All right! It's me again! Let's get on with the story! This is going to take place near the end of winter, if you haven't guessed by now, I like short time skips! Sorry if this chapter isn't good, I have just a tiny bit of writer's block – this may be considered an almost filler chapter, but it has a couple of important things.

Winter was nearly over, but the weather had gotten even colder. Chelsea couldn't grow any crops in winter, so Mark didn't have to work. Having Mark help out was a good choice – Chelsea was able to afford her first calf, and it had matured through Fall and was producing good milk. She named the cow Abby - she just liked the name. Near the end of Fall, Chelsea was able to upgrade her chicken coop to have an incubator and put one of Peck's eggs in. The egg hatched and she named the chick Chiki – the chick also matured into a hen. Chelsea was so overjoyed with her new animals and she wanted to celebrate her success with everyone – especially Mark, who had helped her get to her current state of prosperity.

Chelsea had also been able to get to know Vaughn a tiny bit more. She learned that he hated carrots and most vegetables, though carrots were the bane of his existence. Instead, Chelsea gave him milk or eggs each morning when he was on the islands, which did seem to get him to say a few sentences to her. She was heading over to the animal shop as she always did each morning, a bottle of fresh milk in hand for Vaughn. Chelsea believed that this would be the day she and Vaughn would officially become friends.

Chelsea walked through the door of the animal shop, a big smile on her face.

"Good morning, everybody!" She greeted.

"Chels! Hi!" Julia replied.

"Hello, dear." Came Mirabelle's voice.

Vaughn grunted a greeting from his corner. This encouraged Chelsea as she approached the cowboy.

"Vaughn, I brought you something…" Chelsea held the milk out to him.

He took it silently, then muttered, "Thanks."

Chelsea's jaw nearly dropped – that was the first time Vaughn had actually shown any gratitude towards her gifts. "No problem." She choked out, shocked. Julia and Mirabelle looked just as surprised.

"What?" Vaughn shot the girls a glare.

"Y-you just…" Julia stuttered.

"Whatever. I'm goin for a walk." Vaughn left the shop.

Julia turned to Chelsea. "Chels… he said 'thanks'! He hasn't said that since… a long time ago!"

Mirabelle just smiled to herself and went behind the counter to set up for work.

"Julia, his birthday is Spring three, right? I want to make him his favorite dish." Chelsea declared.

"Yeah, it is. His favorite food… hmmm, I think its porridge. Just make some rice and mix it with milk. He likes his porridge cold, though." Julia said.

"That sounds easy enough!" Chelsea said confidently.

The door opened again, revealing Natalie and Lanna.

"We saw Vaughn mumbling to himself about actually being polite – is something wrong with him?" Natalie asked bluntly.

"YES! He actually said 'thanks' to Chelsea when she gave him milk!" Julia squealed.

Natalie and Lanna looked at each other, skeptical.

"Vaughn? Like, your cousin, Vaughn?" Lanna raised an eyebrow.

"Yes!"

"Wow."

"I know!"

"Enough about my cousin, I want to hear about you and Mr. Farmer Man. I think you two hit it off!" Julia said excitedly.

"Oooh, yeah he's cute!" Lanna agreed.

"Not as cute as Pierre, though." Natalie stated.

"Nat, Pierre is cute in a little kid way! Denny is way hotter!" Lanna declared.

"Elliot is the cutest guy on the island!" Julia chimed in.

The three girls began to argue about whose boyfriend was the cutest. Chelsea watched awkwardly, and tried to break them up.

"All of them are cute!" she finally said.

The others looked at her for a moment and nodded, mumbling apologies to each other.

"You're right – besides, we should hook you up with Mark since you obviously won't do it on your own!" Julia grinned.

"What? But I already told you," Chelsea started.

"Nonsense! If Lily and Will can work as a couple, anything is possible!" Lanna added.

"Besides, the Starry Night Festival is right around the corner." Julia reminded all of the girls.

Chelsea couldn't believe that she had forgotten about it – the Starry Night Festival was her favorite festival when she was a kid, even though she had no one to go with. It was more intimate than the Fireworks Festival, it was supposed to be romantic – every girl's dream.

"Give Mark a try, I think he really likes you." Julia urged.

"Yeah! He's way nicer than Vaughn."

"Wait! Who s-said I was pining for Vaughn?" Chelsea stuttered.

"Ah, just leave her alone." Natalie said.

Chelsea gave the redhead a grateful look. "Fine, I'll go with whoever wants to go with me. I don't want to sound desperate and beg someone to go with me…"

"Yeah, Julia. You should let Elliot man up and ask you out instead." Natalie smirked.

