They came over to Jacob in the barn as he brushed Chevy out.

"Hi, Jakey!" Nikki said.

"Don't call me that." he said. She pursed her lips, but ignored is comment.

"Is this your horse?" Nikki asked. Jacob nodded. she reached to touch Chevy, but his mare flattened her ears against her head and let out a low growl that made Nikki step back. Jacob smiled a bit to himself, makeing sure to remind himself to give Chevy a few carrots as a reward that night. He heard a clip clop of hooves as James and Mil were returning with Coal and Mist from their ride to the creek. They dismounted and James looked very annoyed when he caught sight of Nikki. He and Mil tied up their horses and pulled off their tack, storing it in the tack room. Nikki plugged her nose as she smelt the horses sweat. Jacob didn't like it when he first came to Nevada too, but now it smelled like home.

"What are you doing here?" James asked, not sounding polite at all. He begain to rub Mist down and brush her sweat away and he hoof picked her to make sure she didn't pick up any rocks on their ride.

"I just wanted to make sure Jakey here felt welcome at his new school." She said smiling. James rolled his eyes.

"I don't think your should call him Jakey, he doesn't like that, and obviously you're making his mare jealous." He said pointing to Chevy who had her ears flattened and was swishing her tail like a whip.

"I'm not afraid of any old mare." Nikki said, but they could all sense the falseness in her voice.

"Are you sure? Cause I sure am. She's the one who gave me this." He said pointing to scar on his cheek. Nikki back up the second he said that, looking at Chevy like she was some monster.

"She's a dangerous monster! I voted for her to be put to death." She said. Chevy let out an enraged niegh and kicked out her front leg, as if challenging her. Jacob glared at Chevy and Nikki.

"Chevy, be nice. Nikki, if you feel that way, then leave now, because she's my horse I don't want people to talk about it around her." He said. Nikki let out a scoff and went pale when she turned around, Jacob could see why. Brook had just road up on Phantom with Lily with her, riding her mare, Angelkiss. They dismounted and led their horses into the barn, stopping and glaring at Nikki.

"what are you doing here?" She snapped. Nikki gave her a sarcastic smile.

"Jake invited me over." Nikki said smiling.

"Yeah you wish." Brook said sarcastically. Jacob smiled, his girlfriend was amazing. She kissed him on the lips, earning a glare from Nikki. Jacob smiled and put Chevy back in her stall. Just then, Joseph came out of the stall leading Wildfire by his halter.

"James, Somethings wrong with Wildfire. He won't drink his milk." Joseph said. Tears were staining his cheeks since he was worried about his horse.

"Joey, He's fine, he is just starting to eat hay, like his mama. We'll talk to dad tonight and ask if we should cut down his feeding to once a day." He said. Joseph let out a huge sigh of relief and hugged Wildfire around his neck. He than led him back into the stall.

"Wow, who cares if a little horse won't drink it's milk? I mean, less work for you, right?" One of Nikkis friends, Lisa said. The three Maxwell siblings, Brook and Lily all glared at her.

"You care because it's a living animal. You need to care for it, and if it's not eating, then you worry because something could be wrong." Lily said. Lisa rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, can we leave now, Nikki?" She asked.

"Please." Jacob mumbled under his breath so only Brook could hear. she smiled a bit and they all watched joyfully as Nikki and her two girls left.

"If Monday was a person." James teased once Nikki was gone. the five of them laughed and headed inside for dinner.

***

The next day, Nikki bumped into Brook while she was walking with Jacob, knocking her stuff out of her arms. She laughed and walked away.

"Real mature." Jacob called to her as he knelt to the ground and picked up Brooks stuff. She mumbled her thanks, but Jacob could see she was embarrassed by the red shade of her cheeks and the tears in her eyes.

"Don't pay attention to her, She's a jerk." Jacob said placing an arm around her waist. Brook let out a shuddering sigh.

"It's kind of hard not to pay attention, especially when she's out to get you." She said. Her big blue eyes were full of tears that were threatening to spill over onto her cheeks. His grip around her waist tightened and he pulled her into a soft kiss. When he pulled back, he didn't let her get very far from his face.

"I will never let that happen." He said. She kissed his brefily again and they headed towards U.S. History.

    Jacob headed to his last class of the day, Math. The same class he had with Nikki. He had been dreading this class all day. He sat down at his desk, putting his binder and his phone down on his desk and leaned back in his chair. Some of the boys called him to go check out the spider on the wall and he stood and rushed over as Danny Felmont picked it up. While he had his back turned, Nikki approaches his desk just as he got a bee text message on his phone. She smiled a bit and picked up his phone, scrolling through the messages until she reaches the new one, that happened to be from Sara. She was refusing to give up on Jacob.

       Jake? Why won't you text me back?!? I know we're on opposite sides of the country, but we can still make this work. I miss you. Lewis keeps trying to make a move on me and I keep telling him to back off because I'm your girlfriend. Call him and tell him. I love you.

         -Sara

Nikki set his phone back down on his desk and smiled to herself. She rushed back to her desk just as Jacob turnes around, and she thought of her plan during the lesson.

***

Hey! So the picture on the side is of Lily James, Who I've picked to play Nikki!

~Avis