Star Pupil (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 4)

by Claire Svendsen

  “Pretty lucky,” I said, swiping the saddle off and putting a pad under it.

  In the ring, the saddle turned out to be everything that I had hoped for. My position was secure, my leg didn’t slip back and when Esther told us to take a jump I was tight as a tick on his back.

  “It’s amazing,” I cried as I pulled Bluebird to a stop and patted his neck.

  “Sometimes the right saddle really makes a difference,” Esther said. “If I had a tack room full of those saddles then maybe all my students would be as good as you are.”

  But I knew she was just joking. The saddle was great but just because you had one, didn’t mean you were suddenly an awesome rider. That came from hard work. I wished that Mickey had stuck around long enough to see me ride in it but I’d seen her mom come and pick her up and she left without saying goodbye. She didn’t have to be like that. I wanted to tell her all about Cat but I never got the chance. Instead I told Bluebird as I cooled him out after my lesson, his ears flicking back and forth as I described her pink hair.

  “Maybe she’ll be kind of cool to have around,” I told him.

  But when I got back home, I wasn’t so sure. I could hear the yelling from the driveway, voices so loud and vulgar that for a moment I was sure that they couldn’t possibly be coming from my house. But they were. I stood out in the dim light, wondering if I should just wait it out or go inside but it was starting to get cold and I was hungry. Besides, I wasn’t the one who was in trouble, Cat was. So I opened the door and stepped into what could only be described as a war zone.

  CHAPTER NINE

  The place looked like a bomb had gone off. There were broken dishes and pieces of glass all over the floor. They crunched beneath my feet like fresh fallen snow. I followed the trail to the kitchen where my mother stood in the corner looking horrified while Cat and Derek hurled insults and broken plates at one another. She saw me and for a moment I thought that this might be the tipping point, the very thing that would end our lives with Derek. Instead she just waved me away.

  In my room I ate from the secret stash of candy I had hidden under my bed. When they all stopped yelling, I’d go back downstairs and make a sandwich. But they kept at it for hours and eventually I fell asleep. At some point in the night I woke up with a gnawing feeling in my stomach and slipped back downstairs to get some real food. The kitchen had been cleaned up and everything was back in its rightful place, except for the broken things. They were piled in a black garbage bag by the trash can.

  I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and took it back to my room. As I went past Cat’s room, I thought I could hear her gently sobbing but I wasn’t brave enough or stupid enough to go in and see if she was okay. I had my own problems to deal with.

  The next morning, everyone just pretended that nothing had happened and I went to school where although Mickey was talking to me, I could tell there was a wedge between us. I didn’t tell her about the awful fight that had taken place at my house the night before. I was too embarrassed. With a bit of luck, Derek and Cat would eventually leave and then everything could go back to the way it was.

  And so the days before the clinic sped by. With each ride Bluebird got better and better and as the saddle started to break in and form to both my body and his, I knew that I was going to do really well at the clinic. But I was starting to feel guilty about leaving my mom.

  “You’re sure you are going to be okay?” I asked her the night before.

  “Of course I’ll be okay,” she said. “Don’t be silly.”

  Nothing had happened since the fight that night in the kitchen. Derek and Cat had developed the same method of communication that I’d had with him all along. Curt grunts and nods and the occasional shifty eye contact. But beneath the surface was tension so thick you could cut it with a knife and I knew that this wasn’t over. Eventually one of them would snap and I didn’t want to be caught up in the middle of it when things worse than plates were being thrown and I didn’t want my mother in the middle of it either.

  “Who is the adult here?” Mom asked, reaching out to flatten a strand of my hair.

  “Good question,” I said.

  I had to wonder how much it would take for her to see that this situation was dangerous and it wasn’t safe for any of us to be here but I had the clinic to concentrate on. So I packed my worries in the back of my mind, locked away where I didn’t have to think about them and the next morning I set off to the barn with my suitcase full of riding clothes and my heart filled with hope.

