Alexia Hawkins's Story

Alexia had been on the farm for over a week now. Hardly a day after getting the news her parents shipped her off. Being no stranger to travel she went alone onto the plane, she could have skipped out on the whole farm thing, she could have gone anywhere she pleased, done anything. Honestly though, the thought of being on a farm with a bunch of misfit kids and horses the world had given up on intrigued her. She went with open arms.

The past few days had been a complete bore though, she was one of the first to arrive, so she spent her time wandering for the most part, doing whatever she pleased. Most of her time though was spent in the stables with the horses, looking them over and seeing which one was friendly and what ones weren't, and thats where she was currently hiding, in a stall with one of the friendlier horses.

Hearing the door creak open she didn't bother getting up, figuring it was one of the pair that ran the place, or possibly their son who she had yet to bother getting to know the name of, he was wandering around the stables all day, either way she didn't really care.

Her curiosity grew when she heard something she wasn't expecting...

" 'ello anyone there?"

It was a voice she didn't recognize, so she didn't answer. After hearing some footsteps, the voice came again.

"well you don't look to happy to be here also" "you are a pretty one though"

"Hey Skye"


Looks like we got more company she thought to herself. Almost silently she peered out of the stall and watched the two for a moment before making her presence known "Looks like things are starting to liven up around here. " She gave a smile before emerging from the stall, brushing the hay off herself. Alex made her way closer to the pair, but decided to lean against a stall rather than go further.

"Are you sure this is really the best idea?" Madison asked from the back seat of her parents' car. "Please don't misunderstand. I'm not trying to question your judgment in any way, but aren't there any better methods?" She was referring, of course, to their decision to send her to the farm for the summer. Her mother turned from the passenger seat to give Madison a look of sympathy, with perhaps a slight amount of exasperation mixed in, before speaking. "Listen hun, we know that you're nervous, but that's part of the point. The whole reason you're going is to acclimate yourself to some things you're not currently comfortable with." Madison offered a smile in response. It was obviously forced, but it was something. "Alright mom, I understand."

Normally her father would have chosen this moment to add some reassurance, but he was a very, very focused driver, and was devoting the entirety of his attention to the road, even if the simple dirt trail was fairly easy to navigate.

After a short while, they reached the farm. After that it wasn't long before Madison was being ushered off to the stables while her parents dealt with the few remaining details and caught up with Leanna and Jacob. Before she left however, Madison's father, no longer appearing as though he were trying to use his laser eyes to crystallize to road, gave her some final words of advice, followed by a request that she promise to follow them. "Try and have fun. Pinkie promise." He then held out his pinkie finger, characteristically taking this gesture far more seriously than most. Though she found it slightly immature, she promised and assured him that the rest of her fingers would adhere to the instructions as well.

With a book in hand, specifically a copy of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", Madison made her way over to what she assumed to be the stables, frowning along the way at how tall the grass was in some areas. Snakes could be in that grass and no one would know. No one except the unlucky sap who happened to get close enough to upset it. This in mind Madison made sure to walk around the tallest patches of grass.

Finally arriving at the stables she heard some talking within. Hesitantly, Madison entered to stables, standing in the doorway wordlessly and watching the events taking place.

"This fucking sucks.", said Tom, just before a man snapped, "Watch your mouth!", at him. He hated this, getting the feds involved was just a bit much. Only a month before he had attended a meeting with "gun violence victims", the principle, and the police. All because of this stupid "suspicious activity." "Horses? What am I gonna do with a horse?" He agreed to try it out at least. After he had packed his bags with some clothing, a few lighters, he dumped boxes of ammunition just to be safe..The boy had wondered how the hell he was ever going to make it past customs. Though his answer came simply enough, he wasn't going through customs. He'd never flown before and didn't really care too. So, after multiple smelly buses and cabs, he'd made it. You could say he didn't like it here, but that would be a lie. He hated it here. The two owners were old. Who else decides to "save children" besides aged balls of dust. Not to mention that he had no choice on what he wanted to do here. Well, that might not be true. He would probably do whatever he wanted, and face the consequences when they came his way. He took his headphones from his bag. Turning on the silver iPod and headed for the stables. His black shoes felt unfamiliar in this soil and it discomforted him. Something he would have to get used to. At least he wasn't stepping in bogs anymore. "Nothing like the smell of decomposition and cow shit..." He roamed the stalls until he found one named Dominick. He laughed at the name "chingity ching." He hopped onto the gate and took out a knife. He flicked his wrist snapping it open. He inspected the blade and then closed it again. Sliding the belt clip onto the edge of his pocket. He regretted making it that visible, but oh well if they don't like it. That's why he has it. If people don't like him and shit hits the fan... He reached for his back pocket and pulled out a green BIC lighter. He clicked it. And he clicked it. And clicked it. It was empty, or maybe just fussy that day, he would deal with that later. He put it back and replaced it with a purple one. This one would light. He picked some straw from the ground and burned the tip of it, throwing it down when the flame came to close to his fingers. It started to spread and he jumped from the gate to stomp it out. The fire was snuffed, but he heard other voices. Girls. Yes something to spend time with, hopefully a lot of time if he's lucky. He looked at the situation he was in and his hands. "Oh shit." He hid the lighter in his hoodie and went to the four. "I'm Tom."

