The Canterwood Crest Stable of Books

by Jessica Burkhart

  I looked over at Jacob for a second and caught him staring at me. Oops. I shifted in my seat, my attention back on Mr. Ramirez.

  “I’ve chosen a few of your films to discuss,” Mr. Ramirez said. “Let’s start with Brandon and Wes, who produced a comedy.”

  My phone buzzed. I kept one eye on Mr. Ramirez as I pulled it out of my pocket. It was a text from Eric. Even before I read it, I smiled.

  IM ltr, coach?

  Jacob shifted in his seat. I jabbed my finger on the off button and dropped my phone into my book bag. Neither of us looked at each other.

  “Next,” Mr. Ramirez was saying. “An excellent documentary by Jacob and Sasha.”

  I froze. Before the mess with Jacob, I would have loved Mr. Ramirez talking about our project. But now it was just weird. I didn’t want more attention on Jacob and me.

  “Jacob and Sasha went on location to Canterwood’s stable,” Mr. Ramirez said, nodding to us. “They used Sasha’s horse, Charm, to show an animal’s intelligence. Sasha did most of the on-screen work while Jacob did editing and scoring.”

  I looked over at Jacob and he glanced back. We traded awkward looks.

  “I’m going to share a clip of the film,” Mr. Ramirez said.

  The screen went black and the credits started.

  S&S presents an original major motion picture. Starring Sasha Silver, Jacob Schwartz, and Charm. Directed by Jacob Schwartz.

  I appeared on the giant screen. “Ever wonder how smart animals really are?” I asked.

  I slid into my seat, shielding my eyes with my hands. This was so embarrassing! I talked for few more seconds, and then on-camera, Jacob walked over to me. He’d been terrified of Charm, I’d later found out; he was afraid of horses—but he’d gone along with the horse-themed documentary for me. I forced myself to watch on-camera Jacob and not the real one.

  “Sasha and Jacob worked as partners and demonstrated the teamwork that’s necessary to be successful in the film industry.” Mr. Ramirez smiled and tipped his head to us. “I hope both of you consider making more films together in the future.”

  Jacob and I just nodded. I slumped into my seat with relief when Mr. Ramirez chose the next movie. Mr. R had no idea that Horse Sense was the last project Jacob and I would ever do together.

  When class finally ended, I stuffed my notebook into my bag. Jacob shifted toward me for a second, his eyes on my face. I thought he might say something, but he only shook his head and got up. He disappeared down the aisle before I even squeezed out of our row.

  9

  WANNA SEE A REAL RIDER?

  “THERE,” I SAID, SLAMMING MY HISTORY BOOK closed. “Weekend homework is done.”

  I shoved my chair back from my desk and stretched. The weekend had been too short. I’d been busy walking Charm, doing Canterwood’s infamous never-ending homework, and breaking once in a while for TV time with Paige. She’d distracted me from missing Eric yesterday. He’d gone off campus for a field trip to a natural history museum. So Paige and I had made it through the fifth disc of the new season of City Girls—Paige’s new obsession. Now I was addicted too.

  “Finally,” Paige said. “And tomorrow, lucky us, we start the week all over again.”

  I groaned. “Thanks for the reminder.”

  “But at least Eric’s back today,” Paige said.

  I smiled. “I know.”

  Paige thought for a second. “Hmm. We totally need to shop for lip gloss. You know Eric’s going to try to kiss you again.”

  I sat up straighter. “I totally forgot about kissing gloss!”

  Paige grabbed her laptop and pulled it onto her lap as she sat on her bed. “C’mon. Let’s hit Sephora and Bonne Bell.”

  I settled beside Paige and peered at her laptop screen. “I think I need something with shine and color,” I said. “But nothing sticky.”

  Paige clicked through Bonne Bell website. We scrolled through dozens of glosses before Paige stopped. “This one,” she said. “Sheer Kiwi. It’s pink but not too pink. It’s shiny but doesn’t look gooey.”

  “Oooh, get it,” I said.

  Paige added the gloss to my cart and we kept shopping. We added berry flavors, ice cream flavors, and even vanilla-chocolate swirl.

  “But…” I paused, thinking about how dumb my question was going to sound. “What if he doesn’t like the flavor? What if I get raspberry and he hates raspberries?”

