The Flower Festival

A note from the author: Well, here goes a another chapter. Also, a brief round of shout-outs: Fairy Friend, Raine Ishida, and Karen10, don't freak out about the Kai plot. The story's not near over. But I'm glad you're getting into the story. Thanks! LCDM, no, definitely not romance novel material. It was supposed to be awkward, uncomfortable, and just flat out weird. Thank you for the review! Jinu, it's so awesome to see such an incredible author reviewing MY story! Thanks! So, Red Sonic, how's the novel coming? Almost done? Can't wait for Chapter 20 of HMVC! And I do have an e-mail. . .I just don't post it on websites. I don't like people I don't know having my personal contact info. Y'know? But whenever somebody reviews, I get it in my e-mail. Same thing! Anyways, thanks for the review. Tails13113, thanks very much for your review! You're funny.

I think this chapter will be much better. It won't be quite so kissy-touchy.

Here goes.

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"Mmm," Elli hummed, pushing a spoonful of chocolate ice cream into her mouth hesitantly. "I shouldn't be eating this."

"Oh, stop it, Elli," Popuri said, rolling her eyes, stepping into the bedroom wielding her own bowl of sugary sweetness. She plopped down into a plump white bean bag on the floor and licked a lump of ice cream off her spoon savoringly.

I smiled and shut the door behind Popuri before pulling off my blue jeans and reaching into my bag for the pair of flannel PJ bottoms I had packed. "Guess nobody bothered to fix me any ice cream," I said, unhurriedly discarding my top and tossing it into my bag, trading it for an adequately sized tee shirt with faded blue three quarter sleeves.

"Actually," Elli said, sliding into a seated position on the carpet with her back leaning against Popuri's bed, "Ann's in the kitchen right now. You can holler for her to get you some. There's strawberry and chocolate."

"Ann," I called softly through Popuri's bedroom door, which I had cracked open. "Ann!"

"What?" she called back.

"Get me some ice cream! Chocolate!"

I heard her growl in unwillingness. "Fine," she said finally. I heard the sound of the freezer door being opened, and, satisfied, I closed the door again and ran to belly-flop onto Popuri's bed. Maria looked up from a two-seasons-old magazine to giggle at my stupid behavior. Sitting Indian-style on the cushy sofa with her black hair in two long braids, she looked to me like Tiger Lily from Peter Pan.

"Do y'all like the stuff in this magazine?" she said, expressing her unsatisfaction with it by using a rarely seen frown. Tossing the old Teen Vogue onto the bed for me to leaf through, Maria leaned back into the cushions of the couch. "The girls look like hookers and the guys look like they just rolled out of bed."

Popuri laughed. "My second cousin from the United States sent me that. I just got it last week, but she bought it last summer. I guess she thinks I can't read the fine print under the big title."

"I didn't know you had relatives in America," I said, opening up to the first page, where a half-naked girl in a large hat was advertising some fancy perfume. "You know, Cliff is from there. He was born in Arizona, but came here from New Mexico."

"Golly, how many states are there in America?" Elli said with the naivete of a child.

Maria started to tell her, but instead held her tongue. So Popuri answered her, "Like fifty, right? I don't know, it's forty-eight or something."

"No, I think it's fifty," I said.

"You're right," Maria added finally. "It's fifty. I know 'cause there's a map of it hanging in the library, and there's two extras that aren't attached. Alaska and Hawaii."

The door opened, and Ann stepped in with an ice cream bowl in each hand. She handed me one of them before plopping down next to Maria on the couch.

"Ooh, my daddy's been to Hawaii!" Popuri exclaimed, excited to contribute to the conversation. "He says it's like heaven on Earth. Tropical paradise."

"I didn't know Hawaii was part of America," I confessed, indulging in my ice cream wholeheartedly. "I thought it was its own little island like Jamaica or Cuba or something."

"Why are we talking about boring stuff?" Ann cut in.

"I know, really," Elli added. "I still don't know who's going with who to the Flower Festival tomorrow."

Everybody looked at each other. "Come on," I urged them. "It's already obvious who I'm going with. Ann, Cliff asked you, right?"

"What, why do I have to go first?" Ann whined.

"Oh, come on!" Popuri giggled. "Pinky promise: we'll all tell you if you tell us first."

All five of us leaned in to grab Ann's pinky finger in our own. "Fine," she surrendered. "Yes, I'm going with Cliff."

A series of "Oooooh!"s and "Woooooooo!"s erupted, followed by a burst of giggles. "When did he ask you?" Popuri inquired curiously, scooting her bean bag closer, so that it was next to Elli and in front of me.

