The A Circuit 04- Rein It In

by Georgina Bloomberg

  “Yeah.” He grinned and glanced around. “Hard to believe half of these people have to be on a horse at, like, eight a.m. for the Small Juniors.”

  Tommi nodded, shooting a look at Zara, who was one of those people. She was huddled with a couple of other girls between the beds, gesturing dramatically with both hands as she talked.

  “Are you doing hunters tomorrow?” Tommi asked, turning her attention back to Scott.

  “Uh-huh, but mine’s a large. I can sleep in.” Scott turned his head as someone shouted his name. A second later a beer bottle came whizzing at his head. He lifted a hand just in time to catch it. “Thanks, dude!” he shouted to someone across the room.

  Tommi couldn’t help noticing the way his muscles flexed as he untwisted the cap. “Bummer for you,” she said. “I’m doing the Larges, too. Hope you didn’t have your heart set on another championship, because it’s not going to happen.”

  “Oh yeah?” He took a swig, then grinned and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. “Dream on. But hey, at least losing to me tomorrow will give you practice for losing to me again on Sunday.”

  “Guess again,” Tommi retorted. “In case you haven’t heard, my new eq horse is going to blow the socks off all the other nags here.”

  “In case you haven’t heard, eq’s judged on the rider, not the horse.” Scott blinked. “But wait—new eq horse?” He sounded interested. “What do you mean?”

  Tommi quickly filled him in on Orion’s abscess. “But there’s a serious silver lining,” she finished. “Jamie just happened to have this awesome sale horse in the barn who’s destined to be the next star. He’s letting me lease him while Orion’s out of commission.”

  “Interesting.” Scott took a sip of his beer, not looking too impressed. “Well, if catch-riding your finals horse is what floats your boat …”

  “Oh, it’s no catch-ride—we’re an amazing team.” Tommi figured that wasn’t really a lie. They would be a team by the time the competition rolled around. “But speaking of catch-riding, you’d better hope the judge doesn’t ask us to switch horses as part of the test, because Fable’s definitely not an easy ride.” Tommi smirked. “I just make him look that way.”

  Scott grinned. “Don’t worry. I’m used to a tough ride,” he said. “If you end up having to ride my horse, you’ll be crying for your mommy after the first fence.”

  “If you say so.” Tommi raised her bottle. “May the best rider win.”

  Scott clinked his beer against hers. “Isn’t that the point of the whole exercise?”

  Tommi laughed. This party seemed a lot more fun than it had a few minutes ago. She could get used to having someone like Scott around—someone who wasn’t afraid to dish it out and take it. It didn’t hurt that he was super hot, smart, and a talented rider.

  Too bad he lived so far away. Of course, Tommi had less than a year of high school left, and after that she could live anywhere she wanted. Maybe she should start looking at some West Coast colleges …

  She grimaced, cutting off the thought before it could go any further. Scott noticed and leaned closer.

  “You okay?” he said, actually looking a little worried. “I didn’t freak you out with my awesomeness, did I?”

  “Nope.” Forcing all thoughts of the future out of her mind, Tommi smiled at him. “I was just hoping you’re not going to embarrass yourself by crying after Fable plants you in the dirt on Sunday.”

  “Later,” Zara said to the girl with the big nose whose name she’d already forgotten. “I want to grab another drink.”

  She hurried away, though she didn’t bother heading for the beer in the bathroom or the sodas in the closet. Drinking wasn’t her goal tonight.

  Glancing around for her next victim, she was just in time to see that Scott guy drag Tommi over toward the dance bed. Laughing, Tommi kicked off her shoes and then climbed up there and started boogying. Scott jumped up and joined her.

  Zara smiled. Tommi could be pretty uptight sometimes; it was nice to see her cutting loose. For a second she was tempted to go over and dance with them. Then the song switched to a lame old slow jam, and Scott caught Tommi by the wrist and pulled her close. Her arms slipped up over his shoulders, and their bodies pressed together as they swayed to the beat.

  Okay, maybe not the best time to go over there. Besides, Zara really didn’t have time to waste on dancing right now. This party wasn’t about having fun—she was on a mission.

