“Come on,” Will called out.
Blue had already plodded down onto the beach like he’d done it a million times, which he probably had. I looked up and down the sandy expanse, thankful that there were no tourists around. All I needed were some colorful umbrellas and beach towels flapping about to make a tense situation even worse.
“In a minute,” I called back.
I wasn’t about to have Will rush me. Bluebird would be okay. I just had to let him come to terms with the beach and the ocean in his own time. He looked up and down like I had and pawed at the sand a couple of times.
“Don’t even think about rolling,” I told him.
The sun was high in the sky but there was a good breeze and enough clouds to cast racing shadows across the sand. I imagined chasing them, galloping wild and free. As I did, I let every last bit of tension leave my body and then Bluebird let out a sigh and I felt him relax too.
I squeezed my legs around his sides and he stepped down onto the beach.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
“Ready to gallop?” Will asked.
“Very funny,” I said.
I ignored him as he sat there, looking all cool with the reins slack in one hand and his cell phone in the other. Was he texting? Posting on Facebook? Was he even interested in me at all? I turned Bluebird away and started working him just like we were at home in the ring.
We trotted circles in the wet sand, bending this way and that until I could feel that he was no longer wary of the waves crashing around him. Then I made the circles bigger so that he was splashing through the water.
Each time a wave would crash upon the sand, he’d spook away from it like it was a water monster out to get him. My legs were slick with sweat against his sides and I wished that I’d put the synthetic saddle on but it was too late now. And eventually he realized that the water wasn’t out to get him and I kicked him into a canter.
“See?” Will said as I brought Bluebird to a walk. “Piece of cake.”
“If you say so,” I said.
I was all sweaty and gross. There were black marks on the shorts that Mickey had leant me from Bluebird’s back, even though I’d groomed him really well. Riding on the beach hadn’t exactly turned out to be as awesome as I thought it would be.
“Ready for the real fun?” he said.
“Wait, what?”
But it was too late. He was kicking Blue into a gallop and Bluebird, still hyped up from conquering the waves and not wanting to be left behind by his new friend, galloped after them. I grabbed a handful of mane as he took off, worried that I’d slip right off his back but Bluebird wasn’t out of control. I knew I could have reined him in if I really wanted to but I didn’t care what Esther said. I wanted that Black Stallion moment with my pony and I wasn’t going to let being scared stop me from getting it.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
The sea breeze whipped my hair out from beneath my helmet and the warm, salty air stung my face. I crouched low on Bluebird’s chestnut neck as we galloped after Blue and Will. The water splashed up around us and then we were neck and neck, two Blue’s galloping side by side. I looked at Will, who grinned at me and I smiled back. It was the craziest thing I’d ever done but wasn’t it also what having a pony was all about? Getting to do fun things, things that you’d only dreamt of? Horses like the ones Frank Coppell had brought down weren’t even allowed out in the fields and yet here I was galloping my pony across the sand. It was just as amazing as completing a clear jump off round and in many ways even better because here no one was judging me.
Eventually Will slowed Blue to a walk and Bluebird came back just as calmly as the old Quarter Horse.
“You’re pony is great,” he said. “There aren’t too many that can keep up with Blue, he’s been doing this a long time and before that he was a barrel horse.”
“You were a barrel racer?” I said.
“Kind of but Blue got too old and I didn’t want to do it anymore.”
“Why not?” I said. “I bet your parents would have bought you a super barrel horse like the jumpers they buy your sister.”
“It wouldn’t be the same without Blue.” He patted the old horse on the neck.
We rode the rest of the way back in silence. I wanted to ask Will what it was like to grow up with so much money, not wanting for anything and having everything but he didn’t seem any happier than I was. He was the boy who didn’t surf on his own private part of the beach but slipped away from his big mansion to the little cove where I first met him. The one who didn’t want to barrel race unless he could do it with his old friend and suddenly I felt mad that he was making me like him more.
When we got back to the house Mickey was in the pool, floating around on a large inflatable sunbed with a pink drink in her hand. It had a colored umbrella sticking out of it and big pieces of pineapple were bobbing about like icebergs.
“Your house keeper is the best,” she cried, holding up the glass. “I don’t know what’s in this but she calls it Hawaiian sunshine. I’ve never tasted anything so divine in all my life.”
“You’ll have to excuse her,” I whispered to Will. “She likes to pretend she’s a movie star.”
“That’s okay,” he said. “My mother is a movie star.”
“No way?”
We slipped off our horses when we got to the barn and I looked at him to see if he was joking or not but I couldn’t tell.
“It’s true,” he said.
“Well, what’s she been in? Is she really famous?”
“She’s not really super famous or anything. She’s more of a B actress,” he said.
“What’s that?” I put Bluebird back in his stall and patted his neck, thanking him for a wonderful ride. Then, when Will was looking the other way, I hugged him as well.
“It’s sort of like she gets parts but they are not main characters so she’s kind of in the background. Or sometimes she’ll get a lead role but it’s an independent film so no one sees it.”
“Oh,” I said. It didn’t sound very glamorous at all.
