“Great,” I mumbled. I would have been nervous anyway, but did the two ponies in front of me really have to have disaster rounds?
“Clear head,” Susie reminded me.
Right. I couldn’t fall apart before I even got in there. I thought about Mom. About watching the video of my round with her when I got home and her seeing what a great rider I really was. This was what I’d wanted. I’d done things I’d never thought I’d do for this very moment and now I had to make it count.
The girl trailed her groom and pony out of the ring. I looked past them and went into the ring.
“Good luck!” Susie called after me.
Chapter 55
* * *
“And now on to our next green pony, Visions of Blue, owned by Thomas Hewitt and ridden today by Regan Sternlicht.”
Hearing my name paired with Frankie’s gave me an extra little shot of adrenaline. I took a look around the huge ring, which instead of looking smaller with the jumps in it, somehow looked even grander. The jumps were decorated with bright flowers, each looking like a display in a florist shop window.
I eased Frankie into a trot and before I could even ask him he broke into a canter. His stride felt ragged and uneven. I’d never find the distances this unbalanced. I half-halted him and tried to get some sort of consistent rhythm to his canter. I sat down in the saddle for a few strides and then rewarded him by lightening my seat. I felt him settle in a little and the canter rhythm felt better, which was good because I was headed to the first jump. Sighting the jump, Frankie quickened again. It took all my will not to pull hard on the reins as we headed, above the pace, to the wall with the birch rail and enough brush to fill the back of a landscaping truck. I had to let Frankie keep going to make the eight strides and we landed from the line going too fast.
I half-halted and took a deep breath and perhaps I was imagining it, but it felt like Frankie almost did, too. He had come back to me. I found a nice distance into the line across the diagonal, choosing the left side of the double jumps. Frankie didn’t spook at the hedges, but he did overjump them. He burst forward eagerly on landing again and I knew we would be chipping into the out of the line if I didn’t use the bend to slow him down and fit in the strides.
I tried to use the curve of the line, bending out and asking him with a light half-halt to slow down. If I acted desperate, he’d respond desperately. I used my seat bones lightly touching down in the saddle and my upper body to tell him we needed to back down a notch. Two strides passed, then three. Was I getting his stride short enough? Or would we be eating the out of the line? Four strides. I saw the distance coming up. It was going to be too tight. Frankie wasn’t backing off enough—he was going to run right through the distance. Without really thinking about it, I murmured, “Brrr.” If I had thought more about what I was doing I might have realized he could have slid to a screeching halt. Instead, he seemed to understand I didn’t mean halt—I just meant slow down. He eased back and we were a little deep to the second hedge, but it wasn’t a total chip. I turned back up the middle to the two-stride, finding a nice distance in. I turned to the last line, the ten to the six. I was a little deep again coming in, but it ended up helping make the other two jumps work.
I landed to Susie and Tommy’s whoops confirming what I couldn’t tell by feel—that he’d jumped well, getting his front end up even when we were deep.
As I rode my closing circle I did a mental replay of my trip. A few deep distances and I’m sure Frankie looked a little nervous. But no big mistakes, which hopefully meant I wouldn’t be in the dungeon. I had done it. I’d turned in a solid round on a difficult pony in his first time at Pony Finals. I couldn’t wait for Mom to see my trip.
“Really good job,” Susie said as I came out of the ring.
“Great ride,” Tommy added. “You really finessed the hedge line.”
The scores came up on the board. Seventy-six, seventy-eight and eighty-point-five. I had moved into ninth place.
Dad was waiting in the tent with Hailey and Jane. He hugged me tight and said, “That wasn’t easy, was it?”
“Not at all. It was hard to keep him together. I felt like at any moment I might lose his frame of mind.”
“You rode him so awesome!” Jane said. “So much better than I would have. I probably would have left out strides everywhere. You were able to get him to fit it in.”
I would order the official video later, but Hailey’s mom had taken a video herself and quickly uploaded it to her Facebook page. I called Mom, hoping we could watch it together while on the phone. But Wendy said she was sleeping. She said I should try back later. Something in her voice made me worry that later wasn’t going to be a good time either.
