by Ann Hunter
The look on Laura’s face made Alex step back, feeling like she was in the shadow of a stranger. Usually Laura was goofy and happy, but Alex had never known a hurricane angrier than the storm in Laura.
“What are you looking at?” Laura spat.
Alex racked her brain, trying to be witty. “I never liked him anyway.”
Laura pounded up the stairs to her room, pushing Alex aside. She slammed the door. A zap of tingles zinged all over Alex, the kind that left her shaking and sort of offended. She frowned. Laura’s sobs rang straight through her closed door.
Wanting nothing more than to drown out Laura’s sorrow, Alex slunk downstairs to the den. After the way John treated Laura, Alex was fairly sure she didn’t want a boyfriend. Or any kind of romantic relationship, really.
Cade muted the television when Alex came in. “Hey, Sport.”
Alex flopped onto the couch. “Remind me to never get a boyfriend.”
“You’re not allowed to date until you’re sixteen anyway.”
“That’s not that far away.”
Cade grimaced, like he didn’t like his girls growing up. He elbowed Alex playfully. “Shall I chain you up, like in Ella Enchanted, so you can’t murder this future boyfriend?”
Alex tilted back, her face scrunched up.
“That came out wrong, didn’t it?” Cade rubbed the back of his neck.
“Maybe a little.”
He sat back in the couch, crossing his feet in front of him, and unmuted the TV. When he found ESPN, Alex sidled up next to him, certain that Cade was the only guy in her life she needed. He was the closest thing to a dad she’d ever known.
***
The slamming of school lockers wasn’t the only thing that rang in Alex’s ears. Someone was humming.
“Still dating Mister Tall, Dark, and Handsome?” Katie murmured.
Alex smiled, filled with the image of Promenade getting stronger every day. “Til death do us part.”
“I thought so. You look really happy. You’re humming.”
Alex’s eyes widened. She was the one humming? Her smile fell, then rose again. “Yeah, I guess I am.” She looked at Katie. “You wanna come over some time? I’ve started focusing on my own workout routine. I’m testing for my jockey license in October.”
Katie beamed. “Saturday?”
“Yeah, we’ll go for a run, then I’ll introduce you to Speedy.”
Katie’s eyebrow rose, questioning. “He one of your horses?”
Alex laughed.
On Saturday, Alex met Katie out on the highway by North Oak’s gate. She pulled her heel to her butt, stretching her quads, then did the other side.
Katie waited patiently, hugging her triceps, and rolling her shoulders. “Ready?”
She took off, cackling, before Alex had a chance to answer. The glee filling the air went right into Alex, rousing an impish grin on her face. She warmed at the way Katie always made her smile, even if she didn’t want to.
Ready or not, Alex took off at a jog after her, pacing herself for what would be a long run for her, but a solid conditioning run for Katie. She didn’t ask where they would go, simply followed a good horse-length or two behind her. They wove deep into the woods, and ended up emerging on the other side of the pig farm.
Alex braced her hands on her hips, pacing. Katie grinned at her. She didn’t even break a sweat, and here Alex was trying to catch her breath.
“You okay?” Katie asked.
Alex nodded, wordlessly. Her windpipe burned a little as she sucked in the air her lungs cried out for.
Katie passed by her, casually cuffing Alex on her bicep. They exchanged goofy smiles, because Alex knew there was more intention in the touch than Katie let on. And that was okay. For once, Alex didn’t mind the affection.
Katie shook out her ankles. “Ready to head back? I want to meet Speedy.”
Alex nodded. “Can I set the pace?”
Katie smirked. “Sure.”
Alex set off at a jog again, and Katie pulled up beside her.
“So this Speedy… let me guess, it’s a joke of some kind. Right?”
Alex grinned. “Not telling.”
“He’s probably super slow and clunky or something.”
“You’ll ruin the surprise.”
“Is it a pony?” Katie pressed. When Alex didn’t answer, Katie’s face went stark. “Oh my gosh, it’s a pony isn’t it!”
Alex shoved her playfully.
