It's been just under a month since my last update, so sorry guys. I've been incredibly busy this summer, and I'm about to leave for the beach for a week with friends so it'll probably be a tiny bit of a wait for the next chapter too, but maybe I'll spit something out before I leave.

This chapter is mostly a flashback focusing on Selena's backstory. It's pretty important. Also, I constantly refer to "the city." Back in the first or second chapter I very briefly mentioned that Angela moved to New York City, but I changed it from New York to just a vague city in the Harvest Moon world. That's all! Enjoy.

Angela struggled to keep her eyes open as her head was resting comfortably in Selena's lap, the island beauty playing with her hair. The fresh, salty wind and gentle rhythm of the boat pushed the small girl even closer to sleep.

Her body was exhausted, and she was so close to achieving the rest she needed, but her mind raced. One topic seemed to stick in her head, and no matter how hard she tried to think of different things, it always called attention back to itself. How could she not think about her pregnancy? It was definitely not something to be taken lightly, anyone could tell her that. Especially Selena.

Selena! Finally something new entered her mind. It was Selena's birthday the next day, so she might as well wish her a happy early birthday now that she was thinking of it.

"Hey, Selena," Angela mumbled, her voice thick with exhaustion. "Happy twenty first birthday. Well, in a few hours, I guess."

Selena's red lips lifted in a smile. "Thank you, Angela."

"Happy sixteenth birthday Selly!" Sue's energy and positive attitude was contagious, and even Selena, the incredibly moody teenage girl, was infected.

"Don't call me that. You know I hate it!" she complained, but she was unable to wipe the smile off her face.

"How's my little princess on her sweet sixteen?" Samson asked, setting down a plate of her favorite breakfast: eggs and rice with a side of fresh mango.

"That nickname is even worse than Selly." She rolled her eyes dramatically. In fact, everything she did was dramatic. "As you both know, I'm sixteen today, meaning I'm practically an adult, making the names 'princess' and 'Selly' unacceptable."

"You think being sixteen makes you an adult? You're still just a child. Now eat your breakfast so we can give you your presents!"

In her opinion, her parents treated her like she was still a toddler, completely dependent on them with no possibility of living on her own. This annoyed her to no end, but she thought that this was the year that they'd finally allow her to visit the city, or Castanet at the very least. She was a very sheltered child, and had only left her native Toucan Island a few times in her whole life, and even then she was kept under constant surveillance by at least one parent at all times. She was tired of it.

All year long she had incessantly nagged her parents to let her visit the city. Her dream was to become a famous dancer. Her name would be displayed in neon lights in front of wherever she was performing that night, and every show would be sold out, of course. But to achieve this dream of hers, she needed some proper training and experience.

Her mother had danced when she was younger, although she never took it nearly as seriously as her daughter did, so when Selena expressed an interest in the art form early on, her mother took the liberty of teaching her. With her mother as a teacher, Selena learned all the basics of dancing, but she always craved to learn more. She especially wanted to learn more about different forms of dance, like classic ballet. On one of the very few trips to the city that she had taken, at around the age of 6, Selena purchased a book detailing the lives and careers of the most famous ballerinas that had graced the stage at Royal Theatre, the most well-known theatre in the area. She read it religiously, and knew that someday, she would take ballet lessons and try her luck at being a ballerina.

The only dancing experience that Selena had was what her mother had taught her. She didn't have an exact term to describe it, but many described the dance form as "bellydancing." In other words, the dancing that she usually did focused more on the movement of her torso and hips than her limbs, but she wanted to learn even more.

Her parents were torn. They wanted to support Selena with her dreams, but they were afraid of how she would fare in the city with no experience. They decided that she should wait until she was at least 18 to go to the city to pursue her career, and Sue would accompany her. But Selena was impatient. At 16, she felt she was mature enough to handle herself. She had always been a very independent person, even if her parents had treated her as the opposite. Two more years stuck on the island practicing the same dance moves over and over again until they were permanently drilled into her brain did not sound appealing in the least. What sounded even less appealing was that when she was finally able to move to the city, her mother would have to live with her.

