Hey everyone! Here's chapter four of The Grass is Always Greener. In this chapter, the characters participate in a festival known as 'A walk in the Woods'. I hope that you enjoy it, and I also hope that if you enjoy it, you'll review :). Thank you!

Yours,

Theatrelove

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or any aspect of it. But boy, do I wish I did...

Chapter 4: A Walk in the Woods

It was a warm summer night in Castanet, and everyone was gathered outside of the entrance to Fugue Forest. Apparently, Hamilton told everyone about this new festival; something to do with 'villager bonding' and 'appreciation of nature' and stuff like that. I'll admit, I was a little nervous about coming tonight; I didn't really want to confront Chase again after what had happened the night previous, and I certainly didn't want to be anywhere near Luke.

"It's okay," Finn assured me. "You'll be talking to Chase again in no time. And I talked to the Goddess about Luke."

I nodded in appreciation, and then scanned the area. Sure enough, Luke was there. He was standing with Selena, the dancer for the Ocarina Inn. He seemed to be showing her some tricks with his axe. My fists clenched as I was filled with the sudden desire to slap Selena upside the head. But why? Shouldn't I want to slap Luke? After all, he is an arrogant, immature, ignorant, conceited…

I noticed his powerful arm muscles flexing as he swung the axe around. I noticed the charming smile he gave Selena, and the adventurous sparkle in his purely golden eyes…

I decided not to notice anything else, since I was beginning to scare myself a bit. Luckily, just as I was really starting to get freaked out over the things I was trying not to think about, Mayor Hamilton stepped up to the front of the crowd.

"Ehem." He cleared his throat. The whole jumble of people immediately fell silent. Whoa.

"Hello everyone!" He shouted jubilantly. "I would like to welcome you all to the first annual 'Walk in the Woods Night'! This festival is going to be somewhat of a game. It will give us all a chance to bond with nature and to get to know the other villagers a little bit better. You will each be split up into boy girl pairs—"

At this, all of the girls started to blush, giggle, and whisper to each other. Renee was looking at Toby out of the corner of her eye as he talked with some of his guy friends. Candace and Luna were giggling. They were looking at an oblivious Julius, who, inevitably, was admiring himself in the mirror. My hopes rose; maybe I'll get paired with Chase! I looked over at him. He seemed to be bored with the whole thing, like he would be much happier doing something else.

"As I was saying…" The mayor started, and the chattering died down immediately. "You will each be split up into boy girl pairs that will be randomly selected."

A groan sounded throughout the area. Hamilton glared and the groaning ceased. He gestured to two wooden boxes.

"In this box is the name of every girl villager and in this one is every boy villager. Shelly will pick out a name from each box, and those two will be a pair. There will be no trading partners. Each pair will take a walk through the dark Fugue Forest and try to be the first one to make it out at the other side. The forest is like a maze, so be careful! Now, on with the pairs!" Shelly reached into each box and pulled out two pieces of paper.

"Simon and Barbara!" She shouted. Oh, they're married! So maybe it isn't entirely random!

"Hanna and Dale!" She shouted the second time. Well there goes that theory…

"Candace and Toby!"

"Selena and Julius!"

"Yolanda and Jake!"

"Irene and Hayden!"

"Owen and Renee!"

Things continued on like this for awhile. With each passing pair announcement, I got more excited and more anxious. Chase hasn't been picked yet…neither have I…we're some of the only people left!

"Chase—" Shelly began. I crossed my fingers tightly. Please, please, please…

"and Luna!"

Boom. Shock in my head. WHAT? Did she really just say that? So if I'm not with Chase, then that means…

"And that leaves Clarissa and Luke!" Shelly announced. NO! Not Luke! Why, why him? I turned to look at Luke, who turned to look at me at the same time. He smiled and winked, I glowered at him. This can't be happening…

"Wonderful, the pairs are in place!" Hamilton said. "Now, in a few moments you will get with your partner and start your walk through the forest. There isn't anything dangerous, but safety precautions should still be used, as it's hard to find your way out. Everyone will be given a bag of breadcrumbs to track where they've been." He passed out a bag to one part of each pair. He gave ours to Luke.

