I do not own any of S.E. Hintons amazing characters, wish I did though :) I do however own Jake, Katie and all the other non originals :)
Dallas groaned as he heard someone call his name. He opened his eyes a little to see Randy looking at him.
"Fuck off" he moaned and turned around.
"Common. Wake up. We gotta go to the ranch and I ain't mucking alone."
He normally wouldn't had said that to Dallas but he was tired and grumpy and hungover and couldn't care less. To his shock Dallas opened his eyes and sat up instantly.
"You guys gotta ranch?"
Randy looked at him oddly. "Yeah..."
Dally swung his legs off the bed and stared shuffling through his small pile of clothes for some jeans.
Randy exited and walked down the stairs still thinking about his reaction. What the hell?
Jake looked up to see Randy stumble in the kitchen with an odd expression on his face. Dally...
"I'll go wake him up." he grumbled while getting up angrily. He hadn't thought Dally would wake up but it would have been nice.
Randy looked up at him breaking out of his trance. "No he's up."
Now it was Jakes turn to look at him oddly. "What? How?"
It took him almost an hour to wake him up to go to the station to sign some papers saying he was still here and staying out of trouble. And that was at 9 AM. It was only a quater to 6 now.
Randy shrugged. "I dunno. He wouldn't get up but then I mentioned the ranch and he got up so fast you'd think he was getting burned."
Jake shook his head. Right when he thought he was starting to understand the kid he pulls something like this.
Sure enough a few minutes later Dally came trotting down the stairs looking suprisingly happy. When Dally was happy you couldn't help but be, because it was such a rare occurance.
"Are you hungry?" Jake asked but Dally shook his head. He remembered that he hadn't ate anything yesterday so following Darry's advice he pulled out some cereal, milk and a bowl and set it on the table for him. Darry had said he'd never eat if he was asked, because he won't ask for he wanted Dallas to eat he shouldn't ask him, he should just give it to him.
"So you have a ranch?" Dallas asked between mouthfuls. He hated how he
sounded excited so he attempted to calm down, but couldn't.
When he was younger, really young, his mom used to bring him to her
fathers ranch every summer. That was before she met Mitch. The monster. It was the only good memories he had of her. When he came to Tulsa to find his father he had paid for his room at motels by doing rodeos and races. He still did them now, though he hadn't since he begain staying with Jake. He missed the animals, especially the horses.
"Yeah. It's just a half hour from here. We keep a horse there, Star. Only go up once a week though, every Saturday. Every other day some people we hired take care of them. A lot of folks keep there horses there, it gotta training area and tracks and such."
Dallas just nodded. He remembered when Sodapop rode Mickey Mouse its
kept him in a place like that. He thought about Sodapop and decided to ask Jake something. "Uh...can we bring Sodapop. He loves horses."
Jake thought about it. Soda was his favourite out of the greasers, and
he seemed fairly trustworthy.
"Sure."
. . .
As soon as Jake pulled the car to a stop by the Curtis' Dally left the car and headed in the house.
Not a minute later Sodapop burst through the door, trying to hold his
undone jeans with one hand and carrying a shirt in the other. Dally
slowy stalked out behind him glaring at Sodapop who was now pulling his shirt on while still running to the car.
Once he got there he was fully dressed and slid in the back seat. He had a wide grin on his face. Soon Jake was smiling too at Sodapop's excited face. His smile was contagious. He bounced in the seat happily until finally Dallas came on the car and sat shotgun.
"Thank you for bringing me" Soda grinned while the car pulled out of
the drive way.
"No problem kid."
…
As Randy led the two greasers around the ranch he pointed thing out.
"That there is the training ring, and that is Colby." he said pointing
to a golden mare.
He continued this until he noticed that his followers had stopped in their tracks.
"Who's that?" Sodapop asked wide eyed, pointing to a beautiful black
mustang, rearing up in a ring.
"Oh, it's new. Hadn't been here long. Don't gotta name. They are gonna put it down though, it's crazy. Sent it's last trainer to the hospital."
Dallas grinned as he watched a group of people attempting to take it's
harness off. As soon as they came close to it the horse reared up, swinging its front legs threatening. Once it came back on all for it charged
at them, sending them jumping and flying out of the ring to escape it.
This will be fun, he thought grinning.
Randy followed as Sodapop and Dallas walked memerized closer.
