Disclaimer: I don't have any rights to the game, and what-not. So please people, don't sue because I am just an innocent little girl who has nothing better to do than to write worthless little fanfics. So please, don't sue!

Letters, Love and Lies
New Relationships

When Maria, Popuri and Ann met at the crossroads to start their search for Karen, they were all more than eager to find her. But neither of them could agree on any terms to do so, because each girl wanted to find Karen (and therefore Jack) first and by herself.

"Fine!" Popuri barked, her eyes flashing angrily. "We'll just have to split up and find him individually!"

"Fine!" Ann barked back, stomping off to the Green Ranch.

"Um..." Maria mumbled, close to tears. Without a word, she bowed her head down to the ground and went back to the mountain.

Popuri stood frozen, stunned. Elli's right! she realized. This crazy infatuation! It's making us very... witchie! Even so though, I don't want to just give up on this; that's crazy! Oh, but first, I better go apologize to Elli, if she still wants to talk to me. Squaring her shoulders, Popuri began to pace to town.

Jeff grinned in anticipation as he pulled out a pie Elli's grandmother had made from the oven. He always loved pies (especially with Rose Tea and milk), and today was no exception. As he placed it carefully over the counter, mindful of the high temperature, Jeff leaned in and took a whiff.

Out of nowhere, Elli trudged inside the bakery, banging the door shut on her way in. She held her head down, as if she was trying to hide her face.

"Hi Elli!" Jeff called. He tried not to look too hurt when she didn't respond. "Is... something wrong?"

Elli suddenly burst into tears again. "Yes!" she sobbed. "But... it's not a big deal."

Jeff wrinkled his forehead in worry. "Of course it is," he whispered. Automatically he took her by the arm and led her to the dining table, and handed her a Kleenex from a small pack he always carried in his breast pocket. They both settled down on the wooden chairs. "Okay Elli, tell me what's wrong."

Wiping away her tears with the tissue, she began to control her sobs. "Okay," she coughed out, sniffling. "It's just... it's stupid. I don't even think I should be talking about this but..." she blew her nose before she continued, grateful that somebody still cared about her. "It's just that the five of us were hanging out at the mountain, and then..." Elli paused again. She wasn't sure if she wanted to tell him about the girls and Jack. "...we all had this fight. I dunno, it's a pretty stupid thing to cry about right?"

Jeff shook his head. "Of course not! Don't ever think it's not right to cry."

Elli gave him a watery smile. "Thank you Jeff."

"Now," he placed his hand over hers. "Do you feel like talking about what happened today?"

She was stunned by his touch, but she didn't shake it off. "N...no."

He nodded understandingly. "That's all right." He stood up to continue his chores when Elli spoke out.

"It's just that... I'm already twenty-four and I've never been in love with anyone. How am I ever going to find anyone who will love me, and marry me, and start a family with me?"

Jeff hesitated before answering. "You... you're thinking about these kind of things?"

"Well, yeah," Elli answered with a shrug. "Don't people our age think about this kind of stuff?"

"Um..." Jeff tried not to look embarrassed. "I... I g-guess so..."

"And it doesn't help that I'm stuck on this island, population like, twenty," Elli continued. "Maria, Karen, Ann and Popuri already know the man they want to spend the rest of my life with. I don't. How the hell am I going to do this when I'm stuck here?"

"Elli," Jeff began, his voice now firm with new meaning. "I'm going to do something I've been wanting to do for years now."

"What's tha-" before Elli could finish, Jeff leaned in and soon she felt the touch of his lips on hers. Oh my God, Jeff is kissing me! she screamed to herself, a little scared. But it's weird, this feels so... right! She closed her eyes and let the feeling of his kiss sink in.

Popuri stood outside the bakery, contemplating the best way to apologize to Elli. "Hi Elli, I'm sorry for ditching you because my friends were chasing after the guy I liked, and we all wanted him to ourselves?" she tried out loud. Nope, that wouldn't do. "Oh well," she shrugged. "I'll just say whatever comes to my mind." She took a step toward the bakery, just as Elli stepped out.

