Erf. I'm having a Huge writers block, so take pity on me, and try to enjoy this chapter. I'm doing my best.

I still do not own Tex. I only own Randy, Rowdy, and Diane.

This chapter is dedicated to my friend, Aliecia(sp?). She can't review it, but she really likes this story. So here ya are, Leash. This is for you!!

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~*~* Randy's P.O.V. *~*~

I turned around to see where he was. This guy was nuts to follow me like that. Well, he wouldn't be able to for long. With a grin, I pushed Rowdy through the thickest part of the woods. After winding my way through the bushes, I stopped, and found that Tex was nowhere to be seen. I sighed with relief, and sat down on a large rock near a stream running through the area.

Rowdy snorted as a bug flew up his nose, and shook his head. I'd let him go a few seconds ago. He was close enough to keep an eye on.

The bushes behind me rustled, and in a flash, I was back up on Rowdy, and jumping the stream.

"RANDY!!!!" Tex shouted.

I sat up into the two-point position, resting just above Rowdy's withers. Reaching up, I snapped a small branch off of a tree, and smacked him on the rump. With a squeal, he shot forward, leaping over anything that was in his way. "Try to catch me, big boy." I muttered under my breath.

Tex cursed, and raced after me. "I'm not gunna hurt ya! Why won't you just stop and find that out!?!?!"

Because I can't, Tex. I can't stop and find out anything. I'm scared of you, I'm scared of everyone. How can I trust you after everything else has gone wrong?? Just tell me how, I thought. I started to zone out, thinking about everything that had happened lately. Meeting Tex, Pulling pranks on the teacher, knocking someone out, getting chased by a motorcycle, kissing Tex-and then, and then getting whipped by my dad.

Rowdy neared another jump, but this time, I wasn't ready. When he zigged, I zagged. I was unseated, and I flew backwards into a tree, crumpling into a heap at the bottom of a tree.

Hardly noticing that his rider was gone, Rowdy kept running and dodging things that got in his way.

Tex clenched his teeth, and galloped over to me. Quickly dismounting, he ran over to me. He placed two fingers under my chin, and raised my head to look at him. "Are you ok?" He asked calmly.

I tried to nod, but then grabbed my head. It felt like someone tried to drive nails through it with a hammer. "Sure."

He smiled slightly. "Rowdy came back. He'd spooked himself at a branch a ways down, He came running back. Are you sure-"

I smiled quickly. "I'm perfectly fine, thank-you. I'll be going now." I tried to get up by supporting myself against the tree, but my legs gave out under me. "Shoot!"

Tex grabbed my arm, and then slipped his other arm underneath my legs. Slowly, he got up, and went over to his horse. He put me in his saddle, and then got up behind me. "Home." The bay horse whinnied, and then started walking towards the house, weaving through branches, and jumping back over the stream. "I can understand why you're so scared, but you need to trust some people. How can I prove trustworthy to you?"

I was drifting in and out of sleep. "What?"

He rested his head on my shoulder. "Nothing. Go back to sleep."

I nodded slowly, and dozed off again. Tex sighed, and kept an eye on Rowdy. He knew that if my horse got away, I'd kill him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* FLASHBACK *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

An eight-year-old girl was sitting on a swing, crying softly. Her pony, Mickey, had died last week, and she couldn't bring herself to part with him. She'd been crying for the past week, even before that.

A woman walked over to the girl. "Miranda?"

"Huh?" She sniffed, and wiped her face with her hands.

"Oh sweetie, I know how much you miss Mickey, but he's in heaven now. He's happy. Now come with me. I have a surprise for you." The woman soothed.

Miranda looked at the woman, slightly confused. "Ok, mama."

The pair walked back into the barn where Mickey used to live. Now, instead of an old, tired pony, a young bay colt stood in the stall. The colt nickered, and then kicked at the back of the stall, pinning his ears back.

Miranda jumped back away from the colt, tears filling her eyes already. "Mama-"

"Hush. Now this colt is yours. He deserves a good name, a good home, and a good friend. I trust that you can give him those. You'll have to be careful, because he's not trained yet, but I'll help you with that. Daddy and I, will get you the things you need to train the boy." Mama replied.

The colt bared his teeth, and kicked at the stall again.

"He's such a rowdy colt, mama. How do you expect me to train him?" Miranda asked.

"I know you'll do the right thing. Now, I'll leave you alone." Mama smiled, after smacking the colt's nose. "No biting, Mister."

The colt snorted, and then stretched his nose out to Miranda. He whinnied softly, and then waited for her to come to him.

Miranda walked over to him, and rubbed his velvet nose affectionately. "Good boy. Your name will be..Rowdy."

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Soon, the pair became inseparable. They each ran for each other when things went wrong, and even when things went right. They belonged to each other, and no one else. They loved each other more than anything.

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"Miranda, this is for the best. Please trust me on this. I have to leave." Mama sighed.

Miranda clung to her mother's arm. "No, I'll be good! I promise! I'll never be bad again! Please stay, mama! Please!" She sobbed hysterically.

Mama pried Miranda's fingers from her arm. "Hush. I've got to go. It's your father's fault, blame him. Goodbye, Miranda. Goodbye, Randy." With that, she got into her car, and drove away.

Miranda continued to sob, and ran into the barn, knowing there was nothing she could do to bring her mother back. But in a way, she'd always have part of her mother with her, being as Rowdy was a gift from her mother. She crawled into the stall, and slept under the feed bin, right next to Rowdy. But when she woke up, it wasn't Rowdy who she saw, it was her father.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* END OF FLASHBACK *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"AHHHHHH! NO! DON'T HURT ME!!! NO, DADDY! PLEASE DON'T-" I cried out, clinging to the saddle.

Tex stopped Negrito, and wrapped an arm around my stomach. "Shhhh. Shhh. It's me. It's only Tex. Randy, calm down."

I started to sob. "But I can't. He was there. He had a huge belt again, and he just kept hitting me and hitting me."

Tex held onto me with both arms. "Randy, it was a dream. You've been with me the whole time, sleeping. You're ok. Trust me."

I leaned my head against his shoulder, still sobbing. "It was just so real."

Tex nodded. "Come on, I'm going to see if Diane will let you stay at my house. I don't think your dad would expect that."

I sniffed, and wiped my eyes on the palms of my hands. "Thanks Tex."

He hugged me again. "It's not a problem."

~*=*~

We got home and found that Diane wasn't there, neither was Mason. Tex figured that I could stay at his house for a while, so we put the horses away and then went into his house.

Tex opened his fridge. "You hungry?"

I shook my head. "Not really."

He nodded. "Ok. Well, you have to tell me when you are."

"Like hell I will." I muttered.

"What?" He asked.

"I said that I would definitely tell you when I was hungry." I added with a quick grin.

He laughed slightly. "Good girl."

~=~

The rest of the day was like that. We went back and forth about stuff. I was pretty glad that he was there, I kinda trust him now. But I keep having dreams about my dad. And when he comes back, I'll give him what he deserves.

Cool. Ok, Now review!! This chapter took me forever to write!!