The next morning, after I had tended all the animals- there was no need for them to suffer, right?- I headed to the Inn, feeling disgusting as my dirty clothes stuck to my skin. My hair was in desperate need of a washing and dried makeup had stained my face in trails.

"What happened to you, kiddo?" Doug asked in surprise as I trudged slowly into the building.

"Can I have a room?" I asked, trying to sound cheerful. I even managed a smile. Gwen appeared from the back room as I grinned. She gasped and dashed over to me, linking a careful arm around my shoulders and pulled me toward the stairs.

"Be careful with her," Doug shouted from the front. Gwen ignored him and pulled me up the stairs and into an empty room. She let me go and closed the door behind us, planting her hands on her hips. I sat silently on the bed as she studied me.

"I'll lend you some clothes," she paused and tapped her mouth with a finger. "Go take a shower and I'll leave some outfits on the bed for you. Don't worry, I won't ask," she added as an afterthought as she left the room, closing the door swiftly behind herself. I sat on the bed a moment longer, wondering why she was being so nice. The day I had met her, she hadn't exactly seemed like the 'best friend' sort to me. But hey, kindness was always welcome. Especially when I had no clothes and nowhere to sleep.

I took a hot shower and hung my wet clothes over the side of the tub when I was done. Wrapped up in a fluffy towel, I walked back into the room and dressed in some of Gwen's clothing- a short jean skirt and a plain white tank top. I dried my hair straight and washed the rest of my makeup off my face before cleaning the bathroom completely, except for the dirty clothes. Gwen reentered the room sometime while I was cleaning and watched silently from the doorway.

"There's people who do that for you, you know," she finally remarked as I disdainfully scooped my dirty clothes off the tub. I walked past her and back into the room.

"Do you have a really big plastic bag I can use?"

"You know, if you ever need a job cleaning . . ." Gwen re-emerged from the bathroom looking impressed. "I think Doug would be happy to pay you twice the amount he's paying me to clean. I'm not fond of it."

"A bag?" I asked again, the clothes beginning to drip onto my feet and the floor.

"Right, a bag." She went back into the bathroom, and I heard her open and close cabinets as I tried to keep the water from soaking through my shirt.

"So I said I wouldn't ask," Gwen began in between shuffling, "but if you want to tell me. . ." I sighed as she reemerged, looking bashful.

"I did some things and Annie didn't like it," I told her shortly, taking the bag from her and throwing my wet clothes inside.

"Uh huh. . ." Gwen scratched her head and twirled a lock of blonde hair between her fingers. "Anyway, you can have this room for as long as you want. I'll get Doug to lower the rate for you, since you're helping out a crippled friend." She winked at me.

"Do you know what happened to her anyway?" Gwen laughed.

"She didn't tell you?" I didn't answer, and she laughed again. "She fell out of a tree!"

"What was she doing in a tree? She hates heights!" I exclaimed as Gwen leaned over and clutched her sides, laughter pealing from her mouth.

"R-Ray threw her shoe up in it," Gwen stuttered and choked as she tried to speak through her laughter. I started to giggle.

"You mean sh-she fell out of a tree because her shoe was in it!" By this time, we were both laughing hysterically. It wasn't even that funny.

"Do you-" Doug paused by the door as he took in the scene in front of him. Gwen was now literally rolling on the floor and I was curled into a ball on the bed, clutching my stomach. I waved weakly at him when I noticed his presence, and he raised his eyebrows. Gwen stopped laughing in favor of breathing and slowly raised herself from the floor.

"Well that was fun," she straightened her clothes and wiped tears from her eyes weakly. I groaned and uncurled myself from the bed, my throat hurting from laughing.

"I was going to say," Doug began again, "do you need anything else?"

"Heh, no thanks," I grinned. He nodded and turned to Gwen.

"You have some work to be doing . . ."

"I know, I know," she sighed and turned to me. "If you want to clean rooms for me . . ." She winked as she left the room with Doug, leaving me alone in the room, feeling exhausted and alone. After brushing my hair out, I left the Inn to go foraging in the mountain. I slowed down as I approached Jamie's house, wondering if he was there. He wasn't, so I sped up again and began to follow the path up the mountain.

After a few hours in the mountain, I had a full rucksack and two of the pretty blue flowers that Annie had told me to give her directly if I found any. I went back down the mountain and headed toward Annie's house, slowing appropriately as I passed Jamie's still-empty house. When I reached Annie's farm, I snuck up to the door and peered in through a window to see if she was home. Luckily, she wasn't. I dumped my findings in the shipping box, minus the flowers, and easily entered the house. After I closed the door behind me, I placed the two flowers in the vase that sat on Annie's kitchen table. Before I turned to leave, I noticed an envelope sitting atop the TV. It had my name on it.

I opened the envelope to find my pay. As I counted through it, my eyebrows rising after I reached $1,000, I heard the door open. Annie walked in and looked up at me carefully before slinging her rucksack over her toolbox.

