Friday. The weekend was almost within reach. But Ennis wasn't too excited about the weekend considering the fact that that was when his father put the most work on him. He expected this weekend to be even busier than usual because Ennis had been slacking off with some chores this week. He didn't mean to. Everything that had happened this week had taken up a lot of Ennis's thinking time. He could tell when his daddy was mad and knew that this weekend was going to be hell. At least he had Sunday to look forward to. The Del Mars didn't work on the Lord's Day, as his momma said.

When Ennis walked into school, he cringed inwardly as he saw Alma walk up. He hadn't talked to her since that evening she had led him off to try and talk him into dropping his pants. He could probably keep on avoiding her, but if he did that, she might say something to her daddy and then Mr. Beers would be over talking to Ennis's parents and who knew what they would even talk about? If anything, he needed to face her now.

But, she acted as if nothing had happened between them. "Howdy, Ennis," she said with her usual bright smile. "Have any plans for the weekend?"

"Chores," Ennis mumbled, turning to head for his first class. She stayed walking right beside him.

"I talked to your momma," Alma said. It looked like she was tempted to reach over and take his hand. He knew she would only want to walk hand in hand, but he couldn't help but think about the last time she had taken his hand. He moved his hand just slightly away from her. She didn't appear to notice. "I asked if you and I could go horseback ridin' on Saturday. She said it was okay."

"No chaperone?"

Alma laughed. "It's only me, silly," she said. "We practically grew up together. Your momma trusts me." She smiled sweetly at him and he was afraid she would try to pull something while on that ride. "Starbright needs some exercise and she hasn't seen her ol' pal Lucky Fly in a few days." Lucky Fly was her horse that she had had for years. In fact, Lucky Fly was Starbright's daddy.

Ennis stopped at the door to his class and looked at Alma. "Not sure if my dad -"

"I'll handle it," Alma said. She patted him on the arm then turned and walked off.

Ennis watched her go, wishing that all it would be was an innocent horseback ride between friends. But the last time he had seen her...

Deciding that it would be fine if he missed his first class, it wouldn't be the first time, Ennis turned and headed for the room Jack's class was in. Jack had said yesterday that Ennis could tell him anything. And since Jack knew everything that had happened between him and Alma, Ennis could go to Jack about this.

He stepped up to the door and gave a light knock before opening it. Jack was standing at the desk, sorting out some paperwork. No one else was there, so thankfully the class hadn't yet started. He stepped in and closed the door behind him as Jack turned his head.

"Ennis," Jack said with a smile of greeting. He put the papers down and turned, sitting on the edge of the desk. "Here to hand in your paperwork early again?"

Ennis had stayed up later than usual working on that paper. He was okay with handing it out in class, but since he was here, he pulled it out of his backpack and handed it over. Jack placed it down on the desk without even looking at it. "I gotta talk to you 'bout somethin'," Ennis mumbled, shuffling his feet. "It's...Alma."

"She tried something else?" Jack asked, appearing concerned. The fact that he cared about Ennis's wellbeing let Ennis know that this was a safe space.

"She wants to go horseback ridin' on Saturday," Ennis said. "Just us."

"You think she'll try something then?"

Ennis didn't really answer the question. "I don't really wanna go," he said. "But if I don't, it'll look like -" He stopped when Jack turned and wrote something down on paper then hold the paper out to Ennis. Ennis took the paper and looked at it.

"It's a teacher assistant job," Jack said. "You'll be here on Saturday, helpin' me grade papers and get things ready for next week's classes. And unlike my actual class, this assignment will affect your grade. I'm just on my way to the principal to let him know."

A great weight lifted from Ennis's shoulders. "And that'll take up the entire day?" he asked. Jack nodded his head. "What do I do with the paper?"

"You give it to your parents after school this afternoon," Jack said. "Once they see that it'll affect your grade, they can't keep you from doin' it if they want you to graduate." It probably wouldn't affect his grade that much, but Ennis understood that that point needed to come up with his parents if he wanted to spend the day away from whatever Alma had planned. Ennis would rather spend this weekend in school.

He would still run into Alma at church on Sunday, but she wouldn't dare try anything on him there. Of course...he never would have thought she would pull anything on him the other evening either.

"I'll need you here tomorrow at nine a.m.," Jack said. He pointed toward the door. "Now get on to class." He turned and sat down at the desk, going back to sorting through the papers.

Ennis turned and walked out.

Ennis didn't run into Alma again until after school. Ever since he spoke to Jack he had run on autopilot so he wasn't too sure if Jack had given another assignment to do over the weekend. But, he always had tomorrow to ask.

"Drive me home?" Alma asked, slipping her arm through his. He wished she had tried to grab his hand instead. At least then he could have avoided it. And when he tried to pull away now, she just moved closer to him, pressing against him as they walked, making him uncomfortable. He wasn't the type to say anything though. "It'll give me an opening to talk to your folks about tomorrow."

"I can't."

"Can't what?"

"I can't go out ridin' with ya," Ennis said, keeping his eyes forward. He could feel her staring at him, but didn't look at her even when she pulled them both to a halt. "I gotta be here tomorrow to help Jack. An assignment that'll affect my grade, so I cain't miss it."

"Pretty convenient that ya just happen to get this assignment the day of -"

"It's Friday, he needs help on Saturday," Ennis said as if it would have happened whether or not she wanted to go horseback riding. "He probably does this every week. I just happen to be the first one he picked."

Alma didn't sound convinced. "Surely we can still go out -"

"It's all day."

"I can wait."

Ennis pulled his arm away from her and turned to her. "If you wanna go out ridin' that badly, you can go without me, y'know," he said, unable to tell if his words hurt her feelings or not. "I'll give ya a ride home today, but I can't go with ya tomorrow."

"That's okay, my daddy's gonna be pickin' me up," Alma said. "We can always go next week." She turned and hurried off. Ennis watched her go, frustrated with upsetting her, but how else was he supposed to have handled that? He couldn't give her an outright no, he'd be on the ass end of that outcome. He had an excuse, everything would be fine.

"As if goin' to that class every day ain't enough, he's gonna have ya on the weekend as well?!" Ennis's mom wasn't pleased by the assignment Jack had given to him. His dad didn't seem to care, but his dad thought Ennis needed this class to grow as a man, so he might go right along with anything Jack had planned.

"He's not gonna be teachin' me tomorrow," Ennis said. "It's just an assistant job. I'll help him grade and get lessons ready for next week, that's all. It might not even take that long."

"Good, 'cause Alma called this mornin' askin' if you could go horseback ridin' with her tomorrow," she said. "I think that's a better idea than aidin' that hotshot Texan with his crude, erotic -"

"I don't know when I'll be back," Ennis said. "I told Alma she could go without me if she wanted to."

"A young girl like her go alone?" his mom asked. "I never would have thought of such an idea! No. You make it right back here as soon as you can so you can go out ridin' with her. A young girl needs a chaperone and you're practically an adult." Sometimes Ennis wished his parents were more strict about certain things. They had no problem with Ennis being alone with a girl. Especially when that girl was someone they had been trying to pair him up with for a good while now.

"I'll do my best," Ennis said then turned and headed for his room. He dropped his backpack then collapsed on his bed with a sigh.

He didn't know what tomorrow would bring.