Name: Kathy
Most Likely to: Have fun
Least Likely to: Flutter
It was a week ago, today that Gill had said those harsh words to me; I had made my farm prosper waking up at six in the morning and not going to bed till one in the morning. Sure, the hours were getting to me, but I was still alive and that was a plus. I actually did bathe in the river until I could get the shower. In fact I still do. I had asked Owen to help me dig a little canal off to the side of the river in a cluster of trees and when he asked why, I had explained to him that I had no shower in my bathroom and that using the sink to bathe myself wasn't really working. Plus, it cost too much so I didn't want to use it. I walked down there and walked behind the pinned down branches and I had ducked into the water leaving my clothes where I could see them. Nothing happened really, so I stepped out of the heated water and dried off. I had realized the water would be too cold in the winter so I had bought a bonfire set and I had found a little brick and I dug underneath the 'tub' and I flipped it upside down starting the fire heating the stones. Yesterday I had gone up and smashed the rock thanks to my mining skills acquired by spending five hours in there per day, and asked the owners of the animal shop how much the available animals cost. They said they had chickens, cows, and sheep. I realized it would be more profitable to buy the chickens for one they grew up faster and two I would only have to buy one. So I then went down to the carpenters where I asked how much it would be to buy a chicken coop when Bo came running in saying something about Luke cutting the Mother Tree Root. He was talking about that giant root, I saw the day before that when the Gidiot came up and asked me if they hadn't cut it yet. I was glad about that. It meant I could get to the mine quicker which meant more time to prove the Gidiot wrong. I was happy because today I could do many more things. I might even get to the bottom of the mines again and do some fishing! I started to walk with my hammer in hand to the mines when I saw Kathy. She was walking towards me and I waved. She started talking to me and asked me something startling, she asked,
"Are you and Owen going out or something?" I started to laugh I told her,
"Don't worry about it Hun, I'll hook you up with Owen. Anyways he's like a big brother to me and I'm like a lil sis to him! At least I hope." Kathy was blushing during my entire rant. She then said,
"You remind me of someone I used to know." I hopped up and down excited that I reminded her of someone,
"Who?! Who?! WHO?!" She said silently,
"You wouldn't know her, but she was…wait IS THAT HER LOCKET?!" I looked down and said,
"This? A lady I met five years ago gave me this." I was a little worried because I was trying not to divulge the fact that my father was abusive and I was a runaway who didn't finish high school. I was only a freshman when I ran away. I didn't need pity. From anyone. Kathy took my locket and started to open it when I realized she was taking the locket off of my neck. I grabbed the chain and yelled,
"Kathy! Give that back! She gave it to me before she died!" Tears were in my eyes as I realized that my idol used to live here and that I would have to give my prized possession up. Kathy still kept pulling though, I kept pulling, and eventually the locket's chain broke. The fat tears were rolling down my face as I gathered the locket and chain that had never once left my neck. Kathy realized what she had done and started sputtering with wide-eyes,
"Oh my goddess I'm sorry Akari. I'm so sorry!" I walked away towards the blacksmith's pulling out a rare metal. I thought it fitting she looked like a goddess so the last remnant of her should have something pertaining to a goddess. I asked Mira to make a chain out of that ore for a locket. She nodded and ordered Owen and Julius to work on it. I would come back tomorrow. Instead of leaving however, I sank into a chair and leaned forward looking at the floor. Kathy was still flitting about me saying sorry. The locket felt warm inside of my palm. I finally got annoyed of Kathy's fluttering. So I yelled at Kathy,
"Stop! You're ruining your pretty!" She stopped and asked,
"My pretty?" I sighed,
"Yes, your pretty. You are the type of girl who doesn't mind getting dirty and is alright with flirting, and hardly ever blushes, but when you do blush, it is really pretty. That is your pretty. Now stop acting like a butterfly ruining it." She blushed and I added, "See what I tell you? Anyway answer this and it'll be all forgiven." She nodded yes and I finished, "Who was it that I remind you of?" She laughed,
"I thought you would have figured it out by now!" I laughed glad to see Kathy back to her usual self. She added, "Well think about it. That's my answer." Think about it I did. I thought about it the entire rest of the day and once I got into my bed and closed my eyes I realized. Mrs. Hamilton. As in Mayor Hamilton. As in Gill Hamilton. I sat up wide-eyed shocked by that realization then closed my eyes and shook my head then said,
"Ah Hell!"
