“You can,” I said, looking at her. “There were a million times when I got here that I wanted to quit and go home. But I finally learned how to juggle everything—it just took time. Same for you, I’m sure. Just give it a little while and you’ll see.”
That seemed to put Brit at ease. She smiled, the worry gone from her eyes. “Thanks, Sasha. That really makes me feel better, especially coming from someone who’s gone through it.”
“No problem. And if you need help with classes, let me know. If I can’t help, I’m sure I know someone who can.”
“I definitely will.”
We smiled at each other, and Brit reached Apollo’s stall. “Hey, want to grab dinner tonight? I heard about this pizza place on campus that sounds so good.”
“The Slice is awesome,” I said. “Meet you there around seven?”
“Perfect.”
I left Brit with Apollo and headed to see Charm. I put down his tack on his trunk, and he stuck his head over the door, watching me.
“What’s up, guy?” I asked him. “Ready for our lesson?”
Charm blinked, seeming to contemplate my question.
“Oh,” I said, my tone teasing. “You thought I was coming to turn you out, huh?”
“Turn out” were words Charm understood. He bobbed his head, flapping his lower lip. I laughed. “Sorry. No grazing right now. You can do that tomorrow while I’m in class.”
I opened the stall door, leading him into the aisle. I clipped him into a pair of crossties and took his tack box from the trunk.
It only took a few minutes to groom him—he hadn’t rolled outside or gotten dusty since this morning’s grooming. After tacking him up and putting on my helmet, I led him to the indoor arena.
We were the first ones inside, soon followed by Heather and then Brit. Each of us focused on warming up our horse—no one said a word. Heather had switched Aristocrat’s usually white saddle pad for a hunter green one that made the chestnut’s coat look even darker.
We walked and trotted the horses for almost fifteen minutes before Mr. Conner walked inside.
“Hello, everyone,” he said with a nod. “It’s good to see you all here.”
We echoed back hellos and waited for instruction from him.
“Today,” Mr. Conner said. “We’re going to work on dressage.”
I didn’t need to look at Brit to know she was smiling. Dressage was her favorite discipline, and she hadn’t had a chance to show off her skills yet. I couldn’t wait to see her and Apollo in action.
“Sitting trot, everyone,” Mr. Conner said.
Brit, Heather, and I all sat to our horses’ trots, and I noticed how smooth Brit was in the saddle. She barely moved at all.
“Change directions,” Mr. Conner called.
We crossed over the center of the arena. Brit sat for a beat to stay on the right diagonal, and Apollo went right to the opposite rail like he was supposed to. I couldn’t stop watching Brit—her hands were still, her legs stayed in the correct position and her shoulders were back, but her back wasn’t ramrod straight.
And, by the end of the lesson, I still hadn’t seen any mistakes. Brit and Apollo had been stars in every area Mr. Conner put us though—from a working trot to half-passes. I hadn’t seen anyone do dressage moves like that since I’d watched Callie ride. Brit’s skills in the saddle were something I think even Heather had to marvel at.
“That was a great lesson,” Mr. Conner said. “I expect all of you to work on the areas we discussed. You’re all progressing in the direction I’d hoped for the schooling show. I have no doubt that Mr. Nicholson will be impressed with all of your hard work.”
The last sentence eased some of the anxiety in my chest. Mr. Conner didn’t just say things he didn’t mean. If he thought we weren’t going to be ready or if he had concerns about the show, he’d be telling us. But what he said made me hopeful that if Charm and I kept working at the pace we did, we’d be prepared for Sunday’s show.
“Cool down your horses, and I’ll see you tomorrow,” Mr. Conner said.
Heather, Brit, and I dismounted. We walked our horses in large, lazy circles in the arena until they were cool and dry. Heather waved at both of us as she took Aristocrat out of the arena. I walked Charm for a few more minutes before deciding it was time to groom him.
“See you tonight,” I said to Brit.
“Bye,” she said.
12
LIAR, LIAR
“THAT’S COOL THAT YOU’RE MEETING BRIT for pizza,” Paige said, half yelling. I was drying my hair, and she was flatironing hers.
