Riding Star

by Stacy Gregg

  “Uh-huh,” Alice said.

  “Did Mr Brompton not tell you that we won?” Georgie asked. “He was there when we came off the field.” Mr Brompton, who had been standing by the door all this time with his arms folded, suddenly looked rather uncomfortable.

  “Mr Brompton?” Mrs Dickins-Thomson turned to him. “Is this true? Did the girls actually win the qualifier?”

  Heath Brompton coughed awkwardly. “Did I not mention that bit?” he asked.

  “No,” Mrs Dickins-Thomson replied stiffly. “You did not.”

  She turned back to the girls. “So if you won your qualifier I take it you’ve progressed to the next round tomorrow?”

  Georgie nodded. “We’re scheduled to play in the low goal category, obviously, because we’re all minus-two players.”

  Mrs Dickins-Thomson stood up from her chair. She looked suddenly animated, almost excited.

  “Mr Brompton,” she turned to her polo master. “Please go down to the stables and prepare two of the school horse trucks for the morning. And we’ll need polo jerseys. And can you send Mrs Dubois in to see me?”

  “I’m sorry?” Heath Brompton looked confused. “Polo jerseys?”

  “Yes, in the school colours obviously. The boys’ jerseys in the small size should fit the girls.”

  “What’s all this for?”

  “The Bluegrass Cup, Mr Brompton!” Mrs Dickins-Thomson said. “The girls are playing for Blainford Academy. They must be wearing the school colours.”

  The headmistress turned back to Georgie. “When Mrs Dubois arrives we’ll organise anything else you need. She can sort out your entry details. It’s a bit last-minute, but we’ll make an announcement at the dining hall tonight that there will be a second bus provided to the venue so that any students who wish to come along tomorrow in view of this news can also attend.”

  “So you’re letting us play?” Georgie couldn’t believe it. “You’re not going to expel us?”

  “Miss Parker, why on earth would I do that?” Mrs Dickins-Thomson looked shocked at the notion. “Blainford is in the finals for the Bluegrass Cup. You and your team have the opportunity to bring great honour upon the academy. This is marvellous news!”

  As she shut the door behind them the girls all breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Wow,” Emily said.

  “We’re playing for the glory of Blainford Academy,” Daisy added.

  “So why is it,” Georgie asked, “that I feel even more terrified now than I did when I came in here?”

  *

  The next morning at 5am, the girls loaded their ponies up in the trucks once more.

  Georgie had clambered up into the cab alongside Emily with Kenny at the wheel and they were just about to set off when there was a tap at the passenger window. Georgie got the shock of her life when she peered out into the darkness and saw Tara Kelly standing outside.

  “I wanted to wish you good luck before you set off,” Tara said.

  “Thanks,” Georgie said.

  “I’ll be escorting the pupils on the nine o’clock bus, so I’ll be in the stands watching you,” Tara said.

  Georgie was about to wind her window back up again when Tara spoke again.

  “Georgie, that grey mare, the dapple one?”

  “Yeah?”

  “She’s your best horse. If I were you I’d save her for the last chukka.”

  As they drove down the Versailles highway towards Frankfort, Georgie tried to think about her tactics for the match. It wasn’t easy focusing, however, with Emily burbling on in the seat alongside her.

  “I can’t help it. I talk when I’m nervous,” Emily said.

  “Having a few nerves is good,” Georgie assured her. “It gets the adrenalin moving.”

  “What about if you have so many nerves that you think you might throw up?”

  “You feel sick?” Kenny glanced at her. “Chewin’ tobacco is the best thing to settle a stomach,” Kenny said. “It’s got medicinal properties.”

  Emily watched with revulsion as Kenny took another wad from his pouch of tobacco on the dashboard and shoved it into his mouth, exposing his tobacco-stained teeth in the process.

  “I am definitely going to be sick,” Emily groaned.

  The two trucks marked with the Blainford Academy emblem rolled in convoy through the gates of the Frankfort polo grounds.

  Kenny turned past the fields and headed for the same parking bay they had occupied the day before.

