The Canterwood Crest Stable of Books

by Jessica Burkhart

  I yanked open the door of Winchester Hall and stepped into the warm hallway. The cheery yellow walls didn’t make me feel any better. I just wanted to hide in my room.

  Trudging past the common room, I stopped when a girl’s voice pierced the stillness of the hallway.

  “Do NOT drag my Coach luggage! And hurry up. I’d like to be moved in before the semester is over.”

  Ohhhhh, no.

  2

  UN-WELCOME TO WINCHESTER

  I BURIED MY FACE IN MY HANDS.

  “Don’t tip my trunk!” the girl snapped.

  Without even looking, I knew the voice—and the trunk—belonged to Jasmine King, the former Wellington Prep seventh grader who’d just transferred to Canterwood. Jas was so awful that she made Heather Fox, Canterwood Queen Bee and my archenemy, look sweet. And that was NOT easy. Heather’s weapons of choice were intimidation and threats. Jasmine was all action.

  “Omigod, could you guys, like, move any slower?” Jasmine asked the movers.

  I’d thought this day couldn’t get any more dramatic.

  So. Wrong.

  Jasmine moving into Winchester might have been the worst thing ever—which, considering the fact that I’d just found out that my ex-BFF and ex-BF were dating, was really saying something.

  I dragged myself down the hallway and around the corner. Oh, my God. It was an explosion of luggage. Crocodile-skin bags, rolling suitcases, duffels, satchels, and other luggage that I didn’t even know what to call had been stacked from floor to ceiling. Two muscley guys lifted one of the massive trunks, their faces reddening as they carried it through the doorway.

  “Sasha!” Jasmine said, grinning at me. “You came to welcome me to Winchester!”

  “Um, not really,” I said.

  Jas pouted. “Why not?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. How about because you tried to intimidate my team at regionals, you poured oil on Aristocrat before Heather’s class, and you ‘accidentally’ spilled molasses on my head at the clinic.” I folded my arms.

  Jasmine waved a manicured hand at me. “Oh, please. We’ll have fun! And look!” She pointed to a luggage-filled room. “I’m only two doors away from you.”

  “Super,” I muttered. I watched as the guys continued to lug suitcases inside. Jasmine stood with her hands on her hips, the look on her face daring them to drop her luggage.

  “Hello!” she barked at one of the movers when he almost lost his grip on the trunk. “Be careful with that!”

  “That room was empty before,” I said. “Who’s your roommate?”

  Jasmine shook her head. “Livvie said I could have the room all to myself ’cause I’m starting the semester late. I just explained that it would help me adjust better if I had my own room to retreat to. Besides, who needs a roommate when you’ve got teammates?”

  I tried not to roll my eyes. Livvie, the Winchester dorm monitor, had to have seen right through Jas’s fake-angel act. Didn’t she?

  “Yeeeaaah,” I said. “Whatever. I need to get to my room.”

  I hopped over a duffel bag and squeezed along the wall, trying not to cause a luggage avalanche.

  Jasmine sighed. “This place isn’t anything like Wellington’s dorms, but I’ll make it work.”

  If she hated Canterwood this much, why didn’t she go back to her old school already?

  “I think it’s nice,” I said.

  “You would.”

  I rolled my eyes but didn’t respond. It just wasn’t worth it.

  “I can’t wait to meet everyone else,” Jasmine said. She pulled out a lip gloss—a vanilla-cherry flavor I did not have—and smoothed it on. “We can have movie nights in the common room!”

  I stared at her. Kidding, right? “We might, but you won’t. Unless you start being nicer, no one’s going to hang out with you.”

  I walked away from Jasmine and her posse of movers. I pulled open my door, relieved to get away from her and everyone else.

  “Can you believe this?” I wailed to Paige the second the door slammed behind me.

  “What?” Paige asked, swiveling in her desk chair to look at me.

  “Jasmine is moving into Winchester!”

  “Jasmine King? Are you serious? That’s who that was?”

  I realized I’d told Paige all about Jasmine and her nastiness, but she’d never met her before.

