Bree's Challenge

Chapter Four "Auction Time"

Disclaimer: I only own my made up characters!

Note: POV will always be Bree's unless otherwise stated. If I do change it to someone else, I'll put it before I write in that persons POV.

Saturday, September 8th Noon

I watched as Mike and Uncle Gene loaded up Royal. They had decided to take her to the sale. I knew it wasn't an easy decision but they felt she might be better off in a new home. They were also hoping to find another good racing prospect to take Royal's spot.

I patted my jacket pocket nervously. I had my savings checkbook in my pocket and I had made the decision that if I saw a horse I liked, I would buy them. I had asked Uncle Gene if he'd be okay with me getting a horse one day and he said it was fine with him. Of course I'm sure he didn't expect one day to be now. I knew the horses a majority of the horses at the sale were from a farm that had been foreclosed on and would go cheaper than others. Most were racehorses but a few were older horses that were retired. I was trying for one of the retired horses.

"Ready to go Bree?" Mike asked as he shut the trailer door.

"Yep." I said, hopping into the truck with them. Chad was meeting us at the sale to look with us. Brad was also going to be there with his father. He said that they were hoping to find a broodmare or two to add to their barn, potentially another racehorse. I was excited to see him again.

The past few weeks we had been going out on dates or spending time at Townsend Acres or watching races at the track. Basically, we hung out a lot. I had started school at Henry Clay High School with Mike, Ashleigh and Chad. I liked the school, everyone seemed nice and I always had Ashleigh in most of my classes. I had met Ashleigh's friend Linda, her sister Caroline, and Caroline's boyfriend, who was also Chad's brother, Justin.

My leg was doing better as I continued riding Coffee. Uncle Gene and Len said I was riding as if I had ridden for years. I was doing wonderful according to them. Brad would sometimes come over and watch me ride or have me ride one of the retired horses at Townsend with him.

Ashleigh, one day when Brad was getting a horse for me out of the field, commented about how much Brad was changing. "What do you mean?" I had asked her. Ashleigh smiled.

"I know Mike has let you know his distaste for Brad and I admit, I don't like him very much." Ashleigh paused. "But ever since you two have started talking and going on dates. It's like he's different. He's nicer to everyone and he smiles a lot more. His riding style has changed. He's been less forceful and just connecting with Prince."

I smiled with a blush on my face. "Really?"

"Yes." I heard hooves clicking and saw Brad bringing Dominator along. He was a good bay gelding who was teaching me along with Coffee. I'd ride him whenever Brad would invite me to ride at Townsend Acres. "Well I'll let you two ride. Have fun!"

I was brought out of my thoughts as we pulled into the sales barn parking lot. When we got out, I walked around the sales barn looking at horses while Uncle Gene registered for his number. I'd have to do that too before the sale started in case there was a horse I liked. I stopped at a stall to look at a dark brown gelding that had a small white snip on his nose. I reached out and rubbed his nose as I looked at his chart. Impressive racing stats. Now he was a pony horse used to work with young horses. He could be a good horse for me. I made a mental note of his number and kept walking.

I heard some commotion at the end of the barn and saw a man struggling with a dapple grey horse. The horse had dark grey dapples all over, had dark grey legs, with a black mane and tail. The horse had to be at least sixteen two hands and had broad shoulders and wide hindquarters. The horse was absolutely beautiful but was sure giving their handler a hard time. The groom finally got them into the stall and slammed the door shut. I walked towards the horse, wanting to know more about them.

I looked at the chart and saw it was a filly, a two year old, with about five wins so far. Her name was Dark Cloud and she had an okay pedigree up until I saw who her farther back relatives were. Secretariat! Even farther back was a descendent of Man O' War that if you didn't know much about racing, you wouldn't notice. But when I looked at her starting price, it was way below what I expected. Ten thousand to start? This filly looked amazing and had two very impressive grand sires far back. I looked towards her groom. "Am I allowed to enter the stall?"

He eyed me up. "Yes you are but I don't necessarily recommend it. She's a high energy filly and doesn't always mind her manners." I smiled.

"I think I'll try my luck." I opened her stall door and her groom watched me as I entered the stall. "Hey there girl." I held my hand out for her to sniff and she snorted at me. I gently ran my hands down her neck and she nuzzled my shoulder. Once she was comfortable with me I ran my hand down her legs to check for any heat or sign of injury. I walked around her and checked her out for any signs that she wasn't in good shape. I couldn't find any. I grabbed her halter and walked her as much as I could in the stall. She plodded along beside me.

The groom was amazed. "She's never acted so calm with me." I looked towards him as she stopped beside me.

"How's she usually act?" I asked as I rubbed her neck.

"She's a feisty one that's for sure and she can run her heart out when she wants to. Not too fond of whips. Sire won a couple of stakes races and Dam won a few good races before becoming a broodmare due to injury. Nothing too extraordinary" I walked out of the stall, thanking him for his help.

