“Because I only have gross things,” I said. “I don’t get to shop at the mall every week like some people.”
“Are you going to stop being mean to me so we can go in or what?” Mickey said.
“Sorry.” I shrugged. “I’m just kind of nervous.”
“Me too.” She smiled but I could see that beneath it she was just as unsure of herself as I was and suddenly I didn’t feel so bad.
“So what should we do?” I said. “Ring the buzzer or climb over the wall?”
“Definitely ring the buzzer.”
We put our bikes against the wall and she pressed the button. Nothing happened.
“Press it again,” I said.
“But what if they get mad?”
“How can they get mad? It’s a buzzer. It’s meant to be pushed, isn’t it?”
“I guess,” she said, pressing it again.
Static came through the tiny speaker, making us both jump.
“Stop doing that,” a crackly voice said.
“See.” Mickey punched me in the arm. “I told you.” Then she put her face right next to the box. “We’re here to see Sasha.”
“There is no Sasha here,” the voice said.
“We’ve got the wrong house,” I said, feeling horrified. “Come on let’s get out of here before they set their attack dogs on us or something.”
Mickey looked like she was about to cry. She grabbed her bike and her face was all red and blotchy. We were just about to leave when the voice came through again and this time it sounded like someone was laughing.
“Just kidding,” the voice said as the gates swung silently open.
Mickey and I looked at each other.
“That wasn’t funny,” she said.
“No, it wasn’t. So should we go in? After all, there could be a serial killer in there or something.”
“Why do you always think that there is a serial killer in all these places?” She threw her bike back down with a clatter. “Of course we go in so that I can give whoever is behind that box a piece of my mind.”
“All right,” I mumbled, following behind her. “But if there really is a serial killer, don’t blame me.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I wasn’t a stranger to big houses, after all Jess liked to rub hers in our faces any time she could but this was different. Jess’s house was kind of gaudy and made sure you knew that they were rich. This house was rich but in a more sophisticated, subtle way. The front door was about the size of four regular doors. It looked like it had once belonged on a church or cathedral. We stood there wondering why no one had opened it to greet us.
“Who lives here?” I said. “Giants?”
“Yeah, big rich giants.” Mickey rang the doorbell and a fancy chime echoed through the house.
“No one is going to let us in. They’re just playing a joke on us.” I turned to leave. “Come on, let’s go.”
Part of me was relieved. If no one answered the door then I wouldn’t have to go to the stupid beach party after all.
“Wait,” Mickey said. “I think I hear someone.”
“It’s probably the butler, coming to toss us out.”
But the person who opened the door wasn’t a butler at all. It was a teenage boy with dark hair and mysterious eyes, wearing nothing but a pair of swimming trunks. It was the guy from the beach, the one who had crashed my private cove.
“You,” I said.
“You,” he replied, raising an eyebrow.
“And I’m me,” Mickey joined in, looking thoroughly confused.
“I should have known.” I shook my head. “Of course you would live somewhere like this. Is that why you’re so entitled? You think you own the whole beach?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Just this part.” He pointed out to the beach in front of the house.
“Great,” I said. “Why don’t you stay there then?”
I turned to leave but Mickey grabbed my arm, forcing me to stay. She gave me this horrified look like I was really embarrassing her but I couldn’t help it.
“We’re here to see Sasha,” she said. “It’s about the beach party. My friend didn’t want to bring her pony without knowing there was a safe place for him.”
“I bet she didn’t.” He grinned.
“Come on.” I pulled my arm out of Mickey’s grasp. “Let’s just go.”
“Sasha’s not here but I can show you around if you like,” he called out after us.
I had already dragged Mickey half way down the drive. Just a few more feet and we’d be free and I wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore.
“That’d be great,” Mickey said, pulling me back up towards the front door.
“No,” I whispered. “Stop it.”
“What’s wrong with you?” she whispered back.
“It’s the boy from the beach,” I said through gritted teeth.
“No way,” she said. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Good, then maybe you two can get to know each other a bit better.” When we got back to the front door she stuck out her hand. “Shall we start over? I’m Mickey and this rude person here is my friend, Emily.”
“Emily.” He grinned. “I knew you’d have a presumptuous name like that.”
“Well what’s yours then?” I said. “Sebastian? Romeo? Digger?”
“Digger?” he said. “How many guys do you know called Digger?”
“You’d be surprised the kind of people you run into when you live across the street from a Chinese restaurant.”
“Oh,” he said.
Mickey looked mortified. I was embarrassing myself and I knew I was embarrassing her but I didn’t seem to be able to stop.
“So what is it then?” I said after an awkward silence.
“William,” he said.
“Like Prince William?” Mickey laughed but it sounded forced and false, like she was trying too hard.
I wished that she had just let me go. There was no way I was going to come to the party now anyway, especially with William hanging around.
“So, you want to see the beach and the barn or what?”
“You have a barn?” I said.
“Of course. That’s where you’ll want to put your pony, isn’t it?”
“But I thought we’d be camping on the beach or something,” I said as we followed William through the house.
