-- Authors Note --

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter… though I would like more. I am a greedy person, I know. There are a few changes in Amy's family regarding age and siblings but all will be explained momentarily. Review!

-Steph

Disclaimer: Everything recognizable belongs to Lauren Brooke. Everything else belongs to me, which includes the plot.

Rodeo Stoner

Chapter One – Family Vacation

Four years later

I walked down the stairs, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, thankful that it was the summer vacation and I didn't have to go to school. I didn't even feel guilty about leaving all the mornings' cores to Joni and Alej, Heartland's two stable hands, quite a rarity for me. But, hey, a girl needs her sleep.

Heartland was a horse farm that my parents, Marion and Tim Fleming started after my dad, Tim, was in a bad jumping accident with his prize jumper, Pegasus. Dad was confined to a wheelchair for some time and was unable to continue competing at the high levels that he had. My parents decided that it was time to move away from England and we came to Virginia in the United States of America to my Grandpa's once cattle ranch. Heartland is a special kind of horse farm that specializes in treating abandoned, abused or frightened horses using natural flower remedies and methods, such as Join-Up to gain their trust. Heartland is a place that never uses punishment, whips or harsh words on the horses. It's Heartland's mission to cure all the horses that come to us and re-home all horses that need a good home once they are cured. I have helped my parents with the horses for as long as I could remember.

The old stairs creaked slightly beneath my feet as I trudged down them.

The rest of my family was already sitting around the table in the old farm houses kitchen when I got there. I plopped into my usual seat without a word, yawning wide.

There was my mom and dad, my eighteen-year-old sister, Lou, Abbey, the baby of the family at five.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," dad teased me. I grunted in reply.

"Bagel and eggs?" Mom asked me as she got up from the table and walked over to the stove and toaster oven.

"Sure." Even though I was still half asleep it didn't mean I wasn't hungry. And that everything bagel smelled good, too.

"Do you want me to heat up the eggs?" Mom asked, looking over her shoulder at me.

"No, it's okay."

Mom placed a plate with an everything bagel, the butter melting on it, and scrambled eggs in front of me. I picked up my knife and spread cream cheese on the bagel. I took a bite. Now that's what I call a good breakfast.

"Amy, Amy! Guess what?" Abbey chirped excitedly in her little girls' voice from her chair at the big table. I looked over at her; sure enough she was bouncing up and down in her seat. Her tight blonde ringlet, inherited from mom (I'm the only one of dad's three daughters that got his hair) bouncing up and down around her face.

"What is it, Abs?" I took another bite of my bagel, this time adding some scrambled eggs to the mix.

"Guess where – guess – guess where," she was so excited that she couldn't even get the words out and she spoke in that little kid way, repeating words over and over but not in a stuttering way. "Guess where – where we're going?" She finally got it out.

Mom and dad looked at each other with a small smile.

"I don't know, Abs," I really didn't know but instead of asking mom and dad I decided to humor my little sister. "Where?"

"We – we're going to – going to a dude ranch!"

"We are?"

"Yes! In Wyom – Wyomening!" She smiled wide.

"It's Wyoming, Abs, remember?" Lou said gently from next to Abbey.

Abbey looked at Lou for a moment. "Oh yeah! Wyoming!"

I got the feeling that I had missed something while I was sleeping. "What did I miss?" I addressed the question to mom and dad.

Mom smiled at me. "We were going to wait until you woke up to tell everyone but Abbey dragged it out of us."

"Hey!" Abbey said indignantly, putting her little hands on her hips.

Mom patted Abbey's back gently. "We, your father and I," she began, her blue as twinkling, "decided that since this is our last summer together as a whole family before Lou goes away to college in the fall –"

"And I go to kindergarten," Abbey put in proudly.

"That's right, dear, before you start kindergarten and Lou goes to Princeton," it was a big deal in my family, Lou getting into Princeton I mean. "We decided that this summer should be spent together as a family. We haven't been on a real vacation in a long time so we decided to do just that this summer."

"Where are we going?" I asked curiously.

"We're going to –"

"Oh, oh! Can I – can I tell, daddy?" Abbey begged in that little kid way that no adult with half a heart can resist. And that half emphasis on 'daddy' really laid it on thick.

"Of course you can, sweetie," my dad's a sucker for that little kid look that Abbey mastered at a young age. I had no hand whatsoever in teaching it to her… I swear.