She was it. She was the horse I wanted. I went and signed up for a number looking around for a sign of Gene or Mike. I didn't find them but I did run into Brad and Clay.

"Hey there Bree!" Clay greeted me warmly. "How are you?"

"I'm great. How about you? See anything you like?"

"A few prospects but I guess we'll see when the auction starts. I could get a few good horses here for a bargain price." Clay smiled at me. "I don't think many of these horses will go over thirty thousand."

Thirty thousand..whoa. I could only hope Cloud wouldn't go over twenty. Even fifteen would be pushing it. I had a good amount of savings but I didn't want to spend everything here today. "There are some good looking horses here." I commented back. "Of course I think every horse looks good."

Brad smiled at me and put his arm around my shoulders. "The sale will be starting soon, why don't we grab a seat?" I followed Brad into where the seats were but instead of back in the bleachers where he wanted to sit, I yanked him towards the front.

"I want to be close when the horses come through to check them out." I said as explanation. Clay took a seat a few rows behind us. I saw Gene, Mike and Chad in the top left corner of the stands. I waved to let them know I had found my way in here.

"What are you thinking of buying a horse?" Brad joked but then saw my surprised look. "Oh my—you are!"

"No, I just want to look." I said looking away. They brought the first horse in, a dark bay colt that had yet to race. I watched as horse's prices flew towards thirty thousand. None went over that though so far. Brad made a disgusted noise as he saw someone bidding. "What?"

"That man over there." Brad pointed at a man in a black ball cap that was looking over all the horses. He had already bought two. "He's a horse dealer, buys them and sells them to homes. Not the greatest dealer because a lot of his horses either end up in neglect situations or slaughter house."

I felt sick. Those two horses were going to God knows what kind of place. Luckily Royal had sold to a breeding farm for twenty thousand. Gene and Mike would be happy.

"And next up, a filly out of Reborn Farms. Registered name Dark Cloud, two year old filly, won five races..." I listened as the auctioneer listed off information about Cloud. I noticed the man in the black ball cap eying her up.

The starting bid was ten thousand and the man in the black ball cap raised his card. Another farm raised theirs at ten five(10,500). I watched them bid back and forth, my card just burning a hole in my pocket. The man in the ball cap was winning at fifteen thousand. The other farm had dropped out of bidding.

"Going once, going twi-"

"Eighteen thousand!" I shouted, interrupting the final bid and I felt eyes on me. Oh man. Gene was going to kill me. Brad was looking at me in shock.

"Eighteen five?" The auctioneer asked and the man in the black cap shook his head. "Going once, going twice, sold to number four fifty seven!" I looked at my card. I was number four fifty seven!

Brad grabbed my arm and led me away from the auction as they auctioned off the last horse. "Are you crazy?" Brad hissed as we walked. "Do you even have eighteen thousand dollars?"

I yanked my arm out of his. "Yes I do! And I'm not crazy. That guy was going to buy her and I couldn't let him."

"Do you even know anything about her? Did you check her out at all?" Now I started to feel a little insulted. Brad obviously thought I was stupid.

"Yes I did before the auction began. She's a good filly and she has pretty good bloodlines. She may have only won five races but she has the potential in her. I can see it." I stopped him. "Please I am going to hear it enough from Mike and Gene..and most likely my father. I can't stand to be scolded by you too."

Brad sighed running a hand through his hair. "Fine. You made the decision to buy her and I have to respect that. Let's get to the office so you can pay."

…...

After I wrote out a check to the sales barn, I went straight to Cloud's stall. The groom looked at me with a smirk. "So you went and bought her?" I nodded. He handed me her lead rope. "Best of luck to you with her." He walked away and Cloud came up to her stall door to nuzzle my arm.

"Hey beautiful girl." I pet her neck. "You're going to be going home with me today."

"Bree Elizabeth Wilson!" I turned at the sound of my full name. Uncle Gene was walking fast towards me with Clay, Mike and Chad. I looked worriedly towards Brad. He just shook his head. "What were you thinking?" Gene asked as he stopped in front of me. "Eighteen thousand dollars? You bought a race horse?"

I bit my lip. "Yes?" I sounded nervous but then held my chin up. "Yes I did. You said it would be fine for me to have a horse."

Gene sighed. "I meant a pleasure horse that you could ride around the pasture that we could buy you for a couple hundred, maybe a thousand. Not eighteen! What is your father going to say about this?"

"He can't say anything. It's my money, set up by Mom." I said, a bit of steel in my voice.

"We can easily solve this." Clay spoke up. "I told your uncle I would buy the horse off you and pay you full price. You could come visit her at Townsend Acres."

I shook my head. "I'm keeping her. She's legally my horse now." Clay smiled at bit and I swear he said something about me being a spitfire.