After Leanna finished her discussions with the parents of her new wards, she made her way towards the barn, having a feeling that the teenagers had found each other there. It was time for their assignments for the summer, and going by what she had heard from their respective parents and guardians, the woman was sure she had made the right choices.

Opening the door to the stables proved her earlier suspicions to be correct, they had all somehow banded together. Approaching the teens she felt proud of the mission she and her family had, and hoped the farm would change these broken lives for the better.

Clearing her throat she paused before them. "Welcome to Beau Cheval. As you may or may not know, my name is Leanna Keaton, the gentleman who was greeting your parents is my husband Jacob. This is our home and we welcome you into it with open arms. We don't care what brought you to us, but hope you will leave with a brighter outlook on life, and, maybe a few new friends as well."

Taking her eyes off the teens, she made her way to one of the many horses in the stable and proceeded to pet its neck. "Just like you, the animals here have had a difficult life, being neglected and abused, some were even on their way to the end of their lives. This is their rescue center, where they will be rehabilitated and love out the rest of their lives. Some have been here for quite a few years, others are new arrivals. Each need the love and care they were previously denied."

Turning back to the young adults, she looked them each in the eye, one at a time, as she made her next statements.

"This is where you will come in."

"You were brought here to help them, and in turn help yourself. Each of you will be assigned one of our beautiful creatures. It will be your job to care of them, to show them love and respect. They will teach you a number of things about the world, about companionship, and about yourself."

"I will be assigning them to you according to your personality. You and your horse must understand each other to succeed here. Listen closely as I list your name and your horse. You will be able to find them in their stalls. Their respective names are shown clearly so there will be no confusion.

{i]"First up is Arthur, you know your horses dear, but you are as much a part of this as the others. Your horses are Caber and Tempest. Skye, you will be given Ophelia Rose, and considering how she had given birth within the last year, you will also be given her filly, Zero Gravity. Alexia, you will be given Zeralin. Madison, your horse is Winston, and Thomas, you will be given Dominick, our donkey. Dominick Is a rambunctious little guy and needs quite a bit of attention, we do not normally take in donkeys, but for him we have made an exception, don't underestimate him because he is not a horse. Your assignments are non-negotiable. Forgive me but I have quite a bit to attend to, I'll leave you to your respective animals."

With that, she smiled and made her way out of the stables, hurrying her way back to her house.

((Will edit this when everything is decided))

Tom hated lectures. He could hardly sit still while she spoke. He spotted the knife on his pants and picked it up. When his name was called and he was assigned a horse we was optimistic. "Horses are overrated anyway." He really wanted to shout out "I'd ride an ass any day if you know what I mean" but he held himself back. Not a good way to make a first impression. He reached into his pocket and pulled out some Pop Rocks. He poured some in his hand but before eating them, offered them to the red haired girl next to him. He had thought of a lot of things with a red head. He poured them into his mouth. Oh boy. More then he thought. He had screwed up his terrible math. "If I give this girl this much, then I'll have this much left in the bag." Somewhere he wasn't paying attention and dumped the rest of it. Now it was going crazy. He didn't mind it. He likes it when it's the whole bag, only if he had some soda....

Whether these people really were boring boring or not, Tom lost interest. Maybe they would become more exciting when he knows them better. Might as well go back to this donkey. He jumped over the gate, then remembering he had to open it to get the animal out. He sighed and sluggishly went back over. This time with a lack of motivation he did not vault over it like he did. He lazily extended his leg over it and let his body fall down to the ground where he could then open the gate. He came up behind Dominick. He remembered someone telling him something about not going behind a donkey.

