Kate glanced up at the stands. They were also mostly empty at this hour, though Kate spotted two or three juniors bent over laptops or schoolbooks. Trying to squeeze in some studying whenever they could, she guessed.
The thought brought on a pang of guilt. Kate had been so busy that she’d barely cracked open a book all week. She would have to do something about that. She could only imagine what Mr. Barron would say if she turned up after the show with none of her chemistry homework done. Not to mention that five-page English paper she was supposed to write, or those problem sets for trig, or …
The pony jerked his head to one side, yanking the reins out of Kate’s hands and Kate’s mind back to the here and now. She couldn’t afford to get spacey at the moment, sleep or no sleep.
“Okay, here we go—easy now …” Kate gathered up the reins, then stuck her left foot in the stirrup and swung carefully aboard. Dazzle scooted forward a few steps, but stopped when Kate asked.
Kate rubbed his withers, then picked up the reins and nudged him forward toward the gate. The pony felt quick and nervous under her, but that was normal for him. It was also normal for Kate to feel like a giant while riding him—he was definitely a lot shorter than Fable or Flame or most of the other horses she rode. That was why Joy usually schooled the mediums at home, since she was several inches shorter than Kate and almost as slim.
Kate waited for a beefy chestnut to pass at an easy canter, then sent the pony into a trot. The gait started off rough, but Dazzle soon settled into his usual long, sweeping stride.
For the next few minutes, Kate kept the pony trotting, throwing in changes of direction, circles, serpentines, some basic lateral work, and anything else she could think of to occupy his busy little mind. It was warm in the ring, and before long the pony had worked up a sweat. Kate started to calculate how long it would take her to bathe him after the workout, then walk him dry and get him groomed. She would need to have him ready to go by the time the braider arrived at—what time had she said she was coming again? Kate tried to focus on what Jamie had told her earlier, but forgot about that when Dazzle suddenly veered off the rail and tossed his head.
“Easy,” Kate said, reeling him in and nudging him back over.
The pony soon settled and Kate stifled a yawn, deciding there was no point in trying to guess when she might actually make it to sleep that night. Still, she couldn’t help wondering what time her friends had gone to bed. Zara had said something about trying to hit some party the juniors from a different barn were throwing, but Tommi and Marissa had seemed skeptical. In any case, Kate was sure that all of them had been snoring away in their hotel rooms for at least the past couple of hours. And would probably still be sound asleep when Kate arrived back at the showgrounds to help the grooms feed …
Realizing she was sinking into a pity party, she did her best to shake it off and focus on what she was doing. This was what she’d signed on for, right? This was the life she loved, living and breathing horses and showing and all the rest. The only way she could be a part of this world was through hard work and long hours. Sometimes really long hours.
And that was okay. Even at times like this, when she was so tired she was yawning every ten seconds and could hardly muster the strength to keep her grip on the reins, she felt lucky and grateful to be here. It wasn’t easy, but it was her life—the only life she could imagine. If her parents and her teachers could just understand that and maybe cut her some slack once in a while …
“Heads up!” a voice rang out.
With a burst of adrenaline, Kate realized she’d drifted into the path of the lumbering chestnut as it headed toward a jump. She quickly kicked Dazzle into a canter to circle out of the way.
“Sorry!” she called to the other rider.
Shaking her head to clear it, she did her best to banish all thoughts of schoolwork, her parents, and the rest. She could worry about that stuff later. Right now she had a job to do.
Chapter Five
“I can’t believe it’s Saturday already—it feels like we just got here like two seconds ago, I swear,” Marissa chattered, her words coming so fast Zara had trouble following them. “Where did the week go?”
“You got me.” Zara grabbed the rag out of Marissa’s hand before she could spook her cross-tied horse by flapping it around. The girl got nervous before every class, but this was ridiculous. “Trust me, I’m not exactly thrilled about going back to school in two days. I doubt I’ve even finished half the crap my teachers gave me to do.”
“You and me both,” Tommi put in, glancing up from the next set of cross-ties, where she was tightening her junior hunter’s girth.
