Author's Notes: I know, I know, you're thinking why is Sunshine learning how to horse back ride? He may be a big football player but he's a softie at heart. (My dad took ballet lesson when he played football!) Anyway, as you may have noticed, I love horses. I ride and could probably teach a beginner so I'll try and keep this basic. Anyway, let's go watch Sunshine ride a horse!

CHAPTER 5: LIFE LESSONS FROM A HORSE AND A FOOTBALL

Sunshine's POV:

Even to this day, I still can't believe that Kirsten taught me how to ride a horse. Of all of the things that I pictured myself doing, riding a horse is not one of them, but it sounded cool and it was a great way to spend some quality time with Kirsten.

So today after I had finished relaxing and catching up on homework and sleep, I grabbed a pair of my old jeans and an old shirt. Kirsten had told me to dress in old clothes and in shoes that had a heel. Having spent the past few years in California, I owned mostly sandals. Luckily mom bought me a pair of boots and sneakers when we first moved here and I guess that the boots would finally come in handy.

I quickly tied the laces together and grabbed a sweatshirt when I heard a car honk outside. I glanced out my window and smiled when I saw Kirsten waving to me from Gerry's Camereo.

I waved back and headed down to the door, calling a quick goodbye to mom on the way out.

"Wait a minute, Ronnie," she said, coming to the door.

"Mom, I've got to go," I said anxiously.

"Where are you going?"

"To Kirsten's barn. She's giving me a riding lesson today."

Mom smiled and kissed my cheek, "You have a good time with Kirsten. Don't be home too late."

"Bye Mom," I said as I went out the door. Jogging over to where Kirsten was waiting, I got in the car and kissed her cheek, "Hey."

"Hello Sunshine," said Kirsten as she started the car.

"I see that you are driving today."

"Yeah. Mom told Gerry to give me his car so that she could go to church and make him walk wherever he had to go, rather than me having to get a ride with you."

I laughed as she went through the stop sign to turn right unto the next street, "I guess that means that Bertier isn't going very far from home today."

"I guess not. Besides, I think that he has a ton of homework to catch up on. Nevertheless, how are you?" she asked.

"Fine. Did you go to church?" I asked.

"Of course. Gerry wanted to go the Burg to play basketball with Julius. I guess that's why Mom made him give me the Camaro."

"Well, for once, I'm glad that your mother didn't let Gerry do anything today," I said as I reached over and tickled her behind her ear. She let out a little giggle and then twisted out of my reach.

"Stop it Sunshine! If you want to get there in one piece, you had better stop it!" she said.

I laughed and kissed her cheek, "I'm just teasing you, Kirsten. Oh, I know what I wanted to ask you. We have to finish our English project in two weeks. When do you want to finish it?"

"How about next weekend? I think I'm free then, and we could get together and work on it at my house."

"Your mother would let you do that?" I asked as she turned down the road that leaded to her barn.

"Yeah. If it's for a school project, then she'll let you come over. But we have to do work or else we'll get in trouble," Kirsten said and shot me a dangerous look.

"What?" I ask, trying to act innocent.

"Don't give me that act, Sunshine. I've lived long enough with Gerry to know that look. It isn't going to work on me, Ronnie Bass."

I smiled at the way she said my full name, "Have you been listening to Coach when he calls me by my name?"

"No but I think that man is one of the greatest ever to coach football in this town. Don't get me wrong, I like Coach Yoast and everything but I don't think that Yoast could have done what Boone did with the team. He deserves a metal or something really big."

I smiled, "You know, it's interesting to hear you say that. I bet that Gerry didn't want to go and play for Coach Boone."

"Gerry was going to give up his chance to ever go to college and make it big for Coach Yoast. I was so mad at him. I told him that I would take his place if he quit."

An image of Kirsten playing linebacker came to my head and I laughed. Kirsten, with her petite frame, would probably be crushed by some of the bigger football players.

"What are you laughing about, Sunshine?"

"You replacing Gerry on the field."

"I'll have you know, Ronnie Bass, that I am a pretty good football player."

"Really? I'd like to see you play sometime."

"I'll make a bet with you, Sunshine. You go horse back riding with me this weekend and next weekend, you and I will play football," she said, pulling into the driveway of the barn and turning off the car. She held out her hand and I shook it but I was too fast for her and pulled her towards me. I leant down and kissed her gently on the lips.

"You've got yourself a deal, Kirsten Bertier."

