VIRAGO

notionate

notionate (adj.) - strong willed or stubborn

She was struggling to breathe from the shock and anxiety she was feeling. The pain had subsided from her adrenaline, but felt trapped.

"We'll be there soon." Coach Wallace said as Dana drove as quickly as she could through traffic. He was sitting in the backseat to make sure her leg did not move too much during the drive. They both assumed the worst, but they tried to remain optimistic as they pulled into the emergency room valet entrance. He got out of the car first and went over to the other side to help her get out, and they made their way into the entrance.

She was sat in a wheelchair and waited her turn, Dana holding her hand as she tried to suppress the pain she was in. Coach Wallace had walked away to let the school know what happened and that the bus was to leave without them. Eventually they called her name to get checked out, but since she was eighteen, she went back alone while Dana and Rick sat to wait for her. They asked her questions and she answered to the best of her ability while they assessed her before taking her up to get an MRI of her knee.

An hour later she received the news of the inevitable - her ACL had been torn in the collision. They gave her some pain medication and told her she would need to do some rehabilitation before she could get the reconstructive surgery done so she would have complete motor function of her knee following surgery. She would be in a leg brace and ACE bandage for the next three weeks before she had her surgery, and she already knew they were going to be hell.

Another hour passed before she was wheeled out to the waiting room hyped up on pain medication for the ride home. The doctors told both Rick and Dana what the damage was and how to take care of her for the next three weeks before surgery, and the surgeon closer to them would tell them more. She could tell they were both uncomfortable because the doctor thought that they were her parents, and it made her chuckle. If Dana and Rick had actually been her parents, she had no clue how things would go, but she knew it would be an experience.

"How was your first ride?" Nash asked as they got back to the barn just as dusk started to wave over them.

"Honestly a dream come true. When my dad said we were moving to a small town and were gonna be on farmland, I had hoped we would have horses." She admitted as she carefully climbed down from Bandit to guide him back towards the barn. He started getting antsy, and she held onto the lead as he started bucking.

"Reed back up, don't need to get yourself hurt." George said as he hopped off of Silvie and ran over to grab the lead from her as he started to get a little out of control. She fell backwards as Bandit reared up onto his back legs, George holding onto the reins and getting him back down as Nick and Nash came over to her as she went to get back up onto her feet.

"You alright Sam?" Nick asked as they helped her, and she just chuckled.

"I'm a little muddy but I'm good." She chuckled as she looked herself up and down then back up at Bandit. He had settled down now, and she just shook her head as she went to grab the lead from George.

"I've got it, go get cleaned up." He told her, but she took the lead anyway and guided Bandit in towards his stall. He looked at the other two and just shrugged, giving off a small chuckle. "Man she's stubborn."

"Yeah, just like him. That's why I wanted them to work together." Nash said with a laugh of his own. He guided Hera over to her stall and got her inside. He brushed off all the caked mud around her legs and hit them with the hose to clean them up. By the time he was done, he noticed Samantha already finished up and brushing through Bandit's mane and tail. He closed the stall door behind him and walked over, leaning against the door.