Gypsy Girl and Horse Lovin' Boys (11 page)

Thursday

I dragged Cessie out of bed. “Noah wanted you to come this morning. I bet he lets you ride Ezra today.”

“What happened to your face?”

I checked the scratches before I went to bed. They weren’t that bad. My body hurt something awful but I could hide that. I could cover my scratched legs with jeans or a skirt so that wasn’t a big deal. I crawled over to the mirror on the wall. The few little scabbed over scratches were much darker on my cheek than they had been the night before. “I accidentally ran into a tree branch last night.”

I threw on some sweats real quick even though I knew it was a poor choice. There hadn’t been any chill in the morning since we’d been there and it usually got hot fast. “Come on.”

Cessie held my hand as we approached the barn. I squeezed her hand even more when we neared the door. I texted Noah to let him know we were there.

“You good today?” Noah asked, looking at the scratches on my cheek.

I nodded, not wanting to say more with little miss blabbermouth there.

“Hi Cessie, I was just getting ready to saddle up Ezra for you.” He messed up her hair.

She only frowned for a second over the hair in her face. Noah glanced at me but he didn’t smile much. He led the way without checking on me to see if I had my fear under control. I twisted my shirt around my hands as we walked down the long center aisle. There wasn’t much activity yet. It seemed almost every horse popped their heads out of the stall doors to greet us. Which made me extra jumpy.

Cessie wouldn’t stop talking and she held onto Noah’s hand all the way to the stall. When we got there, I leaned against the wall as he took Cessie inside and showed her how to saddle a horse. She put the saddle blanket on. He tossed the saddle over it while Ezra chewed on hay unruffled. He showed Cessie how to tighten the cinch. Then he cinched it tighter. Noah never glanced at me, not even once. I turned away from the stall door and pulled out my phone.

Me: Noah’s not talking to me.

Josh: Not sure why. I didn’t see him or say nothing to him.

Noah opened the door to the stall. I stuffed my phone in my pocket. Cessie was high up in the saddle.

“Sera! Take a picture.” Cessie clung to the saddle horn.

I pulled my phone out again and turned the camera on. I clicked a few while Noah waited patiently.

“I think that’s enough.” I scanned through the pics.

“You want to come with us to the arena?” Noah asked, taking his hat off and scratching his head.

I nodded and followed them at a distance. He led Ezra into the arena and handed Cessie the reins. He walked with her the first time around and then he sent her off on her own before he walked over to the rail close to where I was standing.

I slowly scooted closer to Noah and leaned on the rail. “She’s going to talk about this forever, you know.” I rested my hand on his arm.

“I like to be able to do things like that for someone who loves horses as much as she does. That’s the reason why I like them so much. Someone took the time to indulge me when I was young. I think my parents curse that person now because of how much money they’ve invested in my hobby. That’s what they call it. I would do horses all the time, though. If I could make a living off this sort of thing, I’d do it.” Noah moved his arm from under my hand and turned to face me. He clenched his jaw and started to say something but stopped. He watched Cessie for a minute before he was able to speak. “What did you tell me last night about the concert?”

“What do you mean?” I gripped the rail with both hands and studiously watched my sister.

“How did you say the concert was?”

“It was a lot of fun.”

“That’s not it. What word did you use?”

I tried to remember what Josh texted Noah. “Umm. Did I say it was a blast?”

“That’s what I thought. Were you still with Josh then? I’m pretty sure the concert had been over for a while by that time.”

“I think I was. Why?”

“Josh always has a blast, that’s all. I didn’t know you used that word too.”

“I guess we spent so much time at the concert together that he rubbed off on me.” I flushed. All the words that just fell out my mouth were all wrong. Guilty, guilty, guilt and more guilt all over them.

He frowned as he rested his back against the rail. “Cessie, give her a little kick and she’ll go again. You won’t hurt her.” He looked back at me. “I was wondering if there was anything you shared other than the concert?”

“We shared some fries.”

Noah glared at me.

“What do you want me to say?” I shook my head, exasperated.

“What did you guys do?”

“We ate dinner, we went to the concert, and then went for a walk. He told me how weird your mom was and that she wouldn’t like me.” I pressed my fingernail into the weathered wood on the rail.

