Morning Star (cont'd)
By Horse Crazy Brianna 

Chapter Two:

I forced myself to slow down to a walk as I closed the distance between Daniel, Laurell, Star and me. 

"Stupid horse!" yelled Laurell, walking away from the seemingly impossible-to-catch mare. 

"Who's the stupid one here?" I muttered, then yelled to Daniel, who'd gotten Star trapped in a corner of the paddock, "Stop it!  You'll never catch..." 

"Lisa!" Laurell glared at me.  Daniel, glad for the excuse to get away from the horse, came over to us. 

"What are you doing here, Elisabeth?  I told you that you don't have to muck out stalls on Saturdays." He ran his fingers through his sweaty, blonde hair, waiting for me to give an explanation.  He'd somehow found out that my real name was Elisabeth and he calls me that to annoy me - it works. 

"I... see, came here to..." I'm not the best at talking to people.  Annoyed, Laurell jumped in and explained for me. 

"She thinks she knows better than we do how to catch that thing."

Daniel snorted a laugh.  "Yeah, right!  If we can't do it, she sure can't!" 

I hate it when people discuss me as if I'm not even there. 

"Star's not a 'thing'!" I glared at Laurell.  "Where'd you get her?"  I turned to Daniel. 

"Dad got her cheap at an auction.  He said we could train her and then sell her for a higher price than what he paid."  He rolled his eyes.  "But, no one can even get near the animal!  The vet's coming any minute to examine her and we can't even catch her!"

"I'll do it!" I said.  

Ignoring their protests, I walked slowly towards Star, pretending to ignore her completely.  I stopped a few feet away from her, and made a "t'' by putting my arms out to my sides.  Star made a move to come towards me. 

"Nope!  You can't come over here!" I called.  She tried again. 

"No you don't!" I said.  "Not yet..." I waited until I saw her look down - a sign of giving in.  ''Okay, Girl.  You can come in now."  I lowered my arms.  

Turning around, I walked back towards Laurell and Daniel, aware of Star following behind me.  I took the lead rope out of Laurell's hands and snapped it gently onto Star's halter. 

"You're not wild, are you, Star?" I murmered, scratching her withers.  She nickered at me gratefully; I'd found her favorite spot.  "You're nothing but a big sweety." 

"Big deal," muttered Laurell, jerking the leadrope away so that it stung my hands.  

"She likes it if you..." I began. 

"So you caught her!" I was interrupted by Mr. Johnson's voice.  I looked up.

"Um, yeah I..." But, I stopped when I realized that he wasn't talking to me. 

"It wasn't too hard, Dad," said Daniel. 

Of course not, I thought.  Doing nothing isn't very hard.  Mr. Johnson looked behind Daniel at me.

"I don't think I've had the pleasure." 

"This is Lisa, Dad," said Laurell.  "She mucks out stalls for us.  Daniel just hired her.  And, she was just leaving."  She gave me a meaningful look.  

I turned around and headed for home muttering, "Fine.  I guess that's another place where I don't belong.  Go ahead, Daniel - tell your dad you caught Star.  He'll find out soon enough that you didn't."  My heart sank, thinking of how they'd treat my - for I would make her mine, somehow - horse.  Even if it took every single cent of my money and weeks of arguing with Mom, I had to have that horse; and I'd do anything to get her.

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