The Canterwood Crest Stable of Books

by Jessica Burkhart

  I left his office and closed the door behind me. Violet, Brianna, and Georgia were huddled together. Their smirks had long since vanished—I had a feeling they regretted this night as much as I did.

  Callie left her spot by Julia and Alison. She stood inches away from me and looked like she was about to say something when she started to cry instead. Without thinking, I grabbed her into a tight hug. She hugged me back.

  “I’m so embarrassed,” Callie whispered. “I can’t believe I was actually going to risk Jack for something so dumb! What kind of person am I?”

  “You’re not a bad person,” I said, pulling back so I could see Callie’s face. “We all got caught up in it.”

  “But you said no. Even Heather said no.” Callie sniffed. “I love Jack so much. I just feel so guilty.”

  I took Callie’s hand and squeezed it. “I know you love him. You’d never intentionally hurt him.”

  “Did Mr. Conner ask you who agreed to ride?” Callie asked.

  I nodded.

  “You told him.”

  “Yes,” I said softly.

  Callie let out a shaky sigh. “I’m not mad at you for telling him. I was going to confess anyway.”

  “But I’m still sorry I told him,” I said. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Heather walk over to Julia and Alison. She whispered something to them. Callie’s tears finally slowed. “I missed you so much,” she said. “I can’t believe you’re being so nice to me right now.”

  “I just wish the whole Jacob and Eric thing had never happened,” I told her. “I should have tried harder to convince you that I was never with Eric. I kept saying no, but I don’t blame you for not believing me. Eric and I have become really close friends, so we hung out together a lot.”

  A look flickered in Callie’s eyes. “You really never were with Eric, were you?”

  “Never,” I said. “Not a second. I knew how much you liked him—I’d never hurt you that way.”

  “Oh, Sasha, I—” Callie started, but she stopped short. The Belles had walked over to us.

  Violet clenched her hands together and looked at Brianna and Georgia before turning to us.

  “Look…we’re sorry,” Violet said.

  Julia and Alison, standing on either side of Heather, stepped closer to hear.

  “I meant what I said to Mr. Conner,” she said. “All three of us love horses and we value our spots on the team. We never should have put you or your horses at risk.”

  “Sorry,” Brianna and Georgia echoed.

  “What about the other stuff you said,” Heather challenged. “About sending my dad the picture and…” She glanced my way. Heather knew that Violet had tried to blackmail me, too. But she hadn’t heard what Violet had against me.

  But before Violet could respond, Mr. Conner’s door opened. “Girls, please come in,” he said.

  My stomach lurched as I walked inside. I had no idea what he’d say. He might even send us home from the clinic.

  “I needed a few minutes to think about the consequences of your actions,” he said. “What you did was dangerous and reckless. Behavior of that kind is not tolerated by me or Canterwood Crest Academy. You put yourselves and your horses at risk. I hope you’re all aware of how disappointing it is as an instructor to have eight of your most promising riders engaged in such actions.”

  We all lowered our heads.

  “Therefore, none of you will ride in the demonstration on Saturday. You are all banned from riding for two weeks and this incident will be reported to Headmistress Drake. I’ll be calling each of your parents in the morning. I’ve already called your dorm monitors—they’ll be waiting for you at your dorms. Now, please go back to your rooms.”

  No demonstration. No chance to show off for scouts. No more lessons. Nothing.

  Without a word, we left his office. We were all silent as we headed to our dorms. The Belles disappeared and I lagged behind everyone else.

  A couple of hours ago, the campus had felt spooky in the dark. Now, it just looked cold and deserted.

  Callie, Heather, Julia, and Alison reached the fork in the sidewalk where they were supposed to split off for Orchard Hall.

  “You know what this means,” Heather said. She stopped and looked at all of us. “Jasmine gets to ride in the demo and we don’t.”

  “I completely forgot about that,” I said. “She’s going to be so happy.”

  “We can’t just give up,” Callie said.

  Alison snorted. “Mr. Conner won’t change his mind.”