“Do we look like the kind of people who camp on the beach?” he said.
“Not exactly,” I said.
The house had marble floors, crystal chandeliers and a million rooms with plush velvet furniture. Mickey kept pointing at things with her mouth open and eyes wide so I guessed they were expensive but all I could think was that it was an awful lot of stuff to dust, which was usually my chore back home.
When we finally got to the back of the house, William swung the doors wide and we found ourselves looking out over an infinity pool and the ocean beyond.
“Wow,” Mickey said.
I didn’t say anything. Finally all my words had dried up, for which I was glad. I was fed up of making myself look like an idiot. We followed a path around the side of the house, through bushes and ferns. There was a breeze coming in off the ocean and a lulling sound of the waves drifted over the plants. It must have been wonderful to live somewhere like that but it was so far away from my reality that I might as well have been dreaming about living in a palace.
“And here is the barn.” William spread his arms wide.
There were the white washed walls and the fancy stall doors that I’d become accustomed to seeing in everyone’s barns but our own and then I looked up and saw a chandelier. An actual chandelier hanging in the barn.
“I don’t think I can bring my pony here,” I said before turning and walking away.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Wait up.”
William was running after me but I didn’t care. Everywhere I turned people had more money than I did. They lived in these big mansions with ever
ything they’d ever dreamed of and they were so sure of themselves. I, on the other hand, didn’t have anything to offer anyone other than my bad attitude and my questionable ability to ride somewhat difficult horses.
“Just leave me alone,” I said. “Please.”
“I didn’t mean to offend you,” he said, catching up and walking alongside me. “I just wanted to show you my horse.”
“You ride too?” I said, turning to face him. “What, do you have some three million dollar Warmblood imported from Europe with bloodlines like royalty and a resume that includes jumping in the Olympics?”
William stood there looking at me while I spewed all my frustration out on him.
“No,” he said calmly. “That’s my sister’s deal not mine and you don’t have to be so mean.”
“I’m sorry.” We’d reached the road and I sunk to the ground, sitting on the curb with my knees tucked against my chest. “I don’t know why I do that. It’s not your fault it’s just…”
“You find me infuriating?” he suggested, sitting down beside me.
“Exactly.”
“It’s okay. You wouldn’t be the first. I have a smart mouth.”
“Me too,” I said.
We sat there in silence. I wasn’t sure why he made me so mad or why I even cared in the first place but I did.
“So what kind of horse do you have?” I asked sheepishly.
“Oh, so now you want to know?” He grinned.
“Yes.”
“Well his name is Blue, he’s a Quarter Horse not a Warmblood and he’s about a million years old. His favorite pastimes are standing in his stall sleeping and eating frozen grapes.”
“Are you telling me about him or putting his profile on a dating website?” I laughed.
“Fine.” He looked hurt but I could tell he was only pretending. “Why don’t you tell me about your precious little pony then?”
“Alright,” I said. “His name is Bluebird and I don’t know what breed he his but I think he’s probably a bunch all mixed together. He loves to jump and he’s really talented but he looks funny doing it because he throws his head in the air. He likes rolling in mud puddles and eating as many carrots as he possibly can. Oh and he also prefers to be outside rather than in his stall.”
“See,” William said. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“No,” I said.
“So you want to see him?” He stood up and offered me his hand.
“Alright.” I said. “But I don’t need a hand, Prince William.”
“Don’t,” he groaned. “That’s what my mother calls me. I prefer Will.”
“That’s much better,” I said.
Mickey was out by the pool. She’d taken off her sandals and was sitting on the edge with her feet in the water.
“You managed to talk her into coming back then?” she said.
“It was a hard sell,” Will said. “But I got through in the end.”
“You guys are so mean,” I said.
“Come on.” Will pulled me towards the barn.
Once I’d locked the jealous monster back in his box inside my brain, I was able to enjoy looking around the barn. It was light and airy and other than the chandelier, it was very nice.
“Blue, we’ve got company,” Will said as we stopped outside a stall with a blue roan horse inside.
Blue was a little overweight and he had a sway back. Will was right, he was old.
“Do you ride him?” I asked, leaning on the white bricks.
“Sometimes I’ll take him out on the beach bareback. He likes to swim in the ocean.”
“Really?” I said. “He actually swims?”
“Sure,” Will said. “Why not?”
“Well aren’t you worried about not being able to get back to shore and drowning?”
“You know,” he said, leaning next to me, “You worry too much.”
“Okay then but what about sharks?”
Will just laughed. “So you will come to the party, won’t you?”
“I’ll think about it.”
And that was how I left it. Mickey and I cycled away from the big mansion and we hadn’t even got half a mile down the street before Mickey was pestering me with questions.
“I knew he liked you,” she said. “He did, didn’t he? What did he say? What did you guys talk about? Are you going to like, go out on a date or something?”
“I don’t even know if I’m going to the party or not,” I said. “I told him that I’d think about it.”
