Sweet Heart of Jesus, this update sure took long! Okay, if you're willing to read, I'll explain. About a month ago, I was about 60% done re-writing this chapter, and I was mostly satisfied with how it was coming along. Then, the computer's hard drive breaks, which meant we had to get a new one, which meant that I lost ALL my files, including the re-write. And then the air conditioner in the car broke, and we spent almost a week driving around the state trying to get it fixed.
Then, my cat ran away (he came back, thank God), then it was Father's day, so my weekend was taken up, and THEN my cousin got married, so we were busy for a few days shopping and stuff. FINALLY, the air conditioner in the house starts to screw up, and it would've been hard to concentrate on writing with it so hot. Suffice to say, it's fixed.
HUFF! Right now it's eleven at night, but I finally told myself that I might as well get cracking or I'll end up never finishing this.
Spring 6th
The Hank Ranch group, along with Carl and Gourmet, stood in the upper left corner of the town square, the sound of their conversation a low, rumbling mumble in the quiet morning air. Gourmet's expression was an almost sickening sight as his panicked expression melted into his rather obese face into a frightening blend. Carl, ever seeking to please, was trying his best to comfort the large man.
"Goodness, goodness, what will we do if we don't have enough eggs?" cried Gourmet, pacing back and forth.
The shorter man was bouncing on the balls of his heels, trying to get across to the stubborn gourmand.
"Now now Gourmet, I'm sure we can all pull through if we work hard together." This seemed to do nothing for Gourmet, and the man continued his pacing. 'Sooner or later, he's going to wear tracks into the stones...'
Blue crossed his arms and nodded, a smirk playing on his lips. "That's right. Plus, Jamie always ships lots of eggs, so everything should go as planned."
Ellen turned to her cousin and smiled cheerfully. "Blue's right, Gourmet. We'll be okay!"
"But still," Bob said with a frown, "It'll be hard, and even if we give it our all we may not succeed."
Hank stepped forward, giving them all a stern glare. "Now, now, we ain't havn' none a' that. Listen up y'all, this here's the plan. We gon' gather all the eggs we can possibly git, even the one's ya got in yer fridges, y'hear? In a minute, we're gonna go all over town an' tell everyone about the plan, and we'll see who can help. An' make sure that everybody brings cookin' utensils, aprons, milk, butter, and whatever else they'll need to cook with! Have everyone bring it all to the square and Bob an' I'll sort it out. Sound good?"
Ellen, Bob, and Carl all smiled and nodded. Blue shrugged, "Fine by me, it's the only idea we've got anyways..." Gourmet heaved a sigh of relief, but was quickly back to pacing when he started to think of everything that could go wrong.
Carl frowned, and began yet another attempt at comforting his friend.
"All righty, then!" Hank beamed. "Let's get to it."
Jamie leaned on his doorway, arms crossed defiantly and stared down the other farmer at his door, despite the fact that Blue was much taller than him.
"I wouldn't even need your help getting the eggs anyway," he sneered. "You seem to forget that if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have had the Egg Festival last year. So really, there's no use trying to get the rest of the town to help." He scrunched his face up into his signature smirk. "And yes, I have cooking utensils, you brainless cretin. I have to eat of course, and I don't eat just anything, unlike that pig-tailed pseudo farmer down the road. My culinary skills are phenomenal. What else did you expect from someone as perfect as me?"
Blue just frowned, told him what to do, and left.
Tina, though, was the complete opposite. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she cried.
"I haven't been here long enough to afford a chicken coop just yet, but I do have cooking utensils and some eggs in the fridge." She grinned sheepishly. "I'm good at making sweets, but not much else."
Blue, glad to find that town's other farmer was much more agreeable ('And cute,' said a voice in his head), gave her an almost friendly smirk of his own.
"That's alright, Tina. Actually, it's a big help. Would you come to the festival? We would love for you to be there."
Tina beamed, immediately brightened at the prospect of being able to help her new neighbors after all.
"Of course! I wouldn't miss it for the world!"
Later that day, Tina headed to the mountains to look for honey. It was sweet, great for helping her keep her energy up, and would be the perfect ingredient in her dish for the egg festival. Strolling to the grove of trees in the mountain that usually yielded the sticky ambrosia, she was greeted by a dilemma. On the other side of the band of the trees stood her rival, eyeing the same comb of honey she was.
