Queen-A Steel Ball Run Story

Second and Third

"Johnny, come back! You know I can't keep up!" Natalie cried, holding onto her horse's reins and trying to speed up while Johnny zoomed past her, laughing.

"Aww, come on, Natalie! You're supposed to be a natural with horses!" He teased, continuing to stay ahead of her.

"This is a new horse!" She tried to explain herself as they reached a curve in the road. "My dad will kill me if I get hurt and my mom will kill me if I get my clothes dirty, so slow down!" She hung onto the horse tightly as it followed Johnny.

"How can you expect to improve if you don't push yourself? Speed up, Nat! You've got this!" Johnny encouraged her, turning back and flashing her a smile. She looked back at her horse, then followed his lead and sped up.

The young kids were 7 and 9, Natalie being Johnny's elder, but it was hard to tell at first glance. She was quite prone to getting hurt, and he always seemed mature as he helped her out if such an event happened, from the smallest scrape to the largest cut. He always had a bandage for her. The two were inseparable, both on and off horses.

"It's getting late, JoJo, we should turn back." Natalie shouted at him, but he shook his head and kept riding down the path.

"This road leads to a shortcut through the woods, don't worry, we'll be home on time."

"But Johnny, the sun is going to set soon! Our parents will be mad and worried! We'll never make it back before sunset!"

"Ah, stop worrying so much! Don't you trust me to get us back, Nat?" He turned back towards her again and grinned.

"Fine! But if we don't make it, I'll hit you with my belt!" She grumbled, keeping up the pace on her horse to match Johnny's. He heard her comment and chuckled, continuing down the path.

"Here, start slowing down, the path is around here somewhere!" Johnny commanded her, and she listened. They both slowed down to a trot, Johnny keeping an eye out for the clearing in the trees that led back to their neighboring homes.

"Ah, there it is. Follow me, Natalie." He started heading towards the opening, and Natalie followed, looking around and ducking to avoid low-hanging branches.

"Are you sure this is safe? What if there are snakes?" She asked, looking down at the ground.

"For someone who gets hurt all the time, you're very cautious." Johnny remarked. "Besides, if there are any snakes here, I'll fight them."

Natalie giggled. "You can't fight a snake, Johnny. You'll lose."

"I'll win for the both of us and our horses."

Natalie smiled. She looked around again, avoiding the branches, but there were a lot of them. One got caught in her hair and pulled out a few strands as she kept going forward. "Ow.."

"What happened? You get hurt already?"

"No! I just felt like saying that." She quickly defended herself.

"Well, I don't like you saying that. Come on, let's speed up a bit. I'm hungry." He started going quicker, and Natalie followed.

"How are you avoiding these branches?! Johnny, we should slow down!"

"Just keep your head low, then they won't hit you."

"But I can barely see-Wait! It's your house! We're close!"

"See, told you we'd make it!" Johnny said gleefully as they both started to slow down, and Natalie raised her head up just slightly to look at him.

That was when her horse pushed a branch away with it's head, and it came back and smacked her hard across the cheek.

"Ah!" She cried out, putting her hand to her face.