"Hey," she said cautiously. I was almost surprised that she spoke first, but she probably thought I was mad at her. Well no, I was mad at her. The whole kicking-me-out-and-leaving-me-with-nowhere-to-go thing.

"Hi," I said back coldly, pretending to still be counting the money. If she was going to apologize, then hey, that saved me a lot of trouble.

"I, um," she paused and hopped to her table to sit. I fingered through the money again, my back to her, as she stuttered.

"I'm sorry, okay! But how could you ever hook up with Jamie?" I turned around to meet her glare with my own.

"Because he doesn't suck to me, okay? He's nice to me. He spilled his deepest secret to me. The last boyfriend I had . . ." I trailed off, and Annie let me. My last boyfriend was super-controlling, and Annie had let me stay at her place when I tried to dump him.

"I just don't see why it couldn't be someone like Carl," she said quietly. "I just don't know what you see in him."

"But. . . you're okay with it then?"

"Do I have a choice?" She gave me a half smile and shrugged halfheartedly. "Do what you want, as long as you do your job." She shook a fist at me. "Now get yourself moved back in here, you slut."

"Well since it's sappy time, I'm sorry too. For, you know, all of this stuff. Um, the end."

"You never were any good at apologies," Annie noted dryly, but nodded. "What, do you need me to poke you in the back until you move back in here to be my house slave?"

"I have someone to talk to first," I said. "And besides, I was looking forward to getting away from you." Annie snorted as she began to make dinner.

"You might want to change first. The whole wet white shirt thing makes you look like a stripper."

"Thanks, Annie," I replied sarcastically, but I took the not-so-subtle hint and changed into one of my own shirts.

"So we're cool then?" Annie shouted as I headed out the door.

"Only if you feed me," I yelled back before closing the door behind myself. I headed toward Jamie's house, feeling slightly confident now that Annie was okay with me liking Jamie. Jamie was home this time; he stood in the back watering his plants. I headed to the backyard hesitantly, pausing when his dog trotted over to sniff me. Jamie turned around and fixed me with his unsettling stare.

"Um, hi," I started, suddenly feeling a lot less confident. His dog gave my hand a single lick, and headed back to his master. Jamie inclined his head slightly at me, but didn't say anything. I fiddled awkwardly with my borrowed skirt as he stared at me.

"Annie's okay with it, so I figured . . ."

"You figured I'd be okay now too?"

"I'm sorry!" I exclaimed, already tired of explaining myself. "What do you want me to do to prove it?" One eyebrow went up, destroying Jamie's monotone face.

"Prove? Prove what?"

"I don't know!" I almost shrieked, exasperated. "Can we start over or something?" Another eyebrow rose, and Jamie's expression became 'surprised' or 'amused'.

"Start over?"

"Can you answer me with something that isn't a question?" I was aware of the fact that we were now bickering like an old married couple.

"Fine. Time."

"Time?"

"Hypocrite."

"What is 'time' supposed to mean to me?" I yelled.

"I. Need. Time," he actually seemed to growl at me, which threw me off. "We're rivals now, don't you get it?" I stood silently, my hands by my sides, watching him. He slowly mimicked my position, staring back at me. We seemed locked in an intense staring contest, until-

"Have you had enough time yet?"

"Just because your friend forgave you so quickly doesn't mean that I will."

"We've been friends for as long as I can remember; of course she forgave me!" Jamie's expression curved back into 'amused', before dropping back into a blank stare.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow or something, okay? I've got work to do." He turned and walked into the barn without another word. I stood where I was, somewhat shocked. That didn't go as well as I had planned. I turned and walked off his property, defeated.

A quick look at my watch told me that it was getting late, and my stomach told me it was past dinner time. I hurried over to the Inn to pick up the bag of clothes and thank Gwen, who asked me to come over the following day to hang out after I was done with my work. When I finally returned to Annie's house, my stomach was growling like crazy and the bag of still-damp clothes seemed to have gotten heavier.

"Eat!" Annie exclaimed as I walked in the door. I threw the bag down by the door and walked over to the table where a plate waited for me. Annie was watching TV with her dog in her lap.

"Good thing you can cook," I said as I sat down. I got cranky when I didn't eat.

"You should have taken cooking with me in high school. Hey look, Nami's on the weather!"

"Okaaay . . ." I had no idea who Nami was. I ate quietly, thinking over the situation with Jamie and Annie. I was incredibly lucky that Annie had forgiven me so fast. It would probably come back up to bite me in the butt later though, assuming Jamie didn't wait a year or two to forgive me as well. I washed my plate in the sink and went to retrieve my bag.

"Leave it, I'm doing laundry tonight," Annie said. "Besides, you look disgusting in Gwen's skirt-thing." I looked down at the skirt and raised my eyebrows.

"Thanks. I can always count on your honest opinion," I remarked sarcastically as I began up the stairs.

"Honesty is my best quality," Annie called back. I walked into the bathroom grinning. I was lucky to have Annie as a friend.