It gets interesting now!
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Chapter Three: The Cooking Festival
Sophia was already up by the time Muffy knocked at her door.
When Sophia opened it she was dressed and ready to go. Muffy, however, looked very exhausted.
"What's wrong…?" Sophia asked her as she closed the door behind her and looked at her new friend's droopy face.
"I usually wake up at ten…" Muffy said exhaustedly, "I had to work until midnight yesterday because Gustafa came in when Rock and the twins were still there… He started singing and playing his guitar and before I knew it Rock was dancing on the counter and Kassey and Patrick were singing along…" she shuddered, "Griffin had to kick them out…"
Sophia stifled a laugh with an obviously artificial cough. Muffy, however, was too tired to notice, and Sophia literally had to drag her to the beach for the Festival.
Already assembled there was Rock, a redhead she didn't recognize, a beautiful blonde, Ruby, Tim, Gustafa, Darryl, Flora; who was avoiding Darryl, and a few boys from both the Valley and Mineral Town.
Muffy, fully awake at having seen the boys, grabbed Sophia's hand and led her to the tight-knit crowd of both Valley and Mineral Town's boys.
"Hi boys," Muffy purred seductively, "I have a new friend that just got here yesterday all the way from Italy. Her name's Sophia and she's old Tak's niece."
A man in a white lab coat spoke up first. "Pleased to meet you, Sophia. My name's Tim. I'm the doctor at Mineral Town."
A sandy-haired brunette with glasses spoke up. "I'm Rick, Popuri's older brother. I work at the Poultry Farm in town. Nice to meet you."
A brunette with wide, sad eyes spoke up timidly. "Umm… I'm Cliff… Nice to meet you…"
A blonde with a blue cap with the letters 'UMA' covering most of his forehead spoke. "Grey… I work as the blacksmith assistant in Mineral Town…"
"You know Marlin and Rock, of course," Muffy cut in. Sophia nodded to the familiar faces, getting a perky 'Hi' from Rock and a grunt of acknowledgement from Marlin.
After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Muffy spoke again, much to everyone's relief. "Okay, guys, see you! I've gotta introduce Sophia here to the girls!"
And with that, Muffy took Sophia's hand and ran towards the crowd of girls.
"She's… pretty…" Cliff admitted, blushing slightly as he watched her meet Ann and the others.
The Doctor nodded in agreement. "Pretty, yes. But I'll have to talk with her without Muffy present to determine if she has a mind of her own or not."
Rock shrugged and dug his hands in his pockets. "Whatever…"
Grey sighed deeply and stretched. "Whatever…" he repeated.
"So, Rick," Marlin asked, changing the subject, "How's Popuri? Still seeing that Kai guy?"
Rick's face lit up in fury at the sound of Kai. "No. She dumped him after he refused to commit, thank the Goddess… That guy's nothing but trouble."
"Hey," Rock said, "He isn't bad. He's cool."
The Doctor nodded in agreement, joining in on Kai's defense. "He's a good person, beneath the exterior he puts up. Despite what some may say I believe he genuinely cared about Popuri."
"The guy's a womanizer!" Rick exclaimed, his face contorted in fury, making him look both ugly and like he was choking, "He comes every summer and lures all the girls over to his 'Snack Shop' so that he can hit on them! That no good-,"
"Rick!" two voices cried out in unison.
The boys turned to see Karen and Popuri staring at them from the crowd of girls, all of the girls looking at the boys in anger.
"Some things never change, huh?" Cliff asked, sighing in relief when Ann finally looked away from him.
"Absolutely…" Gray agreed, ignoring Mary's own glances.
The boys shifted against the stares of their former girlfriends, and finally settled into talking about things like football and drinking…
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"I swear," Popuri huffed, round face puffed out in annoyance, "That stupid no-good brother of mine has no respect for my relationships…"
"Absolutely," Karen agreed, just as angry with Rick, "That idiot you call your brother is such a stupid, pasty-faced numskull I just want to…" she let her voice trail off, bitter and sad at the same time.
"Cliff is so dense," Ann chimed in, arms crossed against her chest, "I wanted to marry him and he just went on and on about how much of a tomboy I was… that jerk!"
