The room yielded a level of safety as Bailey climbed onto his bed on top of the neatly made bed, yet the familiarity of the room wasn't enough. He quickly reached for a blanket, pulled it over his head, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Why?"

Bulking as he did—

"Embarrassing, and in front of Sarah. She certainly didn't deserve me acting like that, but I can't imagine her understanding why I acted so weird." He flopped onto the bed, head still buried in the blanket so he couldn't see what was happening around him, yet he could feel a chill emanating from his bedroom window next to his bed. He leaned into the direction, finding himself pleased with the sensation, relaxing, forgetting.

At least for the moment.

"Bailey?"

"Uh-huh," he muttered into the blanket, knowing his mother might order him outside to do some chore and he might have to face what was going on around Horseland in that moment, yet she said nothing regarding the incident earlier. "I guess they didn't say anything, which I guess is a good thing given how Chloe and Zoey are."

"I'm heading out," she said, her voice remaining soft.

Bailey remained there, blanket pulled over his head as he swallowed. " So, when is she going to order me to do something? "

"Your dad and Will are out on an errand."

"Which means I'm in charge?"

"So if you need anything, Mr. Rodriquez is working in the barn doing some mending at the moment."

Bailey tensed, then sat up, the blanket dropping while he looked at his mother with droopy eyes, his hair a mess from being under the blanket as he took a deep breath. Weakly, he said, "You don't need me for anything?"

"Not at the moment," she said. "You go ahead and rest up. Will said something about you not feeling well."

"It's nothing," Bailey said, his hands clenching the sheets underneath him. "He's just over reacting."

"Is he?" She let out a slight hum. "I mean, if you ever need to talk, about you know?"

He looked over, staring. " She 's not going to out right say it? " He looked out the window. " Of course not. We never do talk about what happened, and we haven 't celebrated Christmas since... " Taking a deep breath, he reached for the blanket and pulled it back over his head and flopped backwards, taking a deep breath. "Since I'm not needed."

"Oh. You're needed," his mother said. "You're needed just as you are."

"I meant..." Bailey frowned. "Wish adults wouldn't evade things like that."

"I know what you meant, which yes. There aren't any chores around the place you're needed for right now, so don't stress yourself out."

"Uh-huh." He remained there for some time, before growing board and pushing the blanket off so he might sit up. Glancing outside—

Bailey frowned, noticing Will returned with his dad, getting out of the truck which was attached to a trailer, which in turn meant they 'd brought back a horse, which in turn stoked his curiosity. He tilted his head, remembering his mother saying she too would be away. "What's going on?"

Then—

Bailey stared, watching Sarah hurry over to Will, saying something he couldn 't see from his window, but he did see Will's eyes blink, then saw him glance away, looking around for some reason, before saying something back to Sarah, but the conversation was long. "What are they talking about?"

He shook his head, letting out a sigh, going back to looking at the blanket, feeling sleeping from having stayed under the blanket for so long.

"I'd better get some fresh air, but I want to see the new horse," Bailey said. He remained their, frowning. "And find out what is going on. Not that I think there's anything bad going on, but something is going on that they're not telling me about. Likely because..."

He glanced out the window, watching Sarah leave Will behind, taking a deep breath.

"She likes Christmas." A wave of emotions washed over him, his entire body stiffening, his eyes closing as he took a deep breath. "I don't want that—it might be a problem. One with me."

Swinging his feet down, Bailey slipped off his bed and headed out of his room and downstairs, glancing around hoping the twins weren 't there to sweep in and overwhelm him, yet found the room empty of most students. Taking a deep breath, he headed to the door and out, shoving his hands into his winter jacket, his eyes on the trailer.

"Oh. Bailey?"

"Hi," he responded.

"Are you feeling better?" Will asked, his lips pushing together.

"I think so." Bailey stepped over, looking in at the horse, taking a deep breath. He stepped over, trying to get a look at the horse. He took a deep breath. "What was Sarah talking to you about?"

"Oh. That?" Will took a deep breath. "You saw?"

"From my window. It's how I saw that you came back with the trailer, and the horse."

"A good one for a beginner rider," his father said.

"Oh. Someone is going to have a nice," Bailey started saying, stopping himself from saying the word, then he shook his head. "I hope riding isn't something new that will just be tossed aside once they get bored. That's not fair to the horse."

"Yes, well." His dad let out a chuckle. "I don't think that will happen."

Bailey frowned, glancing at Will noticing he 'd not answered the question, watching his cousin let out a sigh.

"Sarah's just worried about you. And the whole," Will paused. "She thinks she said the wrong thing and upset you."

"Does she know?" Bailey asked, swallowing. "Did you tell her?"

His father 's eyes widened. "Is he talking about..."

"Yes," Will said.

"Bailey, I think that is Will's buisness on whether he shares that with the other students or not."

"But it's Sarah," Bailey thought, swallowing. "Her of all people."

Will opened his mouth. "No. I mean." He lifted an eyebrow, his mouth clamping shut as if he were holding back a chuckle, but then—

Whatever Bailey was thinking flew out of his head as he heard a voice, one that said certain things, familiar things that made him tense, his entire world—