  Paige patted my arm. “He won’t care about the flavor, trust me. He’ll just want to kiss you. But if you’re worried, then let’s pick some safe ones. Like mint, or something.”

  “Okay,” I said. Paige found spearmint, peppermint, and unscented shine (boring!) and I ordered them—overnight shipping just in case Eric tried to kiss me sooner rather than later.

  “You’ve definitely got enough gloss,” Paige said. “Now you’re prepared.”

  I nodded, but there were still bubbles in my stomach. Even though I had enough lip gloss for lots of kisses, I still didn’t know how to kiss.

  Buzzz. I grabbed my phone.

  Stable soon?

  Eric’s text made me grin.

  4 sure! C u in 20.

  Paige looked at me and laughed. “Hmm, wonder who that was?”

  “No one!” I covered my blushing face with my hands.

  “Oh, yeah, it’s not obvious at all,” Paige teased.

  I bounced off my bed and walked to my closet. “Fiiine. I’m going to see Eric. Happy?”

  Paige nodded. “Very.” She got up from her desk and flopped on her bed. “And wear your pink sweater. It’ll look cute with black breeches.”

  “Oooh, good idea.” I pulled the clothes from my closet and got dressed. I applied a light coat of Bonne Bell Lip Glam in my fave new shade—Brown Sugar Shine. Mmm.

  “Hair?” I called to Paige. “Down or up?”

  “Down,” Paige said.

  I brushed my hair, misted it with shine spray, and stood in front of Paige.

  “Do I look okay?” I asked.

  “Perfect. But don’t kiss in front of the horses. They’re too impressionable.”

  “Ha, ha,” I said, rolling my eyes at her as I grabbed a coat and left our room.

  I headed for Charm’s stall. He would be the perfect company while I waited for Eric.

  But steps away from Charm’s stall, my pace slowed. Callie stood in front of the stall door, touching Charm’s cheek. Silver bangles flashed on her wrist.

  She looked at me and took a half step in my direction, rubbing her hands on the front of her tan breeches. She’d probably worn them out of habit too. “I’ve been waiting awhile. I wanted to stay till you showed up.”

  “Why?”

  Charm strained his head toward me, begging me to come over and pet him, but I didn’t move.

  “Because we have to talk. I need to apologize, Sasha. You don’t have to forgive me, but…”

  I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, trying not to cry. I hated this—all of it. If only I could forget everything that had happened with Callie and Jacob. Callie and I could go back to being best friends, we’d prep for the YENT tryouts together, and things wouldn’t be weird between us. But I couldn’t forget and I didn’t know how long it would take for me to be able to let Callie explain.

  “I can’t do this right now,” I said. “And you have to stop trying to make me. Remember when you wouldn’t let me explain about Eric, no matter how many times I apologized?”

  Callie swallowed. “I know, but—”

  “I’ve gotta go.”

  I left Callie standing there, staring after me, and walked away. I missed her and hoped we could be friends some day, but she’d hurt me. And for now I didn’t know what to do about that.

  Inside the indoor arena, I paced the dirt floor while I waited for Eric. He walked in, leading Luna, a few minutes later. Just seeing him made me feel better. And I didn’t want him to see me upset about Callie, so I hid it with a smile.

  “Hey, Coach Silver,” Eric called.

>   “Hello, number one student.”

  Eric flashed a smile that made me forget all about Callie. “You sure you don’t have another favorite student?”

  “Like?”

  Eric shrugged and pulled down a stirrup. “C’mon. I know. You’re out here giving riding lessons to your best friend Jasmine in the middle of the night.”

  I laughed. “You caught me. Jas is the best student ever. You, though, are impossible to teach.”

  We grinned at each other as Eric put on his helmet and mounted.

  After Luna was warmed up, I asked Eric to do a couple of exercises, including my personal favorite (not!), posting without stirrups. But Eric didn’t argue—he knew he needed the work.

  I watched and tried not to grin at the expression on Eric’s face. He was trying to act as if he didn’t feel like his legs were about to fall off. But he was totally in pain! I motioned for him to slow Luna and he shot me a look.

  I put my hands on my hips. “Fine. Just for that, I’m going to make you jump the long course.”

  Eric did that “’Sup,” head-bobbing thing guys do, like it was a challenge. “Whatever. Let’s do it.”