“It’ll be fun,” I said. I turned off the hair dryer and starting pulling my hair into sections to flatiron it. “It’s like I’ve known her forever, and we keep finding out that we have more in common than we thought every time we hang out.”
I sprayed my hair with Bumble and Bumble Prep spray and grabbed my already hot flatiron. “And you’re definitely going to have fun tonight,” I said. “Are you superexcited about meeting Ryan?”
Paige nodded. “Yeah. Really excited.”
I unclipped another section of my hair, waiting for her to gush.
“Sooo …” I asked, “where are you guys going? What are you wearing?”
Paige seemed concentrated on her hair. “Oh. We can’t decide. We might see a movie, but neither of us could make up our minds.”
“Oooh, so it’s like a spontaneous date,” I said. “Fun!”
Paige ran her fingers through her red hair and sprayed it with finishing gloss. “Totally. And are you coming right back after The Slice?”
I nodded. “Pretty sure. I’m kind of tired after the lesson today. Plus, I’ve got a math quiz tomorrow, and I don’t want to fall asleep during class.”
“Cool,” Paige said. “We’ll meet back here then, okay?”
“Definitely.”
We finished our hair, checked each other’s makeup, and left Winchester. Paige headed for Blackwell, Ryan’s dorm, and I walked toward The Slice.
The lanterns had flickered on and illuminated campus. Going out for pizza felt like the right middle-of-the-week way to relax—I couldn’t wait to get there and chill. I reached The Slice, catching my reflection in the doorway. I’d paired skinny jeans with ankle boots and a long-sleeve plum shirt.
I pulled open the door, the smell of pizza and garlic bread wafting around me. I loved the old-fashioned shop. All of the tables were covered with red and white checkered tablecloths with mini-lanterns in the center of the tables. The lighting was soft and the entire vibe felt chill. My favorite part was the pizza-making counter, shielded by glass, where the staff tossed dough high in the air, caught it, then covered the pizza in sauce, cheese, and the patron’s topping of choice.
Someone waved at me, and I saw Brit had already grabbed a table. Seated with her were Heather, Julia, and Alison.
“Sorry to crash your date,” Heather said, grinning. “But we were in the mood for pizza too.”
“Cool,” I said.
But the look on Julia’s face definitely did not look cool. Instead, she looked as if she wished The Slice had never existed. But after her smackdown with Heather, I doubted that she’d complain. Silent pouting was way more mature.
A waiter came, and we all ordered sodas and cheesy breadsticks before we ordered pizza.
“Is this not, like, the longest week ever?” Alison moaned. She leaned back in the red booth.
“It so is,” Brit said. “Sasha and I were talking about that at the stable. It’s so overwhelming and intimidating to think about all of the work we have to get done.”
Heather sighed. “You guys need to relax. Seriously. Especially you, Silver. You’ve survived this long—not that I know how you did—I think you’re going to make it.” She looked at Brit. “And you’ll get used to things. It’s only your first week here. It’ll get easier.”
“Hopefully,” Brit said, her smile tentative.
The waiter, who had to be one of Canterwood’s high school students, came
with our drinks and set a plate of steaming breadsticks in the middle of the table.
We all dove for them—our hands bumping together. Everyone laughed.
“Omigod, it’s like we’ve never eaten in public before,” Heather said, holding back a smile. It kept getting easier to spot her fake-annoyance.
We took turns taking breadsticks for the basket, and it didn’t take long for the Canterwood gossip to start. Julia, and especially Alison, knew everything that was going on in school.
“Did you hear that Danielle on our floor broke up with Justin for the third time?” Alison asked.
“No!” We all chorused. Danielle and I’d been in a class together last year, but we hadn’t talked much.
“I mean, c’mon! It’s ‘I like you, then I don’t’ and just this back-and-forth. It’s, like, omigod, stop already!” Alison rubbed her temples, her lilac nail polish gleaming in the light. “Either be together or stay broken up. It’s ridic.”
I’d be a total hypocrite if I commented on that. My situation with Eric wasn’t like Danielle’s where I kept breaking up with the same boyfriend over and over, but I had almost been Jacob’s girlfriend, and then not, so many times.