“Josh talks in his sleep.” He kicked at the dirt. “He mumbled your name more than once and kept asking you to kiss him again.”

“Oh.” I rubbed my forehead. “That’s awkward.”

“Yeah, that’s what
he
said when I asked him about it this morning.”

I squeezed my phone in aggravation. Now Josh lied to me too, throwing me under the bus.

Noah studied my face.

I controlled my expression. “Did he tell you why he was sleep-talking about me?”

“He said he was just wishing you would kiss him all night and then he dreamed about it instead.” He turned to face me. “I saw you two before the concert. He had his arm around you.”

“Oh, that. He stopped when he saw you. He wanted to pretend I was his girlfriend last night.”

Noah clenched his jaw.

“It was nothing, Noah. Just pretend. Are you jealous? Maybe it’s about time because it sounds like you always get the girl.” I looked around to see if it really was me that said all those mean words.

Noah’s eyebrows scrunched together before he turned away.

I covered my mouth in shock. Why was so much meanness  falling out of my mouth? Oh, how I wished I could take those words back. He moved away from the fence. I grabbed his shirt. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”

He turned to glare at me and his face flamed with fury. “That was uncalled for.”

“I know.” I let him go as the lump in my throat tried to strangle me.

“And you’re right. I’m jealous and I’m not use to it.” He stormed off to help Cessie with Ezra when the horse decided to stop moving all together.

I looked up at the sky. I wasn’t going to cry.

Noah casually walked back to the fence leading Ezra. He had completely composed himself. “I think that was a pretty good first ride, don’t you?”

I followed them back into the barn, as slowly as I could. I was so mortified that I managed my fear quite well when a few horses passed by. I waited outside the stall. Noah opened the door for me to enter. I shook my head. He took my hand anyway and pulled me inside. I pressed my back against the wall and slid over to the corner far away from Noah, Cessie, and Ezra. Which really wasn’t far enough away at all.

He showed Cessie how to take everything off and then handed her a bucket.

“You made her thirsty. Can you fill this up? If you only fill it halfway, I think that will be enough and you will still be able to carry it.” He opened the door and once she was gone, he cornered me.

“I didn’t mean to yell at you.” Noah tugged on my shirt. “I’m sorry.” Noah stroked my cheek lightly and then tilted my head up. He kissed me gently and his lips lingered there before he kissed me once more.

I wasn’t sure how to cope with feeling relieved and guilty all at once. I hugged him and moaned when my back ached all over. “Wow. It’s going to be a long day.”

“You sore?”

“It’s just setting in I think.”

Cessie returned struggling with the bucket of water.

Noah helped her with it.

I just wanted to leave as I slowly stepped sideways to the stall door. But I needed to make amends somehow. “Do you compete today?”

“I don’t until later. I believe Josh has two. I don’t know how many more he has after today.”

“I’m not sure I can press my luck with Mom today. I would like to come if we can though. We just don’t seem to have enough time to catch much.” I cleaned mud out from under my nails from the night before.

“I go at four. You might check with Josh.”

“All right.” I was eager for the opportunity to leave. “Come on Cessie. Let’s go say hi to Shasta and Josh.”

Cessie was reluctant to leave her new best friend, Ezra, but she followed me out the stall and over to Josh’s. Thank goodness Noah stayed behind. I could hear him raise his voice again in my mind and the guilt was too much.

“Hey.” Josh barely smiled as he brushed Shasta.

“Hi.” I couldn’t say anything I wanted to with Cessie there. Why didn’t I just leave her with Noah? Because that would look suspicious. “Cessie, why don’t you go say hello to all the horses? Just skip that one horse that belongs to the girl that wasn’t so nice to us.” She happily walked off, telling each horse good morning.

I leaned over the door and kept my voice low. “You talk in your sleep.” I glared at him.

Josh rubbed his face and leaned against the wall near me. “Of all the times. I did say it was wishful thinking.” He gave me an apologetic smirk.

“Yeah, well he saw you hanging all over me yesterday so he’s suspicious.” I looked over my shoulder just as Noah was leaving the stall. “So I’m here to find out when you compete today.” My face burned for no reason. I gripped the stall door as Noah came up behind me. His hand fell to my shoulder. I smiled uncomfortably at Josh.

