by Stacy Gregg
“Riley, please!”
“OK, OK,” Riley said. “I’ll turn round and go back – I’ll park by the boarding house and meet you there.”
He gave her a wave as he drove off.
“So… are you two back on again?” Alice asked as soon as Riley was out of earshot.
“No,” Georgie said. “But at least we’re friends again.”
Georgie had been the one to make the phone call in the end. She had phoned Riley to tell him how well Princess had settled in and she also told him that it was over with James.
“Did you tell him why?” Alice asked.
Georgie shook her head. “I don’t want to make Riley think that our break-up was his fault, because it wasn’t.”
Finally things were going well with Riley, and Georgie didn’t want to put too much pressure on their relationship. It was a big step already that he’d agreed to come along to watch the polo with her. Considering he was virtually allergic to Blainford the fact that he was willing to be here for her must mean something.
It was a cold day and Riley was pulling on his lumberjack coat and beanie as the girls arrived back at their dorm.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked Georgie.
“We just need to change into our school whites,” Georgie said. “It’s a special event so they make us wear a different uniform for it.”
Riley waited outside while the girls got changed into their white jerseys and skirts and their navy-blue woollen winter blazers.
As they walked up the school driveway the other Blainford pupils were also dressed in their whites. Some of the students on the driveway were obviously riding later that day and were already in their polo breeches with brown knee-high polo boots and pads, and their house colours. Each of them wore a numbered shirt emblazoned with a giant number from one to four depending on their team position.
“How many teams are there?” Riley asked.
“About thirty,” Alice said. “It’s a big competition.”
“So explain to me why you’re not riding?”
“Georgie!” Alice was shocked. “You haven’t told him yet? Oh, come on! You have to tell him about Conrad!”
Georgie glared at Alice, wishing she would shut up. She hadn’t wanted to tell Riley because she was pretty certain that he would go after Conrad. Which would only make matters worse. Right now, she was pretty good at making things worse herself without getting Riley into trouble too.
“I got into a scrape on the field.” Georgie tried to downplay it. “It was unfair, but the upshot is that the headmistress sort of banned us girls from the competition this year.”
“It’s not the headmistress’s fault,” Alice added. “The polo master totally has it in for Georgie. He doesn’t think that girls should play polo.”
There were four polo fields set up on the main grounds directly opposite the entrance to the school quad. Each polo field was almost twice the size of a football field and between the fields tiered grandstands had been erected for pupils to sit on. For the teachers and parents there were four white marquee tents where champagne and caviar were being served.
“Isn’t there any real food?” Riley grumbled as he passed the caviar tents and took up his bench seat. “What good is a bunch of little black fish eggs? They should have hotdogs and fries!”
The students were quickly filling up the stands and they didn’t have long to wait until the first games began. The first match on the main field was between a Luhmuhlen team and a team from Lexington House. It didn’t get off to a very exciting start. The play was muddled and none of the players seemed to be capable of connecting with the ball accurately. The referee kept calling fouls as mallets swung wildly through the air and players miscued their hits and caught the ponies on their wraps. The ball volleyed pointlessly from one end of the field to the other without either team ever looking likely to score a goal. It was tedious to watch and by the end of the first chukka the score was nil-nil.
“Are you kidding me?” Alice shook her head in disbelief.
“We could have totally creamed these guys,” Emily said. “They don’t even know how to play.”
“Seriously?” Riley said. “So you guys are better than this?”
“Way, way better!” Georgie said.
It was frustrating to watch the next three chukkas, but the girls persevered because the next Luhmuhlen team was Cameron, Alex, JP and Mark.
The boys had been originally rostered to play against a Lexington team, but because Badminton House had been cut, an entirely different polo side were taking the field against them.
“I don’t believe it,” Alice winced. “It’s Conrad.”
