The next few days at school went by in much the same manner, though I stayed well clear of Devyn and Valerie and their group of friends. Life wasn't made hard, there were no sudden attacks, and I continued to act as I might in California. At night, while at home Devyn would tutor me in math and I would tutor him in English...Valerie still tried to get in on our little study group, but after a firm refusal by Devyn, I think the message got through loud and clear.

"So, what are we doing this weekend? I figured there's no work yet and no homework...you're not grounded, and you don't know the ranch. So what do you say I show you around?" Devyn's proposal wasn't out of the blue, I had expected him to make another offer and 'to show' me new things but figured this time around it would be great.

"I think that's a very good idea Devyn, why don't you take Leah out to the pond? I'm sure she's missing the water." The suggestion came from Trisha; I had been missing the ocean. It was often the first thing I heard when waking in the morning and the last thing I heard when sleeping at night. It worried me when there was a storm and settled me when I was angry; it allowed me to make something of myself and prove to everyone that I was good at something.

Out here, without the ocean, I was a no body. Though I didn't let it show that was exactly how I felt, no one knew me for my surfing and Valerie was still attempting to make my life hell. One day of peace away from the house and near water sounded like a perfect idea, as long as Valerie didn't pop up out of the blue.

"Okay, then Devyn but just so long as I don't have to ride my horse. I'm not comfortable doing that." The thought of riding my horse terrified me, having to control a beast as big as that and having it potentially run off with me on it was enough to give me nightmares. At least on a surfboard, I could control where it went, well for a short amount of time I could.

But at least a surfboard didn't have feet and couldn't bite me or kick me in the head.

"Don't worry Leah; we can double. I'm sure the horses can carry us both, is that okay Declan? I don't want to step on anyone's toes." Devyn looked directly at Valerie when he said that, Valerie couldn't meet his eye and her cheeks went an unhealthy shade of red. The swelling and bruising around where I hit her was just starting to go down, she would probably have a scar where I broke skin but why and how she'd gotten her injuries were enough to keep her quiet.

"No, that's fine Devyn. Just make sure you guys are well prepared before heading out, I don't want anything happening to either of you while you're out learning." Declan made sure to emphasise the word 'learning.' Devyn nodded, and I shook my head, was this another subtle attempt at warning Devyn away from me?

"Okay Declan, I'll make sure. Does Valerie want to come? If it's not too much to ask we could ask a few friends down the road if they want to come along too?" At first, I wanted to hit Devyn for even suggesting Valerie come along, but with other people around she would probably be less likely to try and kill me again.

"No. Valerie is not going out to the pond at all." The hope in Valerie's eyes died at the finality in Declan's voice. I felt sorry for her but at the same time I didn't, she had no idea how to deal with consequences, and I hoped that this would help her.

Later on that night I was up in my room getting ready for bed when Valerie came waltzing in like the Queen of England, I ignored her as was the usual ritual but she sat on her bed and watched me with slitted eyes. "Devyn is mine! How many times do I have to tell you that?" She demanded quietly.

That stopped me in my tracks, and I turned on her suddenly, she flinched back a little. Something inside of me felt so satisfied at seeing her flinch and she must have realised that because her expression turned stony yet again. "How many times have I told you? I'm not interested in that country hick? He's not my type, not my kind of guy and he's not that much to look at either! So get it through that stupid head of yours already! I.don't.want.him!" I more or less screeched at her before turning back to my bed, god stupid people annoyed the crap out of me.

"Well good, just so that is clear and all." Rolling my eyes, I jumped into bed and turned away from Valerie.

"Whatever Val, you're seventeen for crying out loud. If you're still a virgin, then be a virgin, but nobody likes a clingy or psychotic bitch. So do the world a favour and stop being a douche-bag." It was probably a bit harsh but all I wanted to do was sleep, and Val was keeping me from doing that. She didn't say another word as I closed my eyes and attempted to sleep.

Waking the next morning, I was slightly apprehensive and anxious about this day out with Devyn. Valerie was moody at breakfast and didn't even look up at me when I walked in, in fact, she didn't look up at anyone the entire time we sat at the breakfast table to eat.

I was dressed in my favourite little sleeveless dress, I had been thinking all morning what to wear out and it was the one thing I felt comfortable in during the summer. The dress might have been on the shorter side of decent, but it kept me cool throughout the day, I would be wearing a bikini beneath it too, so it wasn't a big deal. But as soon as I stood up from eating breakfast Declan had something to say about it.

"Leah, I don't want you wearing that. You should go and change." Was all I heard, his tone stopped me in my tracks. It was evident he was unhappy with it, but I wasn't about to change. It was already hot outside, and the sun hadn't long been above the horizon.

"I'm not changing, it's hot outside, and I don't want to sweat too much." It was a lame excuse, but really, sweating was gross! But the way Declan looked at me, I was sure there was going to be no arguing on my part so instead of standing around getting a lecture I went up to my room and slipped into a pair of denim shorts.

Feeling like I'd cheated Declan out of a win, I went back down stairs and smiled widely when Declan continued to eye the dress distastefully. "I changed, didn't I?" I asked before going into the kitchen. Despite feeling nervous earlier I was now a little excited to get near water, it was hot, and the first thing I was going to do was jump in and cool off.

Declan began laughing as soon as he saw me walk into the kitchen, Devyn winked, and I cringed. "Fine, you know how to dress. I won't bug you about it again. But! I'd rather your dresses were closer to knee length then cheek length, okay?" I nodded at the compromise, that meant most of the dresses and skirts I'd brought with me would cause Declan to have a heart attack or something close to it.

"Trisha and I are going to bring the kids up later on," Declan wasn't asking if he could tag along, while he spoke he looked at Devyn. It was evident what the hidden message was, and it made me glad that I wouldn't be spending the entire time alone with Devyn...though I still wasn't sold on the kids.

"Cool, are we taking our lunch out now?" Devyn began asking, but Trisha shook her head.

"We'll bring it out; I think a few other, other guys wanted to tag along too. We might bring Val along, depends on how well she finishes her chores though." I hoped they didn't bring Valerie along because my face was still a little bruised from our last encounter. Declan had mused that they could always move me up into the attic to get rid of some of the tension.

Whoever was first to bed was usually asleep when the other came in. Usually, it was Valerie that went to bed first, and she was snoring by the time I went it. I was usually up before her too, and out of the room for much of the day, from time to time I found myself drained of all energy and went to lay down, but that was never for long.

"Oh that sounds cool, okay Devyn lets go! I want you to show me places before we get out to the lake." I hoped Devyn's head wasn't in the gutter because I wanted to see places around the ranch and not places on Devyn's body like I was sure he was thinking.

"Come on then Leah, let's go. Don't worry Mr Gallers I'll have Leah to the lake safe and sound." Devyn grabbed my hand, and the both of us began walking out towards the horses. My heart was pounding for some reason, but I didn't know why I'd been around guys plenty of times before but not one that I genuinely liked.

"I figured we could go on one horse; you're light enough that you won't cause Muster any fatigue. Do you want to ride in the front?" I shook my head at the question, riding on the back was all right, it meant Devyn had to focus on steering the horse and not me. If I had that honour, we'd probably end up in the bushes or down the side of a hill somewhere.

As soon as Devyn was settled on his horse, he pulled me up behind him, and I settled down fairly quickly. That ride with Declan had given me a little confidence on the back of a horse, and I now knew where to put my feet and arms, which were firmly wrapped around Devyn's torso.

"Don't go too fast Devyn; I'm still not good on horses," I muttered before I felt him kick the horse into moving. After a few jerky moments the horse calmed down, and we began our walk out to the lake taking a long way around.