Chapter 8
Miranda was the first to greet me, walking right up to say hello. “Hi, so your name is Cassie? That’s really cool. So you have your very own horse?” She talked quickly, but not in an annoying way. She seemed genuinely interested in meeting me, and I was glad to have someone to help me pop out of my shell. I smiled and nodded, “Yeah! His name is Donner. We did Show Jumping competitions, he’s my baby.” Miranda opened her eyes wider with awe, “Jumping! That must be amazing! See, we have assigned horses here, so we sort of temporarily have our own horse. I really love having my girl. Her name is Kat, you can meet her when you do barn chores with us.” I nodded quickly, starting to match Miranda’s energy. “Sweet, I would love that! Hey, mind me asking how old you are?” I was really curious. She looked older than me, to be honest. “Oh, I’m sixteen, but everyone tells me I look older.” She chuckled, as did I. “I was honestly just about to ask if you were a counselor or something! That’s cool though, I’m sixteen too.” Her eyes lit up, and she was about to reply with something when one of the guys stepped in. “Miranda, quit hogging the new girl, we want to meet her too!”
It was Adam that walked between Miranda and I, bearing a teasing grin. He offered his hand, which I shook. “Ms. Vick kind of stole my thunder, but I’m Adam. It’s good to meet you.” I nodded in agreement. For some reason, I didn’t feel as comfortable around Adam as I did around Miranda. Perhaps it was because I had only just been introduced, but I had a weird feeling. I shook it off, asking him his age and what sort of music he liked. He was seventeen, a year older than I, and enjoyed (can you guess?) punk-rock. I attempted at a conversation, as I did listen to a little punk-rock, though mainly enjoyed Country music. We carried on for a bit, before we began speaking about the other people. Miranda and Dean were chatting amongst themselves, with Chelsea and Lilith doing the same on the opposite side of the room. “I would watch out for the Blonde Brigade. They’re like snakes,” he warned, keeping his voice quiet. “Miranda is a bit of an earful, but she’s not evil. Dean is kind of aloof; don’t be offended if he doesn’t seem to want to be your bestie right off the bat.” I nodded along, thankful for the information. “And you? What are you like?” I asked teasingly, in a friendly way. “Well, I’m pretty amazing. So we’re cool.” I laughed, as did he. “Come on, I’ll walk to the snake-pit with you. You won’t mind the company, trust me.” I believed him, from what I’ve seen.
We walked over to the couch Lilith and Chelsea sat on. They didn’t bother to stand for us. “I see you’ve already obtained the gothic groupie,” Chelsea noted, glaring at Adam. “Well, I…” I was cut off by Lilith, “welcome to the island of misfit toys, Cassandra.” I attempted a smile, “you can call me Cassie.” With a hard stare from Lilith, I decided to keep my mouth shut. “Pleased to meet you, Cassandra. We can talk more at dinner,” Lilith nearly snapped at me. Without waiting for a reply, she returned to the conversation she was having with Chelsea. Adam turned away, and I followed him. “Told you,” he mumbled. I chuckled, and we walked back over to Miranda and Dean. “Saved the best for last,” Adam jeered at Dean, poking him playfully in the rib before handing me off to his friend. He took his turn sitting on the couch chatting with Miranda, while Dean and I stood at the edge.
“Hello,” Dean started, “Have fun talking to Mr. Skinny-Jeans?” He snickered, followed by a, “I heard that!” from Adam. I returned the laugh, “yeah, he’s alright. Pants seem to be tight enough to restrict his movement though, poor thing.” Adam pointed at me as if getting me in trouble, though the smirk on his face told me he was only teasing. Dean laughed at the comment, and offered his hand. Another handshake, though his was more firm than Adam’s. “Cassie, huh? Interesting name; I like names that you can swap around and easily misspell.” Dean’s dorky, playful attitude didn’t seem to match Adam’s description … at all, though I was alright with it, as he was easy to get along with. We chatted for a bit, and I found out that Dean was also seventeen, though he was a few months older than I. He enjoyed the time he spent with the horses, though far preferred trail riding to arena riding. We agreed on sharing a trail ride, though it was a bitter promise for me – I had no idea when I would be allowed to stay, or when I’d be forced to go. I secretly hoped it would be a long enough stay to get to know Dean better. He was clearly more than a pretty face, and his eyes seemed to hold back things he wouldn’t tell.