The next day I went up to Kathy during her working hours at the bar and said I figured it out. She said,
"Really! I thought it would take you forever!" I quickly said,
"Shu-SHUT UP!" Embarrassed that I had taken that long, my face started to heat up. She said,
"Aw~ look who's blushing! You're so adorable!" I pushed my newfound friend away and said mock angry,
"Stop torturing me! You Meany-head!" She laughed and asked me,
"Who are you gonna give it to Mayor Hamilton or the Gidiot?" Yes, I had let her know what Gill had said to me and told her my personal nickname for that blockhead, can you blame me? Hey, at least I had stopped her from pounding Gill's head in. In return, however she teased me about liking the Gidiot. Me like Gidiot? Yeah right. Anyway, I answered,
"Seriously is that even a question?" She laughed out loud causing Chase to glance at us. He came over to talk to us. He said,
"What are you two laughing at over there?" We shrugged. Then Kathy gave us away by giggling. I stepped on her foot, then answered Chase's question,
"Oh we're laughing at a personal friend of mine the Gidiot." He cocked his head at me in a confused look and I replied, "Gill plus idiot equals Gidiot…" He laughed at that when I filled him in on all that had happened in the city minus the part where I was homeless and had been a runaway. He then held his chin and said,
"I can understand why Kathy asked that question. We all know, except you, that Gill was exceptionally close to his mother and was crushed when she died. That's what gives Gill his Gidiot attitude today." I rose up. Chase asked, "Where are you going?" I answered,
"To give this back. To Mayor Hamilton of course." I walked the short distance from the Sundae Inn to the Town Hall and entered and totally ignoring the Gidiot's presence asked Elli,
"Where's Mayor Hamilton?" She shrugged her shoulders and pointed to Gidiot. I sighed and said, "Gidi—er I mean Gill where's your father?" He said in an icy cold tone,
"Now you talk to me?" Oh, he was still holding a grudge after not talking to him at all. Umm how to go about this,
"Ah yes, I'm sorry for not talking to you or at least being civil. Now I ask again. Um where's Mayor Hamilton? It's urgent business concerning the…" I stopped there wondering where to go from there I couldn't say rainbows cause I could talk to Gill about that and umm well that would be a lie. I didn't lie. Ever. Well almost never. He said sighing clearly annoyed with my existence, which only served to infuriate me making it harder to stay civil,
"He's sick. Now go." I said angry at him,
"No he's not I just checked your house! He's not there!" Gill looked angry,
"You broke into our house!" I yelled back,
"NO THE FRONT DOOR WAS OPEN!" He calmed down,
"Right. Anyway if I tell you where he is it needs to be done in private." I nodded he brought me into his office then said, "He's in the city looking for a girl my mother told him to look for. Right before my mother died, she told us to look for this girl. She said she would be in her apartment, but she wasn't. I try to tell him that she probably sold it to get money cause Mom said she was a homeless girl my age." I accidentally let my eye twitch horribly, he angrily spoke, "What's your problem?!" I said,
"Not all 'homeless' people are like that you know!" He retorted,
"How would you know you probably were born with a jewel encrusted spoon in your mouth you spoiled bitch!" I shook my head and muttered,
"If you only knew…" He said angrily,
"If I only knew what?!" I spat at him,
"The HELL I went through growing up. Anyway did she say anything else about me—er uh I mean the girl?" I realized that I didn't want him to know I was that girl he would probably blame me for her death or something like that. This was the point of no return, I was "Crossing the Rubicon" if you will. He shook his head,
"Yeah, uh why do you want to know?" I rolled my eyes then he accused, "Why are you rolling your eyes?" I said quickly hopefully not too much so,
"Because I might know the girl and I know if she is the girl that she hasn't sold the locket yet cause she's trying to find that woman's family." All right, it was a slight lie. I had already found them. Sue me. He said,
"Well, she said that she had short brown hair and brown eyes and she also said uh…" I asked him,
"Uh what?" He finished looking away so as to hide the blush on his face that also went on mine,
"That she was pretty and she was as pretty as my mom and would make a good wife." Oh, shit. At least I was right not to tell him that it was me. Now I would just return the necklace under the door in the middle of the night. Wait am I blushing?! Oh, crap I gotta get outta here! WHY WON'T MY LEGS MOVE!!!!!!! Gill said,
"Akari you're blushing?" Whew, he didn't ask why I could just say yes and get outta here. I swallowed. Then he noticed. He asked,
"Akari what's in your hand?" Time slowed down and he was reaching for the locket, which I had in my hand, which would reveal everything. Shit, shit, SHIT! As soon as he reached my hand, he started to pry it apart and I pulled my hand back, but he didn't let go and he fell on top of me and as I was falling, I threw it out the window. He opened my hand then muttering, "I don't see what the big deal is…" Then he opened it and saw that nothing was in there he looked at the window and told me, "You threw it out the window didn't you?" It was more of a rhetorical question yet I still answered,
"NO!" He got on the windowsill intending to search for it. I grabbed the back of his vest and wouldn't let go. I closed my eyes and heard an,
"Akari let go." I opened one eye and saw he was holding a tomato? How did that get there? Then I saw Chase and Kathy in the background hiding behind some bushes… They both gave me the thumbs up and I knew they saved my ass from Godgilla. Oh, another name to add to my evil list of Gill nicknames…Uh oh, Godgilla is speaking what did he say,