"Dense?" Celia said sarcastically, "I've been living with Marlin for five years now and the idiot never noticed that I wanted to date him…"
"You call that dense?" Muffy added her voice to the angry chorus of scorned women, "For two years I've hit on Jack every day! The guy never once notices I want him to give me a flower, or watch the fireworks with him at the Fireworks Festival! Boys are such…"
"Morons," Flora agreed, usually calm voice alive with resentment, "Carter had never made a move on me and I live with him!"
Mary, who had been quiet and on the verge of tears when the topic of the boys came up, finally spoke up. "We agreed not to talk about them anymore!" she exclaimed, her voice breaking, "We're over them! No matter how stupid or rude or dense they are!"
Eli nodded in agreement with Mary, and Sophia, who had felt left out the whole time, inched closer to Nami, who was skulking silently in the circle.
Lumina consoled Mary while she cried and the other girls settled down. "Sorry Mary…" Popuri apologized sweetly, "It's just that Kai…"
"And Jack," Muffy added.
"And Jack," Popuri added to her own apology.
"And Rick," Karen said, making a fist.
"And my brother," Popuri added, annoyed.
"And Carter," Flora said, her voice restored to her trademark monotone.
Popuri was angry now. "And Carter…"
"And don't forget Marlin!" Celia added.
Finally Popuri burst. "Alright! All the freaking guys!" she huffed in exasperation, her pink hair swishing with her frantic movements, her voice turned sweeter when she turned to Mary, "They… hurt us. We can't just forget about it that quickly…"
Mary sniffled into Lumina's handkerchief. "I know… Grey hurt me too… But it's better not to talk about it as much as we do; it's not healthy…"
"She's right," Eli agreed, "We need to get our minds off those guys somehow…"
The girls pondered that just as a bloated man in a purple suit stepped onto the stage, monocle flashing in the sunlight. "Welcome all! I'm looking forward to good cooking this year! This year's ingredient will be… tomatoes!" he exclaimed, "Be back by noon to commence judging, contestants…"
"Shoot," Ann said, burying her face in her hands, "I don't know what to make with tomatoes!"
Suddenly an idea occurred to Sophia. "Guys," she said, making all the girls look at her, "I have the perfect idea on how to win this contest and get your minds off the boys…"
The Sicilian smiled evilly, and the girls gathered around her.
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"Darn, Sophia," Muffy said in awe as she watched the Sicilian at work, "I never knew that you could cook…"
Sophia snorted and stopped mixing her sauce to turn to Muffy. "Doubting an Italian can cook is considered an insult," she said as a matter-of-factly, "Our mothers teach us… It's kind of a family tradition that the women in the family pass the skill of cooking down."
The girls were all gathered in the Inner Inn's kitchen, cooking.
Though it had never been heard of, the eleven girls were working on the same dish. They would enter it under the name 'The Girls'. Eli had checked with Mr. Gourmet before they did it just to be safe, and now they were actually having fun.
Karen, Flora and Muffy were left out of the cooking process since they had infamy of being terrible cooks. Sophia, Ann, Eli and Celia were cooking the actual food while Lumina, Mary, Popuri and Nami chopped the vegetables and ran around the kitchen supplying the cooks with the necessary ingredients.
"That smells delicious…" Popuri purred as she brought some oregano to Sophia, who was in charge of the sauce.
"It's my special marinara sauce, homemade, all organic ingredients… Perfection…" Sophia said, totally immersed in the cooking process.
Ann bit her lip while she stirred the pasta a bit. "Do you think Ruby will mind that we're using the kitchen, Nami?"
The redhead shrugged, handing some diced peppers to Muffy, who took it to Sophia. "We got here first, and although Ruby cooks for these things, I think she went to your house to use the kitchen there, Lumina…"
Lumina, the youngest of the group at sixteen, nodded. "Yep. She asked grandma if she could and she said yes."
Mary laughed while she handed some more chopped veggies to Karen. "This is fun!" she exclaimed, "Like something out of one of those sisterhood novels!"
The girls laughed at that. It was fun… and something about cooking together bonded them in ways they never would have in just three hours.