  He pulled the truck to a stop and Georgie jumped out and lowered her ramp. Beside her, Heath Brompton parked the second truck. Georgie gave him a smile, but the polo master didn’t smile back. He looked his usual surly self as he dropped the ramp and went inside the truck to get the horses.

  “I don’t think he’s very happy working for a bunch of girls,” Emily said as she stood watching the polo master who was leading out Jocasta and Jet.

  “Some of us, on the other hand, don’t have a problem with it.”

  It was Cameron Fraser. He was dressed in his polo whites and standing there with Alex, JP and Riley.

  “Your stick chicks,” Cam said, taking a bow, “reporting for duty.”

  “I didn’t know boys could actually be ‘stick chicks’,” Georgie said.

  “Well, you can call us mallet men if you like,” Cameron said. “We’re here to do your bidding. We’ll groom your horses, prepare them for battle and warm them up between chukkas.”

  “Plus,” Alex added, smiling at Emily, “we’ll stand on the sidelines and scream and cheer for you and we’ll be waiting here to kiss you if you win.”

  “Cool,” Emily said. “I always wanted my own personal groupie.”

  “I think we’re a bit better than groupies!” Riley said. “We’re an integral part of the team!”

  “Of course,” Georgie agreed with a smile. “Now go and get my ponies ready for me, will you?”

  “Yes, ma’am!”

  As the boys bandaged the ponies, Georgie, Alice, Daisy and Emily put on their whites, their pads and their jerseys. Today, instead of the Badminton House colours, they wore the Blainford Academy school colours. Dark navy polo shirts with a pale blue sash stripe across the front and a silver crest on their breast pockets.

  “I think I’d rather be saddling up than just standing here getting nervous,” Alice said as she put on her boots.

  Georgie looked at her watch. It was ten o’clock and they were due on the playing field in half an hour. “Let’s make good use of the time we’ve got,” she told the others, “and go and check out the competition.”

  The draw for the Bluegrass Cup had been posted that morning. The girls were up for the low-grade title game against the Winchester Reserves.

  “Do we have any inside information on them?” Emily asked.

  “Alice has been doing some digging,” Georgie said. “Alice?”

  “The Winchester is a very established polo club,” Alice said. “They’ve been around for over a hundred years. They’re pretty fancy too – posh grounds and all that. These guys are their low goal team, but they’re pretty handy. And they’re not exactly known for being clean players – they’ve got a rep for unnecessary fouling and rough play.”

  “What are their team colours?” Daisy asked.

  “Yellow and black, “ Alice said. “Keep an eye out for them.”

  “Uhhh, guys?” Emily said quietly. “I think I might have just found them.”

  She pointed over to the far side of the warm-up field where four men, dressed in bright yellow jerseys ringed with thick black bands, were warming up.

  “Those guys are huge!” Daisy said.

  “They’re not men – they’re mountains,” Emily said. The girls watched as the Winchester number one lined up against number three and then intentionally rammed him so that their horses bashed up against each other in a bone-crunching display of aggression.

  “Whoa! If they treat their own horses like that, what’s it going to be like to play against them?” D
aisy said.

  “Ohmygod!” Emily whimpered. “Does anyone else here suddenly miss the Cavaliers?”

  “We can still outrun them,” Daisy said. “Play it like we did last time?”

  Georgie shook her head. “It won’t work. They’ll have seen the way we played against the Cavaliers and they’ll be expecting it. If we try to run they’ll ride us down.”

  “Well, then what are we going to do, Georgie?” Emily said. “They’re gonna crush us.”

  “No,” Georgie said. “They’re not… because we’re gonna crush them first.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The buses from Blainford Academy arrived at the polo grounds at nine and the students in their whites and navy blazers cut a swathe through the crowd. Mrs Dickins-Thomson and Tara Kelly led the way to the grandstands.

  “No chewing gum, Mr Blackburn,” the headmistress instructed as one of the boys walked past. “Take your hands out of your pockets, Mr Adams, and stop slouching! You are representing your school so stand up straight, please.”

  As the students took their seats, filling five rows of the grandstand, Heath Brompton emerged from the riders’ area. He looked around the crowded stands for somewhere to sit and then reluctantly took the seat next to Tara.

