Jacklyn Baker (called_jack) wrote in the_colony, @ 2011-02-20 14:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 34, jacklyn baker, ~ series: traders |
Week 34 - Monday
Characters: Jack Baker and Nevaeh
Location: On the grounds and the barn
Summary: Jack tries to be friends with Nevaeh and the girls team up for a project
Rating: G
Jack wasn’t spying. It was spying if you were only watching people for information. Okay, maybe she was spying but only a little bit. Only to make sure Searle wasn’t with Nevaeh. He’d been doing better about that whole not ignoring her thing, but Searle and Nevaeh still vanished a lot. Jack was happier when she wasn’t thinking about what they did when they were alone.
Searle was busy building things - she’d offered to help last week but Derek said ‘oh, hell no’ and that he wasn’t getting paid to baby-sit. There was no Nevaeh in sight. Jack was determined to prove she wasn’t going to be mean to Nevaeh but that didn’t mean she wanted Searle hanging around and it making it more awkward.
Spying completed, Jack headed for the Traders’ camp. She’d been poking around over here before and she knew which camper to knock on for Nevaeh.
The door opened a few moments later to an older woman with gray hair and a kind face. She blinked at Jack in curiosity for a moment before turning her head behind her and making a small, dry whistle between her teeth. Nevaeh showed up behind her a few seconds later, then smiled.
“Oh hey, Jack,” Nevaeh said. “C’min. Lia, s’okay if Jack comes in for a bit?”
The older woman gave a shoulder shrug, then left the camper.
“You don’t have to go, Lia!” Nev called after her with a laugh.
Jack looked confused for a second and then she laughed, too. “But we don’t have to stay!” she shouted, too. “I was going to see if you wanted to come meet Ginger, anyways.”
Amelia ignored them, throwing a wave over her shoulder as she headed toward one of the other trailers and disappeared inside. Nevaeh, on the other hand, tilted her head quizzically to the side.
“What’s a Ginger?”
Jack laughed again. “She’s one of our horses. Well, not ours ours. They’re Greg’s horses but so long as I help take care of her, Greg’s teaching me to ride her.”
Nevaeh’s face split in a wide grin. “Gosh, I haven’t ridden horses in ages. I’d love to meet her. Is it okay if we do?”
“Sure,” Jack answered easily, even though she hadn’t asked. “You ride?” She tried to keep her voice level, even though not being able to show off with Ginger took some of the fun away. It would be really nice to be able to do something that Nevaeh couldn’t. The other girl could drive and was older and was dating Searle. All that was hard enough to handle.
“Not very good,” Nevaeh admitted, grinning sheepishly. “I’ve only ever been in a gated corral when I was a kid. On a camping retreat thing.”
Jack immediately felt better. “I only got out of the corral last week. We can’t ride her - Greg would freak - but we can brush her maybe. Come on.”
Nevaeh disappeared inside the camper long enough to get her coat and hat, then closed the door up behind her and easily fell into step next to Jack. She remained quiet for a moment, her eyes attentive as she looked around as they walked.
“I don’t think I ever said, but you’re real good at drumming during drum circle,” she said with a smile.
“Thanks.” Jack smiled back. “I really like it. We never do anything like that here. Everybody just gets really tense and then they explode.”
“It’s really so great for that,” Nevaeh said, nodding enthusiastically. “Usually I drum it out, but if I’m really stressed I just spin and spin until I get dizzy.”
“I used to skateboard,” Jack explained. “I could do that forever. It was like flying. Just skate for hours and hours until I couldn’t move.” It had been a good way to cope those months she was living on her own. Jack would skate until her body screamed from it and then she’d go pass out. “I can’t do that anymore.”
“Sure you can,” Nevaeh replied. “We drove the roads through here, and they seem pretty smooth still. And I saw a skate park. Why don’t you just go there?”
Jack stopped walking and stared at Nevaeh in astonishment. “You saw a skate park? Like, for real? A real park? Here?”
