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"Get back here!" I shouted running after an eight-year-old Alton.

"Not on your life!" he answered.

"You can't just kiss me and expect to get away with it!" I told him, seething.

"Says you! I seem to be getting away just fine," he retorted.

He turned toward the barn and I followed him. I gained on him slightly and when he passed the pig pen, I tackled him. We landed in the mud with a splash.

"Ahh, gross!" he groaned from under me.

I straddled him and punched him in the face. "That's for kissing me!" I could feel strands of my hair tickle my face.

"Why are you mad about that? It's probably the only one you'll ever get, ugly!"

I pulled back my fist for another blow, but before I could strike, Alton caught my hand. Using the superior strength two extra years lent him, he flipped me into the mud.

"If I'm so ugly, then why'd you kiss me?" I demanded.

"Will you two stop horsing around in that mud?" Aunt Amelia interrupted. "Last thing I need today is more clothes to wash."

I dashed past Aunt Amelia, hot on Alton's heels. "Get back here! You're gonna pay for that!"

"You two are still doing that?" she complained. "Aren't you getting a little old for this? You're almost sixteen, Rose."

"I'll stop when he does!" I answered heatedly.

"And we all know that will never happen," Aunt Sarah laughed.

"Only because it's too much fun," Alton said as he ran past them again.

"Will you stop running?" I asked.

"Not while your face looks like that," he answered with a grin.

Amelia stuck out a foot and Alton fell headfirst into the ground.

"Ha! You should see yourself!" I laughed as I towered over him.

He grabbed one of my ankles and pulled me down to join him.

"Why I oughtta!" I fumed.

"Careful. Your face might freeze like that."

"Though years have come and gone
You haven't changed at all," I sang with a glare.

"You've changed most of all," he sang back.
"Once the ugly duckling,
Now the fairest swan."

I pouted. "Stop flattering me. I'm not going to forgive you."

"Even if I were to tell you we got a new mare?" he asked casually.

"Amelia, Sarah, can I go see her?" I pleaded.

"What happened to never forgiving him?" Amelia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll only be a minute!" I continued, anticipating their arguments. Laundry, blah blah, as many hands as possible, blah blah, need you. "I promise!"

Sarah sighed. "Fine. But hurry back."

"Yes!" I cried and jumped up. I pecked her cheek. "Thanks." Then I ran toward the blacksmith's, Alton on my heels.