  “Hello, Heath,” Tara said. “How’s the team looking? ”

  “Woefully underprepared,” Heath replied. “They’re going to disgrace the school. They aren’t ready to play at this level.”

  Tara frowned. “I’ve been watching the girls train and I’d have to disagree.”

  “Oh, so you’re a polo expert now?” Heath shot back at her.

  Tara shook her head in disbelief. “You’ve always been like this, Heath, even when we were at school together. Why is it so hard for you to grasp that the girls at Blainford are every bit as capable in every branch of equestrianism as the boys?”

  Heath Brompton wasn’t having it. “Girls shouldn’t be playing polo. They shouldn’t even be at the school,” he muttered darkly. “If I had my way Blainford would still be a boys’ school like it was back in nineteen-thirty-six.”

  Tara looked coolly at him. “Your attitude towards girls doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that I whipped you completely in the end of the year rankings in cross-country in our senior year, does it? Or the fact that Miss Parker’s mother, Ginny, was chosen to captain the school polo team over you?”

  “Ginny Parker should never have been made captain,” Heath Brompton snapped. “It should have been me!”

  “Oh, dear!” Tara looked at him with mock surprise. “Have I hit a nerve?”

  “You haven’t changed at all,” Heath snarled at her. “You’re the same competitive shrew that you were when I was at school with you.”

  “And you are still the same small-minded sexist,” Tara said sharply. “If I hear any more reports about you making it hard for girls in your polo class then I’ll be taking it up with Mrs Dickins-Thomson. I’m sure she’d be very interested to hear about your antiquated views.”

  “You can’t—”

  Tara turned to him with her finger placed over her lips. “Sshhh, please, Mr Brompton. It looks like they are about to get underway and I do want to watch the game without interruption.”

  *

  Out on the practice field, Georgie watched the Blainford pupils taking their seats in the stands. “It looks like half the school has turned out to watch us,” she said.

  “Well, that settles it,” Alice said, “we better not lose.”

  The girls were ready to make their entrance on to the field, mounted up on their first chukka ponies. They had chosen reliable, experienced mounts for the first quarter, each of them riding one of the polo mares that Mr Dupree had donated to the team. Daisy had chosen Jada, one of the Duprees’ most experienced mares. Alice was on the veteran dun, Desiray. Emily was riding Vita, the pretty dark brown mare with four white socks.

  Georgie was riding Estrella, the little chestnut with the white star on her forehead. Or at least she was planning to ride Estrella if the mare would stay still long enough to let her mount up. Estrella was so over-excited she refused to stand still, crab-stepping from side to side as Georgie bounced about beside her with one foot in the stirrup trying to get onboard.

  “Here!” Riley stepped in to help her, hanging on to the mare until she could climb onboard. “Don’t move, I need to tighten your girth.”

  Estrella stood still for a moment and then she raised her head high and let out a clarion call, whinnying a challenge to the Winchester horses.

  “She knows this is the real thing,” Georgie said. “She’s ready.”

  Riley looked anxiously over at the Winchester players. “Promise me you’ll be careful out there?”

  “You know me,” Georgie said.

  “Yeah,” Riley replied. “I do. That’s what worries me.”

  Alex was doing a final check on Emily’s girth. He whispered last-minute advice to Emily, holding on to her hand, reluctant to let her go.

  Cameron meanwhile, was busily checking Alice’s martingale.

  “Isn’t there anything you want to tell me?” Alice said to him.

  “Like what?”

  Alice sighed. “I don’t know, something poignant before I go on the field to face a team full of man-sized thugs who might kill me?”

  Cameron snorted, trying to suppress a laugh. “Come off it, Alice! They’re the ones that are in trouble here – I should be over there reading them their last rites.”

  Daisy rode over to join them. “Those guys have no idea what’s coming at them.”

  Georgie turned Estrella round and addressed her team mates. “Does everyone understand the tactics for the game? Are we ready to do this?”

  “We’re ready,” Alice affirmed.

  “Sure,” Emily said nervously.

