‘Tomorrow.’
Tony plastered his croissant with raspberry jam, then sat at the bar. ‘And you were like, going to learn how to ride in one afternoon? Get real.’
I stuck my tongue out at him. ‘Thought you’d dislocated your jaw from snogging too much. How are you even going to chew?’
‘Same way you’re going to horse-ride,’ he said, grimacing as he took a bite. ‘With difficulty. Anyway, it’s not dislocated. Just a bit sore.’
‘Serves you right. I can go, can’t I, Mum?’ I said. ‘Horse-riding?’
‘Actually,’ said Mum, ‘I’ve been wanting to talk to both of you about something. I was going to wait until your dad was back, but this is as good a time as any.’
Oh NO, I thought. Mum and Dad are splitting up. Please no. I remember Izzie telling Lucy and I about when her parents separated. It started exactly the same way. She noticed her mum was unhappy. Her dad hadn’t been around for days. Then the conversation, ‘I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something.’
‘No. NO!’ I cried. ‘Have you tried Relate? Marriage counselling? You mustn’t just give up. You have to work at relationships.’
Mum and Tony stared at me as though I was mad.
‘What are you on about, Nesta?’ said Mum.
‘Divorce. Please, please, for me and Tony, give it another try.’
Mum creased up laughing. ‘I’m not going to get divorced, Nesta. I’m very happy with your father.’
‘So what is it, then?’
Mum’s expression grew serious again. ‘Work. My contract is up for renewal at the beginning of next month and there’s been talk of bringing in new blood at the station.’
Tony thumped the breakfast bar angrily. ‘New as in younger?’
Mum nodded.
‘Pathetic,’ said Tony. ‘How can they? You’re the face of the evening news. They can’t replace you.’
Mum put her hand over Tony’s. ‘Oh yes they can, honey. It happens all the time. Producers want better ratings – they’re always looking for ways to bring in more viewers.’
‘Well, I don’t think it helps to get rid of some of their best people. You read the news really well,’ said Tony.
Mum smiled at him. ‘Thanks, kid. You wanna be my agent?’
‘It wouldn’t be the same if you didn’t do the news,’ I said. ‘It’s like, the next best thing to you being at home when I get back from school. I always switch on the telly when I’m having my tea and there you are in the corner to say hello to.’
‘When will you know?’ asked Tony.
‘In the next few weeks. But this is what I wanted to talk to you about. It means tightening the purse strings. We’re going to have to economise.’
‘We’ll be all right,’ I said. ‘Dad earns loads of money. And he’s still working.’
‘That’s why I was going to wait until he was here,’ said Mum. ‘You’re right, he does earn good money when he’s working. But, don’t forget, he’s a freelance director. That means if he’s working, he gets paid. If he’s not, he doesn’t. And we did rather overextend ourselves buying this flat.’
‘But why is it different now?’ I asked.
‘Because my job is insecure, that’s what I’m trying to tell you. He finishes his film in Manchester in the next few weeks and, so far, he hasn’t got anything else lined up. See, it didn’t matter in the past as my regular income helped us ride those times. But now . . .’
‘OhmyGod,’ I groaned. ‘We’re poor. Oh, God.’
My mind was swimming with images. Poor? No pocket money. No trips out to the movies. No more McDonald’s. I’d be the one out in the rain with my nose pressed up against the window watching rich people in nice clothes eat nourishing meals in the warm. And I’d be outside in rags, cold . . . hungry . . .
Mum laughed again. ‘We’re not poor yet, Nesta. We still have a roof over our heads. And food to eat. All I’m saying is that until things are more certain, there won’t be any money for extras.’
‘So no horse-riding lessons?’
‘Exactly. No horse-riding lessons,’ said Mum.
‘But I can go and meet Simon?’
‘As long as you’re home for supper. Yes, you can go and meet this Simon.’
‘But won’t you need money to go and meet Simon?’ said Tony, trying to stir it as usual.
‘No I won’t, smartypants,’ I replied. ‘He’s known the lady that owns the stables all his life. He told me all about her on the train. He teaches some of the young kids that go there at the weekend. In exchange, she lets him and his friends ride whenever they like. For free. So there.’
