My Parents banished me to my Uncle's ranch:

I looked in the mirror the next morning, my hair never looked so tangled. I had just gotten it dyed--thank God, who knows what kind of horrible Super Cuts is out here--and the soft mahogany color played well off of my brown freckles. After my shower I threw on my usual mascara and eyeliner. Then I got on my favorite pair of jeans, completely faded with holes all over. They were starting to get too snug, I liked my clothes loose and these seemed like they were shrinking. I threw on a top and headed for the kitchen.

It was nine o'clock and no one was in the house. Where is everyone? I wondered. I found the shelf with cereal and looked through the fridge for milk.

This place was hell. One minute there are crowds, the next minute you're isolated. I finished my breakfast and headed outside. Why? I don't know. That disgusting smell hit me like a ten pound bowling ball! I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose in disgust.

"Erin! You're up. I let you sleep in since--"

"My name is Tiggie. Don't call me Erin." I glared at Jack. He was coming up from one of the barns on the ranch.

"I apologize, it's habit. Are you feeling better? Nate told me you were tossing lunch."

"That's a beautiful way to put it." I snorted.

"Come down to the barn with me, I'd like to show you something." Jack led me down to one of the barns. Immediately I was met by the sounds of horses and the smell of...'manure'.

"Gross. How long are we going to be in here?"

"You get used to it after a while." He said smiling. I quirked my brow at him.

"I don't think so." I snorted. That smell was nothing I could ever get used to.

"Ah, here it is." He led me into an old wooden room. Immediately I sneezed at the amount of dust that I was walking through. The light flickered to life and I saw a room filled with dusty trophies and old newspapers.

"These were you mother's old trophies."

"This whole room?" I gawked. He nodded. I looked around. Most of the trophies were for 'Show' and some were called 'Hunter Jumper', others were just gold medals that hung all across the room.

"She was a great rider..." I watched as Jack's eyes started to tear up.

My mom died in a riding accident four years ago. I never knew the details, only that something was wrong with the course she had been riding on that cause her horse to slip. I couldn't look at these. It brought back too many horrible memories. I stormed out of the room.

"Erin wait!" Jack called after me.

"Tiggie!" I screamed back. I turned to face him now in the middle of the barn. A few people were grooming and tacking up so I lowered my voice. "Listen Jack." I said flattly. "I came here because I was forced to. I don't want a walk down memory lane, alright."

"Fair enough." He said placing his hat back on his head. "I'll show you where you'll be working."

"Working?" I asked dumbfounded.

He showed me to one of the barns where a few of those boys from diner were standing. The one called Nate wasn't there, it was the sandy haired boy and the two that looked like brothers with curly brown hair. Man, those were some attractive looking cowboys.

"Steven, I'd like you to show my niece where she'll be working." He walked off before I could argue.

I stood facing the boys. They were all wearing levi's jeans and faded T-shirts with cowboy hats. I couldn't help but laugh. "Howdy." I said sarcastically.

"I'm Steven," The sandy haired boy stuck out his hand. He was wearing a big rodeo ring around his finger. Perfect! I smiled and shook his hand and then pretended to trip a little on the step there, throwing him a little off balance. "Sorry." I apologized politely. He just nodded.

"This is Ian and Isaac. They're twins so don't worry about their names, no one cares anyway." They both gave him the same look and nodded a 'hello'.

Since I haven't mentioned it before I might as well fill you in on why I pretended to trip. Back home I learned from one of our gardeners--who I caught steeling from us one day--how to snatch practically anything from someone. I decided a little fun wouldn't hurt.

"You'll be mucking stalls over here." He pointed to a few stalls on his left.

"I don't know what 'mucking' is, but I will be doing no such thing." I said crossing my arms.

The three boys burst out into laughter.

"What?" I asked curtly.

"Mucking just means cleaning. Get your mind out of the gutter..." Steven said through laughing.

"Well I won't be doing that either." I said, tightening my arms again.

"Yes you will." He tossed some sort of shovel looking thing at me and then walked away.

"Hold on," I yelled after him.

"What?" The boys all turned around.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" I asked smiling slyly.

"No..." He answered back, furrowing his brow.

"Oh," I said pulling out his rodeo ring I had snatched. "So this doesn't belong to you?" I said holding up the ring to the light examining it.

"How'd you--where'd you find that?" He growled.

"How'd you do that?" One of the twins came over and looked at the ring I was holding.

"Yeah, he never takes that thing off!" The other twin exclaimed. I just smiled and and tossed it back to him.

"Sorry I couldn't help myself," I shrugged innocently. "It was just so shiny. You should keep that somewhere safe." I said rolling my eyes.

"Let's go." Steven growled and put the ring back on his hand. The twins followed after him and I was left in a barn full of smelly stalls with a shovel and a bucket during my summer vacation of my senior year!

I did a little planning while I cleaned out the few stalls. I would never admitt it to Jack but I actually like to work. It felt good to accomplish something.

"Finish the stalls?" Jack asked while biting into his sandwhich at lunch. A few of the workers were also eating around us. Thankfully I had made myself a PB&J before they had offered me a steak sandwich.

