Competing for the Cup

by Bobbi J. G. Weiss

  “Yes, it is.” Kit scrambled for something meaningful to say. “Um, break a leg!”

  One of Will’s very expressive eyebrows quirked. “Yeah, we don’t say that.”

  Oh, right, Kit thought. That’s theater. Then how about this? “You’re going to be amazing out there. You always are.” She clutched the yellow sticky note as Will hurried away. Kit watched him go. She so wished she could watch his round, but it was time to get ready for her own!

  Will entered the ring astride Wayne — Sir Gawain, his bay gelding. Wayne was in fine spirits, as he usually was. Will loved the horse for his steady yet competitive disposition. He could feel Wayne quiver beneath him in excitement. This is what Will had tried to describe to Rudy Bridges earlier. There was nothing like riding Wayne in a competition, where he and the horse exchanged energy and supported each other in their quest for a common goal. It was the best feeling in the world to know that their efforts were being observed and appreciated, that all the hard work had a definite reason and outcome. It was the only time Will felt truly alive.

  As usual, he rode the course faster than any other student. He and Wayne both preferred to match accuracy with speed. Wayne cleared jump after jump, listening to the words and body signals that Will gave him: turn this way, speed up, slow down, prepare, and jump! Will accepted the applause of his fellow classmates as he rode, knowing that Wayne, in his own way, ate up the sounds of approval, too, converting them into even more competitive energy.

  “Will Palmerston and Sir Gawain really put on some speed today,” the announcer commented as horse and rider approached the final jump. Will signaled, Wayne responded, and horse and rider flew like birds for a moment, effortlessly clearing the poles and making a clean landing, both of them drinking in the applause as it rose for the final and loudest time. Wayne pranced with pride as Will rode him out of the ring, and Will couldn’t help but grin.

  “Best time yet,” Rudy praised him as he rode up. “Way to go.”

  Will reined Wayne in for a quick moment. “Thanks,” he said. “And thanks for letting me —”

  “Yeah, speaking of that — lie low. You did good, but we still have a dragon lady to manage.” Rudy’s eyes flicked upward, indicating Lady Covington up in the back row. She was staring at Will with that blank expression she often used, the one that made it impossible to tell what she was thinking. Will knew that Rudy had stuck his neck out on his behalf, so he gave the headmistress a smile, hoping that would be taken as a polite gesture on his part, and rode Wayne back into the stables.

  When Will was gone, Josh gave Nav a friendly smack on the arm. “Brah killed it! Man, he beat us both! Hey, it’s a good thing he’s in the same house, though. Kind of takes the sting out of coming in third place, eh?”

  Nav clenched his jaws but said nothing.

  The loudspeaker crackled to life, and the House Cup announcer said, “Next, Katherine Bridges will be riding TK on behalf of Rose Cottage.”

  Kit rode TK into the ring, her heart pounding so hard that she could feel it in her toes. She felt so grateful when her dad jumped into the ring and ran over to her. “I need the Ugly Brooch!” she whispered to him.

  “Oh, jeez, I wish I had thought of it,” Rudy said, pulling something out of his coat pocket. It was the brooch. He smiled as he handed it to her.

  “You knew.” Kit wanted to hug him so badly, but now wasn’t the time. She accepted the brooch and slipped it into her pocket. “You knew I’d need it.”

  “Well,” said Rudy, “I’ve known you for a long time.”

  Elaine was there, as well, to deliver some final advice. “Head up. Core tight. Don’t mess up. Don’t let the curse of the horseshoe get to you. You need to make every jump.”

  Right. Thanks a lot, Elaine, Kit thought, more terrified now than she had been before.

  Elaine seemed to notice. “You’ll be fine. You’re Elaine-trained. Surely some of it stuck.” She offered Kit a genuine smile.

  Kit couldn’t remember ever seeing a genuine smile on Elaine’s face before. Well, what do you know! Maybe she really is trying to help after all!

  Kit took a deep breath. Father and trainer stepped away.

  Now it was all up to Kit.

