A/N: Hey, sorry it took a little while for me to update. The document uploader on ffnet was being a little screwy... anyways! Hope you enjoy this next chapter!

"What?"

"You heard me. Dates, gifts, courting… the whole damn deal. I thought this would be easy."

Angela stared at me incredulously as I reenacted the whole conversation between my father and I. With every syllable I sounded out, her eyes grew wider and wider.

"I can't believe this. I thought it would be so simple! Dating, blue feather, marriage, bam! Divorce!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air in exasperation. I ran my fingers through my white-blonde hair for the tenth time in the past few minutes.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, okay? Jeez." I replied, looking down at my shoes. She sighed.

"I didn't mean to blow up. I'm just… frustrated, all right? I didn't expect this to… take so long."

"Yeah, me neither. I was pretty sure my father was completely oblivious to the whole 'dating scene', but I was wrong… Anyways, if you're expecting me to give you gifts, forget it. But there are some things that are necessary for my father to witness."

"Oh, you are just so sweet, dear." She said bitterly, putting her hands on her hips as she stood in the doorway of her home. I rolled my eyes.

"Sorry! Isn't stripping down to my underwear to get that freakin' blue feather good enough for you? I need to buy you perfume, too?" I asked exasperatedly. She laughed.

"Oh yeah. That was hilarious!" She exclaimed as she snickered to herself. I rolled my eyes.

"Anyways… I should probably leave. Let's say we meet up in the Inn this afternoon at three when my father stops by for his tea. Got it?"

"Sure," She sighed, looking exhausted. With that, I waved curtly and left her house, feeling my muscles ache from all of this tension. These past few days have been awful on my health. I need at least a day to myself, but somehow I knew I wasn't going to get one of those for a while.

Angela and I met up in the Sundae Inn before my father did so we could plan a little.

"Okay, this time we have to be even sappier. I'm talking nicknames, flirtatious touching, ridiculous comments, the whole deal. You with me?" I asked, feeling fidgety. She sighed and nodded as she picked at a fingernail.

"But we can't touch for too long, okay? I might gag."

"You might gag? Really?" I asked incredulously. She was the one who was touching cow crap all day! Where was the sense in this woman? She narrowed her eyes dangerously at me.

"Whatever. As long as your father believes it, it doesn't matter." She said rather loudly. I suddenly realized that we really weren't being too cautious about any of this. And, to make matters worse, I felt a pair of eyes on my back, but I didn't turn around. Luckily, my father walked in moments later. He smiled at us as he came in, but didn't make a huge fuss like usual.

"So, darling, I just wanted to thank you so much for the lovely pendant you got me today." Angela commented, batting her eyelashes at me. My father turned around to give me a thumbs-up before returning to the counter. I smiled devilishly.

"Not a problem, dear. Anything for you!"

Happily, my father received his tea and sat down at a table close to us. Now for the authentic theatrics. Cautiously, I began to stroke her arm.

"You just look so, um… beautiful today. I can't keep my eyes off of you." I said painfully, knowing that I sounded completely off. She giggled.

"I don't think I've ever met someone as sweet as you!" She replied happily, twirling a piece of auburn hair around her thin fingers. Damn, had she been practicing? Sure, it was cheesy, but the acting was way better than before. I smirked.

"My Goddess, Angela, I think you might actually be the one for me." I stated contentedly as my father stole obvious glances at our table.

"You're embarrassing me!" She exclaimed as my father polished off his herbal tea. As he passed me to leave, he gave me an indecipherable expression: somewhere between ecstatic and shocked. As soon as he left, we both let out sighs of relief.

"Bravo, bravo!" Came a voice from behind us. I instantly felt my face drip of all color as I whirled around to see none other than Julius himself. He was leaning nonchalantly against the doorframe my father had just walked out of, clapping slowly.

"Aherm, uh, what?" I sputtered, not exactly sure what to say to that. Did he know what we were up to?