"This afternoon at the Ranch," she gushed, a bright grin blooming on her freckled face.

"What?" I said. "I can't believe you didn't tell me!"

"I know!" Elli added. "What did he say, exactly?"

"Well, he came by to pick up some chicken feed for Jack. Me 'nd Gray were the only two there, 'cause Dad was running errands on the mainland earlier today, so Cliff had to come looking for me in the field. Luckily, I was alone, except for the cattle, so he asked for the chicken feed and then we got to talking. He started asking me questions about the Flower Festival, like 'Are people supposed to have a date?' and then finally, 'Do you have a date?' When I said no, he was like, 'Good, 'cause you're the only one I'd ask.'"

"Awwwww!" the four of us drawled through our mouthfuls of ice cream. "That's so sweet!" Popuri cooed dreamily.

"Cliff told ME that Gray almost beat him up," I said, "and that you gave him a bloody lip. Did you tweak the story a bit, Annie?"

Ann burst into laughter. "Well, that was afterwards! It's a really stupid story. After a little while, Cliff said he should be getting back and started running off with the chicken feed he had bought, just when Gray was coming out of the barn."

"Gray thought he was stealing the chicken feed?" I laughed loudly.

Nodding rapidly with a reddened face, Ann fanned her head, "Ooh, brainfreeze!"

We laughed. "Your turn, Maria," giggled Elli, her voice fused with traces of excitedness.

"Well, I'm going with Harris, but just as friends!" Maria answered quickly, and so quietly that we almost couldn't hear her.

"Whatever!" declared Elli and I in unison.

"We know y'all are into each other," Ann said, but not in a mocking way. "Don't be ashamed to say it."

"But we're not!" Maria pleaded, despite her uncontainable smile and visibly blushing cheeks. "We're not!"

"Oh, Maria. . ." we all laughed.

"Now, Popuri!" I squealed.

"Yeah," Ann burst, "Gray's been goin' on all week about how he was gonna kiss y-"

The hostess's smile grew larger with each word we uttered, until she realized exactly what Ann was about to say. "He was gonna what?" She immediately erupted into waves of laughter.

"He didn't kiss you?" I said in disbelief. "Now that Gray!"

Popuri shook her pink-faced head. "He didn't kiss me, but he did ask me to the festival."

"Wooo!" the other four of us cheered obnoxiously. "Y'all make a cute couple," and, "You two would be great together," were the most popular comments during the next few minutes.

"So, Elli!" grinned Ann.

"I knew Jack would be the one to ask you!" I said to her with a smile.

"Jack?" she said, her expression becoming one of inquiry.

"Yeah, he's the only guy left, right?"

Elli laughed a little and said, "No, I'm not going with Jack, I'm going with Jeff!"

"JEFF?" we asked, dumfounded.

"But it was so obvious Jack was into you!" I said, disappointed that Jack hadn't asked her. I forgot about the jealous me and was instantly indwelt by the selfless me.

"I knooow!" Popuri whined in a high-pitched voice, adjusting her position on the bean bag. "Why didn't you tell me that you and Jeff had a thing?"

"Well, 'cause we don't have a thing," Elli replied, scooping another spoonful of chocolate ice cream into her mouth.

"I believe that," Ann said honestly.

"Yeah, Jeff's not good-looking enough," commented Popuri.

"Not for Elli, anyway," I added. "Now, Jack on the other hand. . ."

"Now, he's good-looking enough for all of us," Maria chimed laughingly. "And it did seem as though you and Jack were. . ."

"What?" Elli couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, come on, Elli," Ann reasoned, "you can't tell us that you don't have a thing for him."

"I don't!"

"Yes, you do!" Popuri told her.

"We all do!" said Ann, "Karen, even."

I playfully scowled at her, and when Elli looked at me, I half-jokingly stated, "It's true."

"So I do!" Elli cried. "But he didn't ask me, so I can't go with him. And Jeff isn't bad."

"Well, he's not bad, but he's no Jack," I said.

"Don't worry, Elli," Maria said, licking her spoon clean, "It's only his first big 'date festival.' He just didn't know what to do."

"That's what it is," Ann declared with a that's-the-end-of-it nod as she sat back and folded her legs to her bosom. "He just didn't know what to do."

"Cliff's been to one of these before," I reasoned, "he'll show Jack the ropes."

"Ooh, is anyone else like, overly excited about the festival this year?" Popuri squealed joyously.

"Oh, I think all of us are," said Ann.

"It's late," Elli said, standing up. "I'll take the ice cream bowls to the kitchen, and then we should probably turn in."

"Good idea," we all chimed.

"Three can fit on the bed, and two on the fouton," Popuri said with a yawn, handing her bowl to Elli. "If we spoon."