The players rode out and Georgie watched as Conrad and James, both dressed in their ice-blue polo shirts, came up the centre of the field in a rising canter. James’s eyes raked the stands and when he caught sight of Georgie and Riley together his face turned dark. Conrad, meanwhile, rode straight up to the sidelines, raising his mallet to Georgie.
“Hey, Parker,” he shouted, “you wanna be my stick chick? Since you’re not playing you might as well be holding my mallet!”
“You’re a total numnah, Conrad!” Alice shouted back at him. “Leave her alone.”
“What’s going on?” Riley said. “Who is that guy?”
“That’s Conrad,” Alice said. “He’s the one who pushed Georgie off her horse. He’s the reason we’re not playing.”
“What?” Riley was furious. “He pushed you off your horse?”
“Uh-huh,” Alice answered for her. “He’s a jerk. He’s been giving Georgie a hard time all term.”
“It’s no big deal,” Georgie said. “Honestly, Riley.”
“Have you told the school about this? It sounds like he’s bullying you!”
“I’ve tried to tell the teachers,” Georgie said, “but it only makes it worse.”
“Georgie! He can’t behave like that! You should have told me—”
“This is why I didn’t tell you! I knew you’d react like this.” Georgie shook her head. “Please, Riley, just leave it.”
Riley sat in the stands, his arms folded, eyes narrowed as he watched Conrad galloping up and down, waving his mallet like a poseur.
“Ohmygod!” Daisy said. “Check out Kennedy’s outfit!”
On the sidelines where the spare Burghley House horses were ready and waiting for the next chukka, Kennedy was standing with Arden and Tori. The showjumperettes were all dressed in their school whites, but somehow Kennedy had managed to get hers altered. Her jersey was now almost two sizes too small and hugged her curves. Her school skirt had at least ten centimetres cut off the hemline so that it grazed the top of her thigh. She had her hair slicked back in a ponytail and was wearing gold sunglasses as she stood holding a mallet in her hands.
“A born stick chick!” Alice groaned.
“What’s a stick chick?” Riley asked.
“A girl who hangs out with the polo boys and thinks it’s a big thrill to hold their mallet for them,” Daisy said.
“So that Kennedy girl is Conrad’s stick chick?” Riley asked.
“Uh-huh. She’s Conrad’s girlfriend.”
The chukka got underway and right from the start the game was evenly matched. The girls were shouting themselves hoarse cheering for Alex, Cameron and JP. The referee was right in the thick of it, but all the same Conrad tried his usual tricks. Georgie saw him totally cut off Cam and try to shove him when the ref wasn’t looking. James, meanwhile, seemed to be deliberately targeting JP.
“Foul!” Georgie shouted as James shoulder-slammed JP off the ball. The score so far was one-all to Burghley – this was going to be close!
Riley looked at his watch and stood up. “Hey, Georgie, I’ll be back in a minute, OK?”
“Huh?” Georgie looked up at him. “OK, sure.”
When the chukka came to a close the score was three-two to Luhmuhlen.
“Ohmygod!” Emily was bouncing up and down in her seat. “I can’t believe L
uhmuhlen have got the lead and—”
“Hey!” Alice looked over at the Burghley House team camp. “What is Riley doing? Why is he over there?”
Georgie looked over at the Burghley House riders who were now heading back to their camp to remount on fresh horses. She could see Kennedy, Arden and Tori and standing there talking to them was… Riley.
“Uh-oh,” Alice said. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“Ohmygod!” Georgie pushed past the girls, and ran down the steps of the grandstand and on to the polo field.
As she raced across the polo field she could see Riley talking to Kennedy. The head showjumperette was flirting madly with him, giggling and hair flicking for all she was worth. But Georgie knew that Riley wasn’t really interested in Kennedy – he was just waiting for Conrad. Georgie could see him eyeing up the Burghley House captain as he dismounted and led his pony over to join his girlfriend.
“Riley!” Georgie shouted.
Riley looked up at her and smiled. “Hey, Georgie. I’ll be with you in a second, I’ve just got to have a quick word with Kennedy’s boyfriend.”
