It was another cold and windy day but the sky was a brilliant blue with no clouds. The cool breeze whipped Arion’s dark mane and tail and pulled strands out of my braid that then hit me across the face.
I looked around to make sure that no one was watching then trotted him over the poles that led to a small log. He hopped over it with his ears pricked. I patted his neck.
“Good boy,” I cried. “You’re so smart.”
“You’re not,” a voice said. “What would happen if your dad knew you were jumping that horse without him knowing about it?”
I whipped around to see Ethan sitting there on Wendell. He was grinning at having caught me with my hand in the proverbial cookie jar.
“You won’t tell, will you?” I said.
“Do I look like a tattle tale?” He winked.
“Thanks. It’s just Dad has all these stupid rules about building foundations and stuff and he’s not a house he’s a horse and all I want to do is jump him.”
“I get it,” Ethan said. “You don’t have to explain it to me.”
“Cool, thanks,” I said.
We walked our horses around the field, Wendell lazy and slow while Arion jigged and fussed. Walking wasn’t his strong suit.
“So, how do you like not going to school?” he said.
“It’s awesome,” I replied. “I love it.”
“I miss seeing you,” he said. “You know, in the halls and stuff.”
“Really?” I said.
I hadn’t thought much about not seeing him at all. Was I missing something?
“Did you hear about the ball thing that is going on?” he said.
“Yeah, I guess. Mickey said something about it. The Valentine Ball?”
“Yes,” he said.
We rode on in silence for a little while and I thought about how I could drop some hints that Mickey liked him. Maybe I should just come right out and tell him. Ask him to take her. She would be so happy if I set it up for her and then she wouldn’t have to try and figure out a way to tell him that she liked him. And he had to like her. After all she was cute and pretty and funny. What wasn’t to like? All the boys liked Mickey. It was a given that Ethan would want to go with her if he knew that she liked him. I was just about to open my mouth and tell him that he should take her when he cleared his throat.
“So about the ball thing,” he said. “I was wondering if you’d like to go with me?”
CHAPTER TEN
Now I was the one who was choking. I must have heard him wrong. I had to. There was no way he would ask me to go with him. He didn’t like me like that. We were just friends. He was like a brother to me and Faith was like my little sister. He liked Mickey. She was the one who flirted with him and smiled at him. I didn’t do any of that.
“You don’t have to decide now,” Ethan said, his face red. “You can let me know later.”
He trotted off and I was left there in the field with the jumps I wasn’t supposed to be jumping and a rock in the pit of my stomach. What was Mickey going to say when she found out? She was going to kill me and I hadn’t even done anything wrong. I hadn’t flirted with Ethan or tried to look cute around him or done any of the things that girls at school did when they liked a boy. I’d just been myself. My normal, boring self. This was a disaster.
I was walking Arion back to the barn feeling kind of miserable about the whole thing when Dad came out looking flustered.
“Can you help teach Missy’s group?” he said. “Owen is having one of his fussy days and the kids are already here.”
“Sure,” I said, glad of something to take my mind off the catastrophe that had just happened.
We walked side by side into the barn and I realized that he should know more about boys than I did. After all, he was one of them.
“Dad,” I said. “If a boy asks you out, that doesn’t really mean he likes you, does it?”
Dad just looked at me and laughed. “Of course it does.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The group was the one with Ethan’s sister, Faith in it. She already had her dun pony Macaroni tacked up and ready to go when she saw me and came running over.
“Hey!” she cried, wrapping her arms around me.
“Hello,” I replied.
Faith was sort of like an annoyingly perfect little sister. She rode almost as well as I did and when she was older, she was totally going to kick my butt. As it was, she’d been cleaning up in the pony jumper ribbons so it was just as well that Bluebird and I had been riding against the big horses. Losing to Jess was one thing. Losing to Faith and her tiny pony would be something else entirely. It was a good job that I really liked her.
“Did you hear about the ball?” she said excitedly.
“The football?” I said, playing dumb.
“No silly,” she said. “The Valentine Ball. Everyone is going. It’s going to be the best thing ever. I’ve already got my suit picked out and everything.”
“Don’t you mean your dress?” I said.
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m wearing a white tuxedo with a black waistcoat.”
“Impressive,” I said. “And I suppose you already have your date picked out too since you’re so organized?”
She pulled me to the side and lowered her voice.
“You see that boy over there?”
She pointed to the group of kids getting their ponies ready and I suddenly saw him. The only boy in a sea of little girls. He had olive skin and pretty green eyes. All the girls were fawning over him like he was a model, which he kind of looked like he was. One of those kids that modeled expensive clothing in exotic locations like a beach or a mountain top and made a bazillion dollars doing so.
“Who is he?” I said.
“Fernando,” Faith said dreamily.
“Fernando?” I said. “That’s his name? You’re joking?”
“I am not,” she said, her voice hurt.