  She urged TK into a slow trot and took him around the ring, just to get them both settled and ready. TK’s gait remained smooth as she turned him left to begin the approach to the first jump. It was just a tiny thing, one pole elevated no more than six inches off the ground. TK trotted steadily up to it.

  And stopped dead.

  Kit’s first reaction was panic, but she tamped it down and firmly signaled TK to proceed. Instead, TK stepped backward, tossing his head in agitation. She tried to turn him back to it, and he turned halfway around, then sidestepped again.

  “Come on, TK,” Kit pleaded softly, “not now. This isn’t hip-hop class.”

  The audience was silent as Kit struggled with TK. She couldn’t stop him from weaving in place one way, then the other, as if he couldn’t decide which way to turn. You’re not supposed to turn at all! she thought-screamed at him. Move! Forward!

  He stepped backward.

  “Come on, buddy, enough already!” she hissed. Don’t you care at all? she thought. Lady Covington is watching us! Elaine is watching us! EVERYBODY is watching us, and you’re acting like you’ve never done this before! If we don’t get this right, you’ll be sent away! Have you forgotten about that?

  The buzzer sounded, indicating that they should begin the course or forfeit. Kit looked at her dad for help. He could do nothing, of course, and he glanced worriedly over at Will, who appeared mortified by Kit’s dilemma.

  When TK reared up, Kit knew she was in deep trouble. She tried to center her mind so that TK would feel her confidence and respond, but for all of her effort, the only thing she managed to conjure up was the image of a very unhappy Lady Covington. It hardly inspired confidence. “Come on, TK!” she whined, feeling more helpless than she ever had in her life.

  TK refused to move.

  Now Kit got mad. She had worked far too hard for everything to end like this. She had put up with TK’s nonsense, Elaine’s attitude, everybody’s doubts, and Lady Covington’s threats. Well, enough was enough! She dismounted and told the crowd, “I need a minute!” Is that even in the rules? she wondered briefly, but it was too late now if it wasn’t.

  She faced TK square on. “We are doing it again, and we are going to go over that jump!”

  TK tossed his head as if to say, “Nope, not gonna.”

  “Come on, buddy, there’s no getting out of this.”

  He tossed his head again.

  “No!” Kit snapped. “Don’t you dare try to argue with me! We are doing this!”

  Kit jumped at the sound of Rudy’s voice: “It’s all right, kid. You tried! Just bring him in!”

  Throughout Kit’s life, there had been times when she knew she’d crossed over the Big Line — like the time she had taken her sixth-year birthday cake out of its hiding place and eaten the entire thing all by herself in her bedroom just before dinner, or the time she had “borrowed” her dad’s truck (without a license) and driven herself and Charlie to the thrift store to go shopping when she was supposed to be cleaning her room instead. Those mistakes had gotten her in lots of trouble, but this — this entire situation would get her into more trouble than she could imagine if TK didn’t cooperate. Everything that mattered to Kit was on the line, and she was screwing it up! No, not me, she thought angrily. It’s TK’s fault! He won’t listen to me!

  “No!” she told her dad, in front of the entire audience. “This is so not over!”

  Of all the voices to invade her mind at that moment, it was Elaine’s. She had once advised Kit that TK was an unusually delicate horse by nature. “That means that you have to stay calm and relaxed at all times. If you’re not calm, he won’t be, either.”

  Okay. Okay. I’m calm. I’m calm. Kit took a deep breath and looked into TK’s big, dark eyes. Trying not to shake so hard,
she approached TK’s side so that she could mount him again.

  TK reared high, his hooves flailing through the air with enough power to kill her if they struck. Everyone in the audience gasped as Kit lurched back in fear. She ended up tripping over her own feet, and TK let out a shrill whinny and galloped off to the far end of the ring.

  The audience fell silent while Rudy and Will ran out into the ring and gently helped Kit back to her feet. She tried not to cry, but the minute she looked into Will’s grief-stricken face, she felt the waterworks begin. She hid her face in her dad’s chest and cried.

  “What happened out there?”