Josh shifted his weight from foot to foot and struggled to look at Noah and me. “Umm. I think I go at two and two thirty.”

“I can watch today,” Noah said.

“I’ll see what I can do.” I checked my phone. “I need to go home and help my mom so she will let me go. I can’t be late going back this afternoon either. I’ve really been pushing my luck.” I needed to escape being with them both at the same time.

“Wait.” Noah didn’t let go of my shoulder.

When I tried to go anyway, I winced trying to remove his hand.

“Oh, sorry.” Noah’s tone turned serious. “I can’t help but notice everything is awkward today.”

“I think you’re reading something into this.” Josh turned his back to us and kept brushing Shasta.

“Umm … no. No, I’m not.” Noah’s hand covered mine and it didn’t exactly feel like the warm and fuzzy hand-holding.

“I have to go.” I backed up a couple of steps.

“Not yet.” He held my hand tight until I looked at him.

“Last night did not end well for me, remember?” I pressed the back of my hand against the scratches.

“I feel bad about all that. I still wish I was there sooner,” Josh said.

“I guess I’m full of apologies today. I’m so worked up, I keep forgetting.” Noah turned away.

I slowly took a few steps away. One good thing about the mess I was in, it made my horse fears subside considerably as long as there was drama with Noah and Josh.

“Cessie, we need to go home,” I yelled as I headed out of the barn.

“Awww,” Cessie whined and stomped over to me.

I started to pick up my pace and quickly regretted it. I was going to be in tremendous pain all day.

“I heard you had a run-in last night. You got three competing for you now? You must feel so special,” Kelly said from her horse’s stall.

“What’s she talking about?” Cessie asked.

“Go wait for me outside.” I pushed her to go away. When she was gone, I glared at Kelly. “There was nothing special about last night’s run-in.” I took a few steps closer to her, but not many. Kelly had access to my worst fear.

“Well, it looks like it might have caused some complications for you. Especially because, you know, you’re really doing the whole whore thing. I mean, you can’t float from boyfriend to boyfriend unless you really are a slut.”

“What do you know? By the way, you’re making a mess of your own with your meddling. Where are your friends now?” I clenched my fists and stretched taller with my growing confidence over Kelly’s loss of power.

“I have friends.”

“If you do, they aren’t the ones you started with. The boys, even if they wind up mad at me, won’t have anything to do with you once I leave. The girls have been going out of their way to make amends with me.”

“You better watch your back, Seraphoney. You’ll pay for what you’ve done.”

“I haven’t done anything. You gonna fling some more colorfully descriptive insults at me? What have I done anyway? I made some friends. I didn’t make you lose yours. You did that all on your own just by being you. I didn’t get in the way of you and Noah. You were never going to get him in the first place. You have done a great job making sure he will never like you that way. Ever. The mean girls don’t get away with much for long without it coming to bite them in the butt in the end.” I clenched my fists and leaned forward until Kelly pulled her horse’s head over the stall door.

She glared at me. “You wait. You won’t be here much longer.”

I backed away not wanting to turn my back on her. “I know I won’t. I’ll be leaving on Monday.”

“We’ll see.”

I ignored Kelly’s threats as best I could as I collected Cessie and we went home.

From what Kelly said, it sounded like she might have been behind the attack the night before. My mind spun constantly from Kelly’s threat, my problems with Josh and Noah, and with every passing hour my body hurt more and more. I kept my legs and stomach hidden from Mom and Cessie. However, as the heat of the day started to build, my sweat stung the scratches and it was hard for me to pretend they weren’t there.

When we prepped for the first show, I was out of sorts, completely uncomfortable while trying to figure out what to do with Noah and Josh. I probably made a big mistake kissing Josh. I was a terrible liar and the guilt was more than I could handle especially since Josh slipped up. Continuing with the girlfriend thing with Noah was unfair or at the very least unkind if I continued to keep the secret from him. I had to tell him and deal with consequences. What made it so much harder for me was to pull back from Josh. I had so much in common with him, it was drawing me to him like a magnet. I had to be awfully shallow preferring Noah’s attention. I could stare at him all day and kissing him was even better, made me feel special. Besides the fact Noah was hot, he was kind and very giving. His biggest issue, he had a meddling mom. And I would never have to deal with her.