I saw Mike and Chad grin behind Gene's back. "Well we should probably get her loaded up and get home." Chad said, nodding at me to get her out of the stall. I clipped the lead rope onto her halter and Brad opened the stall door.

"Call me when you get home and get her settled in, okay?" Brad said and with a quick look towards everyone else, he kissed my cheek. I led Cloud out of the barn and towards the trailer eagerly. This would be a new, exciting adventure with my new horse. Would I have to talk to Dad eventually? Yeah, but I knew Gene would come around to be on my side. Mike was already on my side. Everything would be okay.

…...

Wednesday September 12th 3pm

I got out of Mike's truck and went straight to the barn once we got home from school. I saw Len sitting in his chair reading a newspaper. "How is she?" I asked as I walked towards Len. He knew who I was talking about.

"She's been fine today. Been outside since this morning. Her and Coffee seem to be making friends." Len smiled at me. He was the only one who from the beginning supported me about buying Cloud. He loved her too. She had spirit that was for sure but nothing I couldn't handle.

"Thanks Len!" I grabbed a lead rope for her and went out to the pasture. She was grazing alongside Coffee. I opened the gate and walked towards her. They both kept grazing til I reached them, Cloud lifted her head up and nickered at me. "Hey there my beautiful Cloud." I had immediately called her Cloud from the minute I got her. I clipped the lead rope to her and led her out of the field.

When we got to the barn I put her in cross-ties so I could groom her. Grey horses were hard to keep clean! Even though she was a dark grey, she would still get so dirty. I grabbed a tack box from the tack room and set to grooming her.

"So are you going to put her back into training?" Len asked as he fed her a peppermint. I looked back towards him.

"Well I have to talk to Uncle Gene about that. I mean if he doesn't let me then I guess I'll try to retrain her to be a pleasure horse."

Len smiled. "I know your Uncle very well. He might be a tad upset about the purchase but he's not going to let a good racehorse like her just sit around and be retrained. She has good potential as a racehorse. He'll want her in training."

I heard a car door slamming and looked to see Ashleigh and Charlie heading towards the barn. "Hey there Bree!" Ashleigh waved.

"Hey Ash! Are you looking for Mike?" She smiled.

"No, Charlie and I heard you got a horse so we came to see her." Ashleigh and Charlie stopped in front of Cloud. "Is this her?"

"Yep, this is Cloud. Registered name Dark Cloud, she's won five races so far. She's sixteen two hands." Ashleigh ran her hand down Cloud's body.

"She's beautiful that's for sure." Ashleigh said. Charlie walked around her, checking her out. "Have you gotten on her yet?"

"No." I shook my head. "I've been waiting to let her settle in and see what we're going to do with her. Uncle Gene wasn't too happy when I bought her."

Charlie chuckled. "From the way I heard it, you just shouted out a huge bid and bought her. Didn't give anyone a warning."

I blushed. "I kind of did. But there was this dealer there and I couldn't let her go to him. There was just something about her that clicked with me."

"Well it looks like you made a good decision. 'Course won't know much til we see her run about your decision." Charlie mumbled. "But she seems pretty well built and I know the trainer at the farm she came from. Good guy."

I knew this was a lot coming from Charlie. Ashleigh told me compliments were rare, she also told me not to make a big deal out of it. "Thanks Charlie." I kept it simple.

"Well why don't you tack her up and take her out?" Len asked, lightly smacking my shoulder with his newspaper. "See what this filly can do."

"I've never ridden a racehorse. I've only ridden Coffee and Dominator." I looked towards Len.

"I could ride her if you'd like." Ashleigh volunteered. I smiled.

"That'd be great Ashleigh! I'd love to see her run." Len went off with a smile to grab the tack without a word.

We got Cloud all tacked up and we were walking her towards the track when Uncle Gene, Mike and Chad came out to the track.

"You're running her?" Gene asked with a smile.

"Ashleigh's gonna ride her and see what she can do." I spoke quietly. I didn't know if he was still upset with me. Gene grabbed me in a hug.

"I'm getting over the shock of you buying her. You can stop being so quiet now." Gene whispered in my ear and I grinned.

"That's good because it's hard to be quiet around here." I joked. I felt such a big weight lifted off my shoulders now that Uncle Gene seemed to accept Cloud and I.

"But if you're going to race her, there's entry fees and you'll need to put her back into training." Gene looked at me. "And I was thinking maybe you could race her under Whitebrook's name. We could split the winnings in a fair manner together and have a partnership. I'd pay for entry fees, trailering and this would work off her feed and keep."

I smiled and hugged Gene tightly. "I'd love that! Thank you!" We turned to watched Ashleigh and Cloud as she trotted down the track. She moved beautifully and was listening to Ashleigh so far. Ashleigh moved up the pace at a canter and I saw her pulling at the reins. She wanted to run.

