Once Upon A Rodeo

8: Heartbreaker

Heartbreaker

Life has a really funny way of pushing you into things you didn't really want to do in the first place. I was dreading the day when I would become Landon's girlfriend, but by the end of the two weeks I was practically begging him to ask me.

The first few days were great. We only had two of the freshmen trainers drop out. And all the freshmen who stayed have been doing great. They really want to be there and learn everything. Classes were going pretty good as well. Theatre wasn't so bad; the cowboy was making friends and not bothering me as much as I thought he would.

But then things turned not so hunky dory by Thursday and they only got worse. We started to do pantomime in theatre, we had to pick a partner to come up with a plot and then mime it with them for a major grade. I would have already dreaded the project because I can't mime... at all, but the cherry on top of the Sunday was that my partner was Travis Hillwood. When he heard the word partner come out of the teacher's mouth he placed his arm around me. Like he actually raised his arm up and then set it down across my shoulders! In front of everybody! I tried to shake him off. I looked around for another partner but everyone that I could tolerate working with already had a partner. I am stuck with the cowboy.

It was awful timing as well. Rumors had just started going down about the cowboy and I. They were replaced with ones about Landon and I, but those were somewhat intentional so I didn't mind so much. But now after Travis Hillwood just had to go and put his arm around me, claiming me as his partner, more rumors have resurfaced. And because I am now "attached" to both Landon and the cowboy, I've been called names. Names like tease, bitch, whore, and slut.

Another downside of living in a small town is that your parents will always find out about everything. They knew what was going on at school. For the first few days they were super nice. Mama made all of my favorite meals for me. I was allowed to let Huntress and Shotgun, my two dogs, upstairs and in my room. They also kept asking me if I wanted to watch a movie with them. They even offered to let me pick when it wasn't my turn to pick. Of course, I refused. I knew that they were only tip toeing around me because they wanted me to confide in them. I was tempted to a few times, but I couldn't do it. They wouldn't understand. They couldn't do anything about it.

I found myself needing to get out of the house one night. The constant hovering of my parents just waiting for me to break down was too much to bear. I asked them if I could sleep over at Beth's. During normal circumstances they would have said hell no because it was a last minute plan, but it wasn't normal circumstances anymore. They said yes right away, but with one condition, Jenna had to be there too. They never want me to be alone anymore. I always have to be surrounded by either them or two friends, just in case for when I finally crack.

I drove over to the Bradshaw farm to pick up Jenna. She wasn't allowed to leave until all her homework was done. So I preoccupied myself by playing with Sloan and helping Maddox with his Spanish. It was a little stressful being under the same roof as the two boys who are causing me to get called names, but thankfully Landon was out rehearsing with his band and the cowboy was outside working.

Soon enough Sloan had gone to bed and Maddox didn't need any more help. Even Faith had shut herself in her room. I was once again alone. I slumped on the couch and tried to find something good to watch on TV. Nothing.

I found myself getting up and walking over to Jenna's room to see if she was almost done with her homework so we could leave. I found her on her bed, lying on her back, asleep, with a copy of Great Expectations over her face. I wasn't going to wake her up. Jenna is a demon if you wake her up. So I was left with the choice to either stay here or going over to Bethany's house alone.