Young Writers Society

Fawn saw Colt and he smiled at them.

"How was the work out today, guys?" Colt asked.

"Prettty good." Kyle smiled. "She's ready for you to watch."

"You think your ready?" Colt asked Fawn. She nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"Alright, let's go then." He led her out towards the corral. "Kyle, go see what Jack's up to?"

"Wait, he won't be there?" Fawn asked looking towards Kyle.

"Nope, you can do it though." He smiled at her. She bit her lower lip.

"YOu can do it, Fawn. Don't worry. I'll be back when your done." Kyle smiled abck. She nodded and followed Colt her nerves flying like crazy. She wanted Kyle to be there.

"Alright, mount up." Colt said. Fawn nodded and mounted up on Heart's back. "Ok, walk her forward. Back. Right. Stop. Turn around." He kept telling her different things to do and she shut off emotions and did them without a second thought.

The first place Kyle checked was the stables. Jack was there, along with Tawny and Liz, the third girl at the ranch.

"Hey, Jack," Kyle said casually. "I thought you were supposed to be doing your own work."

"We were just helping him," Tawny said quickly. "He needs a hand every once and awhile."

Kyle glanced at Liz. The tense set of her mouth told him Jack hadn't exactly asked.

He leaned against a stall. "Y'all know the rules here. Everybody does their own work."

Liz put down her leather-polish. "Yeah Jack, you're a strong guy. You can do all this."

Kyle jerked his head towards the house. "Go on then. Tawny, you too."

Both girls left the stables, Liz looking relived, Tawny worried. She glanced over her shoulder and blew Jack a kiss.

Kyle waited until they were out of earshot before turning his attention to Jack. "Smooth move there. Now, get to work."

"Why do you even care?" Jack sneered. "What if they really wanted to help me?"

