Competing for the Cup

by Bobbi J. G. Weiss

  “Elaine!” she whispered.

  Before he saw her, Josh felt Elaine at his shoulder. He’d always had a natural built-in “authority detector” that warned him when a teacher or parent was nearby. It wasn’t foolproof, but it usually worked well, and it had saved him from the consequences of many pranks. But he was rather disgusted to find that his “authority detector” reacted to Elaine. She was not a figure of authority, even if she was currently staring down her nose at Anya with an air of suspicion that would have made Scotland Yard proud.

  “You missed another training session,” Elaine accused.

  If only it was anybody else, anybody but Elaine! Josh started to feel jittery and vulnerable, and that made him irritated. How did she do that to him?! Worse, he could see Princess Anya melting down into Student Anya, a much more timid version of herself, as Elaine’s eyes drilled into her. Josh wanted to tell Elaine to back off and leave them alone. Then again, if this was about the House Cup, the girls needed to work it out themselves. He silently cheered Anya on as Elaine threw out another question that she had no business asking: “Where have you been?”

  Anya floundered for a good answer, but it was clear she wouldn’t think of anything fast enough to sound true. Josh blurted out, “Uh, the movies!” It wasn’t his best lie, but if he stuck with it, it would fly. Hopefully.

  Elaine didn’t buy it. “Dressed like that?”

  “What?” Josh challenged. “You know, sometimes a bro likes to look nice.” He straightened his bow tie to prove the point. Elaine wasn’t a guy, so let her argue that one!

  Elaine surprised him. Like a wolf, she automatically zeroed back in on her weaker prey. “And you?” she demanded of Anya.

  “An anarkali needs to be aired out every now and again,” Anya said, “so why not tonight?”

  Josh was so proud of her! Anya was definitely learning the finer arts of deception and evasion, something he figured every princess ought to know. Too bad Elaine thought of herself as deputy headmistress. “You know,” she said, “I didn’t care before, but now that I know you’re lying? I’m curious.”

  Would this never end? Josh tried to give Anya an encouraging look, to let her know that she didn’t have to continue Elaine’s game, but even he knew there was no way out. He made a decision and flew with it. “Okay, busted!” he exclaimed. “It’s just . . . look, Anya didn’t want anybody to know, but I — I said, you know, no one’s going to care, right? It’s totally cool, right?”

  Anya started to protest, trying to shut him up because she feared that he was about to divulge her secret. “Josh, please, no, no —!”

  “Elaine, Anya is, uh . . .” Josh placed his arm around Anya’s shoulder and pulled her close. “She’s my lady.” He rubbed Anya’s arm, hoping that she’d get it and play along.

  It took only a split second for Anya to catch on. “Yes, um, we were concerned that this would be a, uh, conflict of interest, with the competition coming up.”

  Elaine definitely seemed disappointed. “Oh, please. Do you think anyone’s really interested in your sad romance?” She flicked her eyes at Josh. “With a Canadian?”

  Josh’s jaw dropped. Was there no limit to this vile she-monster’s rudeness?

  “I won’t tell anyone,” Elaine assured them. To Anya, she said, “Just don’t share any of our team’s strategies.” She walked away with a flip of her hair, as if she’d just solved some great mystery and felt quite satisfied about it.

  Josh was just glad she was gone.

  “You genius!” Anya said to him, grinning from ear to ear. “I totally froze!”

  “Ah, no extra charge,” Josh said. “Plus, you’re the best fake girlfriend I’ve ever had.”

  Anya bowed. “Thank you!” She paused. “Wait. How many other fake girlfriends have you had? Who are they? Do I know them?”

  Chuckling, Josh linked his arm through hers, and they made their way down the hall.

  Kit lay in bed, wondering how much time had passed. She had gone to bed at her regular time, eleven thirty, and Anya usually went to bed at the same time. They’d lay there in the dark and make stupid jokes about the past day’s events until they fell asleep.

