The Barn: part 3
"So what's it going to be tough girl?" Katie asks with a wicked grin.
"Look, I don't need trouble any more than Haley does" Quinn said.
Jessie gave Katie a glance and nodded.
"All right Jess, I don't think our girl Quinn here is afraid of a fight." Katie said deciding to see if the girl wanted to save a little face in front of her posse. "And since we don't even know these fine young people I don't know if beating each other up is a good way to get acquainted, so why don't you take these three down to the office and bring Haley back up to the round pen. If that's okay with you?" She said looking at Quinn
Quinn looked to the three behind her then looked back to Katie and gave her assent.
In her best hayseed accent Jessie said "Well all right little dogies times a wasting. Let's get a move on, we aint got all day."
As they started away Katie said "You will all get your time with the great and wonderful us, but since Haley and Quinn were here first we will start at the beginning."
That drew a couple of laughs as they drew apart. They walked to the round pen where a horse was being exercised without any words. Quinn seemed a little wary of the older girl and rightly so. Although not afraid of a fight she wasn't sure just how bad she would have gotten her ass kicked by these two and was glad that there was an out. And yet she wasn't sure what she was in for now either.
While standing there Katie handed Quinn the hair bow. She took it and put her hair in ponytail.
"Andrew can be a handful" Katie said. "We can start over if you'd like."
Katie could see the storm of mixed emotions on the girls face and could imagine what was running through her head. The If I's were running rampant. If I'm nice she'll think I'm a pussy. If I'm sarcastic she'll send me down the hill and probably complain to Maggie and I'll get the boot.
Deciding to break an awkward moment as only Katie can do she looks over at Quinn and asks "What's the dumbest song you ever heard?"
As most people do who don't know Katie, she looks at her with that what does that have to do with any thing look and says "Whaaat?"
"Oh you know, dumb songs. Last night they one of those one hit wonder marathons on TV last night and I just happened to catch the end of it. You know dumb songs that stick in your head and you wonder what made you think of them in the first place and then you're stuck for the rest of the day humming some dumb song?"
"I know what you're talking about but…"
"You'll never ever in million years guess what the number one one hit wonder was. Go ahead and take a stab at it. Unless you saw that show it would never occur to any one that the two top songs on this list were for line dancing."
"Wait a minute, what's that?" Quinn asked a little confused.
"Oh that's what old people do for exercise. If you ever go on a cruise the first thing they try and rope you into is dance lessons, don't go there believe me. Anyway you have a redneck with a huge mullet singing Achy Breaky Heart and two fat Mexican guys dancing to the Macarena."
Right about this time Jessie and Haley were walking towards them up the hill. They could see that the two girls were talking and then all of a sudden Katie spreads her legs sticks out her belly (which is next to impossible because she has no belly, just nice tight abs) and starts swinging her arms.
"Haley lets wait here a minute"
"What in the world is she doing?"
"Katie's having a moment and those are not to be interrupted. I guarantee you that in less time than it took for us to walk up here she will have Quinn eating out of her hand in no time. It won't matter what she thinks about us but her and Katie will be like best friends when we get up there."
"How long have you and Katie been friends, Jessie?" She asked.
"Almost a year, Haley. We met at school when I tried out for the school play."
"That's all? I would have thought it was a lot longer than that. I mean it takes a long time for people to know what the other one is thinking and you two seem to have that going on."
"I can't explain it. Sometimes when we are alone we don't need to talk. And it's comfortable. You know how when you are with somebody and you feel like you have to say something and you can see the look on the other persons face like they want to say something too, well with Katie that has never been a problem. I've never not been able to talk to her except once. She came and found me and we solved our problem with each other and it's been easy ever since. We don't always agree on stuff but then who does right, that would be too weird and boring."
"Haley, you and I seem to have at least one thing in common and if you ever want to talk just let me know. I have found that it really does help to have someone to talk to." She said.
As she finished saying that she and Haley looked towards the other two girls. Quinn was doubled over laughing and Katie was taking a bow for performance of who knows what. As if on queue she looked over at Jessie and gave her a one more moment sign.
"See what I mean, how do ya'll do that. It's like she knew exactly what you were doing."
"Oh stop it, you sound just like Zoe." Jessie said
"Who is Zoe, and I hope that's not a bad thing."
"Zoe is my younger stepsibling. I hope to bring her out here one day and yes that would be a good thing. We used to fight at first but as we got to know each other better we have gotten pretty close. She's always raggin' on me and Katie about stuff like that. She says we have developed a wireless telegraph between our heads whatever that means."
"Yeah, whatever I just think you're lucky to have a friend like that." She said.
"You are right about that Haley, I am lucky and I am very thankful to have a friend as special as Katie." Jessie said.
Meanwhile up on top of the hill Katie was laughing with Quinn and asked her "So, you want to start over"
"Yes, I'd like that."
"Okay good, I'm not going to ask why you are with that program you can tell me about it if you want. Know that I won't judge you by what you've done but what you do from now on. Everyone has their problems and I have more than my share but remember if you need help or want to talk just let me know, all right? Oh and by the way, you were right that was a pretty lame video." Katie said laughing some more.
"Well the video sucked but your riding was really good. I wish I could do that, you were so smooth on that horse." She said wistfully.
"That's what lessons are for. The only way to do that is to practice. I know that when I started out I thought it was going to be easy because Christy and Kelly made it look that way. You should watch them ride sometime, it's amazing." She said as she looked down at Jessie and gave her the nod to come on up.
When Jessie and Haley came to where the other two girls were standing there was a strained silence. Quinn was looking at something on the ground; Jessie and Katie were looking at each other and Haley was looking at the two of them looking at each other as if something earth shattering was going to come forth. What happened was this: Katie told Haley and Quinn to wait there for a minute while her and Jessie talked something over.
