A Fresh Start - Chapter 2

"How am I supposed to do my hair with no mirror?" I think, rubbing my eyes. I then stop, and feel my pockets.

"Where are my glasses?!"

Suddenly, the door slams open.

"Hi Jared!!" Daisy yells, with my pal Shane behind her.

"Hey guys!" I say to them.

"We got your stuff." Shane says, with a rolling suitcase behind him. He puts it next to me.

"You guys are lifesavers!" I say, looking for my mirror. Pulling it out, I take my comb and fix my hair back up.

"No problem! It's kind of sad you had to move out though, Jared. Now all we have is Shane!" Daisy says sarcastically, grabbing Shane's arm.

"Well, we better get going. Enjoy Vangade, buddy." Shane says, as he walks out the door with his arm around Daisy.

"I wish I had someone…" I mutter, looking out the window. I notice it's pretty blurry, so I decide to go outside after I change my shirt.

"It's pretty warm…" I think as I see the waves crash on the shore. I look at my wrist; to notice it is only 4:18 pm. I feeling anxious, I walk around town, looking to introduce myself. I see the cat again.

"Umm, Punchy, correct?" I ask, walking up to him.

"Correct! I heard about you from Pierce. Nice to meet you, Jared!" he says, shaking both my hands.

"Nice to meet you too." I say, smiling at him.

"So, don't you have to work for—"

"Jared!" Pierce yells from afar, running to us. He then picks me up.

"I got this." Pierce says, winking at Punchy. Punchy bows, and Pierce runs off with me over his shoulder.

"But Punchy was just…"

"No time! I told you, you're not allowed to walk on your leg!" he says running to the bus stop.

"But my leg feels better!" I say, bouncing up and down as I see the bus stop come into view.

"I believe you, but the bus will come in any minute, and won't come back again for hours if we don't go now." He says, slowing down. We then see the bus coming in from the gate.

"After you." Pierce says, as the bus door opens. I walk in, and greet Kapp'n.

"So, how are you lads doing?" he asks us.

"We're alright." I respond, looking at Pierce.

"Hopefully you'll both find some lovely ladies in the city. Save their numbers for me, will ya? Arharharhar…" Kapp'n chuckles.

"No problem, Kapp'n." Pierce says sarcastically. I look at him worried, and he just rolls his eyes at me. I look back to the window, with trees rolling along the street. After an awkward quarter of an hour, we finally make it to the city. We both quickly get off, and Kapp'n rides away without a question.

"What was the matter a little while ago?" I ask Pierce.

"I'll tell you later…maybe. Now let's go shopping!" Pierce squawks. I quickly unwrap the bandage on my leg and follow.

"First stop…um…" I say, pointing to a pink barber shop.

"That's Shampoodle. Want a haircut?"

"Yeah, I need one!" I say, walking towards the building. Opening the door, I hear a small chime. I am greeted by a pink poodle.

"Hey Harriet! My friend here needs a haircut." Pierce yells from behind me.

"Hey Pierce! No problem! Sit down! What's your name?" she says, prodding me to the styling seat.

"I'm Jared." I say shyly.

"Alright, what would you like? Want your hair dyed a different color?" she asks excitedly.

"No dye, but maybe a trim, and make it flat?" I ask.

"Of course!"

After a half hour of cutting and styling, my hair is done.

"What do you think?" she asks. I then squint my eyes. Not being able to see it, I go up to the mirror.

"I love it!" I say, rubbing my head.

"Everything okay?" Pierce asks me, as he hands 3,000 bells to Harriet.

"Yup!" I say, walking up to him.

"Thank you, Harriet!" I say as Pierce opens the door for me. I walk out, and try to read a sign.

"Lll…lets go to that one." I say, pointing to it.

"Oh, GracieGrace. Sure!" Pierce says, as we walk to it. As the doors open, I am greeted by a blast of cool, and a small porcupine.

"Welcome to GracieGrace, misters!" she says.

"Hello, Labelle. This is my friend Jared." Pierce says, pointing to me.

"Ah, hello! Today we have less items than before, since the season changes soon." She says, pointing to some "Sold-out" signs. We walk forward, and I go up to the shirts. I take a look at one, which has red, yellow, orange, and cream colors.

"The Cool Shirt…do you like it?" Labelle says, coming up to me.

"I really do, how much is it?" I ask.

"4,495 bells."

"Oh, alright. Neverm…" I trail off, as I see Pierce give her the money. He nods to me, which tells me I can take the shirt. Labelle then puts it in a bag for me.

"Thank you again, Pierce…" I say a bit sadly. He nods, and points to the door. We walk out, and he leads me to a movie theater.

"They only show movies on the weekends." Pierce says, as we look at the movie titles along the side of the building.

"What do you wanna see?" I ask Pierce.

"Hmm…" he thinks, looking at a flier with a cat and a dog, with a pink and red background. I look at it as well.