Summer was leaning against the wall nearby, watching Tommi and Marissa get ready for their large junior hunter under saddle class, though Zara noticed she didn’t seem to feel any need to help like Zara and Fitz were doing.
“I got all my homework done yesterday,” Summer announced, studying her manicure. “I wanted to enjoy the last weekend of the show without school stuff getting in my way.”
“Well, aren’t you special,” Zara said with a snort. “I guess every barn needs a resident nerd.”
Summer frowned, while everyone else laughed. Well, almost everyone. Kate was dashing around helping with this and that—rubbing a little more oil on the horses’ hooves, wiping an invisible spot off Marissa’s saddle flap, whatever. It made Zara tired to watch her, especially since Kate seemed even more stressed than the two people who were actually about to ride in the class.
“We’d better hurry.” Tommi pushed back the cuff of her jacket to check her watch. “Where’d I put my bridle?”
“Here it is.” Kate lunged across the grooming area and grabbed a bridle off a hook. “I’ll help you.”
“Can you help me, too?” Marissa begged, clutching her own bridle so hard her knuckles were white. “I’m a total fumble fingers when I’m nervous.”
“Got you covered,” Zara said, stepping forward. She took the bridle from Marissa and slung the reins over her horse’s head. “Unclip him on that side and get the halter off—I’ll do the rest.”
Marissa’s smile was insanely grateful. “Thanks, Zara.”
“Where are all the grooms, anyway?” Summer sounded vaguely annoyed. “Shouldn’t they be here helping you? Isn’t that what they get paid for?”
“Hello! Kate’s standing right in front of you.” Fitz pointed at Kate, who was helping Tommi wrestle with her hunter. Toccata was clearly picking up on the nervous energy zipping around him and had started dancing in place.
“Okay, but she’s not really a groom.” Summer shot Kate a dismissive look. “Just a working student.”
At that moment a girl around their age came rushing down the aisle, trying to shrug on her jacket as she went. Zara had seen her around all week, which meant she probably rode with one of the other barns stabled nearby.
“Are you guys in the hack?” the girl blurted out breathlessly. “Because we’re supposed to be out there right now. They said if we—hey, aren’t you Zara Trask? You know, Zac’s daughter?” She stopped dead in front of Zara, the panic on her face suddenly replaced by naked curiosity. Her gaze slid toward the other girls, quickly looking each of them up and down.
“Zara Trask? Nope, never heard of her,” Zara said, deadpan.
A muffled announcement came over the loudspeaker—something about a five-minute warning. The girl let out a squeak of terror. With one last curious glance at Zara and the others, she raced off.
“Looks like everyone’s still wondering which of you ladies is Zac’s jailbait, huh?” Fitz’s tone was light, but Zara was pretty sure she actually saw a hint of sympathy in his eyes. “Some people really need to get a life.”
“You’re telling me,” Zara muttered.
Summer finally glanced up from her own fingernails. “You can’t blame people for being curious about something like that,” she said. “I mean, for a second I even wondered when I first read that post.” When Zara glared at her,
she opened her pale blue eyes wide. “What? It’s not like it couldn’t be true.”
“It’s not,” Zara told her through gritted teeth. “Trust me.”
“Oh, I totally believe you,” Summer assured her, suddenly sounding more like her usual suck-up self. “I’m just saying, I can sort of understand why other people might believe something like that.”
“Whatever.” Zara tightened the bridle’s noseband a little too abruptly, causing Marissa’s placid hunter to lift his head in surprise. Giving the horse a pat by way of apology, Zara glanced around at the others. “Anyway, I’m definitely over it.”
“How do you think Joy feels?” Fitz grinned. “Everyone thinks she’s either scamming her boss or has, like, an inoperable brain tumor.”
“I know, right?” Marissa fastened her helmet strap. “It’s a good thing Joy never gets on the Internet unless she absolutely has to. She probably doesn’t even know about all the rumors.”
“Whatever,” Zara said again. “I just wish I didn’t know about that blog. I’m sick of everyone at the stupid show asking me about it.”