"Jess, I know a week is a long time to be out here on short notice but they really do need us for camp. I've done this before and it will be even easier with you here and it will be so much fun. The campers get here in between 8:30 and 9:00 and we each have a group. We start out teaching tack and then we introduce them to the horses and progress from there. Now we can stay here if we want to or get up early and drive. I think we should plan on staying for the first couple of days. And I know I can explain all of this later so can I get a yes for at least the first part?" Katie says as she catches her breath,
"Okay already, I know we can do a few days for sure, But I want to know what's really cooking in that brain of yours. You are thinking so hard I can almost here the gears turning" she said pointing to her own head.
"Do you think Zoe would want to come out?" Katie asked
"Great minds think alike Billie. I was telling Haley that I would like to bring her out here. But isn't she a little old to be a camper?"
"I was thinking more along the line of barn slave" Katie chuckled.
"And what pray tell is that?" Jessie asked.
"Nothing bad mind you, just being a gofer and a do this and do that kinda person."
"Oh I get it, a barn slave!" Jessie laughed.
"Real funny Billie. Look, I think we can do some good here with some of these kids. You've already got Haley hanging on your every word and I think with a little of the right kind of encouragement Quinn will get on board. What do you think" Katie asked.
"Katie sometimes I wonder how that skinny little chest of yours holds such a big heart"
"Hey I'll have you know that my chest is not skinny."
"Maybe you can read minds, because just being here for a short time had me thinking the same thing and what an awesome place to do it. Okay I'm in. When do we start?" Jessie asked.
"Right now. Let's see if we can get these two to get along and then we'll find out our bright idea will fly with Maggie and Christy." Katie said looking toward the two younger girls who were by now fidgeting.
When they got back to the other two girls they looked to the two older girls in anticipation of what might happen next.
"Let's take a walk to the back forty girls, we can sort out a few thing along the way" Katie said. "Before we go any where though I want it understood that we leave all the posturing and crap here in the crap pile." Katie said pointing to the big pile of manure off to the side.
"Haley, do you and Quinn have some kind of history with each other and I'm asking because I don't know." Jessie asked.
Haley looked at Quinn and then looked back at Katie and Jessie before answering. She gathered her thoughts and quietly began to speak.
"Since we are being honest here just let me say that I don't really know Quinn. And I haven't made any effort to get to know her. She has her friends here and I don't want to get involved. It might not be fair on my part to say this but I had enough trouble when I got here and all I wanted to do was fill up my hours and be done with it. They remind me too much of why I am here. Those kids that follow you around remind me of me and my so called friends that left me holding the bag. I am definitely not going down that road again. My problem started when my Mom and Dad got divorced and I got caught in the middle. I thought hanging with the cool kids was the way to go and here I am. So I guess the answer to your question is no, we have no history and I haven't had anything to do with her." She said, surprised at herself for saying so much.
They walked on a little further they came to some woods with a path. Katie was in the lead with Jessie close behind.
"Have either of you been back here before?" Katie asked.
"They don't let us wander much" Haley said.
"They keep us on a tight leash around here" Quinn said.
"I think you will like this little place we're going. If anyone asks where you went just tell them I was showing you around. That way you won't catch any flack about wandering off. So Quinn do you have a problem with Haley?" Katie asks.
Quinn thought for a moment then said "I guess I don't have a problem with her. It's pretty much like she said, we don't know each other. She just reminds me of the teacher's pet always kissing ass. I can't stand that."
Katie let Jessie walk beside her and they gave each other a look. Haley saw the look and said "There they go again."
Quinn said "What are you talking about?"
"Oh they have this telepathic thing going on"
"Great we're walking in the woods with a couple of psychos." Quinn muttered.
With that remark Jessie and Katie both stopped walking at the same time and the other two girls naturally ran into them.
Katie looked over at Jessie and gave her a wink that went undetected by the other two.
"Sorry about that but I just had a thought" Katie said.
"Me too" said Jessie.
"Were you thinking …."
"What I was thinking?"
And together they said "I think I was!"
Haley and Quinn looked at them like they truly were psychotic.
"Okay Billie after you"
"Oh no Billie you go first"
"Okay here's the deal." Katie said "Horse camp starts in about a week and a half. Jessie and I are going to be counselors. I am not sure how many helpers they have signed up and I was wondering if you two would like to help?"
"Of course you would have to find a way to get along with each other. Or better yet you might want to get to know one another. Since the reason you are here may have affected your attitudes a little it might pay off to start over. I don't want to have to knock your heads together for no reason." Jessie said.
"Haley you said you were going to start taking lessons and Quinn you expressed an interest in riding a few minutes ago so what better way to start than at the beginning? By helping the younger kids at camp you get to learn also. It's like a month of free lessons crammed into one week. Camp goes from 9-am until 4-pm. We'll have those campers whipped into shape by day two and our job will be easy. I'll be in charge of arts and crafts, Jess you of course will be in charge of music. Either one of you know how to operate a video camera? We'll work that out later once we have our final crew. And I am getting way ahead of myself, I'll be quiet now. Come on let's go, it's not far now"
As they walked through the woods the other three girls wondered what "IT" was. Katie hadn't said where they were going and since they were new here they had no clue.
A short time later they came to a clearing with a pond in it. Katie looked around and started walking toward an open sided cover. There was a picnic table in front of it and a net hammock hanging between two poles. At the pond itself there was a floating dock with a small row boat pulled up next to it.
"This has changed since the last time I was here" Katie said.
"This is a neat place" Jessie said.
"When we go back don't say anything about up here." Katie told them.
"Why not" asked Haley.
"Because you're trespassing" a deep voice from behind them said. "Now everybody be still."
Then the sound of a rifle cocked and a shot rang out.
tbc