Dominick reared and kicked Tom. He fell over and felt his head. "So that's why..." He got to his feet and was going to try again but from the front. Then he heard laughing. Tom approached the source and found Alexis. He blushed. Someone had seen him. Although embarrassed he still went on. "Whatcha laughing at?" He returned to the gate and this time he was more gentle. He successfully mounted him. He had no training, no saddle on Dominick either. It was a one sided struggle. As soon as Tom was on, Dominick started to walk. he fought for balance but soon was stable. Barely but could go somewhere. Although it was only where Dominick wanted. The donkey made a good choice returning to Alexis. Tom , full of pride, held his arms out. "Huh. huh. Look at me now. Yeaaa." he had to come back to earth at some point though. "So... you know how to stop these things?"

Declining the offer of pop rocks, it wasn't her candy of choice....but had they been sour patch kids, it would have been over. Alexis started to look for the horse called Zeralin when she heard the donkey give a loud "HE-AW" and kick Tom over. She couldn't help but laugh at him, who wouldn't?

She watched him gather himself and make his way over to the gate.

"Whatcha laughing at?"

"Someone who cant seem to control his ass....hasn't anybody told you not to walk behind a donkey? Would love to see what would have happened if that was as big as these babies." Lexi made reference to the big black horse named Ophelia, but seen that her comment had fallen on deaf ears. Tom was now riding the donkey toward the gate.

"Huh. huh. Look at me now. Yeaaa."

and a moment later

"So... you know how to stop these things?"

As the donkey drew nearer Lexi knelt down so she was at the donkeys level and held out her hand. Dominick reached out his muzzle, resting her hand just above the bridge of his nose. After a moment she rubbed the donkeys neck. "Theres a good boy. Been around here a few days, spent some time with almost all of these animals. He's not so bad huh?" The question was meant more for the donkey than for Tom.

After a moment of patting the donkey, she rose and made her way towards the horses, looking over the names of the horses until her eyes rested on a beautiful black and white Gypsy Vanner mare. "So this is Zeralin huh?" Opening the stall she slid inside and watched as the horse snorted and moved away from her. "Easy big girl.....I'm not gonna hurt you...." Trying to keep her tone as low as possible she extended her arm and tried to take another step toward the horse, only to watch her back away again. With a sigh she mumbled to herself "I can tell this is the start of a beautiful friendship." Ally sat down and watched the creature she would be spending the summer with, pondering a way to make the animal become more comfortable with her.

Skye had barely enough time to really look around. She saw two guys, one she recognized as her cousin, and then she saw tso girls. She looked them over and couldn't help but think they were both pretty cute. She smiled lightly to the girls then turned around and focused on the black mare and filly.

It wasn't long until her Aunt Leanna came out and explained what they were doing this summer and then they each were assigned horses. She was excited because she was given the black mare and filly. She looked at Arthur "so cuz whats Ophie and Zero's story?" she asked as she leaned against the stall door.

She watched as the other boy got on the donkey and started to ride him. She shook her head and then went over to where the red headed girl was "beautiful mare you got there" she motioned towards Zeralin "I am Skye, once we get these girls trained we should go on a ride." She looked at the stall next to Zeralin's which was Ophie's and Zero's.

"So what got you stuck here?" she asked as she leaned against the stall door. For some reason she wanted to get to know the red head better, the girl intrigued her in many ways. "Im guessing Zero is going to have to be weaned soon, you want to help me with that?" she asked hoping the girl would agree.

Alex sat there, watching Zeralin stand in the opposite side of the stall and wondering how the hell she was gonna make this horse her friend when she didn't want anything to do with her.

"beautiful mare you got there"

It was the same voice she heard earlier. Looking up she finally got a good look at her, with a smile she retorted "Beautiful face you got there." Laughing she got up and leaned against the stall's wall. "Actually, your horse is quite a beauty too, same with the lil one."

"I am Skye, once we get these girls trained we should go on a ride."

"Unique right? I'm Alexis, Lexi, Alex, Ally, whatever. Sounds like a plan to me, but this ones gonna need some work before any of that happens."

"So what got you stuck here? Im guessing Zero is going to have to be weaned soon, you want to help me with that?"

Rolling her eyes and shaking her head she stuck her hand in the pocket of her Monster hoodie and pulled out a pack of Capri cigarettes and her favorite zippo, taking a cigarette between her lips, she lit it with her response. "Smoking, drinking, you know, the usual, oh yeah, my dads also a closed minded preacher who thinks I'm the devil incarnate because I find women irresistible" She winked as she took a drag and sighed. "What about you hot lips? And you got it."

