Leighana and John reached the ranch. Leighana looked ahead of her and saw a boy probably only two or three years older than her. He looked like he was feeding the pigs and such, until he threw a bucket at one the pigs. He aimed his pistol at the pig. Leighana then saw a post about a foot-or maybe even less- from his head. The post shook as daggers plunged into it. The boy slightly flinched and looked at the post. He looked up and saw a Mexican boy err ,man by the looks of it, walking towards him and the post with the daggers carved into it. The man was glaring at the boy. He clutched the daggers and pulled them out of the post, splinters slightly coming off of the wooden post. He walked away. 'um he seems…uh nice…' Leighana thought sarcastically. Then a lasso swung around the post, and then after that Leighana stopped paying attention. The wagon pulled closer to the ranch and she saw a clearer view of the ranch. "Regulators!" John shouted. 'um what?' she thought. The wagon got closer to the ranch. Then 5 or so men ran up to the wagon. "hey, John, who's that?" asked one of the 4 who appeared to have chewing tobacco in his mouth. 'disgusting.' Leighana said to herself. "This, is my niece Leighana." John answered with a proud look on his face. Leighana felt a pair of eyes on her. Leighana looked away from the man with tobacco in his mouth and saw the Mexican man staring at her. "quit staring at the lady, damn Mexican, it ain't polite." said the man with tobacco in his mouth. "Mexican Indian you son of a bitch." the Mexican Indian said. 'oh Mexican Indian. ' Leighana thought again. "hello, I'm doc." said the blonde one out of the bunch. "hi, I'm as you know Leighana." she said. Doc stuck his hand towards her, Leighana took his hand and shook it as he gestured. "I'm Steve, or I'm also known as 'dirty Steve'." the man with tobacco said. 'I wonder why..' Leighana thought sarcastically hoping he wouldn't make her shake his hand. "Nice to meet you." she said. "Hi I'm Charley." said another, boy do they just keep coming or what? Leighana nodded as if gesturing 'hello' or something along those lines. Then a man on a horse appeared next to the wagon. "hello, I'm Richard, or Dick." he said. In Leighana's mind she was laughing hysterically, but on the outside she was perfectly calm. "Nice to meet you." she said, smiling. She probably didn't even mean it. "Ok my turn!" said the youngest looking one. "I'm William H. Boney, or Billy." "well as I've said about probably about 3 or 4 times now, nice to meet you." Leighana said. The rest of the boys\men laughed. And then there was silence. "hey Mexican greaser! Introduce yourself to the fine miss." Steve said. The Mexican Indian glared at him. "I'm Chavez ." the Mexican Indian said. "well once again, nice to meet you." Leighana said. "Leighana, eh…?" asked a voice. Leighana turned her head and saw a boy probably about 20 or 21. He had jet black hair and he had a hat that was casting a shadow over his face making it so Leighana couldn't see his face. "hello, Leona." he said. Only one person called her that was her half brother Jacinto. Leighana's blue eyes widened. "J-Jacinto?" she asked hopefully. "who else?" the boy asked. He took of his hat revealing his face. His skin was pale as porcelain and his eyes were as blue as mine. "but apparently I'm known to someone as la estrella ." Jacinto said emphasizing the word someone, and he was giving Chavez a look, and his Mexican accent showing. Yes, Leighana and Jacinto were half brother and sister. They had the same father but different mothers. Oddly, their father Leroy had first fallen in love with a Mexican woman named Roselita. But after Jacinto was born they drifted away. It just didn't work out between them. And after that Leroy met Leighana's mother Jennifer. What was unique about her mother was that she was half Cherokee Indian and half English. But despite being half Cherokee she had pale skin and brown hair and eyes.((a/n: it's possible people XP)) and then she and Leroy had Leighana. The first and only time Leighana had seen Jacinto was just last year and they were as close as if they knew each other all of their lives. "um what does la estrella mean?" Leighana asked. "it means star in Spanish, senorita." Chavez said. "why do you call him la estrella?" Leighana asked. "because he's as pale as the stars at night.((a/n: don't make this sound like slash you damn yaoi fans xP))" Chavez answered, he seemed disgusted. "don't give me that look, chivato!" Jacinto growled at Chavez. Jacinto was half Mexican and he could indeed speak Spanish so he had the right to say chivato. Chavez and Jacinto were about to into a fight, Richard parked his horse right in between Chavez and Jacinto. "enough!" John said sternly. Leighana sighed stepped out of the wagon and began to walk into the house like John had instructed her earlier before they had arrived. "that was a marvelous first impression Chavez." John said calmly but with sarcasm noticeable in his voice. John took her bag out of the wagon and followed Leighana into the house.
