April Spring

Chapter 4

"Whoa, easy girl" I slowly reach out and pull the nose of the halter around April's head.

She tolerates this for a moment, and then proceeds to her usual bucking and rearing.

I sigh, lowering the halter. "She's never going to take it,"

"Here, let me try." Kayden comes into the stall and takes the halter from me, motioning for me to exit the stall.

I step out, closing the gait behind me and turning to watch how this goes.

He slowly reaches his hand out to stroke her nose, but she flattens her ears and backs away.

"How are you supposed to get the halter on if she won't even let you touch her?" I ask, amused that April doesn't like him.

He ignores my question and turns backwards, standing there quietly and relaxing his shoulders.

April just hangs he head lazily before curiosity get the best of her. She slowly approaches Kayden and sniffs his sleeve, her ears forward.

He just stands there and waits. She eventually comes around to the front of him and starts nibbling on his shirt.

He finally reaches out and she lets him stroke her nose, smelling his hand. He reaches out the halter and she does the most amazing thing, she actually puts her head into it and let's him clip it shut.

He pats her neck and smiles.

I just gawk at him. When I finally find my voice, I ask, "are you sure you're not a horse whisperer or something?"

He chuckles, "no, I'm just good with them. although for some reason, It's taking April some time to get used to me." He says, careful not to mention Pepper for me.

"Well, now that you have the halter on let's start working on leading her."

I'm just about to go into the stall when the corner of my eye catches something.

Emma is standing in the barn, and I wonder how long she's been there.

"Oh, hey Emma," I say, making sure she knows I saw her.

"Hi, sorry for spying, I just came in and saw Kayden working with April."

"We were just about to start working on leading," I say a bit rudely.

"Would you like to help?" Kayden interrupts.

"Oh yeah, that would be great!" Emma hurries into the stall and April spooks at her noisy entrance.

"Could you be any louder?" I snap at Emma, but she doesn't seem to notice my comment.

"Lexi, it's okay. April needs to get used to her," Kayden says, and I am for some reason angry that he's defending her.

Emma ignores our conversation and makes her way over to April. She reaches out to pet her but April stomps her hoof in warning.

"Here," Kayden reaches over and grabs Emma's hand, holding it out so that April can sniff it.

A pang of jealousy shoots through me the moment Kayden touches her hand. I am furious, but try to hide it, doing my best to stay quiet.

April smells her hand and seems satisfied with the smell, so she goes back to being adorable.

"She's so pretty," Emma gasps, "I think she should be your horse, Kayden,"

I nearly lunge at her with that comment. April is MY horse, Pepper's very own foal. I think Emma is TRYING to make me jealous.

Kayden clearly isn't sure what to say, so he just doesn't respond.

"Can I try leading her?" she asks Kayden. She should be asking me, April is my horse.

"You'll have to ask Lexi," he replies cooly, turning to me.

She batters her lashes at him and pleads once more before turning to me. "please Lexi?"

I nearly burst out in laughter. There is NO way I'm letting her lead April around. "She's never been lead before, and I don't know how she'll react. I better do it," I walk over and take the lead from Kayden, giving him a glare as I walk over to her stall's back door.

Without thinking, I open the door, my grip on the lead loose. At the first chance she gets, April lunges out the door and into large paddock.

I groan, running after her. Before I leave I hear a snicker behind me. fantastic, just fantastic.

April is bucking wild and steps on her flying lead rope, nearly causing her to trip. she manages to keep her balance but stumbles a little.

I run after her and finally get a hold of her lead rope, pulling her back to the barn.

I haven't exactly gotten a very good start on her training.

With much struggling, I finally make it back to the barn. But when I enter the stall Emma and Kayden aren't in the stall. They are in the main barn isle. Kayden has his arm over her shoulder, and she's giggling her guts out.

She better run before I punch her guts out.

When Kayden sees me, he quickly pulls his arm back to his side and stands there, not sure what to say or do.

Emma slowly steps away, leaving the barn. "I better go, see ya Kayden," she flutters her eyelashes and sways her hips as she walks away.

I still stand there, April getting impatient with all the standing around.

"Lexi, I know what it looks like, but it's not what you think." He explains hurriedly.

"It's exactly what I think," I say through gritted teeth, dropping the lead rope.

"Lexi, you have to listen to me," he runs up to me and grabs my shoulders, looking into my eyes.

"I don't have to listen to anything you have to say," I attempt to walk away, but he won't let me.

"We're just friends. She already has a boyfriend." He says firmly, looking me in the eyes.

"Oh yeah, and what was with the giggles and-"

"So she was laughing, so what? I don't see the big deal here,"

"The big deal here, is that you had your arm over her shoulder. I had no idea you could be so insensitive," I say furiously, wriggling out of his grip.

"Look, it didn't mean anything, I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? Is that all you have to say?" I ask, tears threaten to spill over.

"What do you want me to say?" He nearly yells.

"You should know," I shout, running out of the barn as sobs rack my body.

I don't even know what I want him to say, but I do know that Emma is trying to make me jealous, and I think she's found a pretty good way to.

I regret not having a horse, because usually I would ride out into the forest. For now, all I can do is run. I run as fast as my legs will carry me, out to the woods.

I can't believe him. How could he just act like that was nothing? I saw the way she flirted with him. He may have thought it was nothing, but I could tell Emma wanted something. Something of mine.

My lungs start to hurt, so I slow down and sit down on the trunk of a tree.

I look around and see that it's getting late. it will probably be dark in a few minutes.

I don't care, I just want to be alone for a while. I lay down in the grass and close my eyes, letting myself drift off to sleep.

-

Authors note

Sooooooo yeah this is a pretty long boring chapter, but more exciting than the last. So what do u think of Emma? Thanks for reading!