"I saw your little charade there. Quite believable, if you ask me. However, the dear's and darling's should be a little less forced, don't you agree?"

The cat was definitely out of the bag. I groaned angrily, feeling a sense of overwhelming fear rush over me. If my father found out I was lying to him, I would be dead. Killed. Murdered. Massacred.

"Please," I said in an exasperated tone, clutching my hands together, "I beg you. Don't tell my father."

He laughed melodically, planting his hands on his slender hips as he strode towards our table.

"You think I'm going to tell Mayor Hamilton?" He asked, as he sat down at our table, "Of course not. This is way too fun."

"Fun?" Angela asked, clearly befuddled.

"Yes! Pulling the old wool over his eyes, eh? How exciting!"

I rubbed my temples, feeling utterly confused. What was he trying to insinuate here?

"So, what are you saying?" Angela asked as if she had read my mind. He fiddled the tips of his fingers together capriciously.

"I'm saying that this town is drab! Boring! Dullsville! I want some excitement… and what more exciting is a scandal in the works, hm? What exactly are you guys trying to pull off, here?"

Angela and I stared at each other dubiously, not sure if we should expose our scam to Julius.

"Oh, come now! I won't be a bother." He said, as if he knew of our insecurities. Finally, I sighed. If he already knew this much, we might as well tell him the whole spiel.

"Well… you know how I'm running for mayor unopposed, right?" I asked slowly, trying to think of how exactly I should explain my predicament. Julius nodded politely, urging me to go on, "Um, you see, my father told me I have to get married before my coronation. And seeing as there were only a few candidates for marriage left, I had to choose one. Unfortunately for me, Luna moved away, Phoebe is going on some expedition with Calvin, and Selena hates my guts more than anyone on this planet."

Angela rolled her eyes next to me as she kicked my shin, hard.

"Ow!" I exclaimed, "What was that for?"

"You act like it's so horrible that I was the only one left. I could back out, you know!"

I sighed, blowing a piece of platinum blonde hair out of my face. Julius chuckled a bit.

"This is great!" He exclaimed.

"Hardly!" I opposed, "I have to buy her a house, and anything that she needed to furnish it. Talk about expensive."

"It's not like you would use the money for anything, anyways!" She cried in her defense, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.

"I've had to pay in other ways, too!" I retorted as I mimicked her position. Julius had the most amused look on his face.

"How, how? Tell me!" He said, his eyes lighting up like pink fireballs.

"The other day, I had to fish out a blue feather that had fallen into the Caramel River. And when I finally grabbed it and got out of the disgusting lake, Luke stole my clothes and went running off with them! So I had to borrow her clothes to go home. I looked like a grandma!"

Angela grunted in disgust, not even bothering to reply.

"Sounds like you two are in a bit of a pickle, eh?" He asked as he pulled up a chair to sit at our table.

"That's an understatement…" Angela muttered.

"Well, when are you guys planning on 'getting married'?"

"Hopefully soon, but my father has this whole policy on 'courting and dating' beforehand. I was about ready to give her the feather today, but noooo, it's against what is 'proper'. Ugh." I ranted angrily. Julius laced his fingers together thoughtfully as he stared blankly into the distance.

"Hrm," He grunted, "What's going to happen after you get married?"

"Divorce!" Angela exclaimed as if it was the winning answer on a game show.

"Really, now? In-ter-est-ing."

Angela and I nodded slowly as a silence engulfed the area for a moment. I was itching to know where he was going with this, and if he was going to help us or not.

"Oh, this is so scandalous! I absolutely love it. And I was just thinking about how my life was getting boring… Anyways! I think I might have a way to help you."

"What is it?" Angela asked anxiously, her eyes wide.