"Think we'll win?" Eli asked as she returned from the fridge with some parsley which she arranged beautifully on the plate.
Sophia smirked smugly as she tasted her sauce. "Oh yeah, no doubt in my mind," she said, offering some of the sauce to the girls.
When they tried it, they agreed, and after just twenty minutes, they ran out of the Inn happier than they'd been in a long time, laughing as they ran down to the beach.
The judging was set to begin, and Mr. Gourmet frowned as he observed that there were less dishes to judge this year.
Well, at least Karen hadn't cooked anything… If he had to try one of those burnt monstrosities again he'd keel over and die…
"Let's get to judging!" Mayor Thomas announced, and the crowd cheered as Gourmet stepped forward to taste the first dish.
"First up is Jack!" the Mayor announced, and Jack stepped up, proudly watching as Gourmet tried his dish, "Jack made some French fries with 'special ketchup'! Let's see what Mr. Gourmet thinks…"
Mr. Gourmet smiled as he looked up from the food. "You used first class tomatoes to make this! Not only that but you added a lot of other ingredients to give your ketchup that wonderful flavor so many people get hooked on! Definitely excellent!"
Jack smiled in contentment and walked down the line. "Next is Ruby!" the Mayor announced, and the innkeeper stepped forward, a look of confidence on her plump face.
Tim and Rock cheered from the crowd, as Gourmet sampled the dish. "Ruby made something she picked up while traveling is South America!"
Gourmet finished and smiled widely at Ruby. "You never cease to amaze me, dear Ruby! Your cooking is excellent! The tomato compliments all the special sauces you added perfectly. Even though I have no idea what this is… it is definitely a perfect meal!"
Ruby bowed and walked down the line, everyone already suspecting that she'd won. "Next is Lilia!" the mayor exclaimed, and Rick could be heard cheering from the crowd. Popuri's mother walked up, face that looked so much like her daughter's smiling in pride for her dish.
"Lilia cooked some scrambled eggs with ketchup!" the Mayor announced, short penguin-like body quivering with each work he exclaimed.
Gourmet smiled again; definitely a good sign. "Not only is your ketchup on par with Jack's, but those eggs wee scrumptious! I love it! Definitely has a mother's touch!"
Lilia bowed slightly and walked back to Rick and Tim, who had come to the Valley for the sole reason of watching over her to make sure her illness didn't act up.
"Next is Doug!" the Mayor announced, and Ann's tall and redheaded father stepped up, moustache quivering as h inspected Gourmet, "Doug made a salad topped with a special tomato dressing and sliced tomatoes!"
Gourmet, like always, smiled at Doug's creation. "This is perfection… The sauce compliments the salad and fuses with everything to produce the melodious overall effect."
Doug walked down the line and finally it was time for the girls' dish. "Last but certainly not least are 'the Girls'!" the Mayor announced with a smile, "That's Ann, Eli, Karen," Gourmet cringed at that name, "Popuri, Mary, Muffy, Celia, Flora," Gourmet cringed again, "Nami, Lumina and last but certainly not least Sophia who just moved here from Sicily!"
There were less cheers, as the boys were not on good terms with the girls, but enough nonetheless. Gourmet hesitated just as Thomas began to describe the dish. "This team effort yielded spaghetti with meatballs topped with 'Special Sicilian Marinara Sauce!'"
Gourmet finally tried it, eyes squeezed shut…
The crowd waited for his reaction…
The girls were holding their breath…
Sophia smirked…
Gourmet jumped up and in one fluid motion licked the whole portion off the plate with one giant lick from his tongue. The crowd gasped, but the girls were still silent…
"This… is… truly… perfection… you… have… not… lived… until… you… taste… this… dish…! Without… a… doubt… 'the… Girls'… are… the… WINNERS!!!"
The girls jumped for joy, hugging and squealing at the prospect of winning (mostly Karen and Flora). The crowd cheered wildly for them and the guys, shocked in the corner, gaped at them as they received the prize.
After being congratulated, Muffy screamed that they were getting drinks on the house at the bar and as one, the girls rocketed off towards the Blue Bar (Karen leading, of course).
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The next is rather short while this one was LONG... Te next will be the last one submitted today. R&R...