'Oh no, is Jamie gonna take that?' she wondered, already debating on what to do. For a moment, she thought about letting him have it, but quickly retracted her thoughts.'No, he can't! I need it for the festival! Oh wait, what if Jamie's helping too? Either way, if I take it, he'll probably get mad, huh? Aw man, how do I get outta this?' Jamie stood his ground, staring back with an unreadable expression.
"Uhmm...Jamie," she began nervously, trying to give a friendly smile, "If you want...you can take it. I don't mind."
His eyes widened almost imperceptibly, before he drew his arms up and crossed them, glaring her down with the same nasty smirk he gave Blue earlier.
"Hah! You can take it, Pigtails. You probably need it way more than me, because you're so pathetic."
Tina smiled obliviously. "Thanks Jamie! Gosh, I ...Hey wait a minute!" she screeched, suddenly realizing the insult.
"Hahahaha! You're so dumb it's almost funny. See ya later, loser!" he snarled, roughly pushing past her down the mountain path.
Tina stood alone on the worn, dirt path and pouted.
'Oh, why is Jamie so mean? I swear, no matter what I do, it's like he'll never-' She suddenly shook her head roughly, smacking the sides of her head.
'No way, no way, gotta stop thinking like that! This is exactly the kind of reaction hewantsfrom me. If he thinks he can scare me off, he's got another thing coming!'
Feeling confident in her renewed hope, she grabbed the honey and went in search of more, humming a tune to herself as she walked.
The small bell above the door of Michael's tool shop gave a small tinkle as Carl strolled inside.
"Oh, so you need utensils and stuff? Well, come in! We've got tons of things like that you'd find useful," Ann said cheerfully.
"Thanks for the cooperation, it means a lot. By the way, we'll also need cooked dishes. Ann, can you cook well?" he inquired, as he picked out a few whisks and knives.
At that question, Ann froze. The tomboy was absolutely horrible at cooking. Slowly, she turned back to Carl, her mind in overdrive on solving the current problem.
'He may really need help, though. I'm sure I can do it this time if I try extra hard! Oh please, Mama, watch over me and help me not to blow anything up this time!' She forced a smile, hoping her lie would be convincing, and breezily replied, "Are you kidding me dude? I'm a totally awesome cook! I'll be sure to help!"
Carl of course, took the bait. "Great," he grinned as he handed her the money for the items he bought. "Well, I'll see you there!" Ann waved as he left the shop. "Bye! Have a good day!"
The door swung shut with a soft woosh, and Ann instantly began to panic.
'Oh gosh, what am I gonna do?' she cried in her head.'Why did I tell him that? I can't cook! Oh, I'm gonna end up blowing something up for sure! Oh man, guess there's only one thing Icando...'
She turned to her father, who was currently at the kitchen table working with some sort of paperwork.'I can't believe I'm doing this,' she shuddered. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Daddy? Um... Can you teach me how to cook?"
Michael gasped, the paperwork forgotten as he snapped his head up and his pen clattered to the floor. Did his daughter just ask him to be taught how to cook properly? Ann, his tomboy daughter who was terrible at cooking, and was never interested in anything feminine a day in her life? He was overjoyed, to say the least. He had always hoped that someday his daughter would act more lady-like. For a long time, he was afraid that the death of her mother at such a young age had ruined any chance of her knowing how to behave like a girl, despite his best efforts to raise her as such. Not that he didn't love his daughter as she was, but sometimes he worried that she had none of the wonderful qualities his wife had.
"Why of course!" he smiled. "I'll tell you anything you want to know. I'm so happy that you've finally taken an interest in cooking, Ann!"
She looked around, and then to the floor, trying her hardest to avoid her father's proud grin. What would her father think if he knew she was only trying to cover up a lie, even one told to help someone? Her poor father probably thought she wanted to be more girly or something.
"Uh...Yeah. M-me too," she gulped.
The sound of sizzling bacon and sausages could be heard on a frying pan as Kurt stood in his kitchen, occasionally turning the food over.
"Grr...Hey, Woody, can you wake up Little Brother? We gotta go get those eggs today, remember?" he called.
Though he did a good job of not letting it show, Kurt was in a bad mood. It was bad enough to not be a morning person to begin with, but the fact that whatever he cooked had to have little to no dairy or eggs in it made preparing breakfast all the more difficult, agitating him even further.
