"You sure you wanna do this, Rain? You outta all people know Sport can be pretty wild," Dallas said.

I sighed and bit my lip, then nodded, "yeah, I'm sure."

He sighed a bit and shrugged, "Alright, but you better be careful, 'specially with that side of yours from a few months back… I mean, I know Sport likes you, but still just be careful, got it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I got it."

"Buck can sign ya up over there." He pointed to where Buck was at a table where people could sign up to compete. I nodded and walked over.

I didn't know Buck too well, but we knew each other. He called me Rain, just like everyone else cause he knew that no one called me "Raina". I knew him and Dallas knew each other pretty well, pretty much cause Dallas always crashed at his place, so I guess that's how. I think almost everyone in the whole town knew Buck to some extent cause of the parties he threw. I had never actually been to one of those, but I wasn't into that kinda stuff like most other Greasers. That's what was different about me compared to other girls or just any Greaser, I guess. I didn't smoke, I didn't drink, I didn't party. Sure my friends smoked and drank sometimes, but it didn't bother me none, unless I did it myself, then I'd have a problem. I'd be laid up in bed for a week cause I couldn't take it.

Buck questioned if I was sure about the whole think. I tried my best to sound convincing when I said yes, and thankfully, he bought my act. Another thing I was thankful about was that Soda had kept his word and said he would race if I did cause his name was listed for those who were. But unfortunately, that didn't really ease up my nerves by a lot.

"Maybe I should just back out," I sighed and looked down at the ground.

"I don't think you should," Johnny said.

My eyes widened a little bit at his answer. "Why not? You don't think it's too dangerous?"

"We're Greasers, nothin' is too dangerous."

He managed to get me to laugh, so that was a good sign. "That's true… but everyone has a limit."

He nodded. "Good point… not to sound rude or nothin' but, why'd ya even sign up?"

"Sodapop convinced me to."

"I should've expected it to be him… well, I think you'll be fine. That horse don't like no one. I've seen other people try to ride him, and he always throws 'em off, except I never saw him throw you off. SO he must like you."

"He can still be wild."

He thought for a moment. "Has he ever thrown ya off?"

I shook my head, "No."

"Then you should be fine."

"Either way, he can still freak out at any minute and throw me off or somethin'."

"He ain't gonna hurt you. He hasn't in the past, and he won't now."

There was still another half hour till the whole thing started, and fifty minutes till the horse race. With every minute that passed, I could feel my heart start to beat a little faster. And I don't mean in excitement, I mean in nervousness. But, it was normal to be nervous, right? I mean, I never did this before, even with a calm horse, so that was normal right?

I was too nervous to even sit and watch everyone and Dallas compete in the competition before the horse race. I stood up from my seat with a heavy sigh and headed out of the row we were all in. I got questioning looks from the gang, but before they could question my actions or where I was going, I just shook my head and walked away from the benches.

I wasn't too much like most girls, but when I shook my head without saying a word, they knew that I didn't wanna talk about it quite yet.

I got to the stables and walked over to where Sport's stall. There were other people around at each individual stall, and I got some weird looks when they saw me, a girl, walk to Sport. I did get one impressed look from some tall blonde guy, but he just walked away with another horse. I looked at Sport and ignored the chatter between everyone around me and stroked his head. "I'm trusting you, alright?... you ain't gonna hurt me, right?" I asked. He blew from his snout and whinnied a little bit. I let out a sigh, "Geez, I hope that's a yes."

"What's a yes?"

I jumped at the voice from behind me. I turned and saw Dallas leaning against a wooden post of the stable, a smirk planted on his face. "You scared me," I said.

He nodded and walked toward me, "I figured as much."

I looked down then back at him. "Shouldn't you be out there? Competeing?"

He shook his head. "I'm done, that ended. They're setting up for the horse race."

I glanced at a person who walked past us with another horse. "Oh, alright…"

"You ready? They're about to call for whoever's racin'."

"Sure."

He sighed. "Look, I don't know if you were able to tell before or not, but I ain't too fond of you doin' this. But you'll be fine."

I gave a confused look. "Ok, you just contradicted yourself and everything you just said made no sense whatsoever."

"Whatever!" he raised his voice and sighed again. "I mean, that I ain't too fond of anyone ridin' Sport, but I kow you'll be fine cause I've seen you ride him. He don't let no one else ride him 'cept you. Pretty sure that means somethin'."

"He can still act up-"

I was cut off when Buck came to the back. "Rain, they'e callin' for you, they gotta start the race and if you're not there in a minute, you're disqualified."

I sighed, "Alright, I'll be right out." He nodded and went back out.

"That's your call," Dallas said, "Good luck." He turned to leave then stopped and looked at me over his shoulder, "Even if you don't win, try to beat Soda at least, he's the one who convinced you to do this." He smirked a bit and went out.

I let out another sigh, looked back to Sport, then opened his stall. I took the reins and led him out slowly, making sure no one was too close around so he didn't hurt anyone. There was another person a little ahead of me as I walked out and followed behind them. I noticed his hair, and it looked familiar, the way it was done and it's color. I shook it off until we were out in the center as the few other people got their horses ready in each station. I looked to the one to my left and saw the guy who was in front of me, that it was Soda. He looked up at me and grinned, like he planned that we would be right next to each other.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we now have the horse race!" the overhead voice called and sent the whole place into a clapping and screaming mess. He continued once they calmed down, "In the first stall, we have James Steel, who will be riding Igneous- which is almost always a winning pair!" The crowd cheered again and I saw the tall blonde guy wave, then glance at me and wink. I rolled my eyes and he turned back around, a smirk playing on his face.

"Our next competitor is Sodapop Curtis, who will be riding Ginger!" I could hear screams go all throughout the place, a lot of them being from girls when the announcer said "Sodapop Curtis", since every girl in the whole town was nearly in love with the guy. Girls had told me some nasty things and to stay away from him cause I would hang around him sometimes at the DX, but they knew we were friends, and they were jealous out of their minds. He waved just like the first guy.

"Our third competitor is newcomer, Rain Johnson, who'll be riding Sport! First girl to ever race one of these horses, and choosing Sport- if that ain't crazy I don't know what the hell is, people!" I heard a few people cheering, mostly my friends from where we had been sitting. I gave a small smile. "Wave," Soda whispered from beside me. I did as he said and he smiled and nodded.

"Our last competitor is our champion for the last few months, Jake Williams, who'll be riding Desperado! Rain, you couldn't have chosen a better day to start than with this guy around!" the announcer laughed. I looked at the guy on my right, who waved to the crowd and the crown was even louder than they were with James.

"Alright, you all know the rules, you cheat you're out!... alright, y'all ready? On your mark, get set…" I heard a gun. "GO!"

CLIFFHANGER! XD

I had to, I'm sorry! XD it's mostly cause I know nearly nothing about horse racing and I need to find out some stuff about it, cause that's not something we really do here too much in (New) Jersey, it's too cold most of the year that we don't ever get the chance, plus I know almost nothing about horses in general.

Anyway, hope you liked this chapter! Peace from all the hippies of the world! =^-^=