I woke up with someone laying on the grass beside me.
“Hey sleeping beauty.”
“How long have I been out here?”
“For about 2 hours.”
“How long have you been out here?”
“Not that long. Are you hungry?”
“Yeah.”
“I brought you a sandwich.”
“Thank you.” I ate my sandwich in silence and when I was done I got up and walked over towards Hank.
“Why did you come out here?”
“This is the football field.” I walked over to the shed and grabbed a football out of it.
“Catch.” I threw the ball at J.J. He caught it and looked at me and said, “Dang girl you have a good throw.”
“Yeah. My two brothers use to come out here and practice. When I got in middle school I would practice with them. This field was mowed down and we took the lawn mower and mowed a football field size patch and we would take paint and make some marks in it.”
“Wow, why don’t we just play catch.”
“Sure.” J.J. threw the ball and I missed it. I threw the ball back to him.
We played catch for about 30 min. before I stopped and said, “Do you always throw that crooked?” He turned around and put his hands behind his head and said, “Yes. The guys blame me for every game we lose or every pass that gets dropped.”
“Hey don’t beat yourself up. Justin threw like that one time.”
“Do you think you could help?”
“I don’t know but I could try.”
“Ok so what do I do first?”
“Come here and I will show you.” J.J. walked over to me and took the football. “Stand right here and act like you are going to throw the ball.” J.J. moved and I could tell by his form what the problem was. I started laughing. “What? What is wrong?” I turned around and said, “Get back in your form.”
“Promise not to laugh.”
“I will try not to.” J.J. got back into his stance. I walked up to him and said, “Your arm is wrong.”
I fixed his arm and ran down to the other end and said, “Throw it.” J.J. threw the ball. The ball was still off. I went and got the ball and thought. I didn’t recognize that J.J. had walked up behind me. “Is it that bad?” I jumped and J.J. put his hands on my shoulders and whispered in my ear, “How bad?”
“Um let us not go there.”
“It was that bad then.”
“Na it was a little better. I don’t get it your stance was perfect and when I fixed your arm the ball moved slightly.”
“Don’t worry; I’m sure it will get better with more practice.” Off in the distance I could hear Dad calling for us.
“We better go Dad is yelling for us.” I got Hank and we walked to the house in silence.

We were getting to the house when I saw Justin’s car in the driveway. I stopped abruptly and J.J. moved around me and said, “What is wrong?”
“That is my brother’s car.” I started to walk again. We walked into the house and when my brother saw J.J. he stood up and got all tense.
“What are you doing here?”
“I am working for your Dad, why?” Justin tensed up even more. Three more guys came into the kitchen and told Justin to calm down. Dad walked in and told J.J. he was done for the day. I went back outside and conditioned Hank. Justin and his friends came out and sat on the rail to the corral.
“Hey Jade have you mowed the patch?”
“No the lawnmower is broken, and J.J. is bringing the rest of the parts tomorrow.”
“Where is Luke?”
“He is visiting his Dad this weekend, why?”
“We need a QB to throw with us.” I took Hank and stopped right in front of my brother.
“Why do you need him when ya are looking at the third best thrower right now?”
“God, Jade. Do you think you can handle us?” I stood up on Hanks saddle and leaped at my brother. We fell to the ground. Justin started laughing.
“Fine when you get the spot mowed we will practice. And by the way this is Bryce a wide receiver, Derek a half back, and Lane a tackle.” I got up and cross the fence and get back on Hank.
“Hey Justin since I’m helping you will you help me?”
“What do you want?” Justin got off of the ground and got back on the fence. “Help me make J.J. better.”
“What? No. Are you crazy?”
“Justin, please.”
“Who is this J.J.?”
“J.J. is a nobody. Don’t you go helping my sis, Derek.”
“Hey Jade, who is J.J.?”
“J.J. plays QB for the Townsburrow Bears, Our towns huge rival.”
“What is so wrong about the way he plays?”
“He throws crooked…”
“And he always has. Jade, J.J. is an outsider.”
“You only say that because he knows he plays better that you.”
“Man, if I was you I would shut up before your little sis whoops your ass. What about his form?”
“I fixed it, but he still throws off.”
“Is there any time I could work with him?”
“Yes, he will be out here again tomorrow around 6 in the morning.”
“Thank you. So what are we doing now Justin?”
“We could lift weights in the barn.” The boys went into the barn and I started to ride Hank around the pen again.”

