Chapter 9.
Ashleigh barely got the chance to say good morning before Joanna blurted her news.
"Missy had her foal!"
The girls started talking a million miles an hour, Ashleigh was listening to everything Joanna was saying but she also interrupted with her own questions, however, the other girl was unfazed and answered them.
"So he's all yours?" Ashleigh asked.
"Yeah! Dad says him, grandfather and the older boys will oversee Hercs' care and training but I decide what happens." Joanna animatedly replied as the two walked to their homerooms.
"That's so cool. Please let me be a part of this, I've always wanted to train a foal but the grown ups never let me." Ashleigh pouted, causing Joanna to laugh.
"I'll try to include you as much as possible but we can talk more in Algebra and lunch." Joanna promised when they got to her classroom.
"Done deal my friend." Ashleigh smiled as she dashed through the halls to her homeroom.
Jake went to sit in usual seat, Joanna confidently sitting next to him, humming as she looked lost in her own little world
"Is she okay?" Darrell whispered to Jake, looking at Joanna like she had lost her mind.
"Ask her yourself." Jake said with a shrug.
Keeping an eye on Miss Jacobson at the front, he tried to get Joanna's attention.
"Psst, Jo? Jojo? Joanna?" He raised his voice slightly higher, eventually getting her attention.
"Hmm?" She turned in her desk. "What?"
"What's with the extra dose of crazy?" He asked and didn't feel any better when she gave him the biggest grin.
"Missy had her foal last night. My foal. He's a chestnut Quarter x Morgan and he's called Hercules and it's up to me to train him!" She spoke very quickly and seemed very excited about the whole thing.
"A horse? You're this excited over a horse?" He deadpanned, his brow scrunching slightly.
"Isn't it great? I can't stop thinking about him, I hope he's okay…" She trailed off and Darrell looked at his friend for reassurance but Jake nodded his head, smiling.
"Why did I even ask?" He asked himself as he realised that Joanna wasn't just another girl that liked horses, she was completely horse crazy.
"Just leave us alone!" Ashleigh shouted at a group of girls consisting of Daisy and her friends.
Joanna and Ashleigh had just finished eating and were going to play with a soccer ball when Daisy tripped up Joanna, trying to cause a fight.
"Or what? You're going to cry to your mommy?" Daisy mocked, crossing her arms. "I know Ashleigh has a mom she lives with on that run down place called a ranch but you, your parents are dead so who are you going to run to? Your aunt and uncle? They already have seven sons so they definitely don't have time for you." She gave Joanna a shove, wearing a nasty smile on her face.
"Just cut it out!" Ashleigh said, trying to get her off Joanna.
"No. Unless your wimpy friend objects, I'm going to keep calling her out. Cause she thinks she's so cool when she's nothing but a sad lonely wimp." Daisy kept going and Joanna found herself feeling at a bigger loss for words the more the other girl spoke.
Darrell had been laughing at what one of his friends had said until someone grabbed his attention.
"Dude, isn't that Jo?" Trevor said.
"Does Daisy not know how to mind her own business." Darrell angrily muttered as he walked over.
Girls were so catty.
"Daisy, leave them alone." Darrell said.
Daisy turned to glare at Darrell, her friends following suit.
"I didn't ask for you." She said coldly.
"I know you didn't but I'm asking you to leave these girls alone."
"Or what? It's not like you to want to hang out with losers." She scoffed with a look of disgust.
"It doesn't matter because you need to stop or I'll make you stop." He said seriously.
Despite Darrell already having a reputation of being flirty around girls, he had morals and one of them was to never hit a girl.
"You would never hit a girl." Daisy smartly said, as if reading his mind.
"No, but I can think of other ways to make you stop." He threatened, squaring up as Daisy took to the challenge.
"Are you threatening me?"
"If it means you start minding your own business then yes." Darrell said, crossing his arms, fixing her a stare.
"Ugh, whatever. You suck just as much as Jake and his loser brothers." Daisy scoffed again as she rolled her eyes. "Come on girls, let's get away from these losers."
"Sure, make it seem like it was your choice to walk away!" Ashleigh shouted, unable to keep her mouth shut. She hated bullies but she never threw a fist because her parents would ground her for eternity if she did.
"Are you going to be okay?" Darrell asked Joanna.
She looked at him, ready to burst into tears any second but this time she refused to give in. She was not going to cry but even she didn't feel convinced as she took in a shaky breath.
"I'm okay." She said with a forced smile as Ashleigh moved closer, holding her arm.
Joanna was still a stranger to her but Ashleigh meant when she said she was going to be Joanna's friend.
"Yeah well Daisy likes to bully other girls. Quinn broke up with her because she was mean to Samantha Forster and she's hated both the Ely's and the Forster's since. Jake and the others have had to stop her a few times." Darrell said, looking at Ashleigh to make sure she was alright.
"Darrell! Let's go!" One of his friends shouted for him.
"I'm coming! I'll see you around." He said, changing his demeanor as he winked at a group of girls.
"What was that all about?" Trevor asked, trying to understand why Darrell stood up to Daisy. It seemed out of character for him and his friends were all confused.
"Look, Joanna obviously means something to Jake and as his best friend it's up to me to look out for her when he isn't around. That's all it is." He said.
"Dude…" One of his other friends said in disbelief.
"That's the honest truth so just drop it!" He snapped.
His friends all picked on him for it and he couldn't blame them for doing so, he normally turned a blind eye to stuff like that but there was something about Joanna that made her special.
It was on that day that Darrell decided he was going to watch out for Joanna, no matter what. He knew it was a bold statement but it was one he would keep and he did like having her around, except no one would ever hear him say that, especially Jake. Oh man, he would be in so much trouble.
Joanna kept quiet the rest of the day, hardly saying more than two words and anyone could see something had upset the young girl but no one dared to ask what in case she got more upset.
The days turned into weeks and Joanna felt like she had fallen into a good routine.
Wake up, make her bed, get dressed, have breakfast, go over to the horses where she would spend a bit of time with Hercules and help out with a few chores, go back to the cabin to get ready for school, go to school and come home, go for a ride and then she would have the afternoon to herself. She would either be at the Whispering Willows Sanctuary hanging out with Ashleigh or she would spend time with the Ely boys and they could do anything as they tried to include her. Every Sunday Joanna and Mac would have dinner at the main house and then during the week it would be the two of them. He worried it made her feel isolated but she enjoyed the quiet and it was those quiet moments he shared stories of her fathers past or he talked about Native American training methods to help her with Hercules and then at night as she was about to go to sleep he would share stories of legends and myths.
People would say he was a crazy old man and that may be true but he was her closest friend, someone she could trust and look up to.