"Good. Let's go riding," she said, getting out of the car and grabbing a small gym bag out of the trunk. I sat in the car looking at her for a few minutes. Her riding pants were really wide around the hips but other than that, she looked beautiful. Kirsten was one of those people who looked good in everything and anything, "You ready, Sunshine?" she asked impatiently.

"Yeah. Let's get this over," I said as I followed her into the barn and then back to where her horses are kept.

She puts down her bag and went into Figment's stall, talking quietly to the animal. She came back into the main aisle, leading the horse by a rope. "Follow me, Sunshine," she commanded.

I followed her and Figment into a room that had three boxes, turning the horse around Kirsten then clipped him to the wall with two clips. She looked so natural doing this and I had to smile.

She began to brush the horse. She looked at me and tossed me a brush, "Don't just stand there, Sunshine. Get your butt over here and help me brush this horse."

I caught the brush and walked over to the other side of Figment, unaware of what I was supposed to do, "What do I do?"

"Just brush in the same direction of the fur," she said, putting her brush into a trunk and grabbing a pick out of the box.

"What's that?" I asked, desperate to understand this part of her life.

"A hoof pick. You'll feel him shift this weight but just keep on brushing," she said, leaning down and picking up his front foot.

Five minutes later, Figment was ready to be ridden. Kirsten grabbed a helmet and then handed one to me. It was a little big but it'll work. Kristen also grabbed a crop, whip, and a long rope. She hands me the rope and whip, "Can you hold these until you get on?"

"Sure."

"Good. Follow me."

I followed Kirsten and Figment out into the indoor ring. Luckily, no one else was there. Kirsten got onto Figment and began to walk him around while I got into the middle of the ring.

"Right now, I'm just walking. I have to warm him up and then you can get on," she explained.

I watch as she walked Figment around for a few minutes then nudged him up into a trot and began to post, which meant that she was going up and down in the saddle. After trotting him for a while in both directions, she began to canter in both directions. She then let him walk for a few minutes before coming into the middle of the ring again.

"Alright Sunshine, you ready to try?"

"I guess," I said, handing her the whip and the long rope.

Kirsten clipped the long rope onto Figment's bridle and led him over to a small stepping stool; I followed her over.

"Get up onto the stepping stool and then put your left foot into the stirrup."

"Okay," I said, getting up onto the stool and putting my left foot into the stirrup. It was a but of a stretch but I could do it, not easily I might add, "Now what do I do?"

"Hold on to the front of saddle with one hand and put your other hand on the back of the saddle. Then push off with your right foot and swing your leg over the saddle."

I did as she told me and then took a deep breath before pushing off the stool and swung myself over the saddle. I landed in the saddle and looked down at Kirsten, who was beaming up at me with satisfaction.

"Good. Now take your foot out of the stirrup. I have to fix the stirrups. You can pick up the reins though and hold your hands like this," she said showing me how to hole them properly.

"This is so weird."

"It does feel weird in the beginning but I know that you'll do fine, Sunshine," she said, leaning over to kiss my cheek before getting off the stool and going to my right side.

When she was finally done fixing the stirrups, she asked brightly, "You ready to walk?"

"Yeah," I said uncertainly.

"Okay. Just gently nudge Figment with your heels and he'll walk forward. Don't worry about where you're going, I've taken care of that with this lunge line."

"So that's what that thing is called," I said lively.

Kirsten laughed, "Yep. You ready to begin?"

"Sure," I said as I gently nudge Figment with my heels. He began to walk; Kirsten walked with him over to the ring. She lets some of the lunge line go and he began to move out.

"How does it feel?" she asked.

"Good. This is so amazing, Kirsten. I can't believe that you do this for fun."

Kirsten smiles and said encouragingly, "You're doing well, Sunshine."

I grinned happy with my adventure, "Good."

"Okay, now that you're comfortable, why don't you try and touch his ears."

"I'll try," I said as I let go one of my reins and reached up and touched Figment's ears. They were really soft; I then patted the other ear.

"Great job. Now reach behind you and touch his rump," she said referring to its back end.

I did that with both hands and slowly turned to look at her again, looking in her eyes for approval or encouragement.

"You're doing great. You ready to trot?"

"I think."

"Drop your reins and hold onto the front part of your saddle," Kirsten said as she came over to tie the reins into a knot.

