A Dying Breed

Chapter One; Practice

    My foot steps into the worn rawhide stirrup of my saddle and off I go on a morning ride just like the rest of the long hot days of this summer. As the sweat rolls of my face, I stroke the palomino coat of my rope horse Harley. We take the worn dirt path into the arena. I hear the soft crunch of gravel beneath truck tires as Kyla parks by the bull barn. For as long as I can remember my father has been consumed by his stock contracting job. So much so, that he is rarely home and doesn't have much of a bond with the rest of our little family. "Jade, will you come help me?" Kyla, my little sister calls from the bed of her truck. She struggles to open a feed bag. I groan, exposing an eye roll. "Can't you do it yourself? Cowgirl up Kyla." I spit back with unnecessary sass. "You have a knife for a reason." I say. To understand my remarks, you would have to understand the bond that I have with Kyla. From the day she was born we have despised each other. When I made the high school rodeo team a couple of years back, she didn't come to any of my rodeos, didn't go to my junior high graduation, and she always has to be the center of attention. I am usually the bubbly and bright sister however when it comes to Kyla wanting help from me, I don't understand why I should help. Kyla has always been the typical teenager. She is a city slicker at heart and she hates it out here, making her stick out like a sore thumb in our family. My father, as you know, is a professional bucking bull stock contractor, my mother is a world champion barrel racer, and I was a high school rodeo all around cowgirl. Everyone in our small town in central California knows our family as a rodeo family, making my sister disliking this place even more. I snap out of my thoughts and continue my ride in peace.
    "Jade?" Ayla nudges me from the seat next to me. "Jade wake up!" She whispers. I jolt at the common event of me falling asleep in science class. Though we are opposites in more ways than one, Ayla and I have always been best friends. With her golden blonde hair and hate for roughstock cowboys, you could never guess that we are so close. She has always done tremendously well in school and despises dating. I, on the other hand, have long locks of dark brown hair paired with bright blue eyes and I couldn't count on one hand how many roughstock riders I have seen. The teacher continues a diagram of the human body on the board before handing out a test, giving me a smirk because she knew I had fallen asleep for the lecture. Ayla says to me, "You better do well on this Jade. You know coach won't let you run this weekend if you don't." I roll my eyes and start on the test that I know I will fail.
    After I finished yet another long school day I head home to load up my horses for team practice. I turn up the radio in my little pickup truck before pulling into the gravel driveway of our home. I can see a familiar dog bouncing down the drive to greet me. "Dolly!" I exclaim as my blue heeler jumps into my arms after I hop out of my truck and immediately starts licking my face. I stroke her fur before pushing her off of me. I trek up the wooden steps that lead to our front door. I open it to see my mother standing in the kitchen pouring a glass of lemonade for Kyla as she does her homework. "Hey momma." I say giving her a side hug. "Hey honey. How was school?" She asks me, pouring another glass and sliding it in my direction. "It was school. Nothing special." I say taking a giant gulp from the glass. I grab a water jug from inside our cupboards and start to fill it with water for practice. "I should probably start getting ready for practice. It's in an hour and I still have to load up." I say. My mother nods and I head out the back door to gather both my rope horse and my barrel horse then bring them to the trailer. I can hear the loud exhaust of Ayla's truck as she pulls in with her small bumper pull. I hook up the trailer, load my horses, then we head off to Twisted K Ranch, where our school holds high school rodeo practice.
     As soon as we park our trailers, my eyes meet some new faces and other members of our team. I hear a knock on my truck door and I jolt with surprise. I see Lane laughing his butt off outside of my truck. I roll my eyes and open my door. "Really Lane?" I shake my head and let out a small chuckle. Despite being easy on the eyes, I have never let myself catch feelings for him. He has always been a typical roughie, meaning he is interested in every girl he comes across, including buckle bunnies. We are still pretty close, just not in that way. "Not my fault that you are so vulnerable." He says. I nudge him in the shoulder. He helps me tack up and we start to head toward the arena. Ayla walks up next to us, "Are you roping today Lane?" "Maybe if Chase can actually catch two feet for once." He says a little too loudly. "Hey I heard that!" Chase calls from inside the arena. After we open the gate and go inside Lane answers, slapping him on the shoulder, "That's kind of the whole point bud."
After the boys have roped for about an hour, Jake, our coach, finally pushes through the calves for Ayla and I to rope. "You can go first." I tell her nodding toward the box. "Alright." She answers while backing her roan in the heel box. She nods and the calf darts out of the chute. Ayla, just like every other time, she catches effortlessly in two swings. She pats her horse on it's neck and gestures for me to go. I set my palomino in the rusty box then nod my head. I swing three times and catch just as effortlessly as Ayla did before me. "Nice, you are gonna give me a run for my money this weekend." Ayla affirmed. I smile hesitantly, "Thanks." No need to jinx myself. "She's right Jade." Lane assures, picking up on my hesitance. I shake my head and get on with practice. We continue to rope until we are forced to turn on the arena lights. "I think that's enough for tonight. My arm's getting sore now." Ayla explains while rotating her arm in a big circle. "Me too." I say rubbing my shoulder. "Are we riding bulls tonight?" Chase asks Jake. "Only if you guys are up for it." He answers. "We are always up for it." Lane blurts and hops off of his horse. I throw him a halter from the fence and before Chase can get a chance to object he ties his horse up. Ayla and I settle in the corners of the arena and watch Lane sit on the practice bull we call Dixie. He holds on for about three seconds before he falls off. I stifle a giggle as he shakes his head. "Little Dixie got the best of you didn't she Lane." Chase taunted from behind the chutes. "Oh shut up." He says playfully while he makes his way to help Chase get on the next bull. Chase gets bucked off as well. "We have a whole lot of work to do this weekend." Jake buries his face in his hands.