  After another quick glance around, she made a beeline over to a tall, skinny girl with frizzy hair. “Hey,” Zara greeted her. “Paris. How’s it going?”

  Paris blinked, looking confused for a second. No wonder. Zara had barely said two words to the girl before tonight, though they’d ridden in most of the same jumper classes all summer.

  “Hey, Zara,” Paris said, recovering quickly. “What’s up? Cool party, huh?”

  “Yeah, awesome.” Zara glanced around, then leaned closer to the other girl. “Hey, listen, did you hear about the fight at my barn?”

  Paris’s eyes widened. “No!” she breathed. “What fight?”

  “It went down like this. …” Zara quickly concocted a ridiculous story about Dani punching out one of the grooms because he’d forgotten to pack her bridle. It was hard to keep a straight face, but she managed.

  By the end, Paris’s eyes were practically bugging out of her head. “Whoa!” she said. “That’s crazy! I never thought Dani was like that.”

  Oops. Too late, Zara remembered that Dani had ridden in most of those jumper classes, too. Plus she was so freakishly friendly that she knew just about everyone on the circuit. Probably better not to use her in the stories from now on.

  “Well, that’s just what I heard,” Zara hedged, backing away. “It might not be true. Listen, I’ve got to …”

  Without finishing, she edged behind a group of wide-eyed younger juniors and hurried into the bathroom. Two guys were in there digging through the beers in the bathtub.

  “Hey, babe.” The taller one looked Zara up and down. He was cute, lean and angular with cool amber eyes. “What’s up? Want a drink?”

  “Sure.” Zara drained the rest of the beer she was holding and tossed it in the sink with the other empties. “Hit me.”

  The guy scooped a bottle out of the rapidly melting ice in the tub. With a flourish, he uncapped it and handed it over. “So I’m Chance,” he said. “You’re Zara Trask, right?”

  “Yeah.” The guy was definitely checking her out, big time, but Zara couldn’t muster up any enthusiasm for flirting back. “Thanks for the beer, dude. See you.”

  She hurried out of the bathroom before the guy could respond. Leaning up against the wall, she took a sip and surveyed the room. She’d already spoken to several of the biggest gossips in the group, including Paris. Okay, so that story about Dani might’ve been a bust, but Zara was pretty sure that girl from Adam Dane’s barn had totally believed her story about how one of the ponies from Pelham Lane had once belonged to the British royal family. Before that, Zara had gone up to a girl Marissa claimed was the biggest gossip in the entire state of Connecticut and pretended to be just drunk enough to “confess” to her that she was planning to audition for a certain popular TV singing competition. She’d come up with different wild tales for a couple of other well-known gossips at the party. If any of them were behind that blog, one of those stories was sure to be splashed all over it by tomorrow morning.

  Zara rubbed her hands together, trying to figure out who else looked shady enough to be responsible. This was actually kind of fun, like being a secret agent or something. And the best part? She was sure her plan would help put a stop to HorseShowSecrets once and for all.

  See? she thought, holding back a grin. I always knew I could use my powers for good instead of evil!

  Kate glanced around the crowded hotel room, wondering what was taking Fitz so long. He’d left to grab them fresh drinks at least ten minutes ago, leaving her with Dani and a couple of her friends from diff
erent barns. Kate only knew the other girls slightly, and they were pretty much ignoring her as they chattered excitedly with Dani.

  How did Dani do that, anyway? Kate watched as her barnmate threw back her head and laughed at something the others had said. Dani’s family had more money than Kate’s did, but not by that much—especially compared to most of the other people at this party. Her horse had been a bargain-priced Thoroughbred off the track, and both her saddle and her show boots had come from the local consignment shop. So how was it that Dani always seemed perfectly comfortable socializing in this world of imported warmbloods and custom everything? She had tons of friends at barns up and down the East Coast, while Kate always felt much more at home with the grooms than the clients.

  One of the other girls, a short brunette, shrieked with laughter and smacked Dani on the arm, making her armful of silver bracelets jingle. Kate stared at the bracelets, wondering if they were real silver and how much they’d cost. Probably more than her entire wardrobe. Most of the time Kate didn’t think much about stuff like that. What was the point? She had her life, and the rich girls had theirs. Being friends with Tommi and Zara had shown her that being wealthy didn’t necessarily make everything easy.