"Hi Popuri!" Elli called merrily.

"Elli?" Popuri wrinkled her nose. "Are you okay?"

"What do you mean? I'm better than okay!" She was starting to scare Popuri. Why was she so happy all of a sudden?

"Well, great! I might as well take advantage of your good mood and apologize."

"Apologize for what?"

'What happened? Does she have a case of amnesia?' Popuri wondered worriedly. "For ditching you at the Goddess Pond to catch Karen!"

"Oh!" Elli giggled. "I totally forgot about that! Well, apology accepted!"

"Elli," Popuri started calmly as if she were dealing with someone insane. "What's going on?"

Elli giggled again, and drew herself closer to Popuri. "Jeff kissed me!" she whispered excitedly.

"WHAT?" Popuri was absolutely flabbergasted. She had known Jeff fancied Elli for quite some time, but she never thought he'd ever make him move. "He DID?"

"Shh! Yes he did!" it would seem that giggles were contagious, because Popuri couldn't help but join in.

"Oh my God! He finally did! So what does this all mean? Do you like him too? Does your grandmother know? And best of all, how was it?" she was all bubbly now, unable to resist this juicy gossip.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe in my sub-conscience, I've liked Jeff all this time. But for now, I guess it's just going to be... well, you know."

"No I don't know! Tell me!"

"Me neither!" Elli sighed happily. "I've never been in this kind of situation before."

"I know, me neither. Neither have the rest of the girls," Popuri sighed too, but not as happily. "So Elli, you're the first one."

"That's sounds weird, doesn't it?" said Elli. "None of us have ever really had a relationship."

"It's because we're confined to this teeny tiny island," Popuri pointed out.

"I know, exactly! That's what I was thinking before."

Popuri sighed again, suddenly hit with the reality that she still didn't have a beau to call her own. She didn't feel like talking to Elli about her new relationship with Jeff. She didn't want to sound selfish or anything, she just wanted to be alone for awhile. "Well, I gotta go help my parents in the greenhouse. Congratulations, and I'll see you later!" Popuri waved goodbye hastily and sprinted off before Elli could respond.

"Oh, sorry Harris!" Maria apologized quickly when she bumped into him on her way off the mountain.

"Maria! What's the rush?" Harris enquired, looking a little dazed.

"Oh," she turned around. "I'm... it's just... I'm looking for Jack. Well, bye!" she left quickly, leaving Harris by himself again.

"What's up with her nowadays?" he thought to himself out loud. "She's always so disorganized and disoriented. Did something bad happen?" Even though her well-being was important to Harris, he still had the duty to deliver the mail too, so he did his best to forget about whatever her problem might have been and brought his focus back to his bag.

"Hm, let's see here, I got a whole stack of mail for Jack!" It was so thick, he couldn't even grasp it with just one hand. When he did retrieve it, the first letter in his pile caught his eye. It was from Maria.

"Oh no," he said suddenly as he put the pieces together. "Maria likes Jack..." Harris starred at the letter for what seemed like an eternity, trying to make sense of it. "No, it couldn't be, could it?"

His first instinct was to open the letter. Then to tear it to shreds. "No," he disciplined himself. "That's wrong. That's a felony."

But at the same time, he had this urge to destroy it. Harris observed his surroundings, suddenly aware of the river that was crashing below his feet. He looked at the river, then at the letter, as if he were thinking of tossing it in. It would look like an accident. No one could really blame him for doing it; mistakes happen. For a second, he actually reached out to do so, with his fingertips just on the corner of the envelope.

"NO!" Harris shouted abruptly. "I can't do this to Ms. Maria. It's not right!" Before he could do anything else, he made sure to stuff it deep in his bag, so it couldn't be lost. "If Jack makes Maria happy, then I can't stand in her way." Blinking away tears, he exited the mountain solemnly.

Ann wanted to whoop in delight when she realized she was the first one to find Karen and Jack. They were standing in front of the Potion Shop, chatting. From where she was standing, Ann could not hear their conversation, so she moved closer, flattening her body against the side of the Midwife's home and leaned in to listen.