  “I think it’s the craziest plan I’ve ever heard,” Daisy said, “but, yeah. Let’s do it.”

  “Remember,” Georgie said, “we’re going to come out in the first chukka and play a hard, fast and physical game. If they think they can ride us off our line just because they’re bigger than us, they need to think again.”

  “If they come at you, never give away ground,” Alice added. “Knee-barge them straight back.”

  “There’s no way I’m letting them ride me off the ball,” Daisy said. “They can forget about it.”

  Emily wasn’t so sure. “I don’t think I can ride off a guy twice my size.”

  “You don’t have to get into the maul, Emily,” Georgie reassured her. “Your job is defence. We’re relying on you to stop the ball before it reaches the goal. You mustn’t let them past.”

  Emily’s face looked grim with determination. “Let’s go.”

  *

  Out on the field, the four girls took up their positions in the lineout, squaring up to their opposite players. Georgie’s eyes scanned the line for their number three player, a thick-set man with a moustache and russet brown hair. He was the captain and their best player and he would be their key goal scorer. She glanced over at Alice, who returned her look with a nod, confirming that she knew that this guy was the one that she had to watch.

  At the far end of the lineout, Emily was keeping a tight hold on Vita, her game face set.

  Georgie’s last glance was to Daisy. She was right at the front of the lineout, wheeling Jada about, jostling for position against the Winchester number one as they waited for the ref to throw the ball in. Georgie turned Estrella on her hocks and focused, her muscles tensed and ready for the throw-in. This was it. Game on.

  The bell rang and the ball flew across the grass towards the horses. Georgie reacted immediately on instinct, driving Estrella forward fearlessly, her polo stick clashing up against the Winchester number two as they fought for possession.

  The ball shot out of the pack and whizzed across the field, heading in the direction of the Blainford goal. Daisy pressed Jada into a gallop and set off after it, but there were two Winchester riders following cl
ose behind her.

  “Daisy!” Georgie called out. “You’ve got company!”

  Daisy got to the ball first and hit it hard towards the goal posts. She tried to chase it up, but the Winchester number one was all over her, riding her off the line, barging against her with his knee and stealing the ball, taking it back in the other direction.

  Daisy, however, wasn’t deterred. Urging Jada into a gallop, she stayed with the Winchester rider, and then when the two mares were shoulder-to-shoulder, she pulled across, barged hard into the Winchester number one and swung a magnificent backhander so that the ball changed direction once more and shot back towards their goal.

  “Alice!” Daisy cried out. “It’s yours!”

  As soon as Desiray caught sight of the white ball coming her way, the mare flattened back her ears and whipped her tail aggressively, giving chase at a gallop. There were two Winchester riders after the ball, but their mares weren’t as fast as Desiray. There was no way she was letting anyone else get there before her. Alice tapped the ball towards the posts and Desiray swung her rump round to block the Winchester rider’s path while her rider lined up a shot on goal. The mallet contacted the ball on the sweet spot and it flew cleanly between the posts.

  In the stands the Blainford Academy students applauded. First blood to the Blainford girls!

  The Winchester riders looked like stunned mullets as they came back to the line to restart the game. “Go after their number three!” the Winchester captain called to his men. “Somebody mark her!”

  As the ref threw in, Alice tried to trap the ball with her mallet and send it to Georgie, but she was cut off by the Winchester number two who rode directly in front of her, barging into Desiray and swinging wildly with his stick right in front of the mare’s legs.

  “Foul! Ref, that was a total foul!” Daisy raised her mallet in the air to appeal to the referee, but the whistle wasn’t blown. The game was still on and the number two player was off at a gallop and bearing down on Emily.

  “Em!” Alice shouted out. “It’s up to you!”

  At the sight of the massive Winchester player thundering down on her Emily froze like a rabbit in headlights. And then, with a growl that sounded like a battle cry, she rode straight at him. Afterwards, Alice would say that it was like watching a jousting scene from a Robin Hood movie. Emily pushed Vita into a gallop and rode headlong at the Winchester number two, her mallet raised like a lance. The Winchester rider held his line. Emily was holding hers too – it was a game of chicken. Which one of them would scare first?