Chapter Three

As I strived to catch up with Dirk, I happened to glance to my left before turning down the path and saw the Bazaar grounds in person for the first time.

I glanced at Dirk, who had happened upon Antoinette sitting beside a shimmering waterfall on an old wooden bench and was talking to her, before I paused to peer in; deciding that he wouldn't notice, he had the same look from before on his face.

It didn't look like much, all the stands were covered in nice quilts that were probably made by the residents of the town; but I could tell that it was a valuable, well cared for place in the town, no weeds grew between the stones that made up the pathway and it was very well kept, making me wonder who watched over it.

I wanted to stop and look around, but in the corner of my eye I could see Dirk gesturing at me so I comforted myself with the fact that I could look around tomorrow without anybody around. I turned on my heel and sauntered towards Dirk and Antoinette.

I hadn't noticed before, but she seemed to be wearing designer clothes; she had to be loaded or something. Her short, and very oddly coloured, blue hair was straight and had a navy ribbon dangling from it and her narrowed eyes, like her hair, were an unusual colour- a fiery pink with a tinge of pink. Her, appearingly designer, clothes consisted of a white shirt with frills near the top, and cuffs on the ends of the sleeves where her pale skin showed. Underneath the shirt she was wearing a dark blue, and light blue striped skirt that was unnaturally poufy and did not look like anyone else could pull it off, maybe it was tailored. She was also sporting white and blue starred socks and a pair of white sandals.

The outfit would have looked ridiculous on me, but somehow she made it work; oddly enough.

"This is her, Anita; she owns the farm up north now." He said, seemingly nervous around her as his eyes flashed as he turned his gaze on me, before he returned to Antoinette.

"Cool." Antoinette began sounding bored, and reaching her hand towards me. "I'm Antoinette. I live beside Raul's shop with my Dad, Claude." After shaking my hand once, she raised her hand in the air and waved slightly, before muttering her goodbye's and continuing down the pathway in front of us, before turning left and heading up a hill or something.

Dirk sighed, as he watched her leave before turning back to me and returning to his normal way of speech.

All of a sudden, the signs clicked together; his nervousness, how he was staring at the ridges- that she was on, and his excitement when we came out on the other side's- how he began acting stupid.

He liked Antoinette. It came out suddenly, a fit of laughter even though I should have known that he would like her as they had been rivals in the game. I guess I figured that this prancing, plotting and joyful retard wouldn't actually like the seemingly stone-cold Antoinette that didn't seem to care for him or anyone at all.

"What?" He asked confused, his eyebrow raised as he watched the last of my giggles fade. Through the tree line along the, from what I assumed was the skateboarding or snowboarding hill, I saw Antoinette's hair peeking though the branches.

"You like…" I paused, clutching my stomach and giggling again as his green eyes widened in disbelief. "Antoinette!" I exclaimed, still laughing at the realization.

His face paled and his eyes widened even more, although it should have been impossible. I must have really surprised him.

The blue spot in the bushes had been replaced by a pale spot with purple on it, she must have turned when she heard her name.

My giggles had stopped, but a smirk still rested on my lips as I watched Dirk glance between me and Antoinette, who was clearly eavesdropping.

"I…" Another glance was sent her way as his face began to redden. "Come on." He muttered, taking off towards the windmill to compose himself before we had the talk he had to know was coming.

I, on the other hand, took my sweet time wandering over there; knowing that he wouldn't talk coherently if I went straight over and began interrogating.

As I passed the hotel, I saw a face surrounded by blonde curls looking out; she, I was thinking it was Daisy, was probably wondering what was happening.

As I rounded the windmill, I saw Dirk twiddling his thumbs and biting his lip as he rested beside a tree trunk.

"Yes. I like… Antoinette." He murmured, a faint redness still on his pale cheeks as he twirled a piece of grass between his fingers.

I continued over to him, still smiling as I plopped down beside him on the lush grass.

"Aren't you gonna laugh again?" He flatly said. Staring me in the eyes, no emotion in his usually sparkling green eyes.

I frowned briefly, before sighing at him.

