Comeback (13 page)

I forced myself to walk, not run, out of Hawthorne.
You
need some time to calm down,
I told myself,
or Drew will
think you've had a million cups of green tea.

When I reached the stable area, it was already flooded with horses and
riders. Each arena had someone doing something different. In the smallest arena, the
beginner instructor had a group of students trotting in a circle around her. One of the
arenas with dressage markers was in use by an older rider. Some students had horses tied
to fence posts and tie
rings, grooming them in the warm but not too
hot sun.

There was no such thing as getting to the stable “early.”

Ever.

I picked up Whisper's tack and ducked under occupied cross-ties as I
walked to her stall.

“Hi, girly!” I said as I reached Whisper.

The mare's head was over the stall door and her eyes were shut. They
popped open at the sound of my voice. Whisper reached her neck toward me as I put down
her tack and hurried to touch her muzzle.

“I missed you,” I said. “I'm so glad to see
you.”

Whisper put her head over my shoulder, letting me hug her. She smelled
like sweet, clean hay with a hint of the apple-cinnamon-flavored treats I gave her.

“Let me grab your stuff and we're going to meet up with Polo
and Drew,” I said. “Okay?”

I grabbed everything I needed and led Whisper down the aisle to
Polo's stall. It was near the front of the aisle, and some of the traffic from
minutes earlier had cleared. Polo's stall door opened, and Drew brought out the
gelding, stopping him next to his tack trunk.

“Hey,” Drew said, smiling at me.

“Hi. And hey, Polo.” I reached forward and patted the blood
bay's neck.

“Want to take them outside?” Drew asked.
“It'll be quieter.”

I nodded. “Lexa showed me a good spot.”

“After you.” Drew let Whisper and me in front of him. I walked
to the far side of the stable, which ran along the woods. There were only a few tie
rings, and no one was using them. We tied the horses' lead lines with slipknots,
and I slid off the tack I'd perched on Whisper.

Drew and I started grooming, the vibe easy between us. He was wearing one
of my fave colors on him—a fire-enginered tee. The color looked amaze against his
pale skin.

“I wonder what we'll work on today,” Drew said.
“I'm glad we're riding outside.”

“Me too. There are so many things I want to work on with Whisper
before the show. It feels like it's coming so fast.”

“I know. But I'm glad in a way. It'll be one down. The
first one of the season.”

I ran a rubber curry comb over Whisper's shoulder in circles.
“That's the part that scares me. The ‘first' one. One minute
I'm ready and can't wait to show on my horse, and the next I'm a
nervous mess.
I
decided to show. No one's making me. I
shouldn't be so freaked out.”

“You can't control how you feel. I get why you're
nervous.
But I also have seen you during lessons. You're
ready.”

I made sure Drew couldn't see my face while he talked. I focused on
Whisper's barrel.

“Thanks,” I said. “That was nice.”

“Just being honest. If only you could forget it was a show and
pretend it was a regular practice session.”

“If only,” I said, standing on tiptoes to peer over
Whisper's back at him. “Practicing will help me feel better.”

Drew and I ended up side by side as we curried Polo and Whisper. “If
you ever want to ride together, let me know,” he said.

I smiled. “I will.”

“But don't ask me to ride on, say, Friday night,” Drew
said.

“Plans?”

“Hopefully.” He picked up a dandy brush. “Interested in
hitting the new Chinese place with me?”

“That sounds great! I haven't had Chinese since I got
here.”

“Awesome,” Drew said, his blue eyes bright. “Now
I've got something to look forward to this week.”

•  •  •

“Hello, class,” Mr. Conner said. He addressed the six of us
lined up before him. Drew. Riley. Clare. Lexa. Cole. Me.

We greeted him. We'd gathered in the big
outdoor arena, and Mr. Conner had been waiting.

“I came earlier than usual because I did not want you to warm up
your horses,” Mr. Conner said. “We're going to do that as a group
today and work through warm-up techniques that I want to make sure you're all
applying to your warm-up sessions. Warming up correctly is the best way to ensure a good
performance from horse and rider, and it also lowers the chance of injury to the
horse.”

“Why is a proper warm-up essential?” he asked. He tucked his
clipboard under his left arm, staring at us.

“It helps release tension, relaxes the horse and rider, and loosens
up the horse's muscles,” Cole answered.

“Good,” Mr. Conner said. “A strong warm-up also benefits
the rider, which we will discuss in more detail later.”

“It also sort of sets the tone for the ride,” Clare said.
“If the warm-up doesn't go well, it can be difficult to have a good
ride.”

“Great addition, Clare,” Mr. Conner said, nodding at her. He
walked a few steps, stopping in front of Lexa. He smoothed his hunter-green polo with
CCA
stitched under the collar in gold thread. I
wondered how many of those shirts he had.

“Not necessarily in order,” Mr. Conner said, “but what
are some things a warm-up develops, Lexa? Think back to the
reading I assigned last week.”

Lexa licked her bottom lip.
You've got this,
Lex,
I tried to channel to her.

“It helps get the horse on the aids, helps with straightness and
bending, establishes contact,” Lexa paused. “Oh! It also works on suppleness
and balance.”

Mr. Conner smiled. “Excellent.”

Lexa smiled and I did too.

“Let's put all these things we discussed to work. Walk your
horses to the wall, and let's run through a proper warm-up.”

“This is ridic,” Riley muttered, getting between Clare and me
as we walked to the rail. “We're showing next weekend and Mr. Conner wants
to do a
warm-up
?”

“I kind of agree,” I said, my voice low.
“Shouldn't we be working on technique and things we'll address in our
show classes?”

