★Jackson's POV★
Amber seems really nice. She likes football as well loving horses, we could really get to know each other. But somethings telling me that I only like her like a sister or best friend. I think we'll be good friends.
☆Daniel's POV☆
Darcy works really well with the new riders. I can see her talk to her group now. The way she laughs, the way she smiles, gets me all wound up. But then I see her laughing with Ethan and Jackson. A sudden urge of...of...
Hurt? Jealousy!
No, I can't feel that. She's just faking it. She used me after all. Wait, what? She didn't use me. Did she? I really like Darcy but the thing is, I don't want to hurt her. I don't want to rush into things.
Way to go Daniel! You don't want to rush into things? Too late for that mate! You already kissed her as well as told her you loved her. Did you really mean it? do you actually like her?...
My thoughts are interrupted by a bouncy giggling girl with ebony black hair.
"Do you like her?" she asks me with a quizzical look.
"What, who?" I say, my face becoming hot.
"That girl over there. You've been staring at her for the past for ever".
She points at Darcy who is playing hide and seek in ther barn. She's just found Ethan who is spinny her around in a tight embrace. She squeals which makes my blood boil.
"She's definitely something" I finally reply.
"So you do like her" and before I can interject the girl has run off. Soon after, I see the little girl along with two other girls, a blonde and another girl with flame red hair. The previous girl pointed to me and they all started to giggle. They then ran over to a girl... Darcy.
They again pointed to me and this time they didn't giggle however Darcy did raise her eyebrows and smirk. Oh god what have they done?
They scuttle off and Darcy is walking over to me. Her slim frame, pretty face... dude stop! I mentally shun myself and pretend to busy myself with a bridal I found near by.
"You do realise that faking isn't going to work?" she says.
I turn around, quickly hiding the dissapointed smirk off my face.
"I have no idea what you mean" I lie. I look into her deep brown eyes and smile to myself.
"Mia said you needed to tell me something?"
"Wait, what?"
And at that moment, the little girl, Mia, runs up to me and scrunches a small piece of paper into my hand then runs off, again. I unfold the paper and read the message.
Ask her out
Three words. Three simple words that wouldn't hurt a fly. Three words that set my heart racing.
"What does it say?" Darcy asks trying to peek over the top of the paper. I quickly move it away and plunge it deep into my pocket.
"Nothing" I say quickly.
"Ok" and she starts to walk away.
"Wait Darcy" I yell. She whipps around as if expecting what I'm about to say.
"Yes" she says with a girly tone.
"Did you want to go for a ride later?" I stare at my shoes. What am I kidding? She probably hates me and I completely understand why. I lied and hid from her. I should of told her about what happened last night. So I'm very surprised when she accepts my invitation. I watch her walk away with a small skip in her step.
Could things actually work out between us?
♡Darcy's POV♡
I walk away from Daniel with a light skip in my step. Did he really just ask me out? This can be the perfect time to confront him about lying to me. I walk back to my group and Ethan and Izzy. Ethan is the first to see me and he waves for me to come over.
I jog the rest of the distance while Ethan meets me half way. He stops while we catch our breath.
"So I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner tonight" he asks.
Without thinking I reply "Of course, I'm not going to bed on an empty stomach". Then I realsie that Ethan is asking me out on a date. A look of confusion waves over his face.
"Oh, yeah um sorry about that. That would be fine"
Ethan smiles, not bothering to hide his relief.
"Great, um I'll pick you up at seven"
"Sounds good, I've got to go. See you later?" I ask, walking away towards my group. A small smile creeps over my lips and soon spreads over my happy face. Wow, I feel loved now!
I make my way over to my group who are still busy play hide and seek. They look like they're having fun. Ok, time for more riding.
"Ok gang gather round!" I anounce and wait for all the scuttling noises to stop. "Ok, if we are going to win tomorrow we need to practice. Ok, lets go around, when it comes to you tell us your strengths with horses" I explain.
