Hello fanfictioners! Once again, I guess I should apologize for not updating anything in so long. It has become even more apparent to me as time goes on that my writing is going to be pretty sporadic. Unfortunately, I'm a busy person, and I have to sit down for a good half an hour if I'm going to write, I mean really write. I hope this doesn't decrease your enjoyment of the stories I post; please keep checking for updates! Although I might leave some stories untouched for awhile, I'll try not to ever truly abandon them. Even if there isn't an update, that doesn't mean that there isn't writing going on behind the scenes ;). I hope that you enjoy chapter 7 of The Grass is Always Greener! Also, I want you all to know that your reviews are revitalizing; when I look at them, it always motivates me to write more. So, please, if you have anything to say, even if you just want to tell me that you like the story, keep those reviews coming!

I hope that you all have a wonderful day :).

~Theatrelove

Disclaimer: Don't own Harvest Moon. Wish I did. I think you all know this by now.

Chapter 7: A Mile In Someone Else's Shoes

We walked towards the door. Luke pulled it open for me.

"Ladies first." He said, and then he caught himself. "Uh, I mean, you can go first miss…ter." We then went up to the counter and discharged with Irene.

"You feeling better now, Luke?" She asked. This time, I knew that she was talking to me.

"Yeah, a lot better. Thanks." I said shyly before quickly looking away. She looked at me oddly, opened her mouth like she was about to say something, then decided against it. Instead, she turned to Luke.

"And you, Clarissa, are you doing alright?"

"I'm A-OK, Irene, thanks for askin'!" Luke said, smiling a melon shaped smile. Irene looked even more confused at what she thought was my answer. She seemed to have decided to blame our actions on our being hit on the head, and waved us on out the door.

As soon as we were outside and away from any Choral Clinic eavesdroppers, I began to scream at Luke. "A-OK? A-OK? Are you insane?" I glared at him angrily, straight in the eyes. "You can't be so peppy and giddy all the time!" It wasn't like I was the least peppy and giddy person on the planet, but I wasn't known for an overly cheerful disposition, and I certainly wasn't peppy or giddy to a Luke-extreme. And I definitely didn't want people, especially Chase, thinking that I was.

"What's the matter with you?" He asked, taking one nervous step back. "People say A-OK all the time! Sheesh."

"No, Luke. You say A-OK all the time." I told him. He seemed to contemplate what I'd said for a moment, and then turned on me.

"Well, if you expect me to be less 'peppy', or whatever, then you have to be more extreme! You were soooo blunt and quiet with your response, have you ever heard me be blunt? You can't blame me for acting like myself when you were being even quieter than you usually are!" He yelled. I tried to think of a worthy comeback, and couldn't think of anything. I wasn't a quiet person in general, but I supposed that maybe the strangeness of answering for Luke had made me come across as more shy than I usually was (which was a lot more shy than Luke ever was). He had me; I acted completely, totally un-Luke in there, and I only realized it now.

"Touché." I conceded grumpily. The other people on the street watching our whole exchange weren't surprised; it wasn't uncommon for Luke and me to argue loudly. If they were listening to what we said though, they may have realized that something was a wee bit different.

"Look, Clarissa." Luke said, "If we're going to make it to the Goddess without ripping each other apart, then we should probably stop fighting and start walking." I was astounded by Luke's using reason and keeping us going. It was usually me that did that.

I sighed. "You're right, let's go." And thus we began to walk. As we walked continually down the swerving and turning streets of Harmonica Town, there was an ever growing awareness of how surreal our situation was.

"Luke, hey!" Owen said as we passed him and Kathy walking hand in hand.

"Umm…hi." I said, startled by his saying hello to me. Luke nudged me in the rib cage.

"He's your friend." He whispered. Oh yeah! Luke and Owen are friends! Owen was looking at me, puzzled.

"I mean, 'sup Owen, buddy!" I quickly covered. The look of puzzlement on Owen's face disappeared and he nodded in acknowledgement and smiled. That was a close call…

"Clarissa, hi!" Maya called as she approached us on the path. I sighed. As soon as one left, another arrived.

Maya must've caught me sighing, because she went on to look upon me with disdain. "No need to look so happy to see me, Luke."

She then turned to who she thought was Clarissa. "Are you going to Luna's slumber party tomorrow night? Everybody's been talking about it!" she giggled as she said this.

Luke looked taken aback at her words. "S-slumber party?" He blushed intensely. "No, no, no I don't think I'll be attending-"

"C'mon, Clarissa! It'll be so much fun. You just have to go."

"But I, I mean, I'm not who you think I-" I knew that Luke was about to reveal our secret to Maya, so I immediately clapped a hand over his mouth to keep him from saying anything more.

"She'll be there!" I assured Maya loudly so that I could be heard above Luke's insistent muffled shouting.

Maya clapped her hands and jumped up and down joyfully. "Oh good! Thanks for your help Luke. I wouldn't want Clarissa to miss out on all the fun!" She waved goodbye and then skipped away. I waited until she was out of sight before uncovering Luke's mouth. He started talking rapidly.

"What was that for? I can't go to a s-s-slumber party!" He stumbled over the word as if it were a hot pit of coals he had to walk across.

"Well, you were about to blow our cover, and to Maya of all people! What was I supposed to do?"

"It was an honest mistake! And now she thinks I'm going. How could you do this to me?" He looked so distressed that I had to laugh.

"This isn't funny!" he cried out, the cheeks that used to be mine turning from pink to red. This only made me laugh more.

"What? What's so hilarious? Clarissa, look at me and tell me what's so funny about this." He said sternly, as if he were a father talking to his unruly son.

