𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐧𝐭 ~ 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐝

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐞

𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐰 convinced Jesse to let her go on a little cattle run with the rest of the guys. She was almost never allowed to go on those things because she was 'too young' or 'too small' or 'too weak.'

Laurie, also known as Lauren (if you were to call her by her full name), was what the Seven Rivers gang called the runt of the litter.

The runt of the litter.

That was what Laurie was.

The smallest of the group, and often seen as the weakest even though she could do anything they could do, maybe even better than they could. And she hated being seen as some little fawn that needed to be coddled and looked after.

The group galloped to the entrance of the ranch where Jesse dismounted his horse and was greeted by his girlfriend whom Laurie couldn't really be bothered remembering the name of. And with that girlfriend, Barbara, if Laurie remembered correctly, stood the man the group had brought back to the ranch a few weeks ago.

Jesse said something about his name being Billy.

The 13-year-old tilted her head as she observed the strange guy. He looked a lot better than the last time she saw him. The last time she had seen him, he was lying on Artax's back like a sack of potatoes and looking like he was about ready to kill himself.

"Fellas, this here... is a very old friend of mine, Kid Antrim," Jesse introduced, "Billy, Bob Olinger, John Beckwith, the runt back there is Lauren Casely."

"Good to meet you," Billy said, looking at the guys before his eyes fell on the little red-head girl. He could definitely see why Jesse referred to her as 'the runt.' You could tell right away she was the smallest and the youngest out of all of the guys here. Laurie sighed at the use of her full name, she didn't really like it but she knew there wasn't too much she could do to get the gang leader to stop calling her that.

She was just the runt of the litter, after all.

And she should be grateful Jesse didn't shoot her on the spot when he found her, shouldn't she?

Later that night, while all the guys sat around the table inside Jesse's house, getting drunk or smoking tobacco. Or both. Laurie sat outside on the front porch, picking apart a twig she had found quietly. She never really felt like she truly belonged with the Seven Rivers gang, she was only here in the first place because Jesse caught her stealing supplies from his barn and decided to just take her under his wing instead of shooting her on the spot. But she was barely even acknowledged by him anyways, she was just another mouth to feed and body to bury to him.

Her head perked up when someone sat beside her, she looked over to see Billy, nodding in acknowledgement before going back to tearing apart the twig in her hands. That was how the two sat for a good few minutes, sitting in the dark in silence until Billy spoke up.

"Lauren, correct?," he inquired, watching the younger girl.

"Laurie," Laurie replied, "I don't like being called Lauren."

The outlaw nodded, making a mental note about the fact that this kid didn't like being called by her full name.

"So how'd you get here, running with a gang?," Billy questioned, looking over at the young teenager next to him. "You don't look much older than 12."

"I'm 13," the teen corrected, throwing her stick to the side. "Jesse caught me stealing from his barn when I was 10. Instead of shooting me on the spot he decided to spare me and just have me living under his care for some reason."

Billy nodded, looking up at the full moon in the dark night sky. It had been a while since he had actually taken the time to appreciate the small things, like how bright the moon looked and how pretty the stars in the sky were.

"Where're your parents?," the outlaw suddenly asked and Laurie sighed.

"Gone. My dad was killed, don't know what happened to my ma, I just woke up one day and she had just disappeared, never heard from her since," Laurie explained, clearly not really in the mood to talk but she knew that it would be rude not to answer Billy's questions.

ⅠⅠⅠⅠ

The next morning Lauri found herself doing yard work while the other gang members worked on training new horses. Billy sat on the fence, talking with Jesse and Barbara while watching Jesse lunge one of the new horses. Laurie picked up a bag of some horse feed, tossing it into a wheelbarrow, ever so slightly eavesdropping on the conversation a few feet away from her. Jesse was talking about how the gang was thinking of going out to El Paso, and Laurie immediately knew she would probably get left out of that trip because she was too young or too weak, just like she always did.

The only reason she went on that trip that they returned from yesterday was because Jesse was "feeling nice."

"Hey, why do you call that one over there 'runt'?," Billy questioned as he looked over to where Laurie was working and then back at Jesse.

"Because that's what she is, really," Jesse answered, continuing his work with his horse. "She's the smallest out of all of us, probably the weakest as well. Sounds like runt material to me, don't it?"

Laurie rolled her eyes with a quiet sigh, she hated that nickname. Runt - the smallest and more often than not in a group, specifically used when you're talking about dogs and other animals. But according to Jesse, it can be used on people too - given the correct circumstances, of course. And here's the funny part, no matter how much Laurie disliked the taunting, the names and the constant reminder about the fact she would be nothing without him - Laurie always found herself trying to seek out Jesse's approval one way or another.

That's the beauty of Laurie's life.

The red-headed teenager watched as Billy got up and followed Barbara down into a slightly wooded area where a few horses stood loosely tied by the mangers and water troughs. She rolled her eyes and continued working, Laurie never understood romance nor did she ever experience it or want to experience it. She didn't really ever have those urges.

After a few minutes Billy came back from the woods and approached her, Laurie slowed her movements for a moment. Trying to figure out why the new member was going to attempt to talk to her.

"You need help with those?," Billy asked, gesturing to the few bags of feed that still needed to be hauled into the wheelbarrow and brought into the stables. Laurie shrugged, picking up another bag and almost dropping it. Why did these things need to be so heavy?

"If you want to help, you can," the child replied, putting the bag into the barrow with a small but tired sigh. Billy felt his face soften a bit when he noticed how tired the kid in front of him was. So he did what he believed was right and picked up the last few bags with ease and hauled them into the wheelbarrow.

Laurie would be lying if she said that she wasn't shocked that Billy helped her, because she wasn't expecting him to actually do anything to make her life easier. In fact, he had been the first person in three years to actually help her with any of the chores she had been assigned. She stood there for a moment, glancing at the feed in the wheelbarrow before her blue eyes met his and she gave him a small smile.

"Thanks," was all she said before pushing the wheelbarrow in the direction of the barn, not with ease though. She strained her muscles as she pushed the heavy supplies towards the barn, taking deep breaths as she did so.

Billy watched Laurie and he couldn't help but wonder why Jesse was having this child do this kind of work without at least a little bit of help, especially considering the fact she was a little bit small and naturally scrawny for her age.

Why was there child labour going on at this ranch?

A/N:

I am actually so excited for this series

Word Count: 1390