Side by side they slowly strolled through the evening light of the town square, the Frier house wasn't too far away and would only take them a couple of minutes to get there. Meanwhile Eric asked Jane, “So what's up?”

“Can't I just visit a friend at work?” Jane joked but then answered, “Wanted to know if I can stop by for dinner, catch up with your family before Amelia or Hannah barges over to my place wondering why I haven't visited yet.”

“I think this is the first time you've ever asked if you could come over, before you used to just show up and walk in.” Eric teased her. “Not that I'm saying you can't do that still, you're always welcome.”

“I'm a grown woman now, I can't be doing that… well I was thinking of barging in if I didn't catch you at work today.” Jane revealed and they laughed together.

Jane’s nose picked up some remaining scent of food off of Eric and realized something. “You now know that I'm thinking of it, you're working as a chef and I haven't even tried your food yet.”

“Curious?” Eric asked. “Actually if you want to try it, you can tomorrow.”

“Are you working tomorrow?”

“Nope! Tomorrow is a special day for me and my friends. Once a month we hold a little get together, each of us brings our own part, and after cooking for them once, I'm eternally stuck as their chef once a month.”

“Okay wait… are you saying I'm invited?” Jane questioned.

“Yep! Danielle invited you since she said she had wanted to hang out together but I guess she's been quite busy lately. She's the one who started it a few years back and then it just stuck and we've continued to do it. There's five of us; Me, Danielle, two guys who were in the same class as us and one other older girl. Don't know if you remember them because— well you know us, we did our own thing for the most part back then.”

“Danielle hosts, I cook, and the other three bring the food, drinks and anything else we might want.” Eric continued explaining. “I double checked with her as well because I didn't know if it was going to be canceled because of the whole celebration planning, but she said it was still on.”

‘An invitation from Danielle huh?’ Jane wasn't entirely against the idea of going, she didn't have any actual plans tomorrow night anyways. She just didn't know most of them and really didn't want to deal with people that might treat her differently because she was a classholder but after taking another look at Eric, she knew he probably wouldn't make friends like that.

“Are they gonna act weird around me? Do they even know I'm coming?” Jane double checked with Eric just in case.

“Nah they're all chill. I've talked about you with them a lot and they've never acted weird yet— as for the other question, I don't think they know you're coming.”

“Alright it will be a surprise then.” Jane said, her feeling of worry had already disappeared. “it feels like I'm your Ma ready to meet her sons new friends for the first time— wait do you say you talked about me a lot?”

The two continued walking during their slow trek towards Eric’s house until their conversation was interrupted by a sudden loud voice that boomed out of what seemed like thin air. “Helllllo everyone of Redwood, it's your mayor Peter Petal here with a special announcement!”

Every light post and a few other locations in town had special air runes engraved onto it that could project voices, allowing for town wide announcements whenever needed. Whatever the mayor was about to say, everyone would be able to hear it.

“Ah shit.” Jane knew what was coming and even though she accepted going, it was still embarrassing having the mayor announce a celebration dedicated to you— especially right next to your best friend.

“Nine days from now we will be holding an important celebration! One that many folks might remember was also held four years ago, a celebration for Redwood's very own classholder— Jane Bluegold! ”

“She has returned to town, and with her has come great possibilities for our friendly town to prosper like never before! I encourage everyone to show up, have a great time, meet some new people, and eat some delicious food our town is known for!”

“I myself will be putting together a host of activities for everyone to participate in, and of course, our main event, Jane Bluegold herself will start off our celebration with a bang! Nine days folk, nine days to prepare for a blast of a time!”

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“If you want to know more then come visit me at the mayor's house! And with that, I hope to see you all there, farewell, and have a great rest of your day!” The mayor's voice disappeared and Jane was left standing there with her face covered by her hands.

“What's up, embarrassed?” Eric teased her and got a gentle slap in return.

“Embarrassed— a little, more nervous than anything. I'm gonna have to stand in front of the entire town, which I know basically everyone will show up to because festivals and celebrations rarely happen, but when they do, everyone here goes crazy.”

“Are you nervous? When have you ever cared about what other people think?” Eric asked.

Jane took that in for a moment. When did she care what others thought of her? She had done her own thing since she was child and that continued throughout her time at the academy. Still, thinking about it and doing it were two separate things. She knew she didn't care what people thought of her, but then why was she still nervous deep down?

That's when it struck her. She wasn't nervous of embarrassing herself or screwing up, she was fearful of people treating her differently than normal. If they started to treat her like she was special, she would hate that.

At the academy everyone was classholder, so if she did her own thing she wasn't gonna get treated differently because they were all in the same boat. Everyone there was practically the same.

In Redwood, she was no longer a normal wild-child that people only looked at funnily, she was now a powerful classholder that could probably dictate this town's future on her own. Her actions were now under scrutiny of folk and she was nervous that her actions could lead to people hating, or even fearing her.

“You okay?” Eric saw that she hadn't responded.

