“Let’s show them how it’s done, babycakes,” she whispered, adjusting her reins. “If we’re going to go out, at least we can do it with a bang.”
Keeper flowed over the first jump like a hunter. As soon as they landed Zara closed her legs, asking for more speed. The horse responded instantly, ears already pricked toward the next obstacle
By the fifth jump Zara was smiling, everything else forgotten in the sheer joy of galloping and jumping. Keeper felt even better than usual and seemed to be enjoying himself as much as she was.
She steadied him around the turn and looked for her next fence. Her heart started pounding as she realized it was the same jump she’d crashed the night before. It looked different today—a little lower, a little more filler. But seeing it made her tense up as it all came rushing back—the horse hurtling at the jump, the moment she’d realized they weren’t going to make it, her bare legs losing their grip as she flew through the air, the poles crashing down all around her, the thud of the horse landing flat on its back a few feet away …
For a second she froze. Keeper felt it, hesitating even as he locked on the fence, waiting for her to make an adjustment. When it didn’t come, the experienced horse shrugged it off and jumped anyway, but he put in an extra stride and took off a little too close. A second later the top rail clattered to the ground, eliciting a moan of sympathy from the spectators.
Keeper was already galloping on, looking for the next fence. But Zara had started to shake. She hauled on the reins, pulling the horse to a walk. Then she raised a hand toward the judge, signaling that she was withdrawing.
Jamie was waiting for her at the gate. “What happened?” he asked, sounding confused. “It was only one rail.”
Zara just shook her head, too aware of dozens of sets of eyes on her. She wasn’t going to let herself break down in front of all these people. No way. Tossing Keeper’s reins at the nearest groom, she took off at a run.
When she reached the barn, she almost ran into Tommi and Kate, who were standing in the middle of the aisle. Tommi was still in the clothes she’d just showed in, though her horse and helmet were nowhere in sight. Kate looked like a mess as usual, her T-shirt and jeans splattered with hoof polish and horse slobber.
Zara tried to dart past them, but Tommi blocked her path.
“We were waiting for you,” she said.
“I’m kind of busy right now,” Zara said, trying again to move past her.
“This is important.” Tommi frowned. “We have to do something about that horse.”
“Yeah,” Kate put in softly. “We feel really guilty for not telling Jamie what happened. Ford’s suspensory is really messed up—he might never jump again.”
Tommi nodded. “You need to come clean with Jamie,” she said. “Otherwise we will.”
“No way!” Zara blurted out. “If you tell Jamie what I did, he’ll kick me out for sure. And I don’t want to leave!”
She took a step backward, realizing she’d just done it. Let them know how much she actually liked this stupid place. How much she cared about staying. Did they even realize what a big deal that was for her?
Tommi and Kate exchanged a look. Neither of them said anything for a few seconds.
“Look …,” Tommi began at last.
Then they all heard footsteps coming and turned around. Jamie and Fitz had just entered together. Fitz was grinning, which Zara guessed meant he’d done well in his round right after hers.
But Jamie instantly clued in to the tense mood. “What’s going on here?” he asked cautiously.
Tommi’s mind swirled as Jamie stared at them, waiting for an answer. For a second she wasn’t sure what to say. She shot a look at Zara, whose expression was closed and stormy. Then she glanced at Kate. Her face had gone pale the moment Fitz had entered. She was staring fixedly at the toes of her Blundstones.
Yeah. Tommi could see that it was going to be up to her.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she told Jamie. “We want to talk to you about what happened to Ford.”
“Oh?” Jamie’s eyebrows shot up.
Tommi looked over at Zara again. Some of the anger had drained out of her face; now she just looked strained and kind of sad.
Could she really do it? Everyone thought Tommi had nerves of steel. But could she actually rat someone out right to her face? Get her kicked out of a barn that seemed to mean something to her already? She could see Fitz’s eyes widen as he realized what she was about to do; hear Zara’s sharp intake of breath.
“Um,” Tommi said, her nerve flagging, “I, I meant w-we just wanted to say how sorry we were to hear about his stall accident.”