"Wha-? Oh yeah, sure. JOE!" Woody barked, "Get your lazy behind outta bed and get dressed!"
Joe groggily sat up on his sleeping mat, yawned, and stretched. "Hn? What's that weird smell?" he mumbled. "Woody, are you trying to barbeque on the stove again?"
Woody looked up from his drawer. "No, I'm over here! Your brother is just trying to make breakfast."
Joe perked up quickly and jumped out of bed. "Oh yeah! What's he makin'?" he asked excitedly. His older brother was a great cook, and due to their low income, most of what they ate were instant noodles and other cheap food. Having a cooked meal was a rarity in their household.
"How should I know?" the old man grumbled. "Go see for yourself."
Joe all but ran downstairs to find the table loaded with sausages, fruit salad, orange juice and bacon. Something about it seemed... off. Like something was missing. Sure most of it was good- especially the bacon- but what was it that was lacking? Picking up on what was wrong, he turned to Kurt and pouted childishly.
"Hey Big Brother, where's the pancakes and waffles and biscuits?"
"Not making any," he replied gruffly.
"But whhhyyy?" Joe whined.
Kurt raised an eyebrow to his brother. 'So dramatic...'
"The Egg Festival's tomorrow, remember?" he said quietly.
"Uhh, y-yeah, I knew that! I was just, uh, testing you. And you passed! Good job, Big Brother, keep it up!" he patted his brother's shoulder almost a little too hard, and clambered over to the table to dig in.
"Okay, now put it in the oven and watch it for...10 minutes," Michael instructed.
"Right..." Ann stuttered nervously. The heat from the oven wafted over her face as her shaky arms put the pastry into it.
There was a silence, and the two were finally starting to believe it would work, exchanging tentative smiles.
Without warning, the oven imploded, and smoke began to seep out of the edges of the door.
"Ohhh, not again! That's the fifth one today! And it's not even lunch!" she cried.
"It's a good thing we turned the smoke detectors off. The poor oven..." Michael sighed somberly, placing his hat over his chest and looking down.
"That isn'tfunny, Daddy!" she shrieked.
"Alright, alright." he chuckled. "Let's try again, Ann. How about we make pudding this time instead of cake?"
Ann smiled. She loved pudding. "Okay! Let's do it!"
Unfortunately, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Ann had learned nothing so far.
"Not again!" they both groaned.
"What do you mean you're 'out of eggs'?" fumed Kurt. "Not once in my entire life have I heard of an egg-less supermarket!"
The clerk simply frowned, used to dealing with irate customers at this point.
"I'm sorry sir, but there's another market down the road, if you'd like to try there. Let me give you the directions..."
After scribbling it down on a spare piece of paper, she looked up and smiled, determined to not let the anger get the best of her. "I hope you get those eggs. Have a nice day!"
"Thank you," Kurt said bashfully, regretting his outburst. "And... I apologize for yelling like that. It was uncalled for."
She shook her head and smiled. "It's alright. Now, go. You have a festival to prepare for, right?"
"Yes, we do. Thanks again," he replied, exiting the store with a smile on his face.
(page break)
"I... I did it... I did it!" The ginger-headed girl screamed as she jumped up and down.
"Yes, but it's burnt," Michael pointed out, enunciating with a raised index finger.
"Who cares? I did it!"
Michael laughed, happy for his daughter's success. Maybe there was hope for her as a lady yet... "Good. Now let's try pie."
She looked up from her finished dish, still grinning ear to ear. "Really? Oh okay, what flavor?"
"Well, what do you want to do?" he asked.
"Hmmm...Apple!"
"Good choice."
They set off rummaging through the refrigerator and pantry, shoving the dirty dishes around and stacking them to make room on the counter. Flour was everywhere, and for a moment they wondered if they would have enough to work with.
"Now first, you want to peel the apples, like this..." he demonstrated, slowly working the peeler in a spiral down the apple.
"Oh I see... Like this?"
"Yes that's right! Now, for the dough, we'll need flour..."
"How much? Oh, can you grab me the milk?"
"Sure," he said, turning to the refrigerator. "For flour about... two cups?" He closed the door, and almost dropped the milk at what he saw Ann about to do. "No, not that kind of cup!" he cried.
