Authoress Note: Thank you to those who reviewed! Here are a few shout outs:

SallyAndQuinn: Lol. Thank you. Sure I could probably add a little more teasing between Jake and Sam but I will probably end up putting them together by the end of the FanFic. XD A girl can only take so much teasing (and we all know Sam can't take a whole lot.)

Tali (): I will keep updating and try staying on top of things.

(Sam's POV)

Jen and I were still jumping up and down by winning third place, when Sheriff Ballard came by. "Her horse reminds me a little bit of Jinx," he stated with a smile. Jinx was the horse that 'brought bad luck' when honestly someone just wanted to blame the horse. He was a speedy grulla that the sheriff had won in a claiming race and now he was being used as a Search and Rescue horse.

"You're right but there are still a few differences," Jen said with a grin. She had just recently seen Jinx in action when a rider had gotten stuck in Killer Cow Caldera. "For one Guardian is a mare and she has a long mane instead of a roached one. She also has a white blaze whereas Jinx has no markings. Plus Jinx is more towards the brownish grulla and Guardian is more of a gray grulla," Jen said as she looked at the mare from a distance.

The sheriff rolled his eyes. "I just meant by the fact that they're both fast grullas," he stated with a grin.

Jen smiled apologetically. Sometimes Jen tried to keep her knowledge on the down-low but it was apparently too hard to do. "Don't worry Jen. At least now we know if they're ever in the same pasture who is who," I said with a laugh as I patted her shoulder.

When Trudy let go of her granddaughter I actually lost a little breath. Gram had shown me a picture from about five years ago and Hope looked more like a boy. But the girl Trudy was holding onto had long, straight black hair that was covered by a black Stretson and she had sharp but yet soft facial features (Honestly I found a picture that fits what I want her to look like. If any of you guys watch "Degrassi" and know who Starlyn is then you're good. At least I think that's who she is. If you go to Google Images and type in: teenage girl with black hair. She's on the first page at the bottom and in the picture she has blonde hair on top of the black but I really don't want Hope having hair with two colors. XD) Her skin was tan and her smile was a very white smile.

I heard Quinn gulp. "I have to show her how Nevada cowboys are?" he asked.

Jen grinned. "Yes you do. Good luck cowboy."

"Maybe you shouldn't go right now. Wait until she gets settled in," I suggested and Quinn nodded quickly in agreement.

"So Sam. About earlier," I heard Jake say softly.

I blinked back my surprise; he rarely called me Sam. "What about it?"

He was quiet again and just shook his head. I guess he rather talk about it in private. "Sam! Jen! Jake! Quinn!" my Gram shouted as she waved us over. We put up our horses and jogged to where she was.

"Yeah Gram?" I asked as Trudy's granddaughter scratched her horse under the mane.

"I'd like you to meet Trudy's granddaughter, Hope. Hope, this is my granddaughter Samantha and her best friends Jake Ely and Jenifer Kenworthy. That's Quinn Ely, Jake's older brother," Gram made the introductions and everyone smiled at one another.

"It's nice to meet you. This is my horse, Guardian Angel, and my Husky, Rusky," she introduced her animals. Guardian snorted a greeting and Rusky started chasing her tail.

I got down on my knees and her dog jumped on me. I laughed as her horse smelled my knees and her dog smelled my neck.

"Rusky get off of her. Don't be rude," Hope scolded with a smile. Rusky got off and sat next to her master and looked up at her.

"We're going to start eating soon," Trudy announced. "Will you tell them your story at the campfire tonight?" she asked her granddaughter.

"Only if everyone wants to hear it," Hope stated with a shrug. "I should probably take off Guardian's tack. Should I put her with your mustangs?" she asked with a smile.

Trudy thought for a moment. "You should probably put her in the round pin that's connected to a stall." Hope nodded and walked away with her animals right behind her.

"My son told me that neither one of those animals will leave Hope alone. Guardian watches her every time she's outside and if she can look through a window and see. Then Rusky sleeps with her. He gets annoyed with it but I think it's the cutest thing ever," Trudy babbled as she watched after her granddaughter. "I'm hoping she'll decide to live here," Trudy stated with hope tingling in her voice. "She'd fit in here," she added, then walked away to tend to the food.

"Isn't Hope beautiful?" I heard someone whisper loudly in my ear. Brynna. I smiled and nodded.

"That horse certainly has some legs," a smooth British voice stated. We turned around and saw Ryan Slocum standing there.

"I know. She just flew past us!" Quinn exclaimed.

"How come you didn't get third, Ryan? You were in front of us," Jen stated with a smile. She still had her crush on Ryan. I didn't know why considering that Ryan still seemed like a liar to me but oh well.