  “I’ve doubled checked your trunk,” Esther said as I ran a brush over Bluebird for the seventh time. “You have everything you need in there and I packed a few extras just in case something breaks.”

  “I’m only going to be gone for three days,” I said.

  “Three days can feel like a lifetime,” she replied.

  “Yeah, an awesome lifetime,” I grinned.

  It seemed like I’d been waiting for this moment forever and now it had finally arrived on a day where the sun was shining and the weather was unseasonably warm, even for Florida. It would have been perfect, except for the fact that Mickey hadn’t bothered to come and see me off. She was still mad at me and I didn’t know how to fix things between us.

  Bluebird nudged my arm gently. He shone like brightly polished copper, his eyes bright and alert. He knew that something was up.

  “Everything is okay boy,” I hugged his neck and whispered into his ear. “It’s not a show, it’s a clinic with a professional show jumper. He’s going to teach us all kinds of things and we’re going to show him how good we are and how much we deserve a spot on his team. Got it?”

  “They’re here! They’re here!” Faith came running down the drive waving her arms.

  Ethan’s sister had a rather strong attachment to my pony and Ethan told me that she had insisted on being there to see us off. He was out in the ring riding his big chestnut Wendell.

  “Are you sure you packed enough carrots for him?” Faith asked breathlessly.

  “I’m sure,” I said.

  “Good, because you know how much he likes them and he’d be sad if he worked really hard and didn’t get a reward.”

  “Oh, you mean like ice cream?” I said.

  I still hadn’t quite forgiven her for untying Bluebird and taking him for ice cream during one of the Blizzard Challenge shows. After all, even though she had sort of saved him from Jess, she had also almost given me a heart attack.

  The great lumbering trailer wove its way down the drive. Instead of having our trainers take us to the clinic, Miguel was sending his own man to pick us up. I thought it was fantastic but Esther hadn’t been so sure.

  “He just doesn’t want us snooping around,” Esther had said. “I’ve heard he’s really strict about who he lets in his barn.”

  “Well his horses are practically worth millions of dollars,” I said. “I wouldn’t let any old person in my barn either.”

  “I’m not any old person,” Esther crossed her arms angrily.

  “No, I didn’t mean it like that,” I said. “You know, like shady feed people who might want to scope out the place and then steal his horses in the middle of the night.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Esther said. “Things like that don’t happen anymore.”

  But I wasn’t so sure. Last summer Mickey and I had followed the case of a prized dressage horse who had been stolen from his stall in the middle of the night. He vanished without a trace and despite an extensive search, they never found him. The owner was devastated. The horse had been competing at the Grand Prix level.

  “It’s kind of dumb,” Mickey had said at the time. “I mean the person who stole him can’t ever show him without someone recognizing him so what is the point?”

  I wasn’t sure but I knew those things always had more to do with money than anything else.

  “Hello,” Esther called out as a big, thick man got out of the truck.

  “Hello,” he replied and stuck out his
hand. “I’m Dan, Miguel’s driver, and I’m here to pick up Emily and Bluebird.”

  He read our names off his clipboard and my stomach did a little flip flop. This was real. It was happening.

  “Great,” Esther said. “There is this trunk and suitcase.”

  She pointed to my things and Dan loaded them into the trailer. He came back with a leather halter covered in real sheepskin, one of those really expensive ones that all the top horses wear when they are trailered.

  “He has a leather halter,” I said, pointing to the new halter that Esther had bought when she got back from her trip.

  “It’s the rules,” Dan shrugged. “All the horses have to wear one. Can’t have their noses getting scratched up before a show now can we?” he said.

  So I let him slip the halter on Bluebird and couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride as he walked off with Dan and loaded into the trailer, looking like a champion.

  “This is the big leagues, isn’t it?” I whispered to Esther.

  “Yes,” she put her arm around me and squeezed tight. “Now don’t let me down.”