"From the look on Liz's face, she didn't." Kyle replied. "Now, get going."

~~~

After about half an hour Kyle went back to the ring. His timing was perfect; Fawn was just finishing.

Colt clapped. "Good job! You're ready to go outside the ring!"

Fawn looked up with a shy smile on her face. When she saw him, her smiled broadened.

Kyle opened the gate for her. "Congratulations! A well earned privilege."

She blushed. "Thanks."

He followed her to the stables. "How's about we go see Blessing this Saturday? Gives you something to look forward to this week."

Fawn's smile returned. "Sure!"

Fawn couldn't help by smile. She followed him into the barn and even the sight of Jack wasn't going to ruin her good mood. Heart danced uneasily when they walked past Jack, Fawn didn't like him being their either, but they got to Heart's stall and she brushed her down.

"Get in trouble or something?" Jack sneered. "Colt doesn't seem to work with anyone."

"No, acctually, I was just passing the test so that me and Heart can ride outside the ring." She replied gritting her teeth.

"Oh, so they're actually trustin you not to run away?" He laughed. "Old habits don't die. You've taken off from every house you've been at."

"That's enough, Jack. We trust her." Kyle said in a firm voice.

"Well, that's trust misplaced. That girl never tells the truth about anything. If you can even get her to talk more then a few sentences." Jack laughed before slipping in the tack room to finish up his work.

**Sorry, it's short**

"What about you?" Kyle said coldly. "I'm sure you've never tried to run away. Or does that evening ride not count?"

Jack was thrown off balance by his comment. He quickly recovered. "Still no reason to trust her."

Kyle watched Fawn leave the barn. "Still no reason to trust you."

"What's going on?" Colt asked from the entrance.

Kyle shrugged. "Nothing. Jack was just-- congratulating Fawn on being able to ride outside the ring."

"I'm sure he was," Colt said drying. "Go on Kyle. I'm sure you have homework to do like every other kid."

Kyle chuckled. "What makes you sure I haven't finished it already?"

Colt laughed. "Because you've been here all weekend!"

"I could have done it at school..." Kyle trailed off when he saw Colt's disbelieving stare. "Okay, so I have homework. Bye y'all!"

He was almost finished saddling Dusty when he got a feeling to check on Fawn. He went to the tree he usually found her in and saw her sitting on a branch, curled up.

Kyle climbed up and sat on a branch beside her. "Don't let him get to you Fawn. The fact that Colt is even letting you ride outside the ring proves he trust you."

She looked at him, red eyed from crying. "Thanks."

He patted her shoulder. "And remember you'll see Blessing at the end of the week. Just make sure you get a little trail practice in before then."

Fawn nodded and smiled a little. "I will. And Kyle? Thanks."

He smiled. "No problem."

Kyle climbed down and went back to Dusty. He finished saddling him and left.

Fawn watched him leave and she curled up again. Even his assurance that Colt trusted her didn't completely help. She had wanted to run away. But these people cared. Jack could get her kicked out of the house. He could get Heart taken away and she could lose being able to ever see Kyle again. All he had to do was make it look like she was going ot run away, or frame her for something.

"Hopefully he hasn't thought of that yet." She sighed. I still have something huge on him. She thought. Even if I had proof, I'd still get sent away. She climbed down and got up on Heart's back rubbing her neck as she just laid there. After Heart reliezed they weren't going anywhere she settled down and started eating again. "I can't leave here. Not that I'd admit that I liked it here. But I don't want to go back to uncaring homes. I can't.

"If I lose the ranch, well I'll never trust anyone again." She sighed in a soft voice. "If anyone tries to take me away we're running away."

Heart nickered softly and Fawn smiled. "That's right, we'll take care of each other."

The next day Fawn got on the bus and looked out at the rainy sky. She hated the rain, it kept her away from Heart. At least riding her.

"Gloomy day." Kyle sighed as he plopped down in the seat next to her.

"No joke. I wanted to ride today too." She sighed.

"You can still ride in the rain if it was warm outside." He shrugged.

"If you haven't noticed it was kinda cold." She sighed leaning her head against the window.

He shrugged. "That's October for you. When Mother Nature can't make up her mind."

Fawn chuckled. "What' November then?"

He smiled. "Worse."

She covered her mouth with her hand to cut off her laughter. It barely worked.

"And December is when Winter finally comes in, right?" she asked through chuckles.

Kyle chuckled as well. "Got that right. It finally decides to stay put."

~~~

The rest of the week went by pretty quietly. Kyle saw Fawn getting more exited about seeing Blessing, and getting even more closed off around Jack. Kyle always kept an eye on Jack, and he knew Colt and Kimmy did too. It was only a matter of time before he tried something, and when he did, he'd get it. Until then, all Kyle could do was hope Fawn wasn't the one to take the brunt of it.

Saturday came around, and Kyle rode to the ranch. Kimmy had called the neighbors the night before, and Kyle had asked Colt if he could have the day off to spend time with Fawn and Blessing. He had helped work with that foal a little; it would be nice to see how she turned out.

He spotted Fawn already by the barn in ridding gear. She had a small pack thrown over her shoulder.

"Ready to ride?" he asked.

Fawn nodded. "Yep!"

Fawn was giddy as all get out. She wanted to see Blessing so bad. She had already saddled up Heart. She then put her saddle bag on the saddle and mounted up.

"Not excited are you?" He laughed at her.

"Hurry up." She groaned as he saddled Dusty. He laughed and hten they took off towards the next ranch. Heart seemed to perk up a little while they road.

"She knows where we are going." He smiled.

"I noticed. Can we trot?"

"Sure." They pushed their horses a little faster then Heart decided to take off ignoring all commands to slow down. Kyle caught up and grabbed the reins and Heart slowed down. "Not so fast." He smiled.

"I didn't ask her, she just bolted." Fawn managed to push out.

"She's excited. We'll just walk. We gave hr the wrong idea when we were trotting. WE might go faster back towards home. But let's walk right now."

When they finally got to the ranch she followed Kyle out to the barn where she saw a girl sitting next to a small horse.

"Hey, Hannah." Kyle smiled.

"KYLE!" The girl grinnned pulling herself over towards them. She was rolling on a skate board.