“She says she’ll make it really big one day,” he said but he didn’t sound convinced.
“Well just don’t tell Mickey,” I said. “Because she’ll stick to your mom like glue and it will be really annoying.”
“Oh she’s not here,” he said. “She’s never here.”
He didn’t seem like he wanted to talk about it so I didn’t ask any more questions and as I closed the stall door I heard a truck pull in. A trailer dropping off someone else’s horse.
“How many horses are coming?” I asked.
“Ten,” he said. “Everyone comes for the beach race.”
“I don’t know why,” I said. “I heard your sister always wins.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of her thing,” he said.
“I thought riding in all the big shows was her thing.”
He shrugged. “That too.”
I thought about Bluebird, galloping over the sand and crossing the finish line first while all the rich girls with their fancy horses looked on. Then I imagined Esther’s horrified face if she ever found out.
“Are there going to be adults and stuff around?” I asked, trying to sound casual.
“Why? Afraid you’re going to get in trouble?”
“Of course not,” I said.
But all I could think about was how fast gossip travelled in the horse world and how long it might take for news of the beach race to get back to Esther.
“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” Will said but there was something on his face that said he would be totally disappointed in me if I didn’t and deep down I knew I’d be disappointed in myself too. Besides, how much trouble could a beach race get me in anyway?
“No,” I said. “I want to.”
“Good. Because it’s about time someone put my sister in her place.”
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
Sasha was tall, skinny and she was also pretty, like she could have bee
n a model. In fact, she probably was in her spare time. Jet setting around the world and going to all those big horse shows and then stopping by for a photo shoot at a fashion magazine with her movie star mother. Mickey was immediately drawn to her like a moth to a flame. I wasn't mad. I knew that was how she was. But Sasha was like a queen, accepting those around her with a faint smile and a wave of her hand.
"Where are the clothes?" I asked Mickey.
I'd come in from the barn with my butt covered in sweaty horse hair and dirt to find Sasha standing in the giant kitchen surrounded by five fawning girls, all of whom were pretty but next to Sasha, not quite pretty enough. Which was probably just the way she liked it.
"What clothes?" Mickey asked vaguely.
"Hello? The clean clothes? Have you actually seen me?"
She looked over at me and curled up her nose. "What have you done to my outfit?"
"Rode bareback in it like you told me to."
"They’re upstairs," she said, pointing up the giant staircase. "First room on the right. We're sharing."
"Okay, cool."
I slipped past Sasha and the girls. None of them seemed to notice me or if they did, they probably thought I was the barn help or something. Not that I cared. I would never be one of those girls, no matter what I did or how much money I had.
The bedroom that Mickey said we were sharing was about as big as our entire top floor back at my own house. I found the bag and a bathroom in which I scrubbed as much of the dirt off as I could. Then I put on a rather too skimpy bathing suit and covered it with clean shorts and a tank top. All the girls downstairs were wearing dresses and rompers but I already felt awkward enough as it was. This wasn’t the time to start experimenting with fashion that was totally out of my comfort zone.
I looked out the window with a sigh. What was I even doing here? Then I saw a car pull up to the gates. It was black with one of those awful smiling face stickers pasted to the side. Out got Cat. She stood there for a moment, tossing her hair and straightening her skirt. Then she walked up the drive and I remembered. I was here to make sure she gave up this notion of riding. To make sure she left the world that I lived in and everyone who was part of it alone.
Still, she didn't even have any riding clothes and I already knew that Humberto, the Grand Prix rider that she'd latched onto, was off in Europe for the summer. She may have been a fun novelty at the show, all ripped clothes and safety pins with an air of danger and intrigue but here she was just another wannabe, trying to fit in with the rich and famous. She didn't stand a chance. She'd never make an impression, not like I would with Bluebird when I won the race.
I walked down the stairs with my head held high, knowing that if I was going to pull this off, I was going to have to have just as much attitude as Cat did. In fact, maybe even more.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
I was almost at the bottom of the stairs when Cat came through the front door like she owned the place. Her face fell when she saw me.
"You're here then?" she said.
"So are you."
I stood there with my arms crossed, wishing she would just turn around and go back home.
"In the flesh," she said with a smirk. "Just be sure to stay out of my way."
"I'll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine."
"Why would I want to be around you anyway?" she said. "Although, Dad did say something about sharing that horrid little pony of yours. Of course, I'd rather have my own horse but if that's what it takes then that's just what I'll have to do."
I felt sick. Like I was literally going to throw up. But I wasn't about to let Cat see that she was getting to me. I had to show her that I was just as strong as she was. I walked down the last few steps and stood there next to her, right in her personal space.
"Bluebird is mine. He belongs to me. You got that? He doesn't belong to you or your dad or even my mom. He's mine and mine alone. I own him and I get to say who rides him and I'm telling you right now that you will never, ever sit on his back. Do you understand?"
She looked at me and just laughed. "Lighten up," she said before walking away.
