Young Writers Society

"Stupid girl." Mike cursed his daughter and shook his head, yanking the reigns of a random horse to lead it out into the fields. "She'll be back." He sighed and shook his head.

"Hmm... she looks weird." Mary whined, wrapping her hands around the back of Lucas' neck. Luke wasn't going to agree, because truthfully, Laurel was pretty attractive. "Let's go riding." Mary smiled softly up at him, soon grabbing one of the horse's reigns.

*Hey, I gotta hit the sack. Maybe something should happen to Laurel... like she gets hurt or something and her horse runs back and in the late afternoon, Lucas'll notice that she's gone and the horse is in the field.*

***Alright, see you tomorrow. I'm on vaca so i'm pretty much on all day. YAY, it's funny how you call her Laurel and I call her Gracie***

Gracie raced through the pasture lands. She clung tightly to Atreyu's mane as they ran. She sighed as the wind whipped past her face.

"I missed you baby." She said softly. "If only dad didn't hate me, maybe I'd be different." It wasn't htat she wanted to be how she was, but it was inground in her. It was her defense, the thing that kept her alive and sane. Her mother said she was better, but Gracie got her first joint from her mom's purse.

"Horses really are the one thing to calm the soul, Gramps. I wish I knew where you were." She sighed tears pushing at her eyes. She hadn't seen him since she was six, when she was visiting here. He'd disappeared after a fight with her parents, after that was when teh family fell apart, her dad stayed at the ranch and her mom left. She stayed with her dad for a month before her dad sent her to her mom's. "Fly away, on the wings of the hooves, fly away to the distant land, my dear child fly." She smiled as she heard her Gramps talking. He never made sense, but it always made sense to her. She sighed as she felt Atreyu slow down to a walk. She sat up and looked around, they were in the woods.

"lets keep going baby." She smiled urging him forward. He ran again and took a quick turn around a corner. Her head flew into a low branch and she flew off the horse and hit the ground. Atreyu kept going scared out of his mind. She laid there a few seconds as everything started to get dark. "Someone help!" She whispered before everything went dark the pain going away.

It was around six when Lucas dropped Mary off and headed home, a goofy smile on his face. When his got to the farm, he started putting all the horses back in their pins, leaving his out and a second one that looked awfully familiar. As he neared it his eyes widened. Was Laurel back? Did she really come back? Jumping onto his horse, a dark chestnut stallion, he shot towards the house, leaping off the horses back before it even came to a stop. He ran inside and into the dining room, where everyone was seated for dinner. "Is Laurel jome?" He asked frantically.

Mike looked up, eyes wild. "No, I thought she was with you!"

"No! I was with Mary for the passed two hours!" Without another word, Lucas ran back out and clambered onto his horse, Buck. (Origional, no?)

After thirty minutes of hard riding, Lucas started growing worried. He tied his horse up and grabbed a flashlight, starting out on foot. Then, ten minutes of walking later, he found Laurel. She was lying flat on her back, bleeding from a small spot on her head while she shook from the cold violently. With a sigh, Lucas lifted her small frame off the ground, holding her closely as they started back.

***It works. ***

Gracie woke up with a throbbing headache and someone touching her head with a wash cloth. She opened her eyes slowly and jumped back when she saw a strange lady sitting there. She'd seen her before, then she remembered it was her stepmom.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Susie asked softly looking at her nervously. Gracie thought about giving a smart remark, then she rememberd all the cards and presents every holiday, even the small ones. All saying that Susie hoped they'd get alone when they met.

"My heard hurts." Gracie croaked out. She reached up and touched her head and groaned when she felt the bandage. "Did Atreyu come back?"

"He's fine, came back, but he wouldn't eat until you got back. He wasn't very happy." Susie smiled softly.

"How'd I get here?" Gracie asked sitting up a little.

"Luke found you, when he saw Atreyu and you weren't around he took off to find you." Susie replied. "You were lucky he found you, you were shaking so bad I bought near made them take you to the doctor."

"I'm fine now." She said sitting up a little. Her dad walked in and to the foot of the bed.

"What were you thinking?" He demanded. Gracie sat there feeling like she'd been slapped, but what else did she suspect.

"Fuck off!" She growled standing up and moving towards teh door. Her dad stepped in fornt of her arms crossed eyes glaring.

"Do not talk like that young lady." He growled.

"I'll speak however I want to. I'm not about to listen to someone that doesn't give a shit about me." She turned and looked at Susie. "Sorry for the language." She pushed around her dad and stormed outside. Not once had her dad signed any of the cards Susie had sent. Yes, his signature was there, but it wasn't his hand writing.