“There must be something there,” Brit said. She played with the long dangling silver necklace she’d looped twice around her neck.
We paused the conversation when the waiter came over and set the pizza in the middle of us. The half cheese, half pepperoni pizza looked delish. I was so hungry, I probably could have devoured the entire thing. I grabbed a giant slice of pepperoni.
Once everyone had a slice, Heather looked at Brit. “What were you going to say?”
Brit shook pepper flakes onto her pizza and took a sip of soda.
“I was saying that, yeah, they keep breaking up and getting back together, but nobody would keep doing that to themselves if there weren’t feelings involved. Danielle and Justin must feel something for each other that keeps drawing them to each other.”
“That’s kind of romantic,” Julia said, taking a giant bite of pizza. “They can’t stay away from each other even when they try.”
Looking at me for the briefest of seconds, Heather glanced back at the group. “It sounds like she needs to make up her mind. Danielle has to know she wants to be with him, and they need to stop wasting time and be together.”
I coughed on my sip of soda, covering my mouth with my hand before I spewed it all over the table. Some of it dropped from my hand onto the table.
“Silver! Gross!” Heather said. She shook her head, handing me a stack of napkins.
Clearly she’d been talking about me. That I needed to make a commitment to try a relationship with Jacob if that’s what I wanted. Heather had known I’d gone back and forth about my feelings for Jacob and Eric—worried about hurting both guys that I cared about in different ways. But, deep down, I knew Jacob and I had missed our chance at something that had potential to be amazing.
And I wanted that opportunity now.
“I can’t even imagine breaking up with Ben,” Julia continued. The soft lighting in our spot in the pizza parlor made her blond hair shine softly.
Alison elbowed her, teasingly. “I can’t wait to have someone to worry about breaking up with or not.”
Everyone, including Alison, laughed.
“You’ll find the right guy,” Heather said. “It’s good to be choosy. I mean, it’s not as if you could be part of the Trio if you were dating a loser.”
Alison’s eyes widened and hand froze with her slice of pizza halfway to her mouth.
“Kidding, you dork,” Heather said, patting her friend’s shoulder. “As if we’d ever let a loser dude anywhere near you.”
That made Alison smile. And it was true—the Trio protected each other.
“What about you guys?” Brit asked, looking at Heather and me. “Are you seeing anyone? Got any crushes?”
I shoved pizza into my mouth, forcing Heather to speak first. She gave me a pointed look, knowing exactly what I was doing. I kept chewing verrry slowly.
“There’s a guy,” Heather said slowly. “We really just started talking over break, and it’s too early to tell anything since we haven’t been out yet, but we’ll see.”
I sat back a little, surprised that she’d revealed anything to Brit.
Brit looked over at me. “What about you?”
Heather stared back at me like, and-now-it’s-your-turn-go.
“Um, well, I’m not … dating anyone right now,” I said. That was the truth, mostly. I didn’t want to tell Brit about the Jacob situation before he talked to Callie. Brit seemed trustworthy, but I couldn’t risk it. Every move between Jacob and me until he talked to Callie had to be supercareful. And he wouldn’t be talking to her until Friday.
“Welcome to the club, then,” Brit said, smiling. “I just got to Canterwood, so I’m obviously without a guy. There are tons of cute boys here, but I need at least, oh, another week to settle in before I start looking.”
She tossed her hair in a flirty motion and grinned.
“I wish we all lived in Orchard!” Brit said, sticking out her bottom lip. “We’d have so much fun. I have a double—we could so be roomies!”
“It would be great,” I admitted. “My roommate and I are having some problems right now, but she’s still my best friend. I know we’re going to work it out.”
“Well, we can at least do sleepovers sometimes,” Brit said.
“For sure.”
But as I ate my pizza, I wasn’t so sure about Paige and me. Things with Paige had shifted since the night of our blowup. I couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t telling me something. Maybe she was still mad that I’d chosen to stay at Heather’s for spring break. If that was true I wish she’d tell me instead of being weird. It just made me paranoid, and it couldn’t be healthy for her to hold it in.