  “But Callie is right,” Julia said. “There must be something we can do to convince Mr. Conner to let us ride in the demo. It’s too important not to try.”

  “Let’s meet tomorrow morning at nine in Orchard’s common room,” Heather said. “Everybody come with an idea. We can’t give up.”

  We said good-bye to each other and I walked back to Winchester.

  Today had been awful—but oddly, some good had come of it. Callie and I were talking again and Heather was fighting to reassemble the Trio. Soon, we’d all have to work together to get back in the demo. I just hoped my parents would see the good, too….

  26

  CHEERS TO THE PLAN

  DAYS TILL THE DEMO, 3

  HOURS SINCE THE BIG DISASTER: 7

  RIIIING! I REACHED FOR THE DORM PHONE on my bedside table.

  “Hello?” I mumbled.

  “Sasha, your father and I just got a call from Mr. Conner,” Mom said.

  I sat up and rubbed my eyes. My alarm clock said 7:57 a.m.

  “Mom, I’m so sorry,” I said. “I made a huge mistake. I know I never should have sneaked out.”

  “You were on horseback at midnight, Sasha. Do you realize how dangerous that was?”

  “I know! The whole thing was so dumb and I wish I’d never even gone.”

  “Sasha, you knew better,” Mom said. “Why did you listen to those girls?”

  I sighed. “I don’t know…I guess sometimes, it just feels like I’ll never catch up to Callie or Heather. They’re so good and no matter what, I don’t have their training. I just wanted to fit in with the other girls.”

  “Sweetie,” Mom said. “You’re all on the advanced team. You’re just as good as they are and you work hard. Don’t let anyone make you feel insecure.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  “Don’t think you’re off the hook, young lady. It’ll take time for your dad, Mr. Conner, and me to trust you again,” Mom said. “You need to work hard to prove to Mr. Conner that he did the right thing by putting you on the advanced team. I am extremely disappointed. If you were home, I would ground you.”

  My stomach lurched. “I know. I’m sorry.”

  After we hung up, I headed for the shower. I needed to grab breakfast and start thinking about ways to prove myself to Mr. Conner.

  At nine, Callie, Heather, Julia, Alison, and I gathered around the round table in Orchard’s empty common room. A fire crackled in the fireplace and the room’s cranberry colored walls felt warm and inviting.

  Julia and Alison took seats on either side of Heather. I wondered if they’d made up?

  Heather caught me staring.

  “Sasha,” she said. “Quit giving me the Bambi eyes. We made up. Deal with it.”

  Heather gave me the tiniest wink. For a second, I thought I’d imagined it. But then I realized—she’d confessed to Julia about why she’d stolen Ben. She’d actually taken my advice…and it had worked!

  “Okay, let’s focus,” Alison said. “Mr. Conner has to lift the riding ban for Saturday.” She straightened the neckline of her gold-flecked, off-the-shoulder white sweater. “If we can convince him to do that, we can promise him that we’ll go right back to not riding for two weeks.”

  “But if we want him to agree to that, we have to prove ourselves all over again,” I said. “How can we show him that we’re sorry?”

  Callie sipped her hot cocoa and put the cup back on the table. I sat back and tried to think of something.
>
  “Chores!” Callie said, suddenly. “We should ask Mike and Doug to give us work in the stable. If we muck, fill water buckets, feed the horses…”

  “Mr. Conner will see how hard we’re working,” Julia finished. “It’s perfect! He loves hard work.”

  Heather nodded and wrote chores on a piece of paper.

  “Are we changing and then going to the stable?” Alison asked. “I’m not going near a horse in my new Sevens.”

  “Good idea,” Heather said. “Let’s meet at the stable in twenty minutes and get started. We don’t have much time.”

  “We should be careful not to tell Jasmine what we’re doing,” I said. “If she finds out, she’ll try to sabotage us.”

  “Let her think the chores are part of our punishment,” Julia said.

  “Here’s to the plan,” Callie said, raising her cocoa. The rest of us picked up our paper cups. “Let’s hope the blisters, sore backs, and pounds of sawdust in our boots pay off.”

  We touched our cups together and I crossed my fingers for our plan to work.

  “You’re asking me to give you chores?” Mike asked, looking at the Trio, Callie, and me suspiciously.

  “We need to prove to Mr. Conner that we’re sorry,” Alison explained. “We thought we’d start with chores.”

  “Not a bad idea,” Mike said. “There’s a lot to be done around here.”

  “Tell us,” Julia said.

  Mike grinned. He was enjoying this way too much! “Okay, Sasha and Callie, you can start mucking at the first stall on the left aisle. Julia and Alison, the water buckets from stalls seven through eighteen need to be sanitized. Heather, we need grain mixed.”

  “Thanks, Mike,” I said. “We’re ready to work.”

  “I’ve never seen anyone so excited about chores before,” he said, shaking his head as he walked away.

  “Let’s do this,” Heather said.

  We split up and headed off to our assigned stations. Callie and I grabbed a muck cart and pitchforks and got to work.

  “We’re gonna be here a while,” I said.

  “Forever,” she added.

  We shoveled and scooped for more than two hours. We fell into a rhythm and concentrated so hard, there was little conversation. I couldn’t help noticing that Callie still hadn’t said a word about her boyfriend, but I didn’t bring it up. If we were really going to be friends again, she’d tell me eventually…I hoped.

  “The stalls look great, girls,” Mike said. He poked his head over the door. “Take a break and get a drink.”

  Callie and I propped the pitchforks up against the stall wall and walked out of the stall. Callie eyed a tack trunk outside of the stall and plopped onto it.

  “Can’t…make it,” she moaned.

  “I’ll get your soda,” I said.

  “I knew you were my BFF for a reason.”

  I grinned, feeling better than I had in weeks. Even the Jacob e-mail wasn’t bothering me right now. “Be right back.”

  Inside the tack room, I grabbed two sodas out of the mini-fridge. The tack room door opened and Eric stepped inside.

  “Hey,” he said. “Going for a ride?”

  I shook my head. Eric still didn’t know about the Belles. I’d been too scared to tell him. Disappointed parents and Mr. Conner were bad enough—I didn’t know if I could handle it from Eric, too. “I can’t ride for two weeks.”

  He looked at me like I was kidding. “Why?”

  I put down the sodas and looked at him. “Mr. Conner caught me at midnight on horseback. These older girls bullied my friends and me into getting on our horses. I wasn’t going to ride, but it was bad enough that I got on Charm.”

  “Wow,” Eric said, his eyes wide. “And you didn’t tell me about any of it? Why?”

  “I don’t know. I should have. After it happened, I was afraid to tell you because I didn’t want you to think I was reckless with Charm.”

  Eric stepped closer to me. “Sasha, I know you love Charm. You’d never hurt him. But what about you? You could have been hurt.”

  I blew out a breath. “Yeah, well, not being able to ride in the demo definitely hurts.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Eric said. “Is there any way you could convince Mr. Conner to change his mind?”

  “We’re doing stable chores right now to prove to him that we’re willing to work hard. I’ve got to get this soda to Callie—we’ve been mucking for a while.”

  Eric nodded. “Mr. Conner will like the chores idea.”

  “We hope so.”

  Eric followed me out of the tack room and down the aisle. For a second, I worried that Callie would freak when she saw us together. But, I reminded myself, we were past that.

  “Hey,” he said to Callie.

  She smiled at him while opening her soda.

  “I’m done for the day,” Eric said. “Can I help you guys?”

  “You don’t have to,” I said. “It’s our fault, not yours.”

  He shook his head. “It’s that or cleaning my dorm. Mucking might be easier.”

  We laughed.

  “You sure?” Callie asked. “We have a looong way to go.”

  “I’m in,” Eric said.

  Callie and I finished our sodas and the three of us headed to stall number eight. With three pitchforks, the work went fast. We talked and joked as we worked and there wasn’t a hint of awkwardness among the three of us.

  “I’m getting too good at this,” Eric said when we moved into our third stall.

  “Mike better watch out or you’ll steal his job,” Callie teased.

  The three of us smiled and kept mucking. Hours later, we finally finished.

  “I can’t believe you stayed so long,” I said to Eric. “Thank you.”

  “Yeah, thanks,” Callie added. “We wouldn’t have finished half as fast without you.”

  “No problem,” Eric said. “Good luck with Mr. Conner. See you later.”

  As Eric walked away, I found myself trying hard not to stare after him. He was an amazing friend. I could always count on him. And, I thought, Callie was crazy to turn him down.

  27

  MESSY—THE NEW HOT

  CALLIE AND I STRUGGLED TO KEEP FROM grinning when we met up with the Trio at the end of the aisle. Heather, Julia, and Alison looked exhausted. Bits of sticky grain clung to the front of Heather’s coat. Julia and Alison’s pants had wet patches from lugging water buckets.

  “Oh, don’t give us that look!” Heather snipped. “You guys certainly don’t look any better.”

  “True,” I said. “We’re all allowed to look messy and gross—we have been here for hours.”

  “I’ve got to go shower and get something to eat or I’ll die,” Alison said dramatically.

  “Me too,” Julia said. Her short blond hair stuck up in funny tufts and she had dirt smudges on her cheek.

  “Want to meet up and get pizza in Orchard or Winchester after our showers?” Callie suggested. “I still think we need to come up with something more than chores.”

  The Trio exchanged a look.

  “Sure,” Heather said finally. “Winchester in an hour?”

  I nodded. “Sounds good.”

  The Trio and Callie started to walk toward Orchard.

  “Hey, Callie?” I called after her.

  She stopped and turned toward me. “Yeah?”

  “Paige is in New York and my room is kinda lonely. Want to sleep over?”

  Her smile turned into a giant grin. “Sure! I’ll bring my stuff when I come over tonight. It’ll be good to…you know, talk.”

  I smiled up at the sky and felt my tiredness start to ebb away as I walked. My best friend was back!

  28

  DEAR MR. CONNER

  THE TRIO, CALLIE, AND I WERE GATHERED in Winchester. Callie had arrived first and we’d left her overnight bag in my room. We’d asked Livvie if we could order a pizza and she said she’d bring it to us when the delivery person got here. Livvie would definitely be roaming the halls ton
ight—she had ever since Mr. Conner had informed her about my sneaking out.

  Callie and I claimed the smaller sofa and Heather took the recliner by the fire. Julia and Alison sprawled out on the bigger couch.

  “I’m so tired,” I said, stifling a yawn.

  “Me too,” Callie said. “I could never do that job every single day.”

  “We’re going to have to keep doing it unless we come up with another way to impress Mr. Conner,” Alison said.

  “Hi, girls,” Livvie said as she walked into the room. Steam filtered out through the pizza box holes and I inhaled the scent of cheesy goodness. She set the box on the counter and we stared at it with hungry eyes.

  “Thanks, Livvie,” we chorused.

  “You’re welcome,” Livvie said before going back to her room.

  I jumped off the couch and pulled out a stack of plates. Callie yanked open the pizza box. Everyone filled their plates and for a few minutes no one spoke as we shoved pizza into our mouths.

  “I was thinking,” I said, between bites. “Maybe our words aren’t enough.”

  “What do you mean?” Alison asked, wiping sauce off her chin with a paper towel.

  “Maybe we write him a letter,” I said.

  Callie put down her pizza and nodded. “That’s not a bad idea! We could write it together and all sign it.”

  “Silver,” Heather said. “You’re not as dumb as I tell everyone you are.”

  I made a face and took another bite of pizza.

  “That’s definitely something Mr. Conner would respect,” Julia agreed.

  I ran and grabbed a piece of stationery and pen from my room and brought it back to the common room.

  “Horse stationery?” Heather laughed, staring at the paper. “Geek much?”

  But, as I organized the table so that we could write the letter, I caught her glancing at the back of the box and making a mental note of the company’s logo. I had a feeling I’d be seeing the same stationery in her bag soon enough….