"Village Love?" I say aloud, "I like it."

"Let's go see it then!" Pierce says, smiling at me. After paying for the movie and snacks, we go into a pretty packed theatre.

"This movie must be popular." I whisper to him.

"It must be." He whispers back, as we sit down.

After two hours, the movie is finally over. I lift my arm, and wipe some liquid from my nose.

"What a beautiful movie…" I say, as tears fill my eyes. Pierce looks at me. I look to him, and he hugs me. Two seconds later, we retract.

"Thanks for that." I say, smiling. He smiles back, and we look at the people around us, which couples are kissing.

"Uhh, let's get out of here." I say, as the lights slowly come back on. Pierce nods, and we scuttle from our aisle. As we go down to the exit, I see Joey, who is already staring at us, with his piercing black eyes. A bit shocked, I look forward to Pierce's back.

"Finally out!!" Pierce screeches.

"I know it!" I say, "Did you see Joey staring at us?"

"No he was there?"

"He was! It was creepy."

"Well, don't feel creeped out, because if you do, I'll have to wail on him. And I don't want to if I don't need to!" Pierce says, rubbing his rather large biceps, covered in feathers.

"Alright! So do you wanna wait for the bus?" I ask, looking into the star filled sky.

"Nah, it'll be too long. The last bus comes at 1:00 am, and its 11:30 pm now. It only takes us a half hour to walk back to Vangade. Let's go." Pierce says.

We start walking down the street, which leads us to a very foresty area. After going through that, we end up in a field, just on the outskirts of the village.

"Hey, look! Fireflies!" I say, running up the hill to them. I then trip and fall.

"Jared! Are you alright?" Pierce says, running up to me and picking me up.

"Um…yeah." I say, "…I just lost my glasses, when I fell in that pitfall."

"Oh, you did?" Pierce asks, "I'll go get them." He then runs off.

"Wait!!" I yell. A mere five minutes later, he is back.

"That was fast." I say, walking up to him. Handing me the big black glasses, I put them on.

"You look great!" Pierce says.

"Really? Thank you!" I say, fixing them. I then turn around, and walk up the hill.

"A single tree in the middle…reminds me of Majora's Mask. Hehe."  Pierce says as he follows.

"Yeah, like in The Moon, with the children running…wait, you played that?" I ask, sitting down as he walks up to me.

"Of course, I can never get enough of Zelda."

"Me either, Pierce!" I say, excited.

"So, tell me. Why did you leave your glasses behind, knowing they were there?" Pierce asks, looking into my eyes.

"I just…"I sigh. "I didn't want to…look dumb?" I say confused.

"You don't look dumb in your glasses. I think you look…good." Pierce responds.

"See? You paused while thinking for an answer!" I exclaim upsettingly.

"No. You look great." Pierce says, looking away from me. I go silent.

"…Jared. About that thing on the bus…what Kapp'n said about finding a lady. I…I just…" Pierce says, looking towards me with tears in his eyes.

"You're what, Pierce? What?!" I worriedly ask.

"I'm…I like guys." Pierce cries, putting his head down.
"I didn't tell anyone until now, because I can't trust anyone in town, no one! My parents, they wanted to me to move out as soon as possible! Punchy seems shifty, and Joey's a big gossiper! I don't know Daisy or Shane, and Serane and Rosie also gossip! It'll get around that I'm the biggest fag in the village; no one would talk to me! I'm all alone!!" Pierces cries out, sobbing.

"Pierce, Pierce, relax!!" I scream to him, grabbing his arms. He looks to me, with his eyes watering and nose running.

"I'm here for you. I'm not going anywhere. Don't be ashamed." I smile. I hear a quack, but it is covered by Pierce's sniffling. I then hug him tightly.

"Don't worry." I say, continuing to hold him, "I like boys too." Pierce then stays silent. The hug goes on for a few more seconds, and I let go.

Looking at the Fireflies, "We should get going." I say, getting up. I reach my hand to Pierce's to help him up.

We start walking, and go in through the gate.

"I'll walk you home, Jared." Pierce offers. I nod, and we walk to my house, which is near the beach.

"Tonight was…so much fun." I say, opening my door, "Wanna come in for a little bit?"

"Nah, I need to head to bed. So do you. We need to hang out more tomorrow." He chuckles.

"Heh, alright. Night, Pierce." I say, jutting my hand out. Pierce then takes it, and shakes it. He pulls me and hugs me. I feel his chest feathers under his shirt.

"Thank you so much." He says softly. He pulls away, and heads out the door.

I then scuffle through my bag, and find my Regal Bed. Changing the bed that was originally in the house into a leaf, I put down my new one. I look out the window, to see Pierce slamming on the Able Sister's door, which is already closed. 12:28 am.

"Time for bed…"

I smell the fragrance of Pierce's cologne on my shirt before I switch into my pajamas.