A/N: Hey guys, so after a crazy night riding in the rain, I wrote this. My first fan fiction, so I hope you enjoy it. Please review!
Tick, tock, tick, tock. Kate Harley swung her feet to the time of the clock's hand movements, scuffing the soles of her worn canvas sneakers on the slick linoleum. The third floor hallway of the criminal courthouse was empty and endlessly long, rows of courtroom doors stretching into oblivion. She hated this, the waiting, the endless hours of boredom. Two sheriff's deputies walked past, a skinny teenaged boy in gangster baggies being lead sullenly between them. His eyes met Kate's for a moment, then flashed away. There was a silent sort of camaraderie between the teenaged criminals here in the courthouse, all of them now under the thumb of Los Angeles County's legal system.
"Kate?"
Mandy Parkins, a slim African-American social worker, stuck her head out into the hall and beckoned for Kate to enter the judge's chambers.
"Justice Moore would like to have a few words with you now," Mandy informed her. Kate's heart took off thumping like a scared rabbit's. Her trial had come and gone, and she had been plucked out of her group home for this little powwow. Not that she minded-there were eighteen other kids in the home, and she got tired of the younger ones screaming and fighting all the time.
"Please have a seat, Katherine."
Justice Hillary Moore was in her early forties with a thin, lined face and wispy blonde hair sprayed into a gravity-defying poof, no doubt with the help of an ample supply of Aqua-Net. Her chambers were plain, the décor mostly county-issue plastic chairs and a heavy oak desk. A grimy window provided a smoggy vista of downtown Los Angeles, the skyscrapers and police headquarters centered in the foreground.
Kate took a seat gingerly on the edge of a plastic folding chair and clasped her hands before her. Usually she lounged around like she owned the place, but not in a judge's chambers. This thin, bird-like woman was the only thing standing between Kate and a six month stint in prison for shoplifting and vandalism.
"I'm sure you know why you're here," Moore began. Kate sighed. Yes, she knew. She was on probation for shoplifting, awaiting another trial for yet another shoplifting and vandalism charge.
"Yes," she replied shortly.
"I've been looking over your records and talking with your social worker, and there are really only two options left for you: juvenile hall or a boot camp."
Kate's heart sank. She had been to juvie before, and it was no picnic. Full of rough, older girls who shoved you around and gave you a black eye if you looked at them the wrong way. Boot camp, in the baking desert, she was sure would be worse.
"Yes, Ma'am."
Moore leaned forwards, removing her reading glasses.
"But the jails in this county-even the juvenile ones-are already overcrowded with kids who have committed far more violent offenses. I think that you're a good kid, Kate, and I don't want to have to send you to a place full of gang members and drug dealers. So I'm going to give you a second chance."
Kate's heart rose like a balloon that has escaped from its string. Was the stern judge really going to cut her loose?
"There's a program called HARP, run by an old acquaintance who works at the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada. The Horse and Rider Protection Program is designed to help kids like you, kids who have gotten in legal trouble, get back on their feet."
Kate stared at Moore through narrowed eyes. Never in her life had anyone afforded her a second chance at anything.
"Take it or leave it, Katherine. But I'd strongly suggest you take it."
"Take it!" Kate almost shouted, fingers gripping the edge of the chair. "And, uh, did you say horses...?"
"Yes. It's an equestrian-based therapy program," Moore answered. She looked pleased that Kate had accepted the offer. "And I hear the food's better than juvie."
A/N Okay guys, thanks for getting this far. Haha, not too long, I know. I promise to update soon, probably when I get back from the barn tomorrow night. It's supposed to rain, so I'll probably just be walking or trail riding my horse. Hope you all have a great weekend!