The Canterwood Crest Stable of Books

by Jessica Burkhart

  Eric let me go. It didn’t even register until just then that our faces had been inches apart and he’d still been holding my arms. When I turned to follow his nervous glance, I wasn’t surprised to see Callie standing there. Great, I thought, hoping she’d at least seen the part where I’d fallen off the bucket.

  But Callie only glared at me before spinning on her boot heel and heading back down the aisle.

  Oookay. Guess not.

  “Callie!” I jogged after her. “Wait!”

  I grabbed her arm and she stopped, yanking it out of my grasp. “What?” she spat.

  “Please,” I said. “Can we just talk?”

  “You don’t need to talk to me.”

  “Why not? You’re my best friend!”

  Callie laughed. “I used to be. But why so worried? You’ve got Eric now.”

  “No, I don’t!” I lowered my voice so the entire stable couldn’t hear me. “Eric and I are friends, Callie. I swear. Why won’t you believe me?”

  Callie took a breath. “Oh, I don’t know, Sasha. It’s kind of hard to believe you when you were just close enough to kiss the guy.”

  She stared at me for another second before stomping into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her. The lock clicked.

  I rubbed my forehead with my hand. If only Callie would let me explain what had just happened with Eric. I leaned against the wall, waiting for Callie to come out. Minutes ticked by and she didn’t emerge. I sighed, turning away from the door, and slowly walked away.

  Riding didn’t sound like so much fun after any of this, but Charm needed the exercise. And, I reminded myself, it was better than sulking alone in my room. I grabbed his gear from the tack room and shuffled past Eric and Luna.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Fine,” I grumbled. “Sorry, Eric—you didn’t do anything wrong. I just need to be alone for a little while.”

  Eric looked as if he wanted to say something, but he just nodded and went back to Luna’s mane. Reluctantly, I walked away from him.

  3

  GUESS WHO’S COMING TO CANTERWOOD?

  “HI, BOY,” I SAID TO CHARM. HE PRICKED HIS ears at my voice and came up to the stall door. I set his tack on the counter and led him out to an empty pair of crossties. His glossy chestnut coat shined from his daily groomings. All he needed was a quick run over with a body brush to flick off the hay stalks that clung to his sides.

  “We have to hurry so we don’t see Callie again,” I whispered to him. Charm turned his head as far as the crossties would allow to look at me. I whisked the brush over his body with record speed and plopped the saddle pad onto his back.

  Charm snorted and stepped sideways.

  “Charm,” I snapped, surprised. “Stop it.”

  I gathered the English saddle in my arms and put it on his back. Charm’s ears went back as I tightened the girth and pulled down the stirrups. When I slipped the reins over his head and took off his halter, he turned his head away from me and looked down the aisle.

  I guided his head back toward me and held the bit on my palm. Charm raised his muzzle away from my hand and clenched his teeth shut.

  “Charm!” He’d never not taken the bit. I put my hand under his muzzle again, but he tossed his head and stamped his front left hoof. “Fine.” I stuck my index finger in the corner of his mouth and pressed down. Charm opened his mouth from the pressure and I slipped the bit inside. “Let’s go,” I grumbled to him. I put on my helmet as we walked down the aisle.

  We were just feet away from Callie’s horse, Black Jack. I glanced around, but didn’t see her. We had almost passed Jack’s stall, when Charm dug his heels into the aisle and stopped.

  “Charm, c’mon!” I tugged on the reins, something I would have done my first week as a rider. Charm strained his head toward Jack’s stall.

  “Charm!” I stepped back by his shoulder and tried to lead him forward again. His ears went back and he glanced in Jack’s direction again before finally deciding to follow me.

  When we reached the grassy yard, I turned to look at him. “I’m doing you a favor! I didn’t want to come to the stable today, but I thought you wanted to get out of your stall. What’s your problem?” I looked around to be sure no one saw crazy Sasha arguing with her horse. The arena and yards were empty.

  The weak sun struggled to peek out from behind thick gray clouds and shadows that covered some of the mostly empty campus. The sidewalks that snaked through the raked lawn were deserted. A black four-horse trailer rumbled down the driveway—someone had probably arrived for clinic check-in.

