Yes, I am a bad, bad girl for not updating. I hope that this chapter will at least slightly amuse you, however!
Thank you Sarah303, Moonlit Dreaming, AliensRockMyWorld, Nirak, Kasai-Mitsukai, and Kelley28! It inspired me to get my butt back on this story.
Enjoy and laugh at how ridiculous out little friends are!
Starry
CHAPTER TWO: He's New and He's Hott
Now that introductions are over, it's time to shove yet another hapless victim into our story. This particular boy is so good-natured, however, that I'm sure he won't mind. He's just here for his new farm…and the local chicks. Will they mind his presence? I tend to doubt it. He's kind of cute. Shall we awaken them? Yes, we shall.
This morning dawned chilly and wet. Celia was up very early, covering various plants against the approaching winter but not before making sure another good morning surprise awaited the unsuspecting Marlin. A large raccoon ambled sleepily into the farm, looking for tender carrot leaves to snack on. The brunette sensed danger to her plants, grabbed a large straw broom that was leaning against a greenhouse and went after that fat old coon like a whirlwind. It was too sleepy to fight back and waddled off in the direction of Galen's tiny hut.
Vesta had opened the farmhouse door, hearing a loud commotion outside. She stood in the doorway, coffee in hand, observing the fierce brooming of the bewildered raccoon. When Celia protective battle had been won, Vesta laughed a booming chuckle.
"Celia, child, you're remindin' me of one of them women warriors. I gotta say you look good out there a'swingin that broom like it were a sword!" Celia grinned and leaned the "sword" back where she had found it. Vesta yawned and instructed the girl to go begin breakfast. For some reason unbeknownst to the big-boned farmer, Celia was reluctant to do so. But duty called, and inside she trooped.
Muffy woke with a terrible headache, result of too many shared midnight laughs. Her usual early morning vigor was dropped, but only slightly. She wiped counters and sang very loudly…and very off-key. Griffin, who was still trying to sleep, groaned into his pillow. That girl needed voice lessons so badly. An extremely shrill D flat pierced his thoughts.
"Muffy!" He called. The screeching stopped and relief flooded his skull.
"Yes, Griffin?" She asked brightly.
"Is it possible…for you to stop singing? I'm trying to sleep." She giggled annoyingly.
"No way, sleepyhead. It's time for you to wake up anyway." Griffin groaned as the shrieking began anew. There was no help for it; now he would have to wake up.
Lumina wasn't in the mood to play her piano this morning. The day was cold. Lumina hated cold. Lumina hated the heat, too. She sat on her wooden piano seat and stared at her sheet music moodily. She didn't feel like playing a happy song. She was far too irritated today. She didn't want to play a funeral march. She didn't feel that emo…oh to heck with it. She stood up and marched towards the door. She was stopped before she got there.
"Lumina! What are you doing?" That was Romana, her grandma.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm leaving." Her Grandma immediately puffed up.
"No you are not, young lah-dee!" She pronounced lady in a weird way. Lumina stopped and turned around slowly.
"What's wrong with me today?" She asked in a bored way.
"Your hair is unbrushed. A young lah-dee never goes outside with unbrushed hair." This was an odd statement. Romana's hair stood out in clumps from all around her bun. Lumina rolled her eyes and continued out the door, ignoring Romana's indignant calls. Her piano sense never lied. This day wasn't going well already.
Nami was dreaming of soft music. The music was of the guitar selection and was accompanied by singing. The words were about a soft breeze blowing through a man's hair. The redhead smiled in her sleep.
Suddenly, her pleasant dream was interrupted by a violent shaking. She frowned and turned over. Something hit her head in a very un-gentle way. She scowled and turned the other way. Her dream music was fading…
She opened her eyes. Lumina was standing over her, looking like a storm cloud turned human. Nami sat up and blinked stupidly. Why was her friend in her room at 9:00 in the morning? That was an unholy hour to be awake.