"And, let the festival begin!"

Luke walked, no, strutted up to me.

"Okay Clarissa! Looks like you and I will be together for the night!" He said happily.

"Ugh, don't put it that way, Luke. You make it sound wrong." I told him with a hint of disgust in my tone. He looked hurt, but only briefly. He was back to grinning again in a flash.

"Well, let's be off then. Onward!" And he started marching ahead. He's so immature…

We walked for what seemed like a long time. Luke went on gaily about axes and carpentry. I nodded and pretended to look remotely interested.

"And then I cut down this HUUUUUGE tree! And it fell down with a BOOM! And, and—" Luke stopped. We had reached a dead end.

"It's no big deal," I told him. "We can just follow the—" I looked behind me to see an empty pathway. "…breadcrumbs." I began to get a bit worried. I turned to see that Luke, rather than freaking out, was looking down at his toes, embarrassed, just like a little kid.

"Luke, where are the breadcrumbs?" I asked slowly.

"Oh, those? I thought those were a pre-festival snack, so I…"

"You, what?" I prodded.

"I ate them! And they were really good too!"

"Seriously? You ate our method of tracking? So we could be totally lost? Ugh, you doofus!" I yelled at him frustratedly.

"Now, now, don't get in a huff. I know this forest by heart!"He said confidently.

"I hope so…" I mumbled. I was mad at Luke, there was no doubt about that, but I was also beginning to get nervous. What if we got lost? Apparently, he noticed my worry.

"Hey," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Don't sweat it. We'll be fine." My heart beat quickened. I moved out from under his comforting hand as quickly as possible. What is the matter with me? At a loss for words, I nodded at him. We continued our walk, only this time in silence.

It was some time before that placid silence was broken. And it's not too hard to guess which one of us it was broken by.

"So, what's up with you and Chase?" Luke asked without looking at me, his eyes were fixed on the path ahead.

"Why?" I asked him, suspiciously. What a random thing to bring up… He only shrugged.

"I dunno. I guess I was just kind of curious. You got so angry at me when I ate that orange cake last night…" His voice faltered. I decided to leave it alone. A few minutes later, Luke spoke again.

"Do you like him?" He asked.

"W-what do you mean?" I blushed nervously. I was thankful for the darkness, because Luke couldn't see my face.

"You know what I mean. Do you like him? Have a crush on him? Have the hots for him? Wanna cook him a big heaping plate of—"

"It's none of your business!" I shouted. Even in the dark, I could tell that a mischievous glint had appeared in Luke's catlike eyes.

"So you do like him! That's why you gave him the orange cake, to get his attention!" Luke laughed.

"So what if I do? Why are you questioning me in the first place?" I asked, burning up.

"Clarissa and Chase are sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Luke sang.

"Stop it, you prat!" I yelled. I continued to walk, but didn't watch where I was heading.

"Priss!" He retorted.

"Moron!" I called him.

"Treehugger!" He yelled in response.

"Treehugger?" I asked, confused.

"Treehugger!" He assured me.

"Well you're just a moron in general!" I spat.

Luke stuck his tongue out at me, and I stuck mine out back at him. I continued walking backwards, looking at Luke in annoyance.

"Haha, you stuck your tongue out at me!" Luke laughed.

"I only did it because you—" I took one more step backward and slipped over the edge of a small cliff.

"AHHHHH!" I cried as I fell.

"Clarissa!" Luke yelled as he dove on after me.

I landed on the ground with a loud, painful thump. Luke landed beside me. I tried to get up, but I found that my legs wouldn't carry me off of the ground.

"Oh, my head…" I moaned.

"Clarissa, are you o—" Luke stopped. His eyes widened. "Whooooa…the world…spinning…" and he collapsed right then and there.

"Luke!" I shouted pitifully. Then the world began to spin around me as well. "Please…be…okay…"I mumbled before I collapsed right on top of him. For a moment, all of the sounds of the forest were eliminated. All I could hear was the steady rise and fall of Luke's breathing.

And then everything went black.

Cliche ending right? I know I know, but all the same, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Chapter five will be up soon. The 'big switch' (dun, dun, DUN!) will finally occur, so don't miss it!