It was hard not to be flattered by that, especially after such a rotten weekend. But as Kate glanced at the tall chestnut gelding staring out of the stall at her, her stomach started doing nervous flips. Because she couldn’t even begin to imagine what Nat was going to say about this.
Tommi wasn’t sorry to see Zara leave a few minutes later. After overhearing Joy mention that she needed to drive over to the feed store, Zara had talked the assistant trainer into dropping her off at the nearest Metro North station on the way. Something about her cousin messing up the apartment; she’d spent most of the ride out to the barn blabbing about it, actually, though Tommi had been too worried about Kate to pay much attention.
And she was still worried about her. As soon as Zara was gone, Tommi went in search of Kate, hoping she’d cooled off by now. Their little intervention definitely hadn’t gone as well as Tommi might have hoped. Had it been a huge mistake to ambush her like that? Kate might come across as meek and mild most of the time, but she’d just proved that it was possible to push her too far. Tommi needed to find her, make her understand that they were just trying to help. That they were worried about her—really worried.
She rounded the corner and spotted Kate halfway down the aisle with Fitz. The two of them were standing arm in arm in front of a stall, looking at a tall, lean chestnut Tommi didn’t recognize. But she barely spared the horse a glance.
“Kate,” she called out, hurrying toward them. “Can I talk to you a sec?”
She held her breath as Kate turned to face her. Her expression was guarded and anxious, but less angry than it had been earlier. Or was that wishful thinking?
“Yo, Tommi,” Fitz said, gesturing toward the horse. “Check out my new ride.”
“Later, okay?” Tommi didn’t take her eyes off Kate. “I, um, really need Kate’s advice about something.”
“Uh-oh, sounds like girl stuff.” Fitz laughed, clearly in one of his goofy, extra-happy moods and completely unaware of the tension. “Message received.” He leaned down and planted a kiss atop Kate’s blond head. “I’ll wait for you out by the car, okay?”
“I’ll be right there,” Kate replied. “I’m sure this won’t take long.”
Fitz gave the chestnut a quick pat, then loped off down the aisle. As soon as he was out of sight, Tommi took a step forward.
“Listen, Kate,” she said. “I’m really sorry Zara and I upset you.”
“How could you do it, Tommi?” Kate said softly, her voice cracking a little. “It’s bad enough you’d think something like that about me, without telling some girl I barely know all about it.”
“Actually, Zara was the one who mentioned it to me first.” Tommi shrugged. “But that doesn’t really matter. Look, I know you’re a superstrong person, Kate, and maybe I’m way out of line here. But it kind of freaked me out that you didn’t come to me about the breeches thing, so I just want to say it now. If you’re ever in trouble and need help, I’ve always got your back. Seriously. No limits.”
Kate bit her lip, not quite meeting her eye. “I know you do,” she whispered. “Thanks.”
Tommi waited, hoping for more. But Kate was looking at her watch, maybe already thinking about taking off to meet Fitz.
“So,” Tommi said quickly, not wanting her to go just yet. Things still felt way too unresolved, too uncertain. Definitely not Tommi’s favorite feeling. “Who’s this guy?” She stepped over to the chestnut, giving him a scratch on the neck as he nosed at her curiously.
“Fitz’s new horse.” Kate shot the gelding a look that Tommi couldn’t quite figure out. “We saw him at the Happy Acres show last weekend, and, um, I mentioned that he looked pretty nice. So Fitz decided to buy him, and he wants me to help train him up into a show hunter.”
“If Fitz was looking for a new horse, I wish he’d have told me. I have one I could’ve sold him.” Tommi forced a grin, though she wasn’t really in a joking mood. “But seriously, sounds like a cool project, I’m sure you’ll have fun with him.”
“Yeah.” Kate didn’t crack a smile. “Anyway, I should probably go—Fitz is taking me to the diner. You know, to celebrate.”
“Oh.” Tommi felt helpless, as if her friend was slipping away from her right in front of her eyes. How could she help if Kate wouldn’t even talk to her? “Okay. Um, but maybe we could get together later? You know, just hang out—like old times. If you’re up for it.”
Kate had already started to turn away. But she paused, looking back at Tommi. “Sure,” she said softly. “Maybe. That sounds nice, actually.”
“Cool. I’ll text you later.” Tommi watched her hurry off down the aisle, still feeling worried—but also oddly relieved.
