The Arrogant Asshole

What an Asshole

TW: Icky behavior from a douchebag

After I bit his hand, a string of events transpired. He punched me to let his hand go, I punched him, we fell off the horse, rolled in the dust, then I took off at a sprint and scaled the nearest tree. It was a pine tree, so I was able to get far up in the branches, and I didn't stop climbing until the cursing under me stopped.

In fact, it was dark and starting to get chilly out when I finally came down.

When I came into the kitchen, everyone looked up from their plates at the table and watched me make my way to my seat. Once I was settled, they went back to their conversations, paying no mind to my appearance. I frowned, helping myself to the lasagna I scooped onto my plate.

All throughout the rest of dinner, I could feel Jedediah's eyes on me, burning a hole through my head. I'm sure he still wanted to finish the job of beating him up, but I wouldn't give him the chance to.

After dinner, I jumped up and started clearing the table, putting distance between me and him.

It didn't take long to clean the kitchen with eleven other kids helping, so I ran to the bathroom with a change of clothes. When I saw my appearance in the mirror, I was startled.

I used to have gleaming locks of gold that made everyone look my way. I was born into a rich family, and always dressed my best. My eyes were bright blue, but now they just looked dull. The ranch was making its mark on me. My golden hair was now dark and flat, pine needles stuck in random places throughout it, while my outfit was plain and very dirty. As I took off my shirt, a cloud of dust filled the room from my previous roll on the ground.

I peeled off my jeans and converse shoes, which were no longer in good condition. The jeans were ripped from my tree climbing, and had dirt stains on the knees of them. My prize converse shoes were scuffed and beaten up. I hate this place.

My shower reinforced that statement, reminding me there was rarely hot water in this house. Mrs. Rickler had said something about how they had installed it, but it had problems during the summer.

I stepped out shivering, and hurriedly dried off, hoping it would warm me up. I was wrong. I always have a tough time regaining heat, my mom joked that it's because I'm coldhearted. What a great mother.

I whipped on my change of clothes because now there were girls beating on the door for their turn to shower. I scuttled out of the bathroom, heading to the living room. It was movie night for us or whatever, and Mrs. Rickler had told us to be in the living room by nine. It was eight, so I played a game on my phone while I waited for everyone else.

I would never have imagined being so obedient in my entire life. But, I respected how Mrs. Rickler treated us, and wanted to remain in her good favor.

When everyone started piling in the living room, filling the couches and armchairs, I found myself on a comfortable sofa that was to the left of the worn one I had seen previously. It was out of the way, and I went unnoticed until there were no other couches to sit on. That's when one of the taller guys that was on the bus with me came over to sit next to me. I remembered not being able to see over his head on the bus, but never talked to him. For some odd reason, he sat right next to me even though there was plenty of room on the couch. I scooted farther from him, closer to the armrest, and shivered from still being cold and being uncomfortable. He mimicked me, getting close enough to touch his hip with me. I didn't want to cause trouble for Mrs. Rickler and brushed it off as him being oblivious to personal space.

I tried to ignore his stare on me, and refocused my own gaze on the television, which was playing some horse girl movie. But even whilst doing that, I couldn't focus on Emily or whoever was trying to save the farm and tame a horse because the guy next to me had moved his leg to rest against mine. I shivered again, this time definitely due to his actions. He felt me shiver, and whispered in my ear.

"I can warm you up in the main room," he whispered, licking his lips. I felt the hairs on my neck raise and I stood up quickly.

"Nope!" I said cheerily, then slapped the shit out of his face.

"This warms me up just fine," I whispered back, then left the turd to sit there and reflect on his actions.

I went outside and sat on the back porch steps, sighing. Forget about good impressions with Mrs. Rickler.

I hugged my knees against my chest, and plopped my head on them. I listened to the sounds of the ranch during the night, annoyed by the crickets and horse whinnying. My nature listening was interrupted by the porch door slamming behind me and boots clodding over to where I was. I felt a jacket hit my shoulders, and I heard the boots recede back into the house with another door slam.

I lifted it off and examined it in the light that filtered through the windows of the house. It was the leather one Jedediah was always wearing. I scoffed but put it on, smelling the lingering scent of horses and some sort of cologne.

I debated going inside or not, but realized shortly I was not an outside kind of guy.

I trudged in, hearing the movie still playing in the other room, and went to my air mattress. The family didn't think about putting beds in the room for us, but twelve beds would've been expensive and this camp isn't an official thing, obviously.

I snuggled up in my ratty ranch blanket and quilt I assume Mrs. Rickler made, keeping the jacket on as I fell into a slumber.

A few days pass, and we do mundane tasks such as watching how to milk a cow, learn how to start up a tractor, check in on our seeds and seedlings, practice making a farmhouse breakfast and dinner, and figure out which fruit is ripe and ready to be picked.

It isn't until Saturday we ride horses again. And by then, there's only seven of us left. Gina caught the flu, Alex was found vaping in the horse stables, Skylar got homesick, Lexi had another summer camp to go to, and Peter had a nosebleed that wouldn't stop.

So now there were seven. Including me. I didn't mind it, because it meant less snoring to keep me awake at night. I actually think it was just Alex snoring.

Jedediah was at the horse stables again, and the girls were ecstatic. I couldn't care less, and was glad I had already given his jacket back. I didn't want any reason to be around him. I quietly went and found my horse, saddled it up and adjusted the bridle on it, then led it out into the fenced-in pasture. Like last time, everyone was already out there. It had taken me a while to adjust the reins. And not punch the horse every time it moved.

"Jedediah, take care of the boy, I'll get these kids going." Mr. Rickler said, throwing a glance to his son before making a clicking sound and leading his horse down the path, followed by my six roommates.

I couldn't believe it. Again? Even after what happened last time? Well, I guess Mr. Rickler doesn't know what happened last time. But still! This was outrageous!

"I- was I not fast enough?" I muttered angrily to myself, trying to scramble onto the horse.

"No, you were not." I heard to my left, and looked over to see Jedediah already on his personal horse. I'd never seen his horse before, and was surprised by how gorgeous it was. It had a dark brown coat, which looked black in the shadows, but gleamed in the sun. A white stripe ran down its forehead and narrowed out to a point above the horse's muzzle.

I fell off my own horse because I cannot multitask looking at a horse and trying to get on one.

I stayed where I fell, looking up at the white clouds filling the sky. I also tried to ignore the pain in my back from where I hit the ground, and closed my eyes.

I was a failure. I couldn't plant a damn seed, get on a horse, leave a good impression, nothing.

"Hey, are you gonna get up or not? I'd leave you to wallow in self pity but my dad would kill me." I hear above me, and a shadow passes over my eyelids.

What an asshole.