Welcome to the re-write of The Process of Change! This will be a multi-chapter fic that follows the relationship of Jamie and Tina, as you can probably tell by now. Without further ado, here is the first chapter.

Spring 5th

Another beautiful Spring Day began in the small town of Flower Bud. Villagers began to awaken, eat their breakfasts, and prepare for another day of work. Most of such people started the day off happy and eager to get cracking- everyone, of course, except Jamie. For Jamie, this was not going to be a good day.

It had become common knowledge in the small village that Tina, the newest local farmer, had recently moved in. Word traveled fast in a town as small as Flower Bud, especially seeing as most of the residents were on friendly terms with one another.

Anyone in Flower Bud could see that Tina was a bubbly, social, and innocent girl. She gave a helping hand and an open ear to anyone who was in need of it, even though she was so new to the area. Who wouldn't love someone so endearing?

Jamie, that's who. She was the epitome of everything he detested in a person- kindness, happiness, generosity. Seeing her running around all day, talking to people, helping people- all with that revolting smile on her face- it was like some kind of nightmare. Unfortunately for him, there was no waking up.

So maybe it's a lucky thing, Jamie muses, that most people aren't like her. They are conniving, selfish, and care more for themselves than they do for others, no matter what they say.

And that was exactly why he kept to himself. A person can be backstabbing and dishonest, or so nice that it defies understanding.

Why was it that some people in this world worried after each other so much? What could be the point? Someone like Jamie, who considered himself perfect, never needed others' assistance.

Nor did he want it; usually things got messed up, or nothing ended up being done at all. So why have friends, really? He was always content with solitude. It made things easier that way. True- friendship and romance must be nice. Why else would so many yearn for it if not?

But that wasn't something he was after. Things like that only got in the way of his plans. As far as companionship went, his animals provided all the company he needed, and he rewarded that with giving them the best care possible.

He told her things like this.

He told her he was fine on his own; that he enjoyed his life the way it was.

But it was as though it never reached her ears.

Yesterday, she stayed away from his land as he requested when they met the day before. But of course, finding a loophole, she approached him while he was at the river fishing.

"Didn't you tell me yesterday that you understood that I didn't want friends?" he asked with unmasked contempt. Her head snapped up abruptly, her lips forming a small 'o'. Jamie reveled in her surprised expression. Getting a response like that meant he must've hurt her feelings, which of course, was his intention.

His thrill of victory however, was short lived. Her face melted into another one of those nauseating smiles, and she laughed.

"Well, yeah... But I never said I wasn't going to try and be friends!"

In the recesses of his mind, a giant rock landed on his mental self, crushing him. 'I obviously need to be more direct when telling her things,' he thought exasperatedly.

With a heavy sigh, he turned to face what was apparently the bane of his existence. "Well, I'm not being your friend. Not EVER! I thought I made that clear when we met."

Tina began to look thoughtful, as though she were carefully choosing her words.

'That's a shock,' Jamie snorted to himself inwardly.

"…No," she replied, after what seemed like forever.

'That's it? It took her that long to think that up? Goddess, she really is an idiot!'

"What? What do you mean 'no'?" He asked through gritted teeth.

At this, she tilted her head from the ground to look directly at him, her eyes burning with determination.

"I... I will not give up! Even if we're rivals, we can still be friends, I know it!"

Jamie's subconscious self was then crushed by yet another rock. It wasn't because they were rivals that he didn't want her company, it was because hehated her! Why couldn't she get that through her thick skull?

'Stupid pigtails probably cut off the blood circulation in her head,' he thought to himself.

Not choosing to dignify such idiocy with an answer, he rolled his eyes and turned back to his fishing. With a rare frown, she turned away, and Jamie had let himself think she had finally gotten the point.

Which, as it turns out, was another mistake.

The very next day, she was there again, leaning over his purple fence near the cave. And once again, she was waving hello with that smile of hers. The wind blew her hair and her clothes around, sending a sweet, flowery scent towards him. She looked so innocent like that, grinning without a care in the world. Grinning at him. It was actually pretty cute…

'Woah, Woah, Woah! What?! 'Cute'? What in the world is wrong with me? She doesn't look cute, she just looks stupid! The word 'cute; only comes to mind because that's what everyone keeps saying she is. Obviously, I've associated the word with her only because of that. That's all it is. It's not like I actually do think she's cute; she's just my rival. My stupid, annoying, weak rival! …WHY AM I STILL THINKING ABOUT THIS?!'

