Jules Journey- A Horse Tale

Chaptern 4 - Change

The car picks me up at 4:30 the next afternoon. I packed my clothes and few belongings in 2 suitcases the night before. when I walk out of my room, Shawn is standing in the kitchen, with a stressed look on his face.

"I'm.. uh.. sorry Jules." He says.

"You know how I roll. We knew this would never be permanent. It was nice having you a round here every day though." I reply softly, forcing a smile. He nods and walks back to his room.

Rachel meets me outside. She hugs me in the driveway, takes my bags and loads them in the car, and whispers softly to me:

"Julia, you are better than this. Please go put good into this world. We still love you and I'm sorry it didn't go better."

I just nod before climbing into the backseat of the car.

—————————————————————————————————————- 2 hours later (6:00 PM)

The car ride was hell. 2 hours of dead silence with little cell reception as some poor, underpaid social worker hauled me like you'd haul cattle a state over to Tennessee.

I'd be lying if I said my heart didn't skip a beat as we pulled off to the country side. I prayed silently I'd live outside of town.

When the car pulled down a long driveway, my stomach did a flip.

The barn is painted white. It its in the shape of a sideways "L," with pastures off the backside, feeding into a wooded area, and arenas to the left. A house sits across from the barn. It isn't large, but it isn't small either. A 2 story stone structure with a porch and balcony.

A brown headed girl runs out to greet us. I climb out of the back seat and reach for my bags, which she immediately takes from me.

"Hey, I'm Reese!" She offers me her hand to shake and I pretend I don't notice. "You must be Julia! We're so happy to have you here! I'll get your bags and once you get settled in we'll show you around!"

Why is she so damn excited?

"Thanks." I utter, as monotone as possible, as she practically drags me into the house.

—————————————————————————————————————————————- 40 minutes later (6:40)

I unpack my last shirt into a drawer. Reese had shown me, with a lot of enthusiasm, to my room upstairs. It's decently sized, with a twin sized bed, dresser, closet, and a full wall of windows facing the barn. I sit down on the bed with a sigh.

They've dressed the bed for me, with pink silk sheets and a white comforter. I'm not feeling very comforted, and I have a few phones calls to make. I open up my phone, scroll through my contacts, and hit call.

I set my phone on the bed on speaker and listen to the ring. Sarah picks up on the 3rd chime. "Hey, I just got transferred to a home in Tennessee."

"Julia, what did you do?" Sarah scolds me. "This is your 2nd move in 6 months."

"It's not importa- look. I'm pretty sure this is a boarding barn. I need to talk to my new mommy (I say mommy in an overly mocking tone) but I may get a hauler."

"Julia, that's amazing! Having Topaz and Storm there is going to be so beneficial for your....."

Behavioral issues?

"... challenges you're feeling, extracurricular wise."

"Okay Sarah I didn't ask for your input on my life, I'm just letting you know you'll have stalls free." On that note, I hang up.

How dare she insinuate I'm out of control.

There's a knock at my door.

"Come in." I call out.

Its Reese. "Are you getting settled?" She asks me.

Nosy much?

"Yeah, I'm all unpacked."

"Good, I'm dying to show you around. They mentioned you had a real passion for riding and I knew you'd fit in well around here." Reese exclaims.

Reese leads me through the house. The room next to mine is also a girl, Ember I think, whose parents kicked her out last year. Her and I share a bathroom across the hall from us. Downstairs is a kitchen and living room with 2 more bedrooms, one for Reese and one for her Mom, Linda, I learn.

Next, Reese shows me around property. There are 3 arenas, an outdoor arena, a covered arena, and another outdoor arena with jumps set up. There are 8 pastures that I can count that run behind the barn. Finally Reese walks me to the front entrance of the barn. I can't hold it in anymore.

"How much is it to board here?" I blurt out.

"Honey, you help us clean stalls and feed and we'll get stalls set up for you right now. Do you have any horses?"

I can't contain my smile.

"I have two."

"Get them here and we'll get stalls set up. We have a few open ones for personal use."

Reese and I conclude the tour after this fact, and I head back to my room.

————————————————————————————————————————————- 1 hour later (7:54)

I'm listening to music off of my phone, starring at the barn out of my window when there's another knock at the door. I jump, startled by the sudden noise, before rising to my feet, pausing my music and opening the bedroom door. An older woman is standing at the other side. Her long brown hair is pulled up in a pony tail, and her hazel eyes look me up and down, curious. She's the spitting image of Reese, aside from being around 20 years older.

"Hey love! I'm Linda." She exclaims.

"Julia." I mumble.

"Reese told me she showed you around, I'm sorry I'm just now getting home, I had a few errands I had to run for the barn. I brought pizza though."

I don't realize how hungry I was until she says the word pizza. I haven't ate all day.

"Come get a plate and we can talk about getting your pony's a stall. Reese told me you seemed pretty excited about getting them moved in here."

I tried to suppress my grin. It's been 7 months since I've seen Topaz, I've been digging into my little savings I have to pay board, scraping for penny's to keep him- just hoping I'd have him with me again one day.

I guess I'll try to put up with these people if it means I get my boy back.