***I'm going to make her make friends with Susie. Like Susie be the one person she likes. Cause how she sees it Susie is the only one that has evern given a 'damn' about her. ***

**Awww, Mabel you made me feel bad! )= Haha just kidding, but I am soooo sorry!**

"Sam! Stop being a little idiot!" Lucas shouted angrily and lunged at his little brother, who laughed loudly and tossed a boot to Joshua, the other brother in the nick of time before being tackled to the ground by Lucas' football-playing, cowboy frame. "Give me the boot!" Lucas growled, standing up angrily. Josh laughed and tossed the boot to Ruth, who in turn, tossed it to Mary. Mary, wearing a wide grin, took off out of the barn, a laughing Lucas following behind as fast as he could.

"Laurel! Catch!" Mary shouted right when Lucas grabbed her around the waist, bringing her down before letting out a string of deep laughter. When he sat up, he realized how ticked off Laurel looked as she tightened her grip on his boot. "Do you think she'll give it b-" before Mary could finish her sentence Laurel threw the shoe in their direction as hard as she could before rushing away. The heel of the boot slammed into Lucas' nose, making him curse allowed.

Without even putting his boot on, Lucas took off after Laurel angrily.
[url=
http://www.prettyinleather.com/wp-conte ... er_002.jpg]Mary[/url]

**How? I didn't mean to. Mary had gone home. But it's ok. **

Gracie ran as fast as she could towards the woods not knowing Lucas had followed. She got to the spot where her Grandfather had made a circle of wood, said it was her safe spot. The circle was rotted and just laying there, but she didn't care. She laid in the middle of it and stared up at the stars fighting the tears. She took a deep breath, she wouldn't cry. This shouldn't upset her so much, she knew that he didn't care about her, she'd always known, but why did it hurt so bad? Cause he's your dad." A voice replied in her head. She shivered at the cold, but she didn't want to go back.

"Listen, just cause you hate everyone doesn't mean you need to come and destroy our lives!" She heard Lucas hiss from behind her. She clinched her fists and jumped up spinning around to face him.

"Fuck off, Lucas. You don't know shit so stop acting like it." She growled. "Go back to your sweet little girlfriend and leave me the hell alone!"

**Ahhhh! Sorry again TN! Uber busy with basketball, and our guidance counselor is making all of us plan our 9th-12th grade schedule! It's soooo confusing!!!**

"I know well enough than to leave you searching for pity, which won't come from anyone here! You have more people that love you here than you think! If you'd shut your big mouth for once and actually listened to what your dad says about you to me and all the other people you'd realize that he, and everyone else, loves you more than you think! Even now he won't shut up about your 4.0 GPA when you were in high school despite all the stupid crap you did, or the fact that you were supposed to be Valedictorian this coming year, but the teachers wouldn't allow it because of your conduct!"

"Shut the hell up! You don't know what your saying." Lucas let out an enraged yell and crouched in front of her, gripping her shoulders.

"I do Laurel! I do know because until you moved, I was by your side always, and even after you moved, everyone still told stories about you, all of them true and great. Not one was about your drug or alcohol problems. Hell, I didn't even know until your dad told me two days ago!" He stared into her tear-filled eyes and sighed, pulling her into a hug. "God you're freezing." He shrugged off his coat, throwing it around her slim shoulders, and plopped down into the circle of rotting wood, holding Laurel's cold, shivering body to his warm one.

**Ah, ok. It's fine, I've been busy too. **

Gracie took a deep breath. "I'm fine." She said jumping up and fighting the feelings she had giving him hte coat back. "YOu don't know what you're talking about." She turned and ran towards the woods. She felt him grab her shoulders turning her around.

"Yes I do Laurel. What I don't understand you can explain to me." He replied.

"My dad doesn't giving a flying rats ass about me. Not once did he write me a birthday card, send me a present. It was always Susie. She didn't even know me and she was treating me more like a parent then he was. He let me go wtih my mother who he knew was a drunk, a druggie and everything else. You don't know why they got a divorce. She was cheating! She was drinking, and everything else. But yet he sends his only child with her without a fight! Don't tell me he loves me." She hissed pulling free. "No one does, so leave me the fuck alone."

"That's not true." Lucas argued calmly, dark eyes locking on Laurel's, who was glaring at him defensively, her fists clenched at her side.

"Yes it is Lucas, and you know it!" She screamed angrily, rage radiating off of her in waves. Lucas sighed, slowly and cautiously getting closer, as if she was a deer ready to bolt at any given second.

"It's not true Laurel! I love you!" Ah crap. Laurel looked at him with surprised, wide eyes, mouth slightly agape. "I've loved you since we were kids, and even with Mary, I still love you. It's not right to be with another girl when my mind's on you, but you are nothing like your mother, and you really need to know that, and that there are people here that love and care for you.

Gracie swallowed hard and shook her head. "You're just saying that. No one loves me, no one but my boyfriend who I was taken away from!" She screeched. "Stop throwing it in my face!" She cried her legs giving out as she curled up. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Lucas, why don't you go home." A soft voice said from behind them. It was Susie. "Please."

"But." Lucas started.

"Please, Luke, go back home." Susie said. Gracie heard him get up and then Susie's hand on her back. "Sweetie, for all you're father's harshness he does love you. He's only afraid you'll hurt him as you're mother did."