‘So why did you want horse-riding lessons if he could teach you?’ asked Tony, doing one of his all-knowing smug faces. ‘Oh I see, you wanted to show off, like, yeah, I’m Nesta Williams and I’ve been riding all my life . . .’
‘I did not.’
‘Did.’
‘Didn’t.’
‘Did.’
‘When will you two grow up?’ asked Mum, putting her hands over her ears.
Chapter 3
I’d arranged to meet Simon at High Street Kensington tube as he said it was near the stables. I was really looking forward to it – a whole afternoon on my own with him. It would be a chance to get to know him better. And it wouldn’t cost anything.
I got to Kensington station, ran up the stairs, past Prêt à Manger and the Sock Shop in the tube entrance, then out to the High Street – and there my heart sank. Simon was waiting with two tall, slim, blonde girls. They were about the same age as me, maybe a year older, and both were slouching against the rails outside the station doing that pouty ‘I’m so bored’ Vogue model look. They looked like experienced riders with their hair tied back, jodhpurs and riding boots. Both of them looked at me as if I was an alien.
I was wearing my Levis, Nike trainers and my psycho babe top. It’s really cool. On the front it has a picture of a trendy girl with psychedelic eyes that swirl about. On the back, is written ‘All stressed out and no one to choke’.
‘This is my sister, Tanya,’ said Simon. ‘And this is her friend, Cressida.’
Tanya smiled, but Cressida did a sort of posh grimace and looked disdainfully at my T-shirt.
‘So you’re Nesta?’ she drawled.
‘The one and only,’ I grinned. ‘Hi.’
Tanya looked nice, with an open friendly face like Simon’s. Cressida, on the other hand, looked as though she had a bad smell under her nose. Shame, because she would have been quite pretty otherwise.
As we set off in the direction of the park, I felt in a really good mood. It was a lovely spring day, and the daffs and tulips were out in the park. And I was with Simon.
Cressida and Tanya trailed along beside us talking into their mobile phones and I could see Cressida watching my every move. When Simon reached out and took my hand, she looked positively horrified.
‘You did say you’d ridden before, didn’t you?’ asked Simon.
‘Yeah, I did, but to be honest, no, I haven’t. I thought I could wing it. It can’t be that hard, surely? You just get on the horse. Check your rear mirror and pull out into oncoming traffic.’
Simon cracked up. ‘No prob. I’ll show you. And actually, you’re not that far from the truth. We do have to take the horses a short distance on the road from the stables to the park.’
‘On the road!’ I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that. ‘But what about traffic?’
‘Don’t worry, the horses are used to the cars and most motorists know to go slow round here. And we’ll find you a nice horse. One who won’t give you a hard time.’
‘Oh, OK. Cool,’ I said, but I was beginning to feel a bit nervous.
‘You mean you’ve never been on a horse ever?’ sneered Cressida, catching us up.
I was about to say, ‘You. Off my planet,’ but I bit my tongue and shook my head in response to her question. I’ve met her type before and have little time for them, but she was a friend of Simon’s and
I didn’t want to embarrass him.
The stables were tucked away from the main road down a cobbled mews. On the corner was a small stable block with horses looking out over the individual doors.
‘Amazing to find this here,’ I said. ‘I never even knew you could ride in London. I thought you had to go to Devon or Cornwall.’
‘I know. Good, isn’t it?’ said Tanya. ‘We’ve been coming here since we were little but loads of people don’t know it’s here.’
‘There’s been riding in Hyde Park for three hundred years so it’s not new,’ said Simon.
‘Wow. Three hundred years,’ I said. ‘Impressive.’
Cressida did her snooty look for the nth time that day. ‘I prefer to ride in Richmond,’ she said. ‘My cousin has stables there and that’s where all the real riders go. One’s so aware that one’s in town here whereas in Richmond it’s more countrified.’
I felt like saying, Why don’t you bog off there, then? (Or rather, in her language, why doesn’t one bog orf there, then? Like yah spiffy bonce.) But again I bit my tongue.
A lady came out of what looked like an office and waved hello.