I did as she told me to obeying her every command. She asked quietly for Figment to trot. He started moving faster and I was jostled around. I looked at Kirsten, who smiled up at me, her eyes full of encouragement, "Now, go up and down with the beat. You don't have to let go though."

I began to go up and down and it felt really good.

A few minutes later, Kirsten stopped Figment and came over to me, "You did a great job, Sunshine. How did it feel?"

"It was really weird but really fun. When's my next lesson?"

"When ever you want," she said. "So far you're my favourite student."

I leant down and kiss her gently, "Thank you so much for sharing this with me, Kirsten."

"You're welcome, Sunshine," she said as a bright smile crossed her face.

***

Kirsten's POV:

I looked out my window and smiled when I saw Sunshine's car pull up in front of the street. Sunshine and I were planing on working on our English project today but I think that we might be playing a little game of football today, too.

I quickly ran down stairs when I heard the doorbell ring. Opening the door, I smiled upon seeing Sunshine, "Hey Sunshine."

"Hey Kirsten," he said, kissing my cheek.

"My mom's home," I whisper afraid she might walk in on us kissing.

"I don't care," he said care free.

Just then I heard Ma come up behind us. I turn around and smile at her, "Ma, this is my boyfriend, Ronnie Bass, aka Sunshine. Sunshine, this is my mother."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Bertier," he said offering a hand to shake.

"It's good to meet you, Sunshine. Well, I'll let you two get to work on your English project. I'll be in the kitchen," she said exiting the room.

"Come on up to my room," I said, leading him up the stairs.

"Cool room," He said, looking around my room. I had ribbons all over the place hanging from the roof and walls, there were also picture's of Gerry and me, Gerry, mom and me, and pa. I also had a large amount of volleyball trophesy awards scattered around the room.

"Thank you. Let's get to work."

An hour later, we had finally finished our English assessment and I snuck into Gerry's room and grabbed one of his many footballs that were in his cupboard.

We headed out to the backyard and I began to toss the football, "You ready, Mr. Big Quarterback?"

"Bring it on," he said hitting the ball with one hand.

"Run deep!" I said as he took off running and I threw the football. As it travelled through the air, I smiled when I saw the perfect spiral whipping through the air. Sunshine caught it easily and ran towards me. I ran towards him head down and brought him down easily.

"God, Kirsten, I didn't know that you were such a vicious player," he said as I got off of him and let him get up.

"Thank you," I said as I took the football back and started to make a run towards the back part of the yard.

Sunshine followed my lead and quickly brought me down, pinning me down with his body.

"Nice tackle, QB."

"Thank you," he said before leaning down and kissing me.

The kiss deepens and Sunshine runs his hands through my hair and began to work his way down my neck.

"Sunshine," I said as I pulled up his head to look him properly in the eye, "No. I'm not ready for this. Maybe someday, but not today."

"Okay," he said as he got off of me and smiled sincerely at me, "The projects done, right?"

"Yeah."

"I've got to get home and finish my other homework," he said, walking towards the street.

"Sunshine, wait!" I said as I got up and ran towards him, "Ronnie, listen to me. I know that you want to go all the way but I'm not ready for it. Can't you wait for me?" I said as I stared into his green eyes.

He smiles softly, "I can wait for you, Kirsten Bertier. When you're ready, we'll go all the way."

"Thank you," I said as I leaned up to kiss him.

"Kirsten? Sunshine?" I heard Gerry call.

"Yeah?"

"Ma wants to know if Sunshine wants to stay for dinner," Gerry called.

I looked at Sunshine questioningly, who nodded quickly, "Tell Ma yes."

"Then dinner will be ready in a half an hour," Gerry said as he came over to where we were standing, "You guys playing football?"

"Yeah."

"Well, come on, let's play some ball," Gerry said energetically picking up the football.

"You guys can play. I'll watch and make sure that you don't hurt it each other," I said as I went and sat on the porch steps.

"You ready, Sunshine?" Gerry demanded in a friendly and amused tone.

"Let's go, Bertier," Sunshine said in the same tone as Gerry, as he started running towards the back of the yard.

I've found a good guy in Sunshine, I realised as I sat on the steps. Not many guys would be willing to wait for a girl, heck no guys are willing to wait for a girl these days. Sunshine is definitely a gentleman. Yup, Sunshine is definitely a keeper.

END CHAPTER 5.

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Sorry that this took so long to get out. Next chapter will involve the beginning of Sunshine's time as a football player. Please review! Happy Holidays!