"How are you and Blessing doing?" He asked. Fawn looked away from teh girl at Heart who was pulling to get towards the small horse.

"We're just fine and dandy." Hannah grinned. "This Fawn?"

"Yup, Fawn this is Hannah, Hannah meet Fawn."

"I really like your name." Hannah smiled up at her. "Wish mine was that cool.."

"Hannah is a cool name. Isn't it from like the bible or something?" Fawn asked. Hannah laughed and nodded.

"Guess it is. Let Heart go, she won't go anywhere, she just wants to see her baby."

*Sorry for the long delay. Writer's block*

Kyle watched as Fawn unsaddled Heart. Heart imidetly went to Blessing, tossing her head playfully.

"They seem to be enjoying themselves!" Fawn chuckled.

Hanna smiled. "'Course they are! Do you two want a snack or anything?"

Kyle shrugged. "Sure. How 'bout you Fawn?"

"Um, okay," she said, not taking her eyes of Blessing.

"Amazing isn't it?" Hanna said, rolling over to the table. "You wouldn't think that Blessing could play that much when she's so small."

Fawn went to the table, still glancing back at Blessing. "It's not that, it's--"

"The arrow." Kyle finished. Blessing had a perfect arrow on her back, pointing up her spine. The shaft and fletching were down her tail. "Pretty, isn't it?"

Fawn nodded and looked away. "And she was born like that?"

Kyle nodded. "We thought Colt was playing a joke on us. But that's her real tail. Right Hanna?"

Hanna giggled. "Right! I almost named her Arrow because of it, but she was such a blessing I went with that."

"That's sweet," Fawn said quietly. "She's a really pretty horse."

"Thanks!" Hanna said cheerfully. She leaned on the table. "So! What's been going on at the ranch?"

*Feel free to time-laps this*

**It's fine, I get writers block too. But I tell it to get over itself and move on. Also, that plot we laid out. I kinda forgot most of it. *Hides* sorry. **

***November***

As the days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, the air go colder. Fawn and Heart grew closer and closer, and Fawn started to open up a little bit more. Only about the present though, she never talked about her past.

"It's snowing!" Tawny yelled. Fawn looked up from mucking out Heart's stall to see the flurry.

"It won't stick. Never does." She shrugged.

"Don't say that. It just might." Kyle smiled from the door way of the stall as he looked out at the others.

"Ya, right." She walked over and watched Tawny, Jack, and the new boy playing. The other one, Fawn could never remember his name, had found a new permaniate home. Jamie was six, he was the sweetest little boy. But like a light switch he could flip to being mean as can be. His horse, Dash, was very high spirited, but together the two made a great team.

"Kimmy said the new girl is coming in. That way there will be two boys, three girls. Still have room for one more." Kyle commented on the side.

"Isn't someone talking about adopting Tawny?" Fawn asked.

"Ya, but don't tell her yet. We're not sure and don't want to get her hopes up." He replied.

"Good, she'll be away from Jack then." She replied turning and walking to Heart and hooking a lead on her halter.

"Jack has seemed to be getting better." Kyle shrugged.

"His kind doesn't change, Kyle, no matter how much love you pour on him." She replied as she walked Heart out into the snow flurry and then looked up at the sky of white.

"What you going to do now?" Kyle asked, leaning next to her on the fence.

She looked up from watching Heart. "What do you mean?"

He looked over the field. "You can't sleep in the barn all winter. No mater how much heat Heart gives off."

"Oh," she turned her gaze back to Heart. "I'll manage."

Kyle pushed himself away from the fence. "Glad to hear it," he wouldn't let her know how much he wished she'd talk to him about Jack. "Well," he continued. "With the snow it'll be a little slick to work with the horses. I'll be back tomorrow once there's something to do."

Fawn rolled her eyes. "You just don't want to get stuck with shoveling."

He chuckled. "That might have something to do with it...."

She sighed. "Well, since you don't live here anymore I guess you can get away with it.... Bye Kyle."