  “How long will it take to get to Miguel’s farm?” I asked.

  “Black Gate?” he said. “Shouldn’t take long. Just have another stop to make first.”

  “Becka Williamson?” I asked.

  “No,” he said, consulting his clipboard again. “In fact the farm is practically next door. A Jess Eastford and her horse Blue Midnight.”

  “Jess?” I said. “But she didn’t win a place in the clinic. Are you sure?”

  He put the clipboard down and shrugged. “I just do what I’m told.”

  I looked helplessly at Esther. This clinic was supposed to be the best thing that had ever happened to me. A place to show off how good I really was. How was I ever going to be able to do that with Jess trying to sabotage me every step of the way.

  “It’s not fair,” I whispered to Esther as she hugged me one last time before shoving me into the truck.

  “Life’s not fair,” she said. “Deal with it. And don’t you dare let me down.”

  “I won’t,” I said.

  But what had started out as the best thing that had ever happened to me was rapidly turning into something that had the potential to be the worst.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Jess was like the splinter in your finger that you can’t get out no matter how much you try. Sometimes you’re even lucky enough to forget about it for a little while but then you do something to knock it or catch it and the pain is back, an annoying prickling that just won’t let up.

  I sat in the back of the truck, wondering how she’d managed to wiggle her way into the clinic. It was supposed to be for those who qualified by winning competitions across the country but Jess had fallen off at the Snowball Cup and that had been the last qualifying show of the season. There was only one way she could have got a spot and that was to buy her way in. Or rather, for her father to buy her a spot. Typical.

  As the trailer turned down the smooth drive, I sank back in my seat. There was Jess, standing at the entrance to the barn with her arms crossed. She was wearing her best breeches, a black show jacket and white shirt. Beside her sat a pile of five tack trunks.

  “You’re late,” she snapped as Dan got out of the truck.

  “Had another pick up,” he said.

  She glared over his shoulder and I sunk as low as I could in my seat but I knew that she saw me. But she could hardly have been surprised. After all, she already knew that I’d won my spot in the clinic fair and square, not like some people.

  “Fine,” she snapped. “But I don’t want Blue Midnight next to that horrible pony. I can’t afford to have my champion ruined because the little brat kicked him.”

  “I know what I’m doing,” Dan said, sounding offended. “I’ve been trailering Miguel’s horses for five years and trust me when I tell you that they are a lot more valuable than whatever you’ve got tucked away in that barn.”

  “I highly doubt that,” Jess said.

  Poor Dan loaded all the stuff Jess had packed into the trailer and then went into the barn to get the horse. A few minutes later, Blue Midnight burst out of the barn in a flash of steel. He stood at the end of his lead rope, snorting at the sun. Once again Jess had ended up with too much horse. She’d never even be able to stick in the saddle, let alone coax him over a jumper course. But I had to admit, he was gorgeous.

  Muscles rippled beneath his blue black coat and his four white socks flashed past as Dan led him to the back of the trailer. Despite his exuberance he looked like a really nice horse, which was a shame. It was pretty much a guarantee that Jess would ruin any horse she got her hands on.

  She got in the front of the truck with a dramatic sigh.

  “Surprised to see me?” she said.

  “Not really,” I shrugged. “I know your father buys you anything you want but don’t forget, some of us got here by talent.”

  “You really think talent will get you all the way to the top?” she spun around in her seat. “Talent doesn’t buy horses that will win without breaking down and the best trainers and equipment. Talent doesn’t fly your horses around the world to compete in all the best competitions and pay for vet care and stabling fees and laser treatments.”

  And deep down I knew she was right.

  “Ready to go girls?” Dan said as he got in the truck.

  “How long is it going to take?” Jess said. “I’m hungry.”

  It was going to be a long ride to Black Gate Farm.

  The truck ride was about as awkward as you could get. Poor Dan tried to make conversation but it soon became clear to him that Jess and I had nothing to say to each other. At least not anything civil anyway. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when Dan announced that we were there.