Julia rolled her eyes at Natalie. "I didn't say you were desperate. Look, I'm sorry if we keep pushing you into things, but all of us have somebody special – we don't want you to feel left out."

Chelsea smiled at her friends. "Thanks for caring… Hey! I have an idea! I should ask Vaughn to go with me!"

"I thought you just said you weren't going to ask anyone."

"Yeah, and it would seem like you're hitting on him since this is the Starry Night Festival…"

Chelsea sighed. "Oh well. I guess he might go with Sabrina if she even likes him."

"Sabrina? I dunno she seems like the type to stay in at this kind of festival." Natalie observed.

The girls fell silent for a moment, awkwardly, trying to think about what to talk about next. Natalie was drumming her fingers on the table, Julia was looking around aimlessly, and Lanna pulled out a file and began filing her nails. Chelsea realized that she had to go, and said, "I got to go – fishing keeps my income up!" and with a wave, she left the shop.

Chelsea jogged to Sprout Island because it was her favorite fishing spot. Sure, the islands were surrounded by water and there were plenty of other fishing spots, but Chelsea preferred Sprout Island. As she was walking, she saw Vaughn pacing and muttering to himself. Chelsea went over to him, thinking maybe he would come fishing or at least talk.

"Hi, Vaughn."

Vaughn's head snapped up – startled. His face quickly returned to his usual mask of apathy. "What?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to come fish with me. You look like you need to talk…" Chelsea offered.

Vaughn shot her a glare. "No."

"Please?"

Vaughn saw that there was no escape from this. If he ran off now, Chelsea would surely come bother him later. He sighed heavily. "Fine. But only this once."

"Yay!" Chelsea took his arm and tried to pull him along.

Vaughn tugged himself free, muttering, "I'm comin'."

Chelsea had cast a few lines, and caught a couple of fish. Vaughn's silence bugged her. When she fished with Denny or Lanna, they would talk almost nonstop. "Vaughn, why don't you want any friends?" Chelsea finally blurted out.

Vaughn gave her a cold stare, his purple eyes showed his annoyance. "Because they bother me. Like you."

Chelsea frowned. "I'm sorry if I bother you so much, but it bugs me that you have no one to talk to."

"I talk to the animals."

"Oh. No wonder you're so good with animals!" she had a feeling that talking about animals would get Vaughn to open up more. She was right, because the corners of Vaughn's mouth twitched upwards.

"I guess."

"Do you think I'm raising my animals well?" Chelsea asked, wanting the animal trader's honest opinion.

Vaughn was quiet, but nodded. "You aren't the worst out there…" That was probably the closest thing to a compliment Vaughn had ever said in his life. He meant it, though. Chelsea's animals produced good quality products.

Chelsea's face seemed to light up. "You think so? It means a lot… Oh! I have a bite!" the fishing rod was being tugged at by what must have been a huge fish. She was reeling it in, but it was strong. Chelsea almost fell off the dock when strong arms grabbed her waist and pulled her back. The extra force allowed Chelsea to pull the rod and finally bring in the fish. The monster fish was, well, a monster fish! It looked like a really big angler, complete with teeth the size of fingers. Chelsea gasped, knowing she had caught the King Fish of Sprout Island. Denny had explained that if you catch a King Fish, you must let it go.

"What the…" Vaughn stared at the fish, adjusting his hat.

"It's a King Fish! Denny told me about them. We have to let it go." Chelsea tried to nudge the fish back into the water without getting bitten. The angler was thrashing wildly and was only inches from the water.

Vaughn approached the fish with caution, like any wild animal. "Shhh…" he whispered. The fish still thrashed as Vaughn struggled to pick it up. He held it over the water and released it. The fish darted back to the depths of the sea.

"Wow, you're good with any animal!" Chelsea smiled.

"Hmph."

"Um, Vaughn?"

"What?"

"You kinda saved me just now…" Chelsea said meekly, looking at the cowboy with wide eyes.

Vaughn looked away, tipping his hat over his eyes. "Whatever."

"So does this mean… you want to be friends?" Chelsea figured that Vaughn had to maybe kind of like her in order to save her.

Vaughn's thoughts were swirling around. Did Chelsea really, truly want to be his friend? Friend… he hadn't had a friend since he was a child.

"So, friends?" Chelsea held her hand out to shake.

"Friends." Vaughn shook Chelsea's hand, and he could see how happy she was.

Well that's the chapter! I hope it wasn't too bad… till next time! – Eighttails