In the end, Ann finally became a somewhat decent cook, and Kurt and Joe got the eggs they needed.
Everyone in FlowerBud, including Thomas and Bob, who were stuck with putting up the tent in the square, was exhausted.
Even Jamie, who was at his wits end with having to put up with questions from Tina like 'Do we color the eggs?' and 'Is there gonna be an egg hunt?' and so on.
When he could finally take no more, he promptly ordered his dog on her. The sound of her screaming, "AAAAHH! JAMIE! GET YOUR DOG OFF ME! No, bad boy, down!" helped, somewhat. He smirked, shook his head, and walked into his house.
"I swear, that girl..." he muttered to himself.
For a short while, Tina had almost been tore able. She would bring him gifts each day, and usually know when to leave him alone. Apparently, though, she mistook his budding tolerance as a genuine reciprocation of friendship, and began to bother him even more, talking to him for longer spans of time each day about extremely pointless things. And, as if it were even possible, Jamie found himself disliking her even more. Her company and attempted friendship had gone from a somewhat amusing and distracting crusade to simply being exasperating. The pink-clad farmer was also bumping into him everywhere recently- almost on purpose, it seemed. Thoroughly creeped out, and immensely irritated, he became even more blunt and rude than usual. Either Tina was in denial, or exceedingly oblivious to this, and Jamie was willing to bet an arm and leg on the latter.
Soon enough, night descended on Flower Bud, as the residents closed their shops and settled down for the night. Calendars had been marked, plans had been made, and everyone was thinking about the same thing: tomorrow was the Egg Festival. For many of the restless residents, dawn couldn't come fast enough.
The next day, the citizens were nothing short of amazed at what they saw. They had worked so hard, and everything had come together better than they had even expected. The square was decorated with various egg and chicken- themed signs, banners and signs. Several booths, full fresh eggs, were scattered around. Some booths were still empty, waiting to be filled with dishes made in the cooking segment of the festival. As the townspeople began to wander further in the square in amazement, their attention was caught by Theodore, who now stood behind a podium.
"Hello one and all," Theodore greeted cheerfully, "And welcome to this year's special Egg Festival. Today, we're not only thanking the chickens, but we will also have a cooking contest-"
Here, Ann groaned,
"-and an egg hunt."
Tina whispered a small "Yes!" as Jamie sighed.
"Now then," he continued, "Let's begin with the egg hunt. Come on now, anyone who wants to join come over here." A large number of the villagers, especially the ones around Tina and Jamie's age, began to form a starting line near Theodore. The tomato-esque man cleared his throat, and raised his voice. "Everyone prepare yourelves! 3...2...1... GOOO!"
The crowd burst from the starting point, dashing off to every possible hiding spot in search of the brightly colored eggs.
Finally, it came down to the last egg nestled in the roots of a young oak tree.
It was almost like some dramatic scene in a foreign drama, or a face- off in the old west between two cowboys. Jamie and Tina stood, equal distances from the tree, glaring daggers at one another. Unlike the honey incident of the other day, this was different. This was a competition, and a public one at that. Jamie knew his pride would be severely crippled if he lost. There was no way he was going to let her have that egg.
Just as Tina was about to suggest settling it with rock paper scissors, Jamie lunged forward and grabbed it. 'Take that, Pigtails!'
"Heh. You snooze, you lose, Pigtails!" he smirked. But she wouldn't answer him. Her head hung, shoulders drooped, as though her eyes were glued to the ground by a spell.
'Don't tell me she'scrying! What a baby!' he groaned to himself. Great, just when he thought he'd one-upped her, she had to go crying like a wimpy little kid. Now, even though he'd gotten the last egg, the villagers would probably all give him death stares for quite a while. Somehow, it was harder to bask in the glory of a win if no one bothered to acknowledge it, despite how little Jamie cared for the approval of others.
Tina glanced back up, a polite smile in the place of what should have been a frown and teary eyes.
"Congratulations, Jamie! You did really great."
Smiling? She was smiling? Suddenly, he felt like a complete fool. But why? He had grabbed the egg first, so why did it feel like she was the one who won this time? Just when he thought he had the farmer figured out, she would always throw a curveball and confuse him even more. He didn't know whether to be embarrassed or angry. Jamie took a step forward, trying to get a grip on his thoughts.
