"You're quiet," Jen said as we neared the school. The silent treatment was driving me insane, it gave me time to think and I couldn't stop thinking about what was going on. Why was dad all stressed out? Why did he and Gram constantly have their noses in The Book? Worse of all...

Were we in trouble?

Being a rancher, it never seemed like you were 'financial sound'. Ranching is risky business, it's never set and you never know what you're going to make. You can guess, but usually you'd be wrong. Even though it was always like this, dad never seemed to be worried, at least not this much. It was freaking me out.

"Hello? Earth to Sam?" Jen waved her hand in front of my face and I blinked. She looked at me concerned. "We're here."

I hadn't even noticed that the bus had pulled into the school and half of the kids were off of the bus already. I shook my head as if wanting to clear my brain, it was a temporary fix. Grabbing my bag, I slung it over my shoulder and followed Jen off of the bus. She stopped me and pulled me away from the flow of walking teenagers.

"Are you ok?" Her eyes studied me as if they could enter my brain and dig everything out.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm good."

Unconvinced she still stared at me. I cleared my throat and hiked my bag higher onto my shoulder. "Well, I'll see you later." I walked towards homeroom even though there was still ten minutes before the first bell and I could feel Jen's eyes watching me until I disappeared.

x-x-x-x

Computer class was definitely awkward. When Chrystal walked in our eyes met and she quickly looked away. Not only was she a traitor, but apparently a coward too. She asked Mr. Henry if she could change seats, saying I was a distraction. Really, she was scared of me. I was like I was the bear to her deer--boy was I hungry and did she know it.

I felt like I was glaring a lot recently and I was again as I spun in my chair. Aggravation, anger, and worry all churned in my stomach--along with some motion sickness. Dad was hiding something from me and I knew it. On top of that, he hadn't made me learn how to operate The Book yet, after all his threats. Now all I needed to do was figure out where they kept it and how I was going to get a peek without them knowing.

I was going to get to the bottom of this.

"Foster! Cease!" Mr. Henry bellowed and I spun my chair really fast just for good measure. It probably wasn't the best idea considering I had now gotten my chair taken away.

x-x-x-x

I sat down at the lunch table and set my tray down with a loud smack. I sighed and nearly knocked Darrel's girlfriend off of the bench.

She glared at me then at Darrel. "Really?" She asked her voice completely prissy. It was as if she couldn't believe I had the nerve to sit here or even next to Darrel for that matter.

With his mouth full of cheeseburger he shrugged. She slapped her hands on the table and stood.

"Fine, hang out with Dumpster Girl see if I care," she walked away all huffy and I paused. Dumpster Girl?

"You know, I don't know why she keeps coming back," I said still mauling over her Dumpster Girl comment. Was she one of Rachel's fembots?

Darrel snorted then turned to me his face serious, which was scary to see on Darrel. "Are you ok?" He asked. I felt like I was getting that a whole lot recently.

I shrugged, nonchalant. "Yeah, I'm cool."

He picked up the last bite of his burger and ate it. "I saw the video, that was kind of brutal."

I dropped my soggy french fry and turned to stare at Darrel confused.

"Video?" I opened my mouth to ask the same question but it was Jake who did. He sat down across from us, a tray of fries in front of him. He picked one up and flicked it into his mouth. "What video?"

Darrel looked at us both nervously. "You don't know?"

My fries sat on my tray untouched, probably getting cold. "Know what?"

Darrel looked anywhere but at me and I too grew nervous. "Darrel-"

"There's a video being sent around of Rachel and her jocks throwing you in the dumpster," he said finally.

I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head. "What?" I hissed and reached into his pocket to grab his phone. He jumped and Jake got up to come sit next to me so he could see.

I held the phone under the table and searched for a video message under Darrel's phone. It was probably an invasion of property but I didn't care. I found it and opened it and sure enough there was me dangling from the grip of Rachel's pack mules. You could hear Rachel and her bimbo's laughing and bile rose in my throat. Acidic rage threatened to choke me once again and I really wanted to hit someone--that someone being Rachel.

Jake snatched the phone from me, his jaw was clenched and he looked like he was ready to hit someone too. He closed the phone with a snap and tossed back to Darrel who barely caught it.

A group of football players walked past us, Jake and I both looked up. I saw the two who threw me into the dumpster. They looked at me and winked.

"Hey babe!" One of them yelled and started laughing. Jake and Darrel both stood, pushing their trays away. I grabbed them by their shirt tails and tugged.

"Sit down!" I hissed yanking on them again, not that it helped any. Still glaring at the football players they sat. I blew out the breath I was holding and my bangs flew away from my eyes. "Sheesh."

Talk about an overload of testosterone.