We giggled as Ann and Maria unfolded the fouton and Popuri and I crawled under the covers of the bed, soon to be joined by Elli.

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It had been a warm, peaceful sleep, but six hours was hardly enough. Lillia entered the bedroom at six in the morning and woke us up gently. "Time to head to the square," she murmured to us as we reluctantly sat up in bed and yawned.

One of the funnest parts about contesting for the Flower Festival was the short journey to the town square with your four best friends in only your thin flannel pajamas. After hurriedly brushing our teeth in Popuri's bathroom, we met our mothers in the main room of the house. "Hey," I said to Mother with a sleepy yawn. "Is it warm out?"

"It's cool," she answered with a smile. "The television told me last night that today's high will probably be eighty."

"Ooh," I smiled. "That's great. So it won't be hot like it was yesterday." I noticed that my gown was draped over her folded left arm. It was simply divine. . .I couldn't WAIT to put it on.

Outside, the old cobblestone pathway was chill on our bare feet as we tip-toed amusingly through the village. Make-upless, wardrobeless, shoeless, and frownless, we got a thrilling, chilling adrenaline rush skipping nimbly past the perfectly aligned buildings. Following us with goddess gowns in tow, our mothers giggled at our girlish fun. We could hear them saying things like, "Brings back old memories," and, "What I wouldn't give to be her age again."

We climbed the stairs in a single file line and upon reaching the peak began to do cartwheels in the open town square that had yet to be decorated. The festival committee would show up while we were getting ready in the back room and start beautifying the clean, but bland-looking square.

Giggling and laughing hysterically, the five of us young girls tumbled rather clumsily about the arena. Lillia told us to come into the back room so we could start the two hour process of preparation. We nodded our red-faced heads as the mothers filed into the spacious back room with all our stuff.

Ann, Maria, and I started to follow them but stopped to wait on Popuri and Elli who were obviously discussing something mischievous. The only thing I heard of their conversation was Popuri saying, "Come on, let's do it, it'll feel good!" and then Elli replying with, "We should."

Next thing we knew the two of them had stripped down to bras and undies and were doing the jitterbug in the middle of the square. It was all the other three of us could do to follow suit with our eruptions of absolutely uncontrollable laughter. Before we knew it, we were all cartwheeling again, a dangerous thing to do when you can't stop laughing.

And the cheer only spread when the mothers peeked out to see what was taking us so long. They began to giggle and grin, and finally called us in to start getting ready.

oOoOoOoOoOo

It was nine o'clock now. The five of us, fully beautified, pressed our ears against the door to the square to hear the excitement. Villagers had begun to arrive. We had yet to hear the results of the poll.

We were shivering with anticipation, our nerves jumping with every foreign sound or sight. "My eyelashes are sticking together," complained Maria, straightening her posture by pulling herself away from the door. "I've never worn so much mascara."

"Mine are, too," agreed Elli, also standing upright.

The other three of us joined them and formed a kind of circle, beginning to converse in a quick, rapid manner in our undeniable nervousness. "We've still got another hour to wait," said Popuri, her hands wringing furiously at her chest.

"My dress is really tight," Elli said, clutching her stomach with both hands. "I knew I'd put on some weight."

"Stop it, Elli!" Popuri said, elbowing her. "You look beautiful."

Beautiful she was. Elli's dress, snug though it was, shone a soft, soothing sky blue. The smooth satin fabric wrapped around her upper body flatteringly, secured with thin straps. The gown was loose around the legs, giving her room to dance, but still looked as though it had been stitched while wrapped around her. It fit her beautifully. Her chestnut brown hair was pulled away from her fair, dainty face but left down in the back to curl out behind her neck. Her makeup, like the rest of ours, was overly glittery, with soft blue eyeshadow that corresponded with her gown and accented her tremendously pretty eyes.

"We all do," I said. "All of us deserve to be goddess."

Ann spoke up, her voice velvety and soft as her fair, freckled, unblemished face. "I think we look much prettier this year." Her statement was certainly true of herself. Her grapefruit orange hair was pulled neatly back into four creative buns that crowded together to resemble a bouquet of beautiful roses. She held up the many skirts of her pale yellow dress in clenched fists. The gown was wonderful and flattered her thin figure flawlessly. Long earrings dangled on either side of her justly emphasized face. Blue eyes glittering with joy, she grinned with pearly white teeth and said, "I've never seen Maria look prettier."

The four of us turned to Maria and nodded in wholehearted agreement. Red was most definitely Maria's color, and the way she wore the traditional rose-colored gown brought moisture to my eyes. Her long black hair was left loose, and had been curled lightly. Her dark, dark eyes had never been better accented with the right amounts of mascara and eyeliner. She looked perfect.

