6/8

97 today and no breeze. Worked until 4 to finish last yard. Soreness in muscles is totally gone, and I’m able to push a little faster. Totally weird thing happened…Matt offered to take me to dinner and a movie Friday night! He has NEVER done that before. I just don’t know what to make of it, but I plan to ask what’s going on……this is one of those times I wish I could read his mind. Drat. But a free meal and movie…not turning that down! Even if it is with Paranoid Head.

I decided to answer Gray’s email today and not wait. He did sound kind of lonesome and anxious to hear from me again soon…I guess I’ll give the guy a break (of course, he probably won’t get to read it until the weekend, but he’ll see I didn’t wait too long to write it). Anyway, here it is:

Gray,

I was at the lake all afternoon on Saturday, and I kept thinking how much more fun it would have been with you there. There was a huge group of people from school (and several from your baseball team, including Evan). We played volleyball and Frisbee, ate junk, swam, and generally had a great time (wishing you were here, right? Too bad!) Jon was there, and I think he and Sophie are going to get together. He stuck to her like glue, so I think she’s figured out that he likes her. DON’T tell Jon I told you, but Sophie said she’ll give him a chance and see what happens. Personally, I think they’re really cute together.

Nothing else much is going on. It’s still almost 100 every day, with no relief in sight. Where are those cooling breezes we were promised last week? Looks like they got canceled. I am getting stronger though, and able to push the mower easier. You wait and see, I’ll be so BUFF when you get back, I’ll be able to arm-wrestle you!

My brother asked me out on a “date” for Friday night. What’s WITH that? He’s been treating me almost human the last few weeks, very different from the last several years…ever since before high school he’s acted like I am beneath his notice, now suddenly I’m worthy of his attention again. When we were little, we played together all the time. Even when he was in, like fifth grade he would let me tag along when we were at the mall or the lake and stuff. He was my best friend, next to Sophie (I’ve never had too many friends). Then when he started middle school, things changed. He was just different. He started hanging out with guys my parents did NOT approve of, and I’m sure he was smoking (although he never got caught). He hung out in his room all the time, playing heavy metal music, drawing depressing pictures with skulls and demons. His grades went down, not a whole lot, but enough that our parents weren’t happy since he has this HUGE brain that he obviously stopped using. They really worried about him. That’s when my dad started making him work with him, mowing lawns almost every afternoon and Saturdays (and all summer). I think it did keep him out of major trouble but he still was sulky and angry a lot of the time, and never said anything to me other than “Don’t touch my stuff,” or “Get out of my room”. So I just quit talking to him, except when our parents made us, like at dinner or “family game night”.

Anyway, sorry to BLURT all that, it’s just that I’m realizing how much I’ve missed him these last FOUR years, and I wonder what’s up with him to suddenly start noticing me again? I guess I’ll find out… I’ll let you know how it goes, okay?

I guess I’ll go…no exciting branding, roping, or castrating going on in MY life. Tell me more about what you’re doing!

Carly

I want a girl with uninterrupted prosperity
Who uses a machete to cut through red tape

6/7

Not much to say today. Church. Lunch out with parents and brother (he’s really acting weird, still treating me nice…MUST get to the bottom of this). Lazy afternoon in the air conditioning (still #1 favorite thing), reading and watching chick flick. Played Catan with family…soundly smacked down this game after winning last time…family ganged up on me….only 5 stinkin’ points……boo. BUT just checked my email and GUESS WHAT!!!!

Hey, Carly!

I was glad to get your email! It sounds like you’re having a super-fun summer so far! I’m sorry it took me so long to answer, but I’m like you…we work so hard that I conk out right after dinner practically, and I only get a chance to use my aunt’s laptop on the weekends, when the ranch hands take turns doing the chores (instead of ALL of us, like during the week).

Working on a cattle ranch is REALLY hard work, but I love it. We’re up at 5 every day, so we can be dressed, fed, and saddled up by the time the sun comes up. Way up here in Montana the sun is actually UP before 7 in the summer and it doesn’t get totally dark until about 10:30…I fall asleep before the sun is even down…makes me feel like a little kid!

So far, I’ve helped dig post holes for fences (with the blisters to prove it), I’ve been practicing roping (I miss a lot more often that I hit), helped round up cattle to be branded, watched a couple of steers get castrated (shudder), and I got to see twin calves be born (SO COOL!). And that’s all in the first week (have to add that there’s plenty of grunt work, like mucking out stalls and moving hay bales)! That’s the kind of stuff we’ll be doing all summer, then the last week or so we’ll be driving one herd to the cattle yard for auction.