"W-w-wait!" he stuttered, failing miserably. "W-why are you...?" Before he could finish, which was likely to have taken an hour, she dashed back to the square, pigtails bouncing with every step. Halfway there, she stopped and turned back on her heel to face him.
"Come on Jamie!" she called cheerfully, "It's time to see who's the better cook!"
"Right..." he muttered. 'She's absolutely nuts, this one.'
By the time Jamie had made his way back to the square, people were already scrambling around trying to get their cooking stations prepares. Pots, whisks, spoons, and the like were clanging together, and a few villagers were carrying so many crops and dairy products that some were being dropped. After a few minutes, the chaos settled down, and the contestants looked towards Theodore. He spoke quietly to a few contestants, nodded, and finished the conversation. Clearing his throat, he addressed the audience with a smile.
"Now then, is everyone ready? Good, very good. Alright now, from the start of the clock, you have one hour to cook. Gourmet will judge at the end, and the winner will receive a power berry! Try your hardest, and good luck to all. Starting... Now!" With a small 'beep' from his stopwatch, the clamor from before returned and tensions spiked.
At Ann's table were a quickly growing stock of burnt items, and the tomboy looked nothing short of frantic.
Kurt and Joe decided to go for something unique to catch the judge's attention and started on a batch of waffles, complete with a mound of soft melting butter at the top and drizzled with a rich, maple syrup.
Nina was working quickly but very precisely, and was making enough strawberry cakes to feed an army.
The only one who seemed at ease was Carl. An experienced baker at this point, he was busying himself with cupcakes in very unusual flavors, topped with even less heard-of icings, and even edible decorations. His hands almost seemed to dance through his work, captivating the audience that was watching the competition.
Carl's growing fan base was slowly subverted, however, to a much more interesting development. Tables perpendicular to each other's, Jamie and Tina were caught once again in what felt like it would end up being a battle to the death. Both were making chocolate cake, and both were now more determined than ever to win. Tina seemed to regard this as a friendly competition, and grinned as if to say "Catch me if you can!"
Jamie, of course, saw this as a threat, and fueled by his hate for Tina, put almost everything he had into burning her into the ground with a glare. The air between them seemed to crackle and spark with fire as adrenaline rushed through their veins.
A few minutes passed, and Tina stole a glance at her rival, trying to gauge his progress to hers. Noticing a smudge or chocolate icing on his cheek, she suppressed a giggle.
'Wow, who'd have thought? Jamie can actually look cute, when he works hard like that.'
Jamie took the moment to chance a look at his opponent as well, and noticed a sly smile on her face, and a strange look clouding her eyes.
'Why is she staring at me like that? Geez, the least she could do is pay attention!' he thought viciously.
"Hey, dope!" he called harshly. She looked up and tilted her head, curious as to why he decided to talk in the middle of a competition. It just wasn't like Jamie to get distracted by anything in the middle of a conflict.
"You're stirring that too hard. You probably didn't realize, though, what with those gorilla arms and all," he said smugly.
Tina fumed, instantly regretting her moment of... what was it? Sympathy? No, that's not it... Some kind of weakness- but what?
"Oh, just shut it why don't you!" she yelled back, stomping her foot. Whatever it was, he certainly wasn't cute anymore.
He smirked to himself. It was so easy to provoke her that it was funny.
"Why not give up?" he retorted. "You're just gonna fail again. It's kind of sad that you think you can win, you know!"
Tina grinded her teeth and clenched her hands into fists to hard she thought her nails would cut into her skin. She kept the smile on her face, but her lips were thinned, and it was obvious she was trying very hard to control her temper. But it just wasn't fair! Jamie was mean to her all the time, and she never got back at him or yelled at him.
'Well that does it!' she raged silently. Grabbing her rubber mixing spoon, she scooped it full of the goopy, brown batter and bent it back as far as it could go.
'See how you like this,poncho-boy!' she giggled madly in her head. With an effortless flick of her finger, the front of the spoon was released, and batter showered down on Jamie.
"Aaugh! What in the-?" he gasped, gaping at his now soiled poncho. Realization dawned on him, and he was furious. "You're dead, Pigtails!" he bellowed.
He scooped up a handful of icing in his bare hand, and chucked it with all his might. It landed with a disgusting 'plop' right in her hair.