They ran back to North Oak, with Katie’s eager questions only building. Alex lead her to the indoor arena, and walked the big doors open.
In celestial fashion, rays of light streaked through the windows above and down onto a haybale with a racing saddle strapped to it.
Alex gestured to the musty thing. “Meet Speedy.”
Katie strode up to it in disbelief. “You’re kidding.”
“It’s really real, Dave.”
Katie turned to her, mouth gaping. “It’s not even a horse!”
Alex walked around the bale. “Well, I guess you’ll never worry about being thrown.”
Katie stuck the toe of her running shoe into Speedy’s side, still looking like she wasn’t sure if this was a joke or not. Or if Speedy would turn into a pony.
“Be my guest,” Alex said, motioning to the saddle.
Katie glanced up. “What do I do? Just stick my feet in the stirrups, and…?”
“Pretty much.”
Katie paced, as though she weren’t sure how to mount, but she swung her leg over, settled into the tiny saddle, and pulled her feet into the stirrups.
Alex giggled, listening to the things Katie muttered as she tried to get adjusted; like, “There’s nothing here!” and “Giddyup.”
She looked up at Alex with this crazy smirk on her face. “I’ve always wanted to try this.”
“Never had a pony to run your stirrups super high on?”
“Nah, it’s been just me and my dad since I was really little. My mom…” Her smirk dissolved. “I can barely remember her.” She looked dazed for a minute, then shrugged suddenly, bright again. “How do you make this thing go?”
Alex started with basics. “Heels down, then crouch and rise.”
She stood near Katie’s shoulder while the girl got her bearings. Katie started to rise, and seemed steady for a moment, then tipped forward unexpectedly. Alex caught her arms.
Katie gazed into her eyes. “Thanks.”
“It was a good try.” Alex eased her back into position, waiting until she felt balanced to let go.
Katie winced. Alex knew that look all too well from her own training with Speedy.
“Whole new muscles you didn’t know existed, right?” Alex said.
Katie growled through her teeth, “Hurts so good!” A bead of sweat formed at her temple. “This is, like, the most amazing quad workout.”
“You’re crazy.” Alex took a few steps back to inspect her form. “Why are all my friends insane?”
Katie glanced up. “Just lucky, I guess.”
“Lower yourself closer to Speedy. Find your center of gravity,” Alex instructed. “You should feel it through your hamstring.”
Katie followed orders. She looked good. “You think we could make a thing of this?”
Alex didn’t have a whole lot going on most weekends with Promenade recovering. “Sure, why not.”
After a minute or so, Katie sank back onto the saddle. “That was amazing.”
Alex nodded, not in agreement, but that her notion her friends were crazy was absolute. “It’s almost lunch time. You wanna come back to the house with me?”
Katie followed her to the Showmans’ home, where Alex swung the door wide. “I brought a friend over. I hope that’s okay.”
Alex stood at the foot of the stairs watching Cade carefully slide a king size chocolate bar under Laura’s door. He made it seem like a Mission Impossible movie, or diffusing a bomb.
When it was securely in Laura’s room, Cade practically leapt down the
stairs. “Satan has been fed. I repeat Satan has been fed!”
“Cade.” Hillary gave him a dirty look, but Alex sniggered.
Cade ruffled Alex’s hair, speaking to his wife. “Al gets it.”
“What was that all about?” Katie asked when Cade stepped away.
Alex sighed. “Her boyfriend dumped her. She’s been a mess the last few days. It’s getting on my nerves.”
“Ugh.” Katie rolled her eyes, half-smiling. “Boys.”
***
Alex brought a pizza and a big liter of soda over to Brooke and Dejado’s apartment. She smiled in relief when Brooke opened the door, and hoisted the refreshments.
“We forgot to celebrate our new partnership,” Alex said, letting herself in. She plunked the box and bottle down on the nearest coffee table and took off her hoodie. “Okay, honestly, Laura is driving me cocoa-bananas.”
“Yeah, she’s taking this thing pretty hard.”
“Maybe Dejado should date her,” Alex said in jest.
He poked his head into the livingroom from the kitchen. “You rang?”