Most of the men I work with are pretty cool, but a couple are total jerks. We all have to be around each other pretty much 24/7, we even sleep in the bunkhouse together, so I just keep my head down and my mouth shut…especially since I’m the youngest and have to prove myself with them. Some of the guys resent the fact that my uncle let me come work for him a year earlier than he’ll hire the locals, so they’ve been kind of hard on me. That’s okay, I’ll take whatever they dish out, because I want to be here.

Write back soon, okay? Us cowpokes get lonesome out here with the cows and the sagebrush, and only our horses (and other smelly cowboys) for company….

Gray

sigh….nice.

I get knocked down
But I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down

6/6

Great day at the lake today. There was a whole group of people from school hanging out today, so it ended up being like a big party all afternoon. Sophie and I took the bus and got there about noon. We were just stretching out on our towels when Sammie and Kelly showed (Kelly was wearing a neon green two-piece…I felt like a 5-year-old in my pink one-piece…sigh). After that, Heather and Tessa came, then Jennifer and Megan. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one in a one-piece, but EVERYBODY filled theirs out better than me.

Anyway, after a little while, Jon showed up with his “posse” of drummers and trumpet players (Matt and Chase + Dillon, Jason, and Kirk). Jon noticed Sophie and me and immediately came over to say hi, and asked me if I’d heard from Gray yet (okay, I blushed bright red), and I had to admit that I hadn’t…but he hadn’t either so I didn’t feel so bad. He kept looking at Sophie, and I could tell he really wanted to hang around longer, so without even thinking about it I asked if he and the other guys wanted to hang out with us girls. It was so cute the way he jumped at the invitation (although I could tell that several of the other guys were VERY uncomfortable with the idea of hanging out with girls). It wasn’t long before Gray’s baseball buddy, Evan, turned up with a couple of their teammates (can’t remember their names at the moment), and pretty soon we had almost 20 people sitting and lying around. Somebody had one of those iHomes for their iPod, so we even had music. Wild.

Most of us played volleyball for a couple of hours. Man, did I get trampled on at the net, but I did pretty good when I was on the back row (I even learned how to dive for the ball…it totally doesn’t hurt in sand!) Of course, most of the guys made huge….donkeys…of themselves around Kelly (and Tessa….that girl looks FINE in a swimsuit…just sayin’). They sure don’t act like that around me. In fact, they treat me like one of the guys…..I think I prefer that….mostly. But Jon only had eyes for Sophie. He made sure he was on her team and right next to her. He gave her a hand whenever she ended up in the sand and they were doing this funny high-five when their team won a point. Since I was on the other team, I was really trash-talking the whole time, and they had a great time double-teaming me on the teasing (they played off each other a little too well…but at least Jon was more relaxed around her!).

After volleyball, a bunch of people were going in the lake, but Sophie and I decided to sit in the shade for a bit and rest, and Jon stuck right with us. He offered to get us all a snow cone, and Sophie smiled and said sure. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow (careful not to touch her…I really didn’t want her to think I was being too nosy…not that it mattered, I knew she’d tell me what she was thinking anyway).

Sophie: What? (she tried pulling that innocent look, but I wasn’t buying it)
Me: You know what. (now raising both brows)
Sophie: Oh, you mean Jon? (still playing innocent)
Me: Who else?
Sophie: He’s pretty cute. (putting on her sunglasses to hide her eyes)
Me: Come on, tell me. Don’t make me grab your arm! (she knows I’m bluffing)
Sophie: Okay, he’s very cute. I’m just not sure yet if he’s my type.
Me: Your type?And what type would that be? (I already know what she’s going to say)
Sophie: The type that’s not an idiot or a jerk. The kind with a brain.
Me: That’s pretty hard to come by in a fourteen-year-old.
Sophie: Don’t I know it? That’s why I plan to date seniors in high school, and college guys by the time I’m a junior (I know her…she could do it too).
Me: So Jon doesn’t stand a chance with you?
Sophie: I didn’t say that. We’ll see.
Me: Are you sure you’re not 25 instead of 14?
Sophie: Hey, I just know what I want, that’s all. He seems very sweet. I’ll give him a chance, okay?
Me: Fine, just be nice and don’t crush the poor guy, okay? I think he’s totally gone over you already. (I actually know this, but I’m not about to tell her…I did promise)
Sophie: I’ll be sweet as pie. (I swear that girl would have been a vamp in the 40′s)