  But Kit had gone to bed alone. She knew Anya had driven into London with her mom for some important doctor’s appointment, but what doctor’s appointment lasted all night? Maybe they decided to make it an event, she thought, snuggling deeper into her pillow. They probably went to dinner, maybe did some shopping. Maybe they went to a movie. That’s what I’d want to do if Mom took me into London. Dinner, shopping, and a movie, with lots of gabbing throughout!

  She sighed. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Now she was thinking about her mom, which only made her feel worse.

  The dorm room door opened. Kit didn’t move as Anya darted in, silently closed the door, and tiptoed to her nightstand. Kit waited until she figured Anya was just about to climb into bed, and then she bolted upright. “Hey, where the heck were you? I looked for you everywhere!”

  Anya did a perfect impression of a deer caught in headlights.

  I was with my mum!” Anya said, looking far too nervous. “I’m sooooo tired. Exhausted!”

  Kit waited until Anya got into bed before announcing the big news of her day: “TK and I jumped today.”

  “Seriously? That’s amazing!”

  “It was an accident,” Kit had to admit. “But I didn’t fall off, and he didn’t have one of his meltdowns.”

  “Oh, well done,” said Anya. “That’s total progress!”

  “Yeah.” Kit smiled, thinking it over. “So how was your day? What did you do?” She figured Anya wouldn’t go into the icky details of the doctor’s appointment. Blech. Who wanted to hear about that?

  Thankfully, Anya must have thought the same. “Movies,” she replied. “Dinner. Boring stuff.” And with that, she settled down to sleep.

  Kit remained sitting up. “Not so boring,” she said wistfully. “Not when you get to do it with your mom.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Anya.

  Kit noticed the sad edge in Anya’s voice and figured it meant she was showing sympathy for Kit’s loss. That’s so Anya, Kit thought. She can’t help but share how she really feels about things.

  The next morning at breakfast, Anya watched in wonder as Kit assembled her breakfast. It was like watching a kid play with building blocks. When she was done, Kit had a five-inch-tall breakfast tower on her plate.

  “What?” Kit asked her roomie defensively. “It’s just sausage, bacon, eggs, pancakes, whole wheat on the top and some kind of French toast thing on the bottom. And,” she finished with a wave of her hand, “a sprinkling of granola.”

  Anya grimaced. “Interesting.”

  “Oh!” Kit said. “And chocolate spread, of course. Want a bite?” She slid her plate over.

  Against her better judgment, Anya accepted the challenge. She gamely picked up the sandwich, struggling to keep the crammed contents from spilling out. “Is that chocolate spread really necessary?”

  Kit acted shocked. “Are you really asking me that? Maybe we can’t be friends. Try it!”

  Anya awkwardly brought the enormous concoction to her mouth and was just about to take a huge bite when a voice barked, “Put! That! Down!”

  Anya instantly obeyed, feeling a little bit relieved.

  Elaine, dressed in a gray uniform shirt and sweatpants, stated, “That is not appropriate fuel for a run.”

  “Okay,” Kit said, “I get that we’re in training, but don’t you think you’re taking this cup thing a bit too seriously?”

  “One jump doesn’t let you off the hook,” Elaine retorted.

  “Of course not,” said Kit. “And I promise you, I will eat, sleep, drink, and breathe the Covington House Cup. My rank will delight and amaze you.”

  “Good,” Elaine responded. “Glad to hear it.” She frowned at them. “Now run!”

  Five minutes later, Kit, Anya, and all the girls of Rose Cottage, every one of them in a gray uniform shirt and sweatpa
nts, followed Elaine down the hallway.

  “I loathe running,” Anya whispered to Kit as they all trailed Elaine like a bunch of ducklings.

  To that Kit replied, “I loathe —”

  Elaine glared back over her shoulder.

  “— Elaine!” Kit blurted out.

  Unaware of Kit’s unintended insult, Elaine said, “At lunch, you’re meeting me in the stables. I’m going to show you how to jump without looking like an orangutan.”

  “I don’t think I’m going to be able to feel my legs by then,” Kit said, and she wasn’t kidding. Running track at school back in Montana had always made her legs go wobbly, and she had no reason to believe that moving those legs to England would make any difference.