She knew that expecting a birthday gift of a long trip to the city was a waste, but all she could hold on to was hope.

"Your father and I took a special trip to Castanet to get this present for you. We spent a lot of time thinking about what would be perfect for our girl's sweet sixteen, and we thought that you would love this." Sue set down a perfectly wrapped gift in front of Selena, the shiny silver ribbon mimicking a mirror as Selena's expectant face was reflected in it.

Taking a deep breath, Selena unwrapped the gift. A boat ticket was all she wanted, and all that she had wanted for a long time, and she had a feeling that maybe her parents had finally caved. Just maybe.

Her eyes settled on a beautiful shiny pearl necklace.

"Do you like it? It's okay if you don't, I won't be offended." Sue stared at her daughter, trying to read her face. It was hard to tell what she was feeling, as her face seemed completely void of emotion.

"Your mother and I found the pearls ourselves, right here on Toucan Island. We had to have it made professionally on Castanet, though. We're not that skilled!" Her father added with a hearty laugh.

"I…love it!" Selena was immensely disappointed in her gift, but she shouldn't have let her hopes get so high. The necklace was very nice, and she wasn't lying when she said she loved it, but compared to a boat ticket, this gift was nothing to her. Faking a smile, which she found herself to be quite good at, she let her mother put the necklace around her neck, then gave each parent a warm hug and a "thank you".

That night, Selena lay in bed reprimanding herself for even thinking that her parents would let her leave Toucan Island. She was mad at them, but she was mostly mad at herself. Of course they would never buy her a boat ticket. What was she thinking?

But she didn't feel like giving up. She knew what she had to do.

Pascal, the kind old captain, ran a ferry to and from Castanet roughly once a week, and if everything was according to plan, the ferry would arrive at Toucan Island to drop off any passengers and bring back any exports the next morning. The boat would leave shortly after, making its way back before most people were even awake. Selena knew that if she wanted to make her dream happen anytime soon, she would have to make a risky decision.

After debating with herself whether or not this was the right thing to do, the sixteen year old girl decided that she needed to go through with it. She packed a medium sized suitcase with all the essentials, but she needed money if she expected to survive by herself. She didn't want to take any credit cards because those could easily be tracked or canceled by her parents, so she snuck into the cash register at the front counter and took all the cash that was inside. It was a good amount that would last her for an acceptable amount of time, but she'd have to get a job eventually if she planned on staying any longer than about a month.

How long did she really want to stay there? A month sounded like a long time to be away from home, but in the grand scheme of things, a month isn't a lot of time to have when working towards becoming a famous dancer. She decided not to think too much about how long she would stay in the city, and chose to just go with the flow.

Her parents would be worried, and she felt guilty leaving them alone, not knowing exactly where their daughter was or what she was doing, but it was her time. She couldn't allow them to keep her cooped up on the island for her entire life. They always said they'd let her visit with her mother when she was eighteen, but knowing them, they'd back out on that and decide they would go when she was twenty, and then twenty-one, then twenty-two, and so on. Her desire to run away was fueled not only by her passion to dance, but also her need to be independent.

She hid her suitcase near the dock so she could make a quick and easy escape. The money was tucked into a wallet, which was safely stowed in her purse. She was ready to leave.

Before the sun had even risen, Pascal pulled up to the dock, unloading some boxes that were to be delivered. Two sleepy passengers disembarked, obviously annoyed that one of the only boat rides to the island was so early in the morning. Selena watched them head towards the Inn, where they would be disappointed to learn that it wouldn't open for another hour.

Making sure that Pascal's attention was diverted, Selena quickly threw her luggage into the boat and hopped on herself. It wasn't a large vessel, but there was certainly enough room where she could easily hide herself for the ride, and a few hours later, when the boat did take off, Selena smiled. There were no tears shed.

The blare of the boat's horn awoke Selena from her dreamless sleep. It had only been three hours since she had initially boarded, and she guessed that her parents wouldn't notice that she was gone for another few hours. Like most teenagers, she slept in to abnormally late times, so it was not uncommon for her to wake up around eleven or twelve o' clock. Checking her watch, she noticed it was only nine.