I stuck to Adam, Miranda, and Dean until Vickie called us in for dinner. The three of us talked about all sorts of things, and we became fast friends. When dinner rolled around, it held great resemblance to that of a Thanksgiving dinner. The table was full of food, with Tamira and Vickie sat at opposite ends of the round table. I sat between Dean and Miranda, with Adam between Dean and Vickie. On the other side of Miranda sat Vickie, and the Blonde Brigade sat together between the adults. Dinner wasn’t very eventful, though it was extremely delicious. I was told by the adults not to eat too much as it would make me sick, but I did love what I ate. The table manners of the house were incredible, and I matched their politeness. The BB (the shortened title of Blonde Brigade) spoke to the whole table as if they loved everyone, though the gang I had seemed to be absorbed by occasionally exchanged quick glances when obvious sarcastic kindness came into play.
Dinner was amazing for sure, but I was pleased when it ended, for that meant it was time to take care of the horses! Vickie came out with me, showing me where everything was kept, and the schedule of which everything was done. She also told me the riding schedules. “Everyone has their own sort of thing,” she started. “Adam doesn’t ride much, but he does tons and tons of groundwork. He’s very in-sync with his horse, and has taught her a lot. When Adam does ride, it’s bareback. Dean rides the trails that we have surrounding the farm. I’ll explain those in a minute. Chelsea and Lilith both ride Western, and prefer barrels and poles. Miranda is our only English rider.” She paused, before adding “well, and you.”
I smiled wide, happy to be acknowledged as part of the household. It wasn’t set in stone and I knew that, but I liked the sound of it. Vickie kept explaining, “There will be opportunities to ride on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are rest days for the horses. On the ride days, you will be allowed to ride after all chores are completed, inside of the house and out. If we have a community service day, that will obviously take up time as well. We are on summer break right now, so you don’t have to worry about school.” I nodded along, taking in everything she said. The rules made a lot of sense, and I definitely thought it was something I could follow. “As for the trails, you can speak to Dean about that. I know you guys spoke about taking an outing.” I held back a shy grin, though I felt the heat rush to my face. I couldn’t pinpoint why this embarrassed me, but I didn’t want to think about it just then. I simply nodded. “Alright, well go ahead and get Donner taken care of!”
She left for the house, and I turned back into the round-pen that Donner was in. There wasn’t a stall to muck, but there was a small run-in shed for shelter. While I probably could have just cleaned that, I chose to go ahead and clear the whole round-pen of poo. Since it was a small space, I wanted to make it as nice as possible. “Hopefully they let you in one of the bigger pastures here soon, buddy. I know how much you like a good run. No worries, we can get back to riding tomorrow!” I chatted to my baby as I cleared the pen. Occasionally, he would walk over to me and ask for a good itch on his big blazed face. I would offer a hand, and he would go about his way when his itchies were fulfilled. Many people disagreed with me allowing him to scratch his face on my hand, but he was never pushy about it, so I didn’t mind it. He had a kind, non-dominant disposition.
After I had finished with my barn chores, I spent a minute just enjoying my horse. I sat in the grass alongside him, occasionally moving as he grazed around. I rubbed on his back, gave him a good brushing, and just showed him that I loved him, and appreciated all he had done for me. “You’re momma’s boy, aren’t you? I don’t know what I would do without you, big guy.” I cooed to the gelding as I rubbed his ears. His eyes drooped, his head resting on my chest as I stood there. He loved having his ears rubbed.
“You and him seem to really like each other!” The voice from behind startled me a bit, and woke Donner from his day-dreamy mindset. “Yeah, we’ve stuck it out for a while now,” came my response. The voice had come from Dean, who was standing at the entrance gate to the pen. “You can come in, if you like. He loves to meet people,” I invited. Dean took the invite, unlatching and entering the pen. After closing the gate behind him, he made his way over to Donner and I, who still stood just in front of me. With ears perked and eyes sparkling, Donner blew big breaths into Dean’s open hands. Donner then lifted his head up to the boy’s head, and continued breathing into his hair. Dean and I chuckled. “He likes you, too!” I announced, happy to see my horse enjoying the company of this person. Dean reached up to stroke Donner’s wide blaze, “he’s mighty gorgeous, Cassie. Rides good too, I bet.” He noted, ruffling Donner’s forelock. I nodded, “yup, one of the best jumpers in his barn.” Dean nodded, patting Donner’s neck before turning to me. “How is he on the trail?”
I smiled, happy to think of finally getting out and riding again. “Well, he did carry me all the way here,” I joked. The comment inspired a chuckle, “then I guess he better be pretty good! Well, it’s your lucky day then. Tomorrow is Thursday; it’s the best day for trail riding. I’ll sign us up for a nice trail that goes out to a lake. Ever swam with him? It’s great fun. Indy, the mare I ride, loves it.” I nodded enthusiastically, “we went swimming once with some friends of mine, he did really well! I would love to give it another go.” It was Dean’s turn to grin, “Perfect! Well, wear a swimsuit under your riding clothes tomorrow. Miranda might have a spare if you don’t have one. I’ve invited Adam and Miranda as well, if that’s alright?” I nodded, “that sounds great!” We confirmed the outing, and chatted for just a second about his horse, Indy. She was a big paint mare that I recalled seeing in the barn before when I walked through. She wasn’t out to win any races, but she was a sweet girl as Dean described her. I was excited to meet all of the horses, and learn them better. I was also pleased to see that Dean seemed happy to call me his friend, for he seemed very likable. Miranda and Adam seemed friendly too, and I couldn’t wait to meet them better tomorrow.
