WHEN
YOU SEE MEWHEN
YOU SEE MEby Nesciri
CHAPTER 3
Lou saw Kid emerge from the livery with his horse and she only had to take one look at the paint horse to realize that it would be hard to beat. For a second all her thoughts were on the race, until she saw the girl walking next to him. it was a beautiful girl, with long hair, well past her shoulders and dressed in a two part flowered dress, a dress Lou would have loved to wear herself if she had the possibility. When Kid and the girl looked over to them, Lou quickly averted her gaze. There was things strange feeling again, mixed with a feeling of envy. Forget it, she thought to herself as Jimmy rode up to her.
"Hey, Lou, wake up! Or are you concentrating on the race already?"
Lou looked up into the smiling face of Jimmy.
"Don't you worry, Jimmy," she replied. "All you'll see is my horse's tail!"
"Oh, yeah? Wanna bet?"
"No betting among my boys," Emma interrupted. "I'm satisfied with all of you doing your best."
Jimmy and Lou nodded obediently, but then Jimmy leaned over to Lou.
"Loser does the other one's chores for a week," he whispered. Lou grinned at him and nodded. It was an easy bet. Jimmy might think he was an expert rider after seven weeks of practice but Lou still remembered his many falls in the first two weeks. And although Jimmy's palomino was a good horse, she was sure her own Lightning was better. Besides she was lighter than Jimmy and that would matter in the end.
"All right, boys, get going!" Teaspoon walked over to them. "And good luck," he added as the riders lined up.
Lou smiled at the others as they lined up. She enjoyed racing and the thrill of winning over the boys sent a thrill down her spine. She was going to do her very best to show the others that she was the best rider among them. The only one she was truly worried could beat her was Buck, since he more or less seemed born on the horseback, but she trusted Lightning to be able to outrun Buck's brown mare. So she was in a very confident mood until she saw Laura give Kid a kiss on his cheek for good luck before he mounted. The small gestured disturbed her enough for her to loose her concentration and she rammed Lightning into Cody's horse upsetting it.
"Hey there," Cody complained as he tried to calm his horse.
"Sorry," Lou mumbled as she more felt than saw Kid looking at them as Katy remained perfectly calm not too far from them. She tried to calm Lightning down as she somewhere could here a man starting to count down. As the shot was heard over the crowd's cheering she urge Lightning forward and immediately felt the powerful horse move beneath her they surged forward, away from the others. She knew that Buck had a god start as well and when she gazed to her right there he was, his horse equal to hers. Cody, who had been late in the start, was behind them as was Jimmy and Ike. She smiled to herself as they rounded the first corner. She wasn't aware of any cheering from the crowd or what was going on around her. All she could think of was the beating of hoofs and the powerful horse she was riding as she urged Lightning to increase the speed. If she could beat Buck to the next turn she would have the lead. But she took out the win in advance. Just as she mentally congratulated herself to have gain on Buck, she became aware of a horse to her left. Throwing an eye in that direction she saw Kid on Katy coming up alongside her, riding as he'd never done anything else. She immediately realized that Buck wasn't the threat to her winning - it was Kid. Behind her she could her Jimmy call out.
"Go on, Lou! Don't let the 'farmboy' win!"
Lou doubled her efforts to push her horse further. She knew that if she won, it would be a victory for all the Express riders. They would have proved their value to the townspeople and she wouldn't let her friends down. With both Kid and her before him, Buck was blocked and she was their best chance.
But how much she tried to urge Lightning to go faster as easy Katy followed. She could hear Buck following behind them and she knew that he must be looking for an opening. It was probably frustrating for him to have to be behind, but Kid had effectively closed the way for him and Lou had no meaning of creating an opening. She didn't care about the others riders in the race. Now this was between Kid and her.
It was on the second lap she saw suddenly became aware of the people cheering them on and she caught a glimpse of Laura as she cheered on Kid. Suddenly she realized that the winner would get a lot of attention and for a brief second she hesitated. Lightning noticed the change in his young rider and decreased his step. It was all Kid needed and in a flash he had passed her. It also created the opening that Buck needed and he used it, passing her in order to challenge Kid for the first place. But his horse was tired and Kid broke the finish line one head before Buck. Lou suddenly found herself fighting with Jimmy, who had managed to get spur his horse forward at the end, for third place. Remembering their little bet, she managed to push Lightning to a narrow win before Jimmy.
"Well done, boys!" Teaspoon greeted them as Ike and Cody broke the line as well. "You did a good race all of you." But not even Teaspoon's congratulations could cheer the boys up. The had not won as they had anticipated and even if it had been a close race they still felt disappointed. They watched silently as Kid received the prize from the banker's daughter and then walked off the stand to accept the town people's congratulations. Of the boys, Cody seemed to be the most upset.
"What were you doing in the start, Lou?" he complained. "I f you hadn't bumped in to me like that I could have won!"
"That made no difference," Lou objected. "I got away just fine in the start."
"Well, you disturbed me!" Cody looked angrily at her, when Emma intervened.
"Hold it," she said. "The race is over and you did a great race, all of you. If you're interested, Sam and Teaspoon have helped me unpack the food, so why don't we get something to eat?"
"Yeah, don't be a sore loser, Cody," Jimmy consented.
"I've made your favorite pie," Emma said comforting.
"Alright," Cody muttered, "just remember if Lou hadn't scared my horse I probably would have won."