Suddenly a large man who had watched the specticle threw his arms up in rage. "Just kill the fuckin' thing! It's useless!" he yelled while throwing he hat on the ground, and storming away, yelling about what a waste of money it was.
Sodapop stopped when he reached the edge of the ring but Dallas skilledly climbed over it into the ring. A group of people gathered around. "Kid, get outta there. Your gonna kill yerself!" someome called but Dallas appeared not to hear.
"Dallas!" Randy called but no response. He tried once again but Dally
ignored him. Shit.
He took off full flight towards the building where Jake was.
. . .
Dallas approached the horse slowly, keeping his eyes locked on it. He stopped when he was a good ten feet away and stood there stiffly, never moving his gaze until the horse shifted uncomfortably and grunted. Dallas didn't react he just kept staring.
The horse grunted again and turned so it and Dallas were staring head on. Dallas noticed a white line that drew down it's forhead.
After a few seconds Dallas started walking around it in a large circle
always facing inwards, never looking away from it.
The horse watched as he circled it and moved it front legs uncomfortably. Once Dallas completed his circle and returned to his original position the horse whined and did small warning buck. Dallas once again remained emotionless.
It brought it's head down and blew out air through it's nose. Its right hoof was
dragged across the dirt a few times slowly then placed back outfront. This meant one thing. It was going to charge.
The crowd watched anxiously while the broc stood stiffly for minute than in a flash was charging.
Dallas' heart bet heavy in his chest. His mind screamed at him to get out of the way, but he forced himself to stay still. He watched as the enraged horse charged towards him.
. . .
Jake looked impatiently at the papers in front of him. Why were bills so damn confusing?
Suddenly the door burst opened and Randy ran in. "Help! Come fast!" he
continued to ramble on so fast Jake could only make out the odd word.
Randy notice the blank look on his face. He didn't have time for this. He grabbed Jake's arm and pulled him behind him while he ran out the door.
Jake followed alarmed. What happened?
When he reached the top of the hill he learnt. He saw a crowd surronding a ring where the wild mustang was being kept.
But than he saw who was in there with it. heart stopped as he saw the horse bow it's head and charge towards the teen.
. . .
At the last possible moment Dallas stepped to the side, narrowly advoiding the horse.
When Jake reached the ring, he was glad to see Dally still standing. But than the horse bucked up and was about to bring its legs down on top of Dally!
He reached up to grab the top bar and began climbing into the ring to help Dallas but someone grabbed his shoulder and pulled him down. He looked to see Sodapop looking at him with a serious expression.
"Dont try to help him. You'll just get hurt. Watch."
Jake opened his mouth and began to tell Soda how much of an idiot he
was acting like but Sodapop cut him off.
"Dallas knows what his doing. He wouldn't do it if he didn't. Trust me."
Sodapop said looking at him with a sincere face.
Jake opened his mouth to protest but shut it. For some reason he did
trust him. He just hoped his trust didn't betray him.
Instead he just nodded his head and watched the scene infront of him
unravel with tightly gritted teeth.
. . .
Dallas ducked and darted beside the bucking horse. He knew it couldn't
hurt him until it got its legs back on the ground.
He watched it skeptically, analyzing every movement, just like he did
with the socs days earlier.
Its back muscles relaxed just a little, but it was enough for Dallas. He darted another ten feet in front of it while it was retuning to the ground.
They repeated their motions, it charged, he dodged, it bucked, he hid,
it went to the ground, he went back out front, twice.
Though on the third time something happened. As it charged Dallas didn't
step to the side.
When the horse was inches away Dallas wrapped his arms around it's neck, tilting his body on one side raising his right leg. As the horse passed him he tightened his grip and waited.
He closed his eyes as he felt his arms almost being ripped out of their sockets.
But just when he thought he couldn't do it and was going to let go his feet left the ground. He held in his breath and swung his right leg and high as he could, than gripped his legs tightly. Underneath him he felt muscles shift and bones rise and fall.
He got on the horse.
. . .
Jake watched in shock as the wild mustang charged at him once more.
But something different happened.
As the horse charged forward Dallas didn't move. 'Come on, move!' Jake
whispered quietly.
Suddenly the horse was upon Dallas. Dallas disappeared from sight for a moment and his heart stopped. No...