Kyle laughed. "Bye Fawn!"

He went back to the stables and saddled Dusty. It'd be hard riding in the snow, but he'd ridden in the snow enough to know how.

As he was leaving he saw Jack take a long look at Fawn. He tried to get rid of the bad taste in his mouth but couldn't. Before he could go over, Jack had stopped and was heading back towards the house. Kyle sighed and nudged Dusty into a walk.

*All I had*

***Ok, so I'm guessing hte Jack thing is gonna happen soon? If not then I"ll edit this post.***

Fawn finished mucking out Heart's stall then she made sure that Heart had enough water, food, and hay.

"Dinner time!" Kimmy called. Fawn walked into the house iwth the others and ate. She didn't say much, she was planning out how she would sleep in the barn with Heart.

"Fawn, you'll need to sleep inside tonight." Colt said as he put another roll on his plate.

"What? Why?" Fawn demanded. SHe'd slept outside with Heart ever sense Heart would let her near.

"It's to cold to stay out there." Kimmy replied.

"But I can't leave Heart. I'll be fine, I'll get some blanket, and wrap up real tight. I'll be fine." Fawn argued.

"Heart'll be fine, and you'll be fine. You can't sleep out in this weather. It's to cold." COlt replied. "Plus, if you get sick because you slept outside they could take you away and you wouldn't get to see Heart."

Fawn shut up. THat was a mean way to get her to stay, but she couldn't do much about it.

"Fine." She growled as she cleared her plate and stormed towards the door.

"I dont' want anyone else going outside again tonight either. It's dark. I'll check on the horses before I go to bed, but stay inside." Colt said.

"UGH!" Fawn growled storming towards her room. How could they do this to her. She wanted to be with Heart, she needed Heart. Heart needed her. They didn't like being apart. Even at school all Fawn could think about was Heart.

Fawn stayed at her window while the whole night looking out towards the barn. She heard Heart whinning for a little while, then Colt went out there and she stopped.

"I should've been the one to let her know I wasn't coming out tonight! SHe shouldn't have to be missing me anyway."


***Ok, so sense we said Kyle was going to stop him then I decided I couldn't do it while Kyle wasn't there. So ya, you can do whatever. THey won't have school for a week sense it snowed so hard.***

*You'd be right about the Jack thing.*

Kyle went downstairs to see two feet of snow covering the ground.

"They closed the schools hon!" his mom called from the family room. "Not for another week if the news is right."

He went into the kitchen and got some cereal. "What? It's never been closed that long."

She came into the kitchen. "The district wasn't prepared for so much snow this early. It'll take'm that long to clean out." After a moment she added, "I want you to stay home too. Riding in that weather is suicide."

He chuckled. "I've ridden in worse. Besides, they'll need help shoveling. There are only five people capable out there, and they have ten times the land we have."

She snorted. "Alright, but make sure you help your father first."

"I was planing too," he replied. Kyle couldn't say the real reason he needed to get to the ranch. He had a bad feeling something was going to happen with Fawn.

*He'd come in right before it's too late*

Fawn paced in front of the fire in the fire place waiting to be told she could go out to Heart.

"Alright, we'll all shovel our way to the barn and you'll do your chores. The rest of the day you can hang out in by the fire. Do house chores, hang with your horses, or whatever. Long as your in by meal time." Colt said handing htem all shovels.

"Do we have to make a path?" Fawn demanded. She wanted to be with Heart.

"It won't take long to shovel to the barn. Least not a small walk way. After chores if you want you can make it bigger. We've got a week before you're going back to school." Colt replied. She ran to the door and quickly started shoveling. She heard Kimmy laugh behind her.

"I don't think the rest of you would have to do any work. She'll be done before your coated up." Kimmy laughed behind her. She ignroed her and finished til she was at the barn. She hurried to Heart's stall and smiled at Heart.

"Morning, honey." She smiled. Heart nickered and walked over nuzzling her hand. Fawn hugged Heart's neck and just breathed in. She loved the smell of her horse. "I didn't like that night either."

