Kentucky Fried Road Trip

-Kendall-

After forty dollars and a countless amount of chicken buckets we've come to a conclusion. KFC does not taste better in Kentucky. I don't really know what we were expecting, some kind of evolution in taste or something, but if anyone wants to go to Kentucky just for KFC I'd tell them it tastes the same as the one down the street. Now I'm wondering if Starbucks tastes better in Seattle, I guess I'll find out eventually.

"So what's the plan for today?" Ronaldo asked, slouching in his chair.

Kick and I looked at each other when he said that, our faces had the same look of confusion. Neither of us really knew what we were going to do today. We had contemplated driving straight through to Memphis but Fiona got car sick, Moxie and I had to hold up her hair on the side of the highway, after that I don't blame her for not wanting to eat. I'm watching her carefully, she's looking down kind of like she's thinking, either that or she can see Christina and Ronaldo holding hands under the table (they're not fooling anyone). Regardless if Fiona has an idea she should probably speak up now.

"Fiona?" Moxie asked, as if picking up on her thoughts. Fiona's head jerked up at the sound of her name.

"Did you have an idea?" I asked her, she looked as though she was a little nervous to tell me, she's always been shy to share things in big groups. That's when I realized what she was looking at, the carpet beneath our table had horses on it. "You want to go horseback riding?"

Fiona smiled at me and nodded. "I think it might be fun."

"That sounds awesome!" Moxie says enthusiastically.

I'm glad that she likes the idea, and I can tell Kick likes the idea too because he's smiling ear to ear. I know how much he loves anything that goes fast and a horse is one of those things. Christina doesn't seem so excited however, she's being awfully silent. I'm not going to mention it in front of everyone and embarrass her, I'll talk to her about it later. Right now I'm excited to go horseback riding.

()()()

-Christina-

I am terrified of horses. Especially right now I'm standing on a ranch and this six foot tall grey and white beast that the jockey called "Thunder" is looming over me while I'm encouraged to give him a carrot. I know that he's eyeing the carrot and if I turn and run he'll come galloping and trample me to get the damn carrot. In the end I carefully give him the carrot but let go as he opens his mouth, he probably hates me for teasing him and will try to chuck me off while I'm riding him. I back away slowly when he huffs at me, and sit down on the closest bench as my friends feed their own horses carrots. I stared down and put my head down in my hands.

"English, huh?" A male voice said above me.

I looked up and saw the son of the ranch owner, his name tag read "Tristan" and he looked slightly older than me, probably nineteen or twenty years old.

"What?" I asked.

"The horse has an English saddle," Tristan explained. "You see Western saddles have a horn and more padding than an English saddle, see your friend with Fencer over there?"

He pointed to Ronaldo who was grooming a brown horse with a white blaze down his forehead, Fencer's saddle did have a horn where mine did not. I don't know which saddle I would have preferred now that I look at it, maybe there's no difference in what saddle you ride.

"Tristan!" A blonde girl with glasses called, she had a striking resemblance to Tristan, maybe they were twins. "Can you tack up Tank while I help dad shovel the manure out of the riding ring?"

"Duty calls," Tristan said to me with a wink as he turned to leave, but he turned around and said "Don't be scared to ride Thunder, he's the friendliest horse we own, my two year old nephew can ride him."

That made me smile, I stood up and walked back toward my horse. I cautiously reached out to pet his nose, half expecting him to buck his head up or trample me. But to my surprise he leaned towards me, and then he looked at me with his big blue eyes. His eyes were so glossy that I could see my reflection in them. He was a beautiful horse, and that's when I realized that this wasn't so bad.

"You ready to get on?" Fiona asked me, she was already riding high on her horse. You could tell that she had done this before.

"Yeah," I replied, forcing a confident smile. "I'm ready."

"Alright, now remember you always get on from the left side of the horse." She explained so I put my left boot in the appropriate stirrup and attempted to hoist myself up.

"Need some help?" I heard Ronaldo call from where he was finishing putting on his horse's bridle.

He didn't wait for my reply, he just ran over and hoisted me up onto the horse.

"Thanks," I said with a smile, then I leaned towards him and whispered "You're my hero."

His face grew red as he smiled bashfully, I watched him as he finished tacking his horse and climbed onto his horse with ease. He was almost as tall as the horse, it was kind of funny to watch.

"Alright we're going to have you all line up for a trail ride," The blonde girl with glasses announced, Tristan stood by her side. "Who here hasn't ridden before?"

I raised my hand, and so did Mouth. So we were the only two who had no idea what we were doing, great.

"Okay, so we'll have Thunder behind Jerome, and Derf behind Thunder." Blondie said, she grabbed my horse's bridle and lead him behind Jerome, Fiona's horse. Then continued to lead Derf, my brother's horse, behind mine she and Tristan did this until all of our horses were in a line.

She was bossing Tristan around a lot, saying stuff like 'these horses don't get along so don't put them together, these horses are best friends.' This got me thinking, how can horses be enemies or best friends? Although I guess it's a little like humans, we all have people we like and dislike, all of us have a leader we follow, maybe it's the same with horses.

"To get your horse to move you have to squeeze them with your legs and say walk." Tristan explained to me and Mouth.

I did as he said but Thunder refused to budge, so I gave him a little kick. This was probably not the best idea because he got spooked and took off trotting. I was trying to hold on to the reigns but it was hard when I was bouncing uncontrollably in the saddle, which was very painful. Fiona came trotting after me, she skilfully rose up and down in the saddle.