‘The lady with the blonde hair, that’s the one I told you about, Mrs Creighton,’ said Simon, waving back. ‘She’ll sort you out a good horse. I’ll just go and have a word. Come on, Tanya, you can help me saddle up.’
They strode off, leaving me with Sour Puss.
‘Aren’t you going to change?’ she asked.
‘No. People tend to like me the way I am,’ I grinned.
‘But you’re not riding like that, are you?’
‘Sure,’I said.’Why not?’
‘Well, it’s not standard,’ said Cressida.
I glared at her. ‘And your point is?’
We stood there for a while in uncomfortable silence. I wished Lucy and Izzie were there, then we’d all have been beginners together and had a laugh.
Tanya came forward and gave me a hard riding hat. ‘Put this on, Nesta. You’ll have to wear a hat in case you fall. It’ll protect your head.’
I put on the hat and turned to see Simon leading a chestnut brown horse with a white star on his forehead towards us.
‘Here we go,’ he grinned. ‘Mrs Creighton says this is the boy for you.’
Cressida snorted with laughter. ‘Heddie! You’re putting Nesta on Heddie! But he’s ancient!’
‘It’s her first time,’ said Simon, patting Heddie on the neck. ‘We don’t want to put her on a horse that will take off with her.’
Cressida looked as if that’s exactly what she wanted.
‘Come on, Nesta, let’s get you up. Then we’ll take it real slow,’ said Simon.
As I took a step towards the horse, my ‘oh, I can wing it’ philosophy changed to ‘if you can’t beat ’em, make a run for it’. I felt really nervous. Heddie looked enormous. I mean, I’m tall for my age but my head only came up above Heddie’s legs. How was I ever going to get up on him? I made myself breathe deeply like we do in drama to calm our nerves and took another step towards him.
He blew dust and shuffled back.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Cressida enjoying every minute of my discomfort. I’ll show you, I thought. I may not have ridden a horse before, but I have read Izzie’s copy of Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway – well, the first three pages. I decided that’s exactly what I’d do. I stood tall, felt the fear and strode towards the horse with every ounce of confidence I could muster.
‘OK,’ said Simon, smiling at me reassuringly. ‘Take it real slow. Put your foot in the stirrup. Good. Lift yourself up over Heddie, then, when you’re ready, lift your other leg over.’
I did as he told me, but didn’t feel I could haul myself over. I got my left foot in the stirrup, but couldn’t get a grip to pull the rest of me up so I was sort of hopping around on one leg like a total prat. Luckily Simon came to the rescue and gave me a push up. And guess what? Suddenly I was on the horse. High off the ground. Scary. But, once I got my balance, brilliant.
Tanya came out of the stables with two horses, a grey one and a black one, and Cressida disappeared, presumably to get hers.
Simon took the reins of the grey horse. ‘Stay where you are, Nesta. I’ll get on Prince then we’ll go.’
No problem, I thought as Simon mounted his horse gracefully. I ain’t going nowhere.
Whooaghhhh.
Apparently I was.
Heddie had taken it into his head to have a drink of water and wandered over to a trough outside the stable in the mews.
Whoooooah.
He bent his head down to drink and I started to slide forward. I thought I was going to go over his shoulders and held on for dear life. Of course Cressida came out at that moment, looking fab on a stunning white horse. She looked at me with disapproval then nodded to Tanya and the two of them trotted off and disappeared down the mews to the road leading into the park.
‘Wait for us,’ called Simon, trotting over to me. ‘You’re doing really well, Nesta. Just pull on the rein gently and he’ll come up.’
I did what he said but Heddie took no notice. I pulled again. Still no reaction. Simon took the reins from me and up Heddie came.
‘Sometimes they can tell if someone’s a bit nervous,’ he said.
‘Me? Nervous? Nah,’ I said. ‘Born to ride.’
Inside I was shaking.
Mrs Creighton came over a moment later and looked at me kindly. ‘I’ll lead you until you get into the park,’ she asked. ‘It can be a bit nerve-racking going alongside traffic your first time.’
Thank God. I hadn’t been sure how long I could have kept up the bravado act.
It felt weird being high above the cars as we walked towards the park but I felt safe with Mrs Creighton leading Heddie and Simon just in front. Once we got through the park gates, she let go.
