This is Where the Real Work Starts

Claire woke up the next morning at the sound of her alarm.

"6 am," she muttered, "freakin' 6 am." She hadn't take her hair down from last night and now her hair was falling out all over the place. She finished taking it down, brushed it out and prepared for the rest of the day.

She groggily went through what she wanted to be her new routine, get the honey from her tree, feed Clementine and go work in her garden, which she still needed to start.

"Hey!" Popuri walked onto the premises of the farm carrying a basket, "I brought you lunch and Karen dropped off some sample seeds for you!" She held up several packets of seeds, "Oh! Plant the strawberries! They're my absolute favorite!" She chirped.

"Thanks Popuri," Claire graciously took the small basket and seeds. She had just gotten done planting and watering the pack of turnips her grandfather had left, "I'll plant them now."

Popuri hesitated to leave.

"Is there something else you needed?"

"Do you think you could help me with something?" She asked hesitantly.

"Sure anything," Claire set down the basket and gave the pink haired girl her full attention.

"Well, you see there's this guy…" She looked down at her hands, "and he's only here for the summer and I think we're kinda a thing but I'm not sure. And to top it off, my brother doesn't like him at all."

Claire was confused, "Well what can I do?"

"I was hoping that you might be able to help me distract my brother."

Alarms in Claire's head were going off, "How?"

Popuri smiled, "He seemed to be quite taken with you yesterday."

"Taken with me?"

"Yeah. So I was wondering if you could like befriend him and distract him over the summer that'd be great!"

Claire felt like she was backed against a wall, "Um… I guess…"

"Thank you! Thank you Claire! You are a life saver!" Popuri gushed, "You should finish up here and go talk to him. He's gonna be helping me mom for the rest of the day."

"Yeah, well what are friends for?" Claire muttered as Popuri skipped off. She picked her hoe back up and began to plow.

A few hours later she set down her watering can and looked at her handy work. There were several semi-even rows of 9x9 squares of seeds.

"Hey Claire. I'm here to pick up today and yesterday's shipment," Zack walked over to the little wooden box, "Looks like 800g worth of stuff here." He handed her several bills, "Looks like there'll be plenty more where that came from," he said looking at her fields.

"I hope so," Claire was so tired but she promised Popuri she'd go talk to Rick today.

"I'll see ya tomorrow, Claire," Zack left with a sack full goods and Claire walked inside her little house to take a shower.

About a half hour later she had her hair up and was in clean clothes, ready to go out. She took the short walk to Popuri's family's farm.

"Oh hey Claire," Rick had just walked out their house, "I was just going to go for a drink… Would you like to join me?"

"Sure," Claire walked beside the blonde boy.

"How are you liking Mineral Town?" He asked trying to break the silence.

"It's really cute. It's a lot different from the city."

"I bet. I've never actually been to the city. I've always wanted to though, but between my mom getting sick and my dad leaving I never found the time," he shrugged.

"I should take you some time. It's really an experience you should have," Claire smiled.

"I couldn't leave my mom or my sister," he looked sadly at his feet.

"You couldn't take anytime off this summer?" She asked curiously, keeping in mind Popuri's request.

"Oh no! Definitely not in the summer! That's when Kai is in town," Rick scowled as they approached the Inn, "He's bad news and he has my poor innocent sister under his spell."

"Why do you hate him so much? What has he done?" Claire inquired as they pulled up a seat at the bar.

"Besides corrupt my baby sister?" He motioned to Ann's father for a drink. "He travels all year! What kind of responsible man does that? Not one that's good enough for Popuri. And he dresses like a pirate, bandana and everything! He's just bad news Claire."

"Your sister is an adult, I think she can handle herself. You've done your job as the protective older brother but Popuri is twenty-one. She can make her own decisions."

Rick scowled, "I don't want to talk about Kai anymore."

"Alright," Claire took a swig of the beer she was just handed, "Not bad."

"They brew it next door at the winery, so it's just about as fresh as you can get." Rick looked stiff with angry and aggravation.

"Hey Rick," Karen pulled up a seat on the other side of Rick and suddenly his demeanor soften.

"Hi Karen," He said with a warm smile. Doug set a bottle of wine in front of her.

"Thanks Doug," She pulled a 200g out of her boobs. "So what's up?" She poured herself a glass of the red.

Rick's grip tightened around his drink, "I was just telling Claire about Kai."

"Oh that's never a good subject to get him on," Karen nursed her wine.

"So, I've learned," Claire watched as Rick's anger transformed into joy as he watched Karen. She was beginning to think that maybe Popuri had asked the wrong girl to distract her brother. "I should get going. It's getting late," Claire fumbled to get her wallet out.

