The Bet

chapter 3

I arrived back at the stable from dropping Madilyn off at her house from the ride. We rode through the woods for a little longer then we were supposed to but it was fine. We stopped at a river, where we saw a turtle and a few deer, to get a drink. While there Shadow splashed us all with water so Hex and her were damp while Madilyn and I were soaked. I took hex's bareback pad off when he got wet so not only were we both wet but I was also carrying a soaked and wet bareback pad.

I got to his tack stall and put the bareback pad away on a rack so it could dry. While I was in the tack room I somehow ran into my dad, again.

"Wow what happened to you?" My dad asked with papers in his hand. "Well while riding we stopped at a river and shadow, Madilyn's horse, splashed us all with water." I said. He nodded his head. "So it's not sweat covering Hex?" My dad asked. I shook my head and my dad chuckled. "Just make sure to not leave him soaked." My dad told me with a grin. I nodded and ran out of the tack room.

When I got back to Hex I patted his back and kissed his nose. "Your a good boy." I whispered to him. In return he picked up his right back hoof up then slowly put it back down. I smiled and grabbed a dry rag to begin drying his body.

After he was dry I took his bridle off and rubbed his face a little before putting his halter back on and leading him to his stall. Once in I, again, remove his halter and lead rope and hang them on their hooks. I grabbed yet another cherry treat and gave it to him before walking back to the house to get dry.

The first thing I did when I got inside the gates of my house I looked for my skateboard. I didn't see it so I just imagined one of the maids eventually did grab it. I walked into the house from the front way this time to be greeted by my cat, marshal.

"Hey boy. I didn't see you at all but this morning." I said as I bent down and picked him up. He immediately jumped out of my arms tho, feeling that I was soaked. "Right.." I said as I ran up the stairs and to my room. I grabbed my phone first and saw that I had a text from my guy friend, Ace.

𝘼𝙘𝙚: 𝙃𝙚𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬.
𝘽𝙪𝙘𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪.

𝙈𝙚: 𝙎𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙩 2. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙤𝙡?

𝘼𝙘𝙚: 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙞𝙡

𝙈𝙚: 𝙄 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚.

𝘼𝙘𝙚: 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙞𝙧𝙙𝙤

𝙈𝙚: 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙧

I shut my phone off and finally decided to get out of my wet clothes. I grabbed sweat pants and a tank top then went to the bathroom for a warm shower. I turned the water on and quickly stripped my clothes off and got in the shower. This was the most amazing part of my days aside from training. The hot water poured on my head and came off the ends of my hair.

After I got out and changed, I climbed onto my bed and got back on my phone. Somehow it was already 6 and my dad should be back by now. I put my phone in my pocket and got back up only to head back down stairs. I ran into the kitchen and found my dad talking to someone on the phone.

"Soon I promise." My dad said. I snuck a little closer.

"Why don't you come tomorrow?"

"Alright.. Love you.. Bye." My dad said then hung up the phone. I heard him sigh and put his phone on the counter. I sucked in a breath a entered the kitchen. My dad turned and looked at me with wide eyes. When he realized it was me he relaxed a little.

"Hey princess. You been standing there or?" My dad asked. I shook my head and he smiled. "Was I supposed to be?" I asked. His eyes went wide again. "No!" He yelled. I was a little stunned knowing how he never raised his voice. "No." He said calmer. I nodded and made my way to the pot on the stove. I looked inside and saw the familiar mix of spaghetti.

"Oh nice, spaghetti!" I said excitedly. "Yeah can you go get your brothers?" My dad asked. I quickly nodded and ran out the kitchen. I ran to each of their rooms and then got back to the kitchen in less then a minute.

I took my place at the end of the table and took a sip of the water my dad put down as my brothers all walked in the kitchen and sat down. Once they sat down my dad came around and gave us all a nice amount of food. I was the one who dug in first.

After dinner my brothers and I went to ur rooms while my dad went to the movie room to watch late night TV.

The next morning rolled by just like the last. Wake up, get out to the track, train, untack Hex, wash him then put him away. So after all that I got ready to head to Ace's house.

I walked down to the kitchen where my dad was. "Hey dad I'm going to.... Ace's." I said. I said the last part slowly because I soon realized that dad wasn't alone. He was sitting at the table with a girl that looked a little younger then him but not by much. She had medium length wazy brown hair and freckles. From where I was standing she was wearing a shirt that had our farm shirts. She had blue eyes and pink lips. She had heart earrings and three bracelets, one with a horse galloping and the other two plain silver chains. She also had baby blue acrylic nails. She looked a little to perfect.

"Alison, I want you to meet Heather, my fiancee." My dad said. She smiled and waved at me. I took a step back. "What do you mean fiancee!? What about mom!?" I asked with wide eyes. My dad sighed and him and Heather looked at each other then at me.

"Alison, Candide is gone. It's been two years." Are you serious. He can't even call her my mom. I looked at Heather. "So your gonna replace my mother." I said to her. Before anyone could say anything I ran out of the kitchen and out of the house.

I began to sprint to forget everything that had just happened the tears started to come out and I couldn't stop them.

I got to Ace's place and stopped. My breathing was heavy and tears stained my face. I quickly got myself together and went to the stable. I found Ace in Buck's stall brushing his mane. "Whatcha doin there?" I said in a deep tone. Ace jumped and turned to me. "Alison!" He yelled and threw the brush at me. I laughed and caught the brush.

"So that thing you needed to show me?" I asked. "Oh right, c'mon." He said. He grabbed bucks lead tope and we both walked to the smaller outdoor arena. It was all dust and had poles in the farthest corner. It was a nice size it just wasn't even close to being the favorite. And it was the farthest so people just went to the bigger one. He handed buck to me while he went back and grabbed a lunge whip.

When he came back and grabbed buck, I jumped up and sat on the fence while watching Ace. He proceeded to swing himself on Bucks back and stand up. Once he caught his balance he gave Buck two light taps with the whip. Almost instantly Buck reared up got a few seconds then came back down, all while Ace looked steady on his back.

My mouth drew open and when Ace noticed he smiled. I slowly came down on Bucks back then rode him at a walk to me. "Was that cool or what?" He said with pride. "That was awesome. You gotta teach me and Hex how to do that sometime." I said.

He smiled and agreed. "Btw when are you going over to Madilyns with your truck and trailer tomorrow?" I asked. I sniffled and immediately cursed and screamed at myself.

"4 so I'll pick you up at 5, are you ok? I just recognized your tear marks." He said. He came over with buck and sat on the fence next to me. "No. My dad has a fiancee named Heather." I said. The tears started coming back and Ace embraced me in his arms. I just cried. I cried while Ace rubbed my back with his right hand, left hand holding bucks lead rope.

"It's ok." Ace said in a comforting tone. My tears had stoped and I slowly peeled myself off Ace. I noticed his shirt that was wet with tears and smiled at him. "Aww man. How dare you." Ace said in a funny tone. This made me giggle a little.

"I better go home and face the wrath of my father." I lied. I knew the second I stepped inside I would run up to my room and lock the door behind me. Ace and me said our goodbyes and I headed home.