"Harris will be blown away," Popuri teased. She wore a fitting pink princess dress with colonial bell-shaped bottom, corset, petticoats, the whole shabang. Her pink curls were done up in a half-up, half-down fashion, which fitted her look wonderfully. It looked almost like she should have been wearing a tiara (teara? tiera?).

"So will Gray," I told her cleverly.

"So will Kai," said Ann with a wink and a smile as our circle began closing in until there was no air between us.

"So will Cliff," Maria added slowly.

"And so will Jack." I looked at Elli with a smile.

"You mean Jeff," murmured Popuri laughingly.

"No," I said. "I mean Jack."

Elli looked at me with a smile and tears of glee in her eyes. "If you guys make me cry," she said, rousing small giggles amonst us, "Lillia will have to do my make-up all over again."

I felt moisture in my own eyes and glanced around to see the same in everyone else. "We can't cry!" Ann said with a chuckle.

"No, we can't," Maria sniffled. "We can make it!"

"We're missing the party," I said, detaching myself so I could lean back against the door. The other girls followed my lead with a few snickers of laughter.

The only things we could hear were soft, cheery music and the roar of the crowd. Specific words could not be deciphered in the hulabaloo of noises. We heard raised voices, though, and knew there were people out there selling things like seeds, kitchenware, farming equipment, and souvenirs.

An hour later, it was ten twenty. We had long since parted from the door and taken seats around a small table in the center of the dimly lit room. Maria read a book to pass the time and Elli and Popuri played cards while Ann and I watched boredly. Finally, we heard the door open and shut quickly, causing our heads to turn up instantly.

It was Lillia, and in her hand she held an intimidating manilla envelope.

We gasped in unison and lept from our chairs to crowd around her in nervous excitement. "Are those the results?" Popuri shrieked, trying desperately to keep her hands away from her face for fear of ruining her makeup.

"Yes," Lillia answered, her tone of voice implying that she was trying to keep us calm.

"Oh, my goddess," Ann breathed airily. "I think I'm about to puke."

I grabbed her arm with both hands. "You won't puke. Think about your dad and how he's gonna cry when he sees how pretty you look."

She let out a tiny laugh of a breath.

"Besides, you'll mess up your dress," I told her firmly.

Lillia smiled assuringly. "Ladies, just keep calm. I think we'll all be happy no matter who wins. It's only a matter of confidence."

"Confidence, confidence, confidence," Maria repeated to herself in a whisper.

Elli turned to embrace the girl consolingly. "Confidence," she said. "You've got it, girl."

"Mama, just please tell us," Popuri said, her voice high-pitched and whiny.

"Ready?" Lilla said, beginning to gently tear the envelope. "The winner is. . ."

"Mama!" Popuri commanded.

Lillia laughed lightly and whispered softly, "KAREN!"

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" The room was instantly filled with the squeals of five excited young girls and a happy middle-aged florist. I could hardly believe it!

"Oh, my gosh!" I kept repeating. "I've never won this before! Oh, my gosh!"

Ann jumped into my arms as Lillia attached a crown of flowers into my up-done hair.

Everybody was jumping up and down excitedly. "Okay, girls, okay!" Lillia said, hushing us, after she had successfully placed the crown on my head. "Hush, hush!" She began handing baskets of flower petals to the other girls and pulling them into positions. Ann and Elli in front, Popuri and Maria in back. I was to come in last and stand in the center of the little square that they would make outside. Lillia handed me a gorgeous bouquet of spring flowers and patted my shoulder assuringly. "I'll go tell Mayor Thomas to announce y'all's entry. Basil and I will open the door, and you girls just walk right out. Okay? Okay, here I go." She opened the door just wide enough so she could fit through and slammed it quickly shut.

"Still trying not to cry," said Ann, frozen in nervousness.

"Me, too," the four of us laughed.

We heard the crackle of a microphone outside and realized that the door would be flying open in mere seconds. And suddenly, it did. We'd all been expecting it and yet we were all surprised. Sunlight poured majestically into the room and blinded us temporarily. Ann and Elli began walking forward, followed shortly after by Popuri and Maria.

It was my turn!

As soon as I entered the square, I was showered by a thick downpour of confetti and pink and white balloons. I looked around at everybody staring at me and smiled uncontrollably. I saw Jack and Cliff standing side by side not too far away whistling and whooping happily.

Next thing I knew I was wrapped in Kai's arms and being lifted into the air for a second and a half. "I knew you'd win, beautiful," he whispered in my ear. "You look like a goddess. You are a goddess." He grinned widely and pressed his upturned lips against mine quickly.