"Yes." I rolled my eyes.

"I"m going into town for some supplies, I thought you might like to come." He said.

"Alright." I took another bite of my sandwich. Maybe I could find a skate park and some civilization.

"Hey Nate!" Jack called becoming the boy over. He had to be in college or maybe a senior in high school. Something like that. He had tan skin and these gorgeous brown eyes that were covered by his curly eyelashes.

"Jack," He said nodding. Then he nodded to me. I just curled up my lip. Just because he was hot didn't mean I had to be nice to him. They were all the enemy as far as I was concerned. Coming in with a big grin plastered on his face was the boy with the very closely shaved head. He wasn't as tall as the others, maybe 5'11, but he had broad shoulders and his sleeves were rolled up, exposing very tan, very muscular skin. If this was meant to be punishment, my parents were wrong.

"How's it going over on the south end?" Jack asked handing him a sandwich on a plate.

He shook his head, "Those Farlander boys were out spooking the cattle again. They're going to start dropping weight if they don't knock it off. We need every pound on those guys if we want full price at the slaughter."

I couldn't help it, I let out a disgusted snort. "Good for them." I mumbled. One less cow for the slaughter house.

They both shook their heads at me. "You see them on our land again and I'll hope you'll take care of it." Nate nodded fervently.

In Town:

"I'll be in the feed store for a while. Go ahead and look around town if you like."

"I'll try not to get lost." I said sarcastically hopping out of the truck. The town was a joke. There were no skate parks that I could see. Barely any teenage kids walking around. Wasn't it summer? Shouldn't there be people shopping...

I made my way down the street and finally found what looked like a sporting goods store. There were some muddy dirt bikes parked outside. I guess that's what the kids are driving these days. I smiled as I walked into the store.

YES! There on the wall was a board. I practically ran over to it bumping into someone looking at it also.

"Sorry." I almost fell back. I looked up into the most beautiful green eyes I had ever seen.

"S'okay." The boy looked maybe nineteen, with shaggy black hair that covered most of his forehead.

"I'm Chase."

"Tiggie." I replied. He was still holding my hand.

"That's a cute name." I blushed a little. Maybe Montana wasn't too bad after all.

I took this opportunity to ask for some insider help. "You wouldn't happen to know if their are any skate shops in this town?" I was banished but my parents hadn't cut off my credit card--thank God!

He quirked a brow at me and the looked me over. "You...skate?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm new here. I'm not looking for anything permanent, my board is back home. I just need a replacement for now."

"Well this," He nodded to the wall of boards. "Is your best shot."

I bit my lip and examined the boards. I reached for one I liked but couldn't quite reach. I felt a body up against mine and Chase was stretching his hand out. "This one?" He asked holding the board.

"Yeah." I answered back.

"Here." He handed me the yellow board. "There's really not much of a skate park here. Just the school, but there's only some small rails."

I paid for the board at the front desk and the man at the counter offered to put the wheels on for no extra charge. I think he was trying to hit on me but I wasn't quite sure.

"So you said you're new?" Chase asked. Yes, he kinda followed me around the store.

"I'm staying with My Uncle for the summer. Up at his ranch. I think it's by Deer road or something..."

"Now way! You're the old man's niece?" He said a little surprised. Before I could ask who the 'old man' was and how he knew I was his niece a few other boys came into the store and yelled for Chase.

"Hey Adam, it's the old guys niece!" Chase turned me to face the two boys. They both checked me out for a little longer than I was comfortable with.

"No way!" The other boys shouted.

"This is Adam and Sam, my brothers." He introduced me. Adam looked like him but a younger version. Sam looking nothing like them, he had blue eyes and blonde hair and looked older than the two, but he was very quiet.

"How do you know who I am?"

"Our parents know your uncle. Jack right? Yeah we're kinda neighbors."

"You're the Farlander boys aren't you?" I asked.

"Yep," They all agreed at the same time smiling. I noticed how cute Chase's smile was. They must have been the ones with the dirt bikes parked out front.

"I gues he's not too happy about the dirt biking." Adam nudged Chase, they both grinned.

"Not exactly. Apparently your disturbing the cattle." I rolled my eyes.

They all laughed. My board was done and I hung around with the boys by their dirt bikes. I tried out my new board and couldn't have been more happy. I skated around by them while they went to one of the shops to pick up some parts for their bikes. I got to know them fairly well. Chase was a Senior at the high school and Adam was a Junior. Sam was the oldest and this year he would be going to college. Their parents were old friends of my uncle's and from what I could tell they had been fighting over some property lines for a while.

We were walking back to their bikes when I spotted my uncle coming out of the store hauling some big bags of feed behind him.

"I have to go," I said disappointed.

Chase looked over and saw my uncle. "We should should go before he sees us." He agreed.

"It's nice to meet you," I said and before I turned away Chase caught my hand.

"We should hang out sometime." He said smiling down at me. I smiled.

"I wish. I have no car and I live out in the damn country."

"We'll spring you sometime." He said and I watched them as they all rode off with their noisy bikes. I had a chance to explain to them that I was banished from home and they agreed that had been harsh. They hadn't failed to mention that they had a couple ramps at their house and I was welcome any time.