  I put Charm’s reins in my left hand and aimed my foot at the stirrup iron. At the last minute, Charm shifted sideways and my foot missed. I lifted my leg again and got my toe in the iron, but Charm started to walk forward.

  “Hey, whoa!” I said. I tugged on the reins and hopped along on one foot. Charm snorted and stopped. I bounced on my right foot and got into the saddle before he started moving again. “Bad manners, boy. You know better.”

  I dismounted and made Charm stand still while I mounted again. I tapped my heels against his sides and he broke into a trot, tossing his head against the reins and jerking them through my fingers. It took almost ten minutes to get him from the stable to the arena and my arms shook from trying to keep his head up. I wanted to get off and take him back to the stable, but I couldn’t end the lesson on such a bad note.

  Charm fought my hands and legs as I angled him along the arena fence and worked to keep him at a trot. He bounced forward, increasing his speed.

  “Trot,” I said. “Not canter. Trot.”

  Charm kept both ears forward, not listening to my voice. What if Mr. Conner saw this? He’d selected me for the advanced clinic and I was having problems before it even started!

  “Charm, please. You’re eight—not three.” I halted him and dismounted again. “Is something wrong with your tack?”

  I loosened his girth and ran my hands under the saddle pad, checking for a wrinkle or something that could irritate him. After his pad checked out, I looked at the corners of his mouth to be sure the bridle wasn’t too tight.

  “Nothing’s wrong with your tack, and you’re not acting sick,” I said, mounting. “Let’s get to work, okay? Maybe you just need exercise.”

  Charm moved quickly into a trot, then a choppy, uneven canter. Sitting to the bumpy gait wasn’t easy. We made it halfway around the arena and his stride started to even out.

  “Good boy. That’s more like—” But before I could finish my sentence, Charm dipped his head and launched his hindquarters into the air.

  He bucked hard and I wasn’t prepared enough to sit through it. My feet popped out of the stirrups. I grabbed for Charm’s mane but missed and flew over his shoulder. I soared through the air and—WHAM—landed on my back on the hard arena dirt.

  I gasped and sucked in cold air as I looked up at the gray sky. I flexed my arms and legs; nothing felt broken. But I wanted to disappear into the dirt. What had gotten into him?

  Two sets of hoofbeats pounded the arena dirt. I sat up and watched Heather catch Charm and lead him over to me. She dismounted from Aristocrat, her Thoroughbred gelding, and held both horses’ reins.

  Great, I thought. Flashes of my first day at Canterwood hit me. Charm had spooked, bolted, and caused Heather to fall. Now, I was on the ground and Heather was the LAST person I wanted to see after everything she’d done to mess up my relationship with Jacob.

  “You okay?” Heather asked.

  She crouched beside my shoulder and scanned me with her clear blue eyes.

  “Fine,” I grumbled. “Just got the wind knocked out of me.”

  Heather stood and reached a caramel-colored, cashmere-gloved hand out to me. “That was a tough buck,” she said. “What’s wrong with Charm?”

  I ignored her hand and stood on my own. “I don’t know. I’ll figure it out.”

  I took Charm’s reins from her and watched as she mounted Aristocrat. Her golden blond hai
r popped against the apple-red peacoat she wore, and I thought for the millionth time how unfair it was that someone so mean could also be so beautiful.

  Her dark chestnut horse looked away from Charm and struck the dirt with his foreleg. I turned away from Heather and Aristocrat and started to lead Charm toward the stable. I’d had enough humiliation for one day—I just wanted to go back to my room.

  “What are you doing?” Heather asked.

  I didn’t look back. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m taking him back to the stable.”

  Heather angled Aristocrat in front of the gate, blocking our way. “You’re not going back.”

  I couldn’t believe it! What was this girl’s problem? “Why do you care what I do? You should be happy. Jacob hates me, my best friend won’t talk to me—even my horse doesn’t seem to like me today.”

  “Sasha, get real. If you and Jacob were so cozy, you wouldn’t have believed that he kissed me in the first place. You would have just trusted him.” She shrugged. “Sad that you didn’t just do what you normally do so well—not listen to me.”