“Yeah, it’s over on M Street and Mill,” Nevaeh said, grinning. “I didn’t see it or anything, but there was a sign for the turn-off. Didn’t you know?”
“No!”
Nevaeh laughed happily, glad to see Jack happy about something for a change. She didn’t always appear to be too pleased whenever Nevaeh saw her. “We should go. They probably got grates and stuff in case it rains so it’ll be dry enough, right? I haven’t ever skateboarded, but I do have a bike.”
“I’ll clean it, I don’t even care.” How was the weather going to be? Cold didn’t matter if she was moving, the biggest thing would be cleaning it up so it was safe to ride. “If it’s good to ride, I know I can make Jed take me. It’ll be harder if it needs work...” Reality was setting in. “If it needs to be cleaned I don’t think I can get anyone away long enough to get it ready. There’s a lot of work here...” But oh, a skate park. She could finally feel normal again.
“I can help,” Nevaeh offered. “And I bet once we’ve done enough work for the day that Searle’ll help, too. And I bet I could convince Whit to help us.”
“Searle can skateboard, too. If you mean by skateboard he doesn’t spend all his time falling down. I’d have to ask Jed to see if I’m allowed out with just Whitney, though.”
Nevaeh pulled a face at her having to ask, but shrugged and didn’t say anything. She didn’t see why the Vegas people wouldn’t trust them after the work they’d already done both at their new place and on the fences back in Vegas, but she wasn’t about to get pushy. It didn’t matter one way or the other with her.
When they finally arrived at the barn, she let her jacket open again. All the animals generated enough heat that the barn wasn’t as cold as the rest of the property. Jack left hers on; this was still cold for Vegas.
“This is Ginger,” Jack said, leading the way to her stall. “That’s Gustav but give him space. Greg doesn’t let anybody near Gustav but him and Abby. He can be mean.”
Nevaeh cooed at the horse happily, offering up her left hand for the horse to sniff. Ginger lipped her gently and, finding it empty, huffed out a hot breath. Nevaeh only grinned, bringing her hand up to rub her blaze.
“Such a pretty girl, yes you are,” she murmured to the horse.
“She’s sweet.” Jack reached up to stroke the horse’s neck. “I have to come back before dinner and groom her.” They fell quiet again, concentrating on the animal. She didn’t know how to say all the things she wanted to.
“I know about you and Searle,” she finally managed.
“I know,” Nevaeh replied quietly, keeping her eyes ahead on Ginger. “He asked me to be nice to you.”
“I told him I wouldn’t hate you,” Jack answered. “And I don’t want to.” She didn’t need any more drama. “But...he’s my best friend.” She left out the part about how she used to wish Searle would be her boyfriend. “I just want to keep him a little bit.”
Nevaeh let her hand drop away from Ginger as she turned to look at Jack. Blue eyes silently scanned her face before she frowned slightly and averted them.
“He doesn’t belong to anybody,” she said slowly. “Not you or me. But whatever he decides to do, I’ll support him. I just want him to be happy.”
Jack’s face fell. She’d said the wrong thing again. “Me too.” The trouble was she didn’t know how much she wanted Searle to be happy without her. “So we can all be friends.”
Nevaeh nodded, her eyes flicking up to her before she looked down again. She didn’t know what else to say to the other girl, but it was very clear to Nevaeh that Jack still had some reservations about her. She seemed nice enough, and she was Searle’s friend, but Nevaeh knew that in a few weeks none of it would matter; she’d be gone again for however long it took them to finish their work in Orchardtown before returning, and then who knew how long they’d stay upon coming back.
“Okay.” Jack was determined to be normal. “Will you ask Whitney about the skate park thing? I’ll check with Jed to see if I’m allowed to go. And I can talk to Greg if you want to spend time with Ginger, if you want?”
Nevaeh shrugged slightly. “I don’t wanna impose. It’s not my horse, so...” she shrugged a second time. “But yeah, I’ll ask Whit. Pretty sure it’s all systems go, though. She owes me, like, a hundred favors.”
“Let me know. I’ll find you when I know what Jed thinks.”