Chapter 1
{Aubrey}
I gazed at the entrance of the school, gripping my cowboy hat with a strong grip as it sat atop my head. “Hey Aubrey!” My friend, Jax called.
I blinked, looking over towards him. “Oh! H-hey Jax” I smiled, pulling my hand down from my hat, waving as he walked over.
“So, welcome to RavenWood!” He smiled. I nodded gently, gazing at the entrance. “Here, let me introduce you to some of my friends!” He exclaimed, grabbing my hand and pulling me over to a group of kids.
“Who’s the newcomer?” A girl with a gray hat overtop of her short black hair demanded.
“This is my friend Aubrey guys!” He smiled.
“Wow, you have a cowgirl as a friend?” A boy snorted, his hands in the pockets of his jeans, a leather jacket over a white shirt.
Jax rolled his eyes. “That’s Meledy,” He nodded to the girl. “And that is Kace,” He turned to gaze at the boy, a hint of anger in his eyes, though he still had a small smile.
I nodded slowly. “I’m Aubrey,” I replied in a murmur, trying to break the tension between the two.
Kace nodded slowly. “So, why exactly are you here in the middle of a city, well, a place?” He turned to look at me.
“Parents, my parents, they got a job here.” I replied, nodding slowly and clicking my tongue.
Meledy snorted. “So the usual, Kace you brought us a petty little girl!” She snickered to Kace.
“Meledy! Give the cowgirl a chance, she could be a good addition, I mean, you doubted Jax and he’s done pretty good so far!” Kace shot a small glare at Meledy, before gazing towards me. “Why don’t I show you around?” He smiled.
I blinked, trying to take in what had just happened before nodding slowly. “S-sure,”
Kace wrapped his arm around my shoulders, letting out an almost silent whine before leading me into the school.
After a few hours of wandering around the school we met with Meledy and Jax back at the cafeteria. “So, did Kace give you special treatment?” Meledy grinned.
“I-I uh, n-no he didn’t.” I stuttered.
“Well I mean, a cowgirl would be a good addition Casey,” I heard some girl say to someone else behind me. Jax, Meledy and Kace all immediately stood up.
“Aw hey cuties,” A girl giggled, causing me to stand up and turn around.
I smiled innocently. “Listen up, stop talking about me, cause I live on a farm, which means I have a pitch fork, and if you ask me, I would not want to be hit by a pitchfork.” The girls blinked, nodding and turning back around.
“Damn cowgirl!” Kace exclaimed as we all sat back down.
“Way to go Aubrey!” Jax smiled.
Red crept into my cheeks as they all told me how good of a job I did. “Aw cowgirls blushing!” Kace exclaimed with a laugh.
“No!” I pulled my hair in front of my face. Jax let out a chuckle, Meledy grinning.
“Oh come on cowgirl! Horse up, or it’s cowboy up isn’t it?” Meledy snickered.
“Anyways, since today is just us helping’ you, let’s go get your stuff from the office.” Kace smiled, getting up.
I nodded getting up as well, the other two following. We walked to the office, the secretary handing me a paper and my schedule. “Thank you,” I smiled, nodding to her.
“Damn, country hospitality!” Meledy grinned, before grabbing my schedule. “You have, Kace, me, Jax, then Kace again!” She exclaimed.
“Surely the classes aren’t named that!” I chuckled, grabbing my schedule. I studied the days. “And then, Jax again for the last day!”
Kace chuckled. “So ya got the jockey for two days? Have fun with that!” He ruffled he top of Jax’s head.
“You’re a jockey?” I inquired, looking to Jax. “How come you never told me?” I pouted.
“W-well it’s not that important, I just figured you didn’t care,” Jax mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets.
“Oh come on, being a jock is like, everything,” I replied, smiling.
“Alrighty lovebirds! Let’s go somewhere that isn’t here,” Kace exclaimed.
“We’re not lovebirds Kace! But sure, why don’t we head over to-” I paused, thinking about where I wanted to go. “-the bleachers,” I finished.
Kace nodded, grabbing my wrist, pulling me along, Meledy and Jax not far behind.
We ran up the steps before sitting down on the top seats. Jax let out a loud sigh, gazing at the field.