Jacinto's p.o.v
After Leighana and John were in the house and out of earshot the rest of the boys went separate ways and continued with their chores and such. "Jacinto," Chavez hissed at him, his voice filled with hatred. "you better watch what you say." he finished. "me?" Jacinto asked. "I'm not the one who started it." he said. "humph, but you continued it." Chavez said. Jacinto glared at the Mexican Indian in front of him. "look just because you and your sister are both here now doesn't mean I wont pay back your father for what he did to my people." Chavez said. There was fiery anger and hatred in Chavez's eyes. "that was two years ago!" Jacinto said. "and you're going to punish me and my sister just for what our father did?" "no, just you, chivato." Chavez said. "I thought John taught you a 'better way to bury him' just like with Murphy." Jacinto said. "look. I have nothing to do with my father's actions, I didn't even know about it until six months ago." "I know," Chavez said. "then what in hell is your problem?" Jacinto demanded. "you get on my nerves." Chavez simply said. Jacinto glared at him as he took a step backwards and turned around and walked away. "what in hell's their problem?" dirty Steve asked chewing on his tobacco and spitting the juice out of his mouth. No body answered.
Leighana's p.o.v
It was dinner time, the sun was no longer lingering in the sky. The moon shined in the sky. On one side of the dinner table, was Stephen, Charley, and Chavez-whom Leighana was seated next to- and on the side was Dick, Billy ,and Doc and then on the end of the table, John sat. "So, Leighana, have you been enjoying yourself so far?" John asked his niece. "yes, it's nice here. I like it here." Leighana answered taking a bite of some of her dinner. She was sitting up straight and her elbows were off the table. In short she had good table manors. Dick asked Billy if he aver had beef before or something like that. Leighana wasn't paying attention. Then Stephen and Charley began to snicker. "What's so jolly funny, master Stephen?" John asked while he was actually scolding him for his table manors. "that's not proper table manors." he finished. "He got away with hogs." Charley snickered. Stephen and Charley began to laugh again. "congratulations, Charles, you and Stephen will be doing the dirty crockery alone this evening." John said. Leighana smirked, amused. She looked to Chavez he was smirking to. Leighana blushed slightly, but shook it away. 'what the hell's wrong with me?' she thought mentally slapping herself. "Sorry, John, it struck me funny((a/n I'm not QUITE sure if that's what he said but it's close enough, right?))." Charley said. Then John told Steve and Charley to apologize to Billy. "Apologies, Billy, we were just hackin' on ya." Charley said. "Yeah, we' just hackin' on ya." Stephen echoed. "So, rumor has it that you killed someone. You don't seem like the killing sort." Richard said. "Yeah, what'd you kill 'im for?" Stephen asked taking a bite of his dinner. Leighana was surprised that he still didn't have chewing tobacco in his mouth still, but you never know he could. "He was hackin' on me." Billy replied darkly. Leighana smirked even more, and for the second time that day she felt a pair of eyes on her. Leighana looked at Chavez and once again he was the one looking at her. Chavez quickly turned his head towards Charley and Steve, he was smirking along with Leighana. Steve gulped. "Heh." Leighana chuckled to herself. Serves the little bastard right, right?
Now it was 'reading time', which Leighana didn't have to participate in. Her father had already taught her how to read the day before her 7th birthday, and also the day before her uncle John came to see them.
"There are plenty of men...who will never se-secede–" Stephen read. That was one of Leighana's pet peeves,; when someone mispronounced a word, she really had to work on that annoyance of hers'.
"succeed." Leighana and John both corrected. Everyone looked at her, including her uncle John. "sorry, mispronunciation of words annoys me slightly." she admitted. "Um…what?" Steve asked, not knowing what she said at all. "It annoys her when people don't pronounce words right." John said, simplifying what Leighana had said. "oh" Steve mumbled to himself.
Steve began to read again. " Who will never succeed anywhere."
"got a whole room full of them right here." Richard said and John threw him a look. "well done, William?" John said. Billy looked at them, Steve was holding the paper toward him, so he could take it and begin to read. "yea, sure." Billy said smiling. He didn't take the paper.
"excuse me, Billy, very sorry to offend you. We're congregated to learn to read and write. You need more then the skill with a firearm to succeed in the new world Billy. So, take up the journal and start where the boy left off, or you can go straight back to your home on the streets." John said sternly, and he meant it.
Billy sighed and took the paper and began to read.
The reading that Billy gave amazed John. "splendid. A splendid reading, William. Thank you." John said proudly. John stood up from his seat. "good night gentlemen. And good night Leighana." John said calmly. "good night." they all said.