Jane cleared her mind and sighed loudly. “I guess I cared more than I thought it did. My actions mean something now, I can't just go around acting recklessly like I did before— I could hurt someone if I do something stupid. If people started to hate or fear me…”

Eric was silent for a bit before responding, “You know, there's two things I can say to that. One, I think you're underestimating the kindness of people here. Most folk know of you, know what you're like, and they’ll treat you just like normal— maybe a little differently, but for the most part the same as before.”

“Lastly, I know you're a nice person who likes to help others— even if your methods are strange— Hey don't slap me again.” Eric rubbed his shoulder as Jane looked at him with a raised brow.

“Just let me finish.” Eric cleared his throat. ”There are always going to be people that are ass hats and are only gonna see the negative aspects of what you do, and that's just something you're gonna have to accept. Most people will see you doing your best and appreciate it, those that are needlessly hateful aren't gonna change their minds easily. You're just gonna have to do your best to change their thoughts over time.”

“Ya… you're right. That makes sense.” Jane leaned against Eric and smiled blissfully. ”Thanks. It helps— just a little though, can't just snap the nerves away.”

“Time will change that. Hopefully after not too long you get used to it— you know, becoming the town's celebrity classholder.” Seeing the stare he got in return he doubled down and joked with a grin, “Oh great classholder, I apologize for speaking out of turn, please be lenient with me for my actions!”

He saw Jane raise her hand to slap him again and sprinted down the road trying to get away from her wrath. His house was in sight not too far away but an angry Jane chased after him yelling, “Get your ass back here! This great classholder will show you the power of her hands!”

A smile blossomed on her face and her worries faded into the back of her mind. She knew Eric had said that and ran away on purpose, he always seemed to know how to make her feel better— most of the time all he needed to do was distract her.

Whatever the case, her wild energy surged and her mind became playful like a child once again, she sped up and easily caught Eric by playfully tackling him to the ground. The both of them rolled around on the grass trying to pin each other down gently, neither of them actually trying to win, more so both enjoying their childlike brawl.

Hands flew, arms were locked, and bodies were grappled, but eventually Jane managed to secure herself on top of Eric by straddling his waist and then used her thick thighs to hold him down.

Before she could brag to him about her victory, a youthful boy's voice screamed forth, “Dogpile!” and then she felt someone jump onto her, followed by laughter and screaming as three more bodies flopped on top of them. It was a messy affair but eventually Jane managed to crawl out of the dogpile and stand up to see three of Eric’s younger siblings still rolling around on the ground wrestling each other in the grass.

Eric was at the center of this particular war and the three others seemed hell bent on keeping him down on the ground for as long as possible, they would go as far as to team up and tackle him if he tried to stand up.

It wasn't until the intimidating and loud voice of a mom boomed across the yard, “Alex, Bobby and Emily! Stop messing with your brother already, he's covered in grass!” Amelia Frier warned them.

“Escape!” “Run!” “Hahaha!” The three rascals scampered off the ground and headed into the confines of their house nearby. Should their mother chase after them with the threat of scolding or a good spanking, they already had hiding spots prepared to escape to.

“Apologize to your brother!” Amelia yelled before they ran into the house.

“Sorry!” “Sowwy!” “”Sorry!” The three quickly screamed with their backs turned, already halfway through the door to their house.

“Whew.” Amelia put her arms on her hips, tired from her long day of working the fields. She had long blonde hair tied up in a bun to prevent it from interfering with her work on the field, while a large straw hat rested on her head to block the sun. Her reddish brown eyes looked at where her kids were running from and saw Jane Bluegold standing next to her son while patting her clothes to get rid of the dirt and grass covering them.

“Jane!” Amelia's energy was revitalized and she jogged over to Jane and gave her a warm hug, her dirty overalls rubbing all over Jane’s clothes. It took her a moment before she let go and took a good look at her.

“Eric told me you looked different but oh my, you're a brand new woman ain't cha!” Amelia pinched her cheeks before backing off as her husband came up behind her. He looked like a carbon copy of Eric as he had the same golden brown hair and orange eyes, the only difference was their age and the clothes they wore. Dean was dressed in a matching outfit with Amelia which consisted of a plaid shirt, jean overalls and thick black heavy boots.

Dean looked at Jane who was giving him a snarky grin and smiled in return. She was a similar height to himself but seeing her muscles and frame, Dean could only smile wider and reach his hand out towards her.

The two clasped their hands together like bro’s and squeezed. The challenge was on!

As Dean squeezed, Jane made sure to activate her hands to full power making them feel like diamonds to Dean’s weak fleshy hands, he couldn't even press his fingers into her skin. A vein bulged in his forehead as he squeezed his hardest, but eventually seeing no signs of victory in sight, he gave her the signal of defeat and then they let go of each other's hands.

“Eric told us about your powers, guess I ain't gonna be able to win anymore.” Dean chuckled and patted her on the head. “Welcome back you rascal.”