"Lumina, what the heck are you doing in my room?" Lumina smiled evilly and replied,
"I didn't feel like waiting until you woke up." Nami growled deep in her throat. The emotional musician should have known better. You didn't wake Nami up unless there was a threat of fire, flood, hurricanes, death or a combination.
But now that she was awake, she was awake for good. It was no use trying to go back to sleep. The two clumped down the stairs towards the kitchen. At least there was breakfast to look forward too.
Ruby was having a great morning. This was the time of day she liked best, simply because Nami wasn't around to bug the fire out of her. Why did Nami irritate Ruby? It was because:
She slept too late. Ruby didn't like that.
She always waited for Ruby to make her lunch. Ruby didn't like that either.
She never put up her dishes. Ruby especially didn't like that.
She was…Nami. Nami was just an irritating little person in Ruby's book.
Ruby sipped her coffee happily and looked at the clock. Nine o'clock. That gave her approximately two and a half happy hours until Nami woke up. The door opened behind her. She looked over, expecting Tim to walk through.
Nami strode into the kitchen. Ruby stood up with a smile that evaporated as soon as the redhead was identified. Why, oh why was she up at this hour? Thought the corpulent cook.
"Any chance of getting breakfast around here?" So now she was ordering me to make her breakfast as well as lunch. How exciting. Ruby was not about to go dance the swim over it. She put on a simpering smile and began to heat a skillet. She hoped Lumina wouldn't…
"Can I have some, too?" Lumina asked. Ruby turned around and smiled out an 'of course!' Someday…she thought. The eggs were cracked fiercely, and the bacon slapped down in the pan. The two girls chatting moodily at the table did not notice the mistreatment of the breakfast food.
This is where I shall insert out new friend. His name is Jack. Jack is a hunk, a sweet hunk. What will the girls think of him? Will Ruby, (in her mentally weakened state) stab him with a skewer? Let's find out.
Jack nearly tripped down the last few feet of the path to the valley. Wow, he thought, this road is steep. He finally cleared the slope and came into the main road, Forget-Me-Not Street as the townies called it. The valley really was amazingly beautiful, especially not that it was late fall and the leaves had turned. Jack sighed with satisfaction. This already looked like home.
Where to now? He thought. I'm not sure where my farm is… Jack's eyes rested on a large wooden building. The wooden planks were very weather-beaten, but not unkempt. That looks like as good a place as any. He hoisted his backpack up on his shoulders and headed towards it.
Nami had just finished her breakfast. For some reason, her stomach was slightly upset. Maybe it was some spice Ruby used, because it was mainly her cooking that caused it. She stood up, leaving the plate on the table. Ruby eyed her retreating back, and made a furious gesture behind her back. So that one didn't work either…she thought. (Trust me; she had special reason to ask.)
Lumina sat down in the foyer of the Inn, waiting for Nami to run upstairs and grab her notebook. Nami never went anywhere without her notebook. The front door opened, Lumina turned, and stared into the most adorable pair of brown eyes she had ever seen. Love at first sight…at least for the girl. His eyes matched his cocoa-brown hair. She was smitten. Wow. Hello, handsome.
The first thing Jack noticed when he walked into the Inn was the sharp smell of the cooking food. The spicy fragrance made his eyes smart, and he blinked a few times to rid himself of it. He felt eyes on his person, and twisted around to find the source. There it was a girl, sitting on a bright red and orange chair. She had attractive caramel colored hair and wide hazel eyes.
Nami stuffed her notebook in her pocket and left her room. Before descending the stairs, however, she passed Rock's room.
"Hey, you!" She yelled into the room. "Get up!" There. If she had to suffer, he had to too. Already she could hear groans from inside the bedroom. She thumped down the stairs as noisily as she could.
Jack's attention was stolen away from Lumina by the bumping coming from the stairwell. A wad of scarlet hair emerged, followed by a surly looking girl in khakis and a blue button down shirt. The moment her baby-blue eyes met his, he felt a tingle in his gut. She was pretty in an emo kind of way. Jack found himself staring at her and quickly averted his eyes.