"No, I didn't mean it like that. It's just you, the joyful retard, liking Antoinette, the girl with no emotion, that surprised me. That's the only reason I laughed." I explained reassured as I saw his eyes light up again as a smile broke out on his face and his previous frown crumpled away; really this kid was too trusting and innocent for the world. But it was a nice change from a world where people suspected everyone of everything.

"Really? You don't think it's dumb?" He questioned, dumbfounded that I didn't care.

"No! Why would I think that? Love happens, no matter what other people say!" I exclaimed, making him feel foolish.

Instead of responding, he pulled me into a hug and grinned before fully taking in what I said.

"I don't know about loving her…" He carried off, giving a wistful glance towards the skating/ snowboarding course where Antoinette was hanging out.

I stood up and, after brushing the grass off my jeans, helped him up off the ground.

"Come on, let's finish my tour! Race ya to the hotel!" I yelled excitedly, taking off to get a head start as he finished brushing the dirt off his jeans.

I ran around the windmill, before Dirk was behind me; I could hear his footsteps falling on the soft grass.

Just as I was sprinting up the slight hill to get to the hotel, I felt a surge of pain at the back of my head as Dirk rudely yanked on my hair.

I stopped short to yell at him, or maybe trip him, but he continued on; beating me to the Hotel.

I glared and rolled my eyes as he opened the hotel door for me and bowed as I strode past him. Shortly after I entered the marvelous hotel, I heard the door softly shut behind me after a bell rang briefly, warning the owners of our presence, as Dirk made his way over to me.

The first thing I noticed about this place was that everything screamed expensive, from the gorgeous marble tile that was placed upon the floors to the long, flowing, red drapes that covered the many windows.

The windows were narrow, but almost stretched to the second story, and they let in sunshine that somehow seemed brighter in here than it was outside. There were a few portraits, of landscapes, hanging among the light blue walls; no doubt painted by Angelo.

The layout was fairly simple; the area for socializing or the waiting area was obviously on the right side as tables and chairs, that looked extremely comfortable, were spread out leisurely around the room.

On the left side, there were a few more tables and more portraits, and the front/main desk was in the top left corner. Behind it were a few doors going who knows where, and a bookshelf that was filled with various books and loose sheets among them.

The front desk was what caught my attention, unlike the rest of the hotel; which was well kept and pristine, it was a giant mess. There were pages everywhere, and nothing was organized; at all. It reminded me of what happened when I first opened the closet, it was a disaster zone.

Directly in the centre of the hotel, which was a lot more massive than it seemed at first glance, was a beautiful marble staircase. A red rug, the same shade as the drapes, ran up the first set; before the staircase met a wall and broke off towards the east and west sides of the wall. There were other red rugs running up the second level of stairs, along with the flat part that led to two large mahogany doors with plaques in the centers of them on either side of the original staircase.

It was a magnificent place, a lot more extravagant than all the other houses that I had seen already on this tour.

"Dirk!" A loud girly voice screeched, this time female. Or so I hoped, or my ability in reading gender through someone's voice was screwed. If so, I blame Bieber; that waste of space was still screwing with me although I was likely in a different dimension.

A loud door slam followed the voice, followed by the soft thuds of feet hitting the ground as she descended the staircase.

I turned my eyes away from the painting I had been glancing at, and saw a short, but not midget sized, girl with bouncy blond curls bounding towards us.

As she ran closer, I saw that she was obviously the maid, Daisy was my guess; a large pink feather duster was clutched in her hands, and a pink dress on to match, with the exact same shade. It was quite simple, a flower pattern underneath the creamy white apron, not a speck of dirt on it, and a simple pink design on the upper half. Taking the outfit, or her job, seriously she was also wearing a maid's hat, with a full purple bow set in the middle.

She rushed past me in a pink and white whirlwind, right into Dirk's arms where he picked her up, and twirled her around happily as she giggle before he set her back down with a smile on his face.

"You haven't been here in, like, forever!" She exclaimed bubbly as her grin grew wider. "And what's with the new style?" She added on curiously, her brown eyes flashing with emotion as she examined him.

