NEVER LOOK A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH

It was Monday of the following week that June was left on her own. She'd been cleared by the doctor, but June's mother was adamant that she rest more. Kimberly had work and Lisa's spring musical had begun. Rehearsals were at four, giving her little time to come over after dealing with her brothers. June was fine with being left alone. It gave her more time to watch her fan spin on her ceiling as Patsy Cline played from her record player.

The chocolate lab at her feet groaned loudly, heaving a heavy sigh with it. Before she had a concussion, June took Smokey on a neighborhood walk every day. Due to Kimberly not having the time to do so with him, he was cooped up in the house as June recovered.

"I know, Smokey," June murmured, watching the fan until her head spun with it. She scrunched her fingers into his fur, giving him a solid scratching that he had no problem with. However, the three-year-old dog still had plenty of energy to burn. She knew that he would keep her up half the night or get the zoomies at three in the morning if she didn't do something about it. Perhaps she could take him to play fetch. That surely wouldn't cause too much strain on her still muddled brain. With a heaving sigh, she rolled herself up and out of bed. Smokey perked up, ears alert as he watched her, tail starting to thump against the quilted mattress. "Yes, boy. Give me a second to put on some proper clothes, mkay?"

She dressed in a warm sweater and a pair of sweatpants, deciding to put her hair in a loose braid that wouldn't pull at her scalp. Slipping into some thick socks and her rain boots, she looked back at Smokey, who seemed to spasm in excitement. "Come on, baby. Wanna go outside?" Smokey let out a loud boof and launched off of her bed like a massive, brown missile. June heard him thundering down the stairs and followed suit, opening the front for nod letting him tear out into the front yard, a Tasmanian devil flying through the short grass and kicking up mud as he went. With a sigh, she realized she'd have to strangle him into a bath before her mother came home. Kimberly cleaned houses for a living and wasn't found of coming home to clean some more, so tracing mud into the house didn't seem like the best idea.

June grabbed the gross tennis ball from the ground and tried not to gag at the texture before throwing it for Smokey. The dog took off, muscles pulsing as he ran like his life depended on getting that old tennis ball in his mouth in the next three seconds. After about fifteen throws and an aching arm, June's fingers slipped from the slobbery ball and it flew sharply to the right, towards the road and across it into the woods.

"Smokey, no!" June shouted as the Labrador tore across the street with seemingly boundless energy. She jogged after him into the thick brush, catching pine needles to the face. "Smokey! Get back here!" The girl wasn't scared of the woods, but she'd be a fool not to be cautious of them. If it wasn't bears, it was something else, like she'd heard Billy and Harry talking about once. As if prompted by her thoughts, Smokey came running back to her, ball in mouth, and turned back towards the depths of the woods, hackles raised and a growl low in his throat. Goosebumps raised at June's skin.

"June?" Came a voice from behind, towards the street.

June whirled, a shriek leaving her lips before she clapped a hand over her mouth. "Charlie! You scared me!" Smokey ran black out of the woods, the girl hot on his tail with fire at her heels. She cast one last glance at the woods. It felt like something was... watching her. Maybe it was just Charlie.

Charlie gave a chuckle, hands up in surrender. "Sorry! Sorry. What were you doin' in there?"

June looked up at him, wondered briefly when he'd gotten so tall, and ran a hand down her braid. "Threw a screwball on accident.  Had to go lookin' for it or Smokey would never go back inside. What are you doing? Did school get out early or something?"

The boy shrugged, broad shoulders seemingly a little curved in. Charlie was always a bit of an anxious kid, even if it wasn't outright. June had always seen it, though. It was the nail biting that clued her in. "Gas leak or something. School's out the rest of the week.'

"Ah," she breathed, tucking a strand of hair that had fallen from her braid behind her ear. "That's good. Less homework for me to make up, I mean." Charlie laughed, scratching the back of his neck and rocking back on his heels. She found herself finding his awkwardness endearing. God, she  must've hit her head hard on that wagon. "Thanks again for the soup," she said quickly to fill what was becoming a strange silence. "I have your container if you want it—"

"Keep it," Charlie interrupted before blushing furiously. "I mean, my mom has a lot. Like, a whole cabinet full. Don't worry about it."

June nodded, hands fiddling in front of her. "Okay. Just, uhm, let me know if you change your mind. I can drop it by anytime—" The sound of a car approaching cut her off, and she looked up to see Geoffrey's station wagon approaching. She stepped to the edge of the road, waving and smiling as Charlie's dad cranked his window down. "Hi, Mr. Swan! Oh! Hi, Mrs. Swan, didn't see you there."

"Junie! You're a sight for sore eyes, sweetheart. Feeling any better?" Helen asked from the passenger side. "Don't you worry, Charlie got a proper grounding for that recklessness, and I called Mrs. Black and Mrs. Clearwater, too."