Madison blushed and hid behind her book when the other girl smiled at her. She knew the girl had probably meant it as just a friendly smile of greeting. Madison listened carefully when Mrs. Keaton spoke, carefully noting each word. Winston, she was supposed to find a horse named Winston and somehow become acquainted with it. Madison was unsure exactly how she was to accomplish this second bit, but also wasn't in the habit of refusing instructions, especially when she had agreed to come here.

Wandering over to the stall that had her horse's name, observing the conversation between the two other girls as she did, Madison peeked through the door into the stall. She was immediately met with the snout of a large brown equine. Startled at this sudden appearance, Madison gave a small shriek, stumbled backwards, falling onto her backside, and dropping her book. The gelding calmly regarded her with what appeared to be a mixture of shame and boredom. Madison turned a deep shade of red out of embarrassment at having been so easily scared by an animal that hadn't even left its stall.

"Don't give me that look." she muttered as her heart began to slow down, and she started to regain her feet. In response, Winston gave a loud snort that Madison swore sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

Arthur watched his Mother with a sort of admiration. Though he often threw the hate word around and even more often could be found arguing with them, he really did love his Mother and Father. They raised him to be a rather level-headed, intelligent, hard-working... man. Man, he could scoff at the word. Or blush. It was only recently that Arthur had found himself... looking at people. No, no, not like... just looking at people. Oh this sounded so silly, and he was partially glad that the conversation was just running inside his head and he didn't actually have to talk about it. But yes, a boy his age probably should be looking at girls. Even staring, that would be normal. But was Arthur ever one for normality? Apparently not, because ever since... that day, h had found himself looking at... men. Other men, other than himself. The way he should be looking at girls.

When he pulled back to reality, due to Caber biting his shoulder, Arthur realized his cousin had been speaking to him. Had being the key word there, as she soon walked off and was talking to some other girl. Well this was going to be fun, spending the summer[?] with a bunch of girls. At least there was that guy over there, the one assigned to the donkey. But he didn't seem like someone Arthur would, er, get along with. His plans of staying in the shadows were starting to look more and more appealing. Turning, he patted Caber's nose before retrieving his halter from the hook beside his stall. As he slipped the dark leather over the chestnut's face, the stallion automatically dropped his nose a tad bit, knowing that when he was haltered that Arthur was either planning to ride him or set him out in the pastures.

It was then that he heard the small shriek, and he immediately turned to see the girl fall. If he'd turned in time, he would have tried to catch her, but it was too late. Taking a few steps towards her, he waited to make sure she was okay before sticking a hand out to help her get up. "Afraid of horses, are ya'?" His voice was slightly teasing, but not in a mean way. Just in a... I'm-socially-inept,-please-don't-hate-me sort of way.

Skye blushed when the girl said she had a beuatiful face, it wasn't everday that she got a comment like that. She rubbed the back of her neck and looked down at her feet "uh thanks I guess". She looked at the girls mare then back to the girl when she introduced herself "a pleasure to meet you Ally" she said with a smile. "Im not sure whats up with the mare and filly but I haven't gone in the stall yet, its been awhile since I was last around horses". She only remembered a little of her last time here, she was only seven years old.

She watched as Ally got out a cigarette and lighter and she listened as Ally told her why she was here "do you have an extra onw of those" she motioned to the cigarette. When Ally called her hotlips she blushed a brighter red "so your into girls? Well the reason why im here is cus I got arrested at a party and had drugs and alcohol in my system. My Aunt and Uncle own this place". She then motioned to Arthur "thats my cousin".

She watched as the other girl fell, she was going to help her up but Arthur already beat her to it so she put her attention back to Ally "I have no idea where to start with Zero and Ophie" she put her arms ontop of the stall door and leaned her chin on her hands.

Madison took the hand Arthur had offered and, with his help, pulled herself up. "Thank you." she said softly, allowing an embarrassed laugh to show that she was unharmed.

"Afraid of horses, are ya'?"

Madison shook her head, and looked away, replying "Not horses, nature." And to an extent this was true. It was a bit of an oversimplification, but she couldn't really explain it any better with a short reply. After a moment of silence, and glance back at her horse, Madison spoke. "So, his name's Winston."

Oh, congratulations. she mentally answered herself. Such a magnificent grasp of the obvious! And what conversational prowess! Truly you are the defining mind in the field of social interaction. This was exactly why Madison didn't try to start many conversations. Most of her attempts to do so were weak, at best. "Er, sorry." she apologized, kneeling down to pick up her book while she put her other hand to her temple. The gesture looked almost like she had given herself a headache.