"Bianca, Bethany and I jump" Cara starts off the conversation. "Mommy only lets me hack. She says I'm not old enough to do anything 'dangerous'" Becca pouts.
"Barrels" is all the tall boy, Josh, says. It turns out that Gus and Tom do a bit of everything and Luck surprisingly does dressage.
"Wow, a whole varity" Jackson gushes. I smile at him.
"Now, before anyone else takes the arena lets mount up and take it for ourselves" I exclaim.
"Yeah!" is all I get in return. We march up to our horses and everyone mounts up. Instead of mounting Scoot a lead him over to the arena gate and open it. Everyone single files into the arena and starts to gallop, canter and trot around narrowly missing each other.
I trot Scoot over to a post and tie him up. I then set up some jumps. By the time I'm finished, beads of sweat shine on my forehead and everyone has slowed down, saving their horse's energy.
"Ok, I'm going to show you the pattern and then, one by one you will copy" I anounce. I mount Scoot and urge him into a canter.
We hop over the first jump then the second and the third. We fly over the last jump with ease and trot back to the group. I nod to Bianca and she clucks Sunny into a fast trot.
At first I think that they are going to slow but when they near the first cross jump, Sunny rises and lands perfectly. They complete the course in record speed and when she haults the sweaty mare, everyone gapes at her which makes her blush.
One by one the rest of the group jumps the course, even tiny Becca and Bobby jumped, even if they knocked over a couple beams. I smile brightly at my group, and they all smile back, except for Josh.
"Josh, hey what's wrong?" I ask riding up to him.
"Nothing, its just, how do I put this. Um, I'm not really interested in jumping. Barrels and reigning are my type of fun" he replies, looking me straight in the eyes. This sends chills down my spine.
"O-ok, um hang on just a sec and I'll set uo the barrels" I stutter. I dismount Scoot and hand my reins to Bethany. I run to the first jump and dismantle it.
* * * *
Once all the jumps are neatly placed to the aide of the arena, I lift the three barrels in a neat triangle and stand up to catch my breath.
"Thanks for helping guys" I shout sarcastically at the group. They give me guilty expressions in return and look at their stirrups. I stop the successful feeling I have from spreading over my face, surves them right!
"Ok Josh, give it your best shot" I taunt while taking back my reins and placing my foot in the stirrup, soon again sitting on Scoot's back. Josh kicks his chestnut stock horse gelding to go forward, rather violently.
He keeps kicking the poor horse until it finally manages to canter. Josh pulls on the reins so tightly the horse opens its mouth in agony, while thinking it has to stop but being kicked to go forward.
Josh turns the gelding around the first barrel, managing to keep it standing upright. He kicks it into a full blown gallop toward the second barrel, quickly pulling on the reins to slow the horse down, the barrel still stands.
The two then gallop full pelt toward the third and final barrel, but the horse is going to fast. Josh jerks on the reins so hard that the horse twists violently to the side, trying to get around the barrel. But the barrel falls with a loud thud.
Everyone quietly gasps, not sure wether to show Josh our disappointment. But I don't prepare myself for Josh's reaction.
He grabs the reins and twists the horse's head around so its nose is touching his knee. Josh kicks the horse wherever his foot lands. I'm paralysed until I see Jackson on Zeus galloping towards the pair. I make Scoot follow, and he doesn't hesitate.
I slow Scoot to a trot and make mt way towards Josh. Jackson is wrestling the insane boy for the reins. Josh lets go only to land a hard punch in Jackson's face, making blood stream down from his nose.
I slowly make Scoot walk up to the gelding, and I grab the reins. I click Scoot into a canter, pulling the horse with me. The gelding starts to canter as well. This takes Josh by surprise and he unceremoniously falls off and face plants into the sand covering the arena floor.
I slow both horses down and dismount. I loop both sets of reins around each of the horse's necks. I then storm right over to where Jackson and Josh are rolling around on the ground planting punches into each other's bodies.
I've never been in or seen an actuall fight, but hey, there's a first thing for everything right?