Before he could get a word in, which he tried, she opened her mouth once more and continued to chatter in her high pitched voice.

"What are you doing? If you're looking for Stuart and Ethel, they're at the café for lunch; they're letting me watch the whole hotel!" She chirped happily, pausing to smile and hear Dirk's answer.

Shocking, I know; all she had done so far was talk.

"Actually, I'm here with Anita to introduce you guys." He gestured towards me, making her turn on her heel before I could say anything and pull me into a friendly hug.

"Oh! I bet you're the new farmer right? Angelo said something about you!" She questioned, barely stopping to let me nod my head before she continued on.

"I bet we'll be friends! We're like the only girls here that aren't like totally antisocial besides Sherry, but she is like always working and stuff- wait you're not antisocial are you?" She exclaimed, her eyes wide as her curls bounced around with her as she bounced on her heels in either nerves or excitement, I still hadn't decided.

"Not really." I muttered, completely disregarding what I had just said.

"Yay!" She yelled, jumping up and clapping her hands together. "As I was saying, Sherry's always working, Antoinette just doesn't talk and Freya- have you met her yet?" She chattered on, numbering the girls off on her fingertips.

I shook my head, although I already somewhat knew what she would be like; hardworking, serious and the perfect match for Ivan.

"Oh, you'll have to! She's really nice and helpful! Anywho, even though she's like awesome, she's always working in the city; and she never stops by the hotel to see me."

All of a sudden, she gasped and threw her hands up to her mouth in shock.

"Crap! Ethel and Stuart are back in ten, and I haven't even started-"Her last words were lost as she flew up the staircase and into the same room she came out of, calling out a muffled goodbye over her shoulder as she left.

Without words, I turned to follow Dirk out the door, still trying to process everything she had said.

"What do you think?" Dirk questioned, holding open the door for me again. At least he had some manners, but I wished he knew that pushing someone in water wasn't a nice thing to do. Especially if they had a bad past with water, like someone- say me.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed. Knowing that he would get what I meant.

Which he did, he chuckled at me, as he let the door fall shut behind him as we continued down the path towards main town; ignoring Angelo's house as I had already met him.

"That's Angelo's house." He pointed towards the orange house that was surrounded by vegetation that had a steady stream of smoke exiting the chimney and drifting towards the clouds.

I nodded, although I already knew. As we continued on, I noticed two bent over figures, with white hair on both of them. I would put money on it that they were Stuart and Ethel.

We continued down the path and towards the elderly couple without words as I admired the scenery.

This place really was beautiful, and I loved every minute of being here; especially with all the kind people, who I'd never known would be like this. It was actually kind of shocking to go from the atmosphere of the city with everybody going everywhere, all the time; to this peaceful town in the middle of nowhere, where everybody knew everybody. It was different, but I liked it; it was a good kind of different.

"Hey!"Dirk called out, waving at the couple whom were in my range of vision now; causing them to look up at us with questioning glances and raised eyebrows.

The girl, who I assumed was Ethel, looked like one of those grandmothers you would love to have; one that was kind, loving and pleasant to be around. As she saw me peering at her, she smiled kindly and waved slightly, which I returned before continuing my examination.

Her long since grayed hair was pulled into a loose bun and piled up her head, resting underneath a small pink hat, which had a black strip in the middle that held a small blue stone in place. She was wearing a floor length pink dress, with an apron resting in the middle of it; beneath another, larger, black strip that went around her waist. She was very short, but she made up for it with her million dollar smile.

The guy, presumably Stuart, was around the same height but had a tiny frame, unlike Ethel who filled out her dress nicely. His hair was a colourless white, was slicked back and was partially hidden by a small brown hat that had a darker strip of brown going around it. He had older style glasses, that I would never be caught dead in, and a moustache, Mario style, in the same shade as his hair. He wasn't wearing a suit, but he might as well have been as he had an elegant air around him. Instead, he wore a faded red bowtie, with pants and suspender to match; and he was wearing a seemingly homemade orange shirt with a four leaf clover surrounded by a darker coloured box in the centre.