  Still, Kate couldn’t help thinking sometimes that it had to make certain things a little easier.

  “Sorry I took so long,” Fitz’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Got stuck talking to Chance—you know that guy never shuts up.”

  “It’s okay.” Kate wasn’t sure who Chance was, but it didn’t matter. She accepted the soda Fitz handed her, taking a sip.

  “Hey,” Dani said with a grin, nodding at the bottle in Fitz’s hand. “Didn’t you bring us all more beers? Rude!”

  Fitz grinned. “Sorry, babe,” he told Dani. “You’ve got two good legs now, right? I figured you’d want to use them.”

  The other two girls had turned to stare at Kate and Fitz, and they both laughed. “Burn,” the short girl said, nudging Dani.

  Meanwhile the other girl, a pretty blonde, was staring at Kate as if she was noticing her standing there for the first time. Which she probably was.

  “Hey,” the girl said, her gray eyes curious. “You’re the one from the blog, right?” She glanced at Dani. “The girl who’s supposed to take over your barn or whatever?”

  “Duh, you know Kate.” Dani drained the rest of her beer. “But listen, I really do need another. Anyone else?”

  “Me!” the short brunette squealed. “I’ll come with you.”

  “I’m good,” the blonde said, still gazing at Kate.

  As Dani and the brunette wandered off, another girl came racing over. “Fitz! Oh my god!” she cried, grabbing Fitz’s arm and almost spilling his beer. “There you are—is that her?”

  She stared at Kate. Kate stared back, feeling uneasy. She recognized this girl—her name was Gia, and she rode at Kara Parodi’s barn. Kate was pretty sure she was one of the many girls Fitz had hooked up with before he and Kate got together.

  “Back off, G.” Fitz put a protective arm around Kate. “It’s just a rumor. For now, anyway.”

  Kate wished she could disappear. Had everyone seen that blog? Well, probably not—as far as she knew, Jamie and the rest of the adults still had no clue it existed. But thanks to that post about the assistant trainer job, Kate had become a celebrity to every junior on the circuit. Or maybe more like a freak-show attraction. Suddenly Kate had an inkling of how Zara must feel every day of her life.

  “Okay, okay.” Gia was still staring at Kate. “But listen, are you the same working student who’s supposed to ride Charity’s horse?”

  “Huh?” Fitz looked confused. “What about Charity’s horse?”

  “Oh.” Kate realized she’d never told him about that. “Um, yeah. Kara Parodi wants me to catch-ride something in the Large Juniors tomorrow. You know, if I can fit it in.”

  “Whoa!” Fitz grinned and kissed her. “That’s awesome, babe! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

  “Well, I haven’t actually decided if I’m going to be able to do it yet.” Kate was feeling more uncomfortable by the second.

  Gia glanced around the room. “Yo, Charity!” she shouted, her voice surprisingly loud. “Over here!”

  A moment later a petite dark-haired girl with a heart-shaped face and too much eyeliner hurried over. “What?” she demanded, frowning at Gia. “I was in the middle of something.”

  Gia waved toward Kate. “I found the girl Kara wants to ride Porter.”

  “Really?” Charity turned to study Kate. “Oh right, I’ve seen you,” she said. “You ride that big gray in the eq, right?”

  “Um, yeah.” Kate leaned closer to Fitz. “I’m Kate.”

  “So how experienced are you?” Charity asked. “Because Porter can be strong and kind of a brat sometimes. He’s super fancy though, and I don’t want him to have a bad experience and, like, get ruined.”

  “Kate couldn’t ruin a horse if she tried.” Fitz was still smiling, though there was an edge to his voice. “Don’t worry, she can ride your horse. Otherwise your trainer wouldn’t have asked her, right?”

  “Wait, are you guys talking about that horse Port Royal?” Kate had almost forgotten about Dani’s blond friend until she spoke up. “Isn’t he the one who dumped you at that show last month, Charity?”