“Sleepovers would definitely be awesome,” I said. “I’m in.”
We finished our pizza and Heather, Julia, and Alison put cash on the table.
“We’re going to the media center to watch a movie,” Heather said. “See you guys later.”
Brit and I said bye to them and took final sips of our sodas.
“Want to grab dessert at The Sweet Shoppe?” I asked. “I heard that hazelnut chocolate cake is on the menu.”
“Hmmm …” Brit put a finger to her chin, the smile on her face giving away her answer. “Such a tough decision. I’m never able to pass up chocolate cake.”
“Me either,” I said. “It’s an illness, or something.”
We paid the bill and left The Slice.
“I like Alison, Julia, and Heather,” Brit said. “What’s your deal with them?”
“A pretty messy history,” I said, blowing out a huge breath. “Heather hated me the second I got to campus. Charm spooked and ran away from me on my first day. He scared Aristocrat and Heather fell off.”
Brit blinked a bunch of times. “Omigod. Was she hurt?”
“No, just really, really angry,” I said. “She wouldn’t let it go for a long time, and she took every chance she got to get back at me. We hated each other, and, because of Heather’s behavior toward me, Julia and Alison weren’t exactly nice either.”
“Yeaaah,” Brit said. “Julia acts like she wishes I would disappear. But Heather and Alison have been cool to me, so I hope it rubs off on Julia.”
“Total mystery with that girl,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ve seen her go back and forth all the time. You can never be sure. All you can do is keep hanging with Alison and Heather, since you seem to like them, and hopefully Julia will get over whatever her problem is.”
“Fingers crossed,” Brit said. “We’ll have to have a sleepover in my room some time and maybe if I get Julia’s favorite movie or food, she’ll be a little nicer.”
I grinned. “Oh, Brit. It’ll take a lot more than that to get Julia on your side.”
We walked under the blue and white awning of The Sweet Shoppe and opened the
door. Scents of brownies, cookies, cakes and other delicious treats filled the shop. I inhaled as deeply as possible, taking in the smell of yummy desserts. If I wasn’t afraid of going into a sugar coma I’d live at The Sweet Shoppe. Everything was tempting from the zillions of ice cream flavors (bubblegum and Superman—hello!) to the varieties of hot chocolate with real whipped cream on top.
“Have you been here before?” I asked Brit.
“I’ve walked past it a zillion times, but I’ve never stopped inside,” she said. She looked around at shop. It was adorable with booths, tables, and comfy chairs. The Shoppe was full of windows, and I loved looking at all of the gallons of ice cream that were under the glass counter.
“I’m sooo in the mood for an ice cream sundae right now,” I said. “Hot fudge, cherries … yum.”
“Oooh, that does sound awesome,” Brit said. “And with nuts on top—perfect.”
We stepped up to the counter. There were a couple of people in front of us, so we waited in line. The Sweet Shoppe was never not busy. Everyone came here and …
I jerked my head toward a window booth near the back where I heard a familiar laugh. Paige, spooning yogurt parfait into her mouth, was sitting with her back to me. Sitting across from her? Definitely not Ryan.
Callie.
Callie. My ex-BFF Callie who swore she’d never speak to me again. Paige and Callie had been friends for a while, and I didn’t care if they hung out. I did care that Paige had made me think she was going to see Ryan. How many times had she been meeting “Ryan” when it had really been Callie?
“You okay?” Brit asked, nudging my arm.
I yanked my gaze away from the table, glad that Callie hadn’t noticed me yet.
“Totally,” I said. “Just saw my roommate.”
Brit frowned. “The one you’re having trouble with, right?”
I sighed, wishing the line would disappear so Brit and I could grab our desserts and split.
“Yeah. She’s here with my ex–best friend. Which is fine. It’s always been cool with me that they’re friends.”
Brit paused for a second. “But?”
“But she lied about meeting her boyfriend, and instead, she’s here with Callie. If they’re going to hang out, it’s truly okay with me. Paige knows me better than that. She knows I don’t mind if she and Callie are friends, but she doesn’t have to lie.”
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