I kissed him in return and felt on top of the world. Suddenly music was playing and Mayor Thomas was yelling for everyone to get in position for the first dance. It was Flowerbud's traditional jig kind of dance, which required much skipping and hopping and twirling. My very favorite!

Every three eight counts, partners were switched, then after another three, switched back, then after another three, switched to the opposite side, then finally switched back to your original partner. On the first swap I found myself dancing with my own cousin, who was still learning the dance and moved awkwardly and funnily. After dancing with Kai again, I was partnered with Jack, who knew the jig pretty dern well!

The dancing continued all day, alternating between contemporary songs and Flowerbud's customary jigs and waltzes. Tables were scattered about so people could sit down to eat a lunch of sandwiches, fried chicken, or baked potatoes with sides like beans, rice, corn, and other veggies. Beer, wine, juice, milk, and cider were being sold from different venders, but the alcoholic beverages did not go as quickly as expected. In fact, at the end of the day, there was much extra left over.

The only two boys I danced with were Kai and Jack of course, other than the two songs I spent giving Cliff the how-to. The boy was completely awestruck by Ann's stunning appearance and visible radiance, and he danced only with me and her.

At seven o'clock, the Mayor began shooing everyone away so the committee could begin the clean-up procedure. I was lost in the crowd, but Kai quickly found me and took me by the hand. "I'm goin' to a little get-together at Jack's place," I told him.

He looked at me for a moment and then replied, "Okay."

I smiled. "Do you wanna come?"

"Well, what's gonna happen there?" he asked as we began walking away from the square. The sun had set; the night was warm. I felt overheated and damp from the sweat that had been produced by excessive dancing. I clutched the skirts of my dress in hopes of giving my legs some air.

"I'm not really sure," I said, half-honestly. "Cliff and Jack invited me to go. It'll probably be kind of boring. Like a meeting or something."

Kai gave me a look. "Are you telling me a story?"

We had reached the bottom of the stairs and were now walking on the pathway. There were other villagers around us, making their own way home. "No!" I answered, pretending to be offended. I knew he could see through the front, though. "Kai, you can come if you want. Really."

"Naw," he replied, shaking his head a little. "Got some work to do in the cellar. Labeling and junk. Your father says the racks need to be reorganized."

I felt sorry for Kai. His wages had been reduced to the measly priveledge of room and board with the occasional bonus of a few hundred Gold. He had been working a lot lately. Then again, so had everybody at my house. "Okay. Well, I still gotta go home and change out of this gown."

We walked in silence through the crossroads until we passed Cliff, who I informed of my stop at the house to change. He had nodded and smiled, winking as he noticed our entwined hands.

When we reached the vineyard, it was time to go our separate ways, me into the house, Kai into the cellar. But instead, he grabbed my other hand and looked me in the eyes with a sweeter-than-sugar look on his face. "Karen, you were absolutely gorgeous today," he said in a soft voice. "I knew you would win. You deserved it."

"Thanks, Kai," I said, finding it difficult to tear my eyes away from his.

I was about to just squeeze his hands and say goodnight when he suddenly pulled me close to him, cupped his hand around my face, and kissed me. He kissed me hard and long and in a way he had never kissed me before. Eagerly returning his passionate, vigorous gesture of adoration and desire, I felt connected to him. It was as though we were the only two people in the whole world. I forgot where we were, what time it was, and who might see us. I never, ever wanted to pull away, ever. I could have stood there all night and all day, never caring about anything else. Only us.

It was he who pulled away. The sky was darker than it had been when we began, but it felt as though we had only been kissing for a second. Where had the time gone? I tried to kiss him again, but his fingers separated his lips from mine. "I can't," he told me. "Or we would never stop."

"I don't care," I told him, my voice barely even a whisper, carried to his ears only by the breeze.

"Remember," he whispered, his tone sensual. "We need to put some turf behind us. We're not ready yet."

I nodded my head, and our face were so close together that my nose brushed against his. It was all I could do to say goodnight and walk away.

And when I had shut the front door behind me, I realized I was addicted to Kai.

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A/N: Well, I didn't think it was gonna be so kissy-touchy! But in the end, I just felt like they needed to kiss again. I was afraid y'all might still be thinkin' they were kinda distant because of the night before. And kissing scenes are just so fun to write, and I don't know 'bout y'all but I love to read 'em. I hope y'all are happy, 'cause I spent all afternoon on this. It's long. It should last y'all a good while. Please review! PLEASE! Oh, and I know y'all were excited about the Bible study thing, but that's gonna be next chapter. I needed to separate them; I'm sorry!