Shelly's World

Chapter 10: Nothing at all

It was another bright and sunny morning. Shelly walked outside to get some fresh air, and stretched her arms. She sat down at the bench that was right across from the Inn and relaxed, but to her surprise, she felt something hit her head. She picked up the object, and noticed it was a newspaper.

"What the hell?" Shelly shrieked, looking to see who had thrown it. When she saw the local mailman and a little boy and girl walking together, she quickly covered up for her mistake.

"-Lo, little boy, girl and mailman! How are you today? Fine? Me too!" she blurted as the two children gave her a look and the mailman pretended not to notice. "Boy, how humiliating," she mumbled, taking the rubber band off of the newspaper. She then began to read:

Mineral Town: Gossip of the Day
KAREN AND RICK'S WEDDING WILL BE HELD TOMORROW, SUMMER 23, AT PASTOR CARTER'S CHURCH AT 2:00 PM. EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO COME. AND TO CELEBRATE, WE WILL BE HOLDING THE GODDESS FESTIVAL AT ROSE SQUARE THE DAY AFTER AT 2:00 ALSO!

NOTE TO PARTICIPANTS: BRING A FLATTERING OUTFIT AND ANY CD THAT YOU WANT TO BRING. UNLIKE THE NORMAL GODDESS FESTIVAL, THERE WILL BE SINGING, AND MEN ARE ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE. GOOD LUCK TO ALL PARTICIPANTS!

Shelly, who was bothered by the newspaper's large capital letters, didn't bother to read the rest; besides, she didn't understand anything about the Goddess Festival. Instead, she headed back inside the Inn and found Ann right in front of her.

"Whoa, Shelly, I didn't know you felt so strongly about me," Ann said, chuckling. Shelly blushed, but covered it up with a tiny laugh. "I was just about to get the newspaper, but it seems like you already got it." Shelly handed the newspaper to Ann, and then she sat down at the table closest to the door as Ann finished the first two paragraphs.

"Oh, Shelly! Isn't this exciting? First the wedding, and then the Goddess Festival!" Ann squealed excitedly, jumping up and down.

"But what exactly is a Goddess Festival?" Shelly questioned.

"You mean you don't know? The Goddess Festival… ah, it's one of the most romantic festivals ever! You see... a boy asks you to the festival the day before, and he escorts you. Then, all the girls get to dress up in these pretty dresses and they dance in front of everybody… except they sing this time," Ann explained.

"Well, this oughta be fun. I know which song I'm singing!" Shelly said and began to laugh. Ann joined her.

"Now that I think about it… I kinda want to join too. Got any CD's?" Ann asked Shelly.

"I'm loaded!" Shelly exclaimed, and ran upstairs with Ann following her. Shelly rummaged through her bags and pulled out her CD player, then unzipped the case with all the CD's she had brought. "Here, you can look through these. There's at least one song in there that I know you'll like."

"Jeez, Shelly… you didn't lie, you have hundreds of CD's!" Ann said, finding a CD to pick. She then got one out and handed it to Shelly. Shelly looked to see which one she had picked.

"'Corrs in Blue?' I love this CD! Their music is fantastic!" Shelly shouted, putting the CD in the CD player and putting it to song eighteen.

"Song eighteen is a good one for you," Shelly remarked. "It's called 'What Can I do'," The song began to play.

"I kinda like it," Ann said, smiling. "I'll do it! All I need to know are the lyrics, though." She laughed.

"Don't worry… I've memorized all the words to this song. I'll write them down for you; why don't you go get us both some breakfast?" Shelly said.

"Okay!" Ann said, still giggling. She then walked out the door, closing it behind her. Shelly started writing the song's lyrics, while she listened to the song. She then drifted off into another world as she started daydreaming about Cliff, because the song's lyrics made her think of him, yet she continued to write. As soon as she finished writing, she grabbed her pillow and started hugging it tightly.

"I love you!" She declared, falling onto her bed with the pillow still in her arms. "I love you, I love you, I love you! You're irresistible! I wish I could just cuddle with you all d-"

"Shelly?" Ann said, standing in front of the door with two plates. "What are you doing?"

Shelly turned as red as a tomato. "Um, nothing," she said, throwing the pillow onto the floor. "Nothing at all…"

"It's about Cliff, isn't it?" Ann said slyly.

"N-no, not at all," Shelly said, embarrassed.

"It isn't? Because I heard a rumor that he likes you," Ann said, grinning like an idiot.

"Really?" Shelly yelped happily, jumping on the bed.

"Haha, gotcha!" Ann said, cracking up, placing the plate on the desk next to Shelly's bed. Shelly stopped jumping and glared at Ann.

"Oh, c'mon, Shelly, it was just a little joke," Ann said, the smile wearing off her face.

"You're becoming a whole lot like your dad," Shelly said, giggling a bit.

"And you're still the same with your sense of humor as you were when you came a month ago!" Ann said, smiling. "But you don't cry so much about it anymore. In fact, I think I've seen a whole new side to you… like, you're a whole new person."

"Please don't start the dramatic movie talk," Shelly moaned.

"I'm serious, Shelly!" Ann said. "I mean, I think you've gotten stronger in your emotions. You've learned to fight physically instead of running up to your room and bawling your eyes out."

"Actually, I took karate back in the city," Shelly said. "And I still bawl my eyes out when someone cracks a cruel joke at me."

"Oh," Ann said flatly. "Well, anyway, eat up. Breakfast is getting cold."

Shelly and Ann then began to eat. After Shelly took two bites, she got up from her bed, and grabbed the papers, which had the lyrics to the song Ann was going to sing, along with the CD.

"I almost forgot… I finished writing the lyrics to the song you're going to sing, and here's the CD. It's the very last song on the disc." She said.

"Thanks, Shelly," Ann said, and took the two out of Shelly's hands. Just then, the door opened and in walked Cliff.

"Hey, Cliff," Shelly and Ann said in unison.

"Hey Shelly," Cliff said, sitting down on her bed. "Hey, Ann."

Out of the corner of her eye, Shelly could see Ann giving her the thumbs up sign. Shelly giggled.

"What's so funny?" Cliff asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Shelly said, laughing to herself. "Nothing at all."

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(A/N): Hi, everyone! I'm back… finally! I'm sorry about the long wait; it's just that I've been grounded. (I'm failing Algebra) Also, I'm sorry if the chapter is too short… Haha, I've been getting TONS of e-mails for me to hurry up and write the next chapter. I can tell this is sorta a popular story amongst my other ones, so this is the one I'll be writing the most of. But if any of you were wondering about Mineral Village in Romance, people's third favorite, I'm sick of that story. I seriously hate it! But I wrote one more chapter to end it all… although it's not very good. BUT ANYWAY, I'm getting off topic! XD For this story, I decided to put my idea after that chapter, LOL, since only ONE PERSON read that last Authors Note. Aaaaaaaand, I have another one for you guys to take ('Cuz some people already voted.)

Should Shelly stay friends with Karen? (AKA, should I stop writing my idea?)

YES or NO? XD TAKE YOUR PICK! And I hope not only one person votes this time… hehe. Maybe some of you aren't actually reading my story and are just saying, "GOOD JOB!" Or maybe-

Audience: SHUT UP ALREADY!

All right, all right… but I DO have one more thing to say.

Audience: *groan*

*Ahem* Yeah, anyway… um, I already finished writing some more chapters, one that supports the idea, and the other that doesn't. (BTW, this is like, a few days after I wrote all that stuff) And so far, the results are:

Yes: 1

No: 3

So yeah… keep voting! Sorry this Authors Note is half as long as the frickin' chapter!