Pascal was busy dealing with boarding passengers, so she slipped out onto the dock, drawing absolutely no attention to herself.

Now was time to put her plan into action. First she'd stop by a small, modest hotel. She was on a budget, so she couldn't spend the money she had on luxuries, but that was fine with her. Each step she took meant that she was closer to living her dream. Just the thought of that caused her heart to speed up until it seemed like it would burst.

Anyone who took a look at her could tell she was brimming with joy. Her cheeks were rosy and stretched in a wide grin. Her violet eyes sparkled, and the way she walked emanated confidence.

This confidence and excitement worried the old, grumpy lady at the front desk of the hotel. Well, it was more of a motel to be exact. To be called a hotel was a stretch. As soon as Selena walked in, the wrinkled lady with pink fluffy hair like a pile of cotton candy scowled.

If it were any other day, just the sight of the weathered down lady with the droopy frown would put Selena in a bad mood immediately, but obviously nothing could bring her down today.

"I'd like a room please!" she said joyfully, her voice seeming higher-pitched than usual due to how excited she was.

"That'll be forty dollars a night. How old are you, kid?" Her voice was deep and raspy from what one could only assume was a lifetime of smoking.

"I'm eighteen years old," Selena said, hoping the woman couldn't detect the hesitation in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm sure you are," she said, not convinced in the least, but she was tired and didn't feel like dealing with the situation, so she let it slide. "How many nights you staying, honey?"

"Oh, um, I'm not sure, but I'll just pay for a week for now, is that alright?"

"Sure thing." They exchanged money, and Selena couldn't help but notice the woman's hot pink nails and fingers covered in cheap rings. It was funny to her. Everything already was so different than home.

The woman, who Selena had noticed was named Delores from her name tag, stooped down to retrieve the key to her room, her fluffy hair brushing the desk on the way down. With her key in one hand and her bag in the other, Selena was ready to drop her stuff off and start exploring the city, but Delores had something to say before she left.

"Now listen here. I can just tell by your confident little demeanor that you're here to live the dream. I see people your age come here all the time to do just what you're doing. Some are singers, others painters, I even see some dancers pass through here sometimes," she said, making Selena's heart pound. "and I don't really know what you do, but I will tell you, this ain't gonna be what you imagined. It's gonna get rough. If you can't handle that, then I'd turn back now and go back to mommy and daddy, or to wherever you came from."

Delores, to say the least, was terrifying, and Selena just needed to get out of there. She knew she shouldn't take what Delores said to heart, but what if that weird old lady was right? No, she couldn't afford to think that way. She needed to at least try to achieve her goals.

Without a word in reply, Selena walked off to her room, leaving Delores to roll her eyes and crack open another hollywood gossip magazine.

"Welcome to Introduction to Ballet! I'm sure that this will be an enjoyable experience for you ladies. Let's start with the basics!" A tall, slender woman began showing the class first position, second position, and so on. She wore her dirty blonde hair in a tight bun, and had very sharp facial features that gave her a very intimidating look, but in reality, she was as sweet as could be.

Selena had signed up the day she had arrived for ballet classes at the nearest (and cheapest) dance studio. The woman standing in front of her, teaching her positions that she already knew from books that she had read, was Ms. Caroline Fay, the owner of "Caroline Fay's Academy of Dance."

It had been two days since Selena had arrived in the city, and she knew that her parents were probably searching frantically all over Toucan Island for her. At this point, she guessed that they had traveled to Castanet to search for her. She had a small flip phone in case of emergencies, but she purposefully left that at home so they couldn't track her in any way. She didn't know much about the technology of cell phones, so she didn't exactly know if they could track her from it, but it was better safe than sorry.

She planned on calling them from a pay phone later in the day to let them know that she at least still alive. She felt terrible for leaving them in the dark about where she was going, but if she had told them, or given them any hint as to what she was going to do, she knew that this would never happen and that she'd be stuck on Toucan Island for the rest of her life.