Okay, maybe the intervention had been a mistake. Maybe not. Either way, Tommi wasn’t about to give up on her friend. Not now, not ever.
No limits.
The drama is far from over.
Read on for a sneak peek of the next
A CIRCUIT novel
ZARA
“So do you really think you can pull it off? Hide the whole Stacie thing from your mom?” Tommi asked.
“We’ll find out, I guess.” Zara was tired of talking about it. It was bad enough she had to live it. “Anyway, I figured I’d better come see my horses just in case I end up grounded for life or something.”
Fitz grinned. “Whatever.” He gave a light tug on the lead line as the tall, skinny chestnut gelding stretched his long neck toward the grass growing beside the path. “Come on, Kate, let’s get our big boy inside and cleaned up.”
“Yeah.” Kate smiled and rubbed the horse’s face as it turned and nuzzled at her. She looked even spacier than usual, and Zara wondered if she’d heard anything the rest of them had said in the past five minutes.
The barn’s big double doors were standing open to catch whatever stray breeze might wander through to help the fans beat back the stifling August heat. Zara hung back to let the horse and his little band of groupies enter the barn first, then peeled off in the direction of Keeper’s stall.
“Later,” she called to the others, not bothering to wait for a response. Even though she was starting to think of them as friends, at least sort of, she didn’t like to count on them feeling the same. Too easy to get knocked on your ass that way, and she had enough problems right now as it was.
As she rounded the corner, Zara checked her watch. Two thirty already. She’d have to hurry if she wanted to squeeze in a ride today. Or maybe she should just feed Keeper a few carrots and call it a day. She definitely wanted to be there when her mother got home that evening. Not that she had any clue what she was going to tell her this time …
“Zara! Oh good, you’re here!”
Zara winced. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Summer rushing toward her with a big, goofy grin on her face.
Summer skidded to a stop beside her. “Where were you yesterday?” she exclaimed. “You totally missed my big news! I’m having a Sweet Sixteen party at the Washington Crossing show! We’re renting out, like, half the old mansion, and there’s going to be a band and, like, a million guests and really awesome food and—”
“Yeah, I heard,” Zara cut her off, putting as much excitement as she felt into her voice. Exactly none.
As usual, Summer didn’t seem to notice. “Oh, you heard about it already? That’s cool.” She beamed. “I guess word spreads fast around here. Especially huge news like this, right? Anyway, you probably heard that, like, the whole barn is invited. But I wanted to make sure to invite you personally, you know? Oh! And there are going to be lots of adults there and stuff, so, like, if your parents wanted to come they’re totally welcome, too.”
Yeah. Of course they were. Zara could only imagine how over-the-top, wet-her-pants psyched Summer would be if Zac Trask and Gina Gerard showed up at her dorky little birthday bash.
“Better not alert the paparazzi on that one,” Zara told Summer. “They’ve both made plans to be in other countries to avoid your party.”
“Wha
t?” Summer’s smile faltered. Zara could almost see the little wheels in the girl’s head turning as she tried to figure out whether Zara was joking.
Even though Summer was getting on her nerves as usual, Zara felt a flash of guilt. A tiny one, anyway.
“Kidding. Duh,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But yeah, they’ll both be out of town then.”
“Oh.” Summer giggled. “Good one, Zara! You’re coming though, right? I mean, you’ll be at the show already, so obviously you’ll come. Right?”
Before Zara had to answer, there was a sudden shout from the other end of the barn. It sounded like Fitz.
“What’s going on?” Zara wondered. “Hope the new racehorse didn’t decide the wash stall looked like a starting gate.”
“I know, right?” Summer wrinkled her nose. “What was Fitz thinking, bringing some scrawny half-trained thing like that into the barn?”
Not really the point, but Zara didn’t bother explaining. “Let’s go see what’s up.”
She headed down the aisle, not bothering to see if Summer was following. The wash stalls were located in the center block of the barn at the opposite end from the feed room. They consisted of several large, airy bays with drains in the floor and hoses on overhead booms.
At the moment only one of the stalls was occupied. Fitz’s new Thoroughbred was watching with pricked ears as Fitz, Kate, and Tommi surrounded someone in the aisle just outside the stall. Zara’s eyes widened when she saw who it was.
“Dani!” she blurted out in surprise. “Whoa, didn’t think we’d see her around here so soon.”
“No kidding,” Summer said. Then she rushed forward, shoving Kate aside to grab Dani. “Oh wow, Dani! Welcome back!”