Brooke smirked. “Alex thinks you should go make Laura feel better, since John dumped her.”
Dejado sucked one of his fingers. “I’m making brownies.”
Alex rolled her eyes. Of course he is. “Sometimes you’re too perfect.”
Dejado grinned. “I aim to please, m’ladies.”
Alex opened the pizza box and grabbed a slice. “Put a movie on. I don’t even care what one.”
Brooke shuffled over to the small library of discs she shared with Dejado and began filing through them.
“Thanks for letting me in, by the way,” Alex said with a full mouth. She downed some of the soda she brought after pouring it into a cup Dejado set out.
“With Laura it’s boys, boys, boys, boys. Cry, cry, cry. I know you wouldn’t do that to me.”
Just as they were settling in to the movie, Brooke got up to answer the door. Alex didn’t hear the visitor, but then Laura barged in. She was quiet at first, then started wailing as she collapsed on the couch.
When Brooke sat, Laura dropped her head onto her lap.
“Ohhh, dear,” Brooke said.
Laura’s words were intelligible. This was exactly the nonsense Alex was trying to escape from.
Oh, Mylanta, as Hillary would say. Alex rose. “Have fun with that.”
She grabbed her hoodie and left. So much for getting some peace and quiet from this boyfriend nonsense.
***
On the last day of school, Alex entered to see a large majority of the student body gathered around a long row near her locker. As she drew closer, they parted.
Someone had obviously spray painted in giant red letters across several of the lockers, KATIE LOVES ALEX.
Alex’s first reaction was to demand to know who did this. Sullenly, she held it in, got into her locker, and gathered her things.
If she were Katie, where would she hide? Not the bathroom. Every girl went there. Katie wasn’t every girl. Maybe the locker room?
Alex stormed off to the gym to find her. Once inside, she didn’t see anyone, but she had an idea. There was one room nobody really went into, and that’s where Alex went.
Katie huddled in the shadows of the utility closet, crying.
Alex laid her books on a bench and went inside, closing the door behind her.
“You okay?” Obviously she wasn’t, but Alex couldn’t think of anything else to say. Katie was hurting, and it was cruel what they did out there to her.
“They outed me Alex,” Katie sobbed.
Alex sighed, sliding down beside her. “Who cares?”
Katie looked at her incredulously. “I do!” She buried her face in her hands, shaking her head. “I’ve been sitting in church, fighting it. I told my dad that I don’t wanna be like this.”
“A track star?” Alex tried to crack a joke. She sobered when it didn’t help. “It doesn’t change who you are. You’re still Katie Kick-Ass Chapman. Own it.”
Katie wiped at her tears, sniffling. She took a deep, shuddered breath and leaned her head back.
“Oh, God. Are we really in a closet?”
Alex grimaced, but it was kind of ironic. She rubbed Katie’s back. “You come out when you’re damn well ready to.”
The rest of the day, Alex and Carol had Katie’s back. In passing, Brad started doing a yippy little dog bark at them. A dark, victorious grin smothered his face.
“Is that as low as you can go, or did someone take your manhood?” Alex glared at him.
It stopped him in his tracks. “What did you just say to me?”
Alex pointed at the graffiti on the lockers that the custodial staff were trying to paint over already.
“I don’t have proof of who did that, but I’ve got a win ticket in on you.”
Brad jabbed a finger at her. “You better watch yourself, shortstop. Or I’ll— ”
“Or you’ll what?” Alex put her hands on her hips.
“You won’t get away with what you did,” he growled.
“Katie told me you’ve been trying to use her to get to me.” She took a step toward him, close enough to lower her voice. “If this is some petty way to do it, you’re hurting Katie more than you’re hurting me. Pull your shrunken dickhead out of your ass already, Hopkins.”
His eyes narrowed, holding her stare. He finally backed off.
Alex looked over her shoulder. Carol put her arm around Katie.
“You know if you ever need a friend, we’re here,” Carol offered.
At the end of the day, Carol headed toward Dejado waiting in his truck at the curb. “We survived ninth grade!”
Alex smiled. “You go on ahead. I need to talk to Katie.”