The next morning I woke up an hour before J.J. comes out. I got some poled from the barn and “fenced” off the field so we would know where to mow. I walked back to the barn and noticed J.J.’s truck was in the drive. I went inside and Dad had breakfast fixed. Justin, Bryce, Derek, Lane, Luke and Dad were eating. Justin scooted over and told me to come sit by him.
After breakfast Derek followed me to the barn. I noticed the lawn mower was not in the barn and was about to walk back outside when Derek grabbed me and kissed me. Derek’s kiss was amazing but wrong. I was trying to shove him away when J.J. walked in. I motioned for J.J. to help me. J.J. walked over and shoved Derek. I fell. J.J. helped me up and told me, “Fix the lawn mower, Check.” I laughed and Derek jumped up. “I’m guessing this is J.J.?”
“Na I’m not J.J. I am the Townsburrow Bears quarter back who stands 5’6’’ and weighs 174 lbs. J.J.” Derek laughed J.J. walked up to Derek and shook his hand and said, “Why do you want to know?”
“Well, J.J., Jade asked me to help you with your throw.”
“Ok. Do you want to go to the field or not?”
“You just mowed the field didn’t you?”
“Yea, why?”
“The grass will still be wet and it will stick to our feet. Why don’t we practice tonight?”
“Ok.” Derek walked out and J.J. looked at me and said, “So what is next?”
“Mowing the lawn.” J.J. walked outside and I heard the mower start up. Justin walked in and hugged me then went to his weight machine. I walked behind the bench and spotted for him.
Justin stopped lifting and looked at me and said, “What is wrong sis?”
“I don’t know Justin. Derek kissed me this morning and J.J. walked in on us.” Justin looked angry.
“And what do you want me to do about it exactly?”
“I never said I did.”
“Jade do you like J.J. or Derek?”
“Justin, J.J. is my rival and Derek is your best friend.” Justin shook his head.”
“Jade, tell me.” I whispered, “J.J.”
Justin stood up and took some weights off of the bar. I laid on the bench and Justin spotted for me. Bryce, Derek, Lane and Luke walked in the barn. Justin looked at Derek as we switched spots. Luke walked over and started to clean the rest of the weights. Justin got up and added more weights to the bar. J.J. walked over and took Justin’s spot. Justin walked over to Derek and said, “You keep your hands and mouth off of my sis, unless she says otherwise, or else.”
“It was one kiss…”
“I don’t care.”
“Wow, Jade have you ever had guys fight over you?”
“No.”
“So what else are we doing?’
“Sorting cows after lunch.”
“Ok.” J.J. and I changed spots. Dad walked in and told us lunch was ready. We walked inside and I could smell pizza.
We ate lunch in silence and when we got done we went outside. I went into the barn and Hank, Ruby, Molly, Jes and Lila ready to sort cows. J.J. and Luke came in the barn. I had Hank and Ruby finished and I was working on Molly. J.J. took Jes and Luke took Lila. When we got the horses ready we took them outside and tied them to the corral where the cows were going to be separated. J.J. got on Ruby, Luke got on Molly, Justin got on Jes, and I got on Lila. Justin told his buddies to open the gate when we got near and not to touch anything. Getting the cows was the easy part; they went right into the pen. I put Lila up and got Hank the guys were in the pen trying to help. Finally they gave up and sat on the fence. I put Hank to work. Hank is a cutting horse he can “cut” out any cow or a group of cows (I show cut Hank). When all of the cows were out we worked the older ones. We gave them shots as needed and called then out if they were bread. We had seven bread cows and three steer. We let the breed cows back out into the pasture and we put the steers into the holding pen. Then we brought out the babies. We banded the bulls and gave all of them shots. We kept them in the corral so we could wean them. By the time we got all of that done it was around 7:30. Dad came out and told J.J. he could leave. After we got the horses cooled off and put up everyone went to the practice field except Derek.
“Hey I’m sorry about kissing you.”
“It is okay as long as you don’t kiss me unless I ask you to.”
“Deal. Is your horse trained to do that?”
“Yea. Hank is my show horse.”
“Cool why don’t you come practice with us?”
“I don’t want to make you look bad.”
“You won’t come on.” I went to the football field and we played some 500. By night fall Derek and I were neck and neck. Dad told us we needed to come inside. We went inside and, since my room is the biggest room in the house, we stayed in my room until 10:30 and Dad yelled at us.
The next morning I slept in. When I got up it was 9:30 in the morning. When I got outside Derek and J.J. were playing football. Derek threw the football at J.J. and I intercepted it. They thought it was funny so they chased me. Derek tried to tackle me but I dodged him then J.J. blindsided me. Derek came over and helped us up and said, “Dang, you are a fast runner.” I laughed and said, “I learnt from the best.”