Shaking off the undesirable thoughts, he leveled the pink- vested girl with one of his best glares. "What is it today? Hurry up and go."

Either she had nerves of steel, or she was incredibly stupid. Probably the latter. She flashed her trademark smile of hers without missing a beat.

"Teehee! Silly Jamie! I have a special present, just for you!"

He raised his eyebrow. "Why would you ever think I would want a gift from you?"

"Heehee!" She giggled yet again. "Because, this is definitely Jamie's favorite thing in the world!"

"Over here, over here, Jamie!" she called happily.

He sighed for the umpteenth time that day. Maybe if he just got it over with and did what she asked, she'd be happy and leave.

"If it'll get you off my property, sure," he huffed.

She gave a pout— 'She's not cute, she's not cute,' he thought to himself, adopting it almost as a mantra in his mind.

"Humph! Jamie, you can be so mean! Now, close your eyes and hold out your hands..."

Grudgingly, he acquiesced. 'What could it be? And how would she know what my favorite thing is?' he wondered, his insatiable curiosity getting the best of him.

No sooner did he finish his thoughts did he feel a cool, heavy weight settle into his opened palms. It was smooth, and felt like… it felt so familiar. What was this, again?

"Tadaaa! Open your eyes, Jamie!" came the unmistakable voice. Without even having his eyes open yet, he just knew she was still smiling. Finally, he cracked the lids of his eyes open, and sunlight flooded his vision. What he saw there, sitting in his hands, gave him quite a start.

Out of all the things in the world, it just had to be a jar of VeryBerry Jam— one of his favorites.

"H...H-how did you know I...?" he asked blushing, unable to hide his surprise. Strange how no matter how annoying Tina could be to him, she had the ability to shock him so easily.

"Hahaha! Because..." she said, leaning in close to his face, "You can't spell 'Jamie' without 'Jam'! Aren't I clever?"

It was an interesting approach, to say the least. Jamie himself had never even thought of it in such a way. She gave an innocent stare.

"Well... You like it, right?" she asked.

Try as he may not to, Jamie couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. Certainly nowhere near the kind of smile Tina gave, but a smile nonetheless. But it wouldn't do any good to let the girl get a big head over something like this, even if it was something he was so fond of. Who knew what she'd do next. Maybe send him mail constantly with kittens and rainbows all over it or even worse- show up at his doorstep one day!

"I'm not particularly happy," he smirked, still incapable of keeping a straight face. 'Well, it's not like she'd be able to tell if I was lying anyway,' he thought. Jamie, for once, was grateful that Tina could be so dense.

Anyways, what harm could there be in taking a gift every now and then? She would probably never expect anything in return. Maybe being harassed by this girl could get him something good in the end.

"I'm so happy you like it! I'll bring more soon, okay? Bye-bye Jamie, see you tomorrow!" she called as she turned away, almost eager to leave. Tina, it seemed, was turning out to be quite unpredictable, which could be either very good or very bad for him. Ever paranoid, Jamie immediately questioned her sudden leave, chalking it up to some master plot of who knows what kind of proportions.

"Oh?" He questioned, "You're not staying?"

She stopped. "Silly Jamie," she giggled, "You told me to leave after I gave you the present!"

"Y-yeah, that's right! I was testing you, and you passed. You might not be quite as stupid as I thought!" he said quickly, desperately trying to salvage his image. Perhaps her naïve nature was just a front to lull people into a false sense of security for some unseen reason? He'd have to be more careful when dealing with this girl from now on.

"Riiiight," she teased, catching on to his fluke. "Well, I'll come back tomorrow!"

"Don't bother; I said I didn't like you, and you will never change that! I mean it! I don't need friends; especially you, do you hear me? YOU'RE A NUISANCE!" he yelled, all but screaming the last part.

Calvervtutrp chose this moment to finally make an appearance, giving his owner a skeptical look. 'What was that about not being friends with her?' His eyes seemed to ask.

"Ah, shut up! She gave me a gift; that doesn't mean I like her!"

At that moment, Jamie could've sworn the dog rolled his eyes, and he dashed off to bark at a mole in the distance.

The dog did have a point, or so it seemed to. She did give him his favorite gift, and she did amuse him in her own special way… But that didn't mean in any way, shape, or form that she was tolerable.

He had no intentions on changing his mind about that. All humans were trouble, sooner or later. Tina was a prime example of it.