Soon enough, we were called back into the house from the barn. I met up with Miranda once we were back in. “Hey, Dean just invited me out on the trail tomorrow, and said you might have an extra swimsuit. Do you think I could borrow one?” I asked. She smiled wide, nodding quickly. “Do I! I love swimming, so I have about five or ten pairs. You can have your pick! Let me just tell someone I’m taking you up to my room for a second, and we can check it out.” I nodded, and waited for her to return. Once she did, she bounded up the stairs. I followed closely, while trying to admire the photos on the wall. “Previous kids,” Miranda explained. “Everyone that’s ever been here goes on the stairs. It’s pretty cool, I think.” She sounded a bit embarrassed at her liking of the photos, but I couldn’t help but to agree. There had been a lot of kids cycle through the walls of this house, that’s for sure.
We passed a couple closed doors before finally finding her room. Each door had another whiteboard with the names of the kids, in different colors and fun designs. I noticed that there were only four doors, and that Dean and Adam; and Chelsea and Lilith shared their whiteboards. Many other doors were blank. “Why don’t Adam and Lilith take a room of their own?” I asked Miranda, who had a room to herself. “They like sharing their rooms. It’s kind of nice, having a roommate. I had one, but she got deported,” she must have noted my quizzical look, “deported is what we say when someone gets picked up by a foster parent,” she explained. I nodded, and Miranda unlocked the door to her room. Inside was very nice, and extremely spacious. The room had two beds, one on either side of the room, with a dresser in the middle acting as a nightstand for both beds. A light in the middle showcased some pictures of Miranda and a few other people. I assumed they were her previous friends. Her bed was complete with a fun bedspread, while the empty one lay empty of everything but some basic linen. The room wasn’t extremely colorful; neutral colors canvassed the space. Miranda had decorated the walls, though, with posters and pictures and paintings and anything else she could find.
I gathered from her fun room that she was also a country music fan, which we excitedly fan-girled about for a while. Finally, I was led to the closet, which was connected to the bathroom that the room kept to its own. She pulled out the numerous bathing suits. She wasn’t kidding about having about ten of them, either. “Okay,” she explained, “so we have all sorts. Fringy, colorful, neutral, one pieces, two pieces, multi-colored … oh, you probably don’t want this one…” she grabbed a suit that appeared black, but I noticed a familiar symbol. I gasped, “OH MY GOSH YOU ARE A SUPERNATURAL FAN!?” I nearly yelled. Miranda’s eyes lit up like fireworks, and we both started jumping up and down, yelling crazy gibberish. I mean how could you not?! It was Supernatural!! Only the best television show!
Naturally, we HAD to talk about Supernatural for probably 20 minutes. It was then settled that I just had to wear that particular bathing suit. She agreed to that, and picked out an equally adorable suit of color. After The Picking of the Suits, we sat on her bed for a long, long time, enjoying each other’s company and talking about things we enjoyed. Miranda turned out to be a lot like me. We easily could have been related, except for the difference in appearance. I told her about my stories from running off, and why my hair was so short (it was starting to grow out to look like a boy cut, now. My hair grew quickly). She spoke a bit about her previous friends and relationships, and we could have gone on all night had Tamira not come up for me. “It is time for bed. Cassandra, we will have you in the infirmary again tonight,” I was bummed, but nodded. I said goodnight to Miranda, and followed Tamira back to the infirmary.
“I will get you for breakfast in the morning. Make sure you are up and dressed by 8 AM. I will give you your chores then, and afterwards you may take your ride. Goodnight.” She left without much conversation, though I smiled, nodded, and waved where it seemed appropriate. I dressed in my nightclothes and slipped into bed immediately, as it seemed like the smart thing to do considering we would be up early. Just before heading to bed, I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and called Xavier. He answered quickly. We spoke about everything. I told him about my new friends, and how Donner was doing. He told me about some local events back home, and how my old friends were. For hours and hours we went on and on, talking about everything and anything. When I found myself tired, I would just shut my eyes and keep listening. I’m not sure when I fell asleep, but I don’t remember hanging up, and woke in the morning with phone in hand. I smiled, noting the length of the call. I missed my best friend.