Looking at the state of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" Madison frowned. It was covered in dust and a bit of hay. As gently as she could, she began to brush the offending things off the fine piece of literature.

Ally laughed at Skye's reaction to her comments and smiled as she listened to her, and almost jumped when she heard the scream, only to laugh as Skye's cousin made his comment, turning her attention back to Skye she pulled out a cigarette and handed it to her as she stepped closer, flicking her zippo open for her lite. "The pleasures all mine. and I'll try to help ya if I can, Zera here has no interest in makin friends." She gave a pleading look to the horse that remained in the corner, silently eating the hay off the floor.

"Musta been some party then huh? And yeah, I'm into girls, sour patch kids, long walks on the beach" Her last comment was made with a sarcastic air and she smirked. "Well sour patch kids anyway, but lets go check out Black Beauty....oh and her horse too." She smiled sticking her tongue between her teeth. This girl was going to be fun to tease. "So it must be weird having your Aunt and Uncle in charge, must be weirder for your cousin. Ya like em much? You said your last time here was awhile ago." She tilted her head slightly to the side, narrowing her eyes a bit as she waited for her interrogation to be answered, inhaling the bold smokey poison deep into her lungs and let her mind relax as the nicotine took effect. The flavor of the cigarette reminded her of campfires and forests. Alexis let the smoke trail out of her nostrils.

Her answer sort of, well it surprised Arthur. And he really wasn't sure as to if she was trying to make a joke, or was being completely serious about being afraid of nature. It just seemed so, impossible?, to him. Then again he'd grown up in nature, heck, the most time he spend indoors was either at school or when he was sleeping. Though even at school he chose to eat lunch outside, unless it was winter. But still, even at home he had to go out in the winter. The horses still needed fed and groomed and let out, the stalls needed cleaning. Oh, the stalls. That was going to be fun, his parents had left him in charge of the children, which meant he was also in charge of teaching them how to saddle, groom, feed, and unfortunately, clean the stalls. Though he supposed that could wait for a bit later, he would just wait until they started showing a real interest in the horse, and riding the animal.

"Y'ah, Winston. He was real sick, still sick actually. You'll have a lot of work with him, but he looks real lovable." In truth, Arthur hadn't really done much with the horse. Just some grooming and taking out the the fields. Glancing to the book in her hands, the charming grin returned to his lips. "'I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.'" He quoted, word for word. At least he believed it was. "Wonderful book." After a moment of, well probably staring at her, and then blushing, he held up his finger in a one second sort of gesture. "All right everyone, listen up." The boy said, waiting until he drew the attention of everyone.

"Must've slipped my mums mind, but we have got some rules around here." At this moment he shot a rather pointed look at Thomas, but otherwise ignored the man on the donkey. "Don't be stupid, meaning at least act like you're a little bit mature around these horses. Don't try to ride any of them without either my help, or Skye's, at least for the first time since you probably don't know how to tack up a horse." Trying to think of anything else he needed to say right now, a thought struck him. "And you will take care of your horses, preferably even better than you would take care of yourselves."

He met each and everyone of their eyes before pulling back to the Alice's Adventures In Wonderland girl. "Sorry, I just wanted to make sure that was done before I forgot." Arthur offered a sheepish smile, returning to his usual social awkwardness.

Madison was fairly surprised to hear that Winston was ill. He looked okay, healthy as a horse in fact. You're ability to make cringe-worthy puns truly is something to marvel at. Thankfully she hadn't said that one. She looked up at Arthur's paraphrased quote, before realizing that he was referring to the book in her hands. "Sounds like uncommon nonsense to me." Madison replied, with a paraphrased quote of her own.

She listened carefully as Arthur explained the rules. She didn't think that she'd have any difficulty not acting stupid, though most people who acted stupid thought that as well, so Madison made a mental note to avoid things that could fail spectacularly. Not attempting to ride without help would be absolutely no problem for her whatsoever. It was the riding, even with help, that had her concerned.While she did not doubt her motivation in taking care of Winston, she was seriously beginning to doubt her ability.

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure that was done before I forgot.

Arthur had said, after turning back to her. "You don't need to apologize. It's very important that we know the rules." The fact of the matter was, horses were big animals. A single kick from one could possibly kill someone if the circumstances were right, or rather, wrong. With these cheerfully motivational thoughts running through her head, Madison though it wise to take a step away from the stall door. Something that, from her perspective at least, earned an incredulous look from the horse within.