I walked away from the tent, just wanting to be alone for a moment. I’d wanted so badly to share my ride with my mom. When I’d jumped the last fence I’d immediately thought about what she’d say when she saw it. How proud she’d be of me. I’d nearly forgotten that Mom wasn’t Mom anymore.
I walked off a little ways, not wanting everyone to see me upset and near tears. I just needed a few moments to get myself back together. I saw Dakota sitting in her golf cart. Her back was to me but there was no mistaking her hair. She was on the phone and her voice sounded upset. “But you said you’d be here. Mom—” She hung up a few moments later and dropped her head into her hands.
Her parents couldn’t come to the biggest show of the year. My mom had come to every show, no matter how sick she was, until she physically wasn’t able to. Dakota’s parents were never at a show—choosing their charity work above their daughter. For the first time ever in my life, I felt a little bit sorry for Dakota.
Chapter 56
* * *
After everything that had happened over the last few days, I was even more excited than ever for the lip sync. I don’t know about Jane, but I needed a non-horse night where I could focus on nothing else but cheering Hailey on.
Jane and I helped check people in as Kim Kolloff, the event organizer, rushed around taking care of last minute details. The sound system and microphone needed tinkering and the stage lights were too bright. It was strange to see riders out of their show clothes. I almost didn’t recognize Ava Higgenbotham with her hair down.
Before it was time to start, Jane and I slipped backstage to wish Hailey good luck. She looked killer in her leather pants and leather jacket. Her black spiky mullet wig looked almost like her real hair and she had on tons of black eyeliner just like Joan Jett. Alex was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up. We’d put fake tattoos on his biceps.
When it came time for the event to start, I settled into my seat up front with Dad, Jane, Susie, Tommy, and Mrs. Mullins. I missed Mom and wished she were there. She would have cheered so loudly for Hailey. It hurt so much that I couldn’t even just pick up the phone and call her. Dad and I tried back later and she’d gotten on the phone and said a few words, but she wasn’t old Mom. I hoped it would be better when we got home. At the same time I realized I was now doing what the doctors had been doing—hoping. Wendy said maybe texting would be good so I texted a few times and she answered, but I had the feeling Wendy was the one writing back.
Mrs. Mullins pointed to the judging panel. “Oh my god, there’s Donna Dames!”
Donna had a few number one hits back in the eighties and she was also a huge animal lover, which was how she’d agreed to be the celebrity judge for the lip sync.
“I love you, Donna!” Mrs. Mullins shouted out.
The seven-to-nine age group went first. The first act was two small pony kids doing a Rihanna song. They hopped around the stage, their cuteness making up for pretty lame choreography and lip syncing. Anna and Jill were also cute doing their Kelly Clarkson song. In the ten-to-fourteen age group category, Charlie Frisch kicked it off with a song by Justin Bieber and everyone was in hysterics because he looked a lot like him.
Dakota went toward the end. She did Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies”, which figure
d. The crowd quieted down, just like they did when a good horse entered the ring. Everyone knew she was the one to beat. She was wearing a really tight mini dress and her hair was dyed blue. She was a good dancer and I hated to admit it but she had good choreography. People started whistling and cheering as she strutted around the stage. After what I’d witnessed, maybe I didn’t hate her quite as much. But I still wanted Hailey to win.
There was one more act before Hailey. It was actually really good, three sisters wearing long sparkly dresses and wigs doing a medley of Supremes’ songs. The crowd got really into it, but I was so nervous for Hailey and Alex, I was only half watching. I hoped we were right about adding Alex and it wouldn’t look stupid. The group finished to loud cheers and whistles.
As they left the stage, the announcer said, “Next up we have Hailey Mullins doing ‘I Love Rock and Roll’.”