“Right?!” Clare said with a slight shake of her head.

We spaced the horses along the wall—Cole first, followed by Drew,
Lexa, Riley, Clare, and me.

Mr. Conner walked to the center of the arena. “In case any of you
are worried,” he called, “I don't expect you to find this lesson easy.
If you do, please let me know.”

He had supersonic hearing. No doubt about it.

“Let's begin with stretching down,” he called. “I
want to see your horses stretch down and round. This will encourage relaxation and
roundness, and will improve contact between horse and rider.”

I sat up a little straighter. This was one warm-up technique I was
not
familiar with.

Mr. Conner's eyes followed us. “When done correctly, this will
teach your mount to relax through his poll, back, and neck. It'll encourage
reaching for the bit, and therefore, good contact.”

I gave Whisper a little more rein, but kept loose contact with my legs and
didn't push her forward with my seat. She maintained a respectful distance behind
Clare and Fuego. Ahead of us, the fire-colored gelding's tail swished hard at his
right side. I squinted and saw that Fuego was attempting to dislodge a horsefly. Clare,
looking back and down, reached with her crop and ran it over Fuego's hindquarters.
Free of the fly, Fuego stopped his tail's angry back-and-forth.

Mr. Conner explained the exercise a little more, and I wished I had a
voice recorder. We'd just gotten started, and it was clear that I'd
underestimated what he was going to teach us today.

“When you ask your horse to stretch down, you
must feel that your horse is on the aids, is moving forward with roundness in the back,
and is relaxed through the neck.”

“Cue your horse to continue moving forward,” Mr. Conner
instructed. “Use your legs rhythmically and do the same though your
seat.”

Whisper kept the same posture for several strides. I continued to apply
the cues Mr. Conner suggested, careful not to push harder or ask for more. Whisper
walked four more strides before I felt her head drop ever so slightly.

“Lauren, let your hands go with Whisper,” Mr. Conner said.

I dropped my hands a little and Whisper stretched her neck, pulling the
reins forward. I moved my hands with her.

“Should I give her more rein?” I asked Mr. Conner, not
breaking my gaze through Whisper's ears.

“Only slightly,” he answered. “If you give her too much
rein, the contact will be broken.”

I barely heard Mr. Conner offer suggestions to my teammates. Sweat ran
down my back, and I'd never felt more focused on maintaining the contact I had
with Whisper. The mare lowered and stretched her gray neck a bit more, and I allowed a
small bit of rein to ease through
my fingers. Whisper had never
been this relaxed and connected to me during a lesson. Both of her gray ears alternated
flicking back to me for instruction, all her attention on me.

“Chewing the bit is completely acceptable, Riley,” Mr. Conner
told her. “Adonis is doing everything you ask.”

“Wonderful, everyone,” he called after a few more minutes.
“Now, keep up the rhythm with leg aids and your seat, but ease your horse back to
a normal frame. Shorten the reins as seamlessly as possible.”

Mr. Conner pushed us through warm-up techniques throughout the rest of the
class. It felt more like an advanced class than a “warm-up”! When he raised
his hand, signaling us to stop, every muscle in my legs, back, and arms burned.
Whisper's coat had darkened from sweat and she wasn't alone—the other
horses had sweated too.

“Great session, everyone,” Mr. Conner said. “Cool down
your horses and I'll see you tomorrow in the indoor arena. Thank you for working
hard.”

Our instructor headed for the exit. We all looked at one another. Mr.
Conner had just left a
very
tired group of warmed-up horses
and riders.

BY THURSDAY, I'D BARELY TAKEN A BREATH
from school and riding. I'd just finished French and was on my way to fashion. Khloe and I hadn't seen much of each other all week. We'd done our homework together most nights and had fallen asleep before lights-out.

After riding and glee on Wednesday, we'd met up with Clare, Riley, Drew, Zack, Lexa, Cole, and Jill in one of the media center's cozy rooms to study. The precious minutes Khloe and I'd had to talk, we'd complained how we had zero time to see our guys. Khloe had
just
started dating Zack, and they'd both been too busy to go out all week.

“It's, like, life is
so
against us!” Khloe had said. “And sharing a class with him does
not
count!”

I'd agreed. At least I had my Friday date with Drew to
focus on. But by the end of the study session, Khloe had a Friday night date too! Zack had asked her out, and now Khloe and I could spend Friday evening getting ready together.

I stepped into Ms. Snow's classroom for fashion, shaking thoughts of Drew from my mind.

I sat next to Cole, my friend and partner for our upcoming project.

“You're never almost late,” Cole said, his light-brown eyebrows raised. “Everything okay?”

“I lost track of time,” I said. “I started thinking about all the stuff that's happened this week, and apparently, snails passed me on the way here.”

Cole laughed. He slid off his gray blazer and hung it over the back of his chair, revealing a collared black button-down shirt with skinny stripes that matched the color of the blazer.

I glanced down at my own clothes: skinny jeans in need of hitting the laundry and a petal-pink capped-sleeve T-shirt.

“I feel so frumpy next to you,” I said.

Cole rolled his green eyes. “Stop. You look great.”

“This morning I was too tired to even care that I put on already-worn jeans.”

Cole scooted his chair away from me. “Well,
that
changes things.”

“Cole!”

He grinned, then laughed. He moved back over, and we giggled together.

Ms. Snow walked into the classroom. Unlike the other Canterwood teachers, she dressed to match her class. Red-bottomed Louboutins couldn't be mistaken for any other shoe. A white boatneck shirt was tucked into high-waisted flared black pants.

I wanted to
be
Ms. Snow.