Carol nodded and hurried outside. Alex watched for a moment as Carol got buckled. Dejado saluted Alex from the cab of his truck. He cranked up the music, and he and Carol started bobbing their heads to the beat.
Alex turned down the hall where she found Katie waiting by her locker. “I’ll miss you,” Katie said.
“You make it sound like we won’t see each other again.”
Katie looked away, frowning.
“You sure you’re okay?” Alex asked as she scribbled down the Showmans phone number. “Hey, summer doesn’t have to be goodbye. I’m not leaving you behind. We’ve still got our Saturdays.”
“You mean that?”
Alex smiled.
Katie threw her arms around Alex’s neck, shocking her with a peck on the cheek. She backed away bashfully, clutching the strip of paper to her chest.
Alex touched the assaulted cheek, a little dazed. She hoped she didn’t give Katie the wrong impression.
As she headed into the sunlight to join Carol and Dejado, Alex braced herself for their terrible, off-key, cat-gutting singing. Which, secretly, was starting to grow on her. She crawled into the cab beside Carol and turned up the volume as loud as the three could stand it, appreciating how lucky she was to be part of this DJ&C sandwich.
And thinking to summer, bring it on.
TWITCH
On Memorial Day, Alex, Brooke, and Joe huddled around the TV in Joe’s cottage, watching a replay of the most recent running of the Preakness Stakes.
“Down to the sixteenth pole. Black Scotch switches to the outside. Thunder Rush trying to turn the tables on him, but it’s Black Scotch cruising to a maddening win. Black Scotch takes the Preakness Stakes!”
Joe turned the video off, sighing. “Well. There’s that.”
Alex watched him with a wary gaze. “That’s two of the three Triple Crown jewels. Think Promenade can take him?”
“The country is hanging by a breath for the next three-year-old champion. Promenade’s becoming a whisper in their memory, having been out since March. Winning the Belmont?” Joe shook his head. “I dunno. It’s a tall order.”
“He can do it,” Alex said. “Black Scotch might as well kiss his bid goodbye.”
Brooke smirked. “Sounds
like you’ve got your work cut out for you.” She rose to kiss her grandfather on the cheek before heading out the door. “Welcome home, Pop.”
Joe stroked the whiskers on his chin, as if contemplating whether or not to point Promenade at the Belmont was worth it. “Brooke?”
She paused in the open doorway.
Joe looked over his shoulder. “Tell that boy of yours to pack his bag. We’re going to New York.”
Alex fist pumped. Time to crash this party.
With Joe’s approval to point Promenade toward the Belmont, Alex didn’t dare miss a day of the colt’s workouts. She even braved standing right next to bristly old Joe, peeking over his shoulder at his stopwatch. She studied his face too, wondering if she could gain any intel from his usually stoic expression.
It never seemed to change, not even for Promenade. The old man constantly looked like Popeye. How did that trainer’s brain tick? Was Promenade good enough? Was he still a freak, as Joe called him?
When the colt came off the track, Joe crossed to him, running his hands over Promenade’s legs. Dejado had a tough job, trying to keep the horse steady. He was all worked up.
“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.
Dejado patted the colt’s neck, keeping a tight hold on the reins. “He felt good.”
Joe didn’t look up. He let his hands slowly wander over knee and cannon, as if he were listening for something. They ran up to Promenade’s shoulder, as well as his flank. “He’s different.”
“Different how?”
Joe squinted. “Get the vet.”
Alex gulped. This couldn’t be good.
Dejado dismounted, nodding in the direction of the training barn. “Let’s cool him out,” he said to her.
Alex stuffed her hands in her pockets and followed him. Her heart sank to her stomach, just this heavy, avocado-pit feeling the size of her fist. Her gaze wandered to Promenade. He tossed his head and rubbed it against Dejado, knocking him toward Alex.
Dejado bumped into her, and apologized quickly, before bumping back into the colt on purpose. Promenade nipped Dejado’s protective vest playfully.
The colt seemed full of himself. He couldn’t be sick again. So what had Joe all wound up?