"Yaaah!" she shrieked, eyes practically bulging out of her head.
Ann looked over and gasped. "How dare you do that to my new best friend, you jerk! Take this!" She snatched a burnt pudding, and aimed for Jamie's hat.
He ducked, however, causing it to hit Joe instead. "Huh? Heeeyyy, what wasthat for?"
Kurt was rabid. He knew Ann and his brother didn't get along, but attacking him out of nowhere? There was no way he could just let that go. "Hey! You leave my little brother alone!" With lightning speed, he grabbed a fresh egg and hurled it at Ann, hitting her right in the middle of the the chest.
Michael saw only Kurt's actions, and was immediately out for revenge. "How dare you throw things at my daughter, you little punk!" He lunged some burnt pie back at Kurt, but it hit Maria instead. "Oh my goodness!" she gasped, almost on the verge of tears. "But I loved this dress!"
Ray, her secret admirer, was devastated. How could anyone do that to someone so gentle and beautiful? It was unacceptable! 'Don't worry Maria, I will protect you!' he vowed.
He picked up an egg, concentrated his aim, and catapulted it straight at Michael.
Which, in turn, angered Liz, who attempted to hit Ray with an omlette. The omelette missed it's target, and sailed right into Blue's backside. "Auughh! What's your deal?"
Ann had had enough by then. "Blue, no!" she picked up a syrupy pancake and threw it at Liz, but it hit Alex when she dived under a table.
Pretty soon, even Martha and Woody were chucking cake at everyone. The festival had turned into a fluffy free- for- all, and the Mayor was sick of it.
He burst out from below a table, hands balled into fists at his sides.
"EVERYONE, BE QUIET!" he screamed with a tone of authority and wrath that rivaled Albus Dumbledore.
The townspeople halted instantaneously. Had it not been for the remaining food in the air dropping to the ground with a splat, it would have seemed like someone paused a movie.
He pivoted slowly, making eye contact with each and every villager.
"Who. Started. This?" he growled. The crowd took a collective step to the side and pointed at Jamie and Tina who were covered from head to toe with food.
They both pointed at each other. "He did it!" "She did it!" they yelped in unison.
The mayor sighed and rubbed his temples. "What happened?" he groaned.
"She threw batter at me!" Jamie hissed, clearly not ready to let go of his anger anytime soon.
"Only because you were being mean!" Tina wailed.
"Both of you stop it!" he roared. "This is appalling! You mean to tell me that at your age, your idea of solving an argument is a food fight?"
"But Mayor Theodore-" Jamie began, but was cut off with a withering glare from Theodore.
"I don't want to hear another word of it! You're both at fault, now apologize."
They stood there, pouting, neither wanting to admit defeat first. Jamie was looking everywhere but at Tina's face. She lowered her head again, and a deafening silence filled the air. All eyes were on them.
'Ooohhhh,crap! Don't cry, don't cry, please don't cry!' he thought desperately.
It was bad enough he almost had her crying before, now he was actually going to succeed. 'Oh man, they're gonna burn me at the stakes if I don'tdosomething!'
"Um, I..." he stuttered.
'Arrgh, why does this have to be so difficult?' He cleared his throat, and spoke louder.
"I- I was m-mean to you, and I, um... I'm s-so-sorry!"
Slowly, she brought her head back up and met his eyes. For a moment, he was relieved she wasn't crying, but the miserable look on her face was a thousand times worse than tears would have been. 'Careful what you wish for...' echoed in his mind.
"No...I'm sorry. It was just as much my fault as yours." A short, dejected laugh bubbled up from her throat.
"I guess I just lost my temper. I forgot that... you hate everybody," she muttered morosely. Turning towards the Mayor, she tried to look a little more cheerful.
"I really need to go take a bath. Can I go home now, Mayor Theodore?"
He nodded. "You may all go home. This was indeed an... interesting festival. Well then... Come back next year!" he smiled awkwardly.
Everyone looked at each other, surveying the damage. And then, out of the blue, they all began laughing. Some were even close to tears, and leaning on one another. Shouts of, "Look at your face!" and, "Oh my gosh, your hair!" were thrown around generously.
Tina stood, awestruck at the spectacle, and soon she began giggling along with the rest of them. Jamie sighed inwardly, greatly relieved. 'I would have been dead for sure if she had started crying...'