I took Peppy out of his cage. He pulled on the leash and didn’t settle down very well on my shoulder, screeching sporadically. I needed to calm down. Peppy had a tendency to feed off my agitation. I took a deep breath and gave Peppy an apple slice while I waited for our introduction.

“Then Peppy arrived … ,” Mom announced.

I stepped out from behind the curtain and walked off the stage to the grass to wait for the next cue for Peppy to climb off my arm and take the little red wagon with the stand to Millie so she could climb on to be rescued.

Peppy screeched as soon as he landed on the ground and ran for the stands. He never did that. I pulled his leash as he jumped up and down while reaching for something in the grass. I couldn’t see what it was. A foot in front of Peppy kicked it just out of his reach.

Sitting in the front row was Kelly with a banana in her hand and she glared right at me as she spitefully took a bite right in the no food or drink zone. Before every show started, Mom would ask people to move if they had little children with bottles or snacks. There was Kelly intentionally stirring up trouble. Peppy got a hold of one piece of banana but he was so off task and out of control, he needed to be taken offstage.

I pulled on his leash and he threw a bigger fit. I had another apple in my pocket but he was too out upset to care. He climbed up my leg and pulled my hair, unleashing his fury on me. I ran to the stage to hide behind the curtain and struggled to protect my face, hoping he wouldn’t bite me. None of the monkeys we had trained had lost control like that before. Mom was suddenly beside me and she spoke softly to help Peppy calm down. She eased him into his pen with a bowl of berries and banana.

Even though that had never happened before, Cessie knew exactly what to do. She pulled the stage curtain closed and asked the audience to wait while we determined whether the show could go on.

“What triggered him?” Mom asked

I trembled all over. I wasn’t crying but something trickled down my face. Completely in shock, I had no idea if Peppy bit me or not. I always thought it was a waste of time to prepare for a potential monkey fit. Now I knew “There were banana pieces near the stands just out of his reach. He was intentionally taunted by someone in the audience. It didn’t help that I was agitated before I went out there. Peppy seems to feed off that.” My hands were scratched up from Peppy’s nails. Mom dabbed at my face.

“I hope all this blood is from little scratches. Honey, I have to go finish the show or at least end it. Will you be okay?” She kept examining my cheeks.

I nodded. Mom handed me a washcloth and reluctantly went back to the audience.

I sat down on the floor in the hall out of sight and pressed the cool, wet cloth against my stinging face. I kept my eyes closed because crying wasn’t going to help a thing. Salty tears would probably make the scratches hurt worse. Peppy clung to the cage and cooed soothing sounds as he reached for me.

“Well, you should have thought of that before your tantrum. You’ll be lucky if we aren’t investigated for that.” When I pulled the washcloth away, blood covered it.

I went into the puny bathroom and had to straddle the port-a-potty just to see in the mirror. A few scratches reached into my hairline. The new scratches made the few from the night before look like nothing. I rinsed the rag off in the tiny sink and sat on the port-a-potty lid. Covering my face with the cool washcloth again, I sighed. Kelly did a great job making trouble and she warned me it was coming. We might be leaving before Monday. Hopefully, we would still have Peppy when we left. A tear slipped out, stinging my cheek. If I knew having friends was going to cause that much drama, I could do without.

It didn’t take long for the fair officials to come and start investigating. Kelly filed a complaint and said that the monkey almost attacked her. When I overheard that Kelly was making it worse, I pulled out my tablet, and went to the picnic table on the far side of the field. I was sick to my stomach as I watched Mom answer all their questions, proving she had all the necessary paperwork, permits, and shots for Peppy.

The officials should realize Peppy didn’t hurt anyone but me and leave us alone. I pulled up Facebook. Posted on Kelly’s Timeline was a Vine of Peppy coming for her and then another one of Peppy attacking me. Peppy’s fit did look violent. I folded my arms on the table and hid my face in my arms. I didn’t want to see the people walking by, watching the Caravan as it swarmed with police and other important people that could ruin my mom’s dream.

“Hey,” Rachel said. I wiped my eyes as I looked up. Bree was with her. “What’s going on?”