  Then he winked at me. I forced myself not to swoon and tried to keep a neutral look on my face. I wasn’t going to be a dork in front of him. But the second he turned Luna away from me, I almost crumpled to the floor. My cheeks were hot and my chest felt tingly. I took a couple of deep breaths and put my cool hands on my face, trying to stop the flush.

  Eric turned back to me and I yanked my hands down and smiled. Stop blushing, I yelled to myself. I couldn’t let Eric think I was one of those giggly OMG-a-guy-likes-me girls.

  Luna threw up her head and sidestepped when Eric asked her to trot. He took her away from the jump course and trotted her along the wall, calming her with his hands and legs. He knew how to speak to her without ever saying anything. That wasn’t easy. Eric was a fairly new rider, but sometimes he looked as if he’d been on horses his whole life. He was so—

  “Ahh!” I yelled. Jasmine had materialized next to me. “Say something next time!”

  She rolled her eyes. “Chill.”

  Eric looked over, saw Jasmine, then focused again on Luna.

  “What’s with you?” I asked. I wanted to smack myself when I realized how much I craved the long black one-button cardigan Jasmine wore over her breeches. “Nothing,” she said.

  We watched Eric take Luna through figure eights. Maybe Jas was checking out the competition.

  “You must really like him,” Jasmine said.

  “What?” I asked. “Who?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Eric. Because he’s an intermediate rider. Why else would you waste your time?”

  “Helping someone is not wasting time. And anyway, you’re an intermediate rider too, remember?”

  Jasmine’s smirk slipped. “Not for long.”

  Eric turned Luna toward the course. Perfect timing. I knew they hadn’t jumped much in Eric’s intermediate class, and if he rode now like he had during our last lesson, Jas would freak!

  Eric pointed Luna toward the first green and gold vertical. Beside me, Jas yawned. Luna leaped over the jump in perfect form and Eric let her out a notch, rocking with her canter.

  Yes! Go Eric! I cheered to myself. I looked at Jasmine and fought the urge to say, “Told you.”

  Luna started toward the faux-brush jump. Eric’s timing was amazing as he squeezed his legs against Luna. She popped over the brush jump, the oxer, and the tall vertical. Eric didn’t lose concentration for a second, and he looked as if he’d been practicing with Luna for years. I forced myself not to turn into a cheerleader.

  Jasmine craned her neck to see. Her gaze narrowed and her eyes followed Eric over every jump until she caught me watching her. “Whatever,” she said, shrugging. “It’s a fluke. He never rides this well in class.”

  “’Kay,” I said. “If you say so.”

  But Jasmine didn’t stop watching. She pouted a little more with every jump Luna cleared. Luna thundered over the final vertical and Eric slowed her to a trot. He started toward us and couldn’t hide his grin.

  “Awesome,” I said. “You killed it.”

  Eric shrugged modestly. “We could still use some more practice.”

  “Well, you’re not doing it now,” Jasmine snapped. “I have a private lesson with Mr. Conner. He’s prepping me for my advanced team test. I’m not going to be stuck on the dumb intermediate team much longer.”

  “Okay,” Eric said lightly. He dismounted and turned to Jasmine. “Have a good ride.”

  He was always so calm with Jas. I wished I could be as calm—whenever she acted like this, it made me want to scream.

  “You should stay if you want to see what real riding looks like,” Jasmine said.

  “Thanks, but I’ve seen Sasha ride before,” Eric said. “See ya in class.”

  Omigod! Best. Line. Ever. I struggled not to grin at the expression on Jas’s face.

  10

  SO NOT A LUNCH DATE

  ON TUESDAY, I TOOK MY SEAT IN BIO CLASS feeling panicky. I’d spent waaay too much time on IM with Eric the night before and hadn’t prepped for today’s likely pop quiz, but IMing had been so much fun. We’d talked about riding, how lame TV shows were right now, and the look on Jasmine’s face when Eric finished his ride. Eric hadn’t tried to kiss me again and I was kind of relieved. I hadn’t read enough Kissing 101 articles in TweenGirl yet.

  In the seat across from me, Jasmine was texting.

  Julia and Alison sauntered into the classroom and sat in front of me. Alison turned around to face me and flipped her messy French braid over her shoulder.

  “If I don’t ride soon,” she said, “I’m going to die.”

  “Me too,” I admitted.

  Julia turned around and smoothed her A-line skirt. “We just have to make it till Thursday,” she said. “Then it’s on.”