Hailey walked onto the stage with purpose, followed by Alex. She didn’t acknowledge him, pretending that he wasn’t there. She stood in the middle of the stage, arms crossed. Alex stood off to the side. I could feel every girl in the crowd take in the sight of him. I inched forward in my seat as the music started. Alex turned his back to Hailey and pretended to put coins into an imaginary jukebox. He hunched over the jukebox, tapping his foot to the beat.
I meant to keep my eyes on Hailey, but I kept looking at Alex. He looked so unbelievably hot in the jeans and white T-shirt. I never would have guessed from the way he liked to disappear for hours into the woods with his bike that he would be comfortable in the spotlight, but he seemed relaxed on stage. I could tell that a lot of girls in the audience were noticing him and wondering who he was, if they didn’t already know. Hailey was singing about how he was going to be going home with her. He spun around and they locked eyes dramatically. She strutted over to him and circled around him. She moved away from him again and then toward the end of the song, she motioned to him and he walked toward her. Even though I knew it was pretend, I felt jealous of Hailey. For the finale, she threw her arms around Alex possessively. The crowd went crazy as Hailey did a quick bow.
For a second I thought I saw Alex look at me, but the lights were so bright on stage and dark in the audience that I couldn’t be sure. Anyway, why would a fifteen-year-old be looking at me, when he could probably get any girl in the audience?
Hailey and Alex left the stage and Kim Kolloff came on to tell everyone that it would be a few minutes before the results were announced.
“Do you think she won?” Jane asked over the buzz of the crowd.
“God, I hope so,” I said.
Jane rolled her eyes. “I hate to say it but Alex was good.”
Mrs. Mullins leaned over and grabbed my arm. “She was great, wasn’t she? We were right about needing a guy.”
Finally, another woman came on stage and handed Kim Kolloff an envelope. “First of all I’d just like to thank our contestants—you were all amazing! Tonight we’ve raised so much money for Danny and Ron’s and we have you to thank for that. I’d also like to thank our judges, especially the amazing Donna Dames, who have the nearly impossible job of scoring all these awesome performances!”
The clapping quickly faded out. We all wanted to get to the results.
“Okay, let’s get to what you’ve been waiting for . . .”
Of course we had to wait through the results for the younger age group. Anna and Jill were second in the seven-to-nine age group. They finished third. Finally, it was time for the award for the ten-to-fourteen age group.
“In third place with an eighty in choreography, a seventy-eight in lip sync, and an eighty-three for overall performance is Ainsley Light.”
If Ainsley, who had done a so-so version of a Nicki Minaj song, placed third, Hailey had to be in the top two. Surely it was down to Hailey and Dakota. I exchanged a hopeful look with Jane, who held up crossed fingers and said, “I can’t believe I actually want my brother to win.”
“In second place with an eighty in choreography, an eighty-two in lip sync, and an eighty-six in overall performance . . . Dakota Pearce!”
Jane and I squealed, but then I pressed my finger to my lips. Hailey hadn’t won yet and you never knew what could happen. Dakota came out to give a bow. She smiled, but it was fake. I had another pang of feeling sorry for her. She had no one there for her and here we all were cheering for Hailey.
“And now, our winner in the ten-to-fourteen age group, with an eighty-seven in choreography, an eighty-seven in lip sync, and a ninety in overall performance . . . Hailey Mullins.”
Jane and I stood up and cheered. I yelled so hard my throat hurt. Dad, who always seemed calm, also stood and pumped his fists in the air. He and Hailey’s mom high-fived. We stood and cheered through the whole award ceremony. Even though Jane, Hailey, and I were best friends, a lot of time in the ring we had to compete against each other. This time we could root for Hailey as hard as we wanted and it was totally genuine.
Hailey ran down from the stage into the stands. She grabbed my hands and we did a silly dance, jumping up and down.
“Oh my god, I won! I did it!” Hailey pulled me close and whispered in my ear, “We smoked her butt!”
“I know! You were awesome!”
I had just let go of Hailey—she was now hugging Jane—when I heard Alex behind me. “Hey, what about me? I think I had a little something to do with it.”