So, what I do next suprises me. I stomp on Josh. I kick his back and while he looks up at me, wincing in pain, I introduce my fist to his face.
I don't realise the massive swarm of people entering the arena. Until someone pulls me away, I finally breath. I spin around and cry Into the person's chest. I look up, tears clouding my view, but I could still see the concern and sadness etched into Daniels features.
I feel a sob forming in the back of my throat but it soon vanishes and is overpowered by some othe feeling...
Anger.
I spin around, pushing Daniel away in the process. Anger, hurt and disbelief twist around my stomach like at tornado, destroying any understanding I have for Josh.
"How could you?" I scream at him. I can feel everyone's eyes on me and Josh.
"That horse didn't do anything to you but instead you kick it and abuse the crap out of it. You're a monster".
"Yeah, and what are you? A goodie goodie or a runaway?" Josh spits blood at me.
"No!-" I scream, wait what? Did he just say... he said I'm a runaway. How does he know? I've only ever told Daniel. I can't scream anything more because picks me up and throws me over his shoulder while walking out of the arena.
But then Josh jells something that makes my blood run cold.
"I will get you. I know your secret!"
I slump over Daniel while silent tears trickle onto his shirt. How? How does he know who I really am? I can't be bothered to think about that at the moment.
Soon, Daniel gently places me back on the ground but he leaves his hands on my waist. I look up into his twickeling eyes.
"I'm sorry" I whisper.
"For what? For stopping a horse from being abused? Heck, you just saved that horse's life" he grins at me and I let a smile creep over my lips. I don't feel like hating Daniel anymore. he was probably just... I don't care. Wait, I do care! He lied to me. But what I do next surprises me as well as him.
I wrap my arms around his neck and crash our lips together. As soon as we touch I start to pull away, confused on what I am doing, I should stop. But Daniel places one of his hands on the small of my back and presses our bodies together.
I melt.
* * * *
When we pull away I rest my forhead on his. I catch my breath and smile. God, I can't hate him now. Hang on, yes I can, so I can understand when I step back and straighten my shirt.
"Umm... I got to go" I mutter and quickly walk back into the arena.
I sneak a quick glance back and see Daniel running his fingers through his hair just standing there, stunned. Great, now I feel awful.
I push Daniel out of my head and walk into the arena. The first thing I notice is that Josh and Jackson aren't here, but Josh's horse is still standing next to Scoot.
"Amber!" Izzy motions for me to come over to her, Ethan and Elecia. I jog towards them, hoping that everyone else doesn't pay to much attention to me.
"Hey you ok" Elecia immediately asks, wrapping me in her thin arms.
"I'm fine, just a bit shaken up. Where'd Jackson take him?" I ask, my voice cracking at that horrible boy's name.
"Home" is all Izzy says.
"I better check on the horse" I say, quickly walking away so they can't stop me, also Daniel is approaching our little group.
I make my way over to the buckskin and the chestnut. They both turn their heads and give me a warm stare.
"Hi boys" I coo as I pat them both on their noses. They nicker in response as a walk over to Josh's horse. I run my hand over his white blaze and let it wonder down to his nose. Then I gasp.
Blood mixed with frothing saliva slowly flow out of the horse's mouth, some dripping onto the ground. I rip off my checkered shirt leaving me in only my singlet and jeans.
I dap at the horse's mouth wiping as much of the goop as possible. The horse flicks its head away in pain.
"Shh, shh. It's ok, it's ok" I coo.
I slowly place the shirt on the ground and advance on the horse. I pat the horse behind its ears and slowly take the crownpiece over the chestnut ears.
The gelding doesn't hesitate to push the bit out with his tounge. I grimace when I see the red tinted metal and quickly pull my eyes away.
With the reins still looped around the horse's neck, I grab Scoots reins and lead both horses out of the arena.
When we pass Elecia, Ethan and Izzy, I yell to them "Hey, can you guys look after my group. I'm going to be busy". They nod in agreement and I lead the horses to the barn in silence.