A/N: This story features special guest star Violet Markham from BrillantDarkness' "Shadow in the Woods." It is also the third story in the series of The Misadventures of Cricket Jones. For more about Cricket, please read "Breathless" and "A Mine is a Terrible Thing to Waste"

It was a lazy sunny day and Cricket sat outside during the noon recess at school. She was practicing writing Cricket Cross on her tablet in her best cursive handwriting. Each time she wrote the name the letters became more confident and embellished. She added curls and curves to the letters that already bore a romantic slant. She even drew a small heart to dot the "I" in Cricket. She gazed over at the object of her affection.

Buck Cross was loading sacks of grain into a wagon at the feed store. Cricket watched as he picked up a sack and threw it over his shoulder. She imagined the muscles in his legs and back rippling as they lifted the heavy bags of grain. She thought of the muscles in his arms and how lean and strong they were. She remembered well being carried in those arms. They were protective and comforting. She remembered feeling his heart beat as she laid her head against him. He was her hero. Buck was wearing an effortless smile today. He seemed to laugh at some joke or comment Kid had made. The breeze was gently blowing his hair back from his face and she caught the light sheen of sweat on his face and neck. Cricket at once felt the butterflies in her stomach. He was the most handsome boy she had ever laid eyes on. His hands that had once held hers as they danced by the fishing hole were encased in buttery yellow leather work gloves today. She sighed as she remembered how he had taken her hand in the mine and led her out of danger. His grip was strong and sure. It made her feel safe. She looked back at his sweet smile. She squealed softly as she remembered how he kissed her in the mine shaft. It was entirely too short but at the same time it lasted an eternity and would continue to do so in her memory.

She was about to write her (future) name on her tablet again, when it was rudely pulled from her.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Cricket yelled and smiled thinking it was Jesse. Her smile faded and she suddenly became angry.

"Cricket Cross?" Maryellen Webster asked and looked around at her junta of Audrey Peel, Melanie Hallowell and Hattie Kimble. She started to pass the tablet around as the girls read it and started to laugh.

"Give that back," Cricket yelled. She looked around for Jesse and he was nowhere to be seen. She couldn't even find Rachel. She was alone and she knew Maryellen had bided her time and waited for this moment. A moment when she wouldn't be seen harassing her. Rachel had Cricket pegged and intercepted every note she passed now, but she remained blind to the secret messages of Maryellen and her club of irritating girls.

"Why would a white girl want to be with a dirty Indian?" Maryellen mocked. "He's not even a proper Indian either. He's a filthy half-breed at that."

"He's not a dirty Indian," Cricket said defending her friend. "Stop calling him names."

"Yes he is and it isn't proper for nice white girls to think otherwise," Hattie said agreeing with Maryellen.

Cricket lunged at her tablet once Maryellen was holding it again.

"Give it back, I said," Cricket shouted.

"I don't think so," Maryellen said as she and her three friends started to toss Cricket's tablet to each other in a game of keep away.

"You need to be taught a lesson," Audrey taunted. "You shouldn't be paying any attention to that heathen."

"She's almost as much of a heathen," scoffed Melanie, "She doesn't even go to church."

"You should dress as a proper young lady," Hattie argued, "And stop hanging around with those Pony Express riders. It's disgraceful."

"It's no use, ladies," Maryellen said snidely. "Cricket wants to be that Indian rider's whore. I guess we'll have to let her."

Cricket scowled. She didn't think the day could get any worse until all the girls started singing.

"Cricket and Buck, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage."

The girls all started to laugh and hurled more taunts at Cricket as they circled around her. She couldn't tell who was saying what anymore she just heard the words.

"You're a whore!"

"That Indian has already ruined you."

"You're dirty!"

That was all Cricket could take and she snapped. She launched herself at Maryellen and began to swing wildly. Melanie tried to pull Cricket off of Maryellen, but Cricket managed to throw her to the ground as well. She grabbed Audrey's ankle and dragged the girl down to the dirt. She kicked out her leg and tripped Hattie as the girl turned to run for help. A dust cloud started to develop around the girls and the other kids in the school yard began to circle around the combatants. There was much screaming as hair was pulled and skin was scratched.

