BFF (A Josh Hutcherson Fanfiction)

6 - Follow the Leader

If she could see me right now, Aunt Megan would look at me long and hard and ask where her precious niece has gone.

Another note came for me this morning, as I expected.

So how was the game? This is a rhetorical question, of course, since you have no way of answering me. Plus I know they won. You must be a good luck charm or something.

Speaking of luck, how about trying yours?

You can get a taste of home here in California. Kentucky loves horse races, right? I mean, they’ve got the Kentucky Derby, so they have to.

So go down to Santa Anita Park. Place some bets, win some or lose some. Use Josh’s money just in case.

Most importantly, have fun. There’s a bar inside that doesn’t card. Drink responsibly. (But not too responsibly).

Make Josh the designated driver. I don’t want you or anyone else to get hurt.

Naturally, Josh and I are heading to Santa Anita with a pocket full of Josh’s money to watch some horse races. We aren’t going to drink though. Not with the night we have planned.

The reason Aunt Megan is currently turning over in her grave is my apparent need to do whatever a man tells me to do. It occurred to me when I got the letter this morning that it could tell me to tattoo a penis on my face and run around LA naked and I would do it without hesitation. But is that because a boy told me to, or because I need to take more risks in life?

The hopeless romantic boy driving my car would say I’ve been doing all of this because there’s a chance that I could end up happily married to an amazing guy who takes me on adventures and surprises me every day. The realistic girl sitting in the passenger’s seat says I’m doing it because old Jolene wouldn’t have. The Jolene who lived in Kentucky, worked to pay bills, and wore the same four outfits in different combinations to save money, would not be going to a horse race because a stranger told her to in an anonymous letter. She probably would have called the police as soon as the first letter showed up.

California Jolene isn’t like Kentucky Jolene, though, or so I’ve learned. And I think I like myself better when I don’t play it safe all the time. I of all people should know that you can’t take life for granted because you never know how much time you have left. It’s time I start actually living.

Even though I’m from Kentucky, I’ve never actually been to a horse race. Don’t tell the Unionites because they would be up in a tizzy about it. They’d blame my mom, my aunt, God, and anyone else they can think of. Truthfully I just never had a reason to go. Until today.

Josh pulls off the exit and I immediately know which building is our destination. It’s grand and majestic, the way horse tracks should be. You see them in movies and on TV and immediately associate places like this with rich women in extravagant hats and men in suits smoking cigars and betting on their jockeys. You don’t realize that in real life, that’s exactly what a horse track really looks like.

Josh parks my car and hurries around so he can open my door for me. He and I both know I hate when he does things like this, but since we are at a horse race, I guess I can let him be a gentleman. I loop my arm in his as we walk towards the beautiful building.

Josh needs to use the bathroom, so I take it upon myself to explore. I’m glad everyone is focused on the race that’s going on, because as I step out of the tall archway leading from the betting house to the grandstands, my jaw falls open in awe. The track, the horses, and the people: they’re all so beautiful. I look down at my cheap clothes and realize that I really don’t belong here. Josh belongs here with his money and grace and confidence. I don’t fit in with these people.