The Neighbors Next Door

Chapter One

    My alarm starts screaming at me causing me to wake up. It is the first day of summer break and I forgot to turn off my alarm. Since I am already awake I decide to go for my morning rides. Hopefully she's awake, I usually don't go for rides at 8 in the morning but I might as well get a head start on my chores. You may be wondering who I mean by "she", by "she" I mean my horse Dixie May. 

    I am a southern girl who loves animals. I have really light blue eyes but they will occasionally change to green, I also have a very light tan with freckles dotted across the bridge of my nose, my shoulders, and even my legs. My hair is a light brown that fades to a blonde due to the sun bleaching it since I'm outside so much. It's about to the middle of my back which is shocking with how much I cut it to make my parents mad but I don't really care since I live alone. 

    Tiredly, I walk to my closet and throw on my denim jeans, along with white t-shirt and a blue and white flannel. I tie the flannel in the front and throw on my brown horse riding boots. Since I will be going into town later I apply some light makeup, just some mascara and some highlight and I also put my hair into twin braids since I don't want it to get tangled when I go out. 

    Once I finish getting ready I grab my phone, three bottles of water, my portable speaker, my money, some snacks my horse and I, and of course a hat for when the sun rises more. I throw it all into a bag that latches onto her saddle once I put on Dixie and I's favorite playlist. Happily, I run to the stable when I see that she is awake. Since she's making a bunch of noise I decide that it's about time to feed her and the others while I'm at it. I go over to the corner of the stables where we keep the horse feed and set one of the bags into the wagon and pull it to each stall dumping some into each bucket. 

     Dixie lets out a loud neigh once she finishes so I grab her saddle and lug it over to her stall. Since its heavy I set it onto the door of her stall so that I can grab her reins. Cautiously, I step into the stall and put her reins on and pull her out of the stall and next to the door to slide her saddle onto her so it won't require as mush work. 

    After a bit of struggling I finally get it on her and I tighten it enough so that it won't fall off but not hurt her spine. I connect my bag to her saddle and hop on as I let her go out of the stables making sure that I close the door as we walk out. 

   To start off our ride we go to the driveway but I notice something odd. A moving truck? I didn't know someone bought the house. Oh well, I should go greet them since it's the polite thing to do where I am from. I click my tongue signaling for Dixie to run. Making sure to not hurt any crops I go onto the trail that leads to the dirt road and ride over to the house next door. 

    Once I reach my destination, I hop off of Dixie but pull her reins to direct her so that I don't scare them. I walk up the driveway and tell Dixie to stay and that I'll be right back after I tie her reins to a sturdy tree. Nervously I walk up to the door and knock a few times and step back like I've been taught to always do to show respect to a persons privacy. I hear someone run to the door and when the door opens I'm surprised to see four boys my age. 

   "Hey?" a guy with a bandanna on says in an Australian accent which makes me giggle a little.

"I am so sorry that I came over uninvited and without a welcoming gift but I saw that there was a moving truck so I came over to welcome you to the neighborhood. My name is Anne and that's my horse Dixie, I live right down the road." I say pointing to Dixie who seems to be stealing apples off of their tree.

   "You ride horses that is awesome! Maybe as a welcoming gift we could maybe go horse back riding!" they boy with black and blue hair says excitedly which causes me to laugh.

   "Michael that is rude, you don't ask people for welcoming gifts!" the one with brown hair and blonde highlights says smacking his arm making me laugh more.

  "Oh no it's perfectly fine, that sounds like a great idea. If you want we can do it right now! Just make sure you have pants that cover your full legs and close-toed shoes!" I say happily which makes them yell happily. They say that they'll be right out so I go over to Dixie and untie her from the poor tree that is now mixing maybe five apples now. 

I notice them walking out and they walk over to Dixie and I carefully so that they don't spook her which I am thankful for. I smile at them as I pet her. "Thanks for walking over instead of running, I appreciate it because sometimes when people run up on a horse it spooks them which can cause someone to get hurt sometimes.

   "Oh we didn't even tell you our names yet. I'm Ashton, that's Michael, that's Calum and the one that's being oddly quite is Luke, he's shy when it comes to talking to pretty girls." Ashton says causing me to blush as well as Luke.

  "Well, let's head over to my farm so we grab my other horses." I say as I begin walking with Dixie by my side with them following behind.

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Holy shit! The fir