“Hold on,” Zara spoke up, her voice shaking a little. “That’s not all I want to say. There’s something you need to know …”
Kate snapped out of her daze at Zara’s words. She’d been completely focused on Fitz since the moment he’d entered. She’d kept her eyes averted, but the rest of her was tingling with shame and confusion. Had she been wrong to refuse to listen to his apology earlier? Or was she being a sucker now for thinking—hoping?—it might possibly have been for real?
She forgot about all that now as she realized what was happening. Was Zara really about to confess what she’d done? Kate hadn’t been sure she had it in her, and couldn’t help being a little impressed.
“I—I know we aren’t really supposed to be on the showgrounds after hours, but I didn’t think anything bad would happen,” Zara was saying. “I mean, I just wanted to celebrate, you know? Ellie did so great, and a party seemed like a fun idea, and …” Seeming to realize she was rambling, she took a deep breath and turned to face Jamie. “Anyway, the point is—”
“No!” Kate whispered, suddenly realizing what this meant. As soon as Jamie knew the truth, that was the end of the road for Zara at his barn. He was generous with second chances, but not thirds.
“Wait,” Fitz blurted out, cutting off Zara’s next words. He spun to face Jamie. “I’m sorry, dude,” he went on. “I know I should’ve told you right away. It was me—I’m the reason Ford got hurt.”
“What?” Jamie exclaimed.
Kate gasped.
“Yeah,” Fitz said. “I was trying to impress this cute girl from Fair Fields, and since you let me ride Ford in a couple of lessons I just grabbed him because he was handy.” He shook his head. “Anyway, I was way too drunk last night to really realize what I’d done. But I’m totally sorry. I’ll make sure my parents make it up to you.”
Jamie’s face had gone hard. “I see,” he said in a tone that made Kate shiver, glad that she wasn’t on the receiving end.
“Like I said, I’m sorry.” Fitz shrugged. “But I didn’t want to take the easy way out by not confessing. Or, you know, letting someone else take the fall and sacrifice on my behalf.”
As he said the word “sacrifice,” he shot Kate a quick look. She breathed in sharply.
“Come with me,” Jamie told Fitz, his words clipped and angry. “I think we’d better continue this conversation in private.”
He stomped off. Before following, Fitz sought out Kate with his eyes again. They held a hopeful, pleading look, and that was when she knew for sure. He’d done this for her.
After Fitz and Jamie were gone, the others just stood there for a moment. Zara was the first to speak.
“Wow,” she said. “What just happened?”
Tommi shook her head. “I have no idea. Why would Fitz do something like that?” She shot Zara a look. “I mean, even if you two have been—”
“We haven’t,” Zara interrupted. “I mean, yeah, it would make some kind of sense if he was trying to get into my breeches or whatever. But I don’t think he’s into me, so …”
Kate didn’t say a word. She still couldn’t believe he’d done it. But there was no other explanation. This was his big, dramatic gesture. His way of proving he was willing to sacrifice for the chance to be with her. It was kind of demented, sort of like Fitz himself. But weirdly sweet at the same time.
“So what now?” Zara demanded. “Are you guys going to tell Jamie the truth?”
There was a moment of silence after Zara’s question. Tommi wasn’t sure what to say; she was still trying to process what had just happened. It didn’t seem fair that Zara would get away with this, or that Fitz would be punished for something he hadn’t done.
“You don’t think Jamie will kick him out, do you?” Kate asked, turning to Tommi.
“Doubtful.” Tommi shook her head. “He’ll be pretty hard on him for a while, though. Guaranteed.”
“Look.” Zara took a deep breath. “This isn’t right. I don’t want to feel guilty every time I come to the stupid barn. Maybe I should go talk to Jamie after all. And apologize to Javier, too. I never would’ve ratted him out even if my wild guess turns out to be true.”
Tommi could see that she meant it—all of it—and just like that, it didn’t seem to matter anymore. “Talk to Javier if you want, but don’t bother confessing to Jamie,” she told her. “Fitz may not have crashed that horse, but he’s done plenty of other stuff he could stand a little payback for.”