  Elaine, as usual, showed mountains of sympathy. “There’s no getting out of it, Bridges.”

  Anya hated to see Kit get bossed around by Elaine. She knew Kit was in no position to argue about anything when it came to training for the cup. Lady Covington had given Elaine full control over Kit’s life in that respect. Anya had decided to say something to help Kit feel better when a hand reached out, grabbed her arm, and pulled her through a classroom doorway.

  It was Josh.

  Anya recovered from her shock. “Josh, I have to keep up with Elaine! Her eye’s gone all twitchy, and I’m scared of what she’s going to do to Kit —”

  “Yeah, well, red alert,” Josh interrupted. “Like, royal, regal red-carpet alert.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that alert,” Anya said as Josh handed her his mobile phone. She looked at the photo on the display. “That’s us. From last night. Where did you get this?” It was definitely a photo taken by one of the paparazzi that had met them during their arrival in the limo.

  Josh began to pace. “It was on Chirper. Some girl back in my old school saw it on some gossip website and forwarded it to me, and she was asking me who you are and where she can get a dress like yours.”

  “She liked my dress?” Anya asked.

  Josh made a grrr noise of aggravation. “Focus! This is a serious secret-identity fail here! Like, how long before anybody sees this, right? And it could be anywhere! Everywhere! How long before someone here recognizes you?”

  Anya panicked. “Delete it! Get rid of it!” she ordered, shoving the mobile back into his hands.

  She couldn’t bear what he said next: “You can’t delete the Internet. All you can do is tell people the truth before they see it.”

  Anya gulped. “I can’t! If they find out who I really am, my life is ruined! Everything will change! Trust me — I know from experience.” She looked at him hopefully. If there was one thing Josh had proven to her, it was his ability to wriggle out of difficult situations. Surely he could come up with something to stop this train wreck!

  But Josh shook his head. “Even I don’t have a suggestion on how to get out of this one.”

  Anya refused to give up without a fight. “Josh, we have to figure something out. If Kit finds out that I’ve been lying to her all this time, she might never forgive me!” Kit was the most wonderful friend that Anya had ever made. To lose her because of a lie, a lie that Anya herself had maintained throughout that friendship?

  She couldn’t — wouldn’t — let that happen.

  The day of the House Cup was fast approaching. It was evening, classes were over, and Kit was looking forward to some downtime.

  Elaine had other plans.

  This is so not fair, Kit thought as she picked up a small plastic horse for the ninety-millionth time and slowly ran it along the perfect little model of a dressage ring. This was Elaine’s latest exercise, playing with a model in an effort to help Kit remember her dressage test.

  As an exercise, it was pretty clever. Dressage tests took place in a ring with letters around the edge. As Kit moved her toy horse around the ring, she had to tell Elaine what movements she would perform at certain letter points. This was supposed to help her remember the test when actually riding TK.

  “At A, I do a working canter on the right lead,” Kit recited. “Then trot at . . . E?”

  “Incorrect,” said Elaine. “You missed your twenty-meter circle. Again. From the start.”

  Kit felt as if they’d been doing this for hours. “Time out,” she suggested. “TK needs a snack!” She galloped plastic TK along the table and made him leap headfirst into a bowl of popcorn. “Nom, nom, nom!” she said as TK “ate” the popcorn.

  Elaine simmered silently.

  Kit pulled the horse out of the popcorn, grateful at least that Elaine didn’t tell her to stop horsing around. “They call it a dressage test,” she said, “but it feels more like a math exam. How am I supposed to remember all this?” She reached for some popcorn.

  Elaine slapped her hand. “Your score at the Covington House Cup and your score in the all-schools league plus my reputation all depend on you ranking high. Snack later.” She stood up. “Doing physical work as you memorize will help it stick.” She gestured at the floor. “Plank and recite your test.”

  “Who died and made you general?” Kit snarked, but she did as she was told. If she didn’t, she would get a lecture from Lady Covington. It’s a sad day when a Bridges rebellion is so easily thwarted, she thought, getting down on the floor. She assumed a plank position, holding herself parallel to the ground in a modified push-up position, and recited, “Enter at A. Working trot, track right at C, then . . . give me a sec.” Her core muscles were screaming and were distracting her from the task at hand, despite Elaine’s theory to the contrary. Her mind was blank.