But as soon as he disappeared he reappeared, a top the horse. Jake felt his eyes widen and heard a few gasps from the crowd.
But suddenly the hose started bucking and throwing its body in all directions in a desperate attempt to get the human off of it.
He watched helplessly as Dally got thrown around on the horse, who
luckily hadn't fallen yet.
It was than Jake realized Dallas' problems were just beginning.
Dallas felt himself break out into a grin when he sat firmly on the horse. He quickly grabbed a peice of the harness in front of him just as the horse started to buck.
Nows the fun part. Dallas grinned as he felt the horses body rise and fall, jolt and shake. He kept one hand in the air out of habit but tightened his thighs around the horses midsection. No one was judging so it didn't matter about toe touches or his form.
As the horse rose and fell Dally felt himself being jerked around violently but forced himself to stay on. He moved his body with the horse and tried to become one with it.
Because this is what it is was all about.
Jake watched, his stomach in knots and his hands sweating, as Dallas being jerked around the horse. He waited for Dallas to let go, pummel to the ground, be trampled on, but this didn't happen. Right now at least.
Jake saw as Dallas slowly got used to the horse, and began to rise and fall
with it. He's body went with it and didn't fight it. If Jake hadn't been scared shitless he might of said it was amazing, but he was too worried to even begin to think like that.
Eventually the horse suddenly changed its tempo, and Jake watched as Dallas let go and flipped off to the ground.
He stopped breathing as he saw him land in a heap on the ground.
But suddenly Dallas hopped back up with a smile on his face. The only real
smile Jake had ever seen him have. It wasn't a smirk or a forced one, this one covered his entire face making him appear like a normal sixteen year old kid having a good time.
After inspecting a tear in the shirt Dallas pulled it over his head and grabbed onto the mustangs neck just in time to pull himself up again.
Dallas' muscles rippled under his skin as he flew with the horse. His arms flexed and his abs tightened and relaxed, moving just like the horses body did.
Jake didn't blink as he watched Dallas ride around, flying through the air like a crazy person on a crazy horse.
He looked over to see Sodapop still grinning. He felt himself relax a little when he saw him. He hasn't been wrong yet.
Dallas' smile never left his face as he rose and fell through the air. He felt the horse slightly shift postitions and sat a little to the right so when the horse jerked unexpectently to the left he didn't fall off. The horse blew air out his nose in fustration. The quick change in tempo is what threw Dallas off last time, but he had been expecting it this time and managed to stay on.
After a few more minutes Dallas willingly threw his body off of the fustrated horse landing off to the side. As the horse turned to face him, Dallas remained motionless, as did the horse. Everything was quiet.
After a few more minutes Dally slowly walked towards the horse. It grunted a little and Dallas stopped, but continued after a few seconds.
After minutes that felt like hours Dallas found himself directly in front of the horse. He held his hand out and slowly brought it towards it face.
The crowd watched in hushed silence.
His hand slowly neared its head. A few centimetres away. Two centimetres away. One centimeter away. Suddenly he felt his hand make contact with a hard but smooth surface. He broke into a grin again. "Good horse."
. . .
Jake saw another smile break out on Dally's face as his hand made contact with the horse. Soda let out a loud woop of happiness beside.
He couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene in front of him. He was waiting for the horse to buck up, charge, grunt, do anything, anything that'd show it's original character. The way it used to be. But it didn't. Dallas had tamed the untamable.
The large brurly man from before hopped in the ring and made his way over to Dallas and the horse cautiously. Once he was about ten feet away the horse grunted and he stopped dead in his tracks.
Dallas turned so he was facing the same direction as the horse and saw what had alarmed him. It was the man that was screaming at the beginning. Probably the owner he figured as he remembered his words. "Yah can come closer, it ain't gonna hurt yah."
The man walked forwards slowly and stopped a few feet away, still not trusting the horse. "What you do there boy?"
"What'd'yah mean?" Dallas asked confused.
"What did you do? How'd you train it?"
Dallas looked away from petting the horse to look at him. "I didn't train him. I just got his trust."
"Well I don't care what you did that there was amazing. Some of the best riding I've seen. What's your name boy?" said a new man, approaching behind the other one. This one was skinnier but still strong looking. A cowboy hat was placed ontop of his head hiding but a few tufts of blond hair.
"Dallas Winston." Dallas said allowing only a small smile when both the mens faces showed reconition of the name.