And besides, if he could go this long without people, he could go much longer.

Why would he need her, anyway? Her confidence was at the point of flat out arrogance, which was another one of the many things Jamie detested.

'Does she think she's perfect or something?' He scoffed.'Ha! I'm the only perfect person here! That little brat, I'll show her who she's dealing with!' In a moment of pure aggression, he stuffed the jar of jam into his backpack and stomped back into his house, not caring how loud it was or who saw him.

Oh yes, he would show her. The next time he got a chance, she'd see!

But when would an opportunity like that present itself? It had to be more unique than a simple days' work of tallying who earned the most money. Hmmm...

The Egg Festival! Of course! Why didn't he think of it sooner? Did she have a chicken? And the Horse Race too, but no... She wouldn't even have 2000g by then.

'Dang! Am I gonna have to wait till Summer to show her who's boss?' he ranted internally.

Being a perfectionist, and a competitive one at that, he was furious at the thought of having to wait so long for a chance to win against this pig-tailed menace.

And more importantly, didn't Tina mention saving the Goddess numerous times?

'No way! She couldn't POSSIBLY do that on her own! Ugh, is she trying to take everything from me? I'll bet even her kindness is an act! No one's that nice, especially not to me,' he began rambling within his mind. 'Yeah, that's gotta be it. She is really freaking me out, that Tina. I bet she stalked me to find out that I liked Jam so much! Probably spied in my window and saw me eating it yesterday. Oh man, what is up with her! More importantly, what's up with me? I can understand accepting the gift; that's the polite thing to do, but did I stutter or not? I need a vacation and I've only known her 2 days...Great, I'll be dead by Summer!'

Finally getting his thoughts in order, and determined to not let the weird girl's antics get to him, he left and went to water his crops, another thing she had held him up in doing that day, along with caring for his animals.

In Flower Bud's small, sterile clinic, Tina sat chatting it up with the town's doctor, her newest friend. Alex was an intelligent, sensitive young man, who was very dedicated to helping his patients in any way possible. The clinic he ran did look very homey, and it didn't have much, but it was his and he was proud of it. He also hoped that, someday, he could expand it and provide even better care for the townspeople.

Tina strolled through the door, waving hello as Alex was finishing up some paperwork.

"Hello, Alex! Ooh, guess what? I figured out Jamie's most favorite thing! I didn't even need the clue you were gonna give me," she declared proudly.

Alex smiled. Tina was such a kind, energetic girl. He really enjoyed it when she came in to visit, and she even brought herbs with her sometimes. It was a huge help for making medicines, and Tina had a knack for finding them.

"Of course you didn't! See, a bright young girl like you doesn't need a clue. So, you figured it out, did you?" he asked.

She nodded her head, her pigtails bouncing up and down. "I sure did! It was actually pretty easy."

Alex chuckled. "Go ahead, shoot."

"What's the one word you can't spell 'Jamie' without?" she asked with a toothy grin.

"Oh," he chuckled, "You got it! And what is his favorite thing, hm?"

"Jam!" She beamed.

"Hahaha, that's right," he smiled. "So then, I take it he appreciated your kind gesture?"

"Oh yeah! I think I even saw him blush a little, too! I didn't know Jamie ever got flustered. I guess he's just like that?" she asked.

"Maybe," he offered. "Or maybe, you just have that effect on him. You sure do get to him in a way no one else ever has that I've known of."

"You think so?" She gaped, open curiosity written all over her face. "I really would like to be his friend. He seems a little lonely," she reflected.

"Well who knows? He may open up to you someday," Alex assured her. And he really did think it was possible. Jamie and Tina were such opposites, it was only logical that they would have some kind of effect on one another. The doctor was a positive man, something that he felt was good for his profession, and so he preferred to think things would work out for the best.

"Hm... I would really like that," she said thoughtfully.

'And maybe someday, we can save the Goddess together,' she whispered to herself.

And really, who knew what the future held? It was quite possible that they could, indeed.

END OF CHAPTER ONE.

I'm actually pretty happy with this rewrite. It's past midnight, but I really wanted to get something out each weekend. Senior Project made it impossible last weekend, but I had enough time this weekend. I have a Statistics exam, but that'll be done by Wednesday. I'm graduating THIS WEEK! I can't believe High School's almost over. Wish me luck in college. Really hope you like it! I feel like I could do better, so any kind of feedback is welcome! Expect the next chapter next week.

'Till then,

Aerois