Oh. My. Goodness. I am seriously insane tonight. Don't blame me for anything ridiculous you read in this chapter!
CHAPTER TEN: A Downtown Brawl
When Kate woke up, the two things she noticed were the splitting headache she felt, and an odd feeling--like she wanted to go out into the valley and be a sweet, pleasant little angel. She was beside the Goddess Pond, but she couldn't remember how she had gotten there. "Let's see what cute, adorable things I can do to be helpful and nice today! Maybe I shall start by offering the prettiest flower I can find to this pond…although I don't know why I would do that." She stood up and dusted off her skirt. "First I shall change out of these terrible grown-up looking clothes, though. I feel like wearing pink!" She smiled and twirled, humming a happy tune. Out of the Pond area she skipped, swishing her skirts and giggling.
Halfway between her house and the Goddess Pond she accidentally tripped and fell into a boy wearing a red shirt and khaki shorts. "I'm so sorry!" Kate said woefully, tears brimming in her eyes as she stood up and tried to help the boy. He accepted her hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.
"That's fine. Who are you? Are you new here?"
Kate nodded. "Yes. My name is Katrina! I'm thirteen years old and I moved here with my stepparents. What's your name?"
"Hugh. I'm almost fifteen…okay…it's half a year until my birthday…but I like thinking of myself as fifteen." Hugh ran his eyes over Kate's body and decided that she was very pleasing to look at.
Kate giggled. "If you put it that way, you could say that I was almost fourteen. My birthday is next season." She smiled and folded her hands together primly. "Would you like to hang out with me?"
"Sure. Do you like any sports?"
"Does track count? I love to run."
"Are you serious? I love running! I want to be an Olympic athlete when I grow up."
"Great! I need to change first, then I'll come back to you." The girl grabbed her new friend's hand and pulled him towards her house.
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Meanwhile, the Goddess and the Harvest Sprites were watching Kate's progress on the TV screen under the Goddess Pond. The Goddess held a Gamecube controller in her hands and seemed to be having the time of her life. "This is the best idea I've ever had. Don't you agree, my sprite slaves?"
"You're amazing, Goddess!" Nak yelled.
"Flak, quit eating all of my popcorn…" Whined Nic.
The tubby yellow-clad sprite grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. What are you going to make her do now, Goddess?"
"Shut it, slave." The Goddess popped a piece of popcorn in her mouth. "Who bought kettle corn?"
"I did!" Nic cheered loudly, accidentally elbowing his mistress. "I love kettle corn!"
The Goddess glared daggers at her three disciples. "I hate kettle corn, you imbecile. Fetch me some real popcorn before I turn you into popcorn. Then I'll decide what to do with our little doll." Nic sulked for a second before deciding that the Goddess probably meant what she said and scampered to the cabinet.
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Celia was screaming at the top of her lungs. She was screaming because Jack tricked her. She was screaming because she had just realized that she…you know…liked Marlin. She was mostly screaming because Marlin had heard that she…you know…liked him. How could she have fallen for such an arrogant jerk who wasn't an arrogant jerk anymore? Did that thought even make sense? Did any of this make sense? Her life didn't make sense! She ceased her screaming to consider the fact that this might all be a dream. Yeah! That's it! She was dreaming. What should she do now?
She rolled off of her bed and began screaming again. A minute later, she had devised a plan. If this was a dream, then she should be able to wake up if she did something insane. Something incredibly insane. What would be so insane that it would wake me up? She tilted her head and suddenly had a great idea.
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Marlin was sitting in the grassy space between the Inn and the Blue Bar, thinking about how he was going to approach Celia now that it was out. Okay, technically only her secret was out. He hadn't told her anything yet. But of course he would! But how? And when? He was mulling this over when suddenly Celia came running into his view. Waiting to see what she would do, he leaned forward and followed her movements with his eyes.
She appeared to be looking for something. Was she looking for him? No, she was staring at Rock. Now she was approaching him. They were talking…about what?
Celia approached Rock slowly. The blonde boy was leaning against the Inn wall and twirling a rose in his hands. She walked up to him and grabbed his hands. "Rock…if this isn't a dream…I'm really sorry about this. I have to wake up if it is, though. I hope you understand." Then she took his face in her hands and kissed him madly.
He floundered for a moment, then pulled away and announced loudly. "I KNEW IT! No woman can resist my ultimate manliness! Nobody can resist Rock! Haha!" Celia was pulling her hair painfully as he spoke.
"I didn't wake up. I DIDN'T WAKE UP. I am awake! No!" She screeched. "I actually told Marlin that I liked him!" She then turned and glared at Rock. "I can too resist your 'manliness'!"
"Obviously not! You kissed me, right? Huh? It must have been my hair. You like my hair, right?" The blonde boy was slightly taken aback that Celia wasn't instantly agreeing that he was the paragon of hotness.
Marlin chose that moment to run up to the pair. His eyes were huge and disbelieving. "Wh-what just happened here? Did you just kiss my girl?"
"Your girl? Hey, she kissed me because of my awesome manly, muscular self."
"Muscular? Please." Marlin laughed in his face.
Celia tapped Marlin's shoulder. "Did you just call me your girl?" She was secretly thrilled, but exasperated at the same time.
Rock was getting angry. "I am too muscular! I'm obviously more muscular than you, because Celia kissed me and not you!"