Rachel heard a commotion coming from outside. She could hear the telltale noises of a playground fight and ran outside to check it out. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and put her hand on her heart in shock. Rachel grabbed a handful of skirt and ran over to the commotion. She could see that it involved more than two people and looked around to see if she knew anyone around that could help her. She tried to yell at the children to get them to stop, but none of her students would listen. Just then she saw Buck and Kid come out of the feed store.

"Kid! Buck!" Rachel hollered. "Can you help me out here?"

Rachel pulled Hattie from the pile and was able to tell which other children were involved. She was disappointed to see Cricket at the center of the fight."

Kid and Buck rushed over and started pulling girls away until only Cricket and Maryellen were left. Kid grabbed a hold of Maryellen while Buck grabbed Cricket.

Cricket and Maryellen reached for each other as they were being separated.

"Both of you settle down," Rachel demanded.

"Let me go!" Cricket cried and struggled even harder against Buck's hold.

"Buck, would you take Cricket over to the station please?" Rachel asked in frustration.

Buck pulled Cricket away and she kept struggling.

"This isn't over!" Cricket yelled. "When I'm done with you, there won't be enough left of you to snore! I'm going to rip your lungs out through your bellybutton!"

Cricket tried to break Buck's hold with more vigor when she saw Maryellen stick her tongue out at her.

"I'm going to make you so ugly you'll have to sneak up on the dipper to get a drink of water!" Cricket yelled as Buck dragged her toward the Pony Express station.

"Cricket you need to calm down," Buck said trying his best to hold onto the struggling girl.

Buck had to stop to get a better grip on Cricket and tried to calm her down and soon Kid was by his side trying to help. Rachel had started to escort the other four girls into the schoolhouse

"And so ugly…and so ugly…you could bluff a buzzard off a meat wagon!" Cricket yelled after the girls and struggled more against Buck. "Let me go! Let. Me. Go!"

Kid grabbed Crickets legs as she struggled against Buck, but all he got for his trouble was a swift kick that toppled him to the ground and left him gasping for air. Buck winced as he saw Cricket's foot connect with Kid's groin.

After about a minute more of frustration, Buck picked Cricket up and carried her the rest of the way to the station. She struggled the whole way and Buck had had enough. He dropped her unceremoniously into the horse trough. Cricket emerged from the water sputtering and cussing. Buck sat on the edge and waited for her stop. Cricket took a deep breath after realizing her predicament and drew her knees up to her chest. She covered her face with her hands and started to sob. Buck looked around awkwardly and waited for her to stop crying.

"Cricket, are you alright?" Buck asked cautiously.

Cricket stopped sobbing and took in an unsteady breath. She wiped her eyes on her already wet sleeves and looked over to Buck. Buck handed her his handkerchief.

"I'm sorry if there's dirt on it," he said. "It's been in my pocket a couple of days."

"Thank you," she said quietly taking the fabric square from him and wiping her face with it. She handed it back to him when she was finished.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to lose control like that."

"Do you mind if I ask, what happened?" Buck asked with concern.

"I don't really want to talk about it," Cricket answered and looked down at the water. She thought about what she knew about Buck and he wouldn't want her fighting because of him. She also knew he wouldn't want to damage her reputation and this day had been bad enough without losing Buck as a friend. He would say it was for her own good, but Cricket couldn't agree with that assessment. There were so few people in this town that she genuinely liked and almost all of them resided at the Pony Express station.

"Alright," Buck sighed. "You should come on in the bunkhouse and get dry. I think Lou might have some clothes that would fit you."

Cricket was still sitting in the horse trough when she and Buck saw Lou helping an obviously in pain Kid to the station. Buck quickly jogged over to them and Cricket saw Lou look over at her and nod. Lou took a slow moving Kid up to Rachel's house and then jogged back to the bunkhouse for a few minutes. She handed off a blanket to Buck and went back into the house. Buck walked back to the horse trough where Cricket was now shivering.

"Come on," he said. "I'll make sure no one walks in on you. Lou said he left some clothes for you on his bunk."

Cricket quickly changed out of her wet clothes and into the dry ones Lou had left out for her. The trousers were a little long, but she rolled them up.

When next Buck came through the door he brought an irate Rachel with him.

