Unfriendly Competition

by Jessica Burkhart

Our spirals got tighter and Charm’s body bent easily though the exercise. Good boy, I said to Charm in my head. He was so getting carrots after this.

  We reversed directions and did the spiral at a walk in the opposite direction.

  “Looking great, everyone,” Mr. Conner said. “Keep it up.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at the praise.

  Charm felt loose beneath me and when his body curled into the final round of the spiral, I let him straighten.

  “Nice,” I whispered to him.

  Now it was time to try a trot.

  I glanced over, seeing Brit and Apollo trotting through their spiral. They were circling between the K and A markers. Apollo’s gray coat looked like shiny steel under the arena lights.

  Charm and I turned, ready to start the spiral at a trot, and I saw Callie. She and Jack were also trotting though their spiral, but Callie’s attention wasn’t on Jack—it was on Brit. Jack, following the direction of Callie’s gaze, trotted just to the side and stepped out of his once near-perfect spiral.

  “Callie, pay attention, please,” Mr. Conner said. “Jack lost his focus because you did.”

  Callie ducked her head and refocused her attention on Jack. Before Charm and I made a mistake, too, I stopped watching everyone else.

  We completed the spirals and rode back to the center of the arena for more instructions.

  “Good work, everyone,” Mr. Conner said. “I would like to see all of you pay more attention to your own horses instead of each other.”

  Beside me, Callie seemed to shrink lower into her saddle.

  “At Huntington, there will be many riders that you’ll want to watch,” Mr. Conner continued, looking up from his clipboard. “If you’re already eyeing your own teammates, you’re going to have trouble not watching your competition. This is something you all need to work on to avoid problems in the future.”

  We all nodded.

  “Now, you’re each going to try the dressage test,” Mr. Conner said. He moved away from the center of the arena and toward the wall. “Sasha, you’re up first.”

  Greaaat.

  I was half scared and half relieved to get my turn over first. Callie, Brit, and Heather walked their horses to the wall and out of the way of the markers. I let Charm follow them since we had to ride back to the center of the arena as part of the test. It wasn’t long or too complicated, but it felt daunting from the saddle.

  After one breath, I made myself tell Charm to trot to the center of the arena and stop at the X marker. Charm stood still until I saluted and asked him to move at a sitting trot toward C. Charm had good energy and moved well beneath me.

  We made a twenty-meter circle, then went straight along the wall at a posting trot. At H, we made a sharp turn and crossed the arena to M. At M, we made another circle and I turned Charm out of the circle as we headed for B at a slow, steady canter. We passed B and at F, I eased Charm to a trot, then a walk. We made our final circle, walked by A, and I sat to Charm’s trot as we headed for X—our last marker.

  This was one of the best tests we’d ever done! But don’t mess it up now, I told myself. Charm’s trot stayed steady, and he didn’t try to rush like he did sometimes when we got close to the end of a test.

  At X, I drew Charm to a smooth halt. I saluted sharply and felt like I could breathe again. I turned Charm back to face Heather, Brit, Callie, and Mr. Conner. I patted Charm’s neck.

  “You were great,” I whispered.

  I stopped Charm next to Heather.

  “Not too bad,” she said, loud enough so only I could hear her.

  I knew Charm and I did well if Heather was giving us props.

  “Excellent ride, Sasha,” Mr. Conner said. He smiled at me and stopped in front of Charm to look up at me. “Your circles were well-proportioned and Charm was alert during each movement. Keep your diagonal lines a little straighter next time, but that was a great test.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  I rubbed Charm’s shoulder before sitting back in the saddle, relaxed and glad my turn was done.

  “Brit, you may ride next,” Mr. Conner said.

  Brit gathered Apollo’s reins and began the test. Throughout her ride, I kept sneaking glances at Callie. Her eyes were narrowed on Brit. Callie was used to being the star dressage rider on our team.

  Until Brit.

  Brit did each movement of the test with precision that I’d only seen on TV. Even though I wasn’t even close to an expert in dressage, I’d watched enough riders perform tests that didn’t even compare to Brit’s. Callie’s lips, pressed together, were obvious signals that she was nervous. Even though we weren’t best friends anymore, I knew her too well. Callie was intimidated by Brit.

  It was going to make her fight that much harder to win.

  Brit finished her test and Mr. Conner smiled at her. “Well done,” he said. “You and Apollo are in tune and performed exactly as I hoped you would. Thank you.”

  Not even a hint of cockiness from Mr. Conner’s words appeared on Brit’s face. She let Apollo back beside Charm, and I held my hand low for a quiet high five. Brit gave me a quick smile before we focused on Mr. Conner again.

  “Callie, if you’re ready,” Mr. Conner said. “You may start.”