June's eyes snapped up to look at Charlie, whose blush had only turned a deeper shade of crimson. He'd been grounded? He didn't even say anything, nor had he seemed like he was mad at her. The blonde looked at Helen again, shaking her head. "Oh, I'm much better, Mrs. Swan. And Charlie didn't do anything, honest! It was really nice of him to help me home. Not to mention, I think he suffered enough when I threw up on his shoes."

Geoffrey winced at that. "I'll say. Good on you, girl. Come on, Charlie. In the car. We're going over to the Forge's for dinner."

June looked up at Charlie again, a small look of interest on her face. Their class only had forty people in it, so everyone has known everyone's business since they were in preschool. That being said, June knew that Waylon Forge and Charlie Swan had been friends in elementary, and recently had a falling out at the end of their eighth grade year that lasted through a better part of their freshman year. "Patching things up?" She asked curiously.

His deep brown eyes dip down to his new Chuck's, clearly embarrassed as he cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah. No use going continuing with petty middle school drama, right?"

June smiled softly. "Yeah, guess not. I hope it all works out for you," she said as he rounded the car and gave her a bit of a wave as he climbed in the backseat. She leaned toward the car a bit. "Bye, Mr. and Mrs. Swan! Have a nice dinner!"

They gave her jovial waves before driving down the road. June watched them go, feeling her cheeks warm as she found her eyes stuck on Charlie's curls through the back windshield.

She was in deep trouble. And it only was further confirmed through the rest of the evening and week, when her face would turn a deep shade of pink at even the sight of Smokey's brown fur, the color reminding her of the boy down the street. It got even worse when she went back to school the following week, when she saw him every day in nearly every class. Lisa didn't say anything about it, but June saw her knowing eyes and the teasing glint in the obsidian depths of her best friend's gaze.

An offer of respite came in the form of a letter from her Aunt Shirley in Colorado, offering a bit of a summer vacation in the mountains. Shirley and her husband Frank worked as conservationists and June has stayed with them before, helping them clear trails and maintain the part of the state park they work in. She usually got a small stipend, but living in the mountains without the constant rain was often payment enough. April and May passed agonizingly slow, months of torment gnawing on her bones and leaving her heart in a constant state of near combustion.

June decided to go when school ended, spending her summer in the trees and hiking through trails. It helped her clear her head a bit to be in nature and not constantly surrounded by reminders of Charlie Swan and her ridiculous crush on him. Her stomach no longer fluttered so violently that she could puke butterflies, so she took that as a win. Lisa's phone calls kept her updated on the happenings of Forks' summer activities. It was nice to be kept in the loop while still being able to breathe fresh air and not have the town's eyes on her every move. The wildflowers did well to fill her mind with colors other than chocolate brown and rosy cheeks, though she found herself staring a little too long at a family of swans in the park lake. She knew that she was in too deep, especially considering how young she was, but June had always had a problem with throwing her whole heart into something. Relationships and crushes would be no different. Devotion could've been her middle name, but she couldn't afford to embarrass herself, not when  her school was so small, not when she'd never be able to walk through town and everyone would know. Should Charlie discover her feelings, she didn't take him for a boy that would be cruel about it. He would let her down gently and kindly without a word of it to anyone else. And somehow, that thought only made her fondness grow stronger.

August came too quickly. She bid the Colorado mountains farewell, along with her aunt and uncle, and flew home on a nonstop flight to Seattle, where Kimberly picked her up in their baby blue minivan. Her mother bought the car when Tommy started playing hockey up in Seattle when he was thirteen. It made little sense to keep such a large vehicle now that it was just June and her mother, but Kimberly seemed to be attached to the van, so June never said anything of it.

Lisa had long since removed her brace, and also seemed to have grown another two inches in two months. June had grown a bit herself, though only an inch. Her figure was a bit more womanly, even though she was in phenomenal shape from working in the state park for a whole summer. Her best friend was sitting on her front porch when the minivan pulled into their driveway, and June wasn't even able to get a word out before Lisa was squeezing the air from her lungs and lifting her clear off her feet.

"Junie!" Lisa crowed. Smokey barked at the door, begging to be let out of the house to reunite with the blonde as well. June squeezed Lisa back just as hard. "Wow, I didn't know you could be a shade other than... white," Lisa teased, showing off her new braces.

June scoffed, pushing Lisa away from her. "Gee, thanks, Li. I really appreciate it," she laughed, moving to grab her suitcase from the car. The air smelled of oncoming rain. With the sun just barely shining through the clouds, June linked her free arm through Lisa's and headed into her house, where it was clear that Kimberly had just made cookies before leaving to pick June up from the airport. Smokey barreled into her, plowing into her legs at full speed, and June had never felt more happy to be home.

A/n: i hope this is as fluid as it felt in my brain. I worked in CO last summer at a summer camp and it truly is such a beautiful place. Trying to think if i should write back in the present for the next chapter, or keep in in the twentieth century. Thoughts?

All my love,
Hadley