"Both of you just cool it ok? I got this," I said shoving a handful of cold fries in my mouth. Neither of them looked like they were going to let this go.

x-x-x-x

Again gym was nothing but intro games that no one participated in. I walked towards the bleachers, passing Rachel and her followers, Chrystal was with them. She looked down as I walked past and I hoped that she could feel the burn of my gaze.

"Is it just me or does something...stink?" Rachel asked a sneer on her face. The fembots giggled and I just smiled sarcastically.

"It's about time you noticed Rachel, just FYI there is this thing called deodorant. You should invest in some." I said cheerily.

The fembots stopped giggling and looked at Rachel. You could see her face turning a little pink under the layers of foundation.

"No it's not BO, more like...dumpster." Again, she smiled.

I shrugged. "Hey, everyone has their own smell, I guess yours is dumpster." Before she could retort I hopped up the bleachers till I reached the top. I let my bag slide from my shoulder and plopped myself down, watching the clock. Gym couldn't be over fast enough.

The gym doors flew open and I looked up. My jaw hit the floor when I saw Jake and Darrel strolling in, they showed Coach Barnes their passes and he nodded, pointing towards the bleachers. They looked at me and started walking in my direction. Confused and curious, I grabbed my bag and met them halfway down the bleachers.

"What are you doing here?" I asked throwing my bag over my shoulder.

Darrel smiled, waggling his eyebrows he handed me his pass. "Jake's momma got us early leave."

If you could call thirty minutes before the last bell early. I scrunched my brows in confusion. Why would we get early leave?

"Why?" I handed Darrel his pass, he was still smiling but at least the brow waggling had stopped.

Now Jake was grinning sheepishly. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I told her about your...situation...and asked if we could leave early."

I face grew hot and I looked down hoping my hair would hide my flushed cheeks.

"She said we need to cheer you up," Darrel said sounding excited. "I don't know why we need this baboon here. I could cheer you up myself Darlin'," he winked and got smacked in the back of the head by Jake.

Still I smiled, despite Darrel's not-so-suttle hinting. "Thanks guys."

Both of them smiled and I felt my chest swell. "You're welcome," they replied in unison.

We all thudded our way down the bleachers sounding like a herd of elephants. Rachel put herself in our path and smiled sweetly at Jake.

"Hi Jake," she tried acting shy, I pretended to vomit. Her smile faltered but never ceased.

Jake grabbed my hand and brushed past her, not even acknowledging her presence. I wanted to laugh in her face but settled for the look of fury. Darrel wrapped his arm around my shoulder and we walked out of the gym together, all eyes following us.

But my worries were else where. "Um, what exactly did you guys have in mind?" I asked wondering what they were planning.

Darrel grinned and squeezed my shoulder. "You'll see."

This couldn't be good.

x-x-x-x

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.

I ducked behind a barrel and pulled my mask down lower on my face. The glass was fogging up from my breath and I tried sticking my hand in there to clear it up. It didn't work as well as I thought it would but at least I could see a little better now. I pulled my gun closer and peeked around the barrel.

Where did they go...

As if answering my question I saw one of them dart across the ground. I aimed towards them and pulled the trigger. Orange paint splattered all over him and he held up his arms in surrender as five more paintballs hit him in the chest.

Darrel pulled off his mask and let it dangle in his hand. "Ok, ok! You got me!" He smiled and shook his head. "Got shot by a girl...who woulda thought." He muttered walking off the field.

I smiled and wiped the glass to my mask again...so much for being ventilated. My heart pounded and I felt the adrenaline running through my veins. Paintball was their plan to cheer me up...and boy was it working. I crawled behind a piece of plywood and peeked around it.

Where the heck was Jake?

There was no sign of him so I decided to make a run for it to the next piece of shelter. No point on sitting idle, twiddling my thumbs. I really wanted to shoot Jake--that probably wasn't healthy.

Shots rang out and I jumped, tucked, and rolled behind a rusty car. We were at Darrel's house; he had an entire paintball field set up. It was perfect and quite popular, some kids even paid to come and play here.

Breathing hard I looked over the car...no sign of him. I twisted and sat back down, feeling a presence I looked up. Jake loomed over me--no doubt smiling--and pointed his gun at me.

Well crap.

"You got three seconds." He said. It was clear he was enjoying himself.

Scrambling to me feet I surrendered my gun and ran. At least he was letting me get some distance before he lit up my ass.

I started when I felt one hit me in my butt and jumped as another hit my boot. When I twisted around to show he had gotten me another hit me right in the mask.

"Alri-"

I was cut off as a bunch more hit me in the chest. Despite having a mask over my face I glared at Darrel and Jake who leaned over the car laughing. Peeling off the mask I threw it at them and they both ducked.