"Is this from your farm Angela?" I said slowly,
"Uh yeah it is from my farm. I, uh, brought it to show you that I a…" I was at a loss for words when I realized that I could use what he said to me against him, "I wanted to show you that you were wrong in thinking that a mere girl could do nothing as you so proclaimed the other day." Godgilla smirked and said,
"You do realize this is the 12th of spring?" I said angrily,
"Yeah ya' think I'm an idiot bub?!" He smirked again and said,
"You do realize that tomatoes grow in the summer and not in spring?" Oh, shit so that was what he was smirking about. I felt my jaw starting to go slack when I had an idea. After death-glaring at Kathy and Chase for their huge ignoramic blunder and they slinked away quietly, I realized it had to involve lying, which I felt was necessary right now. I would ask the Goddess for forgiveness later, right now I needed to lie! So I said,
"Well turns out that my friend gave me a tomato tree last year and it grows tomatoes all year round so this would officially be my first crop as a farmer." I saw a little symbol on the front of the tomato that said. Souffle Crops. If he read that then it would all be over. With my right eye twitching, I grabbed the tomato out of his palm and said,
"Now that you've seen my first crop I shall take it to ship now if you don't mind." I walked out of there rather quickly and walked out of sight of the mayor's window. I waited until I saw Gill go back into his office and I snuck along the building staying away from the windows. I stopped for a minute thinking about singing the Mission Impossible theme song. I decided it's fine so I do it. As I'm creeping along the wall Gill leans out of the window above me and yells,
"Akari shut the f*** up!" I look at him my mouth agape and reply, harshly I might add,
"Well that was slightly unnecessary." He raised his left eyebrow and replied,
"So is singing the Mission Impossible theme song." I stuck my tongue out at him and started creeping along the wall. He shakes his head and goes back into the town hall and I find the window that I threw the pendant out of I look for the pendant and do not see it. Then somebody taps me on my left shoulder I turn around screeching,
"I'M NOT LOOKING FOR ANYTHING!" I see Chase picking in his ear and he says,
"Really Akari it sure looks like you are looking for something?" He holds the pendant up in the air and I just totally glomp him while yelling,
"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! YOU SAVED ME! AFTER TOTALLY SCREWING ME OVER! BUT STILL YOU SAVED ME!" He pushed me off of him and said,
"You are welcome. Anyway who did I save you from?" I quietly replied calmer now,
"You saved me from Godgilla! GODGILLA!!!!!!!!! He he…" Chase raised an eyebrow at my newly found nickname I exclaimed, "Hey it's all in good fun! Now what am I going to do to thank you?" He eyed me carefully and grabbed my hand and dragged me over to Daren's tree and said,
"Well, in answer to your question you could let me do this." With that said, I saw a mischievous look in his violet eyes. He leaned towards me and kissed me full on the lips. He slowly pulled back with a smile and a slight blush on his face. I sputtered searching for words,
"Well that was certainly uh forward!" He blushed and said,
"I'm sorry I did that I didn't even ask your feelings first." I held my head high to hide my blush as I said,
"That doesn't mean I didn't like it Chase!" He raised an eyebrow as I leaned in to kiss him. He grabbed my face and stroked it as we leaned in closer and our lips brushed just as we heard in a familiar twang,
"Aw! Look at the two lovebirds!" I put my forehead to Chase's chest and yelled,
"Shut up Kathy!" Chase chuckled his breath hot and for lack of a better word sexy on my face. I started to walk away to join Kathy who had gone down into the inn when Chase grabbed my arm spun me around and kissed me. I smelled the scent of oranges all around me. It was not overwhelming at all; it was just there, like orange blossoms. I moved my head downward to stop the kiss. My breath was heavy as was his and he stood there and let me go slowly giving me the pendant back as I walked down to go tell Kathy this new improvement. As I was walking I turned around and saw Chase with his eyes closed and a smile on his face as he sat on a bench; however, I almost could have sworn I saw a pale face with shocking blue eyes looking at me in sadness.
Dear Diary:
Today was bittersweet. Angela came today and had something she wanted to give to me, but she threw it out the window and I could not find it after work. Instead, I found her first, supposed crop, I knew it wasn't hers though because I saw the Souffle farm sticker on the tomato and it wouldn't have fit in her small, delicate, wait I only meant delicate because anyone would agree that she seems very frail, palm. I made her blush today so I guess that was good. Wait, why am I happy about her blushing? I do not know diary, but I know when I think of Angela I think she is crude, masochistic, non-feminine, overly energetic, dirty, smelly, politically incorrect, and over all…Damn I forgot what I was going to say…ah she's overall incorrigible. She is also incredibly shameless just kissing the blockheaded Chase Orange-head in the middle of town square where everyone can see, and making Elli get her mind off of her work because of the stupid shows she watches and then forces me to listen to what she says. Honestly, diary, I do not give a damn what a love triangle is and what Will has to do to win Angel's affections away from Charles. It's an utter waste of time if you ask me.
Sincerely Gill Hamilton