The rest of the afternoon was so fun, swimming, playing Ultimate Frisbee in the grass for a while (it was too HOT for me…I subbed out within about 10 minutes…too much running….and SUN). Eating nachos and Red Vines…perfect lake food. Even the guys who were skittish around the girls were a lot more comfortable by late afternoon, and I could see the beginnings of several “summer couples”, not just Jon and Sophie. It made me wish, for like the hundredth time today, that Gray was here. We could have so much FUN! Anyway, Sophie and I gathered up our stuff around 5, with several other people ‘cuz the last bus run is at 5:30. Jon walked with us to the bus stop bench and stayed with us until the bus came. I noticed he didn’t try to hold her hand or anything…it was almost as if he had been watching how Gray handled himself (cute! Or maybe he’s just too shy). He really is a nice guy. I hope she doesn’t break his heart. With Sophie that is a real possibility. It’s not that every guy in the world wants her or anything, but the ones that do seem to develop a total devotion to her. It’s kind of freaky. She inspires guys to write sonnets about her or get in fights over her, practically. She’s just one of those girls that have IT, whatever IT is. I don’t really understand it.

My nose and shoulders are totally RED…ouch! I put aloe vera all over which helps. Oooooo, I need to check my email….nothing.

I don’t care if you really care
As long as you don’t go

6/5

96 today. The weather channel says it’s going to hover around here for a while (yeah, that cool down?….not happening). Still no email from Gray today. So all-around hot and stupid day. Yeah, I know, I waited 5 days to write to him, so I shouldn’t be so impatient to get one back. I’ll try to chill.

Top ten things I’m thankful for today:
10- It’s Friday
9- It’s after work
8- My muscles are hurting less (a little)
7- I’m getting to the good part in my book (if I can just keep from falling asleep every time I read!)
6- Pizza for dinner tonight
5- Spending the whole day at the lake tomorrow
4- Worked 30 hours this week…one more week and I get money!
3- I have a boyfriend…sort of
2- Watching “Princess Diaries” 1 and 2 tonight with Sophie and Sammie (with plenty of Reese’s ice cream)
And the #1 thing I’m thankful for today——-drumroll, please
1- Air conditioning!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhh…….(it was actually a tie between air conditioning and cool showers)

Choke me in the shallow water before I get too deep

6/4

WHY do I have to be such a shrimpy little thing? I mean, I’m about to start high school and the high school guys at the lake look at me and smile like they’re about to pat me on the head! If only I could gain a couple of inches and at least one cup size, I’d be happy… really Lord, I would. I’ve been told by an authority (okay, Sophie) that I look about 12. I KNOW, YOU DON’T HAVE TO REMIND ME! It’s so frustrating to look so young. And of course, Mom’s no help. “You’ll appreciate looking younger when you get to be my age,” she says. Like I really care about what I’m going to feel like at the OLD age of 38. It doesn’t help one little bit that I’m one of the youngest in my class; I will be barely 14 when I’m a freshman, and some people (Gray, for one!!) will turn 15 right after school starts!!

Mom told me today that I looked a little taller and I got my hopes up, I did. The she measured me on our “growing wall” in the kitchen, and I am now exactly FIVE FEET TALL. BIG WUP. I mean, I know I’m almost done. I asked her if the girls in the family grow much in high school and she just smiled that sympathetic smile and said that she’s sure I’ll grow a little more. Yeah, uh-huh. I grabbed her arm, and before she could mask her thoughts by listing menu ingredients, I caught it…she’s not holding out much hope for me getting any bigger. She gave me that you-shouldn’t-be-reading-me frown, but I don’t care. I wanted some honesty.

Well, all I can say is, I’d better be getting some Bazoooooms soon. Where are those Bodacious Beauties that I read about on the pop-up ads on the Net? Hmmmm? A-cup….barely. If my body doesn’t get busy soon, Gray is totally going to lose interest once school starts and he’s around all those DEVELOPED girls (I know, I know, I shouldn’t care about that, but I do). Nobody knows this but Sophie and Mom (and probably Dad but he’s not talkin’), but I haven’t even started…..you know….yet. No wonder I still feel like a little girl. My body doesn’t want to become a WOMAN……ugh!

And no email from Gray yet, but it’s only been one day. 95 degrees today……..I repeat, UGH!

She left me roses by the stairs
Surprises let me know she cares