"So, you wanna come over to my house and hang out? My parents aren't gonna be home or anything; they're going to the bar tonight, and if you know them, they're not going to be coming out until the morning if you know what I mean!" Ann opened her mouth in shock. Was Karen going to...?

"Well, I'd love to, but I'm really tired right now, and I still got a lot of work to do. It's already three o'clock, and I still haven't harvested the corn or the tomatoes. I got a lot of work on my hands, maybe another time."

"But... my parents are going to be home next time!"

"What's wrong with your parents being home? Your parents are good people. Maybe it may not seem like it because you guys don't get along, but you shouldn't not want them to be home."

"What?... Jack! Don't you want to get to know me better!"

"Of course I do."

"And I'm giving you the chance to! So come over tonight!"

Jack sighed heavily. "I told you Karen, I have a lot of work to do. Maybe we can go fishing tomorrow or something."

"Fishing? But... okay, all right, it's a date. Tomorrow we're going fishing!"

"Okay, do you have a fishing rod?"

"Uh, no... but I'll borrow one from Greg I guess. So we're going fishing tomorrow! Don't forget! I'll swing by your house at seven o'clock."

"Okay. I gotta go now, 'kay? See ya." Ann heard descending footsteps, as if Jack were walking away.

"Bye!" Ann peered further so she could watch Jack depart. But in the process, she tripped over an old tin can, causing her to bash into the wall. She cursed under her breath and stood still, hoping Karen hadn't heard the sound.

"What was that?" Karen raised her eyebrow in Ann's direction. She went over to the Midwife's home to investigate. Ann froze in terror. 'What should I do?' On an impulse, she tried to run away before Karen could find her, but it was too late.

"ANN!" Karen cried out when she saw her. "What- were you standing there this whole time!"

"Uh... uh..." Ann sputtered, unable to come up with any words. "I...uh..."

"Oh my GOD!" exclaimed Karen, furious. "Ann, what the hell is your problem! Can't you leave me alone! My God, you just can't take the fact that Jack likes me and not you!"

"Ha! In your dreams!" Ann shot back, suddenly finding her voice. "He doesn't like you."

"Yes he does! You heard yourself, we're going fishing!"

"Fishing hardly qualifies as a date Karen. And what you proposed could of, and he turned you down! Rejected!"

"He had a lot of work to do!" Karen fumed. "That's why he couldn't come!"

"Or, it could of just been an excuse to get out of it," Ann smirked, clearly enjoying rattling Karen's confidence.

"Shut up!" Karen shook her head impatiently. "Ann, seriously! Why do you always have to interfere with everything I do? Wasn't I the first person to take a liking to him? Wasn't I the one who made time to do things for him? And wasn't I the one who actually told you that I was going to pursue him? I never lied to you Ann, but you lied a whole lot to me!"

Ann stood frozen, speechless. Everything she said was true. She couldn't take it; looking like the bad guy. "Wow, Karen, you're right. I have lied to you at times."

Karen nodded proudly. "Uh huh, and what else?"

"I'll be brutally honest with you Karen. I want him too."

Karen's smile faded. "What? No, you can't! Isn't that what a friend is supposed to do? When one likes a guy, the other considers him off-limits?"

"Well, Karen my dear, until one of us wins his heart, our 'friendship' will be put on hold, agree?"

Karen's jaw dropped. "Ann, are you serious? You're willing to break our friendship for this?"

"No," Ann groaned, irritated. "We're going to put our friendship on hold. Nothing's going to be broken, trust me." She raised her arm to the height of her waist, waiting for Karen to shake her hand in settlement.

"So, it's really going to work?"

"Yup."

"No hard feelings?"

"None at all."

"You sure about this Ann?"

"Very sure."

"Okay," Karen grabbed her hand and shook it heartily. "May the best woman win."

Author's Note: Whoo-we! Finally we're getting somewhere eh? At least I 'kinda' solved the thing between Karen and Ann right? Kinda? Hee hee, well, stay tuned, and please please please review, because I love your input!