The Challenger by Terri Farley Page A

shouldn’t be this complicated.
    â€œI’ll tell you what.” Jen’s voice rose louder with each word. “Then my dad would have to go out and shoot it again .”
    Wings flapped. A disturbed pigeon swooped down from the rafters and flew out the barn door.
    Silence settled around them. Sam walked farther into the barn. Ace slung his head over the top of his corral and nickered.
    â€œBut he’s joking about it,” Sam said, letting Ace whuffle his lips across her palm.
    â€œWell, your dad isn’t exactly horrified.”
    Sam knew Jen was right. Standing together, the two ranchers had been twins in their looks and in their acceptance of the cougars’ death sentence.
    â€œBut my dad’s not going out with Slocum.”
    â€œDo you think my dad likes it? Do you think I like it?”
    â€œThen—”
    â€œWe both like it more than leaving the ranch!” Jen shouted, then she waved her hand at Sam, dismissing her. “Sometimes you really are a city girl. Maybe when you grow up, you’ll see not all decisions are easy. Not everything’s black and white.”
    Jen stormed out of the barn.
    Sam sat in the clean straw outside Ace’s pen and listened to the horse move around. She answered him each time his nicker asked what she was doing.
    â€œI’m still here, Ace. Still trying to learn to keep my mouth shut and my feelings to myself. I can’t even tell my best friend what I’m thinking.”
    Sam pulled her legs up against her chest and clamped her arms around them. She rested her chin on the shelf they made and listened. She didn’t leave the safety of the barn until she heard the green camper bumping away, across the River Bend bridge, and dusk had fallen, turning everything a hazy shade of gray.

Chapter Seven
    S am’s guilty conscience woke her at four A.M .
    It was stupid, and she knew it, but what else could it be? She’d mistreated her best friend. Not accidentally, but on purpose. That’s what had her staring toward her ceiling when it was still too dark to see.
    She’d finished her homework last night, so school worries weren’t keeping her awake.
    She hadn’t had a bad dream, though thoughts of Moon, injured and alone, and the about-to-be-orphaned cougar were nightmarish enough.
    She wasn’t cold. She didn’t have sore muscles or a cough or a headache to keep her from sleeping until her alarm clicked on at six o’clock.
    Nothing was wrong except that she had only three hours to decide how she’d face Jen at the bus stop and apologize. The worst part was, Sam wasn’t sorry.
    Sure, she regretted their quarrel, but she still thought Jen’s dad was wrong. The cougars shouldn’t have to die and Jed Kenworthy shouldn’t help Slocum kill them.
    Sam rolled onto her stomach. She closed her eyes and tried to kick free of the sheet wrapping her like a mummy. If she kept thrashing around, she’d wake Gram or Dad and then she’d have another set of problems.
    She sat up carefully, hoping her mattress wouldn’t creak. She wiggled her feet free, then tiptoed across her room to pull on jeans, a flannel shirt, and heavy socks. She laced on her gym shoes and started downstairs, where she put on her coat.
    The only one who’d welcome her at this time of the morning was Ace. And, she admitted to herself, even that was iffy.
    As Sam left the house and closed the door quietly behind her, she decided to stop by the feed room and get a scoop of grain, just in case.
    Ace nickered before she reached the barn, and though Sweetheart snorted and turned her tail toward Sam, the little bay gelding was happy to see her.
    â€œHey, pretty boy,” she whispered.
    Ace nickered again as she entered his pen.
    Long ago, Jake had told her it just made sense to pet horses in the same places they groomed each other, and he was right. As Sam rubbed Ace’s neck,the horse sighed with