It was funny, though. Had Tina never moved to Flower Bud, nothing like this would have ever happened, for sure. This year's Egg Festival would probably be the same as last year's, and the year before that. Go to the festival, cook the best dish again, win, and go home. Winning was nice, of course. It was the only possible outcome, what with him being so perfect and all. But having Tina there... it was interesting. She was annoying, yes. And she didn't stand a chance against him, yes. And he hated her,big yes. But at least it was something new. He'd never had a rival before.
In fact, it was really funny. To think that one short, childish, clueless girl could cause all this trouble.
'Who would have ever thought she could be anything besides annoying?' He looked around the square, covered in food, broken eggs, and full of shouts and laughter. It was complete chaos, and it was all because of her.
When he thought of it that way, Jamie found it hard to hold in laughter himself. He pulled his hat down over his face, and buried his chin in his scarf, trying to hide the grin breaking out.
Tina noticed, and began to gawk.
"J- Jamie! A-are you laughing? No way!" she squealed incredulously. His gaze snapped back to Tina, eyes widening.
'Darn it, of all the times for her to notice something!'
"D- Don't get the wrong idea, Pigtails! I'm only laughing because you all look so stupid, covered in food and cackling away like a bunch of hyenas!" Which was true, really. They did look stupid, rolling around in filth and howling like that.
Her eyes narrowed, and she grinned smugly. "Uh-uh, Jamie, no way! I know you're lying. You're having fun, aren't you? Admit it!" she teased, jabbing his upper arms and chest repeatedly.
"Ugh, no way!" he spat, shoving her hand away. "You're nuts if you think that I would actually think something likethat-"
His thoughts were squashed, however, as Tina rushed towards him, enveloping him in a crushing hug. Jamie was absolutely paralyzed. She was sticky and gross from the food she was covered in, but she had a certain, strange warmth to her. He could feel the rumble of her laughing against his chest. Suddenly, he was warm, too. Very warm.
'Why am I...?"
She pulled out of the embrace abruptly, grinning shyly. "Well, I'm sure you've had enough of me annoying you. Hey, I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Bye!" And as soon as she had tackled him, she was off down the road, back to her home.
After what seemed like hours, and yet seconds at the same time, Jamie was still standing frozen in place. Alex, one of the only people in the village on somewhat friendly terms with him, decided to see why he was acting so strange.
"Good evening, Jamie. How are you?" Still, nothing. Alex walked around, standing in front of the farmer- gone- space- cadet. Upon further examination, he looked quite flushed. It could be from the fight, but that had ended half an hour ago.
'I wonder if he's okay... Maybe I'll have him come down to clinic.' he mused.
"Jamie?" he tried again. "You look flushed. Are you feeling all right? I can get you some medicine from the clinic, if you need."
He blinked a few times, before turning his head towards the doctor.
"Oh, um, no, I- I'm fine. I just, uh, I should go home now. Goodbye," he nodded his head shortly, and briskly walked back to his farm.
Alex stood there confused. What had gotten into him? Surely a food fight wasn't that jarring.
"He gets weirder and weirder each day," he muttered to himself.
He shook his head. Even if Jamie and he were friends in a way, it was probably none of his business. Besides, Jamie was so sensitive about his privacy it was highly unlikely he'd talk about it.
"Come on Martha, it's time to go." The elderly nurse looked up from trying to clean her small, round glasses on a soiled apron, but only making it worse.
She huffed to herself and dropped the apron's hem, giving up on it. "Quite right. Let's go get cleaned up."
By the time everyone had gone home, it was almost sunset. Two gruff men stood in the middle of the square, trying to figure out how to solve their current predicament.
"I can't believe we volunteered to clean this," Ray groaned. 'We'll be here all night...'
"Let's just get it over with," Terry said, already picking up plates and cups and carrying them to the garbage bin.
The young fisherman picked up a broom and sighed. "Yeah, I guess..."
**Edit: I did go back and re- re- edit this chapter, as I noticed I had used the same line of dialogue in this chapter and the previous one. How embarrassing! As always, reviews are appreciated. I'm not motivated to write unless I feel like someone's reading...
Also, please tell me if you notice any spelling and/or grammatical errors. I hate when I read it, and I hate it even more when I do it.