Today was one of those days that I wanted to hit the "pause" button on. It didn't seem like anything was going right, and that nothing I did was going to make it better. My dad's roan gelding had almost knocked my front teeth out that morning. All 4 horses got turned out at once, and he had decided to cut up and kick as the gate swung by him. He connected to it with both hind feet, and sent me sprawling backwards after it hit me. I suppose I deserved it, hadn't been paying attention and it cost me. The back of my head was the first thing to hit the ground, heat filled my mouth as my busted lips started to bleed. I grabbed an ice pack out of the mini fridge before heading back to the house, threw a rock at Roany for good measure, then walked back to the house. School hadn't turned out any better, my first hour class proved problematic as well. A quiz that I should have studied for caught me off guard, and left me cranky for the rest of the morning. Lunch was spent in the gym, studying everything I managed to not study over the weekend. 10 minutes after I walked in, I regretted the decision. I was a junior, and precious few of the senior girls cared much for me. After quitting the basketball team my sophomore year, many of them had made it clear they didn't appreciate my choice. One of those girls happened to come in after I'd already taken a seat in the bleachers. Her name was Kelsi, she happened to be Dalton's sister as well. She'd never liked me, and was never bashful to let me know how she felt. She had never been into rodeo like her brother had, but she wanted everyone we went to school with to think she had. She wore her cute jeans and her clean boots to school a few days a week. She never missed a chance to run her mouth either it seemed, and as of late she'd been particularly venomous. When there was a crowd it was worse; this time with just the two of us I wondered if she'd even notice me. Her eyes ran across the bleachers as I tried to absorb myself deeper into my history notes. I braced myself for what I knew was coming, and sure as anything, she didn't disappoint. "Stolen any horses lately?" I ignored her. She threw a basketball at my face. "Didn't your mama teach you to speak to your betters? You're just like the trashy brother of yours, no manners what so ever." I threw the ball back down on the court and continued to ignore her as I gathered my books. A million words flew through my head, just as hateful and black as what was coming out of her mouth. I bit my bottom lip out of habit, which brought a fresh wash of tears to my eyes as well as the taste of blood back to my mouth. I knew things were either going to fizzle out or completely explode, so I hoped for the best and prepared for the worst. She stood between me and the only way down from the bleachers. I shrugged my bag onto my shoulder and made my way down the steps. "Go away Kelsi. I don't have the ability to ignore you anymore, please just leave me be," I tried to make myself clear, but my swollen mouth made it hard to sound forceful and concise. My words were met with a wicked giggle, followed by her french manicured hand splaying across my chest. "My brother wants that horse back, and until he's standing in our barn, I'm not going to leave you alone, ever!" She was pushing me backwards, my feet shuffled under me to keep from tripping on the steps behind me. My day was quickly growing worse, almost as quickly as my temper was flaring. She'd used the horse stealing comment before, but calling Jace trashy was more than I could stomach. My bag dropped off my shoulder as I started forward, only to hear the sound of an ear piercing whistle. The wrestling coach stood at the door to the boys locker room, watching us intently. I hadn't been aware of our audience, and apparently Kelsi hadn't been either. She stepped backwards quickly, nervously looking from me to Coach Kyle. How long had he been there? Had he heard the whole thing, seen it all? It was embarrassing enough that she singled me out, but to have the head wrestling coach witness my humiliation was almost more than I could take. "Waylon, looks like you dropped something. Gather it up and head back to class. Bell's about to ring. Kelsi, I believe Mr. Bates is expecting you shortly, don't dissapoint him." As I pushed past her, she managed to snarl under her breath, "If you think this changes things, you're sadly mistaken," and with that last subtle threat she turned and stalked out of the gym. Walking down the remaining steps, I realized Coach Kyle was waiting for me at the door.