Rick stopped her, "I've got it."

Claire was hesitant to accept his offer, "You sure?"

He nodded his head, "Yeah. You need to save what you can, being a new farmer and all."

"Thanks Rick!" Claire smiled broadly. As she turned to leave the door creaked open. Gray walked through the threshold. He walked through the first floor of the Inn with his hat covering his eyes and made a beeline for the stairs. "What's his deal?" She asked Rick and Karen.

"He's under a lot of pressure from his grandfather," Rick shrugged, "doesn't handle it too well. He tends to get himself all worked up and then shuts people out."

Claire struggled with the explanation. There had to be more about the boy with the hat. Perhaps something someone wasn't telling her or maybe even the villagers didn't know.

The next afternoon after her chores were through, Claire went to visit Popuri.

"She's gone to the church," Lilia told her, "She loves to spend her Sundays there."

"Thanks!" Claire backed slowly out the door and waved to Rick who was coming down the stairs.

She barely remembered where the town's center of worship was. During her summers at the farm her grandfather had never taken her. He hadn't like the pastor or something like that.

As she approached the town square, Claire saw Gray reading the announcements. Funny, she hadn't thought of Gray being the kind of guy who would care about town happenings.

For whatever reason Claire stopped behind him, "Hi," she said simply.

Gray turned around and seemed to mumble a greeting.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot," she offered him a hand, "I'm Claire. We ran into each other a few days ago."

"I remember," He said surprisingly gentle. He looked at her outstretched hand as if he was deciding whether or not to accept the gesture. "Gray," she finally said accepting her handshake.

"Would you like to walk with me?" Claire offered. "I'm trying to find Popuri. Lilia said she'd be at the church."

He looked uncomfortable at her invitation. "I have to get back to the shop," He said quickly as he readjusted his hat over his eyes, "Grandfather will have my head if I'm not back soon."

"Oh, well, some other time then," Claire offered. She was determined to befriend the boy with the hat.

"Yeah," Gray briskly brushed past her. Claire looked after him. She felt like he was hiding something. The boy was oddly quiet.

Claire found Popuri right where Lilia had suggested. She was talking with, who Claire assumed was, the pastor.

"Claire!" Popuri greeted the blonde excitedly. "This is Carter. He's our pastor."

"It's very nice to meet you, Claire," the pastor gave her a warm smile. He was very soft spoken and calm.

Claire nodded awkwardly. She didn't have much of a religious background, "It's nice to meet you too."

"I'll see you later Carter," Popuri grabbed Claire's wrist, "I'm taking Claire to the beach."

"The beach? Isn't it a little cold?" Claire asked as the pink haired girl dragged her down the aisle.

"Sure, to go swimming," Popuri ran down the path to the town square, "but I like to just go sit on the beach." She ran all the way down to the water's edge. When Claire finally caught up to her, Popuri was looking solemnly at the waves. "I like to watch the waves hit the beach. It reminds me of the summers I've spent with Kai." She sat down, removed her shoes, then her stockings and dipped her bare feet into the ocean.

"Have you tried explaining to Rick that you really love Kai?" Claire sat down next to her friend.

"He won't listen," Popuri brought her knees to her chest.

"I really don't know what to tell you Popuri," Claire looked out at the vast blue ocean. "I think I was the wrong person to ask to distract your brother."

She looked confused, "What do you mean?"

"I think Rick is hardcore crushing on Karen," Claire explained. "She came over to us at the bar and his mood completely changed."

"They've been friends for years. I never thought anything of it," Popuri smiled widely, "This will be great! I love Karen she's one of my best friends. What if they get married? And have kids? I could be Auntie Po!"

Claire laughed at Popuri's excitement, "I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's head back home," the girls proceeded to get up and shake the sand off of themselves. "Wait!" Claire notice several herbs growing out of the sand. She ran and picked them, "That's more money towards a cow!" Claire smiled triumphantly with the blue herbs in her hand.

Popuri laughed at the blonde and grabbed her stocking and shoes so they could walk home.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said as they approached Poultry Farm.

"Bye!" Claire waved as her pink hair friend ran into the barn shaped house. She turned to leave and was immediately hit with a human sized blow, knocking her over.

She looked over to the offender. "Gray?" She asked shocked and worried. The young man had rushed out of his grandfather's shop and ran into Claire yet again but this time his appearance had her in a panic. "Gray, what happened?" The young man was bloodied, his hand looked badly hurt and there was a gash over his right eye.

"I'm ok. I'm ok."