"But I'm not my mother!" She cried. "If he loved me he'd have kept me from her!" She replied getting up. "Don't try and argue this, I know what I know!"

Susie sighed and shook her mess of curls sadly before pulling Gracie into a strong, motherly hug. "I can already tell you're a very bright girl with a life ahead of you Gracie, but if you keep shunning everyone away from you because they're not exactly like you, then you'll never get to that future." She smiled sadly and softly down at Gracie, who finally managed to look her in the eye. "Now, I know you're not anything like your mother. Trust me, I met her at you my, and your father's wedding, and you're nothing like her, but try proving it to your father. Stop cussing around him, actually do what he tells you, and try to get along with everyone, and I'm sure you two will develop a relationship again, okay?"

Lucas, who had been listening (he refused to call it eavesdropping) sighed and turned away from the two, quickly heading back the way he'd left his horse.

Gracie took a deep breath. "I'm tired." She said pulling free and walking towards the house. She chewed her lower lip as she walked. She hated leaving Susie like that, but she was hurt and she needed to think. She managed to slip up to her room without her dad knowing and she locked the door. She found her phone and opened it up.

5 Text Messages The screen read. She opened the first up.

Hey babe, call me! She smiled. She missed her boy so much.

Gracie, at least text me!

Gracie, I'm serious, text me we need to talk. She frowned. It'd been a day.

Alright, don't whatever. She started to text him back when she decided to read the last one.

Fine I just wanted to let you know we're over with unless you move back. Don't try and argue it I don't do long distance shit. So either find a way back here or we're done. She stared at the screen tears pricking at her eyes. Just what she needed. She threw her phone down and saw it split in two pieces before she curled up.

"Fuck this." She growled letting the tears fall as she stayed curled up falling asleep.

***She isn't going to break that easy. It'll get wore before it gets better. I'm glad your on, how are you?***

**I figured as much(: I'm good(: I'm glad to sort of be back. I can't get on much though, since my computer crashed recently and the only time I can get on is when my dad isn't home or something like that, considering every second he's home, he's on the computer, which sucks:P how have you been?**

Lucas sighed as he trudged up the stairs, rubbing the new lump on his forehead from one of Mary's tantrums, where she usually threw something at him when she didn't get her way. This time, she wanted to have sex, but he didn't since he was still a virgin, which was something Mary didn't even know. On a usual day he'd head to the decent sized house on the edge of the property, but today... he was just flat out tired.

Twisting the door to Gracie's room carefully, he entered without a sound. Hopefully, she wouldn't wake up and throw something at him. Objects seemed to like his face lately. His boot slammed into his face when Gracie threw it, and then the baseball hitting his forehead from the bed of his truck when Mary got pissed.

With a shake of his head, Lucas glanced over at Gracie's sleeping form. Tear trails made their way down her cheeks, but her sleep seemed peaceful. She was actually, very beautiful when she wasn't yelling, or angry like usual. When Lucas looked down at the ground, he noticed the broken phone at his feet.

Picking it up and snapping the two pieces together, Lucas jumped like a mad man when the phone went off with loud ringtone after ringtone. He quickly turned the phone off and glared angrily at it before nosily going through Gracie's text messages. He'd have to keep a close eye on her, just in case she decided to run away. Lucas set the phone on the bedside table and opened a door that seemed to be a second closet. He walked inside and opened another door across the room, soon shedding his clothing and stepping into a hot shower.

http://www.polyvore.com/untitled/set?id=13830871

^Lucas Matthew Otstot^^

**Dang that guy is hott!!!**

Gracie woke up the next morning and groaned as her phone went off. I broke it! She growled to herself. She sat up and saw it sitting on the night stand. She frowned. Who had put it together and turned it on. WHich meant someone had read her text messages. She hissed and jumped up deleting her inbox and throwing the phone down. She stormed down the stairs after pulling an oversized jacket on.

"Morning." Susie smiled.

"Morning." She growled.

"You could be nicer then that!" Her dad snapped.

"Honey." Susie said softly.

"I don't think I will!" She growled at him. "I'm not hungry, I'm going to go take care of Midnight."

"You need to eat." Susie said softly.

"No thank you!" She turned and started for the door.

"Sit down and eat, now!" Her dad growled.

"Or what? You'll send me back to mom's? Don't think so, I don't eat breakfast." She stormed out the front door and to the barn.

**Haha I know!(:**

Lucas rushed out of his room the second he woke up, knocking Gracie's journal, which he'd forgotten about, out from under his pillow. He wasn't going to lie, but he did open it. However, he couldn't bring himself to read passed the first sentence. It in itself was to heart wrenching, even for a big toughie like him. He ran down the stairs and grabbed a biscuit before running outside before the rents could say anything.

While eating the biscuit, he laid a cowboy hat onto his head and ran out to the barn, sliding to a stop across the hay next to Midnight's stall, which Gracie was cleaning out. "Havin' fun city girl?" He teased playfully and smiled at her crookedly.