"Pull back on the reigns!" She yelled.

I did as she said and the horse stopped so abruptly that I flipped forward and landed flat on my back. Pain washed over my body and I didn't want to move.

"Oh my god your arm is bleeding." Fiona said as she jumped off her horse and rushed to my aide. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Ronaldo and Mouth climb off their horses, with Tristan and Blondie standing over me.

"Crap, Morgan get the first aid box." Tristan ordered Blondie (aka Morgan).

"Hey Chrissy, you alright?" Mouth asked, I smiled and nodded. This is the first time he hasn't been hostile to me since he saw Ronaldo and I kissing. He's still my big brother and he does care.

"I think I'm done." I said quietly.

"Do you want us to stay with you?" Fiona asked.

"No," I told her, she was the one who really wanted to do this. "You guys enjoy the trail ride, I'll be fine."

I slowly stood up, but there was a sharp pain in my leg that forced me back down. Ronaldo and Mouth helped me stand and carried me to the closest bench, that's when Morgan came back with the first aid kit. She carefully cleaned and wrapped my arm and then checked my leg.

"Your leg isn't broken, just bruised, it might be sore for a day or two," Morgan explained, she smiled at me and asked. "Do you want me to stay here with you while your friends go on the trail ride?"

"Yeah, that would be great." I replied, smiling back.

"I'll stay behind too." Ronaldo said, smiling at me, I don't think anyone could see it but he put his arm around my waist.

"I'll lead them on the trail ride then?" Tristan asked, to which Morgan rolled her eyes as if to say "duh."

As our friends left on their horses Ronaldo, Morgan, and I sat on the bench as chickens strutted around our feet. Morgan went into the barn and came out with a baby chick, it was the cutest thing I had ever seen. It was all fuzzy and yellow with tiny wings in which it instinctively attempted to flap, but Morgan kept him grounded in her firm grasp, knowing the chick couldn't fly.

"He doesn't realize that he cant fly." Morgan said as if picking up on my thoughts.

"Can I hold him?" I asked, it was hard not to ask in a baby voice, the chick was just so cute.

"Okay," Morgan said with a smile. "Be careful though, it's wings are delicate and might break."

Morgan carefully placed the chick in my hands, he flapped his little wings and turned it's head to look at me with his little black eyes. His feathers were the softest thing I had ever felt, I wondered if there were more baby animals wandering around here. Ronaldo lightly pet the top of the chick's head with the tip of his finger, he was so gentle, it was like he was afraid that the chick would break under his finger. A chicken strutted up to us and pecked at my converse sneaker, I was guessing that she was the mother. Somehow mothers always know who their child is.

"So you've got a lot of chickens?" Ronaldo asked as the hen pecked my shoe.

"We've got about a dozen of them," Morgan explained. "The hens get to live, we eat the roosters."

"What about that one?" Ronaldo asked, pointing to the only rooster that we could see.

"We only keep one rooster, you see roosters get competitive over their hens, they believe it's their duty to protect the hens." She explained, then she stifled a giggle. "Kind of like real men, get what I mean?"

I turned and looked at Ronaldo, who was blushing madly. Yes, indeed I do.

()()()

Everyone got back from the trail ride about forty five minutes later. Ronaldo and I were still sitting and talking with Morgan, she had picked us a few strawberries from the garden. I had no idea how sweet a wild strawberry was until I came to this farm. Morgan was telling us about how she lived here with her dad and brothers her whole life, how she had been riding horses since before she could ride a bike. She told us about how she learned to farm and live off of the land and how you cant get that in a big city like New York or LA. She asked us questions, like what we liked and what our ambitions were. Morgan was a social butterfly, the type of girl you could tell had a lot of friends, but she was also a genuine person, she told us how she and her brothers volunteered for Habitats For Humanity and how she was raising money to go to help Free The Children in Ghana. In a way I was actually glad that I didn't go on the trail ride, because then I wouldn't have had this time to learn about farming and animals and how you can do your part to give back to the world. After everyone had gotten off their horses and began to un-tack Tristan came over to check up on me, my brother trailing behind him.

"You okay?" My brother asked before Tristan could open his mouth.

"Yeah," I replied, giving him a smile. "It kind of stings when I walk but I'll be fine."

"Is she okay?" I heard Kendall yell from where she was taking off her horse's saddle. Mouth gave her a thumbs up and Kendall smiled. "Good, we were all worried about you."

Classic Kendall. Wouldn't expect anything less from her.

()()()

Christina's Play list #1

"Horses have green spit, gross!" or "Kentucky Fried Road Trip!"

Its Time by Imagine Dragons

Daydream Believer by The Monkees

Suddenly I See by KT Tunstall

Bulletproof by La Roux

Dead Disco by Metric

All That You Are by Ecoline Crush

1901 by Phoenix

What I Wouldn't Do by Serena Ryder

Heres To Never Growing Up by Avril Lavigne

You Give Love a Bad Name by Bon Jovi

Avery: This is ridiculous I haven't updated all summer. Its been really hard cuz right after camp my mom thought it was time for me to get a job so know I work part time as a grocery store cashier (stupidest job ever!) But my mom also said that next year I can study ancient civilizations in Europe if I get enough money, so we'll see how that goes. Anyways the next update will hopefully come soon. I love all of you my loyal readers and friends.