"Cricket Jones, what's the matter with you!" Rachel yelled upon seeing Cricket sitting at the table. Buck draped a blanket over her shoulders, grabbed Crickets wet clothing and beat a hasty retreat from the bunkhouse.

Cricket braced for impact.

"What in God's name were you thinking, getting into a fight with those girls?" Rachel scolded.

"I…" Cricket said starting to defend herself.

"Don't you talk," Rachel admonished, "Just listen."

Cricket frowned and then slumped her shoulders forward. She put one elbow up on the table and rested her head against her hand. She waited for the lecture to be over with. Rachel wasn't going to listen to her side of the story. Maybe she could just ignore her and think about Buck. She could see his elbow through the window and knew he was standing outside. He must be back from the clothes line having hung her clothes to dry. He was probably listening, because well Rachel was yelling. Cricket was pretty sure most of the town could hear it. Hopefully his face was full of sympathy for her plight. Perhaps he would rush in after Rachel was done and sit next to her and tell her everything was not so bad.

Rachel hit most of the major points of Cricket's behavior in school. She yelled about her skipping days, shooting spit balls, sleeping in class, and some minor practical jokes involving thumbtacks. Cricket thought she said something about being a bad influence on Jesse and the other kids in school. Cricket's head snapped up at the comment about Jesse and she felt so hurt. She was not a bad influence. Rachel started yelling at her about how she treated her parents and having no concern for their feelings with sneaking out of the house and acting like a hooligan.

Cricket's thoughts drifted back to Buck. Those were much more pleasant anyway. She saw his face turn a couple of times as if reacting to what Rachel was saying. He looked concerned. That made her feel better. Rachel's face was flushed and the vein in her forehead was popping out and Cricket had to fight feeling amused. This was serious after all.

"Now you're gonna sit here until your mother comes to pick you up," Rachel said finishing her tirade. She turned, walked through the bunkhouse door, and slammed it on her way out.

Cricket waited and heard Buck ask Rachel, "You were a little hard on her weren't you?"

"If anything I was too easy," Rachel answered. "If you'd have seen the state of those other girls, you'd understand. I think Hattie's nose is broken and Maryellen has a black eye. The other two's dresses are torn beyond repair. The parents of those girls are going to have a fit."

Cricket watched as Rachel walked back toward the school. She didn't feel bad about those girls, but she did feel bad that her parents would probably have to pay for the damage she caused. Her parents didn't really know what to do with her when she got into trouble although the last time they started to nail shut her bedroom windows so she couldn't sneak out at night anymore. She sat looking depressed at the table when she heard the bunkhouse door open.

She looked up to see Buck walk in and sit down in front of her.

"Are you going to yell at me now?" Cricket asked looking like she about to cry.

"No," Buck said. "I'm here to be your friend."

"Thanks," she said and wiped her nose on the sleeve of Lou's shirt. "I'm not sorry…about those girls. They deserved it."

Buck smiled wearily. "I can tell by the look in your eye that this isn't over for you," Buck guessed.

"No, obviously they blamed the fight on me and Rachel believed them," Cricket responded. "They started it."

"Tell me what happened," Buck asked gently.

"I can't," Cricket said and started to cry. "If I do, you won't want to be my friend anymore."

Cricket pulled the sleeves of Lou's shirt over her hands and cried into them.

Buck was confused why Cricket would think he wouldn't want to be her friend anymore but didn't get the chance to ask.

There was a soft knock on the bunkhouse door and Buck got up to answer it. Cricket heard the voice of a girl she recognized from school. She thought her name was Violet. Yes, Violet Markham was her name. Violet was mostly quiet and kept to herself. Jesse had told her that Violet had been hurt by a very bad man and that Jimmy had saved her. He also told her that Violet wasn't always shy, but what that man did to her changed her. Cricket felt bad about that and hoped that maybe Violet would come out of her shell, but she didn't want to scare her either. Violet had an aversion to going into wooded areas and Cricket was always going through them and that wouldn't be a good way to begin a friendship. Cricket wondered what Violet was doing here.

"Hello, Buck," Violet said with a smile. "Is Cricket here? I thought I heard Mrs. Dunne tell you to bring her here."

