Behind Her Eyes

7

The first four of my classes went well, the teachers are good people, making the first day seem welcoming. Most of the kids, I noticed, were wearing a pair of cowboy boots with wranglers or boot-cut jeans and a t-shirt or a pearl snap, button down wrangler shirt; I'm sure that if they allow hats, a lot of them would be wearing them. Other students were wearing shorts and fitted shirts.

You could tell who the wanna-be's were from the people who had horses, and the rodeo stars from the ranchers.

I made sure to keep my head down throughout the day, trying not to be noticed. ShyAnne sat next to me at every class, even though she talked to her peers, the gesture made me feel welcomed.

"Hey. Do you want to sit with me and my friends?" she asked when the bell rang for lunch.

The thought of sitting with a bunch of judgmental kids made my heart skip a beat. Word has already gotten out about the new kid at school. I already had people staring at me with curiosity and some with hatred. I don't know why with hatred, I didn't do anything to cause it.

"Cassidy?" Shy said, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Do you want to sit with me at lunch?"

"Um. No thanks. I just remembered that I have to look at something under the hood." I lied, hoping that she would believe me.

"Oh, okay. Do you need any help?"

I shook my head. "No, thank you. I'll be back before fifth hour starts."

She smiles. "Okay. Sounds good." She turns and walks towards the cafeteria.

I sighed and turned to walk out the front doors. Instead of walking towards my truck, I headed towards the stables.

My jaw dropped when I opened the wooden doors; inside the stables were large stalls on either side. One building could fit about two hundred horses in their separate stalls. Most of the stalls were being accompanied by all different kinds of horses.

Being curious animals they are, the horses who had their head already out pricked their ears forward and looked at me with curiosity. I walked down the aisle, petting the horses as I reached the end where they were thinning out until there were no more.

You could tell which horse does barrels, poles, calf roping, jumping or just pleasure riding, not only by the tack, but by the muscle and the height.

The stalls had hay bedded down and troughs for water and feed. Most stalls had salt blocks hanging up on the walls. On the outside of each stall had a hook where most people put the bridle.

Liking how the stalls looked, I walked out of the barn and closed the wooden sliding doors behind me.

***

I gave him one last kick before pulling the reins back and turning him so he wouldn't run into the fence.

After I found out that the school was traveling to Helena for a rodeo for the weekend, I took Nickel around the barrels once I got home. Though I wasn't worried about him knowing the pattern, he had to be at his best, anything could go wrong.

To say we were the best would be an understatement. Nickel and I have been in the top five for NFR in the past seven years that I've been running.

I took him around the barrels a couple more times at a walk to cool him down. We have been working on barrels for three hours now. Deciding that we had enough practice for today, I dismounted and led him outside of the arena and to the post so that I could tie him up.

I switched his bridle for the halter before typing the lead rope to the post. After I put the bridle on the hook in the tack shed, I went back out to get the saddle and saddle blanket, to put in the shed. Then I grabbed a hose and sprayed him down before putting him back in the pasture.

I took the halter off once the gate was closed. I fed him half a leaf of alfalfa hay and a bucket of supplements before heading back in the horse to get something to eat and to finish my homework.