I stood there with my heart pounding. Did she really think she was ever going to ride my pony? If she did, she was delusional and I wasn't going to stick around to see it happen. I'd made promises to my mother, ones that I vowed not to break so that I could keep riding. I'd told her that I would never try and look for my father. But what about now? Did the promises still count when she'd brought another man and his daughter into our home? When that horrible girl who called herself my stepsister was threatening to ruin my life and ride my pony? Surely the man who'd left us when I was just a little girl had to be better than the fake father I had now.
I stomped off into the kitchen, swearing to myself that if things got worse I would track him down and beg him to let me go and live with him. I didn't even care that he'd missed every Christmas and never even sent me a birthday card. I'd forgive all that if he'd take me away from the home life that was suffocating me.
Cat was immediately drawn into the group of giggling girls. I had to hand it to her. She was good. Like a chameleon who could change to suit everything around her. At home she was sullen and moody, all black clothes and depression but here, she was light and fun and the girls loved her. I could already tell. I stood off to the side, eating a cookie and wondering what I could do to make Cat leave me alone.
"She came then?" Mickey said.
"Yeah, she came," I said.
"So did you come up with a plan yet?"
"Not really."
I thought about telling Mickey the other plan. The backup plan. The one where I ran away to go and live with my father but I knew she wouldn't understand. Plus she couldn’t keep a secret to save her life.
"Well don't worry," Mickey said. "Because I have an awesome plan."
"Really?" I said and suddenly I didn't feel quite so sick anymore.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
The party was in full swing by the time Jess and Amber arrived. I was kind of hoping that they wouldn't show. I already had enough problems with Cat but they just ignored me anyway, which was fine by me. Mickey had laid out a plan. She was going to spread the word that Cat couldn’t ride. By the time she had told everyone, we figured it would get back to Cat. She’d never stand for her new friends thinking that she wasn’t one of them. I knew she’d beg someone for a horse to borrow and as soon as she did, her fate would be sealed. She’d fall off and embarrass herself in front of everyone and hopefully, she’d never want to ride again.
Everyone went in the pool but I didn't really feel like stripping off my clothes in front of all the skinny stick girls. I wasn't exactly fat, more athletic but I still felt frumpy next to the others who were pretty much skin and bone.
"Aren't you coming in?" Mickey asked.
"Maybe later," I said.
"Suit yourself."
Mickey didn’t understand. She could eat whatever she wanted and never put on weight. I just had to look at a cookie and I gained five pounds.
There was a music system with invisible speakers in the bushes and some kind of dance music was playing. The girls had an inflatable beach ball that they were tossing around the pool and some of Will's friends had shown up and were standing around the bar area, trying to look all cool and uninterested. I wondered if he would even talk to me now that his friends were around. I knew what boys were like.
When I couldn't stand it any longer, I slipped away to the barn. Bluebird was standing there napping. I went in and hugged him, then sat down in the corner on a pile of fresh shavings. I didn't know why I was being so anti-social. Here I was at a party with a bunch of kids who were all way cooler than the ones I usually hung out with and I'd rather just spend time with my pony. Esther was right. This wasn't fun at all. It wasn't like a horse show where everyone was there to compete. This was a waste of time.
I stood up and hugged Bluebird's face, straightening his forelock.
"I'm sorry
boy. I shouldn't have brought you here."
He just sighed like he didn't really care.
The barn was full of other horses now. They nickered to one another and stomped at the flies. I wondered why people even bothered to bring their horses. They all seemed much more content to play in the pool, which was kind of stupid since the ocean was right there, only feet away.
I went to get Bluebird another flake of hay and there was Hashtag standing calmly in the last stall, his coat gleaming like polished mahogany. He wasn't bothered about being in a new place either. He looked at me with his soft eyes and I reached out to rub his face.
"What do you think you are doing?"
It was Jess and she'd caught me trying to touch her expensive jumper. Now I was going to be in for it.
"I was just saying hello." I pulled my hand back quickly.
"It's okay, I don't care," she said, suddenly changing her tune.
"What are you doing down here?" I said.
"Same thing you are."
"What, avoiding people? I thought you liked parties?"
"Yeah, I like parties that I throw."
By that I knew she meant that she liked parties where she was the center of attention.
“By the way, I saw your sister.”
“Stepsister,” I said.
“Okay, stepsister. So what’s she doing here?”
Jess was being casual and friendly but I wasn’t stupid. I knew it was only to get information out of me and it was no good, she wasn’t going to get any. I knew that as soon as she did, she’d use it against me somehow.
“Just hanging out,” I said, trying to sound casual. “She doesn’t have many friends.”
“If you say so,” Jess said, which meant she didn’t believe me at all.
“Your horse is pretty cool,” I said. “But I’m surprised your dad let you bring him.”
“Why?” she said. “He’s not the boss of me.”
But just as she didn’t believe me, I didn’t believe her either. I’d met her father and he was more interested in Jess winning than anything else. If Esther had been worried about me bringing Bluebird and fooling around then I knew her father would have been dead set against it. In fact, I wondered if he even knew at all. It seemed that what was supposed to be a fun beach ride and party had turned into a bunch of people keeping secrets from each other and everyone else.
Beach Ride (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 9) Page 8