Very old people-ish, like something my old grandpa would wear.

"Why hello Dirk, what do we have here?" Ethel questioned warmly, already smiling. Stuart just looked confused.

"I'm Anita, I now own the farm up north; I'm going to be helping with reviving the Bazaar again." I explained.

"It's about time! Welcome to the town Anita, I'm Stuart and I own the hotel in town." Stuart stated, in a steady, clear voice that was completely different from what I'd expected from him.

He reached out and gripped my extended hand in a firm handshake, nodding gruffly at me with a steady look in his eyes before he stepped back to introduce Ethel.

"This is Ethel, my wife." He continued on, taking her hand in his as she blushed. It was really cute.

"Hello, if you ever need anything; don't hesitate to visit!" She called out, continuing towards the hotel with Stuart, who had been pulling her along.

"Are they always like that?" I asked Dirk, running back up to him after watching them leave and realizing that he continued on without me.

"You mean Stuart being impatient, lovable and annoying all in less than two minutes?" He replied, raising his eyebrows at me.

"When was he annoying?" I asked, confused as I ran my mind over the events of the meeting.

"When he pulling Ethel away stupid, he's always got to be moving or working, he can't sit still." He rolled his eyes at me.

Ignoring the stupid comment and the eye roll, I decided to delve into more important matters.

"Did you know that you're a really crappy tour guide?"

He was silent, glancing at the calm, sparkling river to our right that we were following; no doubt attempting to come up with a witty comeback, which was so not happening anytime soon.

I decided to give him time by looking around the town that was coming into view, we passed Antoinette's house silently, along with the docks and Raul's shop before we turned right on the bridge.

Our feet thumped on the boards, and I got sick of the silence.

"How can it take you that long to come up with something witty?" I asked bored as we mutually decided to hit Raul's shop, I didn't look around as I knew this area would be as beautiful as the last.

He flashed a smile at me. "Who says I was thinking of something witty? Maybe I was enjoying the silence; you don't get much of that here." He stated, the smirk on his face clearly telling me that he was lying.

I rolled my eyes as we approached the door of Raul's shop.

"Please, if the tongue sticking out of your mouth didn't give it away; the smell of melting brain sure did." I remarked, enjoying the look of anger at being beaten on his face. Suddenly his face brightened a bit.

"This is weird having someone with the same sense of humor as me here, like nobody except maybe Lloyd or Antoinette get my jokes that easily." He wondered aloud, the far away distance in his eyes showing he was doing some serious brain melting right now.

"Eh, what can I say; I'm a funny person." I murmured, shrugging my shoulders and not expecting him to laugh as loudly as he began to do.

But joke's on him, as he didn't stop walking and ran straight into Raul's door. The laughter stopped and was replaced by a soft ouch, followed by him rubbing his head and smiling like a retard. Why, I wasn't sure; but if I questioned his motives I would probably fry my brain trying to find a legitimate reason.

"Come in!" An overexcited voice called from inside the building, mistaking Dirk's stupidity for knocking.

I giggled as I pushed past him into the store, a bell jingled over my head as I took in my surroundings.

Raul, as I was guessing but I was likely correct because a town can only have so many sombrero wearing Mexicans owning a store, was standing behind the counter with a cheeky grin on his face.

He was short, and I mean short, his chest was above the counter, and he was obviously using a stepping stool or something of the like. His hat, which wasn't as much of a sombrero as I first thought, was striped with shades of orange, red and a yellowish white and had a sun shaped pom pom on the tip of it. He had short, curly hair that framed his small face; he had a larger nose that topped a very Mario style moustache. He was wearing a poncho, same colours as his hat, over top of a white long sleeved shirt. Underneath that, I could briefly see green under his shirt, which meant that he was likely wearing green shorts or pants.

"Hello!" Raul practically shouted with a slight accent, and grinning at us as Dirk followed me in, rubbing his nose.

"Welcome to Zephr town! My name is Raul, and I run this shop on days the Bazaar is not open so the townspeople can get the things they need. Are you going to reside here, or are you just visiting the town?"