She shot a look at Kate, who didn’t meet her eye. She looked like she was spacing out a little, probably still trying to process all this. Or maybe trying to stop herself from hyperventilating over being that close to Fitz. But Tommi could deal with that later.
“Anyway,” she went on, turning her attention back to Zara, “if he’s so eager to take the fall, maybe we should just let him. His parents can afford to rehab that horse, or buy the owners another one, or whatever it takes.”
“Okay,” Zara said. “But I—”
Tommi didn’t let her finish. “Look, I know how easy it is to make a mistake. Especially when everyone’s always watching you, just waiting for you to screw up.” She shrugged. “I’m willing to give you another shot if you’re really sorry about what happened. But only one more. Third strike and all that.”
Zara almost rolled her eyes at Tommi’s comment. She still wasn’t thrilled with the idea that Fitz was throwing himself on his sword or whatever, especially since she wasn’t sure why he’d done it. But this was all starting to feel a little too after-school special.
She almost said something sarcastic, but stopped herself as she met Tommi’s eye. Maybe she did understand, at least a little. She’d grown up in the same fishbowl as Zara had—sort of, anyway. Could she really trust her to keep a secret this huge? Could she trust any of them?
What choice did she have?
“I think Tommi’s right,” Kate said in her wimpy little voice. But now, for the first time, Zara noticed it had an edge of strength to it. Or something like that. “Fitz decided to do this. Even if he did it without thinking it through, he needs to deal with it.” She glanced over at Tommi. “Especially if he did it without thinking.”
Tommi’s eyes widened for a second. Then she nodded.
Zara had no idea what that was about. But she didn’t really care. It had just really sunk in what this meant. She was okay. She wasn’t going to get kicked out of the barn, at least not right now. And maybe she’d even just found a couple of new friends here. Or at least people she might want to have as friends. She had a feeling she was going to have to work pretty hard to earn their trust after what had happened—as hard as she’d always expected everyone to work to earn hers. Was it worth it?
Just then Tommi gasped. “Oh my God!” she cried, staring at her watch. “I need to get moving. I told the guys I wanted to tack up Legs myself for our class today, but he needs a really good warm-up, and …”
“Say no more,” Kate said. “I’ll help you get him ready.”
“Me, too,” Zara put in.
The other two glanced at her with surprise. But then Tommi nodded.
“Thanks,” she said, shooting her a small smile.
Zara followed as the other two girls hurried toward the tack room. Yeah, maybe it was worth it. At least it was worth sticking around long enough to find out.
What’s up next for Zara, Tommi, and Kate?
Read on for sneak peeks of the next
A CIRCUIT novel
ZARA
“Zara! Hi!” Summer was in the aisle watching Max sweep when Zara entered the barn. “I was hoping you’d come out today. Did you get my text?” She hurried toward Zara, her obnoxious little brat of a dog leaping at her heels.
Great. Just what Zara needed to make her foul mood even worse. Summer was like the ugly chin zit you assumed would go away if you ignored it long enough. Only it didn’t. Just kept getting bigger and more disgusting.
“Nope, didn’t get any text from you,” Zara lied. “Your phone must be screwed up or something.”
Summer’s pale blue eyes widened with alarm. “Do you really think so?” she exclaimed, fishing a shiny new pink cell phone out of the pocket of her Tailored Sportsmans. “But I just got it! It’s exactly like the one Tommi has—well, except hers is boring black—so I figured it was probably, like, really good …”
Zara hardly heard her. Her mind was already wandering back to her father’s big news. Yeah, leave it to Zac to think she’d actually be okay with having a babysitter while he was in Europe. Clueless didn’t even begin to cover it.
But whatever. It looked like she’d just be spending even more time at the barn than usual. At least for the rest of the summer.
As she wandered off down the aisle, she realized Summer was tagging along at her heel as obsessively as her stupid mutt might do. And yapping nonstop just like him, too. Did she even notice that Zara wasn’t listening?