Marissa looked sympathetic. “Don’t worry. All you have to do is wait for the next superjuicy rumor to come along, and everyone will forget about your dad.”
“What if I don’t want to wait that long?” Zara was feeling more irritable by the second. “Maybe I should do something about it now.”
“Like what?” Fitz raised an eyebrow. “Track down the blogger and pull his hair out? Or her hair—you know, whichever.” He shrugged. “Anyway, good luck with that. I mean, if nobody’s figured out who’s writing that blog by now, I’m not sure we’re ever going to know.”
That gave Zara an idea. So far, the blogger pretty much had the entire A circuit at his or her mercy. That needed to change, and if nobody else was going to make it happen, it seemed to be up to Zara. “Don’t count on it,” she told Fitz. “Because that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“Pull the blogger’s hair out?” Summer sounded alarmed.
“Maybe.” Zara shot her a wicked grin. “But first, I’m going to figure out who’s behind that freaking blog and out them to the world!”
Tommi wasn’t paying much attention to the conversation going on around her. She was focused on the coming class. Her hunter, Toccata, was a rock star over jumps, and he definitely had the movement to do well in the hack, too. But sometimes it was a challenge to keep him focused in a ring full of other horses. Tommi only hoped she was up to that challenge this time. They’d done well enough over fences that she was fairly confident that there would be a champion or reserve champion in it for them if they placed anywhere in the top six in the under saddle.
“We’d better get a move on,” she said, pulling on her gloves. “I want to make sure Toccata gets to take a look around before the class starts.”
“I’m ready.” Marissa let out a nervous giggle. “Here goes nothing!”
“Don’t worry, Miles will take care of you.” Fitz gave Marissa’s horse a fond slap on the neck. “Now get out there and kick some butt, you two!”
Soon Tommi and Marissa were mounted and walking their horses toward the gate of the outdoor ring where the class was being held. The day was overcast but warm, and the horses seemed happy to be outside. “Hold up,” Kate said, hurrying over to wipe Tommi’s boots.
“Thanks.” Tommi flashed her a smile, grateful as always for her friend’s attention to detail. Then she reached forward and gave Toccata a stroke on the neck. “Let’s go get ’em, baby.”
She rode into the ring, automatically guiding Toccata to an open spot on the rail while scanning the competition. Most of the riders’ faces were familiar from seeing them in the division all year, though there were also quite a few from other parts of the country who only came east for the big shows. Tommi’s gaze caught on one particular member of the latter group. It was Scott, the guy she’d noticed in the eq last weekend.
Interesting. She hadn’t seen all of yesterday’s jumping trips and hadn’t realized he was in this division. Her gaze lingered on him as he sent his horse, a big, elegant chestnut with a crooked blaze and four high whites, into a gorgeous daisy-cutting trot. Nice.
Then Tommi heard hoofbeats coming up fast behind her. She glanced back just in time to steer Toccata to the inside and avoid a fast-moving gray with a wild look in its eyes and a nervous girl in the tack.
“Sorry!” the rider on the gray called in a shaky voice as she thundered past.
Tommi took a deep breath and half-halted, making sure Toccata was still with her. That had been close, and Tommi knew she’d better not let herself get distracted again. Toccata was way too easily rattled for her to lose focus just because a cute guy went trotting past.
The PA system clicked on, causing Toccata to spurt forward. “Walk, please, all walk,” the announcer said.
“Here we go,” Tommi whispered, glancing around to make sure she was in a clear spot where the judge could see Toccata’s beautiful gait.
From that point on, her famous focus took over—mostly. Once or twice, Tommi couldn’t resist seeking out Scott Papadakis to see how he was doing. His horse was just as fancy as she’d thought, and Scott was skilled enough to show off his mount to his very best advantage. If the pair had done anywhere near as well over fences, Tommi knew they’d give her and Toccata some competition for those championship ribbons.
At the end of the class, Tommi found herself next to Scott in the lineup. He gave his horse a pat, then smiled over at her. “You’re Tommi Aaronson, right?” he said. “You were looking good out there.”