  I glared up at her. “But why did you even do it? You were with Ben five minutes later! Are you dating him for real or just messing with Julia, too?”

  Heather shook her head. She dropped the knotted reins on Aristocrat’s neck and crossed her arms. “Like I’d tell you that.”

  I pulled Charm a few feet forward and his ears inched back as we got closer to Aristocrat. “Forget it. I really don’t care.”

  Heather didn’t let Aristocrat move. “I’m not letting you through.”

  I groaned and fought the urge to scream. I didn’t want to be anywhere near her. “Move, Heather. Just let me go back to the stable.”

  “No. I don’t care about the stupid Soirée and I don’t want to hear you whine about Jacob. You are part of Canterwood’s advanced team and as much as I’d looove for you to fail, you can’t. You have to ride well or it reflects badly on all of us—Callie, Julia, Alison, and me. So, shut up and get on your horse.”

  I huffed. “You’re kidding me.”

  “I’m going to pony you on Charm if you don’t get on right now.”

  “Oh, God.” The last thing I needed was for Mr. Conner to see Heather leading me on Charm.

  I jammed my foot into the stirrup and lifted myself into Charm’s saddle, furious. He was quiet now—apologetic that he’d tossed me.

  I fake-grinned and looked at Heather. “Happy?”

  “Not till I see you ride.”

  I turned Charm back toward the arena’s center hating every moment of this. Heather kept an eye on me and moved Aristocrat away from the exit. Charm’s ears flicked back for cues and I let him move into a trot. He was on his best behavior now that Aristocrat, his number one rival, watched him. Heather let Aristocrat match Charm’s stride, but I refused to look at her as we lapped the arena.

  Her words about trust nagged at me. What if she was right? Maybe my relationship with Jacob had crumbled because I didn’t trust him. If Jacob and I had been as close as I’d thought we were, none of this would have happened. We would have talked about Heather and I wouldn’t have been so paranoid.

  After half an hour of riding with Heather, she finally let me go. We cooled our horses and headed to the skybox for our riding team meeting.

  The stable was busier now that people were arriving to check in for the clinic. I passed a window that overlooked the parking lot. Half a dozen trailers filled the lot. Students circled horses and Mike and Doug, my two favorite grooms, pointed in the direction of the stable. I looked away from the window and walked to the skybox.

  Inside the room, Callie, sitting between Julia and Alison, texted on her BlackBerry without even glancing in my direction.

  “Well, well, look who came in together,” Alison said, lookng back and forth between me and Heather. She brushed a lock of her sandy brown hair out of her eye. “You two losers deserve each other.”

  “What does that mean?” I said, looking at Heather. Did they all think I’d stolen Eric from Callie?

  “Good, you’re all here!” Mr. Conner boomed, walking into the room.

  Heather and I slid into our seats, far away from Julia, Alison, and Callie. Mr. Conner stood at the front of the room and paged through a white plastic binder.

  “Let’s get right to business,” he said. “The clinic is a wonderful opportunity for you to learn and grow as riders. Fifteen other top equestrian students will be coming from nearby schools to participate. And, at the end of the clinic, there will be a demonstration to show off your new skills.”

  “So, it’s a show?” Heather asked. I could practically see the blue ribbons flashing in her eyes.

  “No, there won’t be ribbons or rankings,” Mr. Conner said. “It’s more of a chance for you to prove to scouts from the Youth Equestrian National Team that you’re serious candidates for the eighth-grade team.”

  My heart pounded faster when he said scouts. Charm and I would have to practice our hardest to impress them. We had to make the YENT. The YENT, a Junior Olympic–like team, would put us on track to one day ride on the United States Equestrian Team.

  “Full details about the clinic will be explained to the entire group of riders on Monday morning. So, please enjoy your day off tomorrow—”

  Beep!

  A text alert cut Mr. Conner off and everyone turned to see whose phone went off. Callie, leaning down, scrambled to find her phone in her bag.

  “I’m so sorry, Mr. Conner,” Callie said. “I guess I forgot to turn it—” But the look on Mr. Conner’s face stopped her midsentence. His dark eyes zeroed in on her and made the rest of us so nervous that we surreptitiously checked to make sure our own phones were turned off too.