"We're going to – to Yellowrock!"

I looked at mom and dad.

Dad mouthed, "Yellowstone," back to me.

I nodded in understanding.

"Really, Abs?"

"Yes! And we're – we're going to stay at a – at a… dude ranch!"

I looked at mom and dad with a raised eyebrow. "It isn't really a 'dude ranch', hun," mom said gently.

"Yes it is!" Abbey said firmly.

Dad chuckled and looked back at me. "It's a bed and breakfast, essentially, at this little ranch just out of Cody, Wyoming. Guests stay in these little cabins, breakfast is served in the main house every morning and a traditional barbeque is held there every Wednesday by the fire pit. You can go on trail rides and all right there. It is about a fifteen minute drive to Yellowstone and about the same to town. We can go rafting, riding, hiking, on a wild horse tour and to see the rodeo, among other things."

"Awesome." The whole idea of a "family vacation" sounded a bit questionable but all in all it didn't sound like it would be that bad. "What's this place called?"

"It's called the New Hopes Ranch."

I raised an eyebrow. "Interesting name."

"It's nice," mom said. "Very inspiring." I rolled my eyes in Lou's direction and she cracked a grin back towards me. What an utter 'mother' thing to say. Especially coming from my mom.

"How long are we staying?" I moved along, going right down my list of questions.

Mom and dad exchanged a glance. I eyed them suspiciously. I had a feeling that whatever I heard next would not be good. "We are staying at New Hopes Ranch for two weeks," mom's statement didn't sound complete for some reason.

"And…?" I prompted her on.

"We had planned to make this trip last a full month," dad dropped the bomb.

My mouth fell open. A month? Well there goes all of my summer plans. Maybe I was over reacting a bit but there was only so much time of national parks, museums and historical things and touristy outings – the fact that it was with my mom just made it that much more worse. She was one of those people who were all into the national parks, museums and historical things. It got quite annoying.

"Now before you say anything," mom said before I got the chance to object, "just think about it. This is the opportunity of a life time. Think of all the amazing sights and animals you will be able to see!"

"The second two weeks would be spent in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and at The Grand Tetons," Dad supplied for my benefit.

Mom nodded her head eagerly. "Think of all the things you'll learn!"

Oh yeah, now that you mention that…

"Don't even bother," Lou advised me. I looked up at her questioningly. "I've already tried everything. We're really stuck into going on this thing." Well, didn't Lou just sound thrilled.

"Come on, girls," mom sighed. "Your father and I have planned this amazing trip for us to enjoy as a family. Please try and be positive about it."

"I'm positive, mommy!" Abbey said excitedly.

"Yes, I know you are, dear. Thank you," mom smiled at her youngest daughter.

"I want to see the wild horsies!"

"We'll see a lot of wild horses," mom promised a grinning Abbey. She turned back to me and Lou. "Why can't you two girls have the same enthusiasm as your sister here?"

"Mom," Lou leant forward in her chair, "she's five."

"And a half!" Abbey added indignantly.

Little kids were easy like that. Everything sounded fun and enjoyable to them.

"Buck up, girls," dad said, "we're going to have an amazing summer. You won't want it to end."

Lou and I exchanged a look that clearly said, I can't wait for it to end.

"This will be our last real family vacation," he added for affect.

"Fine." I don't know why I said that. It's not as though they needed my agreement for the whole thing. "When do we leave?"

"One week from tomorrow."

&

"A 'dude ranch'?" My best friend, Soraya Martin tried to suppress her laughter.

I nodded grimly. That was all it took for Soraya to break down in a fit of laughter.

"It's really not that funny at all," I reminded her.

She looked back up at me, doing a fine job at containing her laughter, only a few little burst escaped here and there. "That was not funny laughter," she told me, "that was pity laughter," she pointed out factually before she burst into laughter again. "With just a side of humor," she added.

"Thanks so much for the support, Raya," I said sarcastically.

"Oh come on, Ames," she laughed at me. "You've got to be the only almost sixteen-year-old in the country that has to go to a dude ranch. It is pretty funny," she insisted.

"It's a bed and breakfast," I corrected her lamely. As if that fact made it any less embarrassing. I was almost seventeen after all and here I was, going to spend two perfectly good weeks before I start my senior year of high school at what was, first and foremost, a dude ranch.