She got to work on cleaning the stalls. She heard everyone leave talking about being cold and wanting to go to the fire. She didn't want to leave Heart though. Even if she was the slightest bit cold. She rubbed Heart's head and smield.

"I'm gonna go get you some carrots." She smiled as she slipped out of the stall and walked to the tack room. She walked over to the fridge that had the carrots and medicine in it.

"You didn't want to go to the fire?" SHe heard someone ask from behind her. She spun around and looked at Jake.

"No, I rather take care of my baby. Why are you still out here?" She demanded.

"Figured it was about time we talked." He replied.

"I don't want to talk to you." She hissed as she started to walk past him. He shoved her back in front of him shutting the tack room door. She heard Heart whinny and she tried to get past him again.

"Well your going to talk to me." He replied. "Or we can have a little more fun."

"Get the hell away from me or I'll scream!" She hissed.

"You said that last time too." He laughed as he backed her up into a corner. She gripped the carrot tighter and took a deep breath.

"I. Will. Scream!" She growled. He just laughed touching her cheek with his hand roughly.

"No you won't, I'll hurt you." He replied as his hand cupped around her neck. She pushed her back against the wall trying to find a way to escape.

Kyle, where are you? She screamed in her mind. Someone help me! He smiled.

"That's what I thought. You really haven't changed, Fawn. And no one will ever want you." He laughed his hand slipping from her throat to down the front of her jacket as he pinned her against the wall more with his body. "You might as well get what you can. Cause your just a foster kid. No one wants a foster girl, especially one that isn't 'pure'."



***This ok?***

*Works for me*

Kyle hurried up as he heard Heart whinny frantically. She never did that, not unless Fawn was in trouble.

Leaving Dusty saddled at the entrance he looked around the empty stable. Heart was trying to break her stall and get into the tack room.

He threw the door open. "Get away from her."

"Kyle!" Fawn gasped. She dropped to her knees, Jack no longer pinning her.

Jack backed away from Fawn. "She's the one that pushed me, I was just--"

Kyle grabbed Jack's shirtfront, easily pulling him forward. "Don't. Say. Anything. I know Fawn. So do Colt and Kimmy. She's been jumpy around you since you got here. Now I now why."

"But--" Jack squeaked.

"Quite." Kyle said coldly. "Nobody'll buy any story you can come up with. You might as well save your breath."

"What's going on?" Colt said around Dusty, who was half-blocking the doorway by now.

Kyle shoved Jack into a wall. "Jack had Fawn trapped in here. He was going to hurt her. Dusty, let him in!"

Dusty snorted and moved away. Colt came in and grabbed Jack's shoulder. "We're calling the police. Pack your things, Jack."

As they went away, Kyle went to Fawn. She had curled up in the corner, sobbing. He knelt next to her and put his arm around her.

She turned to cry into his shoulder. "Thank God you got here when you did. I-- He--"

"Thank Heart," he said quietly. "Had she not gotten so worked up, I wouldn't have hurried." A sharp whinny pierced the air. "I think she wants to make sure you're alright."

Fawn sniffed and nodded, shakily getting to her feet.

Once Dusty was unsaddled, Kyle went and sat next to Fawn in Heart's stall. Fawn was still crying a little, and Heart was acting like a guard dog. She knew him though, and let him get close.

"Aren't you going to ask what happened?" Fawn asked, leaning into him.

He put his arm around her. "I'm just glad you're alright." He pulled her a little closer. She was still shaking. "As for asking, I know you well enough to know that won't work."

She smiled and curled up against him. They sat in the cold quiet, letting Heart watch.

After what seemed like forever Fawn heard cars pull up to the house, then after about thirty minutes they left.

"He's gone?" She asked bting her lip.

"THat's my guess." He replied. She took a deep breath and stood up walking over to Heart and hugging her neck.

"I don't want to go inside." She whispered.

"Then don't." He replied with a soft smile.

"But it's really really really cold." She stuttered her teeth clattering.



*ugh*