"I'm the new farmer, Anita, I'm… permanently living here to help with the bazaar." I replied, unsure of how permanent this arrangement was, or if I was stuck here until death do us part. So far, aside from possibly never seeing my family again, I kind of liked being stuck here for longer than a day.

His smile turned brighter, if that was possible, and he reached out to shake my hand after giving Dirk a short wave.

"Welcome to Zephr Town Anita! I am confident in your abilities as a farmer; in fact I would like to give you something!" He exclaimed, hopping off his stool and shuffling around on the bottom shelves looking for something.

I glanced at Dirk, who shrugged at me and continued observing Raul, who had begun searching the shelves behind him.

The shop wasn't very organized, there were things laying everywhere; stacked on the shelves behind him, thrown underneath the counter that he stood behind, which had a cash register on it. Beside the shelves there was a door, most likely leading to his bedroom, and assorted posters with random pictures and sayings like 'don't worry, be happy' were strung around the small, dark room. The posters were bright, most likely to distract customers from the dreary colour the room was painted, the walls were a faded black. The store had dark shaded hard wood flooring that was chipped and creaky in places, and there were a few rugs thrown about. To my direct left, there was a stand for selling something; I was about to lean closer and see what it was for when a shout rang out behind me.

"Aha!" I turned my attention towards the call and found Raul grinning triumphantly, holding onto a small packet of what I assumed were seeds, due to their similarity to the turnip seeds I had planted earlier today. He shuffled towards me and grabbed onto my hand.

"These are for you, free of charge." He stated kindly, placing the bag into my hands before heading back behind the counter.

"Thank you! What other types of seeds do you sell?" I asked, smiling as I saw that they were strawberries; my favourite.

"I can only hold one type per month; turnip in Spring, radish in Summer and eggplant in Fall. I always have fertilizer in stock, during all seasons and it is available for purchase today." He answered confidently, without breaking eye contact the whole time.

I reached into my pocket, and to my surprise, found 1 500 gold; all my old cash turned into a new currency magically. I smiled, happy knowing that I wouldn't have to wing it and eat herbs all week if I rationed it correctly.

"I'll take two bags of turnip seeds and ten things of fertilizer." I said, watching as he hit some buttons on the cash register that rang annoyingly to come up with the total.

"That will be 100 gold for the fertilizer, and 220 gold for the turnips. So 320 gold in total." I juggled with my items for a bit, trying to find a place for the seeds as I counted out the money; Dirk decided to be nice and took the seeds from me.

I set the money on the counter and was surprised to see the things already there, Raul holding his hand out expecting the money from me. I set the cash in his hands, and shrugged my rucksack off to throw the stuff in.

I pulled the things off the table and threw them in the rucksack and was happy to find that they all fit and that I could close it without trouble.

"Thank you, come again!" Raul waved as I pulled my rucksack back on and we headed out the door, randomly making me think of the Simpsons.

The bell rang again as we left, making me wonder if it got annoying for Raul; probably not since it only rang when customers came, which didn't seem to be often in this ghost town.

"Antoinette's house is down there," Dirk said, pointing to the right of Raul's shop. "But Antoinette's near the hotel, and Claude, her father, is still in the city; along with Freya, she lives over there…" He trailed off, going a few steps left and gesturing northward at a brownish two storey house with various flowers around it.

"And Ivan, my brother, they come back around 4 ish; sometimes earlier, sometimes later. You can see them today, or tomorrow." He finished, smiling slightly. "Come on."

I followed him north, towards Freya's house along the cobblestone.

"I live in that house, with Ivan. And over there, up the staircase, is the place where we were before; where Wilbur, Claire, Isaac, Nellie, their kids and Felix live." I nodded, taking in the similar layout that I knew, but somehow wasn't as familiar as I would have thought it would be.

"Now, the last stop on our tour is the café, where Marian and Joan work and live. I sometimes help out, and it's like a part-time job for me." He grinned excitedly, and led me towards a large building that had a few orange tables set around the door.

