Chapter 1

The sun was setting over the mountains but the heat of summer still lingered at River Bend Ranch. Samantha Forster leaned against the fence watching the horses graze and trot enjoying the last of the summer sun. Sam loved looking at horses, especially mustangs, wild mustangs. Her favorite of course was the one she couldn't really see long enough to enjoy. The Phantom was always in constant danger of being captured by not so nice people who wanted to make money off of him.

Sam shuddered at the thought. Then she brushed all those nasty thoughts aside and continued watching the horses. Ever since she got back from San Francisco, five years ago, she couldn't get enough of horses, hell the first year and a half she was back she got in so much trouble because of how many horses where in her life.

Sam couldn't help chuckling at the memories.

"What you laughing at?" a familiar voice came from behind her. Cody, Sam's three year old little brother. He had gone from saying his first word which was cute, to asking a billion questions which was not so cute.

"The horses" Sam answered while turning to face him.

"They funny looking huh!" Cody said looking at the horses.

"Not as funny looking as you" Sam said with a smile in her voice. As soon as the words left her mouth she began tickling her little brother. Cody started giggling and so was Sam.

"Let your brother breathe" their dad said. Sam stopped tickling Cody and both turned to see their dad, but they were still giggling. Wyatt Forster was a cowboy thru and thru. He was tall, strong, and looked like someone who had only known hard work. Hard work creased itself permanently on his face. However, smiling like he was now he looked ten years younger.

"Having fun!" Cody told his dad.

"Well go have fun inside, dinner time is almost here." He answered his toddler.

Sam took Cody's hand and started walking towards the ranch house. She heard the phone ring twice and stop. Someone must have answered it. She thought to herself.

"Samantha, phone for you." her Gram's voice carried from the kitchen door. They walked inside the warm kitchen and Sam let go of Cody's hand to grab the phone.

"Hello" she said as a nervous question.

"Sam, its Jen" Jennifer Kenworthy, her sarcastic best friend in blonde braids was calling her.

"Hey Jen, What's up?" Sam asked clearly more relaxed.

"The roof. Anyways guess what my mom just told me." Jen told Sam with a very gossiping tone.

"You're adopted" Sam answered back with fake surprise, earning a reproachful look from her Gram.

"I wish," Jen laughed, "Jk. Anyways no, not that, guess again." She finished.

"You eloped" Sam answered again with fake surprise, earning another reproachful look from her Gram.

"I doubly wish, but no, third time the charm?" Jen told her.

"You joined the circus" Sam answered exactly like the last two times. Instead of giving Sam another look, her Gram turned towards Sam.

"Jennifer please tell your friend here the '411' as you say before she turns you into a double oh seven spy out to save London from aliens." Gram said loud enough for Jen to hear through the phone. Then turned around and continued making dinner.

At that Sam and Jen laughed hard.

"Well double-oh-seven I agree with Gram please tell me because my next guesses are leading me up that road." Sam told her best friend.

"Fine, but you ain't gonna like it." Jen said. And though you could hear the laughter lingering in her voice there was an underlying tone that made Sam nervous.

"Tell me." Sam spoke again all laughter erased from her voice; she got a bad feeling in her stomach. Like when a student gets called into the principals office and has no idea what they could have done wrong and everyone is looking at them because they know that they had to have done something, ANYTHING, wrong.

"Well" she lingered. "My mom ran into Mrs. Ely at the mall today" she paused waiting for Sam to say something. Mrs. Ely! Ely! Sam's insides started trembling but she stayed quiet. There had to be more.

Jen took Sam's silence as a "Continue please" and did.

"They got to talking because Mrs. Ely seemed all happy and bouncy, or so my mom says." She stopped again. There where many things that could make Mrs. Ely happy. Like all her students did their homework perfectly. Right…

Wrong!

Still Sam stayed quiet, though now her hands were perilously close to shaking. She even felt her skin lighten two shades.

"And well" Jen lingered again, "uhm, Jkaescbakhmoe" she said the last part so fast it sounded like gibberish, gibberish that for some reason sounded crystal clear in Sam's mind because she was expecting this announcment since Jen first mentioned Mrs. Ely.

"What?" Sam asked in a confused tone; though she was far from confused she still hoped that maybe she was just imagining.

"Ugh!" Jen said frustrated, "JAKES. BACK. HOME." she spoke each word as a sentence.

Sam blinked. Swallowed. And before she gave herself time to fully process the words, and their meaning, she spoke.

"Oh, well that's nice. Gotta go. Dinner's ready. Talk to you later. Bye" she said rapidly and hung up the phone drowning her best friends protest's that were coming out of the phone with that action.

Still not giving herself time to process, she went upstairs to wash up for dinner. Thankfully, as soon as she was done her Gram's voice traveled upstairs announcing dinner was ready.

Sam had a nice family dinner full of conversation and laughing and joking and eating. Though at first she was somewhat frozen she soon thawed and managed to put the conversation she had had with Jen in a small little drawer in the back of her mind that she had kept master locked and crazy glued since a certain someone had left for college.

And that's how it's going to stay. Sam thought