The drive back was boring. And the chores after were even worse. I had to--can you picture this--gather eggs! The only egg gathering I do, is at Safeway with my maid Maria.

We sat down again for diner. This time thankfully someone finally realized I was a vegetarian and didn't offer me any chicken.

"I saw you got a skateboard today, how'd you manage that?" Jack asked. I felt curious eyes looking at me.

"I have money." I said, not leaving much detail. If Jack found out I had a credit card with no limit I'm sure he was going to tell Richard and Veronica.

"She probably lifted it off of some sucker." One of the twins whispered to the other. They both laughed but Steven caught them with an angry gaze. I couldn't help but smile. It wasn't even a big deal, just some stupid ring.

I didn't think that anyone else heard what they were whispering, but the phone rang and no one went to go get it.

"Do you not hear the phone?" I asked bluntly.

"We don't answer the phone during diner. We let the message go, and if it's an emergency then we pick up." The others all agreed with Jack, but the phone kept ringing until the message started.

"You have reached the Deer ranch residence, leave a message and we'll call you back." A polite woman's voice sounded. I guessed it was Rosie's or Dona's.

Then the beep went off and a very familiar voice--actually two--started up.

"Tiggie!" Alex's shrill little voice sounded. She seemed concerned. Then Jason started to talk, even coming from Jack's Study room they could be heard. "Your mom wouldn't give us the number to the ranch, we've been going through the Yellow pages for an hour!"

"We miss you!" Alex added.

"Man Tigs," Jason's shorter version of my name,"Your dad is a real prick!"

I jumped up from the table and ran from the room, ignoring the shocked looks and their faces at Jason's sailors mouth as he rambled on, describing my father.

"Hello! Jason, Alex!" I almost wanted to scream.

"Tiggie! We heard your being held hostage in some hick town!" Alex screamed.

"I am." I agreed sullenly. "But I'm glad you called. I got my phone taken away so I couldn't call or anything."

"We know!" They said in unison. Alex and Jason were eleven months apart but I swear they were born to be twins!

We bantered on about some random topics and they filled me in on what my parents were doing(or not doing for that matter). It had only been maybe seven minutes that I was on the phone when Jack interrupted by clicking the phone off.

"What the hell!" I screamed.

"Don't scream at me like that." He said sternly. "Diner is getting cold. Your parents requested that your time on the phone stay limited."

"Are you for real!" I hissed.

He grabbed my arm and dragged me back to the table. The rest of the evening I didn't eat. I waited to be excused and then stormed off to my room. It was Friday and I guess the workers stick around the house to visit and drink. What a party! NOT! I still hadn't changed for bed yet. It was barely nice o'clock when I heard a knock on my door sound.

"I'm busy!" I shouted sarcastically.

The door opened and there stood Nate. He closed the door behind him and walked over to sit on the chair.

"Can I help you?" I hissed, throwing myself on my bed.

"No." He replied in a normal tone. Just then a few of the others boys all filed in. There was Steven and the twins and coming up behind them was the one who I didn't know what his name was.

"Oh great it's Little Joe and his posy." I remember watching Bonanza with my mom before she died. She loved Little Joe's painted pony.

The boys just rolled their eyes and shut the door behind them. This was awesome! But I reined in my enthusiasm. Having five hot guys in my room, thank you Richard and Veronica!

Nate spoke up, he seemed almost like their leader. "Ian says you snatched Steven's ring earlier."

"He dropped it," I replied sarcastically. I wasn't going to just admit I was a pick-pocket.

"Nate doesn't believe us," One of the twins said. "So can you do it again."

I stood up and went over to my dresser and pushed past the boy with a shaved head. "Move," I said firmly pushing him. I got my sweats out of my drawer and then went back to my bed.

"C'mon," One of them begged. (Didn't catch that? Okay you'll see...)

"I don't know what your talking about. I have to change my clothes."

"I told you." Nate said. Just as they were all almost out of the room I stopped them.

"Ehem," I cleared my throat and they turned. "Daniel Reese, age 19, born December 13, hometown Ohio..." I looked up to see them all starring.

"How'd you know 'bout Danny?" Steven turned to him. Danny reached to his back pocket and then looked back to me. I held up his wallet.

"Shit!" Danny said laughing. The rest of the boys teased him. I threw the wallet back to him.

"Now would you all kindly get the hell out of my room." I said in my best fake voice.

It was 10:30 when I was laying in my bed, relaxed wearing my sweats and tank top. I had finished watching some old re-runs of The Fresh Prince when I heard a small knock on my window. I turned to see Chase.

"What are you doing here?" I asked excitedly as I cracked the window open.

"Didn't I tell you I would spring you?" He said smiling crookedly.

"I'm in my pajamas." I complained as he hopped through the open window.

"So change, we're going to a party."

I ran over to my drawer and pulled out a pair of jeans.

"Do you mind?" I asked about to pull my sweats off.

"No," He said smiling and leaning against my bed.

I changed in my bathroom instead and had to admit, with the short notice I had been given I cleaned up pretty good. He was waiting outside the window when I finally snuck out. We ran around the back of the house.

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