"WHY YOU LITTLE…" Marlin then jumped on Rock and began trying to strangle him.
Jack happened to be walking down the main street when Marlin began attacking Rock. Wondering what on earth had just happened, he quickly grabbed both men's collars and pulled them apart. "What on earth are you two doing?!" He asked curiously.
Marlin's face was beet red. "He kissed Celia!"
"Celia kissed me because I'm manlier than Marlin!" Rock's hair was a tangle of blonde all over his face.
Just then, Nami came sprinting down the road from the Villa. "Jack! You've got to tell me where Lumina is. I think her mansion is haunted!" She skidded to a stop and looked at Marlin, Rock, Celia and Jack. "Why are you all red and angry-looking? I'm supposed to be the angry one, remember?"
"Apparently Rock just kissed Celia and Marlin's furious about it." Jack answered calmly.
Rock was trying to fix his hair and smooth out the snarls. "No, Celia kissed me because I'm manly."
"I did not kiss you because you were manly! I kissed you because--" Celia was stamping her foot.
Jack stared at her. "Wait a minute, you kissed Rock? I thought you loved Marlin!"
"Yeah!" Marlin turned to stare at her also.
Then Muffy stormed out of the Blue Bar and joined the throng in front of the Inn. "Would you guys please be quiet? You're making my hair uncurl. Do you know how long it takes to curl my hair correctly?"
"Shut up, Muffy!" Celia yelled at the blonde.
Muffy put her hands on her shapely hips. "What is up with you?"
"Celia just kissed Rock and now Marlin's angry." Nami had developed a terrible case of the giggles. "Isn't Rock your man, Muffy?"
The barmaid turned and glared at her best friend. "You kissed MY Rock? Oh my gosh! You terrible person!"
"Well, yeah, I did…but it was for a reason! Besides, I thought you hated Rock."
"I most certainly do not! When did I say that?"
Jack sighed. "This isn't helping, girls. Stop encouraging them, Nami!"
Nami shrugged innocently. "Sorry."
By now, Marlin had regained his composure fully. "Tell me Jack, what would you think if Nami kissed Rock? Huh?"
Blood rushed into Jack's face. Rock looked between Jack and Marlin, confused. "Why would Jack care about Nami?"
"Haven't you noticed the way he looks at her, you idiot?" Marlin yelled at Rock.
"And now I think this party is over." Jack began backing away. "Have a nice day, ya'll." He then turned and ran off to his farm. Nami stared after him, bewildered. Did Marlin seriously just say that? She thought anxiously, following Jack and leaving Muffy and Celia to pull each other's hair in anger.
Two hours later, the argument was finally solved. "So you see, I thought that I was asleep, so I did something that I would never do in my entire life--which was to kiss Rock. I thought it would shock me into wakefulness. But I wasn't asleep after all!"
"Why did you think you were asleep?" Muffy asked.
Celia frowned. "Because of something that happened at Jack's house between Marlin and I."
"Did you not mean what you said?" Marlin was instantly worried. "Were you kidding?"
"No! I wasn't! But I was worried because I thought that you didn't feel the same way about me!"
"That's ridiculous. Of course I care about you." Marlin's face softened.
"I knew you didn't and now…" Celia stopped. "Wait. You do?"
Marlin blinked twice. "Of course."
Rock skirted around the couple and took Muffy's hand. "We'd better go."
"Well, I just remembered that I don't like you after all." Muffy jerked away from Rock. "You're a terrible person too, for thinking that Celia thought you were manly! Oh, my hair is uncurling! No! I'm going back to the Blue Bar." She flounced off, her behind swinging angrily. Rock just stood where she had left him, at a loss for words.
"Say, Celia, why don't we go have a drink at the Blue Bar?" Marlin made an attempt to be civilized and act like a normal guy should be to a girl. To his pleasure, Celia swallowed hard and nodded.
"That sounds nice."
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The popcorn was finally fully popped. "Here it is, Goddess. Extra buttery, just for you!" Nic waltzed in with the gargantuan bowl of popcorn in his tiny arms.
"Extra butter? Are you trying to make me fat? Go stand it the corner!" The Goddess took the popcorn nevertheless and picked up the Gamecube controller. "Let's check in on Miss Simons-Brandy."
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Hugh was trying to impress his new friend. "Did you know that I have a job that pays seven G a day?"
Some of Kate's compressed evil-ness began to show through. "So? I earn about thirty thousand a year."
"Doing what?" Hugh was amazed.
Kate's Goddess-induced goodness switched back on. "I'm just kidding! That's amazing! Seven G a day!" She was now dressed in a frilly pink dress with lace and ribbons dripping off of it.
Hugh blushed. "Thanks. Let's race. How about to…Cody's trailer?"
"That sounds fine!" They posed and at a signal from Hugh, shot off towards the trailer. Kate won by a long shot, arriving not even out of breath. Hugh puffed up and stared at her.
"You're incredible. How do you run that fast in a dress?" He stopped and stared even closer because his racing companion had fallen to the ground and was twitching. "Katrina? Are you okay? Cody! Help!" He picked the girl up and began running towards the main road.
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Meanwhile, the Goddess was kicking her Gamecube. "Stupid box! I'm losing control over Kate."
"Why don't you just blow on the disc instead of kicking the--" Nic had crept out of his corner.
"SHUT UP, SLAVE!"
"Yes, ma'am!"