“But why not? Why wouldn’t you want to go?” She shook her head. “Sometimes I don’t understand you at all.”
“Sometimes I don’t understand myself,” I said.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Suddenly spurred on by the fact that Mickey now knew there were going to be lots of rich, hot boys at the beach party, she asked Esther if she could take Daisy.
“To ride and then do what exactly?” Esther frowned.
“To have a good time,” Mickey said. “Daisy would love it.”
“The only thing Daisy loves is taking a nap,” Esther said. “And besides, I don’t need her getting spooked and galloping away with you.”
“But she doesn’t even know how to gallop,” Mickey whined. “Please Esther, I promise I’ll take good care of her.”
But Esther wouldn’t budge. Her decision was final. I didn’t exactly blame her. Mickey didn’t have a very good track record when it came to mixing horses, boys and the lure of the ocean.
“And why is it that you would want to go to something like that?” Esther turned her attention onto me now.
I’d asked her if she wouldn’t mind taking Bluebird over in the trailer since it was too far to ride. If she was going to give me grief about going as well then it would be an easy way out. Maybe I wouldn’t have to go after all. But the thought of my evil stepsister talking to Will and telling him horrible things about me made me want to go more than ever. Even if it was only to keep her away from him, which was dumb because it wasn’t like I owned him or anything.
“Don’t you remember what it was like to be young?” I asked her. “To want to hang out with your friends and your horse at the same time? Well this is a cool way to do both.”
“Future Olympic hopefuls don’t have time for friends or a life,” Esther said.
“That’s not fair,” Mickey cried. “Emily works really hard and you never let her have any fun.”
“It’s okay,” I told Mickey. “Just forget it.”
“No,” Mickey said. “I want you to go with me.”
“I said I’ll think about it,” Esther said. “Now scram. Go and do something productive.”
“It’s not fair,” Mickey said again as we left Esther’s office. “First she won’t let me take Daisy, now she might not even trailer Bluebird over. She doesn’t even own him. She can’t tell you what to do.”
“She kind of can,” I said. “I don’t have a trailer and I can’t even drive yet.”
“I can’t wait until I’m old enough to do whatever I want,” she said.
“Me too,” I agreed. Although I knew that the things I would do and the things Mickey would do were vastly different.
It was a few days later when Esther finally agreed to trailer Bluebird over to the party. It would have been nice if Ethan and Faith had been around to take Wendell and Princess as well but their parents had whisked them away on some skiing holiday in Europe. That was how it was in Florida. The state filled up with tourists from all over the country while the local residents couldn’t wait to get somewhere cooler. It was just as well. I didn’t think Ethan and Will would have hit it off very well at all. Or they would have hit it off too well. Either way, it would have been bad.
“I’ll trailer you over tomorrow,” Esther said. “And I’ll pick you up the next morning.”
“Thank you.” I stood in the tack room feeling kind of awkward. Even though Esther had agreed, her face told me that she wasn’t really happy about it.
“Now I know this beach ride means a lot to you,” she said. “But I want you to promise me that you won’t do anything stupid like swim your pony out in the ocean. It can be really dangerous.”
“I promise,” I said. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
“I still don’t get it,” she said. “Other kids do things like this. Not you.”
“But I always put Bluebird first,” I said. “You know that.”
“I know,” she said softly. “But this isn’t a show or a controlled environment. I’m putting my faith in you. Don’t let anything happen to that pony. Got it?”
“I’d never let anything bad happen to Bluebird,” I said. “I just want to have some fun.”
But deep down I knew it wasn’t really just about fun. It was about proving to all those rich girls that my pony was better than their expensive horses. That he could jump higher and gallop faster and that he was the best. I wanted that for him.
Back home Cat was laying out things that she’d bought at the mall. Bathing suits and string bikinis that were barely more than dental floss strung together with some patches of fabric. I guess the fact that she was going to try and drum up investors for Derek’s business had somehow magically cancelled out the fact that she had been grounded, or the fact that she had ever done anything wrong.
“You’re not actually going to wear that, are you?” I said as she held up a teeny, tiny bikini.
“Why not?” she said.
“Because it will probably wash right off you in the ocean and then you’ll be naked and everyone will laugh at you.”
“I’m not the one who’s going to be laughed at,” she said, throwing the bikini back onto the table. “What are you going to wear to swim in? Those dirty riding clothes?” She pointed at my stained breeches.
“No,” I said.
But she was right. I stood in front of my closet a few minutes later, feeling horrified. I had nothing to wear. Usually I didn’t care. The only clothes that mattered to me were my riding clothes but Cat was annoyingly right. I couldn’t wear those on the beach. What was everyone else going to be wearing? String bikinis like Cat? I’d rather die than expose myself in one of those.
I pulled out my only bathing suit. It was navy and practically came up to my chin since it was from my brief stint on the swim team back before I found Sand Hill and started riding again. It looked like something an old granny would wear. Was that really what I wanted Will and all the other rich kids seeing? Feeling all kinds of desperate, I called Mickey.
Beach Ride (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 9) Page 6
