For the love of Rodeo

Chapter 9: Arrival

Hours later from a relaxing quiet ride I fell asleep only to wake up to Sammy petting my hair and whispering to me.
"Get up Miss Crown." He whispered. His accent seeping through heavier than normal signaling he was tired. I gave a tired smile and nodded.
He gave me a tired but still charming smile and unbuckled me before helping me out. I looked in the backseat to see all the bags and my brother missing.
My face scrunched up into a confused look and I looked up at Sammy with a confused look. He chuckled and kissed my forehead.
"Calm down darlin. Xander and I already unloaded horses, set up 10 by 10 pens, put them in their pens, fed them, watered them, hayed them, and unloaded the clothes. You slept so peacefully and no matter how much Xander wanted to wake you, I wouldn't let him." I smiled so grateful for the boys and walked around my truck to check on Apache.
Everything checked out like he said and the horses were taken care of. After I placed a kiss on Apache's forehead, I took a picture of him and posted it on my social media saying I was at a new rodeo wish me luck and asking who all was gonna make it here to see if I knew anyone.
     As soon as I was done, I tucked my phone in my pocket and started to walk around to check out the arena grounds. We had the trailer parked out of the way on the right side of the arena but the arena was still in view.
     We parked back in the grass by a trailer hookup so we had power and water. The arena was covered and had a big sand practice pit in front to practice and to the back there was a smaller practice/warm up arena.
     The area was a good ways from the road and surrounded by trees with a little park to the side. It was beautiful.
     Stalls were put up around the arena holding sheep for mutton bustin, goats for goat tying, steers for roping, bulls for bucking, and broncs for bucking.
    While walking past the broncs, one in particular stood out to me. A blue roan paint gelding with a glass eye. A little tag by his pen read 'Splitz' and I assumed that was his name. He snorted when I walked up and eased my hand into the pin.
     He slowly crept up to my hand and sniffed it before allowing me to gently rub his nose and up his forehead.
     A lot of people think all broncs are cruel and treated horribly but that's not true at all. Many of them are super sweet on the ground but once you get on their back they are trained to buck and they get a flank strap that encourages them to buck. It doesn't hurt them it's just an uncomfortable feeling. Many times the bronc lives peacefully in a pasture getting fed and loved on but having no training. Until people run them up into trailers and take them to a rodeo.
     Most broncs are in good shape weight wise because no one wants a skinny ride and that's not fair on the horse.
     I have 3 broncs at my house who are the sweetest things you could ask for. Lucy is a 10 year old buckskin mare. Chase is a 8 year old red roan gelding. Lastly, Ebony is a 13 year old black mare with a blaze down her face. They are beautiful and if they were papered instead of grade then we would have broke them to ride.
     Apache was 7, Fable was 4, and Winchester was 9. They were all good, strong, and young horses with right minds.
     After loving on Splitz, I walked to the side of the arena and climbed the fence. My feet hit the ground with a soft thud and my boots sank a bit on the sand.
     I walked around the well packed sandy arena admiring how well done it was.
     "Oh my gosh I'm not the only one here anymore!" A young girl squealed startling me. She ran to me and stuck out her hand which I hesitated but took it none the less. "I'm Jill short for Jillian. I'm here with my sister Vivian. We barrel race and do pole bending. Are you here for the show?" She spoke quickly and shook my hand quickly while speaking.
     I slowly pulled my hand back and smiled at her energy.
     "Nice to meet ya Jill I'm Alex. I'm here with my brother Xander and a close friend of mine Sammy. I barrel race, do pole bending, team rope, and break away rope. Yes I'm here for the show." I answered all her questions.
     "Oh good I'm not alone with my sister then. People should start getting in this evening and they won't stop getting in until the show starts day after tomorrow. I haven't seen you 'round here most people learn who each other are during the high school rodeos since it's a series that you can't jump in unless you're a member." She gave me a smile and continued talking.
     "I've been in high school rodeo all year and I just moved from Texas. My points are transferring here. How old are you?"
     "Oh that makes sense. I'm 16. You?" She climbs the fence after me and sat next to me.
     "17."
     "Where ya from?" She pitched more questions at me.
     "Cheyenne." I kept things short and sweet.
     "Oh cool what school do you go to?" She continues with her questions but I enjoyed the company of another female.