Nami noticed his wide-eyed stare.
"What the heck are you staring at?" She asked rudely. Jack shook his head roughly.
"I'm sorry. I-I came here to find out where my…um…my new farm was." Lumina piped up from the chair.
"Oh! You must be Jack! I heard it from Romana, who heard it from Chris, who heard it from Takakura that you were coming to take over the farm. Welcome!" She rose quickly and blushed. Nami looked unimpressed.
"I know where that is." She paused for effect. "I suppose that you want us to show you?" Jack smiled shyly.
"If you wouldn't mind showing me." Nami shrugged and led the way out the door. If you were going to walk with someone, it might as well be someone reasonably cute. Lumina tracked after, still completely awestruck by the brunette hottie now following her best friend.
Muffy had finished mopping the floor, washing the glasses, scrubbing the counters and delivering aspirin to Griffin. She was now occupied in watching aimlessly out the window. Movement attracted her gaze. Lumina was following a boy with spiky brown hair who was following Nami. That was something you didn't see everyday. Muffy ran to the phone that her foster father had recently installed. Hey, the town may not have had TVs, but they at least had phones.
Celia was giggling hopelessly to herself, remembering what had occurred about an hour ago. Marlin had exited his small house, only to be greeted by the age-old trick of the water bucket over the doorframe. That water had been sitting out ever since last night, and boy was it cold! These autumn evenings were no joke in temperature.
When Marlin had received a pajama-full of frigid water he knew instantly who did it. But there was nothing he could do about it, Vesta was laughing along with his farm hand culprit. Instead, he silently went back inside to change clothes. Inside, he chuckled a bit to himself, but he would rather eat the metal bucket the water was contained in, as opposed to admitting that Celia was amusing.
The phone rang, jerking the girl back to the present. She dusted off her hands, ran to the kitchen and answered it.
"Hello?" Muffy's energetic voice filled the receiver.
"Celia! Guess what! I just saw Nami and Lumina following this guy!" Celia sighed.
"What's your point?" Muffy was known for overreacting to stupid things.
"All I can say is that he's new and he's hott." Now this was her language. The brunette grinned.
"Be right there, my friend."
Nami led Jack into a spacious farm. There was a large barn, a shed, a chicken coop and a storage hut. Right away he noticed something was missing.
"Where's the house?" Nami smiled, looking like the cat the got the mouse.
"That's your house." She pointed to the storage hut. Jack stared at it. Surely she was kidding.
"Are you sure?" He asked hopefully. She nodded.
"I used to hang out in there when old man Takakura wasn't looking." Jack sighed resignedly. His new farm everything he hoped for and a bundle of flapjacks. (Come now, my fantastic reader, can't you recognize sarcasm when it bites your nose?)
Two figures came running up. One had brown hair, like he himself had, and one had bright, brilliant blonde curls. The curly one giggled and grinned, showing two rows of shiny white teeth. The brunette elbowed the blonde knowingly.
"I'm Celia." She offered. "This is Muffy. We saw that you were new…and wanted to know if you'd show us around your farm…." Jack had to take the offer. Who could resist giving four babes a tour of your new pad? Jack for one, could not.
The tour lasted nearly the entire afternoon. Nami had to stop and make notes concerning structure almost every minute. Jack was introduced to his new cow, named Betsy. It was obvious from the beginning that Betsy did not like Jack. That became apparent after the third nip and the fifth "accidental" hoof on his toe.
The girls were persuaded to leave when Jack's stomach started to growl. He had a wonderful night in his shed to look forward to…Celia led the way out. Jack's eyes followed the shock of cardinal hair as it left. Happy First Friends Here, Jack.
That night, beautiful, floating music filled the town, along with soft-spoken lyrics. Lumina was apparently back in the mood for her music.