*DOUBLE UPDATE* If you have not read chapter 31, go and do so now!!!
"Brinley Cameron?!" I hear a higher pitched, male voice echo behind me.
I turn around, and my eyes widen. "No fucking way!" I yell as he walks towards me. "Kayden Sanders?!"
He walks up to me, a grin on his face. "Oh my gosh!" I say, wrapping my arms around his neck. "How old are you now, 17?"
"Yep." He says.
I ruffle his hair, "Gotta girlfriend?"
"Sure do." He says, grinning at me. "I'm riding tomorrow, you gonna come watch?"
"Wouldn't be Christmas week if I didn't."
"Cool. Stella's here somewhere." He says looking around the horse trailers.
"Hold on, Stella Rae?" I ask and he grins. "No shit!"
"That's the one."
"Tell her I'll come find her in a bit." I say and he nods.
"Hi Brinley!" A couple of boys yell that I recognize yell from behind him, waving.
I wave back, "That's my cue. I'll see you later."
"Bye Kayden. I'll drag you over to my parents later." I say and he nods.
"I count on it."
"Was that Kayden Sanders?" Nora asks, walking out of the bathroom.
"Sure was."
"I feel old." She says, adjusting her cream colored, wool cowboy hat.
"Ladies, got your nice boots on I see." My dad's voice echoes towards us as I see him walking with Charlie in his arms.
"Of course we had to pull out the Stetsons." Nora says, tipping her hat at him.
"Stetson hats and boots." I add.
"Only the best." He winks, handing Charlie to me. "Someone wanted to say hi."
"Hey Cutie!" I say as she hugs me.
"Hi Brinley." She says, pulling back a little and playing with my hair. "Are you gonna ride your horse fast?"
"I am." I say and she grins.
"Okay." She says, reaching back for my dad.
"Can you wish them luck?" He ask and she nods.
"Good luck!" She says, giving us a thumbs up.
"Thanks Cutie." I say before they turn around and start walking back to the bleachers.
"She's so cute, I can't." Emery says, readjusting her horses saddle.
"I know." I say, turning to Lorelai, I untie her from the trailer.
I grab onto the horn and cantle of the saddle, placing my foot in the stirrup, I hoist myself up in one smooth and quick motion. Once I'm seated and comfortable I check her reins one last time before making a clicking nose with my tongue, she takes a couple of steps backwards before turning.
"Y'all ready to go warm up or what?" I ask as Emery lifts herself onto her horse.
"Yeah, yeah, we're coming." Nora says, coming up next to me.
*
"That bitch." Nora says, coming up next to me.
"Who?"
"Who do you think? Went to school together, never liked her." She says and I roll my eyes.
"Cassie?" I ask and she nods. "I was hoping she'd gotten stuck in a hurricane or something."
"I know. She's all, let me show you my whole bare ass in every instagram post and make my captions about D.I.L.F.S but then preach about how christian she is and how amazing God is. Fake ass bitch." She mutters.
"I had to block her. She pissed me off too much." I say.
"I honestly should but I'm too invested." She says and I laugh.
"Hey Brinley, how are ya?" I look down at Mr. Johnson, my old social studies teacher.
"Good! You?" I ask and he nods.
"I'm doing all right."
"I heard you retired last year." I say and he smiles.
"I did. It's nice, the grandkids come over almost everyday now." He says and I smile.
"That's good."
"You ready to go?" He asks and I nod. "It's been awhile since I've seen you do this, I look forward to watching you win." He winks and I grin.
"Excuse me, Mr. Johnson, I'm right here!" Nora yells from behind me and I laugh.
"Brinley always behaved more in class." He says. "All right, good luck kid." He says, hitting the back of Lorelai as I take off at full speed when the gate opens.
I lightly push myself forward as I hold onto Lorelai's reins tightly. Adrenaline rushing through me as I go around the first barrel before taking off to the next.
My hand holds onto the horn of the saddle for two strides before moving to the outer reins right before I get to the barrel.
I circle around it at full speed, moving to the next one and going around before going to the last one. My foot almost touches the barrel as I hold in a breath. Luckily I pull my foot back fast enough that it misses and I take off to exit. My hair blowing behind me as I let out a breath and the announce my time.
18.2, I grin, it was the best time so far.
Nora takes off after me, she makes it around three barrels before she gets to the fourth and barely hits it, causing it to tip over. Earning her a 5-second time penalty. Good news was, her horse was fast so it wouldn't put her all the way at the end.
22.3
I can hear the groan from here as her horse slows down.
"Those always suck." I say as she stops right next to me.
"Cassie'a gonna rub it in my face. Especially since she did better than me."
"Yeah well, she was almost a whole second behind me so she won't be running that bitchy little mouth for long."
"That girl is begging to get her ass kicked." I hear Sawyer say as my eyebrows raise. I hadn't heard her cuss once since I met her. In fact, she scolded everyone that did.