“Bree warned me yesterday. I forgot when the show started because I was still reeling from everything that happened since last night and this morning.” I ran my fingers through my hair, pulling it forward so it helped hide my face some. Not that it helped, hair stuck to tear tracks.

“Oh what the … ” Bree said when she caught sight of my face. She sat down on the bench across from me.

“Yeah, I look awful.”

“Who did that to you?” Rachel asked.

“Peppy did it. Kelly instigated him with a banana though. Look at this. This makes everything even worse.” I handed them the tablet with the video.

As they watched it, Cessie ran across the field to me in distress, “Sera, Sera! They’re taking Peppy.” Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“I figured.” I hugged her. “I knew they would.”

“But why?” Bree asked.

“Probably to make sure his permits clear and the vet information checks out since we’re from out of state. He’s considered an exotic pet and for my mom to take him around the country, we can’t have any mistakes. This is a huge problem. Sort of a worst-case scenario that has never happened before. What’s worse is that it might ruin Peppy’s future as a helper monkey for the handicapped.”

“You’re mom never said that in the show.”

“No. She never mentions it. The monkey’s future kind of takes away from the character of Peppy. Mom says if we mention that we get a new monkey every summer that we train for Handy Helpers it would ruin the story magic she tries to create. This kind of meltdown he had today could make him ineligible. There aren’t many places he can go once he’s labeled unfit. That is if we even get him back.” I wiped my eyes and stroked Cessie’s head when she squeezed me tighter.

“I’m going to go get the boys,” Rachel said.

“Why? They aren’t going to help anything.” That was the last thing I wanted was for them to hang around to complicate everything.

“They know how to handle this stuff. At least Josh does.” Bree’s face reddened as she swung her leg over the bench on the picnic table. “We’ll be back.”

“Don’t you guys have to compete soon?”

“We have time, if we hurry.” Rachel and Bree ran off together.

I held onto Cessie as a truck from the humane society showed up.

“I want to go. Maybe I can stop them.” Cessie ran back to the Caravan.

I folded over onto the table again. I couldn’t watch.

The girls were fast in finding Josh and Noah. The four were there in no time.

Noah straddled the bench beside me and rubbed my back. Josh sat opposite and he reached for my hand.

I tucked my hands into my lap. “Guys, I like you so much. But I need friends more than I need boyfriends right now.” I wiped my eyes and couldn’t stop crying when I tried to look at them.

Noah continued to rub my back lightly. “What’s going on?”

“That is a huge crowd over there,” Josh said.

Bree took the tablet and showed Josh the video.

“What the hell! I can’t believe she would go and ruin your mom’s show like that.” Josh gripped the table edge.

“We might have to leave depending on what they determine. If Peppy is considered a risk to the public and if Kelly goes through with her complaint, we may have no choice.”

“Will they consider Peppy a risk?” Noah asked.

“They might if Kelly’s video and story stand. But Peppy didn’t touch her. He attacked me. It could have been worse. He could have bitten me. Capuchins are sweet monkeys but they’re vicious when they lose control. I’m staying over here because I don’t want them to see how bad he scratched me and of course no one would know about last night’s scratches. They might think that he attacked me before today.” I covered my face with my hands when I couldn’t hold back a sob.

Josh rubbed my arm and Noah kept rubbing my back. He rubbed it lightly but it still hurt.

“Guys, cool it with the boyfriend stuff.” I slapped the table with fury bubbling to the surface. “It just doesn’t help. I’ll be telling you goodbye tonight or tomorrow anyway.” I buried my face in my hands again. That was not how I wanted to end things. I didn’t want to say goodbye to them yet.

“Come on Noah,” Josh said angrily and he was on his feet.

I stood, reaching for Josh’s arm. “I’m so sorry, I really am. I didn’t mean to lash out.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m going to take care of Kelly.” Josh pulled Noah’s arm to make him come. “Put on your big girl panties, Noah.” They stormed off.

“You have to compete soon,” I yelled.

“I got it.” He waved at me and didn’t let go of Noah. He barely kept up behind Josh.

“He’s got it,” Rachel said, nodding.

“Yep, he’s got it.” Bree patted my arm.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head.