"Whatever you say, Cody," Jimmy said laughingly, slapping Cody friendly in the back as they headed off to where several people had gathered for the town picnic. For a second Lou stayed and looked over to where Kid still was receiving congratulations from some of the townspeople. Then she turned to follow the others only to see Buck waiting for her.
"I'm coming," she said, when something in his expression made her add a question. "What?"
"Why did you do it, Lou?" he asked silently. "You could have won that race."
"Did what?" Lou asked.
"You held in Lightning."
Lou knew that there was no use lying to Buck. He had been right behind her when she slowed down.
"I thought he was losing his step. I was afraid he was going to stumble and get hurt."
It was obvious that Buck didn't believe a word of what she was saying, but he didn't push the issue. He just looked suspiciously at her as they followed the others.
"Well done, Kid!" Mr. Thompkins put forward his hand to shake Kid's. "It was a great race - I knew you could do it." Kid smiled sheepishly at the man. He had wanted to win, especially since he heard Jimmy call him 'farmboy' but he wasn't too fond of the attention he got right now. The banker and his daughter made their way over and Kid winced. He had never liked Mr. Devlin or his daughter - and Kathleen was even worse after her year at a boarding school for young ladies in St. Louis.
"Good riding, son," Mr. Devlin said.
"Thank you, sir," Kid replied and nodded to Kathleen in hope that they would be on their way. Unfortunately Mr. Devlin became involved in a discussion with his stepfather and Kid and Laura found themselves face to face with Ms. Kathleen Devlin.
"So you did it again, Kid," Kathleen flashed her smile at him, completely ignoring Laura. Kid couldn't help notice the rudeness and took a firmer grip of Laura's arm.
"It looks that way, Kathleen," he responded. "If you excuse me, I was taking Laura to the picnic."
"Oh, by all means, don't let me disturb. I just hope you'll save a dance for me tonight. After all the one handing out the prize ought to have a dance with the winner, don't you think?" Before Kid could comment, she continued. "But I do think you could have let somebody else win for a change - always giving the prize to you is getting a bit boring. I would mind if seeing someone else winning - someone more exiting perhaps," she said with a flirtatious look over to where the Express riders were gathered.
"I'll try and remember that," Kid said shortly and bid her goodbye as he and Laura left to tend to Katy.
"I wonder who she's after now," Laura smiled as they walked back.
"Well, whoever it is I'll pity the poor fellow," Kid replied. He had nothing over for the likes of Kathleen. All she ever did was use people.
"Kid!" Laura said with feigned dismay before she giggled. "But you're probably right." Then she smiled shyly at him. "So will you dance with her?"
Kid looked at her and suddenly the image of Lou and him dancing appeared in his mind. Suddenly he found himself looking straight into Laura's eyes.
"I was hoping that you'd save all the dances for me." He had no idea why he'd just said that, but somewhere in his mind he had this feeling that it wasn't Laura he wanted to ask. Of course it's Laura you're thinking about. Who else would it be? A tiny voice echoed in his mind - it ain't Laura you're thinking about - it's a small girl dressed as a boy and wearing glasses as disguise and with big brown eyes…and he shook his head slightly. Laura was still staring at him as if she hadn't heard what he was saying.
"You're asking me for every dance?" she asked him as she couldn't help blush slightly. First then did Kid realize what ha had done. But as he looked at her, the image of Lou faded away, as he saw her blush slightly as her blue eyes met his. He had used to wish that he could feel something for Laura, part from liking her as a very good friend. Maybe he was now - maybe he was falling in love, he pondered, hoping that it was the case. If only that nagging in voice in the back of his head would go away.
After strolling down the street, enjoying the sight of people having fun and trying a few of the amusement stands, the rider headed back to freshen up and change before the dance. Cody finally seemed to have got over his initial dismay about losing the race and started bragging about all the young ladies that he claimed had flirted with him. Jimmy looked at him with amusement.
"The only thing I saw looking at you was Johnson's old mare," he stated. "Doubt that you'll be able to bring her onto the dance floor."
"At least I know how to dance," Cody retorted. "I don't have to embarrass anybody by stepping on their feet.
"You don't know how to dance," Jimmy said suspiciously, only too aware that his dancing skills left a lot to wish for. Seeing his hesitation, Cody smiled triumphal.
"I know it, you don't know how to dance!"
"I do, I just ain't practice it for a long time!"
"Admit it, Jimmy, you don't know!"
"Will you to stop it!" Lou interrupted the two riders with a sudden outburst. "Who cares about if you'll dance or not?"
"What's wrong with you?" Cody asked surprised. Lou mostly kept to himself and this outburst was a bit out of the boy's character. "If it's the ladies you're worried about, I'll hook you up with a nice girl - all you have to do is ask…"
"Never mind, Cody," Lou sneered and left the bunkhouse. She thought she would suffocate inside from all the cologne that Jimmy and Cody seemed to have taken a bath in. She didn't want to go to this dance, and she especially didn't want to get hooked up with any girl. But she couldn't refuse to go either, that would look odd. She wondered if Kid would be there. Probably with the girl she had seen him with earlier, she thought. she looked nice and she figured that she probably was his fiancée. It looked like that anyway. Sometimes she wondered what life would have been like if she had grown up like that - with a caring family around. Maybe she too would have been engaged to somebody, somebody like Kid. She felt tears in her eyes and angrily wiped them away. Damn, this was not how she should act. Get yourself together, she muttered to herself as she strolled over to the stable. All I have to do is just be there - it's just a dance. But another thought kept repeating itself in her mind. It's my first dance and I'm going as a boy.