  Kit stood before TK in his stall. After leaving the competition ring and returning to the stables, she had asked Will and her father if she could be alone for a while. They had understood and left. Now she confronted TK and, whether it made sense or not, furiously tore into him, more to relieve her own tensions than to accomplish anything. TK just stood there, pointedly facing away from her.

  “We practiced! I got on a horse! That was impossible just a few weeks ago! My cottage lost the whole thing to the boys! And you! You! What was that? Elaine can take that up with you!”

  TK shook his head and tried to nuzzle her.

  “No,” Kit said. “Don’t you dare try to talk to me right now! I’m too mad!” She paused. “Sometimes you really are a donkey!”

  Kit slid TK’s stall door shut and left.

  In the tack room, Rudy was tidying up, more in an effort to feel like he could help put his kid’s world back in order than to actually accomplish anything. The students would come in on their own time and clean their own saddles, each of which sat on a saddle stand in a row that spanned the entire room. Bridles and other tack hung on pegs or were scattered across various tabletops.

  Rudy folded up some of the house banners and was about to deposit them into a bin for washing when he saw a terrible sight: Sally Warrington, looking feverish and exhausted, slumped on the floor in a corner.

  “You don’t look so hot,” he said. “You okay?”

  “Certainly,” Sally slurred back, waving a hand at him. “Nothing to fret about.”

  Rudy wasn’t so sure about that. “Why don’t you let me help you up —?”

  “Not until you give me the horseshoe,” she said sharply.

  “What?”

  “I’ve got half the girls of Rose Cottage cramming the toilets, and I can’t . . .” She blinked very slowly. “I can’t seem to move. So unless you want to play nursemaid . . .”

  Rudy gave in. The poor woman was so sick that he didn’t have the heart to tease her a second longer. He reached up to a high shelf and took the horseshoe down. “It was just a joke,” he said, handing it out to her. “I’m sorry. Truly.”

  Sally grabbed for it. The second she touched it, her eyes cleared and she managed to stand up. Rudy thought he might be witnessing a miracle.

  “I would watch yourself, Mr. Bridges,” Sally warned him, clutching her beloved lucky horseshoe in her hands. “And stay away from the fish.”

  She marched out, her movements a little unsteady, but her head held high. Rudy watched her, feeling bad about all the trouble his little joke had caused. He hoped Sally would give him an opportunity to make it up to her.

  That evening, Kit lay in bed in her room. She couldn’t even call it her and Anya’s room anymore. Anya was gone. Between that and the House Cup disaster, she just wanted to lie there alone until she slowly withered away into dust.

  Someone knocked softly and opened the door: Elaine. She stepped in and approached the bed.

  “I’ll save you the trouble,” Kit said without moving. “Yes, I totally made a big mess and we lost to the boys and I let you down. I get it. I’m probably even responsible for us losing Anya. I’ll report to Lady C and beg her to take me off the roster so I don’t ruin the rest of your life.” Kit waited to hear agreement from Lamination Queen Super-Student Miss Perfect, but she heard only silence.

  Then Elaine said softly, “Look, everyone has a bad course. Even when they’re experienced. Even me. But you did it.”

  “I didn’t do anything except argue with that impossible four-legged nightmare.”

  Again Elaine paused. Then: “Do you know what you did wrong?”

  That was enough to give Kit the energy to sit up. “Yes, please, make me a list! Start with packing up and coming to this school and driving away the best friend I’ve ever made!” She was so mad at everything and everybody that she hoped Elaine would yell back. At least if they had a good argument, they would both get it out of their systems.

  Elaine surprised her. She perched on the edge of Kit’s bed and said, “You didn’t listen to your horse. He was trying to tell you that he couldn’t handle it, but you weren’t hearing him. You just cared about what you wanted to do.”

  Even through all of the anguish and confusion in her head, Kit heard those words, and they rang true. She had let TK down.

  Juniper Cottage was full of noisy celebration. The house common room had been decorated by Alex and Wyatt, whose idea of “decorations” were long strips of brightly colored paper thrown everywhere. Everywhere.