"It's your reaction!" I said, wiping the tears out of my eyes. "You seem so embarrassed! Honestly, I'd thought you'd be kind of happy about this. Isn't it every hormonal teenage guy's perverted fantasy to be invited to a slumber party with a bunch of girls?"

Luke's cheeks, if at all possible, turned an even darker shade of red, almost purple. "No! No way! Not me!" He said, closing his eyes tightly and shaking his head, as if to remove any existing naughty thoughts.

I put a rough hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it too much, Luke. From the way you've reacted, you'd think that girls spend their slumber party nights stripping for each other and having pillow fights in their underwear!"

"They don't?" Luke looked at me, less distressed now, and more puzzled.

"No, they don't." I said, still smiling.

"Phew, that makes it better then." I saw my old features relax considerably as we resumed walking. "But I still don't get why you're so adamant about me going. Aren't you worried about me around your friends?"

"I didn't think I had reason to be." I shrugged. "I mean, if you were someone who was going to try to pull something with one of my friends, would you really be asking me if I was worried about it?"

"Hmmmm...you know what? You may just be onto something." Luke said. Silence for a few more steps. "But just because I wouldn't pull anything with one of them doesn't mean I won't look at them." he said, turning to me with a devilish grin that look so out of place on my face.

"LUKE!" I hoisted him up by his yellow blouse, so that his toes no longer touched the ground. "What. Did. You. Just. Say?"

"What the...put me down! Clarissa, people could mistake this for abuse." I looked around at the surrounding people, and realized that we were receiving more than a few funny looks.

"Clarissa? Luke? You two alright?" Mayor Hamilton looked at us oddly.

"Fine, Mr. Mayor. Just, uh, playing." I smiled at him sheepishly as I lowered a glowering Luke to the ground. Mayor Hamilton just shook his head and walked onward, mumbling to himself.

"Wow, Clarissa. You were all calm and then WHAM! Suddenly I was off the ground." Luke said.

"Sorry, Luke. I guess it's just been a weird day for me..."

"S'okay." he shrugged.

"But you won't look at any of my friends, right?" I looked at him pleadingly.

"I'm not making any promises." he smiled.

"Ugh, Luke. You're such a...a...boy!"

He grinned toothily. "Look who's talking!"

"Ha ha, very funny." I rolled my eyes at him.

" Well, seems like you're back to your normal self." He said.

"I don't think I'll be back to my normal self again 'til we fix this." I told him.

"Okay then...ONWARD TO HARVEST GODDESS!" Luke shouted to nobody in particular.

With our goal back in mind, we picked up the pace. But the farther we walked, the stranger things became. I noticed that the looks that people were giving me were different than the ones I was used to receiving. Chloe and Paolo waved to me friendlier than ever before, while when I passed Yolanda she flashed me a look of contempt. The scariest was when I passed Selena, she puckered her lips and batted her eyelashes. I turned away from her quickly; those meaningful looks were all too clear to me, and, to put it quite frankly, it was creeping me out.

Luke seemed to be noticing similar things. Candace was smiling at him (she was usually terrified of his boundless energy), and Yolanda gave him a pleasant look rather than a look that threatened death. Some of the boys were looking at him a bit differently too. When we passed Gill, Luke winked at him (which he does to many people. Luke's always liked winking, as it makes people think he knows something they don't). But instead of shaking his head and moving on like he usually did when Luke winked at him, Gill's pale cheeks turned a shade of bright pink and he turned away, flustered. Luke looked utterly confused.

"You imbecile!" I hissed in Luke's ear. Hmmm, imbecile. I'll have to write that one down..."What was that for?"

"What was what for?" he asked.

"You winked at Gill!"

"But I always wink at people!" Luke said.

"Yeah, but that was when you were a guy. When guys wink, it says 'I know something that you don't' or 'Hey friend!' or something like that. But when a girl winks at a guy, it can be seen as, well…seductive." I explained.

"Seductive?" Luke asked.

"Never mind," I dismissed it, not wanting to explain to Luke what it meant to seduce someone. He'd figure it out someday. "Just don't do it anymore, got it?"

"Who are you to say what I can and can't do?" Luke challenged me. Honestly, he's like a little kid.

"I'm the rightful owner of the body you're currently residing in." I told him. Luke's eyebrows furrowed defiantly for a moment, but he didn't challenge me any farther.

"Fine." He pouted. "I promise I won't wink." I sighed, hoping that Luke would keep his promise. Well, at least it was Gill he winked at and not Chase.

We finally arrived at the entrance to the Goddess pond. I checked Luke's watch, and was shocked. What seemed to be the longest walk I'd ever taken had only lasted about fifteen minutes.

"That was seriously only fifteen minutes? You're kidding!" Luke said when I told him.

"Nope. Dead serious." I said. It was kind of funny hearing that come out of what were supposed to be Luke's vocal chords, as Luke was rarely dead serious.

"That was the strangest walk I've ever taken." Luke said, bewildered.

"I agree, it was bizarre." I said.

"You really think that we'll be able to convince her to change us back?" he asked me.

"I hope so, I don't want to spend any longer in this body then I absolutely have to. Just follow my lead. And make sure that we act real buddy-buddy, so maybe she'll think that she made a mistake and that Finn was delusional."

"Which he was." Luke said pointedly.

"I heard that!" Finn squeaked from Luke's shoulder.

"Oh, hey there Finny! We forgot all about you!" Luke said, smiling at Finn. I groaned loudly at his being so oblivious.

"Okay, you ready Luke?" I asked.

"Dynamite." He said. And we walked into the tunnel that led to the renowned Goddess pond.