Still, I was smiling, sure they were laughing at my expense...but I did feel better. I walked over to them and fell to the ground between them. I leaned against the car trying to catch my breath. After they stopped laughing it was quiet, all of us sitting and trying to control our breathing.

After a few minutes Darrel pushed himself off of the car. "Who's hungry?"

Jake and I looked at each other and raised our hands.

x-x-x-x

We earned a couple of looks walking into Clara's. We hadn't bothered to change out of our gear and were covered in multi colored paint. Clara looked up from behind the counter she smiled and waved at us, of course she didn't mind the paint; it wasn't the first time we came in here looking like this.

We sat at our usual booth and it only took a few minutes for Clara to bring us our milkshakes. Being regulars here, we didn't even have to bother ordering, she just made it up for us.

"Same thing?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips as she watched us drink our shakes to fast. I nodded and so did Jake and Darrel, we nearly never deviated.

Coming up for air I slapped my forehead and banged my head on the table.

"Brain freeze," I moaned into the table top.

"Why is it your brain always freezes first?" Jake asked and I reached a hand up searching for his face so I could smack it. I found his nose and pinched it; pulling back I brought my fisted hand to my lap.

"Got your nose." I mumbled my face still on the table. Darrel started laughing and I could practically hear Jake rolling his eyes.

"Are you sure you're fifteen?" He asked not sounding convinced that I was.

I sat up smiling, my brain freeze only a small lingering presence. I put my fisted hand on Jake's nose and made a popping noise with my mouth.

"Fixed your nose."

Darrel was still laughing when our food came and I actually felt happy.

x-x-x-x

Jake and Darrel dropped me off back home. I smiled and climbed out of the car.

"Bye guys...and thanks," I said before shutting down the door.

Darrel winked. "Anytime, Darlin'."

Jake shrugged. "No problem, Brat."

Oh, the affection.

I waved and watched them pull out over the bridge. I decided to go to the barn before going inside. Dallas was in there and I smiled at him.

"Hey, Dal," I said pausing in front of each stall to give the horses a pat. When I got to Ace's I went inside.

Dallas limped over to Ace's stall and leaned against the door.

"Hey, Sam." He looked worried and I stopped giving Ace kisses so I could turn my full attention to him. His old eyes shined a little too brightly and his voice sounded gruffer than usual.

"Dallas...what's wrong?" I walked to the door and put my hand on his shoulder. Something was clearly upsetting him.

"You uh-you should go inside Sam," he said looking down at the straw in Ace's stall. He unlatched the door for me and I walked out slowly. My panic was slowly rising and I heard a car pull into the yard. Clenching my jaw and giving Dallas one last worried glance I ran from the barn.

An unfamiliar shiny Acura was parked next to Dad's rusted truck. A man in a suit, carrying a brief case tried to shoo off an excited Blaze from the porch. I let out a shrill whistle that made them both turn.

"Blaze!" I yelled my voice sounding a little choked. Blaze hopped from the porch and ran to sit by my side. The man nodded to me and the screen door opened.

Gram's face was grim as she ushered him inside. I jogged to the car and peeked inside the window, it was immaculate, nothing inside to tell me who the strange man was.

Swallowing hard I backed away from the car and saw a small sticker on the window. It was to some bank. My stomach dropped as realization dawned on me.

"No...," I spun and ran for the house. I too the porch steps two at a time and ripped the screen door open.

"Foreclosure?" Dad choked out as I had opened the door. Gram had tears in her eyes and they all looked at me when the screen slammed open.

"Sam," dad went to stand but looked at the papers in front of him, stopping. My legs felt like jelly underneath of me and I held onto the door frame for support.

"Fore-foreclosure? What...what do you mean?" My voice sounded panicked and unlike me. It was loud and echoed throughout the house and empty ranch yard. I grabbed at my hair and pushed it away from my face. My breath was coming to me in short bursts. "You can't...it can't be! This is my home you can't take it away!" I yelled desperately.

The strange man frowned gathered his things. "I'm sorry," was all he said.

"You're sorry? You're sorry? You're taking away my home and you're sorry?!" My voice cracked at the end and Gram sniffled.

"Sam, stop...," dad said weakly.

"No! There has to be something," I looked at the strange man who looked uncomfortable. I was blocking his way out. I lowered my voice, desperate. "There's something right?" I was breathing hard from all the yelling and there was a lump lodged in my throat that threatened to choke me.

He frowned. "I'm afraid not...I'm sorry." He bowed his head and slid past me and walked to his car as if he couldn't get away fast enough.

"Sam-"

Hot tears left trails on my cheeks and I let the screen door slam shut behind me. I jumped down the porch steps and heard the door open behind me.

"Sam, wait!" Dad yelled from the door but I was already running.

I felt hopeless, panicked, and scared, the only thing I could do was run...and I did.