  Will stood in the doorway and admired the mess. It was like an old-fashioned ticker-tape parade he’d seen in black-and-white movies. It looked like snow, there would be so much of it thrown everywhere. Very festive, but whenever Will saw one of those scenes, he always wondered who had to clean it up afterward. He certainly wasn’t going to clean up this mess, that was for sure, though it had been a blast jumping around with the other boys throwing fistfuls of paper around, hooting and hollering in victory while music blared from Leo’s iPod.

  Leo, Alex, Wyatt, and their friends were still partying, but Will was ready to turn in. It had been a hard day. As he passed the house’s little kitchen on the way to the stairs, he saw Nav, alone, making himself a cup of tea. He hurried past, not wanting to interact. He was still miffed at Nav, even though revenge had been nicely achieved that afternoon. Still, the whole thing made him feel itchy.

  When he stepped into his dorm room, he found Josh lying on the bed, earbuds on, listening to music on his phone. “Oi!” Will snapped. “What are you doing in my room? You did not beat me! You could not beat the Master!” He held the door open. “Get out.”

  “Au contraire, my friend,” said a very happy Josh. “See, I only had to beat Nav, which I did.” He pointed to a bunch of boxes on the floor. “Your stuff’s all ready. Enjoy rooming with Leo. I would invest in some earplugs, though. That dude snores like a chainsaw.”

  Will wanted to argue, but Josh, blast him, was right. With a growl, Will picked up a box of his stuff and headed for the room with the human chainsaw.

  Late that night, after everybody had retired to their rooms, Kit donned her coat, tugged on her boots, and sneaked out to the stables. TK somehow knew she was coming, because, as she approached, he stuck his head out of his stall and turned in her direction, ears alert.

  Kit threw her arms around his neck. “I am so sorry,” she told him. “I promise I will never do that ever again.” She stood back, petting his neck.

  TK snorted and nodded.

  “Does that mean you forgive me?” Kit asked. “Because it would be terrible if we were fighting. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  She heard footsteps and turned to find two men approaching TK’s stall. One of them was holding a lead rope.

  Something wasn’t right.

  “Can I help you?” Kit asked them.

  At the same time, in Lady Covington’s office, Rudy was trying to reason with the furious headmistress. “Will’s a kid who needs to ride,” he told her, trying to make his voice respectful but convincing. “He should be given credit for all the hours he spent helping Kit. Look, if I’m the stable master, I’ve got to have some say in all this.”

  “I am talking about Katherine!” Lady Covington snapped. “How could you let her put herself in danger?”

  Rudy didn’t even try to hold bac
k his feelings on this one. “Oh, that’s rich,” he muttered, loud enough for her to hear. “It was your schedule that pushed her so hard.”

  “She could have been hurt!”

  “I know! But you’ve been telling her for weeks that her inability to ride is some sort of moral failure! And threatening to take TK away? What do you think that was teaching her?”

  “This will not happen again. You are on probation.”

  Rudy stood up. “I was right there. She’s my daughter.” He jabbed at finger at Lady Covington, not caring if she fired him on the spot. “Don’t forget that.”

  Standing tall, Lady Covington did not fire him, but her words did chill his soul. “You’d better go and see her. She’ll need you more than ever now.”

  That was a red flag warning if Rudy ever heard one. “Why?” he demanded. Good grief, what had Lady Covington done to his daughter now?

  Knowing he’d get no straight answer from her, he left her office without saying good-bye and, on instinct, went straight to the stables. He was just in time to see a truck pulling a horse trailer drive out of the courtyard. Kit was running after it, screaming, “Stop! Stop!” She was crying. “TK!” She started a slow fall to the ground, but Rudy reached her fast enough to grab hold of her as she whimpered, “No . . .”

  For the first time since his wife had died, Rudy Bridges had no idea what to do, so he just held Kit tight in his arms as she wept.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

  This book is based on the television series Ride.

  Copyright © 2018 by Breakthrough Entertainment

  Cover photograph copyright © 2017 by Breakthrough Entertainment

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.