"Look on the bright side –"

"What bright side?" I mumbled grumpily.

"—you might meet a hot cowboy," she concluded.

I stared at her. "You know, Raya, cowboys really aren't my type."

"It's called a summer fling, Amy," she educated me as we walked into the main stable block at Heartland.

"I don't do summer flings."

"Have you ever tried?"

"No," I responded hesitantly.

"Well then how do you know you can't do one?" I didn't respond. Soraya seemed quite proud of my silence.

"Nevertheless, cowboys really aren't my type," I said yet again.

"What's not to love about a cowboy?" Soraya asked me as we walked slowly down the aisle of the barn. Horse's heads poked out on both sides to look at us. "They're all hot and manly…" she trailed off.

"Well then I'll be sure to bring you back a cowboy," I told my friend. "Maybe they have pocket sized cowboys," my joke failed miserably. Soraya raised and eyebrow at me. "Not like that, Raya."

"See?" She began haughtily. "You're having kinky fantasies about cowboys, too."

"I'm not," I insisted. "But you most definitely are."

"I never said I wasn't."

"You're too much," I shook my head. How had Soraya become to be my best friend? It was a mystery that I would always ponder on. It was like the mystery of what dinosaurs actually looked like, like color wise. It would never be solved for sure.

"Alright, so sexy cowboys' aside…" Soraya paused and looked around the barn. "Who am I riding today?"

I was relieved at the end of the cowboy conversation. "Well," I said as we stopped at the end of the barn, "I thought that you could ride Sundance."

Soraya turned to look at me with shock. "Me? Ride Sundance?" she echoed in shock. "Your precious pony that only you can ride?"

"Yeah," I couldn't help my smile. "He could use the work out… unless you don't think you can handle him of course," I teased her. Sundance was known as a handful, he only really liked me to ride him. He was a brat with people and horses alike.

"Of course I can handle him," Soraya exclaimed indignantly. "This is Soraya Martin, Queen Equestrian you're talking to."

"Of course," I laughed. "How could I have forgotten?" I joked.

"I don't know…" Soraya pondered it. She looked back up at me a moment later. "Anyways, who are you going to ride if I'm riding your mighty steed?"

"I thought I'd take Ginny out today," I told her. Soraya nodded in understanding, she knew almost everything about every horse here at Heartland. Ginny was a twelve-year-old, Quarter Horse Paint cross. She was white with palomino markings, she was a gorgeous mare. She was shown by her owners in jumping but had taken to refusing fences. She had come to Heartland and we had helped her. She was all set to go back home in the next few days so I figured I'd give her one last good ride. "I figured we could take them on the cross-country trail, I know Gins would like that. And Sunny too of course," I stroked his buckskin head that had popped out next to me.

Soraya and I grabbed our grooming kits and tack from the tack room before returning to our respective horses stall. I set to work currying Ginny's soft coat. I glanced over to see if Sunny was treating Soraya alright but all I saw was Soraya's shoulders shaking as she brushed Sunny down.

At first I thought she was crying which led me to believe that Sunny had bitten her. "Raya?" I asked in alarm. "Are you okay?"

I was given no verbal answer. Instead she just burst out laughing, muttering incoherent things all the while. All I caught was one word, and that word was, "cowboy." I shook my head and returned to brushing Ginny. I didn't say anything and soon enough Soraya's laughter died down a bit. I still heard the occasional chuckle though.

I concentrated on sweeping the body brush along Ginny's back. Her withers twitched to get a fly off. I patter her side once I was done and gently placed the saddle pad and saddle on her back.

Soraya was insane, she had to have lost her mind over night or something. What was so good about a cowboy anyway? Sure, maybe they did have the tendency to be hot and all (and those Stetsons were damn sexy) but cowboys so weren't my type.

Me and a cowboy?

HA

Like that would ever happen.

a/n: It was really short, I know but the only point of this chapter was the first part. The second was purely for my enjoyment. It would have been up sooner but my slacker side took charge and I spent my time downloading music videos off of iTunes and then watching them. Good times… haha. Now, I have a… one could call it a "bribe" I suppose. I will post a special chapter all about Ty as the next chapter if I get ten or more reviews for this chapter. If not, bye-bye, Ty! You can just have more of Amy… you KNOW you want to review now… all of you. Review! -Steph