“So, what’s being in the school like?” I inquired,
“Boring, sad, tiring, stupid, and worst of all, the homework makes me wanna die.” Meledy replied.
“Aw come on! There is some fun! The parties for example! The parties are awesome!” Kace interjected.
“Oh great goodness, I can’t wait till I get invited to some party,” I joked, rolling my bright blue eyes.
“Yea yea, and the dances too!” Meley chirped.
“The dances are overrated,” Kace scoffed.
“Oh come on, bar dances are lots of fun, but I guess these dances are different,” I shrugged.
“The music, lights, decorations! Way too much!” Kace exclaimed.
Jax scoffed. “Oh shut up Kace, you only think that because you’ve only ever gone with one person to a dance!” Jax snickered.
“That is not true!” He exclaimed.
I got up, moving away from the two arguing boys, Meledy following closely. “Whatcha doin’?” She asked.
“Getting away from the two idiots,” I replied, freezing as I spotted the group of girls from earlier.
Meledy jumped to stand beside me. “Hey look Casey!” One of the girls exclaimed.
“Aw cowgirl is here, what a coincidence,” The girl, who seemed to be Casey replied.
I stepped off the bleacher, walking over. “What d’you want?” I growled, glaring at her.
“Nothin’ much, just to get to know you is all,” The girl smiled.
“Well uh- listen up, Casey was it? I’ll think about it, but for now I have good friends, and I’m not willing to give them up for you,” I smiled, crossing my arms.
Casey scoffed. “Fine, we’ll be around the school,” She wiped around, walking off.
“Yea cowgirl!” The other girl said, attempting to shove me, though failed before walking away.
Loud thumps sounded from behind the girls as the two boys rushed down. “So uh, what just happened?” Kace blinked. Meledy shrugged, walking off, towards the back entrance of the school.
Kace turned as he heard the approach of another person. “Uh, I’ll meet you guys at the cafeteria,” He said, a hint of nervousness in his tone.
I nodded, walking behind the others as we followed Meledy. “Actually, I’ma wait for him here,” I froze at the wall.
“Alright,” Meledy blinked, walking in, Jax glancing at me before walking in.
“You ditched me for some stupid new girl?” I heard a girl yell.
“Listen Jess, it’s her first day, and Jax would’ve ended me if I didn’t,” Kace’s voice seemed to be quivering.
“I don’t care about Jax, he may be cute and all, but I need you to stand beside me when I rule this place!” The girl growled. I turned my head, pressing against the wall as I watched.
“Yea well at this point you won’t rule the school!” Kace growled.
“Says you, I’m going to take down that new girl, at any cost!” She screeched.
I winced, looking at the ground. “Listen I need to head back, we’ll talk about this later,” Kace growled, walking off.
I gasped as Kace grabbed my wrist, pulling me away. “I told you to wait in the cafeteria,” He growled.
“W-well I wanted to wait for you,” I reasoned, pulling my wrist away from him, causing him to turn around.
“Well you had no business doing so!” He snapped.
I winced, looking down. “I think it’s best that I go,” I murmured before walking off.
“No Aubrey I didn’t mean that!” Kace sighed, though I still kept walking. I turned the corner sharply, before walking down the road.
A few moments later I heard running footsteps behind me, Jax was at my side quite sooner than I expected. “Aubrey what happened?”
“Just go away,” I murmured, looking away.
“Aubrey tell me,” Jax replied, stepping in front of me.
“I just wanna go home!” I responded sharply, shoving past him and running as fast as I possibly could before turning into an alley.
I held my breath as I heard Jax running past the alley in an attempt to find me. I broke out in tears, hugging my knees and hiding my face.
I heard footsteps once again, but was unable to stop myself from letting out small whimpers. Jax walked into the alley, gazing down at me. “Tell me, Aubrey, or I won’t be able to do anything.” He reasoned.
“Y’know how I waited for Kace?” I looked up, wiping my face with a sleeve. Jax nodded before I continued on. “Well he got really mad because I heard him and Casey fighting about me, and he was just really rude about it.” I sniffled.
Jax nodded slowly before wrapping his arms around me in a hug. “I’ll deal with it, I promise.”
I nodded before closing my eyes and returning the hug.