     "Triumph High. You?"
     "Oh same!" She squealed excited and I smiled. What's the odds in that? "Where do you live?"
     "Creepy stalker mode?" I joked and she laughed. "No but I'm on Gilded lane. I own Quarter River Ranch." I said remembering the sign on the gate.
     "Oh my gosh really! I love that place it's so beautiful!" She said super excited.
     "Really you know it?" I asked kinda excited myself.
     "Of course! I would love to go there. I love about 10 miles down the road from there. It's a very popular ranch because it's so beautiful." She grinned.
     "You should definitely come out there one day after this rodeo and ride." I welcomed her because she seemed so happy and free. Her spirit seemed free and I loved it.
      "Really? I'd love to!" She squealed. This girl sure had a lot of energy.
     She tugged at her braid before flipping the dark auburn colored waist length hair behind her shoulder. She looked a few inches shorter than me and she had grey-blue eyes that brought out her lightly freckled face. Her cheeks were rosy showing signs of sunburn and she had a beauty mark just under her chin. She was adorable and really pretty. 
     "You bothering people again Jillian?" A girl with short auburn hair a bit more red than Jills asks. This girl had emerald eyes and looked a bit less child like that Jill. She also had many more freckles. The girls looked a good bit alike so I'm guessing this was her sister Vivian.
     "No not at all just making friends." I assured her with a smile.
     "Nice to meet you I'm Vivian. And you are?" She tipped her hat to me.
     "Alexandria. It's nice to meet you to." I tipped my hat in return.
     "How old are you cowgirl?" She asked in a rich country accent.
     "17. You?" I answered and asked a question of my own.
     "Same." She smiled her eyes shining. "Jill is my little sister." She said hopping up on the fence on the other side of me than Jill was on.
     We talked about a lot of the things Jill and I did and she asked a lot of the same questions which I responded to with the same answers.
     "Tomorrow night we're holding a bone fire close to the park over yonder. It's tradition for all us cowboys and cowgirls like a good luck before the show if you and your companions wanna join." Viv offers.
     "Yeah I'd like to. My brother and I like to meet new people and make new friends. My friend has been rodeoing here for years." I was happy with her offer.
     "Who is your friend?" She asked.
     "Samual Dean. He's a bull rider." I said recalling him telling me about some of the bulls he's rode. He's said he's pretty good but don't all guys brag about themselves?
"Oh I know him! He's really amazing. Big name for himself that cowboy." She had a look ad admiration in her emerald eyes.
I squealed when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around my waist and pulled me off the fence. Both Jill and Viv jumped in surprise and turned around about to scramble off the fence to try and rescue me from my kidnapper who was the one and only Sammy Dean.
"Evening ladies. Mind if I snatch Miss Crown? She has a horse who demands her attention and a brother who cannot do anything for himself. It's sad really seeing as he's almost 18 and can barely cook ramen noodles." Sammy chuckled and tossed me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Put me down you grizzled beast!" I demanded and smacked his ass. "Oh nice ass. Never mind I'll stay up here." I smiled and squeezed his peach again.
"Weirdo." He chuckled but ignored me as I continued.
"Um yeah sure. Meet us here in the morning? Maybe 'round 7? We'll go somewhere for breakfast with a few other people." Jill asked and Viv nodded.
"We'd love to have you join us." Viv said and Jill agreed. "All of y'all are welcome.
"Yeah we'll be there. Well Sammy and I will. I'm not sure if anyone can get Xander up before noon." I shook my head.
"I bet Jill can. She's annoying but extremely persistent." Viv frowned and Jill nodded eagerly. Not sure it was a compliment but Jill took it as one.
I gave off a short "okay" and laughed as Sammy carried me back to my trailer.
     It was 8:46 p.m. since the boys and I stayed up watching movies and playing games but I decided I was tired.
     I claimed a place on the bed before both of them could. One person got the couch and the other slept with me.
     I let them work it out as I rolled over and went to sleep after telling them to wake me up at 6:00.
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Author's note:
Hello lovelies! I hope y'all are enjoying the story so far. I know it's a little long but I didn't want it to be a 30 minute read and I wanted there to be good details. The top pic is Jill and the bottom is Viv. Have a great day my lovelies!