Star Pupil (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 4)

by Claire Svendsen

  “Do you think he’ll be okay?” I asked.

  “He’ll probably be fine,” the groom said as he latched the door shut. “But don’t worry, we’ll keep a close eye on him.”

  It was lucky for the black haired groom that it was his day off. It was a bit hard to be implicated in something when you weren’t even on the property. He couldn’t have planned it better if he tried.

  The ambulance came down the drive in a flash of blazing lights and sirens. We ran out to the ring to watch, having secured our own horses away in their stalls. Two paramedics jumped out, carrying a stretcher. They ran over to where Jess lay.

  “What happened?” they asked.

  “We don’t know,” Miguel said. “She just fell off. We think she may have taken something. Drugs of some kind. I’m not really sure. I’ve never had anything like this happen before.”

  Miguel stood back looking worried as they fussed over Jess, taking her blood pressure and checking her vitals. They eventually loaded her up on the stretcher.

  “Is she going to be okay?” I asked as they came by.

  “Hard to say,” one of them said. “Do you know what drugs she took?”

  “I think it was something she gave her horse. I don’t think she meant to dose herself. It was an accident.”

  “What was it called?”

  “I don’t know. It was in a white tube. That’s all I know. I’m sorry.”

  I backed away before they had a chance to question me further. I didn’t want to risk Miguel finding out that I knew something.

  The stretcher was loaded into the back of the ambulance and one guy got in the back with Jess, while the other got in the front. It drove away in the same flash of lights that it came in and although it had been funny and we had laughed, it wouldn’t be funny if anything bad happened to Jess and I was glad that I had told the paramedics what I knew.

  “Now what?” Becka said as we stood in the barn aisle.

  “Lunch?” I shrugged. “During times of stress, my mom likes to eat.”

  “Lucky,” Becka said. “Mine goes for the liquor cabinet.”

  And from the look on her face I knew that it was more than an occasional occurrence and I had a glimpse into the home life of someone who was struggling just like I was. I thought of telling her about Derek and Cat and asking her if throwing things was a regular occurrence in her house too but Dan came down the aisle with a tray of sandwiches and the moment passed.

  “That was crazy,” Peter said as we sat at our usual table. All the mess from the night before had been cleaned up. There was nothing left to show that a fight had gone down or that the mirror ball had smashed to smithereens.

  “Well, I guess Jess is out of the running so that’s good for us anyway,” Hadley said.

  “She’ll probably manage to buy her way in somehow,” I said.

  But the conversation soon drifted away from Jess and on to more mundane subjects like school and riding lessons and who was going to the next show.

  “Wouldn’t it be awesome if we all made the team?” Becka said. “Then we’d get to see each other all the time.”

  “It would be cool,” I said. “I’m going to miss you guys.”

  Peter threw a scrunched up napkin at my head. “Don’t go getting all soppy,” he said.

  “Hey,” I tossed the crust of my bread back.

  It hit his head and soon a good natured food fight had broken out. There were chips and empty packets of ketchup flying across the room and for that one moment in time I felt truly happy and I wished that the clinic could go on and on and we could all just stay there forever. But no matter how much I wished it, I knew it couldn’t happen. Like my mother said, all good things had to come to an end, even though I didn’t see why. It had to be one of the most depressing phrases in the English language.

  Miguel came into the lounge just as we were clearing everything away, which was just as well. He didn’t need to see another fight on the last day, even if it had been a fun one.

  “I just heard from the hospital,” he said as everyone went quiet. “Jess is going to be okay but they are going to keep her overnight for observation.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. Even though it hadn’t been my fault, I’d been carrying the guilt that maybe if I had told someone about the syringe and the tube of sedative sooner then none of this would have happened.

  “The doctors said that they found Dormosedan in her system. Now does anyone know where she could have got hold of that?” he asked.

  Everyone shook their heads or shrugged like they didn’t know what it was but I knew exactly what it was and where she had got it from. I just didn’t know if I should tell him or not. What if he got mad and thought I should have told him sooner? It was too much pressure. I just needed to concentrate on my riding. Then I’d tell him afterwards. After all, I thought that he would probably be glad to know that one of the people who worked for him was kind of shady.

  “No one?” he sighed. “Very well.”

  He walked over to the pin board and stuck up a sheet.

  “Here are your ride times. Report to the grass ring five minutes ahead of your scheduled slot and don’t be late. Believe me when I say it will be counted against you. Good luck.”

  The jovial mood in the lounge had disappeared. Everyone remembered why there were there. They were there to win a coveted spot on the team and this was their last chance. It was my last chance too. I didn’t think I would be fortunate enough to get another. I couldn’t help wondering if my spot on the team was as secure as I thought it was that morning.

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  We crowded around the list, jostling and pushing one another for a chance to see our names. I couldn’t decide whether I would rather go first and get it over with or last and have more time to mentally prepare.

  “Oh no, I’m first,” Hadley cried. “And I’m not even ready. I was going to braid Splash and everything. This is horrible.”

  She ran out of the lounge, leaving room for me to see that I was in fact not last but almost, second to last. Peter was actually last.