Dani grinned sheepishly, leaning on one crutch to awkwardly return Summer’s hug. “Hi, Summer. I figured I’d better stop in and show you all I’m still alive,” she joked. “I also want to visit Red and let him know it wasn’t his fault and I still love him.” When she noticed Zara behind Summer, she lifted one hand. “Hey, Zara,” she added. “You totally missed my involuntary dismount yesterday.”
“Yeah, I heard it was pretty spectacular.” Zara stared at Dani’s cast, which covered her left leg from just above her toes to just below the knee. “You okay?”
“She got a nine on the somersault from the Russian judge, but then completely blew the landing,” Fitz said.
“Very funny.” Dani stuck out her tongue at him.
“Don’t listen to him. We’re all glad to see you,” Kate said softly. Shooting Dani a smile, she ducked under the cross-ties and started working on the horse’s far side with a sweat scraper.
“So Marissa said you had to have surgery,” Summer said to Dani.
“Yeah, that was fun.” Dani grimaced. “But I guess it went okay. I’m not supposed to put any weight on it for a while, but the doctors say I should be okay in about six weeks.”
“Six weeks? That’s not too bad,” Tommi said. “You could be back in the saddle in time for Harrisburg.”
“I hope so.” Dani leaned on her crutches. “Anyway, I’ll probably need all six weeks to convince my parents that I’m not going to—”
“There you are!” a loud voice rang out, cutting her off.
A girl Zara had never seen before stomped toward them. She was about their age, with overprocessed reddish-brown hair and hoochie-mama cutoffs. The girl ignored Zara and the others, her angry gaze focused on the horse in the wash stall. She jabbed a finger at it.
“I can’t believe you stole him right out from under me!” she yelled.
Kate took a step out of the stall, gripping her sweat scraper so hard her knuckles were white. “Nat!” she exclaimed.
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge the teachers at the Spence School and at New York University, especially Ms. Eisenberg, Ms. Jewett, and Mr. Dinwiddie, who might have never been impressed with my writing but never let me believe that or accept failure. You always gave me just as much attention as the best student in the class and tried your very best to make me think I was as good as them if I believed in myself. Without your hard work and determination I would not have had the skills or the confidence to help write this book. There are a few of my past teachers who would be shocked that I am an author, and deservedly so. I apologize for making your job more difficult and for never appreciating the opportunity I had to learn from you. My only advice to you and to any teacher is to never give up on even the laziest, most rebellious student in your class. They may never show you that they appreciate it but I can say from experience that they will eventually. To the teachers who did this for me, I thank you and will always remember you.
Georgina Bloomberg
A Note on the Author
Kathy Russels
Georgina Bloomberg is the younger daughter of New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. An accomplished equestrian, Georgina is on the board of directors of the Equestrian Aid Foundation and is the founder of the charity The Rider’s Closet, which collects used riding clothes for collegiate riding teams that are unable to afford them. She also sits on the board of the Bloomberg Sisters and Bloomberg Family foundations. Georgina is a graduate of New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
Georgina is donating a portion of her proceeds from this book to the ASPCA.
CATHERINE HAPKA has published many books for children and young adults, including several about horses. A lifelong horse lover, she rides several times per week and keeps three horses on her small farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania. In addition to writing and riding, she enjoys animals of all kinds, reading, gardening, music, and travel.
Also by Georgina Bloomberg & Catherine Hapka
The A Circuit
Copyright © 2012 by Georgina Bloomberg
Electronic edition published in March 2012
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
First published in the United States of America in March 2012
by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers
www.bloomsburyteens.com
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bloomberg, Georgina.
My favorite mistake : an A circuit novel /
by Georgina Bloomberg and Catherine Hapka. — 1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Teen equestrians Tommi, Kate, and Zara try to put aside thoughts of boyfriends and family issues as they continue to compete on the elite A-circuit, but secrets they are keeping from one another prove more problematic.
ISBN 978-1-59990-755-0 (hardcover) • ISBN 978-1-59990-642-3 (paperback)
[1. Horse shows—Fiction. 2. Horsemanship—Fiction. 3. Friendship—Fiction.
4. Wealth—Fiction. 5. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction.] I. Hapka, Catherine. II. Title.
PZ7.B62345My 2012 [Fic]—dc23 2011015083
ISBN 978-1-59990-746-8 (ebook)
My Favorite Mistake Page 20