  “You need to ace this, or your donkey gets shipped away,” Elaine said while examining the assortment of perfumes on Anya’s dressing table.

  “Does Lady C pay you to keep repeating that?” Kit grunted.

  “I don’t need payment to provide a stunning example to my classmates.”

  Kit had a good response to that, but she thought it wiser to keep things peaceful.

  “Where is your roommate, anyway?” Elaine asked, still poking through things that didn’t belong to her. “It wouldn’t hurt her to join you.”

  That was it. Kit snapped, “Anya works just as hard as you do!”

  “Is that before or after her secret rendezvous with Josh?”

  That news made Kit give up on the plank position and drop to the floor. “Where did you get that idea?”

  “I caught them sneaking out on a date.”

  “Did you torture them with six hours of planking to get them to confess? Because they are so not dating and you are so wrong.”

  “I’m afraid you are.” Something about the way Elaine said that caught Kit off guard. There was no sarcasm or gossip lust in her voice. She had simply stated a fact.

  Kit didn’t know what to think.

  Josh was trying to keep Anya from having a meltdown. “A few of my friends back home saw our pic online, but that’s it,” he assured her. He also thought that having this conversation in the middle of the hallway wasn’t the smartest idea, but calming Anya was his first priority. He hoped nobody would hear them if they kept their voices low.

  “My life depends on their ability to keep mum!” Anya freaked.

  Josh struggled not to cringe at her volume. “Don’t underestimate your boy, okay?” he said, indicating himself. “Like, I have stuff on everybody. They blab online, I blab online, you know? And I do know how to game the search engines to get their embarrassing results right to the top.”

  “Hey, what are you two whispering about?” Kit asked, joining them. She’d finally gotten away from Elaine and all that exhaustive planking and was in the mood for some gossip, specifically with the two people standing in front her. “I refuse to miss anything because Elaine likes to torture me with miniature horses.”

  “That’s exactly what we were talking about!” Anya said.

  Kit mentally went over the words she’d just spoken. “Really?”

  “Really?” Josh echoed.

  Anya gave Josh a look. Kit wasn’t sure what ki
nd of look it was, but Josh clearly did. “Yeah!” he suddenly agreed. “Yeah, miniature horses! Uh, fascinating fact, actually, the, uh, the ancient Romans had a breed of horse that was actually as small as, uh, as — as a house cat, yeah! You know, and they used to put it on people’s heads!” He mimed placing a tiny horse on Anya’s head while Anya smiled at Kit.

  Kit raised her eyebrow. “Please, continue. I can’t wait to see where this is going.”

  Now Josh was the one who was doubtful. “What, tiny horse hats?”

  Okay, maybe Elaine was onto something, Kit thought. She’d heard some whopper fibs in her time, but tiny Roman horse hats? She had to get to the bottom of this, so she tried a different tack. “Hey, random question. Say we’re going into town without a parent. Do we need a day pass to go into town? Say, to the movies?” Kit watched closely as Anya and Josh glanced at each other. One . . . two . . . three, she counted to herself, and then her two friends blurted out answers at the same time.

  “As far as I know?” from Josh intermingled with “I’m not sure” from Anya.

  “Huh,” said Kit. “Okay. Elaine and I were just talking about it. About people going into town? To the movies? I thought you might know.” She poured on the innocent charm the way she had smeared chocolate spread on her magnificent breakfast sandwich — the one she had never gotten a chance to eat.

  Anya grabbed Josh’s arm. “I have to get Ducky out into the field,” she said at the same time that Josh pointlessly gabbled, “Uh, yeah, the thing, right, I know, yeah . . .” And then they both walked away as fast as they could.

  Gotcha, Kit thought. Out loud, she said, “Good talk, guys! I’m so glad we can all be straight with one another!”

  That just made them walk faster.

  Kit sighed. When Elaine Whiltshire turned out to be more truthful than Anya and Josh combined, things were bleak indeed.