“… and anyway, I heard Fitz is, like, totally grounded from the next show,” Summer was saying as Zara tuned back in. “I wonder if—”
“That’s nice,” Zara cut her off. “Got to run. Ellie’s probably waiting for me. And she hates to wait.”
Both those things were true, at least. Zara had called ahead from the car to ask the grooms to get the mare ready. And Ellie tended to get testy if left in the cross-ties for half a second longer than she felt was necessary.
Zara couldn’t help smiling as she thought about her new horse. Yeah, so maybe it hadn’t all been smooth sailing so far. But that was part of the fun, right? At least Ellie had a mind of her own. Zara was already looking forward to the next show when the two of them could show everyone what they could really do.
“Oh, you mean you’re going for a ride right now?” Summer asked eagerly.
“Um, duh,” Zara said. “Why do you think I came to the barn? To get a mani-pedi?”
Summer appeared totally unfazed by the sarcasm. “Cool, I was thinking about riding soon, too. I’ll join you.”
Zara bit her tongue—literally—to stop herself from snapping out a rude reply. Sure, Summer was a pain in the ass. But she wasn’t really the one who was making Zara feel like crap. Nope, that honor belonged to her own father, the guy who barely noticed when she stayed out until dawn or came home wasted three nights in a row—and yet suddenly seemed to think she needed to be treated like a five-year-old.
“Whatever,” she muttered as Summer hurried off down the barn aisle shouting for Miguel.
Zara turned toward Ellie’s stall. The mare was cross-tied in the aisle with Zara’s saddle already neatly positioned atop a spotless Mattes pad. Javier was bent over the horse’s front legs, fiddling with her sheepskin-lined Eskadron boots.
When she saw the young groom, Zara’s stomach twisted as she instantly flashed back to the Hounds Hollow showgrounds. The drunken crash. The injured horse. Her desperate threat to turn in Javier, to tell Jamie he was illegal. How long had it taken for someone to tell Javier about that? Whatever, he had to know all about it by now. All about how she’d almost ruined his life.
One of the barn dogs, Hugo, was sitting nearby chewing on a stray bit of hoof the farrier must’ve tossed him. The dog wagged his tail and jumped to his feet when he noticed Zara coming, which made Javier look up as well.
“Hi, Miss Trask,” the groom said politely, his dark eyes unreada
ble behind their long lashes. “She’s almost ready for you.”
“Thanks,” Zara muttered, not quite meeting his gaze.
He finished adjusting the boot and stood. “Are you ready?” he asked. “I’ll bridle her for you now if you like.”
“Sure, thanks.”
Javier hurried off toward the tack room with Hugo right behind him, leaving Zara standing there feeling guilty and unsettled as she wondered what the young groom was thinking about her right now. Ugh. And this was supposed to be her refuge from the annoyances of home?
Just then Fitz wandered into view at the end of the aisle. Great. Another person she definitely didn’t feel like dealing with right now. She’d barely seen him since the end of the show, mostly because his parents had banned him from the barn for a week once they heard what had happened. Well, what had supposedly happened.
Zara still couldn’t believe he’d jumped in to cover for her. The weirdest part was that he hadn’t even done it to try to get in her pants. That would have been better, actually. She would’ve known how to handle that.
This? Not so much. She didn’t like owing anyone anything.
“Hey, good lookin’. What’s cookin’?” Fitz quipped when he got closer. “Didn’t know you were here today.”
“Sorry, guess I forgot to alert the media,” she muttered.
It came out sounding more sour than funny, but Fitz laughed anyway. “How’s Ellie today?” he asked, stepping over to give Ellie a scratch on the withers. The mare turned her head as far as the cross-ties would allow, nuzzling him in obvious hope of scoring a treat.
Zara didn’t answer. Javier had just returned with her bridle. He expertly slipped it on, then handed over the reins.
“Do you need anything else, Miss Trask?” he asked in his soft voice.
“No, I’m good.” Zara forced a smile. “Thanks.”
“See you, Javier,” Fitz said. As soon as the groom disappeared around the corner, he glanced at Zara. “Hey, guess what?”
The A Circuit Page 20