Ashleigh looked at me. "Go ahead and let her go if you're ready!" I called out to her. Ashleigh grinned and loosened the reins. Cloud took off down the track and I saw Charlie raise his eyebrows at her. She kept running and Ashleigh asked for more. They flew past us and Ashleigh started pulling her up.

"You picked a good one." Charlie said with a smile.

"I think we have a winner on our hands." Uncle Gene grinned and shook my gently. "You picked a good one."

Ashleigh rode her over to us and dismounted. "She's great, Bree. You ask, she gives. She's eager to run." She handed me the reins. "Why don't you take a turn?" I felt unsure. I was learning wonderfully but Cloud was a racehorse. I looked at Gene.

"Go ahead. She didn't give Ashleigh no problems and she is your horse. You gotta ride her at some point." Chad gave me a boost in the saddle and I snapped my helmet on, Ashleigh handed me a pair of goggles. I adjusted my stirrups to a regular point and situated myself. I got her walking and felt the power in her. She could still take another run.

I trotted her back and forth by where everyone is until I got comfortable. I asked her for a canter and she responded eagerly. She was listening which was great. She was only two and I didn't expect so much out of her, I mean weren't young horses usually frisky and acted up? I mean I was happy she was being good of course.

As we went around to turn to the far side of the track, her ears perked up at something. There was something trotting towards the track. I stared at it and I realized it was a dog. We didn't have a dog. I tightened my reins slightly and stopped Cloud. Should I turn her around?

Cloud's ears were flicking back and forth trying to decide if the animal was a threat. Without warning the dog started barking and took off towards us. I tried to hold her still knowing if she ran it'd only make the dog run more after her. The dog kept coming and I had to do something.

I grabbed her mane and loosened the reins. "Go!" Cloud took off down the track. I knew she could outrun the dog and I couldn't just let him attack her. Being on Cloud while she was running was amazing. Of course, she was running out of fear and I didn't want that but it felt like I was flying. My hair whipped back and the thrill was exhilarating. Brad was right. Riding a race horse was the ultimate thrill. I slowed her down as we approached the opening. Mike had come out onto the track waving his arms. He must think she ran away with me. Mike grabbed her reins as soon as Cloud stopped.

"Are you okay? I saw she took off there and-" Mike started but I grinned at him.

"She didn't run off with me." I laughed and looked back towards where we had been. The dog was gone. Where had it gone. "When we were on the other side of the track, there was a dog. He started barking and running towards us. She wanted to take off but I was still in control. I decided it was best to let her outrun the dog instead of him coming to attack her." I slid off of her. I was about to speak again when I saw Brad standing at the rail with Clay.

"Some ride you had there." Clay smiled at me. I smiled back.

"It was great. She's great." I patted Cloud's sweaty neck. She snorted tiredly. "Let's get you cooled out." I walked off the track with her and Brad fell into step with me.

"You two were great out there. I think you picked a good horse." Brad grabbed my free hand. I stopped by the barn to un-tack her so I could cool her out.

"She is great. I don't even care if she doesn't do good as a race horse. I just love her." I kissed her cheek. "Although Uncle Gene and I just agreed to have a partnership with her. He pays all of her entry fees and anything else racing wise and he gets a percentage of her winnings that will be something we both agree with."

"That sounds like a good deal for you." Brad and I kept talking as we walked together with Cloud as she cooled down.

…...

General POV

Clay watched as Brad walked off with Bree with a smile. "I think my son is pretty smitten with your niece." He said to Gene.

"I'd say they're both pretty smitten with each other." Gene chuckled. "They've certainly been hanging out together enough."

"Yeah, Brad likes hanging out with her. I think she's good for him, he's just been in such a good mood since he started hanging out with her." Clay sighed. "It's a big difference for him. I like her. She's great and she's always smiling."

"She's a happy little thing." Gene smiled. "She gets that from my sister. She was always so happy and looked on the bright side of things. A bit of a dreamer."

"It's horrible that she had to grow up without her." Clay had been a classmate with Gene and his sister.

"Yeah, but there's a bigger plan than we know and it's all in that plan unfortunately." Gene sighed. "While they're walking around, would you like to join the rest of us for some coffee?"

"I'd love to." So with one last look at Brad and Bree walking, everyone piled into the farmhouse for coffee.

…...

A/N; Hey readers! I know it's been a few months since I updated but I was going through all my other stories to try and get everyone updated. I have updated every one but two of them that I'm still working on. But I just kept thinking about Bree and the idea I had for her so I had to start writing! Took me a couple of days to finish the chapter but here it is! I'll try to update within the next few weeks. I'm going to try to work out a schedule to where I update at least one story a week starting out. I'll let you know once I get that worked out!

Thanks for reading and I'd love to see your reviews!

-Quinnandseth'sgirl15