Ms. Caroline Fay now moved on to slightly more complicated positions and terms, and Selena followed every step with ease. It was obvious, even within the first few minutes of the class, that she was one of the more talented students, and everyone noticed, especially Ms. Fay.

After the two hour introduction class, as Selena was putting on a jacket and sweatpants over her leotard and thread-bare tights, Ms. Fay made her way to her new student, dying to meet the gifted girl.

"Hello, um…" she started, waiting for Selena to introduce herself.

"Oh! I'm Selena," she said politely.

"Selena! Nice to meet you," her warm smile softened her usually intimidating face. "I couldn't help but notice how talented you are! You're a natural at dancing, and I wonder if maybe you should be placed in a higher level class. Have you taken ballet before?"

Selena's cheeks filled with color at the compliment. So far, her trip couldn't have been better. Well, that wasn't exactly true. She could be staying at a much nicer hotel. It wasn't exactly pleasant to be awoken to the scurrying sounds of roaches in the morning.

"I haven't. I came to the city so I could learn ballet, actually. But I've been dancing all my life, just not ballet."

"Oh? What type of dance do you normally do?"

"Well, my mom taught me everything I know up until this point, and I always learned the dance that was native to my island. Some say it's similar to bellydancing, except I think it's a little more than that." Thinking about her mother and her home made her feel emotional all of a sudden, but she held it back. She also realized that she shouldn't be so open about her life, just in case anything happened that would result in her parents finding her and sending her back. She had to be careful.

"That sounds wonderful!" Ms. Fay said, genuinely delighted. "Would you mind showing me what you could do? And maybe I'll put you in the next level of ballet!" By this point, everyone else in the class had filed out, being picked up by their parents, or taking public transportation back home. It was just Selena and Caroline in the large mirrored room.

"Of course," Selena agreed, and she began. Dancing was second nature to her, and she completed each move with no problem. Her body flowed from one position to the next, and Caroline Fay's eyes lit up with wonder. She knew from that day that her student, Selena, would be going places.

After that enchanting day at the dance studio, Selena was bumped up to Intermediate Ballet. She definitely had the skill for it, and she knew it. Life was going great, but it was time to make a phone call to her parents.

It was fairly late, but the sun hadn't set quite yet. Selena stood in front of the large, black payphone and popped in a quarter to make her call. The phone only rang once before her mother answered frantically.

"Hello? Who is it?" She asked, obviously hoping it was someone with information regarding her daughter's whereabouts, if not her daughter herself. That night was the night that they finally contacted the police, and Selena was declared missing. There was no police force on Toucan Island or Castanet, but the city police were on the case.

"Mom, it's me," Selena replied, swallowing back tears. She didn't expect to be so upset. Of course she missed her parents, but this was what was best for her. At least, that's what she thought.

"Selena! Oh my god, honey! Where are you? Your father and I are worried sick!" Sue sobbed into the phone. "Samson! Come here! Selena is on the phone!" She heard some shuffling on the other line as Samson took the phone out of Sue's hands.

"Selena! Princess! Are you okay?" His usually gruff voice was now tender and vulnerable. Just the sound of it made the tears that Selena was holding back break through and roll down her face.

"I'm fine Dad, I'm fine."

Selena sat on her creaky bed that night with questionably clean sheets and sobbed. This was such a major moment in her life, and she was putting her parents though a living hell. Maybe this was all a mistake and she should just pack up and go home, but at the same time, she felt like that was giving up too early. On the phone, her parents cried a lot and begged her to come home, or at least tell them where she was. They guessed that she was in the city, because where else would she have gone. Even they knew that her dream was to become a dancer and dance at Royal Theatre. She wouldn't give them any information other than the fact that she was okay, and that she would stay okay. This comforted them, but only a little.

Crying seemed like the best way to let everything out. Usually, Selena tried to keep up a tough exterior, and rarely cried, but there was no way she was going to keep it all in now. Even if she tried, she wouldn't have succeeded.

That night, her birthday night, she lay in bed and debated whether or not she should go through with this. It was hard to say if this idea was a good one, and in the end, even though she did decide to take action, she still didn't know if it was a good idea. Only time would tell, she guessed.