Turf Wars (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 8)
Page 12
CHAPTER FORTY
Mackenzie and I sat in a shady spot, eating ice cream and watching Chloe ride. She was thin and pretty with the sort of long legs that riders dreamt of. She rode around the course with a look of concentration on her face. Everything wasn’t covered in Astroturf but a good number of the poles were and thanks to Frank’s desensitization, Winter didn’t seem to mind. He put in a very good round and everyone clapped afterwards.
“Now it’s Hattie’s turn,” Mackenzie groaned. “She always beats Chloe no matter what she does. It’s not fair.”
I watched as Hattie trotted her pretty mare, Clementine, into the ring. Where Chloe made riding look like ballet, Hattie was far more businesslike about it, pushing the mare on with her thick legs. Down one of the lines Clementine spooked at something. Hattie smacked the mare on the neck.
“She’d better hope the judges didn’t see that.” Mackenzie giggled.
“Maybe they won’t even care,” I said. “If you say she always wins.”
The class took forever since a lot of the riders had more than one horse. Chloe had a good round on her second horse, Freddy, but the round wasn’t quite as well put together as the one she’d had on Winter. We clapped extra loud anyway, just to make sure she knew we were supporting her.
When the division was finally over and the numbers called, Freddy hadn’t placed but Winter came in first and the judges must have seen the spook because Hattie didn’t place at all.
“I can’t believe I won,” Chloe said. “I never win. I’m the reliable, consistent third place.”
“Not today, you’re not,” I said.
Now I was the one shoving her into the ring to get her ribbon. And I was pretty sure she cried too when they pinned it on Winterbourne’s bridle.
CHAPTER FORTY ONE
They say that win or lose, you should act professional but there was no way we were going to act like we didn’t care that we had won. We whooped and laughed and cried our way back to the stalls where we fed our horses and ponies more treats than we should have and ate more ice cream than was humanly possible.
“I feel sick.” Mackenzie threw herself into a chair.
“I’m not surprised,” Chloe said. “What was that, your fifth?”
“My sixth,” she groaned.
And just then Frank and Melanie appeared with an armful of chocolate dipped cones, dripping vanilla and strawberry ice cream down their arms.
“Ice creams to celebrate,” they cried.
“Oh no,” we groaned, and then burst into giggles.
“What’s so funny?” Melanie asked but we were all laughing too hard to tell them.
“I’m very proud of you all,” Frank said later, after the giggles had died down. “You really pulled out all the stops today. A winning streak. All my girls, champions.”
And even though I wasn’t really one of his girls, it felt nice to be included.
We were packing up our stuff when Frank told me we had to go to the office.
“Why?” I asked, suddenly worried that they realized they’d made a mistake. That we hadn’t won at all and that they wanted their ribbon back.
“To get your check, of course,” he said.
“Check? Right.”
I’d been so focused on winning that I hadn’t even thought about the money.
“You paid for my entry fee,” I said as we walked over. “And for the braiding and the trailering. Shouldn’t the money be yours?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said.
“But…” I tried but he wouldn’t listen.
“Pony jumper champion here to claim her winnings,” Frank said.
“Ah yes, let me see.” The girl behind the desk shuffled her papers around, then looked up and pushed her glasses to the end of her nose. “Your pony did very well. Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled, feeling embarrassed.
Then she handed me a check that was for so much that I thought it was a mistake so I tried to hand it back.
“This can’t be right,” I said.
“Pony jumpers?” she said, consulting her papers again. “Yes, the class was sponsored by the Willis foundation. Prize money was ten thousand and your winning share is six.” She looked up at me again. “Anything wrong?”
“Um, no,” I said.
“Don’t lose it now,” Frank said as we walked back to the stalls. “And give it to your parents as soon as you get home.”
Yeah right. Like that was ever going to happen. Derek would spend it all on beer and junk food and to pay off his credit card bills that were always arriving in the mail with late payment stickers on them. Or he’d use it for some sad, bring Cat back home fund.
I was wondering whether I should call my mom and ask if the step sister from hell had shown up yet when I caught a glimpse of something in the crowd up ahead. A black skirt, that shirt with the safety pins. I rubbed my eyes. It couldn’t be. I had to be imagining things. Delirious from too much sun and ice cream.
People were crowding around one of the Grand Prix riders, little kids hoping to get an autograph and women, who were far too old to have a crush on the handsome young man but had one anyway. And there she was, draped on the arm of a rider I’d only ever seen on TV like it was the most normal thing in the world. My stepsister, Catherine.