We entered the café, and I was instantly in love; from the black and white tiled flooring to the comfortable atmosphere. It wasn't overly extravagant, like the hotel, but it had a nice homey feeling that I knew would make me return, and often.

"Dirk!" A young lady called out with a slight southern accent from behind the counter, smiling kindly at us. "You missed your shift."

His face paled, his eyebrows narrowed and his mouth opened and closed a few times, this had obviously never happened before.

"But-" He began, confused. She cut him off by giggling.

"It was a joke, Dirk. You don't work until Sunday." She rolled her eyes at him as he glared at him; he surprised me by flipping her off, but she just giggled and returned the gesture to him before noticing me.

"Ooh! Is this Anita?" I nodded and waved at her. "Honey, you're the talk of the town! That's all I've been hearing all day, or afternoon I should say. I'm Marian; I work here with my grandmother, Joan." She finished, after glancing at the clock. She came out from behind the counter and hugged me, before she stepped back and I got a good look at her.

She was obviously from somewhere else, as she had a slight southern accent; in the way it would be in the normal world. Her style in general, was different somehow from everyone else's, probably in the same way my clothes didn't really fit in here. She had short, cheek length, hair was blonde and she had a white cap on, which had a bow on the top along with some small pink flowers. She was pale and her chocolate eyes stood out against her fair complexion. She wore a simple white top with a yellow and purple checker board pattern around her tiny stomach and flat chest, and really puffy sleeves. Underneath that, she was wearing a brown skirt, with a yellow ring around the bottom, and a green and yellow apron.

Unlike most people in town, her legs actually showed and she wore a pair of flats on her tiny feet.

"Grams! The new farmer is here!" She called out suddenly, towards a door that was behind the L shaped counter.

Footsteps were heard, as the door opened to reveal another Marian; but older, way shorter and larger around the waist. Joan's hair was longer than Marian's, and she had it pulled back into a tight bun and she was wearing a larger hat than Marian's, with a larger flower to match. The only thing different about their outfits, besides the size, was that she was wearing a light shawl over it.

"Hello Anita! I'm Joan, that's my grand baby, Marian and we own the café. It's closed Thursday's and Friday's." Joan stated happily, pausing to cough briefly

Marian blushed at her introduction and bit her lip thoughtfully before her eyes lit up. "Hey Dirk, wanna help us with this new recipe?" She questioned, smiling as she turned her gaze towards us.

"I'd love to but Anita-" Dirk answered, looking at me with puppy dog eyes on his face.

"I don't mind, it's five anyway; I should be getting home." I replied, cutting him off. I turned around an began heading out the door as Dirk raced behind the counter to help, Joan and Marian following him happily.

"Can you find your way?" He yelled behind me, I turned to see him tying an apron around his waist and nodded before I exited the building.

The sun was just setting on the horizon and there was a slight breeze brushing against my face. I walked towards the bridge thinking about my new life's possibilities. First with superficial things that couldn't matter less; but they did because this was my new life, and I wanted it to be as perfect as possible, no matter what.

Would they like me, would I make new friends, would Dirk and Antoinette get together? Would I like it, what was happening back on Earth, would I regret my decision to come here?

As I crossed the bridge and the breeze continued to caress my face, I smiled and I knew what my answer was.

It didn't matter if I screwed up trying to make a friend; I hadn't realized it yet, but I already had friends. Dirk was awesome, and Angelo was a possible friend. Daisy, Marian, and even Antoinette I could see myself becoming close to.

I wouldn't regret it, because even if my family wasn't here, the important thing was my happiness. And in this small town in the middle of nowhere, I could see myself growing old and living peacefully.

Besides, even if I did decide I wanted to go home, I had no way of getting there. This was my future, whether or not I liked it, and I this was my dream; my once in a lifetime opportunity and I was not going to waste it.

Long chapter is long…ish.

This took forever to write(I apologize) because the intros are boring and I want something to actually happen, so it was hard to make myself write.

There should be at least one more update before Christmas so you can look forward to that, I'm starting to lose interest in this story, but I will finish it; it will just take a longer time frame. I think I'll start updating every two weeks.

Thanks for reading/reviewing!

Happy reading!