That night when J.J. went home the guys went out. When Dad fell asleep I snuck out and went to the football field. About ten minutes after I got there J.J. shows up at the field.
“Hey Jade.”
“Hey why are you out here?”
“I wanted to see you.”
“Well you found me J.J.” J.J walked up to me and wrapped his arms around me.
“Why did Derek kiss you?”
“Justin said he has a crush on me.” J.J. chuckled and whispered, “You won’t but I’m asking you will you kiss me?”
I laughed and looked at J.J.. “You don’t have to ask me.” J.J. chuckled and said, “I might.” He leaned down and kissed me .
His kiss wasn’t as good as Derek’s kiss but for J.J. it was just right.
After the kiss we laid down and talked for what seemed like hours.
Around midnight when the boys got back J.J, got up and we walked back to my house hand in hand. I snuck into my room and heard J.J. leave. When I turned on my light I saw Derek was laying on my bed. I nearly jumped out of my skin.
“Hey Jade.”
“Hey Derek. What do you want?”
“I know you guys kissed. How was it?”
“Um. Personal.” Derek chuckled.
“So what you’re saying is that it was worse than mine.”
“So what if it was?”
“Come here please.”
“I went and sat on my bed next to Derek. “What?”
“I know you want to kiss me so why don’t you?”
“You are my brother’s friend, why would I want to make out with you?”
“Because you know you like me.”
“How shall I prove I don’t like you?”
“You can’t.’
“Fine I give in kiss me.” Derek pulled me to him and kissed me. The second kiss was even better than the first. We were talking when I fell asleep. The next morning I woke up cuddled next to Derek. I looked at the clock and it read. 5:30 am. I had thirty minutes to get ready. I got dressed and went downstairs to ea. I grabbed a pop tart and headed out. When I get upset or mad I run. I ran until I didn’t know where I was. I hated that I gave into Derek. In the distance I could hear J.J yelling for me. I walked back the way I came and when I was about halfway to the farm I saw a band of wild horses. They were so pretty. I recognized that this was the Phantom heard. I saw a beautiful palomino mare. Here sides were huge. She was pregnant! She was a pretty golden color with a bleach white mane and tail, a true palomino. This heard got started when my brothers Colt, Phantom, got loose and we never found him. Soon after that a young filly went missing. We then called the heard Phantom. I decided to walk around the heard.
I made it around the herd and started home again. When I got home I saw J.J. lying on the ground. I ran up to him and knelt beside him. A little ways away I could see Derek holding onto Dad’s truck. Justin came running out of the door and went to look at Derek. I asked J.J, “What happened?”
“We got in a fight.”
“Are you okay?”
“I don’t know. Derek came out of the door and blamed me for you disappearing. I got worried and started yelling for you. Derek came up behind me and hit me with a shovel.”
Dad came outside and saw what happened and went back inside. I got up and walked over to Derek and pulled him aside and told him, “If you ever touch me or J.J. again I will kill you then hand you to my brother so he can kill you again.” I could hear an ambulance coming down the road. I walked back to J.J. as the ambulance pulled in the driveway. They came to look at J.J. first. They said he was okay but needed stiches. They raped his head then put him on a stretcher. Then they went to look at Derek. Derek jerked away and said “I’m fine.” The EMTs didn’t argue. They loaded J.J. and took off. Dad told us we could go to the hospital. When we got to the hospital J.J. was getting the last of his stiches. We went to the waiting room and saw J.J.’s parents. We sat down and J.J.’s dad walked up to us.
“What happened to Joshua?”
“I don’t know. I was out for a run and when I got back J.J. was laying on the ground.”
“Justin?” Justin looked away then spoke in a whisper, “Derek said he wanted to kill J.J. for stealing Jade from him. I didn’t think he was serious but he walked outside and I heard J.J. yelling. I thought he found Jade then I here J.J. yell. Then everything got quiet. I ran outside and saw Jade by J.J. I went to Derek and he said he wacked J.J. in the back of the head with a shovel.”
“J.J. done what? Stole Jade?”
“No he didn’t. Derek just gets jealous. Derek thinks every girl he sees is his and I am not.”
“So you and J.J. are dating?”
“Does it matter?” We all turned and looked at J.J. “But yes we are, and it is not Mr. Bryan’s fault I got hurt. The Dr. said I can’t play football until my stiches are out but I can go back to work but if I feel dizzy or get a headache to stop.”
J.J. walked over to me and held out his hand and helped me up. He looked at Justin and they both shook their heads in understanding. Justin stood up and we left.

