Chapter 6: The Day Of...

This chapter is back in Jen's POV

The minute I woke up, I leapt out of bed and looked at the calendar. It was already the 23rd of spring... but that wasn't what I was looking at. I was looking at the fact it was the first day of voting for the flower goddess festival. Back in my hometown there had never been anything like this... and I was so excited.

"I wonder if anybody is even going to vote for me... I doubt it. I heard that Popuri has won it 3 years running. Hey... maybe I got a chance." I said aloud to myself optimistically. Skop barked in agreement.

I got dressed and headed outside. It was an overcast day, and my crops were in full harvest. I quickly gathered all the veggies and threw them into the shipping bin. I was in a huge rush to get down to Rose Square to cast my vote. I took care of the animals, and threw my rucksack over my shoulder, and briskly walked out of the farm.

As I walked down the cobblestone path the sun reappeared from behind the clouds. I stared up at the sky, watching the clouds. I must not have been paying attention to where I was going because all of a sudden I smacked into someone with a loud "THUMP!" I fell to the ground, the contents of my rucksack flying all over. "Just great," I thought... not even worrying about who I had run into. I started to gather my belongings when I heard someone say:

"I'm sorry, let me help you." The voice was unfamiliar to me, and when I looked up I saw a boy I had never seen in Mineral town. He was very tan, and wore a purple bandana around his head. I noticed his deep brown eyes, and his great smile as he gathered my things for me. I took them in my hands and stuffed them back into my rucksack.

"Thanks..." was all I managed to mumble.

No... it was my fault." He said, once again showing that brilliant smile of his. "I'm sorry, I would love to stay and talk, but I am in a hurry. Catch you around," He said, and walked off in the other direction.

"I wonder who that was? I never got to ask him his name," I said to myself, and continued walking down the road.

I finally reached Rose Square, and noticed that all the girls and some guys had already gathered around voting table.

"Jen!" A voice called from the crowd. It was Karen. She was the only girl I had really seemed to befriend so far, but now was a good time to make some new friends. I headed over toward the group of girls.

Hey Karen" I said to her, "Have you voted yet?"

"No not yet... we wanted to wait until you arrived. You see... to make it fair, all the girls vote for another girl, so we each have the same amounts to begin with. The rest is up to the town."

"That's a great idea," I replied. Karen, Popuri, Mary, Elli, Ann, and I talked for nearly an hour, and finally after everyone had cleared out, we voted. I voted for Ann, and in return, Mary voted for me. It was all a big circle. Karen then explained to me that we had to learn a dance for the festival, and said she would stop by the farm the day of the dance and teach it to me. It was nearly dusk, so I headed home, saying goodbye to all the girls first.

"Wow, this really is a big deal in this town. I can't wait to try on the goddesses dress," I said to myself as I neared home.

"Home..." I said to myself. I just then realized that this place had truly become home to me, and I thought back to everything that had happened since the day I arrived. There were so many things that I had learned, and so many people I had met, like Karen... and Cliff. It was weird... whenever I thought of Cliff, I got mad, but then realized that maybe I still had feelings for him, and that's why I never wanted to think about him.

Well enough of these depressing thoughts" I said to myself as I opened the front door. I had already expanded my home, so once I got in I quickly cooked myself dinner.

That night I couldn't fall asleep because of all the thoughts that were running through my head. But soon enough I found myself dozing, and I closed my eyes.

The few days had gone by quickly, and soon enough I woke up to the soft knocking on my door. I got up and answered the door. It was Karen.

"Today is the day," she said to me, "Are you ready?"

"Totally," I said in reply, "just let me slip into that wonderful dress. I shut the door, and pulled out the goddess's dress that had been delivered to me the day before. I slipped it on, and looked in the mirror. It was stunning.

I opened the door and spun around, showing Karen the dress. She clapped her hands in delight and spun around much more gracefully than I. It looked beautiful on her perfect body... I was so jealous.

"Ok, now for the dance. It is not that hard, but it might take a while, so pay attention," Karen said to me in a semi-strict voice. She went through the dance routine until I caught on. Karen was one of the best dancers I had ever met. I was able to get through the dance with ease by the time we were ready to leave. We started down the road toward Rose Square.

"Ok, now that you know the dance, I have a few more things to explain about the festival. First thing is the announcing of the winner. Don't be too disappointed if you lose, Popuri always wins. Second thing is that we do the dance that I just taught you for the whole town. After the group dance... comes the fun part. All the girls get to find a dance partner. The winner has to dance with whoever got the coin in their cake, but the rest of the girls get to pick whomever they want.

"Who are the choices in this town?" I asked her.

"Well I always dance with Rick, Elli usually dances with Tim, Mary with Grey, and Ann with Cliff, and Popuri has had dance with whoever gets that coin for the past 3 years, so I don't know who you are going to dance with, but if you want one of the guys, you better ask them quick."

"Well, I think I'm just gonna sit that dance out," I replied, semi- disappointed.

"Whatever you want," She replied, and at perfect timing because we had just arrived at Rose Square.