  “Oh. Hi, Reenie. I didn’t notice you there.” Charity frowned at the other girl. “Yeah, like I said, Porter’s definitely not easy.” Her gaze shifted back to Kate. “So do you do hunters much, or mostly just eq? Because Porter’s definitely all hunter. He hates if you sit down on him too much, and—”

  “Dude,” Fitz broke in. “She’ll be fine, okay? Chill.”

  “Easy for you to say, Fitz,” Charity snapped. “It’s not your fancy hunter we’re talking about here.”

  “True.” Fitz shrugged. “But as a matter of fact, Kate is training one of my fancy hunters, okay? You’ll see him at the shows in Fl—uh, next spring, and he’s going to kick all your horses’ asses.”

  “Uh-oh, fighting words!” Gia put in with a grin.

  Kate huddled even closer to Fitz. This time he seemed to notice her discomfort. “But enough about that,” he told the other girls. “If you’ll excuse us, we’re going to go make out now.”

  Grabbing Kate’s arm, he pulled her toward the door. “Thanks,” she said as they emerged into the hallway. “That was … intense.”

  “Ignore those girls.” Fitz wrapped his arms around Kate. He smiled as his face dipped toward hers. “Now, did someone mention something about making out?”

  Chapter Twelve

  Tommi yawned as she yanked Fable’s girth up another hole. The big gray gelding danced in place, almost stepping on her foot.

  “Quit,” Tommi mumbled. But she didn’t have the energy to discipline him. Instead, she stepped back and let him finish his protest while she reached for her helmet.

  She’d stayed way later at that party last night than she’d intended, and she was already regretting it. It was probably lucky that someone had finally complained to the front desk about all the noise and got things shut down a few minutes before midnight. Otherwise, who knew how long Tommi might have stayed. She’d been so busy lately with serious stuff—starting senior year, dealing with her father and her business plan, prepping for Indoors. She’d needed a chance to cut loose and have fun, and Scott Papadakis had helped her do just that. The two of them had danced, talked, had a few beers. And later, after the party broke up, they’d shared a little kiss-and-grope session in the hallway outside Tommi’s room. She’d been tempted to invite him in, but luckily she’d resisted the urge.

  “Okay, buddy.” She clicked her helmet buckle shut, double-checked Fable’s girth one more time, and gave him a pat on the neck. “Let’s do this.”

  Soon she was riding into the big, rectangular indoor arena being used as a warm-up ring. A couple of trainers were schooling in there already, but the crowds hadn’t arrived yet to start warming up for the Smal
l Junior Hunters, so Tommi was able to really get down to work. She’d gotten a taste of what Fable could do yesterday, but now she wanted to start getting to know him better.

  She sent him into a trot, keeping Kate’s tips in mind. Fable was fresh to start, and at first he resisted bending properly around the turns, preferring to pop his shoulder and stare around at the handful of people watching from the stands on either side of the ring. But Tommi kept asking, and before long he started responding to her aids. For such a large horse, Fable was surprisingly agile, and by the time she brought him down for a walk break she was smiling. Okay, so she was still disappointed that Orion was out of commission for this show. But Fable wasn’t a bad substitute. Not bad at all.

  “Good boy.” Tommi loosened the reins and leaned forward to give the horse a pat. As she straightened up again, she noticed a couple of people standing on the rail, waving in her direction. Tommi recognized Zara right away, but it took her a second to realize that was Scott standing beside her. Immediately, her heart jumped, and she wondered if she’d remembered to apply mascara that morning.

  Then she shook her head, banishing such girlie thoughts. Scott had seen her dressed to party last night, and now he was seeing her dressed to ride. That was life, and she was pretty sure he could handle it.

  “Come on,” she told Fable. “Let’s go say hi.”

  She rode over to Zara and Scott. The arena was lower than the floor of the stands, so they were all at approximately the same eye level.

  “Morning, sunshine,” Zara greeted her. “Look who I found wandering around.”

  “Hey, Tommi.” Scott looked none the worse for wear after their night of partying. “Can’t believe you’re riding already. I figured you’d be sound asleep until it’s time for the Older Larges later.”

  “Sleep’s a waste of time.” Tommi patted Fable. “Couldn’t resist coming by to check out the competition, huh?”

  “Something like that.” Scott grinned, then glanced at Zara. “Luckily I ran into your friend, and she told me you’d be here.”