“Thanks. You too.” Tommi returned his smile. “Nice horse.”
Before Scott could respond, the announcer started reading off the placings. Marissa finished out of the ribbons, but Tommi pinned third and Scott first.
In the end, Scott was champion, while Tommi had to settle for reserve.
“Congrats,” she told him when they had finished the award presentation. “Guess you must have laid down some impressive trips yesterday. Sorry I missed them.”
“Me too.” He grinned at her. “I caught yours, though. I like to keep up with the competition.”
“And?” Tommi cocked her head and raised an eyebrow.
He smiled, his dark eyes twinkling with a hint of mischief. “Not bad. Not as good as me, but not bad.”
“Oh yeah?” Tommi grinned. Competitive, and with a sense of humor? Yes, please. “We’ll have to see if you can back that up at Harrisburg.” She smirked. “If you managed to qualify, that is.”
“Oh, we’ll be there.” Scott leaned forward and patted his horse, still grinning. “And we’re definitely up for a rematch.”
By then Jamie was heading toward Tommi, along with Miguel, who was holding Toccata’s cooler.
“Nice,” Jamie said, grabbing Toccata’s bridle as the sensitive horse starting jigging in reaction to the crowd outside the ring. “You kept him settled and showed him at his best. No complaints from me. This judge always uses the best trot, and I guess she thought the red horse’s trot was a little better.”
“Yeah. It’s cool, win some lose some.” Tommi gave Toccata a pat, then unhooked her helmet. She hated losing and was the first to beat herself up when she screwed up a class, but she really did feel good about this one. She’d been showing long enough to know that Jamie was right—sometimes the judge just liked another horse better, even when yours was at his best. That was showing.
As Jamie turned away to talk to Marissa, Tommi’s gaze slid toward Scott. He’d dismounted nearby and was discussing his performance with his trainer, a wiry older woman Tommi vaguely recognized.
Tommi dismounted and ran up her stirrups. “I’ll take him for you.” Miguel stepped forward to grab the horse’s reins and hand Tommi her cell phone, which he’d held during the class.
“Thanks, Miguel.” Tommi gave Toccata a scratch on the crest. Now that their division was over, it didn’t matter if she messed up his braids—Miguel would be taking th
em out in a few minutes—so she dug her fingers in the way the horse liked. He lifted his head, his lower lip flapping with pleasure.
Then, as Miguel led Toccata away through the crowded gate area, Tommi looked around for her friends. Marissa was still talking to Jamie nearby, but Tommi didn’t see the others. She did spot someone else, though. Scott was wandering toward her, his Samshield still perched on his head with the strap undone and his jacket unbuttoned. His show gloves were peeking out of the pocket of his breeches.
“Hey,” he greeted her. “So I’m Scott, by the way.”
Tommi didn’t bother to tell him she already knew that. “Nice to meet you, Scott. So how come I haven’t seen you at the shows before?” she asked, leaning against the ring fence.
“First time here. I’m an Indoors virgin.” Scott grinned. “See, my dad has all these crazy rules of life that he forces me to live by. One of them is that anything worth doing is worth working for, which he somehow interpreted as meaning I couldn’t come east for the big shows until I had straight As for at least a year.”
“So I take it you hit the books?”
“Absolutely.” Scott pulled off his helmet and tucked it under his arm, shooting Tommi a sidelong look as he ran a hand through his dark hair. “I always get what I want in the end. Crazy dad or not.”
“That’s funny—so do I.” Tommi’s mind flashed to her business plans. “Your dad sounds a lot like my dad, actually.”
Scott shrugged. “They probably know each other. Mine’s CEO of MacroNet. He’s always dealing with Wall Street guys like your dad.”
Okay, now Tommi knew why Scott’s last name had seemed vaguely familiar. MacroNet was one of the most successful companies in Silicon Valley, which meant Scott’s father probably had almost as much money as Tommi’s did.
The A Circuit 04- Rein It In Page 5