Chapter Four: Felicity and Clark

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Chapter Four: Felicity and Clark

Felicity Chester was walking down to the creek, intending to take a bath in the warm summer water. Her siblings had already claimed all the bathes for the week, and Felicity didn’t want to wait until next week to get clean. As the eldest sister of eight, Felicity was often stuck in situations like this where she needed to give up what she wanted for the good of the family. That didn’t mean she liked it, though.

            In truth, Felicity wouldn’t have totally minded waiting until next week to bathe, and since it looked like it was going to rain soon, she would have just stood out in the rain and washed her hair there. But Felicity was trying to impress someone. Willis.

            Willis was the eldest of the Benedict children, and the most handsome boy in all of Charlottetown. Since their fathers were friends, they wanted to bind their friendship in any way possible, including marriage. Felicity was secretly happy with this new development, seeing as she had a crush on Willis and this would make things much easier.

            But Willis had no interest in her as anything other than a friend. In fact, the moment their father’s intentions had been made clear, Willis had stormed out and slammed the door behind him. He had cooled down since then, but he was still unhappy. So Felicity had one option: make herself desirable enough that Willis will want to marry her. Which explained why she was making herself cleaner and prettier.

            She finally made it to the creek, but soon realized there were already people there.

            Charlotte Prescott ran past, unaware of Felicity’s presence. She appeared to be running from something, but she was laughing, so nothing was wrong. Charlotte was wearing a tight pink dress that that looked a bit old and worn. She turned around and yelled, “Now you stay away from, Willy, and no one gets hurt!” She said in mock-threatening voice.

            Willis ran after her, easily catching up to her and picked Charlotte up, swinging her over his shoulder, and climbed up the large rock next to the creek. “WILLIS! PUT ME DOWN!” Charlotte shrieked, laughing. Willis ignored her and swung Charlotte a few times, preparing to throw her.

            “Willis, don’t you even dare-” She was abruptly cut off when Willis let her go and she went sailing through the air.

            Charlotte screamed and landed with a splash in the creek. She gasped when she surfaced, shooting a glare at Willis and said, “Willis, you’re-” Willis took this as an opportunity to join her and cannon-balled into the creek, splashing Charlotte and shutting her up.

            He resurfaced and cupped Charlotte’s face in his hands. “I’m deeply sorry, Charie, could you ever forgive me?” He said, looking almost sincere. He leaned in and kissed her on the mouth, and Charlotte kissed him back.

            Felicity’s heart clenched at this forward show of affection between Charlotte and Willis. No wonder he didn’t want to marry her. He was in love with Charlotte Prescott.

            She started walking away, tears welling up in her eyes. Her foot caught a branch on the ground and she tripped, skinning her hands and knees.

            Instead of getting back up, though, she curled up in a ball and started crying, heartbroken. It made sense, though, that the two best-looking people in the town would fall in love. That’s how life worked. The pretty people marry the pretty people and the poor, ugly people stay lonely.

            A twig snapped behind her and someone asked, “Felicity? Are you all right?” A worried-looking Clark Prescott kneeled down next to her.

            Clark Prescott was a very blonde 15-year-old boy with tan skin and kind blue eyes. He didn’t even hold a candle to Willis, but Clark was handsome in a way Willis wasn’t; instead of stunning good looks like Willis, Clark had an interesting facial structure and a gentleness about him.

            “Yes, I just, ah, skinned my knee, that’s all.” Felicity stammered, not wanting anyone to know about her weak spot for Willis. Clark didn’t look convinced, though.

            “Let’s take you down to the creek and wash that up, then.” He said, not pushing her to explain further.

            “No! I mean, I’m fine, really. I should just go home.” Felicity said, not wanting to see the happy couple again. That would do more harm than good.

            “Can you even walk? Here, let me help you.” Clark said as Felicity tried to get herself off the ground.

            “Yes I can walk! I just need to get up, that’s all.” He took Felicity’s hand and pulled her up, but as soon as she put any pressure on her knee, a sharp pain shot up and down her bad leg. She yelped and held onto Clark, trying to keep the pressure off her knee.

            Clark put his arm around her shoulder and supported her while she hobbled over to a tree stump a few yards away. “I guess I can’t walk. How am I going to get home now?” She said, frustrated.

            “Here, I’ll go down to the creek and get some water to clean that wound out. I’ll be back in a second.” Clark said, bounding off toward the creek. Felicity groaned and tried flexing her knee, but another round of shooting pain made her stop.

            Clark came back with his hands cupped, water leaking out of them. He quickly started rubbing the water into Felicity’s knee, making her yelp with pain. But the dirt and pebbles were successfully washed out of her wound.

            “Thanks, Clark.” She said, observing her now clean skinned knee. Clark had a funny expression on his face, though.

            “Did you see Charlotte and Willis down by the creek?” Clark asked, puzzled. Felicity winced, not wanting to talk about it. Clark saw her expression, but didn’t ask any questions. In a way, she enjoyed his kindness and the way he didn’t need to know everything running through her mind.

            Clark helped her up and put his arm around in a non-flirtatious way, assisting her as she hobbled across the forest floor. “Let’s go to my house and clean up your knee. I don’t want that getting infected on my watch.” Clark smiled warmly and gripped her shoulders tighter as Felicity staggered.

            “You don’t have to do this, Clark.” Felicity said, not understanding his kindness.

            He just shrugged. “Yes I do. It wouldn’t be right to leave you here alone hurt.”

            They made their way across the street, past the square, and past the general store, until they were at the Prescott’s house. Their house was turquoise, and more expensive than all the buildings in the whole town. Felicity, being a farmer’s daughter, had never been inside a house like the Prescott’s.

            Felicity couldn’t understand it. In her family and the Benedict’s, you never did anything without getting something in return. The farmers couldn’t afford charity cases.

            Maybe Willis not being interested wasn’t such a bad thing. All of a sudden, she was seeing someone else in much more favorable light. Too bad this happiness wouldn’t last long.

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Sorry this is a little short. And possibly a little boring. But the first disaster is about to strike! Stay with me people!

Also: Pic of Felicity on the side!!!

-Eliz♥♥

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