  “It’s because you’re a boy,” Becka told him. “And that is why you’ll make the team for sure. Us girls are a dime a dozen but you are like a nugget of gold.”

  “Is that supposed to be a compliment or something?” Peter asked.

  “Something,” she said. Then they grinned at each other. I guess Becka was right, she knew about boys after all.

  I wasn’t too worried about braiding Bluebird but I wanted to make sure he was groomed to perfection. I spent ages in his stall, currying and brushing him until he was gleaming in the sunlight that filtered through the back window and I was completely filthy.

  “I’ll be right back,” I told him.

  People came and went to the grass field. The rides were only thirty minutes long. No one said anything about what they were asked to do. Apparently Miguel had forbidden them from speaking about it but it was easy enough to see how people thought they did. Some came back smiling, others blinking back tears.

  I stood in the room that I had shared with Becka for the last three days. All her stuff was chucked all over her bed and half of it was on the floor. My side of the room was neat but then I hadn’t really brought much with me. Though that probably had more to do with the fact that I didn’t own much instead of the fact that I was neat and tidy. I only got new clothes when mine had so many holes that they were basically just threads strung loosely together or when Mickey outgrew something and gave it to me. I wanted to impress Miguel but I didn’t have expensive breeches or those shirts with that little embroidered logo which said you spent a fortune on them and everyone should notice how rich you were. I’d only brought three pairs of breeches and they all had mystery stains on them. My shirts were just as bad since Bluebird was in the habit of slobbering on me when I wasn’t paying attention.

  I picked out the least gross of the lot, stuffing my hair back into a braid and slapping a hair net on it so that it did
n’t do what it usually did, which was to stick out from under my helmet like a scarecrow.

  Back in Bluebird’s stall I put on the open front boots I used for shows and a clean, white saddle pad. The saddle still looked good as new. It had really helped Bluebird and me and I wasn’t so sure that I wanted to take it back anymore.

  “Good luck,” Becka called as we walked past.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  She hadn’t come back to the barn crying so I assumed that she thought she had done pretty well. She should have. Topaz was a great pony and it wasn’t only by pure chance that we had both won the Snowball Cup and qualified for the clinic. I wondered what it would have been like without her here, backing me up in front of Jess and I couldn’t imagine how I would have coped on my own. It was easier to stand up to bullies when you had friends by your side. I think deep down Jess knew that and it was why she had been so desperate to cheat her way to the top.

  “This is it boy, are you ready?” I asked Bluebird.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  On the walk out to the ring, I noticed things that I hadn’t before. The little stone statue of a galloping horse tucked into the flower bed. That funny post in the fencing where if the sun caught it right, you could see a horse’s head in the whorls of wood. The way the grass seemed greener and the sky bluer. It was like the whole world had suddenly become much brighter and the spotlight was shining on me. But I didn’t feel scared. I wasn’t confident at school or at home but I found my place in the world on the back of a horse. It was my safe place and no one could ever take that away from me.

  In the grass paddock, Sarah was coming to a walk. I didn’t want to seem like I was scoping out the competition so I busied myself with tightening Bluebird’s girth and brushing the dust off my boots. By the time I swung up into the saddle, she had gone.

  “Are you ready?” Miguel beckoned me over.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Do you have any questions?” he asked. “Anything that you feel you would like to learn here today? Remember, I am not only judging you but I am also here to help you.”

  “I’d really like to stop Bluebird from throwing his head in the air when he jumps,” I said. “Everyone laughs at him and I’m afraid one day he is going to break my nose.”

  “Let them laugh,” Miguel said.

  Today he was wearing tan breeches and a white polo shirt, a far cry from the guy who had flounced around the party the night before. It was hard to believe he was the same person, that fantastic rider we all wanted to be like. I waited for him to tell me how to fix Bluebird.

  “Your pony is small,” he continued. “But he has figured out a way to get over the jumps as easily as the horses do. If you take that away from him, you will take away his ability to do his job. Do you want that? A pretty pony who keeps his head down but knocks rails?”

  “No,” I said.

  “Good. You let me show you how to keep out of the way and just smile at the ones who laugh when you collect your blue ribbons. Okay?”

  “Okay,” I grinned. It finally made sense. There were some things you couldn’t fix and it was because they didn’t need fixing after all. They were fine just the way they were, you just had to learn to live with them.

  The thirty minutes flew by. Miguel showed me how to sit up and let Bluebird rise to meet me instead of collapsing on his neck over the jumps.

  “You ride well. You don’t need to rely on a crest release anymore,” he said. “Follow the movement of his mouth with your hand, give and take. Don’t bury your reins in his neck and rely on him for support. You support his mouth for a change. Gentle and giving. That’s it!” he cried as we flew over the red and white oxer.

  It was one of those magical lessons where suddenly everything you have been struggling with all falls into place. Sort of like when you are starting to ride and you can’t figure out how to post at the trot so you bounce around for hours wondering how you are ever going to get it. Then suddenly one day you do and you can’t understand how something so easy was ever difficult.

  By the time the thirty minutes were up, the fact that Bluebird tossed his head in the air over the jumps didn’t matter anymore. I had learned to adjust. To ride him in spite of it and in doing so, I’d become a better rider.