“Okay,” I said. “So how are you going to get him to ask you to the ball then?”
“I’m not going to get him to ask me,” she said. “I’m going to ask him.”
“Smart girl,” I said.
“I know.” She grinned.
And even if Fernando said no, at least I knew Faith had more guts than Mickey, who hadn’t yet figured out how she was going to manipulate Ethan into taking her to the ball. And more guts than me, who couldn’t even figure out how to tell him that no, I didn’t want to go with him because I wanted him to take my best friend instead. I was starting to resent the ball already.
“You are going, aren’t you?” Faith said.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged.
“But you have to. It’s going to be so much fun. Please?”
“That’s what Mickey said,” I told her.
“And she is right,” Faith said.
I didn’t like to tell her that by the time we got to the ball both Mickey and Ethan would probably not be talking to me and if Fernando didn’t go with her, she probably wouldn't think that ball was all that much fun either.
“I’ll think about it,” I said. “Now come on, get your pony out to the ring and let’s get this lesson over with before the baby starts crying again.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Faith’s group was fun. I’d taught them before and made them all ride without stirrups, which they’d both hated and weirdly enough admired me for. Dad said I was lucky none of them fell off but I thought he babied them too much, especially since he never even tried to baby me. He said I’d figure it out when I was on the other end of a screaming parent who had just come to pick their child up only to find them smeared all over with dirt. I guess he had a point but that still didn’t stop me from pushing the envelope.
Missy was standing by the ring with a screaming Owen in her arms.
“I think I’m going to have to take him back to the house,” she said, her face as red as the baby’s. “He just won’t settle.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’ve got this.”
“Are you sure?” she said, looking relieved.
“Of course. I actually like teaching this group. They’re fun.”
“Thanks,” Missy said. “I owe you.”
So far I’d changed dirty diapers as long as they weren’t filled with poo, cleaned bottles, given Owen his formula and plenty of baths when he spit up that formula all over himself. Missy didn’t know it but she owed me a lot. I was sort of hoping that maybe she’d let me keep on riding Socks forever in return but he was her speed horse and I knew eventually she’d want him back. I was just trying not to think about it because the bay horse had really grown on me and I wasn’t ready to give him up just yet.
“Okay girls, take your ponies out on the rail and let’s do some bending exercises to get them nice and supple,” I called out.
Faith made a coughing noise and pointed at Fernando who was riding one of the Fox Run lesson ponies, a spunky little chestnut called Sparky.
“Yes, sorry,” I said. “I meant girls and boys.”
Fernando trotted Sparky past to find an empty slot on the rail and as he did, the kid winked at me. He knew how to work girls already? Faith didn’t stand a chance. Fernando probably already had a date to the ball with some hot high school chick or possibly even a super model. The kid was that good.
While the group warmed up on the flat, I pulled apart some of the jumps and made a little gymnastic exercise out of three cross rails. When I called them all into the middle of the ring, Faith looked at the jumps and laughed.
“That’s not for us, is it?” she said. “It’s too easy.”
“Too easy, is it?” I said. “You won’t think it’s too easy when you jump it without reins.”
“What?” they all cried in unison.
“You heard me,” I said smugly.
“Jump it without reins?” Faith said. “How are we supposed to do that?”
“You guide your pony to the line, drop your reins before the first jump and then hold your arms out to the side as you ride down the fences with your legs only.”
A couple of the girls looked pale. I thought one of them was actually going to burst into tears.
“Sounds like fun.” Faith grinned.
“I know, right?” Fernando said, smiling back at her.
Maybe I was wrong about the two of them after all.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I went around tying knots in the pony’s reins despite the kid’s protests. They didn’t think they could do it. I didn’t know why.
“The reins aren’t something you should be using to support yourself,” I told them. “That is what your legs are for.”
They mumbled and grumbled but knew better than to start a revolt. After all, I still had the whistle that Miss. Fontain had given me and I wasn’t afraid to use it.
“So,” I said. “Who wants to go first?”
“I do,” Faith cried, thrusting her hand into the air.
“Me too,” Fernando said, grinning.
“Alright,” I said. “Fernando, why don’t you give it a shot?”
Faith’s face fell. I knew she’d wanted to show off in front of him but he was the new kid in the group and I wanted to give him a chance to show the others that he knew what he was doing. I’d already seen that he was a pretty good rider and it was a good job that Faith liked him because he was probably going to be her biggest competition.
He circled Sparky with a determined look on his face and then pointed the pony at the line of jumps. Sparky was a pretty straight forward gelding and usually one that the more timid kids rode. If Fernando was going to carry on riding at Fox Run, he was going to need a more challenging mount. But Sparky pricked his ears and as the pony approached the first jump, Fernando stuck his arms out to the side. The pony bounced down the line and Fernando went into his two point position over the tiny fences and sat up and rode with his legs between the jumps, keeping his pony perfectly straight. After the last jump, he picked up his reins again and rode back to the group.
