!"

"…that's Maxime…you don't even know her name and you expect her to agree to this?" Leafos raised an eyebrow at Petula.

"Yah, I do, I can be VERY pervasive, Leafos."

"I think you mean 'persuasive…'" Leafos rolled her eyes yet again. "But," She leaned forward and leaned her head on a fist, "you forfeit if you can't get her to agree!"

"What-ever."

"I'll take Leena. She has difficulty saying 'no' to anything…and God knows there's room for improvement with her looks…" Leafos shook her head. She made eye contact with Petula and stuck out a gloved hand. "May the most fashionable woman win!"

Petula grasped Leafos' hand in her own in a brief handshake. "Oh, it is, like, SOOOOOO on!"

"…and if you dig a little hole like this and put the seed into it, it grows twice as fast!" Seedos explained with a beaming mask as he tenderly pushed the dirt back over a little opening in the ground with Leena's spade before handing it back to her. She smiled back at him, her face turning a shade of red that usually isn't biologically possible as she watered the small sprout that had sprung up from the ground without taking her wide eyes off Seedos.

"GAH, Leena, you're overwatering it, you're overwatering it!" Seedos' eyes widened and Leena quickly yanked the watering can back up.

"Oh…sorry!" Leena apologized as she dropped both her watering can and spade onto the ground.

"No problem, just don't do it again…plants don't like being overwatered too much, you know…" Seedos scolded absentmindedly as he fished through one of the pockets of his backpack.

"I'm still…er…sort of new at this-" Leena looked down at her feet.

"I said 'no problem,'" Seedos pulled a bluebell seed and a bullrush seed out of his backpack and offered them to Leena. "Here, just do what I showed you with these guys and they should grow up well!"

Leena smiled and took the seeds from him, blushing when their hands made contact for a brief moment.

After a short silence, Seedos cheerfully said "…well, see you soon," and bumbled towards the path to the Village.

"W-wait! Where are you, um, going?" Leena turned around and called after him.

Seedos looked over his shoulder. "My work here is done, Leena, you know I can't loll around in one place for too long!" He gave a quick wave and resumed rambling towards the Village.

He passed Leafos on his trek and she smirked patronizingly at him.

"Hello, Seedos, what were you-" she began to prattle, but Seedos held up a hand to silence her.

"Don't talk to me," he said without stopping.

"Oh, excuuuuuuuse me, little brother, but I was just wondering-"

"That counts as talking!" Seedos retorted without breaking his clumsy stride.

"Humph," Leafos shook her head, she'd have to find out what he was doing hanging around Leena's garden later. She turned to a perplexed-looking Leena and painted on a plastic grin, after all, she was here on business.

"Leena! How are you today?" Leafos lilted as she made her way into the garden, suppressing a look of disgust as she quickly glanced around the garden.

"Um…I've been better…" Leena sighed as she looked at the seeds in her hand.

"I was hoping to ask you something…can you do me a bit of a favor?" Leafos gave Leena a fake warm smile.

"What do you need?" Leena tore her gaze away from the seeds and reluctantly made eye contact with Leafos.

"I sort of made a little bet with Petula…" Leafos scratched her head. "We're trying to see who has the best fashion sense by giving makeovers to a couple people and I was wondering…if you'd be my project!" Leafos grinned broadly and motioned towards the highly confused girl, as if Leafos was excited for her.

"I don't really…er…want to be a part of something like that…sorry, Leafos…" Leena turned her attention back to the seeds in the palm of her hand and a happy smile flickered across her face.

Leafos frowned. "Are you positive?"

Leena bit her lip and nodded and did all she could to avoid eye contact with Leafos.

Leafos let out a long, drawn-out sigh. "Oh, dear, if only you'd agree, I'm sure my (repulsive) little brother would look at you twice if I made you over!" Leafos tried her hardest to look honest, but she couldn't stop a smirk from tugging at the corners of her lips. She knew that even mentioning her detested little brother would make Leena her mindless slave.

Leena looked up, her eyes wide as (much to Leafos' delight) she processed what had just been said. "Um…all right, Leafos, I'll let you try." She smiled slightly at the older girl as she lovingly pocketed the seeds she had been ogling over.

"GOOD!" Leafos lit up and put her arm around Leena, ushering her forcefully towards her (Leafos') house. "We better get started…no offense, but you've got a LOOOONG way to go!"