I turned to Alex. I was about to tell him he was awesome, too, but instead he reached out and hugged me. My face pressed into the cotton of his white T-shirt, which smelled wonderfully of his sweat. He was a head taller than me and he felt stronger than I’d ever imagined he would. We stayed there, hugging, for what seemed like a moment longer than friends normally would. And when he pulled back, he looked at me like he might kiss me. I’d never kissed anyone before, so I wasn’t sure how I knew that was what might be about to happen but I just knew it—I guess it was instinctual. Maybe he was embarrassed by letting his emotions overtake him, because he turned away and hugged Hailey. I watched him hug her and he let go quickly. It was nothing like what had happened between us.
“Isn’t this awesome?” Jane was tugging on my elbow, trying to figure out why I looked like I’d just seen a ghost. Something had happened between Alex and me—that was for sure.
To cover up, I said, “Yeah, I’m almost in shock.”
Chapter 57
* * *
Hailey and I were in the spectator tent. Jane would be coming in the ring any moment now. As much as I didn’t want to ride Tyler, it did feel a little strange to be watching while Jane was out there riding. I was still in my breeches and show shirt, because I’d had the small pony model and hack that morning with Drizzle.
The class was called back in reverse order so Hailey had gone early. She had a really good round with Donald, but her scores had still only been high-seventies. He didn’t move well enough or look smooth enough for her to break into the eighties, which meant she was finishing way out of the ribbons. But she had won the lip sync and that was big. She hadn’t raised the most money and gotten the golf cart but that didn’t matter. Ava Higgenbotham had raised over $20,000. We’d raised a lot and it was great that Ava had raised so much more since it all went to Danny and Ron’s.
Jane had won the model and the hack with Tyler, which put her in first place, but also gave her the dreaded task of going last in the class. Going last was hard for anyone, but Jane always wanted to go first when she could. Now, all eyes were on her. Would she keep the lead, or be known as the biggest choke of this year’s Pony Finals? To make things even more tense, coming in second to last was Ike.
“I’m really nervous for her,” I told Hailey.
“Don’t be. This is Jane.”
I was glad Hailey was so confident in Jane. I still couldn’t help but feel like all the pressure might get to her. The greatest riders ever had been known to make the ultimate mistakes. In the live stream of the Medal Finals, McKayla Crowne, who was called back on top in the second round
and was favored to win, jumped up the neck, knocking her out of the ribbons completely.
If Emily made a mistake with Ike that would at least help relieve some of the pressure for Jane, but of course Emily was having a really good trip. She was halfway through the course and I could see Jane, Susie, and Tommy at the in gate, watching and waiting for Jane’s turn.
Emily turned to the in-and-out. She was a little tight to the in, but Ike still jumped well. She rode the last two lines and finished to whoops from her trainer. Scores of eighty-one, eighty-three, and eighty-five flashed on the board. “That moves Impromptu into the top spot with our last of the one hundred and eighty medium ponies competing here today at the in gate.”
There was no leeway for Jane—she would have to lay one down to beat her, or lose to the pony she had made up.
Jane walked into the ring on Tyler, and Hailey and I wordlessly turned our full attention to them. Everybody in the tent was watching, too—riders, trainers, parents.
“Now on course, our last to go, Woodland’s Tried and True, owned by Regan Sternlicht and ridden today by Jane Hewitt.”
My arms felt stiff and my stomach unsettled. I was more nervous for Jane then I would have been if I were the one walking into the ring on Tyler. Jane had to be perfect to win. Not one tight distance. Not one change in tempo. She couldn’t be good or good enough. Then people would say she couldn’t handle the pressure, or that she wasn’t such a good rider after all. The medium championship and the overall championship were on the line, as well as the admiration of everyone watching. But most importantly, she had to show her dad that she could do it.
She stayed at a walk for a few moments longer than most riders had. I wasn’t sure if it was from nerves or confidence.
She eased Tyler straight into the canter, a seamless transition, and headed to the first jump. The expansive arena only made Tyler look more impressive, like seeing a movie star on a big screen instead of on your TV.
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