My Cowboy

Moving On

"It's me, sis. I can't talk right now. I just wanted to let you know mom and I are okay. We didn't leave because we wanted to, we left because we had to. Gotta go love you." My sister, Juliana, vaguely explained.

"Love you too," I answered as she hung up.

I stood there in the hallway crying. What does that even mean?  Several minutes later, Ryder stepped out.

"Is everything— What happened?" He asked.

"My sister called," I said fully extending my shaky hand with my phone in it.

"You're shaking. I'm taking you to the nurse."

He dragged me down the stairs to the nurse's office. He explained the situation and she let me lie down and wait until my father could come get me. Angry, confused, and frustrated, I fell asleep and took a well-needed nap.

I woke up about 20 minutes later and told the nurse I was okay and to call my dad to have him stay at work. I walked to my 6th period class and handed Mr. Oberman my pass. As I walked towards my seat, Ryder mouthed, 'It's gonna be okay, Doll.'
I completely ignored him and sat down. I dreaded history on a normal day, let alone a day where my sister calls out of nowhere. I forced myself to try to pay attention, but why was my sister calling and why did she call to tell me she's okay? What the hell does "we didn't leave because we wanted to, we left because we had to" mean?

I tried to forget about the whole thing. After history, Ryder walked me to my locker.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked pulling me into an embrace.

"No." I pushed him away.

I pushed him a little hard, considering he bumped into Rachel and knocked her down. Overwhelmed, I slammed my locker and ran off, leaving Ryder to pick up the pieces. Could this day get any worse?  I sped through the hallways and out into the courtyard.

"Are you okay, Jada?" Said an unfamiliar voice.

I glanced up. "How do you know my name?" I asked through tears.

"You're Jada Cadwell. Everyone here knows you. You're the legendary city girl who magically transformed to our Texas ways in less than a week. You're the girl who's better at riding horses than Ryder Huntley himself. Oh, congratulations on making the homecoming court by the way."

"I'm on the homecoming court?" I stopped crying and he nodded. "How do you know all that stuff? Plus, I don't think I'm better at riding than him. He
and Midnight are reigning champions in this state." I added.

"Yes, you're on homecoming court. I know all of this because you're popular and Ryder seems to think with a little bit of training for Buttercup or Cocoa, you could beat him." 

Shocked, I disagreed. "There's no way he said that. I've only been on a horse a couple of times. That's impossible."

"It's in your blood." He said just before walking back in the school.

"Wait! What's your name?" I called, but he didn't respond.

He blatantly ignored me.  It's in my blood? He's just messing with me. I suck at riding.

Buzz...buzz...buzz...

"What do you want, Ryder?" I interrogated.

"Ms. Devlin is calling you MIA. You better get here fast."

"Fuck you." I rudely hung up.

He's been pissing me off today. I started towards class and slid inside through the back door.