‘We never let a beginner out without an instructor,’ she said. ‘And Simon’s taught a lot of my pupils so you’re in safe hands.’
‘Don’t even think of getting up any speed today,’ he said after she’d gone. ‘Just try to get comfortable with the feel of the horse.’
‘No prob,’ I said. ‘I think Heddie’s OK with me now.’
‘If you’re sure you’re OK for a second,’ said Simon, ‘I’m just going to ride ahead, only for a minute or two, to check on Tanya. I promised Mum I’d keep an eye on her and she does tend to get carried away, especially when she’s with Cressida. Cress does a lot of competition riding and likes to show off a bit.’
‘Fine,’ I said. ‘You go ahead.’
‘Don’t go anywhere,’ he insisted.
As he cantered off and disappeared round a corner, I imagined myself playing the part of a country heroine in a period drama. I could be Tess of the d’Urbevilles. Or Jane Eyre. Or maybe in a modern drama. I could be in The Horse Whisperer with Robert Redford. I could be the daughter who learns to ride again after her horrible accident.
Suddenly Heddie swung to the left, bent over and started chewing grass by the side of the track. Once again, I almost slid off his shoulders, this time into a rhododendron bush. I gripped my knees and pulled hard on the reins. ‘Come on, Heddie. This isn’t in the script. Come on, there’s a good boy. Up you come.’
Heddie took no notice. I pulled again. He pulled against me.
I knew from watching The Horse Whisperer that it’s best not to get aggressive. Horses respond to kindness. Clearly I’d have to do some horse-whispering.
I bent forward and stroked Heddie’s neck. ‘Come on, boy. Lovely boy. Handsome boy,’ I whispered. ‘Up you come.’
No response. Maybe he didn’t speak English.
‘Hoopla,’ I whispered. ‘Aley oop. Venez upwardos. Muchos gratios stoppee eatee grassee.’
I heard someone laughing behind me. It was Simon.
‘What on earth are you doing?’
‘Durrh. Horse-whispering. What else?’
He burst out laughing. ‘Honestly, Nesta, you crease me up. Is
he giving you a hard time?’
‘Sort of. He thinks it’s lunch-time.’
Once again, Simon pulled the reins and up Heddie came.
‘Hold on to the reins and we’ll try a bit of trotting,’ said Simon. ‘Sit straight. Give a gentle dig with your heels and then try to rise and fall in time with the horse as he goes along.’
Off we went. After a few bumps, I found the rhythm. Up and down I went. I was doing OK.
As we turned a corner, I saw a tree about ten metres ahead and slightly to the left of us with its branches sticking out into the path. Simon rode to the right to avoid it and I tried to steer Heddie to do the same. But no, he wasn’t having any of it. He was heading straight for the branch, or rather, he was heading straight under the branch. I tried to duck but it was too low. It was going to hit me straight in the tummy.
Next thing I knew, I was in midair, hanging on to the branch as Heddie trotted off without me.
‘Simon!’ I cried.
Simon turned and gasped.
As I hung there, I suddenly got a fit of giggles. ‘I think I’ve really got the hang of it now,’ I said.
Simon got off his horse and came towards me. ‘Here, let me help you down.’ Then he got the giggles as well. ‘Oh, I wish I had a camera,’ he said. ‘I could put a photo of you dangling there in my album with the caption: Nesta goes horse-riding.’
‘Or Nesta branches out from horse-riding,’ I laughed as he helped me to the ground and took a leaf out of my hair.
‘Or Nesta takes a leaf out of her book when it comes to horse-riding,’ I said.
We were bent over laughing as Cressida trotted up to join us.
‘We were wondering where you’d got to,’ she said, looking very disgruntled that we were having a good time. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Oh, just hanging out,’ I said and that started us laughing again.
Simon quickly told Cressida what had happened and she laughed as well. But at me, not with me.
I felt hurt. I mean, she’d obviously been riding for years. I reckoned she could have been a bit kinder seeing as I was a beginner.
Then the penny dropped. Oh I get it, I thought. There’s some history between them. Either she fancies Simon or they’ve been out together in the past. I wonder what happened?
Mates, Dates and Portobello Princesses Page 2