"She's here, but I'm not sure she's in the mood for company though," Buck answered.

"That's alright, I can't stay," Violet said quickly. "I just wanted to make sure she got her tablet back. Those girls at school took it and wouldn't give it back to her."

Violet handed the tablet off to Buck, who couldn't help noticing the handwriting all over the back. He blushed lightly and then he understood what Cricket had meant. He didn't like that those girls had teased her about him and Cricket was right. His first inclination would be to distance himself from her so she wouldn't get hurt anymore.

"Thanks," Buck said. "I'll make sure she gets this back."

"Tell Jimmy I said, hello," Violet said before turning to go.

"I will," Buck said and smiled realizing how much of a crush Violet still had on Jimmy.

Buck closed the door and sat back down at the table. Buck slid the tablet across the table. He could see all the doodles she had done. There was the occasional 'Cricket Loves Buck' and the increasingly ornamented 'Cricket Cross' signature that she had been practicing all over the place. It was almost sweet.

"They were teasing you about me, weren't they?" Buck asked frowning.

"Among other things, but yes, mostly about you," Cricket admitted.

Cricket could tell that news made Buck sad. She didn't think she could completely lie about what happened especially now that he had seen the back of her tablet.

"Please don't stop being my friend," Cricket begged, "It would make this day ten times worse if you did and besides I don't want them to win."

"I'm still your friend," he said forcing his smile a little. "It would take more than that pack of spoiled brats for me not to be your friend."

Buck didn't really know how to deal with Cricket. She still had a pretty large crush on him. He was never sure he was saying the right thing. Sure she was his friend but she was harder for him to read because she wasn't his age. She had different issues to face than he did. He didn't even know what his role was supposed to be. He wasn't an authority figure and he wasn't really a peer. He didn't understand the way young ladies fought. He didn't even know if Lou knew. Mostly his problem with the situation was that he didn't really see Cricket as a woman, but she wasn't really a girl anymore either. The subjects she was dealing with were a little out of his depth. He was still a pretty young himself and he was at a loss for advice. It wasn't long ago that Jimmy, Cody, and Lou got into a fight at Tompkins' store defending him. Emma was angry as a wet hornet about that. Maybe he could give Cricket some good tried and true Emma Shannon advice.

"Emma, who used to take care of us before Rachel, always encouraged us to find ways around fighting," Buck advised.

"I did at first," Cricket said. "I was doing pretty well at not pounding them into the dirt sooner."

"What was it that finally set you off?" Buck asked curiously and trying not to smile.

Cricket bit her lip and thought a minute about how she wanted to phrase it.

"They said I wasn't a proper lady and I was going to end up being a whore," Cricket answered softly.

"Oh," Buck said. He looked around the room and didn't think he knew how to respond to that.

The door to the bunkhouse opened and Rachel reappeared with Mrs. Jones. Cricket swallowed hard as Mrs. Jones pursed her lips. She pointed her finger out the door and Cricket stood up and walked out with her head bowed. She had never seen her mother so angry. This was not going to be a fun ride home. She decided she would ignore whatever her mother was about to drone on about and think of Buck and the kind way he looked at her today and think of the way he started to defend her to Rachel. Or maybe she would think of the way the wind blew his hair from his face and the sweat glistened on his skin. Cricket bit her lip to keep from smiling. She found that smiling while her mother was yelling usually made her mother even more upset.

Cricket and her mother finally reached home. Cricket was sure her mother would send her to her room to think about what she'd done. Her head snapped and she looked at her mother in horror when she told her she couldn't go back to school next week. Rachel had decided it would be her punishment. She was suspended from school and it was only by the grace of Rachel that she wasn't expelled. Cricket had no idea what she was going to do with her spare time. Especially since her mother said she wasn't going to be home to watch her as she was getting together with the ladies from church and quilting next week.

She couldn't sneak out and go to town…her mother would certainly catch her and if she didn't someone else would. Cricket wandered into the house and went straight to her room. She changed out of Lou's clothes and folded them neatly. Her mother could take them back when she went quilting. She laid on her bed and stared at the ceiling just wishing today had never happened.

This story was suppose to be short, but then it up and broke for the barn. I'm posting it in chapters because it is just easier that way.