Rules of the Range by Jude Warne

Author:Jude Warne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABDO
Published: 2017-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

“Is this where you were all day, Laurel? Is this why you weren’t at school today?” Fred asked.

I had managed to get Laurel onto Apache in front of me on the saddle without irritating her injured ankle. The entire rest of our tour group was now forced to get back to the Whitman Ranch, and quick. Laurel insisted that she was alright and that the ride should go on as planned for the ranch guests, but Dewey and I wouldn’t hear of it. The other guests were quite thrilled by the events of the evening, as though something very dramatic and unexpected had happened. I supposed it had.

Jan was intent upon asking Laurel an onslaught of questions; she couldn’t get over how we had just come upon her on the riding trail—though Laurel had told us that her car was parked on the closest main street, Randolph Road.

“What happened to your ankle? Why weren’t you at school today? How long were you out here in the desert?” she asked Laurel as we rode.

I remembered Jan telling Dewey and me a while back that she had worked on an English project with Laurel last semester. They had worked on it after school several times. Jan said she had tried to be Laurel’s friend—that they had even gone to the movies together a few times. But Jan had become frustrated at Laurel’s resistance to small talk. After that, all of us had spent the most time with Laurel during the Equestrian Club meetings, during which she never spoke more than a few lines. She would just sketch in her notebook a lot and chuckle every now and then at one of the initiatives being discussed.

“This is hardly the desert, Jan,” Josh added. We could see the ranch now from our hill, all lit up with the upcoming activities for the evening.

“Have you spoken to Wyatt? Are you guys together now?” Jan asked.

The entire time Laurel didn’t say a word. She sat millimeters in front of me in the saddle and I held her waist now and then to steady myself; Laurel held the reins. The whole situation was very unsettling to me.

I had never been this close to Laurel before. She took a deep breath as we progressed onward, in an attempt to answer all of Jan’s questions.

“I wasn’t at school today because I couldn’t go to school today. I couldn’t face everyone with the rumors going around. I wish I never had to go back there—ever.”

Fred caught my eye and shot me a look but didn’t say anything.

“Well you probably do,” Dewey clarified. We all looked at him, and he added, “have to go to class on Monday. I mean, eventually you have to go to Walker High again. Unless you change schools . . .”

“I’m not changing schools,” Laurel said, obviously irritated. “This whole thing has just gone way too far.”

“I think it has, too, people should mind their own business,” I replied.

“Yeah, none of us has really paid attention to the gossip,” Josh added with a hint of sarcasm.

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