Ryan closed his eyes and then opened them. "I was so busy trying to catch up with them that I hadn't realized that there was a vet station."

Jake and Quinn looked down, having their Stretsons shade their faces. I knew that they had to be grinning. Trudy had told us about the vet station before the race plus there was a big sign pointing to it. "Well that sucks. There's always next year," I stated while looking at Jen who was trying to keep a straight face.

"Yes I suppose there is. Do you think she'd ever sell that mare?" he asked with a smile.

"No. I wouldn't. Not even for my life," Hope stated from standing behind Ryan. Rusky barked, seeing that her master was somewhat angry. "That mare is named Guardian Angel and I wouldn't sell her ever. I'm sure you have a horse just like that."

He did have a horse that he wouldn't sell and that was Apache Hotspot and Shy Boots. They were his two Appaloosas that his dad had tried to get rid of before. He nodded in understanding. "I was just curious because she could be a great brood mare." The look on his face showed that if he could, he'd swallow those words back up.

She forced a smile. "Guardian will pick who she wants to breed with. I may be her owner but I do believe she has to make some choices."

I almost started jumping up and down. I wasn't the only one who gave characteristics to horses. She did the same thing with her horse. "Food is ready!" My Gram, Trudy, and Helen Coley all announced at the same time then started laughing like teenage girls.

"They're always like this at these horse gatherings," I said to Hope seeing her eyebrows scrunch together under her hat. She smiled at me.

Then the three of us walked towards the food with three boys following.

(Hope's POV)

The lunch/dinner had been great. I knew my Grams didn't cook it: 1.) she can't really cook and 2.) she told me it was all Grace and Helen. 3.) she only made the fruit salad and drinks. It was delicious. Now we, being about 30 people, were all sitting very content by a bonfire.

My Grams nudged me, her eyes were saying how I should tell the story of my ultimate change. I nodded. "So you all have asked me to tell you more about my granddaughter, Hope, but I figured she could tell you herself. If it's okay with everyone," she added with a smile. She was so happy that I was here and I could tell she obviously didn't know much to tell everyone. Everyone nodded or said yeah or smiled.

"Well," I began. "I'm Hope Allen and I'm obviously Trudy Preston's granddaughter. I'm the only granddaughter on both sides of my family and the boys always excluded me. So I became a very anti-social, hostile girl, at least that's what my parents told everyone. I didn't make many friends because they thought that I was a jerk. I had gone out to the park one night and missed my so-called curfew. When I got home, my dad punished me by taking me to his work for a month.

"The worked at a horse track in Lexington and all I did was sit in an office all day. There was a bunch of chaos one day and I went to where everyone was running," I paused and started petting Rusky. "One of the top Thoroughbred mares, Tiger Lily, had somehow gotten out of the stable and was running towards a forest that was close by. It was rumored that there were wild horses living in this forest because the racing stable my dad worked at was far out into the country.

"We waited a few days for her after trying to find her in there. One day Tiger Lily and this mysterious stallion were walking towards the stables. When he saw all the humans, he ran away. He was a black stallion and she was a bay mare. Everyone figured she was in foal but they didn't want the foal since it wouldn't be a pure Thoroughbred. I started bonding with the mare and my dad suggested to the owner that I'd keep the foal.

"When the foal was born, I was there to make sure everything went smoothly. The owner decided that since the foal wasn't pure, he wouldn't pay a vet to be there so I stayed there. The foal was born and I thought she was one of the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I let her and her mom bond, then I bonded with her," I stated as I heard horse hooves behind me. I looked at Guardian with narrowed eyes. I never understood how she got out of corrals; everyone smiled when they saw her lay down and drape her head across my lap.

"I had practically moved into the stable after she was born. I was always there. When she was just a day old, there had been this top stallion that really didn't like me. I'm not sure why he didn't but he always flattened his ears and bared his teeth when he saw me. So I was resting in her stall when the stallion was being lead by and he started doing what he always did. Well my little filly didn't like that. She stood over me and let out a high pitched squeal, that had the stallion back away from the stall. Tiger Lily also snapped her teeth at him because either she was watching over me to or she just wanted her foal to be quiet," I paused to laugh.

"So from that day on, her name was Guardian Angel. Then Rusky here had just wandered into the stable and my filly and my soon to be puppy became best buds," I ended with a smile.

"That's really awesome," Jen stated with a smile.

Guardian neighed as if she agreed with Jen. "That is a true bond," Helen Coley awed.

After my story, people started leaving. It was getting pretty late and all the horses were starting to doze off.

My Grams wrapped her arm around me as we put Guardian back into the stall and walked to my summer home.