"The Dallas Winston." the large man stuttered.
"Well I don't know how many there are but with my life, most likely." he said with a smirk. "What's your name?" Dallas ordered more than asked.
"Well I'm Scott and this here is Sam." the skinnier one introduced who didn't seemed as moved by who Dally was than Sam. "And this here's our horse. Now we were gonna put 'er down until you showed up, and we ain't gonna let that slide. How much?" he asked while pulling a fat wallet out his back pocket.
"I don't need your money." Dally growled.
"Well I ain't gonna let you go unpayed." Ryan exclaimed but reluctantly pocketing his wallet.
"Fine." Dally snapped.
"How 'bout you...uh...name the horse." Sam said quickly just wanting to be out of the presence of the said to be devils kid.
"How 'bout you let my friend name the horse than you leave me the hell alone" Dallas bargained. Without waiting for an answer he yelled put to Sodapop who jumped the ring barrier and strod over there confidently. Once there everyone greeted him and Dallas told him his task before taking off, leaving two flustered cowboys listen to the wild list of names Sodapop listed off.
. . .
Jake looked up at the lowering sun ad decided to call it a day. After Dallys stunt nothing exciting happened. Sodapop had decided to call the horse Scribbles for only god knows why which Sam and Scott agreed to reluctantly only after listening to some of Sodas other ideas.
Although Dally had proved to know a lot about horses he refused to do anything that seemed even remotly like work leaving Randy to muck alone.
Although Dally had kept his cold attitude he seemed more at ease with the animals and disappeared within 2 hours of arriving.
Jake found Randy with their horse, Star and sent him to the car first. Another five minutes later he found Soda riding a golden purebreed after sweet talking it's owner, who just happened to be nice looking blonde.
He couldn't, however find a sign of Dallas. Where the hell are you? he thought angrily. But suddenly he knew. He didn't know how but he knew.
As he walked into a dark barn he heard soft talking.
"...guess ya don't know your parents either, huh. Well don't you worry, they ain't nothing special. Yeah, let me tell you something, your not missing nothing. Parents won't do nothing good for you. Ain't no such thing as good ones. Mr and Mr. Curtis were good, but you know what, they died. Left Darry to watch over his two little brothers, and the rest of the gang too.." Jake didn't move. He strained to listen harder even though he knew nothing good would come from it.
"...and Darry could've really been something too. He had scholarships and everything, he could have got outta here. But gods a bitch, he won't let us greasers get outta here. Maybe this is hell, and were stuck here forever...no.. it can't be hell, cause than Johnnycakes wouldn't have been here. Although I guess it was hell to him. Another thing with parents, his beat him. My dad did, well does I guess, but I don't really go home much. My mom didn't really, but her boyfriend did. God I never hated someone so much in my life. Not even the fuzz or teachers or anyone. He did things you ain't never ever supossed to do...fuck I hate him so much...so you ain't really missing anything you see...parents won't do any good for you...but if you get yourself a real nice owner, he can really be good for you...yeah..." Jake slowly stepped out of the barn. Why the hell did you listen? He didn't want to have heard those things, to ever hear those things. He could only guess what Dally was talking about half the time, but he hoped he was wrong.
He entered the barn again, though this time making as much noise as possible, hoping to warn Dally. Thankfully it worked.
When he stepped into the single stall he saw Dally sitting on a bucket beside a young foal. "Hey, were gonna head now. Who's this?" Jake asked breaking the silence.
"Jasper, I think." Dallas said standing up and giving it one final stroke before walking out the door with Jake. "Both it's 'rents and owner died in some nasty crash."
Oh. Well that explained all the parent talk. "Yeah I heard about that." Jake said, only lying a little. He had heard about the accident, he hasn't known that anything survived though.
As they got into the car and pulled out of the diveway onto a gravel road Jake glanced over to see Dallas looking out the window contently. The orange and pink from the setting sun coloured his face, making him look calm, and almost angelic.
Suddenly Dally felt as if someone was watching him and looked over to see Jake looking at him. "What?" he snapped.
Jake sighed. So much for angelic.
:) Hope you liked. I might update a lot today cause im sickand am missing school :)
Now about my very amazing reviewer Kari Suttle, of course you get a shout out, you have amazing reviews, and you review!
PS anyone who reviews shall get one, so REVIEW :)