Smiling politely, Riley turned to Kennedy. “Can I have your mallet for a moment?”
He took the polo stick from her hands and walked straight up to the Burghley House head prefect. In one swift manoeuvre he shoved Conrad up against the wall of the polo shed, the mallet rammed into the cleft of his throat so that it was pressed up against his windpipe.
Choking and gasping, Conrad tried to push him away, but Riley was stronger than him and he held him pinned to the wall, while Kennedy and the showjumperettes watched in horror.
“You think you’re tough, huh?” Riley said. “Hassling first-year girls and pushing them off their horses? That makes you a big man?”
“I… don’t know what you’re talking about…” Conrad managed to choke out the words.
“Oh, I think you do, Con-rad,” Riley spat out the prefect’s name in two syllables. “But here’s the thing. You can’t bully me. I don’t go to this school. You can’t give me Fatigues for walking on some sissy patch of grass. You have no jurisdiction over me.”
“I didn’t—” Conrad tried to speak, but Riley shushed him.
“I’m not here to argue with you, Conrad. I’m here to tell you that this ends now. If you so much as look at Georgie the wrong way again, I’ll come after you and I’ll take those shiny prefect’s spurs that you’re wearing and use them on you in ways you don’t even want to think about. Now do you understand me?”
Conrad nodded and Riley suddenly released his grip on the Burghley House head prefect’s throat. Conrad reeled back, wheezing and gasping. Riley handed the polo mallet back to a stunned Kennedy.
The other Burghley players had finally noticed the drama and James dismounted his horse and made a beeline for Riley.
“What are you doing here? I told you not to come to Blainford,” James said.
“Don’t push your luck, James.” Riley shot him down. “I took it easy on Conrad – you might not be so lucky.”
For a brief moment James looked like he might have the guts to square up to Riley, but he just glared at him and then stormed off.
“Come on, Georgie,” Riley reached out to take her hand, “the next chukka is about to begin. Let’s get back to our seats. I want to see Luhmuhlen whump these guys!”
Georgie was so shell-shocked she didn’t say a word all the way back to the stands. She took her seat and watched with her friends as Conrad, white as a sheet, came back on the field for the second chukka. Luhmuhlen totally dominated the next three chukkas to win the game.
The other girls had been watching the whole drama from the stands. They said nothing to Riley about it, but after the game was over and they were back at the dorm they couldn’t talk about anything else.
“It was just about the coolest thing I have ever seen,” Alice gushed. “The look on Conrad’s face! And there’s Kennedy just watching with her mouth hanging open.”
“I’m not a fan of violence,” Emily said, “but Alice is right – that was way, way cool!”
The true impact of what had happened on the field that day didn’t sink in until Georgie was leaving the boarding house for dinner and found the brown paper package sitting on the doorstep addressed to her. She opened the brown wrapper up and looked inside.
Conrad must have had a word with his girlfriend. Kennedy had returned her Barbour.
Chapter Thirteen
In school assembly the following Monday morning the results from the Round Robin were announced. Four teams had played their way through to the semifinals, including JP, Alex and Cam’s team.
Even though they’d been unable to play, the girls got a certain satisfaction from the sight of James and Conrad squirming in their seats as their Burghley House team was noted as being knocked out in the first round.
“The finals are being held on the school fields on Saturday,” Mrs Dickins-Thomson continued. “Please advise your parents if they are planning to come along that this is a day earlier than the original scheduled date to avoid clashing with the Bluegrass Cup being held in Frankfort on Sunday. I am sure that many of our budding polo stars will relish the opportunity to go along to watch the games in Frankfort so we’ve moved our finals to accommodate this. For those pupils who wish to attend the Bluegrass Cup, there will be a bus departing the school at nine am.”
“Are we planning to go?” Emily asked as they left assembly on their way to Ms Schmidt’s German class.
“I saw a poster for it in town,” Georgie said. “It seems like it’s a big deal.”
