Chapter 26
Sam saw the young girl waiting at the bus stop. She was skinny, had long blond, almost white hair and wore glasses. Her first thought was that the girl needed to eat something. Her second thought was she wondered if Quinn and Bryan would try and add her to their harems. Sam snorted.
"Hi, I'm Jen," the blond introduced herself. "You must be Samantha."
"Sam," Sam smiled shyly at the other girl.
Sam could see the other girl checking out Sam's new cropped haircut.
"Jake said you had punkish hair," Jen murmured. "Figures he didn't know what he was talking about."
Sam bristled. Jake was her best friend.
"He hasn't seen it since I got it cut yesterday," Sam informed the other girl.
Jen saw Sam's indignation.
"You and Jake boyfriend and girlfriend?" Jen had to ask.
"No!" Sam yelped. "He's my friend. Just my friend."
"Hmm," Jen murmured.
They heard the bus coming and prepared to climb aboard.
"Of course, I don't see why anyone would want Jake Ely as a boyfriend," Jen said.
"Oh?" Sam bristled again. "Why is that?"
"He's just so…," Jen searched her mind for the right word. "Stuck up, cocky, insufferable."
"Jake?" Sam tilted her head at Jen. "He can think he's right most of the time, but I don't know about stuck up."
"All the same," Jen said as the bus stopped and they got on.
Sam thought about that. Well Jake was the best person with horses that she had ever known. He was also the best tracker in the county if not the state, so maybe he had a right to be a bit stuck up about that stuff.
Sam's biggest complaint about Jake was that he thought he knew more than she did, just because he was two years older. It had always been that way since they had met. Sam enjoyed it when she could prove him wrong or beat him at something.
"That's a cool sweater," Sam said to Jen.
Jen looked down at the bright lime sweater she wore over her blue jeans.
"Thanks," Jen smiled. "I like to shop at second hand shops. They have some of the coolest clothes."
Sam wasn't sure what those were, but she wasn't going to ask and appear stupid.
Jen must have seen it on her face.
"They're places where you can go in and buy clean, used clothing at a real bargain," Jen explained.
"Oh," Sam murmured, embarrassed. "I uh, had a, uh, head, uh…"
"Everyone knows about your accident," Jen said matter-of-factly. "Don't worry about it."
"Okay," Sam was still embarrassed.
"Did you ever find your horse?" Jen asked.
Sam couldn't help but look at her suspiciously. Jen lived on the ranch owned by Linc Slocum who was doing his best to capture the Phantom.
Sam shook her head.
"Too bad you can't get Jake to track him for you," Jen said.
"You know about Jake's tracking?" Sam was surprised.
"Everyone knows about his tracking," Jen laughed. "My daddy says that boy can track a bumblebee in a snowstorm."
Sam laughed. Jake was so good, he probably could. She nodded.
"What classes are you taking?" Jen asked.
The two settled in and talked about school. Sam found out that Jen was sort of a math genius.
"Math is my worst subject," Sam told her. "I'm taking Algebra since I have to, but it's like Greek to me."
"Well aren't you lucky that Algebra is like a second language to me," Jen smiled.
Sam smiled back at her, glad to have met Jen. She vowed to thank Jake later.