  “Great job,” Miguel said as we came to a walk.

  I saw Peter out of the corner of my eye, coming into view on Rocket. This was probably going to be my only chance to tell Miguel about the groom.

  “I have to tell you something,” I said, sliding to the ground.

  “Go ahead,” he said.

  “I saw the groom with the black hair hand a white tube to Jess. I know I should have said something sooner but I didn’t want to be a snitch and I didn’t want to get people into trouble over nothing.”

  Miguel just stood there looking at me. He didn’t say anything. Had I just blown my chances of getting picked for the team because I told the truth?

  “I just thought you would want to know,” I said.

  I walked off with tears in my eyes, trying to smile at Peter as he walked by. He probably thought I’d had a bad ride, just like I assumed the others had. Maybe the tears had nothing to do with their ride at all. Maybe they all had secrets to tell Miguel and maybe they’d all thought that they had blown their chances, just like I now did.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  The rides were over and so was the clinic. Everyone dashed about like mad trying to gather up all their stuff. Dan was going to be loading up our horses and taking us home. It was really over.

  “Have you seen my half chaps?” Becka said. “I know I left them sitting here.”

  “No you didn’t,” I said. “They are up in our room in the corner underneath your jeans.”

  “Oh yeah,” she said. “What am I going to do without you?”

  “What am I going to do without you?” I said. “You’re the only one who has ever stood up to Jess like that. It was awesome.”

  “It was stupid,” she said. “I could have got myself kicked out of the clinic.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t,” I said. “And I’m going to miss you like crazy.”

  “We’ll still see each other at shows,” she said. “Don’t go getting all soppy on me. Besides, I’ll bet we both make the team so we’ll see each other all the time.”

  “I hope so,” I said.

  “Have a little faith,” she grinned.

  Miguel gathered us in the lounge before we all headed off. We stood there and I looked at the faces around me, some of whom I would probably only see at shows, passing glimpses of familiar faces hidden under helmets.

  “I want to thank you all for coming,” Miguel said. “For respecting my rules and for riding well. I hope you have all learnt something and that you will go back to your own barns and continue to improve. Remember, there is always something to work on and anyone who tells you otherwise is a fool.”

  Peter raised his hand. “When are we going to find out who is on the team?” he asked.

  “Ahhhh yes, the team. I’m going to be holding a couple more clinics and then I will send out emails to those of you who have been chosen so make sure that I have the correct e-mail on your sign-up sheet. It may take a little while for me to decide so don’t expect to hear from me sooner than a month and don’t start e-mailing and bugging me to hurry up or you won’t get picked at all. Got it?”

  Everyone giggled. I was pretty sure that the only person who would have e-mailed Miguel and demanded to know if she was on the team or not was Jess and since she wasn’t here, it didn’t matter.

  “Now, if you don’t get picked, don’t go all sour grapes on me,” he said. “Maybe I’ll be able to use you next year or perhaps I might need a reserve rider at some point. Never blow your bridges by acting out. You never know when you might need them and the horse world is a small world. Got it?”

  We nodded and then all dashed forward to hug Miguel at the same time. He laughed and patted us all on the back and then pol
itely pushed us away.

  “All right,” he said. “All right. Now go on, take care of your horses now and make sure your stalls are clean before you leave.”

  I was halfway out the door when Miguel called me back. Sarah looked at me with a scowl as I went back to where he was standing by the window.

  “I want to thank you,” he said. “For telling me what you did. That took guts and in this business, I cannot risk having people like that working for me.”

  I just smiled politely, after all my actions had just caused someone to lose their job and that was never a good thing. I hoped the groom never found out that I was the one who ratted him out.

  “But Emily,” he called after me as I walked away. “Next time, tell me first. Okay?”

  “Okay,” I said.

  Did that mean there was going to be a next time. Was I really going to be picked for the team? Waiting a whole month was going to be torture.

  “What did he want?” Becka asked.

  “Oh, nothing,” I shrugged. “Something about my saddle.”

  It seemed pointless dragging the whole thing back up now. It was over. We hugged and cried and promised to e-mail and text and stay in touch on Facebook.

  “Don’t be a stranger,” Becka called out as I got into the truck.

  “I won’t,” I called back.

  Last time I’d had to share the trailer ride with Jess. This time I was all alone. I sat in the back and watched the world speed by, a blur just like the last three days had been. Everything had happened so fast and I wanted to go back and do it all over again but I knew that I couldn’t turn back the clock. But it would be nice to be back at Sand Hill Stables were your stall didn’t have to be spotless twenty four hours a day and no one checked your bridle holes for saddle soap. I couldn’t wait to tell Mickey everything that had happened. How Becka had almost had a fist fight with Jess and how she accidentally drugged herself and then fell off in the middle of the ring. Mickey would never believe it. I just wished she wasn’t still mad at me. She hadn’t answered any of my texts. I knew it was because of the whole thing with the raffle and the saddle but I wasn’t mad at her anymore. I was glad. I never would have made it as far as I did without that saddle and after all, someone had to win it and no one deserved it more than me. I couldn’t wait to tell her that.