"Who is it?" I ask.
"Well there's really two. Their names are Cassie and Lila. They're sisters. Cassie is Brinley's age and Lila is Emery's." She says and I nod.
"They've always tried to be better than our girls because they're jealous. You'll know em' when you see em'. Little blonde devils." She says.
"They literally will do things and wear things that Brinley and Emery wear. They're obsessed with them." Logan cuts in.
"The difference is, they wear too much make up and glue-on nails all the time. They preach about how christian they are but then they go walking around with their asses hanging out and going against everything the Bible says." He says and my eyes slightly widen.
"Brin and Em are just down right good people. They were raised right and it shows. When they compliment people you know it's genuine. And when they ask how you are, they actually want to know." He continues. "The downfall to that, you don't want to get on their bad side. Once you're there, you ain't coming back."
"We take loyalty seriously around here. You break our trust once, you're gonna have to work your ass off to earn it back. And you may not even get it, even if you take years trying." Kevin says and I look over at him.
I smile, "I understand you completely."
I hear a familiar laugh as I turn my head to see Brinley and Nora standing at the metal fence. Brinley had her foot rested on one of the bars as her arms rested on another one of the bars.
All of the sudden their heads turn in the same direction and you can physically see their demeanors change.
"Speaking of Satan's spawns." Logan says, looking over in the same direction.
I follow his gaze to see to see two blonde girls walking towards our girls. Both of their faces were full of too much makeup, hair was curled, I'm pretty sure they were wearing push up bras... And I wasn't even looking.
They literally had their shirts unbuttoned that much.
"Congrats Brin! You never fail to have the judges wrapped around your little finger." The older one says, a fake smile plastered on her face.
Brinley rolls her eyes, turning back towards the dirt arena and ignoring her.
Logan leans forward, listening intently. "The one already running her mouth is Cassie."
"I said, congratulations Brinley." The blonde girl says again, as the two stop in front of them.
"Thanks." She says, not even looking at her.
"You should look at someone when you're talking to them."
Brinley turns her head, "Does it look like I give a shit?"
"Oh shit." Kevin says. "Shits about to go down."
"When did you become such a bitch?" The one named Lila asks.
"I learned it from you guys!" Brinley says, a tight smile on her face.
"You must be itching to get popped in the face Brin." Cassie says. This time I lean forward.
Brinley does that laugh. The irritated one that comes off a little too happy. The one that scares the piss right down my leg.
"I swear, I get chills when she laughs like that." Logan says, leaning closer to me.
"I know. Scares the shit out of me." I say, looking over at him for a brief second.
"You couldn't even if you tried." Nora says, as Emery appears.
"What do you want?" Emery asks, leaning against the fence.
"Just came to say congrats to your sister and she started being a bitch for no reason."
"I started being a bitch because you were running your mouth because you're mad that I beat you." Brinley snaps.
"Not my fault you-" Suddenly a guy with dark brown hair appears, wrapping his arms around Cassie and kissing her on the cheek.
Immediately everything changes about Cassie. She puts a "sweet" smile on her face, and changes her tone. "Hey baby." I hear her say.
"Whatcha doing?" He asks.
"Catching up with some old friends! Babe, this is Brinley, Nora, and Emery." She says, looking up at him for a second. "Girls, this is my boyfriend, Eric."
"Nice to meet you." Mr.Eric/Babe/Baby says, shaking each of their hands. "So you went to school together."
"Yeah..." Nora answers, a slightly confused look on her face.
"Eric owns a big company down in Atlanta. He's kind of a big deal." She brags.
"Oh, is he?" Brinley asks, a smug grin on her face.
"Yeah. Nora, didn't you and Logan Howell just get married?" She asks and Nora nods.
"Yeah, we did." She says through a tight smile.
"Where is he? I haven't seen him at all."
"Over there..." She says, nodding towards us.
"Hey Logan! We'll chat in a bit."
"Like hell we will." He says, leaning his elbows back against the bleachers behind us.
"Holy shit." The Eric guy says, looking at me with wide eyes, "You're Christian Brooks!" He says and I give him a small smile.
"The hockey player?" Cassie asks, her eyes widening.
"That's my cue." I say, patting Logan's knee as I stand up.
I walk down the stairs, Brinley grins and I send her a wink. I wrap my arms around her from behind, kissing her on the cheek. "Hey baby." I say.
"Hey." She says, a sweet smile on her face.
"You did good out there." I nod towards the dirt arena.
"Thank you." She says, patting my arm with her hand.
We both look over at Cassie, Lila, and Eric. Cassie's mouth was gaped open as a look of jealousy flashed through Lila's eyes.
Another smug grin appears on Brinley's lips as she asks, "You were saying how big of a deal Eric was?"
Word Count: 1,921