  “Ms. Harper, do we all need to stay and go through this stable’s cell phone policy?” Mr. Conner asked.

  “No,” Callie whispered.

  “This will not happen while scouts and visiting instructors are present. If a phone from a Canterwood rider goes off during a meeting or class, she’s out for the day. Understand?”

  We nodded and Callie ducked her head. Last week, I would have tried to shift Mr. Conner’s annoyance away from Callie. But now, she was on her own. If she was going to spread lies and join forces with Julia and Alison—if they were going to be the new evil Trio—that was her choice, not mine.

  “You may all go now.” Mr. Conner dismissed us with a wave of his hand. Callie hurried out the door and Heather and I let Julia and Alison go after her before we left the room.

  The main aisle was crowded with riders and strange horses. I already missed the quiet of the stable before sure-to-be-awesome riders had invaded it.

  Two stalls down, a steel gray horse’s head poked over the stall door. Where had I seen him? He looked so familiar….

  Oh.

  My.

  God.

  It was Phoenix.

  “If it isn’t Sasha Silver from Union!” Jasmine King peeked out of Phoenix’s stall door and grinned at me.

  I groaned. Jasmine, a rider for Wellington Prep, had been Canterwood’s nastiest rival at the Junior Equestrian Regionals, a big show a couple of weeks ago in Fairfield. She’d gone out of her way to remind me that I didn’t belong on her show circuit.

  Jasmine closed the door behind her and stepped in front of me. Her dark chocolate brown hair had been curled into soft waves and her peach-colored lips glowed shiny and bright against her fair skin.

  “You’re here for the clinic,” I grumbled.

  “Aw, Sasha! Don’t say it like that! We’re going to have a fabulous two weeks together.” Jas’s eyes brightened as she spoke, but I knew better. She was going to try to make me and my teammates miserable!

  “Whatever. I’ve got to go,” I said. I walked past her, trying not to choke on the cloud of vanilla body spray that surrounded her.

  “Wait a sec.”

  I stopped and turned back. “What?”

  Jasmine’s tall boots clicked down th
e aisle as she walked over to me. She stuck out her arm and brushed at some dirt on my right shoulder.

  “The clinic hasn’t even started yet and you’ve already taken a spill?” Jasmine asked. She folded her arms. “You should just go home to Mommy and Daddy now. You can’t compete with us.”

  I laughed and Jasmine took a half step back. “That’s so funny!” I said. “‘Cause if I remember regionals, and I think I do, I beat you.” I smiled and gave a little wave. “See ya.”

  Without a backward glance, I took my time walking out of the stable. I felt Jasmine’s eyes on my back. I’d beaten her today, but I knew it wasn’t over. I’d only just raised the stakes.

  Later that night, I was back at Winchester trying to figure out how to ask Paige to FedEx me homemade food from NYC.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t leave,” Paige said. “Callie is ignoring you, Heather’s being weirdly friendly, and Jasmine’s going to be in your face for two whole weeks!”

  I twirled on the swivel stool in Winchester’s common room kitchen. Paige was making kettle corn on the stovetop and the salty-sweet smell made my mouth water. “You have to go—it’s Teen Cuisine!”

  Paige smiled. “But you know I’d stay if you needed me.”

  “I’ll be fine.” I had to get a grip. Paige should have been happy about her dream gig at TC, but instead she was worried about me. “You’re a good friend, but you’re crazy. I’m going to be okay.”

  “Just promise me you’ll focus on riding,” Paige said. “Forget about Jasmine and Heather. Work on getting your friendship back with Callie, but don’t push her. She’ll talk to you when she’s ready.”

  “If she’s ever ready. I don’t know why she won’t believe me about Eric.”

  “She will…eventually,” Paige said. “You’re her best friend. She’ll realize that.” Paige tossed a piece of kettle corn at me and I smiled.

  “I’ll starve while you’re gone,” I teased, clutching my stomach.

  Paige rolled her eyes and sighed. “Sadly, I believe you.”

  4

  TRAIL RIDE = TROUBLE