“It’s a big competition,” Alice said. “I went last year with Kendal and Cherry. There’re lots of games for all the different goal rankings. There’s a qualifier on Saturday and then the finals on the Sunday.”
“We should go and watch,” Emily said. “We might pick up some pointers.”
“Forget going to watch,” Daisy said. “We should go and play.”
The others stopped in their tracks.
“Are you serious?” Alice said.
“Why not?” Daisy said. “It’s a competition for different goal rankings, right? We’re all minus-two players so we’d be at the bottom of the league – it’s not like we’d be up against the hardcore ten-goalers.”
“Even if we’re playing low grade,” Emily said, “these aren’t school games. These are grown-ups with proper teams and strings of expensive ponies paid for by wealthy patrons.”
“It’s still polo,” Daisy said. “We know how to play and we’ve got the string. The ponies are ready for it.”
“She’s got a point,” Alice agreed. “We could enter.”
“Aren’t we supposed to be at the finals of the Round Robin on Saturday though?” Emily said. “And that’s when the Bluegrass Qualifier takes place.”
“We could always wriggle out of the Round Robin somehow,” Daisy said. “It’s not like we’re actually playing.”
“I dunno,” Emily said, “what do you think, Georgie?”
“Come on, Georgie,” Daisy said. “Are we in?”
Georgie didn’t know what to say. When Mrs Dickins-Thomson had turfed the girls’ team out of the Round Robin it had been such a miserable anticlimax after all their hard work. She had tried not to let it get to her, but she’d taken it hard. Now they had a chance to prove themselves, not just against their Blainford rivals, but against real polo players. It was too good to be true.
“We’re in,” Georgie said. “Let’s go play ourselves some polo.”
*
Before dawn on Saturday morning, when the boarders and the teachers were all still sleeping, two horse trucks entered the gates of the Blainford Academy and drove along the driveway, turning left to pull up outside the Burghley House stables.
Georgie was standing waiting in the darkness for their arrival. She directed the first truck down the side of the stables and then directed the second truck to park right beside it.
Riley jumped
out of the cab. “Are you ready to go?” he called out to her.
“Shhh!” Georgie put a finger to her lips. “We’re trying not to wake anyone, remember?”
“Where are the horses?” Riley whispered.
“The girls are just putting their trucking boots on,” Georgie said. “And then we can get out of here. Could you help me to carry some saddles?”
“Sure.”
As they headed into the stables to get the tack, the door of the second truck cab swung open and a skinny, hunched man wearing a trucker’s cap leapt out.
“Need some help with your gear, ma’am?”
“Thanks, Kenny,” Georgie smiled at him.
“No problem,” Kenny said. Or at least that was what Georgie thought he said. Kenny always had his mouth so full of chewing tobacco that it was impossible to understand a word he was saying. He was Riley’s uncle and he worked right here at Blainford as the school’s caretaker.
“The thing is, Kenny,” Georgie began to explain, “we’re not really supposed to be going off school grounds. I don’t want you to get into trouble by helping us.”
The girls had considered their options when it came to entering the Bluegrass Cup Qualifier. They could confess all to Mrs Dickins-Thomson and ask for official school permission to attend, but none of them fancied their chances. Far better to bunk off during the Round Robin and go rogue.
“No one will notice if we’re not there,” Alice reasoned. “Kendal and the others will cover for us at breakfast if anyone asks where we are.”
“We need to be out of here before dawn so no one sees us leaving,” Georgie said.
Alice agreed. “It’d be pretty hard explaining where you were going with sixteen horses!”
Riley offered to help them straight away – but with sixteen horses to transport it would take two trucks. And that was where Kenny came in.
“I don’t want to get you into trouble, Kenny,” Georgie said as he lowered the truck ramp. “If we get caught, you might lose your job or something.”
Kenny chewed thoughtfully on his tobacco. “The wife would love that,” he said. “Then I’d have the time to build that chicken coop she’s been nagging me about.”