and a horse called Straton

Chapter 2

Caitlyn started to ride back to the barn after checking all the calving paddocks. It had taken her hours, though she had Luke to help her, there was a lot to check She needed to tell old Ben of the new calf, he managed the rosters and managed the farm for her Dad.

She walked into the office as she unbuckled her helmet. Her cowgirl boots made a muted clicking notice against the wooden floorboards of the office. "Oi! Ben! There's bin' a new calf, was still at birth but he's fine now." Ben simply nodded, he was rather quiet.

"He is of number 63, red tag." Again, only a nod in response.

Caitlyn shook her head then called over her shoulder. "I'm going riding with Luke up near the bush line!" She called over her shoulder, they always needed to tell someone where they were going and preferably ride with a buddy.

Luke and Caitlyn had been best friends since he had begun working there, they had done all the work together before her Dad had expanded the land, they had started with just 250 acres.

Now the two were inseparable. Ben nearly always put them on the same chore because everyone knew they worked well together, besides, Luke wasn't much of a people person and he trusted Caitlyn. It was rare for him to trust anyone.

***

Caitlyn talked freely with Luke as they rode down to paddock 52 on their stock horses. The sun was high in the sky and there wasn't a cloud for miles. Luke started to laugh at Caitlyn's horror story of her first day at school. She now didn't go to school, she just got homeschooled so she mostly did her work at night so it didn't interfere with the horses.

Caitlyn was allergic to wheat. Like really allergic. On her first day of school, someone brought in a wheat cracker thingy. They offered some to Caitlyn and she took it, not knowing it had wheat in it.

Within a few hours, she had ballooned up and got hives all over. She had to be rushed to hospital on her first day of school! That was only the beginning of her school troubles though. She was always the 'odd country kid' the one who didn't really fit in. She had gone to a boarding school, but it got too bad.

Caitlyn laughed along with Luke, "well, at least it's funny now!" Caitlyn laughed, remembering her horror as she realised what was happening.

Caitlyn kept her eyes peeled for unplanned weather. She wasn't sure, but she just felt, off, her instincts had never failed her before, so she kept looking up at the sky and at the bush.

Luke's eyebrows met as he noticed her biting her lip, she always did that when she was nervous. "What is it Cait?" He knew that her instincts almost never missed anything and he was a little worried as to why she was worried.

She snapped her head up, "what? Sorry, I was distracted." She said, again biting her lip.

Luke searched her face. "Why were you distracted?" He tried to sound as non-prying as he could, but it was hard when he was.

Caitlyn sighed. "Something seems... Off." She knew it was pointless to hide what she was thinking, Luke would probably figure it out anyway, or maybe he already knew, she wasn't sure.

The two rode in silence for a while. But it wasn't an awkward silence, it was comfortable.

Caitlyn saw her favourite patch of track coming up. She noticed the silence and spurred Straton into a gallop and called to a flabbergasted Luke over her shoulder, "RACE YOU!"

Luke quickly snapped out of it and urged his horse, Mayria (pronounced May-riah) into a gallop. Caitlyn squealed as she heard Luke start to catch up. She heard him laugh in response; she liked his laugh. She saw the gate just a kilometre away and urged Straton even faster than before.

Straton quickly complied, fast was his favourite. He threw his head around a bit as he fought to go even faster but Caitlyn held him back. "Easy boy." She whispered then whooped in delight as she saw Luke fall behind.

At the final turn she let him for for all he was worth and she felt all his hooves leave the ground then the surprisingly soft impact of his hooves hitting the ground. Straton's hoof beats were all she heard as she prepared Straton to leap over the small gate.

He cleared it with ease, soaring as if he had wings and landed softly before beginning to slow. Caitlyn looked behind her to see Luke around 500 metres behind her. She burst out laughing at his flustered face.

"I winnnnnn!!" She teased. Luke pouted and muttered. "You got a head start." Caitlyn grinned at his grey-blue eyes glaring at her. "Ya know ya love me." She overly smiled to prove her point and poked him.

There was a bit of silence and Caitlyn looked deviously up at Luke then regained composure.  There was a bit of awkward silence. She looked him in the eye and said, in all seriousness. "You're a wizard Luke."

Luke looked at her completely confused for a moment then burst out laughing at her absolutely random comment. Between laughing, he managed to choke out. "You haven't even seen that movie!"

'Thank goodness she broke the silence.' He thought with relief. 'She's so good at that...'

"I read the book!" She protested, the book was better anyway. Luke jabbed at her with his pale finger. "You read the blurb." He corrected.

Luke smiled as Caitlyn glared at him with her brown eyes. She was hilarious when she was irritated. "Ya know ya love me!" He mocked and flicked his nonexistent long hair.

Straton looked over to Mayria and snorted as if to say. 'Humans...' The two humans laughed at their horses' confusion of the ways of people.

Caitlyn shook her head. "Sorry Luke, doesn't work when you have 2 centimetre black hair at the longest." Luke held a hand against his heart. "That cut deep."

He then proceeded to do a whole drama on it, claiming how it was 'hairist' to say that, whining as they rode along the bush line to the track.

Caitlyn simply flicked her thick, waist length sandy blonde hair over her shoulder to prove her point every few seconds.

Luke shoved her and she dodged it. "Ha!" She said, giggling as she managed to land a not so soft, friendly punch on his arm.

Caitlyn looked up at the sky and her face paled. There were thick clouds building overhead, storms blew up fast in this part of Australia. "We better go." She said to Luke, suddenly serious. He only nodded.

A/N
Hiya! So how are you guys?
I am pretty good!
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Thanks for being such awesome readers!
-ze ausor of zis book