We got to the farm and Justin got out of the car and walked to Derek and started to yell at him and push him. I got out of the car and ran in between Justin and Derek. Derek yelled at Justin, “What in the hell is wrong with you? I thought you hated J.J. Wouldn’t it make you relieved if I killed him?”
“No, don’t you get it? J.J. is my rival but my sis is dating him I have to be nice to him. The more
I get to know him the more we become friends.”

“Justin you make no sense at all. One second you hate the guy the next you are friends with him?”

“Hell Derek get you head on straight.” Derek gave Justin a scowl and turned and ran away.

Justin yelled, “Running is all you ever do, Derek. You can never face your problems by running!”

I shoved Justin and he snapped out of it. J.J. walked up behind me and asked, “What is left on our list?’ I laughed and said, “Clean tack, groom show horses, condition show horses, get hay done and fix the pickup.”

“Half of the way done.” Justin’s buddies and Luke came out of the house. They followed Justin towards me and Justin said, “How can we help?” I looked at J.J. and said, “How can we help?” I looked at J.J. and said, “Justin and Luke went in to the barn. The other guys stared at me. “Bryce and Lane you can fix the truck in the barn. J.J. you can help me clean the tack.” J.J. and I went into the barn.

When we got in the barn I got the saddle soap and rags out. J.J. grabbed a saddle off of the wall and put it on the cleaning rack. When Dad sent J.J. home we had all but one halter done.

The next morning J.J. called me and said that he could not come out because his head ached too badly. When I told Dad he seemed upset but okay with the idea. When I got outside Justin was conditioning Hank and himself at the same time. Luke was riding Lila bareback. I walked into the barn and Bryce said, “The truck is fixed. What else do you want us to do?”

“Why don’t you hook up the tractor to the cutter out back have Luke help you.” They left and a little after that Luke came in with Lila. I took Lila and told Luke, “The hayfield needs to be cut.” Luke shook his head and left.

I brushed Lila off and started talking to her.

“Lila the only reason I’m telling you this is because you won’t tell anyone else. Lila, Joshua is my rock. I couldn’t live without him. I love Joshua.”

“I love you too Jade Bryan.” My face turned red and I turned around. J.J. came up behind me and said, “Don’t run.”

“You know me really good J.J. I thought you were not coming out.”

“I decided to see you when I felt better. Nothing can separate us ever.” J.J. wrapped his arms around me and rested his head on my head. I sighed and said, “You weren’t supposed to hear that.” J.J. grabbed my shoulders and spun me around and whispered in my ear, “I needed to hear that.”

I laid my head on J.J.’s chest and he wrapped his arms around me.

“How did you know I was going to run?”

“When you get upset or mad you run. Like yesterday when you went running off, but you didn’t think anyone was watching.”

“You saw that.”

“Yeah, I decided to get here early.”

“Speaking of running, when you get to feeling better and feel like taking a long run get over here at 5:30 am. I would like to show you something.”

“Okay. I will do that sometime.”

“Okay.” I took J.J.’s hand and led him to Lila. We started to finish brushing Lila. When we got finished I put her up and went to grab some water from the house. J.J. walked with me to the hayfield. Derek was in the tractor and Bryce, Lane, and Justin were sitting on the fence. We walked over to them and I handed them the water. Justin looked at J.J. then glanced back at Hank. I punched him and said, “Be nice.” Justin hoped off of the fence and said, “Sis. Do you want to fight?”

I laughed and said, “You might break a fingernail, Justin.” Justin lunged at me. I moved to the side so he missed me then he came up behind me and picked me up and spun me in the air. “Do you give up?”

“Nope.” Justin put me down and I shoved him and he stumbled backwards and fell. Luke walks over and sits on Justin. “Hey Justina, that is my sis that whooped your ass.” Everyone started to laugh. Luke got off of Justin and helps him up. Luke didn’t notice his phone fell out of his pocket. Justin picked up Luke’s phone and answers it.

“Hello?”

“Who is this?”

“Luke, why?”

“You don’t sound the same; anyway, can I come over?” Luke realized this phone was not in his pocket. He turned to find it and Justin grinned real big and runs. Luke and Justin ran for a very long time then Justin tells Luke’s girlfriend he will call her back and he hangs the phone up. Justin tossed Luke the phone to him and said, “Your girlfriend wants to come out.” Luke dials his girlfriend’s number and walked to the football field. Justin walked up to the fence then laid on the ground like he was dead.

“Damn that kid can run!”

We all started laughing. Derek pulled the tractor up beside us, shut it off and got out. “What is so funny?”

Lane told Derek and he started to laugh. We all laughed so hard we forgot what we were laughing about. We walked to the house in silence. Lane, Bryce, Derek, Justin, Luke, and his girlfriend walked into the house. J.J. took me to the barn and told me to meet him there tonight.

That night I waited until everyone was asleep then I snuck out to the barn. J.J. was already in the barn. We walked up to the loft and J.J. spun me around and covered my eyes and told me to walk, I did. We got to the other end of the loft and J.J. put his hand on my shoulder and uncovered my eyes. J.J. had managed to open the old loft door. J.J. whispered in my ear, “How do you feel about spending the night here?”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Sure, but there is one thing missing.”

“What?” I walked over to the old chest of clean camp blankets. I got out a blanket and laid it over the hay by the door. J.J. laughed and sat on the blanket. I got another blanket and joined him. J.J. pulled me closer to him and he kissed me. I laughed and J.J. said, “What?”

“I never thought I would make out with someone in the loft.”

“We don’t have to make out we can just sleep or watch the stars.”

The next day we heard someone yelling and we woke up. I ran to the edge of the loft and looked down to the floor of the barn. J.J. came up behind me and whispered, “What is going on?”

“Justin and Luke are arguing about something.” J.J. went and got a rope and tied it to the hook outside the loft, then he grabs a hay bale and throws it down to the barn floor and whispered, “Go”

We glided down the rope and went to the front of the barn and went in the door. Luke and Justin were in the loft looking for the reason why the bale fell.

I saw Luke’s girlfriend, Monica, sitting on the weight bench crying. J.J. acted first and said, “What is wrong Monica?” Luke and Justin came down the ladder and Luke yelled, “Stay away from her.”

“Luke calm down, I wasn’t doing anything!”

“I don’t care stay away!” Monica stood up and said, “Luke listen to yourself. Ever since you found out Jade and J.J. were dating you have kept me on a chain. I haven’t got to hang out with my friends or be with you since Justin has come home, maybe we can’t work out this school thing.”

Luke looked shocked and said, “Sorry.”

Sorry doesn’t cut it Luke. We are done!”

Monica stormed out of the barn and left. Luke looked at J.J. and said, “You could have killed someone.”

“What in the hell is your problem?”

“That stunt you pulled. Throwing the bale out of the loft.”

“I didn’t. I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Whatever.”

Luke stormed out and hit J.J. in the shoulder.

J.J. looked at me and said, “Don’t worry about it. Do you want to go for a walk?”

“Yeah, sure.’ We got outside in the opposite direction of the football field. I could hear something shuffling and snorting on the ground. I stopped J.J. and said, “There is something up ahead be quiet and we will sneak up on it.” He shook his head and we shuck up on the animal.
We got really close and we heard a whiney and a heavy object fall to the ground. I started to panic and inched forward. J.J. followed we got to a clearing in the woods and I saw my favorite mare lying on the ground trying to have her foal. I stumbled forward but J.J. held me back and whispered, “Don’t she is wild.” I knew he was right but I still wanted to help her. We stood and watched her struggle for ten minutes.
She gave one last whiney then all went silent. I watched her sides and they never raised or fell. I looked at her nose and her nostrils didn’t flare. I ran up to her and I didn’t feel a heartbeat. J.J. walked up behind me and closed the mare’s eyes.
“We have to save the baby!”
“Jade, her heart burst trying to have the baby it is too big to pull out.” I just then remembered that J.J. always carried his pocket knife on him. I walked over and grabbed his pocket knife out of his pocket and I sliced the front of the mare’s stomach open. J.J. saw I was panicking and he took the knife from me and told me to calm down.
J.J. finished cutting her open and all of her organs fell out. J.J. very carefully cut the baby out. The baby was still alive! It whinnied and J.J. threw me his shirt and told me to dry it off. I did and when I got done the foal tried to stand. I helped it up. J.J. came over to me and said, “It won’t live long. It didn’t get colostrum.” I knew he was right then I remembered Baby was in labor when we left this morning we still had a chance.
“Baby should have her calf any minute now if we hurry…” J.J. reached down and picked up the baby. When we got to the house Justin and Luke were in the birthing pen with Baby. J.J. took the foal into the pen and sat it down by Baby. Baby’s calf stood up and waddled over to the foal. The foal stood up and fell into Baby. Luke steadied Baby and the calve started nursing. J.J. helped the foal up and showed it where the milk was and the foal started nursing. J.J. steadied the foal and gently let go.

J.J. went home that night. I stayed in the barn with the foal.
Derek came in to check on me around 10:30 that night.
“Where did you find the foal?’
“In the woods. Its mom was trying to have it then her heart burst. I couldn’t let it die. J.J. helped me cut it out of her.”
“You should give him a name.”
“I’m waiting to see if he makes it through the night first.”
“I see. He has made some progress. He can stand up and nurse by himself now.”
“Yes he can but he is still behind.” Justin, Luke, Lane, Bryce, and Derek stayed in the barn with me.
J.J. arrived early the next morning and laid beside me. When I woke up the foal was nursing. I sat up and J.J. said, “Morning.”
“Morning.”
“I will watch the foal while you get cleaned up.” I shook my head and went inside. When I came outside J.J. was scratching the foals head. I walked up behind J.J. and put my arm around his waist. J.J. put his arm across my shoulders and kissed me. The foal whinnied. I reached over and patted his head.
“I think soldier is jealous.” J.J. looked at me and said, “Soldier?”
“Yeah he is a brave little Soldier. I was stuck between Soldier and Warrior. I went with Soldier.”
“I like Soldier.” Soldier heard his name and pranced around then stood with his head held high. We started laughing and Justin and his buddies walked in the barn. I looked at Justin and Justin said, “It is time for us to go back. Football is starting again.” I walked over to him and hugged him and said, “I will miss you.” Derek walked up to me and whispered, “Sorry for the trouble.”
“It is okay.” Derek, Justin, Bryce, and Lane went outside and left.
J.J. came up behind me and said, “We only have a week left of summer what shall we do?”
“Hang out!”