“Oh no,” I said.
THE END
COMING SOON
SHOW JUMPING DREAMS BOOK 9: BEACH RIDE
It’s the middle of summer vacation and Mickey insists that they all do something that doesn’t involve horses, like going to the beach.
But Emily is still reeling from finding her step sister draped on the arm of a Grand Prix rider at the last show like it was completely normal. It’s not. Cat doesn’t like riding or horses or any of that stuff. That is Emily’s private world and the step sister she doesn’t even like is sticking her big nose in right where it doesn’t belong.
So when Cat invites several of her new riding friends along and everyone brings their horses, what was once going to be a horse free zone, now becomes a beach ride. With everyone ready to outdo one another, they’ll be midnight rides and jumping competitions on the sand. And while Emily desperately wants to prove that she is better than Cat’s rich, new friends, she’ll do whatever it takes to make sure Cat will never want anything to do with horses ever again.
BEACH RIDE: CHAPTER ONE
It had been like a nightmare, finding my step sister Cat right there in the middle of my horse show. Bluebird and I had won the pony jumpers and I had a check for six thousand dollars tucked in my pocket when I saw her in the crowd. She’d run away from home but instead of clearing back up north to her mother, she somehow managed to ruin one of the best days of my life. It was completely unfair, not to mention ridiculous. Cat didn’t like horses. In fact, she hated them and yet there she was, draped on the arm of some handsome Grand Prix rider like it was the most normal thing in the world. It wasn’t. It was disgusting.
They were downstairs now, all yelling at each other. I’d taken a picture of Cat with my cell phone and texted it to my mom. At first she thought it was a joke but there was nothing funny about it.
My giant blue ribbon hung down from my bedpost. The silver cup we’d won was on the nightstand, shining softly in the electric light. It had been the best day of my life and Cat had ruined it. I hoped they grounded her forever.
“You ever run away from home like that again and I’ll kill you,” Derek shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Oh, well that’s a great incentive to stay then, isn’t it? Why would I want to live with someone who has threatened to kill me?”
Cat hadn’t been impressed when Derek eventually showed up and peeled her off the guy’s arm like she was some kind of leech. She screamed her way back to the car and people actually thought she was being abducted until Derek showed them his driver’s license and some old family photos.
The trailer had left and we were following behind in Frank’s truck when we pass
ed her, sitting in the car with her red, teary face pressed against the glass like a goldfish. I slunk down in my seat, hoping she wouldn’t see me but it didn’t really matter. It was a horse show. She’d know that I was the only one who could have turned her in.
No one even asked me how my show went. All they cared about was first crying and hugging Cat and telling her that they were glad that she wasn’t dead and now all they wanted to do was yell about killing her. Parents were so weird.
“I’m old enough to do what I want, when I want,” Cat screamed.
“No, you’re not.” Derek yelled. “You’re only sixteen. That means you can’t just go off without telling us where you are and if you are okay.”
“I don’t see why not,” she cried. “Emily does it all the time.”
“She goes to the barn,” my mother said. “We know where she is.”
“Well maybe I’ll start going to the barn then,” Cat said. “Humberto said he’s going to teach me to ride. Maybe then you’ll leave me alone.”
She stomped up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door but I couldn’t breathe. What did she mean she was going to learn how to ride? Humberto, the Grand Prix rider, was going to teach her? What was she talking about? My world was turning upside down and all I could think was that I wished I hadn’t eaten so much ice cream because I was going to throw up.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Claire Svendsen fell in love with horses at age two when she got her first pony. The only trouble was that it wasn’t a real horse, it was a rocking horse. From that day on she begged, pleaded and bribed for lessons, riding clothes and a horse of her own. She had to wait and work really hard to finally get her first real horse but when she did, it was a dream come true. Over the years she has trained horses, given lessons and even run her own stable.
No longer able to ride due to injury, Claire lives vicariously through the characters in her books. When she’s not busy writing, you’ll find her hanging out at the barn with her retired Thoroughbred Merlin who loves carrots, apples and bowing on command.
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COLLECT THEM ALL
Other books in the Show Jumping Series by Claire Svendsen
#1 Secret Rider
#2 Pony Jumpers
#3 Winter Blues
#4 Star Pupil
#5 Sale Horse
#6 Last Chance
#7 Hunter Pace
#8 Turf Wars
(COMING SOON) #9 BEACH RIDE
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY ONE
COMING SOON
BEACH RIDE: CHAPTER ONE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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