  “I’ll have to ride, like, every second to catch up,” Alison said.

  “Yeah, but what about history?” Julia asked. She opened her yellow notebook covered with faint I Ben scribbles. “It’s killing us now and we’re not even riding. Mr. Fields is so ridic with all of the homework!”

  Jasmine glanced up from texting, and her eyes wandered to Julia and Alison.

  “Were we talking to you?” Julia hissed.

  Jas rolled her eyes and started rummaging through her bag. Julia and Alison turned around, whispering to each other. Alison almost looked like she felt sorry for Jasmine. Almost.

  I looked down at my notes and tried to shut out everything around me. I wasn’t going to mess up my grades when I was so close to getting my riding privileges back. But it wasn’t easy—no matter how hard I tried to focus on bio, my mind always wandered to Eric and the way it had felt to IM with him last night. A great guy actually wanted to talk to me. He could have played video games or hung out with his friends, but he wanted to IM. With me.

  At lunchtime I bolted for the cafeteria. Be cool, I told myself. I reminded myself that it had to look like Eric and I were friends. I got in the lunch line and piled my tray with a hot dog, mac and cheese, and applesauce. A quick scan of the lunchroom told me that Eric wasn’t there yet, so I picked a table near the back and waited for him.

  Heather, flanked by Julia and Alison, walked in and they took their usual table at the center of the caf.

  I started to wave at Eric when I saw him walk through the doors, but then I put my hand down. Waving would have been too obvious, right?

  Once Eric reached the table, he set his tray across from mine. “Is it really only Tuesday?” he asked.

  “Long day?”

  Eric nodded and popped a French fry into this mouth. “So long. I kind of felt like lunch would never get here.”

  I smiled, trying not to blush. “Me too.”

  I bit into my hot dog, but almost choked when I looked across the cafeteria. Callie and Jacob were holding hands, headed for the lunch line. I’d never seen Callie so dre
ssed up for class. She had on a shrunken black blazer, a fitted scoop-neck sweater, and tall boots with a slight heel.

  “So I told Troy that he…” Eric said, but I barely heard him. I couldn’t stop watching Callie and Jacob. Callie laughed at something Jacob said as they searched for a table. She saw me, though, and her smile wavered. She took a couple of steps toward our table, then stopped. I could almost feel her trying to decide what to do. We used to have so much fun at lunch. Giggling, gossiping, swapping stable stories. But it was Callie’s fault that it wasn’t like that anymore. She looked away from me when Jacob pointed to an empty table by the window. Callie followed him, not glancing back.

  “Sasha?”

  “Huh?” I tore my gaze away from Callie and Jacob.

  Eric waved a hand in front of my face. “You okay?”

  “Fine, sorry,” I said. “I-I just spaced out for a sec.”

  Eric nodded. “It’s okay.”

  “What were you saying?” I asked.

  “Oh, I just told Troy that he didn’t need a new saddle pad—he just had to wash his for once.”

  I nodded, feigning interest. “Oh. Yeah. His old one is fine.”

  Eric talked for a few minutes about Troy’s tack, and I tried to pay attention, but my focus drifted to the Trio’s table.

  In the center of the room, I saw that Heather, Julia, and Alison were laughing, their eyes on Jasmine. She sat with her back to them, listening to her iPod. Heather shifted in her chair, her gaze on Jas. The Trio was up to something.

  “Turn around,” I whispered to Eric. “But don’t look obvious.”

  Eric shifted, and his eyes followed my gaze. Heather shoved her chair back, got up, and sauntered over to Jasmine’s table. Jasmine didn’t even hear her coming.

  Heather leaned down, her head almost touching Jasmine’s shoulder. Jas yanked out her ear buds and turned to eye Heather.

  “Jasmine’s freaked,” I whispered.

  Eric nodded. “She should be.”

  Heather’s lips moved next to Jas’s ear, and whatever she said made the former Wellington girl blush.

  Heather pushed up the sleeves of her royal blue sweater and tilted her head toward Julia and Alison. Jasmine made a “Whatever” gesture, but Heather continued to stare down at her. It made even me squirm. Julia grinned at Jasmine, but Alison looked uncomfortable, tugging at the ends of her long sandy hair. Finally, with a satisfied smirk, Heather walked back to her table.