"Well, seeing as you guys basically have the whole plan figured out," He began, looking deep in thought, "I could just… you know, further plant the idea in the Mayor's head. How does that sound?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You know, work 'behind the scenes', in cognito! I'll just bring you guys up to the Mayor in a conversation or something." He mused, "I'll say, 'So, you're son and Angela are getting pretty attached, aren't they? Every time I see them, they're together!' Sound good?"

I nodded vigorously. I didn't completely understand this guy's fascination with a 'scandal' such as this… but hey, who cares? The more help, the merrier!

"Fabulous!" He exclaimed, clapping his hands together in a silly fashion, "It's like I'm a spy, or something! Okay, what's my first mission?"

Oh god, I could already tell I was going to get annoyed with him.

"Be here tomorrow and strike up a conversation with the Mayor, similar to the one you just acted out," Angela told him, smirking as she did so. Julius nodded as Angela continued to give him advice on what to say and what not to say.

We finally said our goodbyes at around four that afternoon. I had barely realized that I had taken an extra thirty minutes on my break than I should have. Hurriedly, I darted towards the Town Hall and burst through the doors exasperatedly. Elli was there, sitting patiently like always. She gave me a concerned frown.

"Where were you?" She asked politely as she crossed her legs. I shrugged, scratching the back of my neck as I struggled to catch my breath.

"You know… just… around." I panted as I went to sit next to her. The crease in her forehead deepened significantly.

"You've been worrying me, Gill." She said softly as she stacked some papers, "Always running off during breaks, looking absolutely exhausted… it's just not you."

Anxiously, I fought against the butterflies in my stomach while I tried to formulate an answer. Was I going to have to lie to her, too?

"Don't worry about it," I waved her off as her shoulders slumped in frustration.

"But I am worried!" She exclaimed, seeming frazzled. I sighed deeply, staring at the mahogany desk in front of me. Suddenly, the room grew very still. I couldn't even hear the sound of my own breathing.

"I've noticed you have been hanging around with Angela lately," She commented, not looking at me. I felt my eyes widen.

"Um, yes."

"Do you like her?" She asked, almost in an accusing tone. I gulped. To lie, or not to lie; that is the question!

"Er… I don't know?" I replied in a shaky tone. Well, it wasn't exactly lying, or telling the truth, either. Maybe she would just drop the whole thing and forget about it. But, alas, luck was never on my side. She whipped her head in my direction and glared at me.

"Why are you lying to me?" She asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Your father said you two were going to get married soon. How could you not know if you like someone if you're going to marry them?" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air. I gulped.

"Uh, well, you see…" I began, but I wasn't too sure where to go after that. She crossed her arms over her chest as her lips turned into a thin, tight line. I had never seen her look so… scary. She opened her mouth to speak, but shut it suddenly as if she had come to a sudden realization. Flustered, she stared back down at the desk where she was filling out a mountain of paperwork. She didn't speak to me for the rest of the day.

I tried hard to concentrate on my work for the day, but I felt fidgety and out of place. Elli didn't even look at me once; she just kept her head straight ahead. The only noises that disrupted the silence were the customers that ambled in and out.

Finally, I left work as soon as possible and headed towards my house where I could just flop onto my bed and rest.

But I had to make one small pit stop, first.

--

The next morning, I woke up to a bird tweeting happily outside my window. Rubbing my bleary eyes, I stood from my bed and headed over to my bureau. I yanked open the door, having completely forgotten about my pit stop last night. A mountain of white tank tops, red vests, blue jeans, and flamed-crested bandanas toppled onto my feet. I smiled to myself, feeling awfully devilish.

After I ironed my pants and shirt, I slipped them on and headed down the stairs; I wasn't quite ready for another day of scandal and secrecy.

One thing is for certain, though, I said to myself as I headed outside, someone on this island is going to have a worse day than me. Surprise, surprise, there was Luke in the distance, standing in a tiny shirt and shorts that were way too small.

He must have had a rude awakening when he woke to find nothing but dust in his bureau.

A/N: Heheheh... Gill is a trickster! Let me know what you thought!