  “Yes! It wasn’t enough that she tried to make my team lose at the Junior Equestrian Regionals or that she made me miserable during Mr. Conner’s clinic. Now she lives here too.”

  Paige shook her head. “I can’t believe she got assigned to Winchester.”

  “She even got her own room. Two. Doors. Away.”

  “That’s not fair.” Paige frowned. “But I guess it’s hard to switch schools in the middle of the semester. Livvie probably thought it would be stressful for Jas to move in with a girl she’d never talked to before. Even you and I got to e-mail over the summer before school started so we could get to know each other, remember?”

  I kicked off my boots and rummaged through my closet for clean clothes. “No way Jas would ever worry about a roommate. Trust me.”

  Paige shrugged. “Maybe not.” She looked as if she wanted to say something else, but stopped.

  I knew Paige thought I was just angry about Jasmine—she didn’t know what had happened with Callie and Jacob. But I wasn’t quite ready to talk about it yet—I could barely even think about it.

  I shook my head, pulling a change of clothes out of my closet. One thing was for sure—Winchester was never going to be the same.

  3

  POISONED HOT CHOCOLATE. YUM!

  I ROLLED OVER AND SQUINTED AT MY ALARM clock. 4:37 in the morning. I snuggled under my comforter and tried to go back to sleep, but it was no use. My brain wouldn’t let me sleep. Scenes from yesterday played over and over in my head—Jacob watching Callie ride, Callie realizing that I knew the truth, Eric almost kissing me.

  I tried to think about something—anything—else. If I could just focus on riding. But it would still be a week and a half before I could ride again. Mr. Conner had banned me along with the rest of the advanced team.

  Violet, Brianna, and Georgia—three eighth graders who called themselves the Belles—were banned too. It happened after the Belles dared us to ride our horses across campus at night just so we could join their exclusive little clique. They had been pressuring us to do the dare when Mr. Conner showed up—but he didn’t come in time to prevent me from seeing a new side to Callie. She, Julia, and Alison had agreed to do the Belles’ dare. Heather and I had refused for the safety of our horses.

  Now I stared up at the dark ceiling. Think of something happy, I told my brain. Eric. I smiled. He’d only transferred to Canterwood in January, but he’d already become such a big part of my life. Initially, we bonded over our mutual love of horses. But I recently found out that it had been more than that for Eric. He’d known that I was with Jacob, though, so he never even let on that he liked me as more than a friend.

  The more I thought about Eric, the more I realized how important he was to me. I decided right then—at, ugh, 4:59 a.m.—that my relationship with him was not going to be like what I’d had with Jacob. No one could know Eric and I were together just yet. If the Trio—Heather and her BFFs, Julia and Alison—found out, they’d probably, no, definitely, try to break us up. Just like they tried to do with Jacob, before Callie single-handedly took care of that for them.

  This time no one would have a chance to mess up whatever I was starting with Eric. I couldn’t let Heather, Callie, or anyone else ruin it. Eric and I needed time to figure things out. And to…kiss. I smiled. Kissing was definitely a happy thing to focus on.

  Tap! Tap!

  “Paige?” I mumbled, groggy with sleep.

  “No,” she said. “I think someone’s at the door.” She slid out of bed.

  “It’s seven fifteen on a Sunday. Who could that be?”

  I covered my face with my pillow as Paige opened
the door.

  “Morning!”

  I whipped my pillow off my face and sat up. It was Jasmine, holding a cardboard tray with three cups of something from the Sweet Shoppe and smiling.

  “Omigod,” Jas said, staring at Paige. “You’re the Paige Parker from the Teen Cuisine website. I’m, like, the biggest fan of the show! I can’t wait till your episodes air.”

  “Thanks,” Paige replied with a polite smile. She couldn’t be rude to anyone—it wasn’t in her DNA. Paige glanced at me. I smoothed down my bed-head flyaways and tried to ignore the fact that Jasmine’s outfit was totally perfect. Black skinny jeans tucked into tall caramel brown boots with an oversize, belted baby blue sweater.

  “I’m Jasmine.” She gave her best I’m-so-innocent smile. “I just moved into Winchester. I wanted to introduce myself. I brought you guys hot chocolate.”

  She held out the tray with flourish. Paige, hesitating for a second, took a cup.

  “Thank you,” Paige said. “And, um, let us know if you need help finding something on campus.”

  Jasmine gave a tiny smile. “I sooo will.”

  Paige raised the cup to her lips.

  “Don’t!” I yelled. I tossed back my covers and ran over to Paige, not caring that I was still in my pink pajamas dotted with silver hearts.

  I grabbed the cup from Paige and set it on her desk.

  “What’s wrong?” Paige asked at the same time that Jas said, “Omigod, what are you doing?”

  “Don’t even think about drinking that,” I told Paige. “She probably spit in it. Or poisoned it somehow.”

  “Sasha,” Jas said. She fake sniffed and took a step back. “I was just trying to be a good neighbor.” She shrugged and, I swear, her eyes started to tear up. “See you,” she said to Paige.

  “Nice to meet you,” Paige said.

  I shut the door and locked it. And double-checked the lock.

  Paige nodded at the hot chocolate. “You really think she did something to it?”

  “For sure.”

  Paige seemed to consider this. “But she seemed upset. For real. Maybe Jasmine knows she has to change. She’s not visiting Canterwood anymore. She’s living here. She can’t be mean to everyone or she’ll never make any friends.”

  “Maybe,” I said. “But I still don’t trust her.”

  An hour later my phone beeped and I looked at the screen. Want 2 meet @ stable?

  Eric! I ignored the seven missed calls from Callie and texted back. Sure. C u in 10.

  “I’m going to skip breakfast,” I announced.

  “Meeting Callie?” Paige asked.

  I shook my head. “Not exactly. Some…stuff happened yesterday. I’ve got to go, but I’ll tell you about it when I get back.”

  “Something happened?” Paige questioned. “Like what? Sasha?”

  “Just…” I paused. I couldn’t even get the words out. “I’ll tell you later, okay?”

  Paige’s eyes stayed on my face for a second, but she must have been able to tell I really didn’t want to talk about it then, because she said, “You can’t ignore my questions forever, Sasha Silver. You’ve got to tell me everything when you get back.”

  “I will,” I promised.

  Paige gave me The Eye.

  “I swear!” I said, cracking a smile.

  Once Paige left for breakfast, I tugged off the grass-stained breeches I’d planned to wear and pulled on my new chocolate-colored pair. Oh. Not as if I needed to wear breeches—I couldn’t ride. But it was habit. Shrugging, I left them on and went into the bathroom.

  I’m going to see Eric! I’m going to see Eric! I sang in my head.

  This called for something beyond my normal makeup routine. I smoothed on tinted moisturizer, darkened my lashes with brown mascara—twice—and carefully applied pale pink gloss. After brushing my hair, putting it up, and taking it back down again, I went back to my room and put on my boots and coat.

  One more mirror check. I peeked at my reflection, then took a breath. It’s just Eric, I reminded myself as I left the room. My pace slowed as I walked down the hallway. But I wasn’t going to see Eric my friend. Eric was…what? Not my boyfriend. Not yet. But I’d never even almost kissed a boy before. What if I was the worst kisser ever?! Eric could kiss me, hate it, and never talk to me again. I could do everything wrong and totally embarrass myself.

  Yesterday, the almost kiss had happened so fast, there had been no time to freak out. Well, there was plenty of time to panic now! I could not repulse Eric with my lack of lip-lock skills.

  For a second, I considered going back to Winchester. But I kept going. I could do this.

  I walked across the stable yard and saw Eric standing by the outdoor round pen. Troy, one of the seventh-grade intermediate riders, trotted his horse in small circles. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed to see him. Eric definitely wouldn’t kiss me for the first time in front of Troy.

  I couldn’t hide my smile as I walked over to Eric. No matter what kind of mood I was in, Eric always made me happy.

  “Hey,” I said, trying not to wobble as I walked.

  Eric flashed a smile that made my nerves disappear. “Hi,” he said, digging his hands into the pockets of his gray wool pullover.

  “They look good,” I said, nodding at Troy and his horse.

  “Troy’s been schooling Gavin for almost an hour,” Eric said. “Gavin was stiff when they started, but look at the way he’s flexing his neck now.”

  I stepped closer to the fence to see. Gavin, moving at a relaxed trot, paid attention to Troy’s every signal.

  “He’s got it now,” I said.

  We watched for a few more minutes. The sun warmed my face and I forgot that it was actually cold outside.

  “Want to go into the stable?” Eric asked.

  “Sure.” I half wanted to ask Troy if he’d like to come.

  “See you around,” Eric called to Troy.

  “See ya,” Troy said, barely looking up as he asked Gavin for a working trot.

  Eric and I started across the yard to the stable. The dark lacquered barn was my favorite place on campus. It was immaculate—inside and out—and warm, and it wasn’t one of those stables where riders were afraid to drop a stalk of hay on the floor. If we did, Mr. Conner just expected us to pick it up.

  “How’re you feeling about…things?” Eric asked.

  “Well,” I told him, “I’m frustrated that I almost blew my chance at the YENT because I was upset about Jacob and Callie. I can’t let that happen again.”

  Eric nodded. “You’ll be ready next time, I know it.”

  His arm brushed mine, and my skin tingled even through my winter coat! I tried not to make the OMG-Eric-touched-me face. But I was five seconds away from going into full-out giggly girl mode.

  “What do you want to do?” I asked.

  “Since you, uh, can’t ride, I figured we could groom Charm and Luna,” Eric said. “I mean, if you want.”

  “Sure, but don’t you want to ride?”

  “Nah, that’s cool,” Eric said. “I kind of just wanted to hang out with you.”

  I shook my head. “No, it’s totally fine. And I could coach you, if you want.”

  “Really?” Eric asked.

  “Go tack up and I’ll meet you in the indoor arena.”

  “Give me five minutes,” Eric said.

  We split up and I took a side aisle into the empty indoor arena. I kicked my toe in the dirt. Being stuck on the ground was the worst! Charm and I should have been soaring over jumps right now. I sighed. For now I could concentrate on helping Eric. And if I focused on him, I wouldn’t think about riding Charm. Or kissing.

  “Ready, Coach Silver?” Eric called in a teasing voice. He led Luna, the stable horse he often rode, over to me.

  “Mr. Rodriguez,” I said, mimicking Mr. Conner’s deep voice. “Let’s get started.”

  4

  FAN GIRL

  ERIC LOOKED EVEN CUTER ON HORSEBACK. He guided Luna to the
arena’s edge and turned to me, waiting for instructions. When I looked at him, I forgot all about Callie and Jacob.

  “Walk, please,” I said.

  Luna started forward and Eric sat tall in the saddle. He and Luna made a couple of large circles around me. Luna, a flea-bitten gray mare, was perfect for Eric. She listened to him, but she could be fiery too.

  “Posting trot,” I called out.

  Eric rose in the saddle but posted on the wrong lead. I opened my mouth, then closed it. I had been about to tell him he was on the wrong lead. But what if I hurt his feelings? I’d offered to coach him, but I hadn’t thought about how weird it would feel to point out what he was doing wrong.

  “Um, Eric,” I started. “I think you’re on the wrong lead.”

  Eric looked down at Luna’s shoulder. “You’re right.” He sat for a beat before posting on the right lead.

  He circled me three times. I chewed on my cheek, wanting to give him pointers, but I couldn’t. After a few minutes, Eric asked Luna to walk. He rode into the arena’s center and stopped in front of me. He pushed his helmet back and looked down at me.

  “Sash, you do know that I want your help, right? I can tell you’re holding back. Tell me what you really think. C’mon. Channel Mr. Conner.”

  I blinked up at him. “You sure?”

  “I think I can take it.” He smiled.

  Just go for it, I told myself. “Fine. You asked for it.” I put my hands on my hips. “Circle once at a sitting trot and then canter.”

  “Better!” Eric said. Luna trotted for a few seconds before Eric urged her into a canter.

  Eric’s legs were still, but his hands inched into the air.

  “Lower your hands,” I called. Eric dropped his hands and I smiled to myself. I could do this.