  Callie didn’t waste a second. She moved Black Jack forward with a seamless movement and the pair started the dressage test. Every movement was fluid from marker to marker. I wanted to glance at Brit and Heather, to see if they were as impressed as I was, but I couldn’t look away from the performance. Every curve, circle, and transition Jack made looked like part of a dance.

  Where is this coming from? I wondered. I’d seen Callie ride dressage a zillion times and she’d always been brilliant, but nothing like this.

  When Callie halted Jack at X, I leaned over to Heather. “What. Was. That?” I whispered.

  Heather turned her head, staring at me from under the brim of her helmet. “The start of a dressage war.”

  6

  DID YOU MISS ME?

  “YOU REALLY HAVE TO GIVE ME, LIKE, A private lesson sometime,” I told Brit. We walked back from the stable after our dressage lesson.

  “Oh, please,” Brit said. “You definitely don’t need any help from me. But if you want to practice together that would be fun.”

  “Def.” I paused, thinking about the lesson as we walked up the sidewalk toward Orchard. Callie and Brit’s rides had been amazing, then Heather had given a performance that I was sure had made me—not Charm—look like I belonged on the beginner team.

  “I keep saying I’m going to work harder on dressage and I hardly ever do,” I said. “I love flatwork and jumping so much. And so does Charm! But we’ve got to be better rounded for Huntington.”

  Brit stuck her hands in her jacket pockets. “We all have to be at the top of our game for this show. It’s going to set the tone for the entire season.”

  “Yeah, and—” I stopped midsentence when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I grabbed my BlackBerry and saw I had a new text. Maybe it was Jacob . . .

  I opened the message and saw a name I’d never wanted to see again.

  Ever.

  To: Sasha Silver

  From: Jasmine King

  Long time no talk! Did u miss me? U won’t have 2 4 much longer! I’ll c u and ur apparently new BFF Heather @ Huntington. Can’t wait! xx

  “Ugh,” I said, moaning.

  “What’s wrong?” Brit asked.

  I handed her my phone, not saying a word. Brit took it and scanned the message. She handed it back to me, shaking her head.

  “I can’t wait to finally meet the infamous Jasmine King,” Brit said. “This is perfect, Sash. She’s going into Huntington thinking she’s already making you uncomfortable and you know she sent a similar message to Heather and Callie.”

  “That’s her style,” I grumbled.

  “So she’s going to think you’ll all be freaked out about seeing her and that it’ll rattle you enough to give her and Wellington an edge.
Guess what?”

  “What?” I eyed Brit warily.

  “She’s totally wrong.”

  “We do have a great team,” I said. “But you don’t know this girl. She’s vicious. She’ll do anything to win—even at the cost of her horse. I’ve seen it. Jasmine is the most ruthless rider I’ve ever seen, and she’s not going to lose without a fight.”

  Brit didn’t look worried. “Then we’ll fight. You just said you want to practice dressage more. Now you have an even bigger incentive.”

  “I definitely do.”

  We were quiet the rest of the short walk back to Orchard. Inside the front hall, Stephanie, the dorm monitor, was putting up fall decorations. She stood in front of one of the hall tables and put vanilla frosting–scented Yankee candles in a pretty pattern surrounded by real-looking red, orange, and yellow leaves.

  Usually, I’d get excited about decorations of any kind and would want to immediately add festive touches to my room. But right now, the only thing I could think about was the text from Jasmine.

  Inside our room, I pulled off my boots and flopped onto my bed. Brit went to shower and I opened Jasmine’s text again. I hit forward, typed in Heather’s name and wrote what do u think? above the text.

  Seconds later, my phone vibrated. I opened the message, sure that Heather would have a snarky response to Jas’s text that would make me feel better.

  To: Sasha Silver

  From: Heather Fox

  That we better b ready 4 a showdown.

  7

  PASSING NOTES

  IN MONDAY MORNING’S ENGLISH CLASS, I was scribbling down answers to questions from Mr. Davidson’s homework that I hadn’t finished Sunday night. I’d been too tired after my lesson and the rest of my homework had kept me at my desk until I’d fallen asleep.

  I filled in the last blank and shoved the now-finished worksheet back in my pink folder, glad to not have any late homework, especially not in this advanced class. I’d been the only one in the room for a while because I’d gotten there early. I looked up when the doorknob turned.

  Paige stepped inside, giving me a tiny smile when she saw me.

  “Um, hi,” she said.

  “Hey.”

  There wasn’t any venom in our tones—they sounded the same. Sad and tired.

  Paige was wearing a cranberry-colored three-quarters sleeve shirt that I’d never seen before, with over-the-knee black boots and jeans. I wondered if she’d gone shopping with Geena, her new roommate. Even after all this time, thinking about it was still hard to digest. I opened my folder, shuffling papers, and pretending there was something interesting in it.

  “Can we talk for a sec?” