Chapter Thirteen

Laina was right when she said she would be back at the barn as soon as possible. A week after her accident her parents let her come back and help us out, mostly with herding the sheep and cleaning stalls. Over a month after Laina's accident was when Beck tried to break Kujo. Me and Laina was extremely nervous, but Uncle Chris was right there in case something went wrong. Carefully, Beck led Kujo out of his stall. The horse stayed as far away from Beck as possible, but once in the paddock he allowed Beck to tack him.

"Be really careful, Beck." Chris warned as Beck stood up on the fence to pull himself onto Kujo. "He's going to kick and buck and you very may well get thrown off." Beck frowned.

"Thanks for that image, sir." he said. He grabbed onto Kujo's saddle and lifted himself up. I held my breath as he did it. All I could imagine was him being thrown from Kujo and getting seriously injured. He was on the horse, and Kujo put up a small fight at first, shaking his head and neighing. But, once he realized Beck wasn't getting off, he got mad. He started bucking and rearing up and neighing loudly. Beck struggled to stay on, grabbing onto the horn of the saddle with one hand and holding tight to the reins with the other. I covered my mouth with my hands, standing pressed against the fence.

"Hold tight, boy!" Uncle Chris called. "Don't let him throw you off! Hold on, Beck! Show him who's boss!" I could see Beck straining, it was in his face. He went on that way for ten minutes, my heart racing the whole time, but then Kujo started to slow down and relax, nostrils still flaring. Uncle Chris told Beck to dismount and let Kujo rest, that he done a great job. I couldn't resist hugging Beck when he left the paddock. I didn't care that he was all sweaty or anything, I was just so happy he stayed on.

"You did so great, Beck!" I cried. Beck laughed.

"It felt amazing!" he said "Such a rush!"

"For us too!" Laina replied. "It was really scary. But, you did great."

"Thanks." Beck replied.

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I walked into school and headed for my locker. I opened my locker and searched for my English book when, of course, Lucy and Taylor walked up and slammed my locker shut. It was like Taylor and Lucy were my Tennessee Kyla's. Usually everyone in school would have already known not to mess with me, and if they had, they would regret it. But, I hadn't established my dominance in this school because I was trying to be a better person.

"Hey, there, Dakotah." Lucy said with a smirk. "Where's Beck?" I rolled my eyes. The two of them were always getting on me for being with Beck so much.

"I don't know." I said, reaching to open my locker again. Before I even touched it, Taylor stepped in front of me, blocking it.

"Well, there's a surprise." she said, folding her arms.

"When are you going to get with it, Cody?" Lucy asked, walking around me to my other side. "I mean, come on, look at this hair." She reached out and touched my hair and I shoved her arm away.

"Hands off, Lucy." I demanded. Lucy faked a pout.

"Aw, what are you gonna do about it?" she asked. "Get Beck to save you?"

"I don't need saving, I need my English book." I replied. As gently as I could, but still firmly, I pushed Taylor out of the way of my locker and I began opening it again. Taylor made the most disgusted face.

"Ew, don't touch me!" she cried.

"Hey!" I heard a firm voice call. I turned, surprised to see it wasn't Beck, but Josh, a football player. "Leave her alone, guys." The girls rolled their eyes and walked away. I smiled a little and got my English book, closing my locker.

"Thanks, Josh." I said. He shrugged, stepping towards me.

"No problem." he said. We stood for a few awkward seconds before I took a step back.

"Well, I should go before I'm late." I said. Before I could walk away Josh called for me to stop.

"Cody, wait." he said, so I stopped and turned. "Um, I was just wondering... Do you wanna, maybe- go out sometime?" I froze. Josh Hanson was asking me out! All you heard at lunch from the girls was how cute he was and how much they wanted to date him and he asked me. I smiled wide.

"Yeah, sure, that sounds great." I said. Josh smiled wide, too.

"Awesome... So, how about this Saturday?" I nodded.

"Yeah, sure. We can see a movie or something."

"Sounds good... I'll see around, then."

"See you around." Me and Josh walked past each other, a little skip in my step. As I headed to my first class I saw Beck. We hadn't gone to school that day because he said he was running late. He stopped me and smiled.

"Well, you look happy." he said. I nodded.

"I am..." I said. "Josh Hanson just asked me out." Beck had mixed emotions on his face.

"Oh, that's cool." he said.

"Don't fly off the handle, Beck." I said, my smile fading. Beck shrugged.

"It's just that- Josh is a jock." he explained. "He dates lots of girls." I shifted my weight to one leg and folded my arms.

"So?" I asked. He shrugged again.

"He dates lots of girls, so that means he dumps lots of girls. I just-"

"Or they dump him." I interrupted.

"Well, yeah, I suppose." he answered. "But, he-"

"He what?" I asked. "You think he'd dump me?"

"I think he'd dump anyone."

I rolled my eyes. "But, especially me." I said.

"No, Cody, come on, you're doing it again." Beck said, shaking his head.

"Doing what again?" I asked, even though somewhere in the back of my mind I already knew.

"You're taking everything I say the wrong way." he answered. "Not everything's about you and- your blue hair." He turned and walked away from me, leaving me standing there. I knew he was right, but of course I wouldn't admit it. I groaned a little bit and headed for class.

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I sat through each class thinking about what Beck said. "It's not all about you and- your blue hair." It replayed over and over again in my mind and I couldn't shake it. He was right... I always made everything about me and took everything so seriously. But, he could be wrong about Josh and him dumping a bunch of girls. Maybe the girls dumped him, so I had a chance to be with him for a while. I sighed and scratched the back of my head as my history teacher droned on about the industrial revolution. I knew I would have to apologize to Beck for getting so mad... I paused. It suddenly struck me how different I was acting. Never in a million years would I ever even think of apologizing to anyone! And there I was, sitting in class, thinking about apologizing to Beck. That's three things I don't do! Sit in class, think while in class and apologize. I shook my head, tucking my long hair behind my ears when suddenly something fell over my shoulder. A crumpled piece of paper. I quietly pulled the paper open and read the note. In bold, black sharpie it read- i cant hear the teacher over how load your hair is! I rolled my eyes and crumpled it back up, tossing it over my shoulder.

"What are we, in fourth grade?" I whispered. The teacher turned around and frowned at me.

"Cody, what was that?" she asked me.

"Nothing, ma'am..." I replied, looking away. She folded his arms and stepped towards me.

"What was it, Cody?" she asked again. I sighed.

"It was a note someone wrote to me." I answered reluctantly, keeping my eyes down, arms folded. Ms. Fallon looked at the kids behind me.

"Well, apparently it wasn't a very kind note, was it?" she asked. "Otherwise she wouldn't have crumpled it and tossed it behind her. Anyone want to step forward and tell me who wrote it?" Everyone was silent. "Maybe does anyone want to tell me what it was the note said?" Still silence, then she looked at me. "Cody?" I turned my head away a bit more, not wanting to announce it to everyone. I could feel Laina looking at me, then the teacher called on her, so I assumed she raised her hand. "Yes, Laina?" Ms. Fallon asked. 

"Um, I saw Phil catch it." she said in a bit of a timid voice. Ms. Fallon looked at Phil, a football player on our schools team.

"Phil?" she asked.

"Yes, Ms. Fallon?" Phil asked in a sweet voice. Ms. Fallon sighed.

"Do you have the note?" she stepped forward as he shrugged.

"I wouldn't know, ma'am." he replied and Ms. Fallon rolled her eyes. She grabbed the crumpled piece of paper off Phil's desk and held it up.

"Then what's this?" she asked and Phil shrugged again and laughed awkwardly.

"I couldn't say." he answered. Ms. Fallon rolled her eyes and uncrumpled the paper. She frowned when she read it and looked around.

"Does anyone want to say who wrote this?" she asked again and no one said anything. I prayed she would just drop it, but of course that didn't happen. She sighed and walked back behind her desk. "If someone doesn't step forward and tell me who wrote this all of you except for Laina and Cody will get an hour of detention." The class still was silent, so Ms. Fallon sentenced them all to an hour of detention and everyone groaned, collectively throwing out sarcastic thank you's to me and Laina. But before Ms. Fallon walked back to her desk, she bent down and whispered in my ear. "But you know, dear..." she began. "You're hair is quite... Different." Then she stood back up and walked to her desk. After a couple more classes I was relieved to hear the lunch bell. I walked as quickly as I could to the lunch room so I could eat and get out. I grabbed onto a lunch tray and as I moved up the line people kept shoving me, and I kept hearing "The girl with the blue hair" or just simply "Blue hair" going around every minute or so. I tried to keep to myself as I put a few things on my tray and sat somewhere alone, waiting for Beck or Laina to find me. But, before they did, someone else did. Josh walked up to me and smiled with his tray of food.

"Can I sit here?" he asked. I looked up and smiled, feeling myself blush a little.

"Yeah, sure." I said. Josh set his tray down and sat in front of me, looking at my tray of food.

"Not hungry?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Not really..." I answered. "I'm kind of in a bad mood." I shrugged again. "But, I don't need to bother you with that... When do you think we should go see a movie saturday?"

"I don't know, don't you work on a farm or something?" he asked. I laughed a little.

"I live on one with my aunt and uncle. So, yeah, that keeps me pretty busy. But, I work every night, I can ask to leave at whatever time." I answered.

"Okay, then why don't we go at night? Say, 7:30?"

I nodded. "Sounds perfect."

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After school I apologized to Beck while I was driving him and Laina to the barn and he told me not to worry about it, he was used to it from me. We all dropped our stuff inside and got to work cleaning the horses and their stalls when I saw a silver Toyota Camry pull into the driveway. I asked Beck if he knew whose car it was, he said it looked familiar and Laina agreed. I couldn't help feeling like it looked familiar too. Then, like someone flipped a switch, my fists clenched, my cheeks got red and my heart started racing as Taylor and Lucy got out from the car. Beck grabbed my arm, seeing the clear rage on my face.

"Relax, Cody, it's fine." he said. "Just let them do whatever it is they're doing and you finish what you're doing." I sighed and reluctantly continued mucking Duke's stall.

Why in the world would they be here? I thought. This can't be good for me...

I watched as they walked inside together and didn't come out for about 20 minutes. I watched as they walked back to their car and I noticed Lucy looked like she had been crying. I wanted so badly to march up to them and demand what they were doing at my house, but Laina and Beck told me to wait, they told me Aunt Hailey and Uncle Chris would tell us over dinner. I aggressively mucked out more stalls, slamming stuff around and spilling hay everywhere. I ran Duke around the paddock and insisted Beck let me jump him after he sent me down that path and Beck reluctantly set up a small jump. Running that fast and jumping Duke helped relieve some stress, so I did it with Vector, Riley and Max too while Beck worked Zira. When we were finally finished I rushed inside to see Aunt Hailey cooking dinner. I stopped in the kitchen and looked at her.

"Hey, Aunt Hailey." I said and she glanced back at me.

"Oh, hello, Cody." she said. "Why don't you three clean up, we're going to eat soon." Her tone worried me. Usually she sounded happy and sweet, but then she sounded kind of upset. I nodded with a frown.

"Okay." I said. I let Beck have the downstairs bathroom while I took a shower upstairs and let Laina clean up while I was in there. "Did you hear Aunt Hailey's tone?" I asked her as I ran shampoo through my hair.

"Yeah, she seemed a little- I dunno, upset." Laina answered. I rinsed the shampoo from my hair.

"Kinda scares me." I admitted. "Makes me wonder what Taylor and Lucy said to her. Probably some lie about me." Laina scoffed.

"Yeah, knowing them, it probably is." she agreed. We finished up in the bathroom, I let Laina borrow some clean clothes, and we went downstairs. Just like every night, the table was set perfectly. five place mats, five plates, five cups, five sets of silverware and the new centerpiece of lilacs. Uncle Chris was at one end of the table and Aunt Hailey at the other, upset looks on both of their faces. Beck, Laina and I walked nervously to the table, me and Laina on one side and Beck on the other. Aunt Hailey served all of us our food- Barbecue chicken, corn, bread and butter and sweet iced tea. A deliciously awkward meal. We all started eating and three of us kids kept glancing at each other nervously. I shifted in my seat and looked at Uncle Chris.

"So, how was work today, Uncle Chris?" I asked. (In case it wasn't mentioned before, Uncle Chris is a mechanic. He works on cars, trucks and tractors.) Uncle Chris shrugged.

"Fine." he answered. "Dirty." I nodded at his short, bland answered. I took a bite of the amazing chicken and found it hard to swallow. We all ate in silence for about 20 minutes before Laina and Beck said they should get home. I knew it was only because they felt awkward. We said our goodbyes and they left, leaving me and Aunt Hailey to clean up after dinner. I couldn't take the silence as we scrubbed and dried the dishes and I had to ask what was going on.

"So, I saw Lucy and Taylor earlier." I said, Aunt Hailey not looking at me. "What did they want?"

"To speak with me and your uncle." Aunt Hailey answered in a "it's none of your concern" tone. I frowned.

"Oh." I said simply, scrubbing at an already clean cup.

"Um, is everything okay?" I took a risk asking. "You've seemed upset since they left." Aunt Hailey sighed.

"Cody, why don't you go upstairs into your room and let me finish up here?" she asked. I paused.

"Oh... Um, okay..." I said cautiously. I placed the clean cup in the sink and turned, walking up the stairs, Gunner being me. I'd never been so nervous in my life, so I decided to call Fiona. I took a deep breath as I dialed her number and it rung.

"Hello?" I heard her ask in an displeased tone as I pet Gunner's head.

"Hey, Fio." I said, smiling, so happy to hear her voice.

"I can't talk now, Cody." she snapped. "I'm busy." I paused and lowered my head, scratching my neck.

"Alright..." I said. "I'll talk to you later."

"Sure." and she hung up. I bit my lip and dialed Fender's number.

"Hello?" he asked in a groggy voice. Obviously sleeping... I thought.

"Hey, Fender!" I said with a grin. "I haven't talked to you in forever! What's up?"

"I'm sleeping..." he replied, the I heard a pause and in a clear voice he asked, "What time is it?" I looked at my watch.

"Almost seven." I answered and he gasped.

"Crap! I gotta go, C, I'm late." and he hung up. I frowned and looked at my phone sadly. I decided I should probably call Mom. I hadn't talked to her in a while and I knew she'd want to talk. So I dialed the home phone and she answered, laughing. She tried to stop laughing to answer me and I heard more laughing in the background. I scratched Gunner's neck.

"He- hello?" Mom answered, stifling laughter.

"Hey, Mom, it's me." I replied with a smile.

"Oh, Cody, hi." she said, calming down a little. "Um, can I call you later, sweety, me and your father have company." "Company"? Since when do they have "company"? The closest thing to company we ever have is Fio and her family and we don't count that as company! It's family! I thought.

"Sure, Mom." I replied sadly and we both hung up. I sighed and leaned back in my bed. My best friend was mad, my brother was "late", parents had "company" and my aunt and uncle were upset with me and I didn't know why! I really just wanted to hear a familiar voice... Not familiar like Beck or Laina, but familiar like Fiona or Fender. Just as I was about to give Laina a call, someone knocked on my door. I stood up and opened it to see Aunt Hailey standing there. Gunner jumped off my bed and ran down the stairs.

"Will you come down here for a moment, please?" Aunt Hailey asked. My heart raced and I swallowed.

"Sure." I replied, following her down into the living room. As I walked in I realized how little time I spent there, and that I had barely watched any TV since I arrived. Surprisingly, I didn't miss it much. Aunt Hailey asked me to sit on the couch and her and Uncle Chris stood in front of me. Uncle Chris looked angry and Aunt Hailey looked- disappointed. I said nervously on the couch, knowing I did something wrong, but not knowing what it was. I swallowed again and took a deep breath. Aunt Hailey glanced at Uncle Chris.

"Cody," Aunt Hailey started. "Lucy and Taylor stopped by earlier and it was because of you." I nodded.

"I figured." I answered, shaking my head. "What did they want?" Aunt Hailey was going to answer, but it was clear Uncle Chris didn't want to beat around it.

"They told us what you did, Dakotah, and we are not pleased." he snapped. I frowned.

"What exactly did I do?" I asked, confused. Uncle Chris shook his head.

"Don't play with us, Cody!" he cried. "We're not stupid!" I shook my head.

"I didn't do anything, Uncle Chris, I swear!" I said, trying to defend myself.

"Then how do you explain Lucy's black eye and Taylor's sprained wrist?" he demanded. I paused before standing up.

"What?" I asked. "Are you accusing me of beating them up?!"

"I'm just going by what I saw." Uncle Chris explained.

"They had a very good argument, Cody. And they were injured." Aunt Hailey said.

"Well, it wasn't me!" I insisted. "It must have been fake, they were fine this morning."

"They said it happened before your first class. Before you started talking to some guy. They said it happened in the bathroom." Uncle Chris said. "Who were you with this morning? Laina? Beck?" I frowned.

"No, they weren't with me..." I answered, realizing I had been with Lucy and Taylor.

"Who were you with?" he asked again. I sighed.

"Lucy and Taylor." I answered and Uncle Chris nodded. "But, I was at my locker! Even ask Josh."

"I don't know Josh, I don't trust Josh." Uncle Chris replied.

"You know me!" I cried. "Trust me! I didn't do anything to them!"

"I believe her." Aunt Hailey said. Uncle Chris shook his head.

"We have no proof." he said.

"I'm your proof!" I cried. "You can trust me, now! Maybe you couldn't a few months ago, but you can now!" Uncle Chris shook his head. "Why wont you believe me?"

"We have no proof, Cody." he answered. "And- you are known for your outbursts."

"Yeah, I yell, Uncle Chris, but I haven't gotten in a fight since I left home, other than shoving a few people out of my way." I protested.

"Chris, please," Aunt Hailey tried. "I believe her, she's telling the truth." Uncle Chris sighed, shaking his head again.

"I just don't know." he said, and then I shook my head.

"I can't believe this." I said. "I thought you guys were different, but it turns out that when push comes to shove-" I shook my head once more. "You're just like my parents." I turned and stormed out the door, getting into my car and speeding off. Gunner and Trixie stood from the porch to see where I was going. Lucy and Taylor would pay.

Author's Note

All feedback is appreciated