“Told you,” he said smugly.
“You’ve done that before, haven’t you?” I said.
“Yeah,” he admitted with a sheepish smile. “My old trainer used to make us do that sort of stuff all the time.”
“And that is why Fernando has a good solid position over the fences,” I told the rest of them. “Now, Faith? You go next.”
Faith rode Macaroni down the line of jumps but even though she was a really great little rider, her legs weren’t as strong as Fernando’s and her pony was not as easy to ride. He waved down the line like he was following a string of spaghetti and ducked out before the last fence. Faith’s face was red and flustered as she rode back to the group. I knew that she’d wanted to do it perfectly in order to impress the boy she had a crush on.
“Can I go again?” she said. “Please?”
“After everyone else has had a turn,” I said.
“Okay.” She sighed. “I’m sorry I messed up.”
“You didn’t mess up,” I told her. “This is a lesson and you are all here to learn.”
But Faith wasn’t used to not being the star pupil and I could tell that it bothered her. When it was her turn again she rode with a look of solid determination on her face and used her legs so strongly that Macaroni practically galloped over the fences.
“Better,” I said. “But you can’t use speed to cover up your shortcomings. You need to be able to ride those fences so quietly that no one would be able to tell that you weren’t holding your reins. Got it?”
Faith nodded and looked at Macaroni’s black mane. I wanted to praise her and tell her that she’d done a great job but she was there to learn, just like everyone else. Not to have her ego inflated. It was a tough world and she needed to learn how to do things the right way. Not just muddle through and hope for the best, the way I usually did.
The kids picked up the exercise pretty quickly and soon they all had their ponies cantering down the line of jumps without any problems.
“Can we raise them up?” Fernando asked eagerly.
“Yes, can we?” Faith chimed in.
I knew what was going on. They were trying to outdo one another and I wasn’t about to allow a train wreck in my lesson.
“I think you’ve all done enough for today,” I told them. “Maybe next time. Okay?”
“Please?” Faith begged.
“Fine,” I said, knowing that she wouldn’t let it go unless I relented a little. “I’ll make the last jump into a small vertical but that is it.”
She grinned and looked at Fernando who smiled back. Those two were going to be the death of me. I made the last jump into a tiny vertical and told the kids that it was up to them if they wanted to try the line again. About half of them said they would, including Faith and Fernando. I watched them all go with my heart pounding in my chest. If one of them fell off now then Dad would say that I had pushed them too hard but it wasn’t my fault that they were all little eager over achievers and it kind of made me even more proud of them. And no one fell off so that was a relief.
“Okay,” I said as Macaroni cleared the last fence with feet to spare, almost jumping Faith out of the tack. “Now you guys really are done. Cool your ponies off and go back to the barn.”
“Can we do that again in the next lesson?” Faith asked.
“I don’t even know if I’ll be teaching you next time,” I said. “Missy might be or my dad.”
“Oh I hope it’s you,” she said. “You are so much more fun.”
I sat in one of the chairs by the ring, watching the kids walk their ponies around in groups of two or three, talking excitedly about how they’d jumped without reins, all their fears and doubts forgotten. Faith pulled Macaroni in next to Fernando and Sparky. She was smiling and talking. I wondered if she was asking him to the ball and whether or not he would say yes and it made me think about Ethan and what on earth I was going to do to get out of the mess I now found myself in.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The nex
t evening Dad gave me a jumping lesson on Bluebird before the group. Tulip and Rachel still rode at Fox Run but seemed lost without their gang leader. So far they hadn’t picked up the bullying where Jess had left off and Dad told me that if they tried it, he would toss them out of the barn just like he had done to Jess. I didn’t think they would bother without Jess egging them on and so far I had been right but that didn’t mean we were all best friends or anything. They still gave me dirty looks out of the corner of their eyes but looks I could handle. It was the rest of it that had all been too much.
“Do we have any shows coming up?” I asked Dad as he moved jump poles around the ring.
“There are a couple but I think you should probably sit them out. You have the Young Riders clinic next month and then there is that big Easter show. Don’t want your horses burning out now, do we?”
“No.” I shook my head.
It didn’t feel like there was such a thing as too much jumping but horses and ponies were animals not machines. They got tired and fed up just like we did and I wanted them to keep enjoying their jobs and doing it well and not get all sour and sore, even though if I had my way I’d be happy going to a show every weekend.
“And besides,” I said. “I promised Mickey that I’d help her with her dressage show.”
“She doesn’t need your help,” Dad said. “You should focus on your own riding.”
“Dad,” I said, stopping Bluebird in front of him. “She is my best friend and she’s helped me out a lot. She came to my shows when she wasn’t even riding and besides, I promised.”
“Well, if you promised,” he said. “I just think it’s a waste of a weekend, that’s all.”
Half Halt (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 15) Page 3
