Falling for the Popular Girl

Chapter 22- Midnight and the stranger

Jessica’s POV

It was late afternoon, I had finished my homework and wasn’t doing anything at the moment. I sit around, thinking to myself about what Eve had said about Kaylee to Jake and I. I sigh and decide to text her and see if she was okay. I groan and remember I hadn’t gotten her number or anything, just knew where she lived. 

I sigh and just hope she’d be in school tomorrow. I glance outside and decide to let the horses out and take one riding a bit. I nod to myself and decide on that as I jump out of bed and change my clothes. 

Running down the hall, I yell to my parents, letting them know where I was going. “Mom! Dad! I’m going out to the stables and going for a ride!” I yell as I run past them. They laugh “Alright, be careful!” my mother calls after me. 

I wave my hand, letting her know I’d heard her as I race down to the stables. I arrive and can feel right away something wasn’t right. I look around cautiously as I walk down past each pen holding a horse. 

Except one was empty. I start to panic slightly. I check the gates and see it was possible Midnight could have broke out of her own pen. I run to check how many saddles and bridles were still around. I count all of our saddles in place, about 6 of them, and then the bridles. I see one is missing and the bit oh the floor. I pick it up to inspect it to find that it was cleverly taken off.

So this person, I conclude, must’ve run in, taken the bit off, put the bridal on bit-less then hoped on bareback and rode off. Instead of getting upset and worried, I get really mad. How dare someone steel MY horse! 

I walk out of the stables, looking around for hoof prints and find some leading away from my house but after a certain distance, they get all mixed in with the other hoof prints and everything is scuffed up so I can’t tell where they went. 

I turn heel and stomp back to the house and burst in through the back door, surprising my parents. They look at me in confusion “Honey, what’s wrong?” my mom asks from the table. My dad just sits there reading the paper. 

“Someone stole Midnight!” I say, my voice wavering slightly. My dads head appears from behind the paper “What?!” he asks standing up. I nod, blinking back any tears I felt coming on. 

My mother rushes over and engulfs me in a hug “Oh sweetie, are you sure?” she asks stroking my hair comfortingly. I nod and raise the bit “They took the bit off one of the bridles and ran off with her, bareback” I say handing my dad the bit. 

He inspects it and nod “Wow, this person must be pretty smart to take the bit off and leave it intact” he says pretty impressed. I scowl “that’s not the point here!” I cry pointing out the door. My dad nods and walks out briskly. I follow him, a hard expression on my face as my mother runs after me, still more worried about me the the lost horse. 

We reach the stables and he does everything I did, just with more inspection. I watch him from the door way of the stables, looking out over the training grounds, hoping she’d return. 

My dad decides to call some neighbors and family friends to help us look. They couldn’t have gone far really. My mom sends me inside to do some homework or clean up with several search parties went out into the woods a bit. 

I know better then to argue when my parents are in this mood. I run up stairs and into my room to do “homework”. Sitting down, I pick up a book and start to read it, not really paying much attention to it. 

I sigh and put it down before turning the TV on to see if I could distract myself with that. I find a show that seemed pretty interesting and quickly become interested and into it. Time passes by pretty fast and before I know it, its about 9 at night. I blink and shut the TV off and run down stairs and back outside. 

Still no sign of Midnight. I start to freak out and panic, what if the person never returned her? What if she died? What if this person worked her to death? Or killed her? All kinds of questions and thoughts swirl around in my head. 

Time keeps ticking away and still no sign of her. People are calling her name, knowing she’d respond to it. Still nothing. Suddenly there are shouts and someone is pointing a flashlight down at the forest. There she stands with someone atop. My knees go week and I drop to the ground with relief. I feel water dropping on my hands and realize that I was crying, happy of corse but also very mad at this person. 

Before we can run down to them, they spur her into a gallop. I watched amazed, and very happy, as the person gets Midnight to jump over fences and run at a smooth pace. I hear my dad saying to the others that they could go and thanks for helping us. Rider and horse stop in front of me. Looking up, I see the rider looking down at me.

I smile, happy to see Midnight agin. I look away from the rider and wipe away my tears, managing to stop crying. Looking up again I demand, “Who are you and why did you steal my horse?!” 

The rider says nothing for a few moments and by now I’ve stood up, glaring at this person as my parents run over. The rider looks at my parents “Let me talk to her alone” they say in a rough voice. They look worriedly at me then at the rider who sits there silently. 

I nod and sniff “If okay, I’ll handle this” I say to my parents. They nod slightly “You know what to do if there’s trouble” my dad says leading my mom inside. Once inside with the door shut, I turn around and almost fall over. 

The rider was right in front of me, a couple inches shorter I might add. I see part of their face and they’re smiling slightly. I scowl at them “Whats there to smile about!? You stole my horse and now your smiling!?” I yell suddenly outraged. 

The person just stands there for a moment “Yep pretty much” they answer in a different voice. Its softer and sounds rather amused. And its a girls, that much I can tell. I blink “What?” I ask confused now.

The person just laughs “Midnight’s a sweet horse” they says as Midnights butts the person’s head slightly. I gap at this, Midnight was still young and hadn’t been broken in properly and was quite unpredictable as well. And yet, this person had managed to get a bridle on, ride her and now they were playing?! 

“What the heck did you do to my horse?!” I ask glaring at the girl. She tilts her head “Nothing, I took her for a ride” she answers calmly. “But Midnights never this calm and nice” I say baffled. The person shrugs “Try being nicer and patient? She’s very nice you know” they softly softly as they stroke Midnight’s nose. 

I grit my teeth slightly “okay, don’t tell my how to treat MY horse which you STOLE” I snap holding my hand out for the reins. The person sighs softly and hands the reins over. “I brought her back didn’t I?” the person grumbles. I nod “Yeah, yeah. Who are you and why’d you take her then bring her back?” I ask annoyed now.

There’s a pause “You know who I am Jessica. I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet” the girl answers. I blink “How do you know my name?” I snap eyeing this person. They just look up at the sky “It’s late. I’ll see you tomorrow Jess. Bye” they say before walking off down to the woods. 

I frown and watch them walk for a few minutes before taking Midnight to the stables. I put her in her stall and head back to the house. My parents ask what happened and I just told them what happened. They were a bit baffled on who this person was. 

I was to tired to figure it out so I just went to bed, this person on my mind.