  Black Gate Farm was the sort of place I imagined owning in my dreams. The gate swung open and we followed the drive with four board paddocks on either side filled with lush, green grass. There was a covered arena and a jump field and the barn looked like a house, flanked with tall trees and topped with turrets and spires.

  “Sort of puts your place to shame, huh Jess?” I said.

  “If it puts my place to shame then it makes yours look like the garbage dump,” she said, jumping out of the truck as soon as Dan pulled to a stop.

  “I take it you two are not exactly friends,” he said.

  “More like mortal enemies,” I sighed.

  Thank goodness Becka was already there. She came running out of the barn in breeches and a t-shirt and barreled into me, wrapping her arms around me tightly.

  “You’re here!” she cried.

  “I am,” I said, feeling a little smug that no one had come running out to meet Jess.

  “You should see the place,” she said. “It’s amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it in my whole life.”

  “I’m sure you haven’t,” Jess smirked as Dan let Blue Midnight into the barn and she followed behind, barely missing his hooves as he lashed out at her.

  “What’s her deal?” Becka said.

  “She hates me,” I shrugged.

  “Why?”

  “It’s a long story,” I said. “I’ll tell you about it later. I just hope I don’t end up sharing a room with her or something because that would really suck. Sharing a truck with her was bad enough.”

  “Don’t worry, you’re not,” Becka grinned. “You’re sharing with me. I already fixed it and everything.”

  “Great,” I grinned back. “So exactly how many of us are there?”

  “Ten,” she said. “No, wait, eleven counting your arch nemesis.”

  “I knew it,” I said. “She didn’t qualify. She wasn’t even supposed to be here. I’ll bet anything that her father bought her a spot in this clinic.”

  “Can’t she ride then?”

  “Remember the girl who was thrown off in the ring at the Snowball Cup?”

  Becka scrunched her face up like she was thinking then nodded.

&
nbsp; “Well, that was Jess. And Bluebird?” I said as Dan came back and unloaded him. “He used to belong to her before she tossed him out and I had to rescue him from the dog food men.”

  “Lucky pony,” Becka said.

  “Lucky me,” I replied. “I wouldn’t be here without him.”

  When I’d been to Jess’s barn, I’d been jealous but to say that I was jealous of Black Gate was an understatement. The barn was literally the most gorgeous place I had ever seen. It even put Fox Run to shame. It was the sort of barn that you saw in horse magazines and drooled over in the midnight hours, or at least I did anyway.

  The stalls were gleaming wood, the brass fittings polished to a shine and inside, standing on mountains of fresh shavings, were horses worth millions of dollars.

  “Our horses aren’t really going in here, are they?” I asked Becka. “Surely they should be stuffed out in the back, out of sight or something.”

  “Don’t be silly,” she said. “Look at Topaz!”

  Her pretty palomino was standing in one of the giant stalls, eating the biggest pile of fresh hay I had ever seen. In the stall across the aisle, Blue Midnight paced back and forth nervously.

  “In here,” Dan said.

  I put Bluebird in the stall next to Topaz, thankful that after the incident at the Snowball Cup where he had snuck into the tack stall when we weren’t looking, I hadn’t had any problem getting him to go into a stall at all. It was as if he had finally decided that I was not like Jess and that I would never do those horrible things to him like tie him up for hours on end. It was just as well. I didn’t think Miguel would have been too impressed if I told him that my pony had to go and live out in one of the paddocks. They were so pristine that it didn’t look as though horses were allowed to romp and play in them at all.

  “Can you believe this is really happening?” I asked Becka.

  “Of course,” she said. “We earned this. We deserve this. And we are darn well going to show Miguel that we are good enough for his team.”

  At the end of the aisle was the tack room, with spacious oak lockers and silver framed mirrors. A flight of wooden steps ran up the wall and Becka pulled me along, not giving me any time to gawk at all the expensive things lying out in the tack room.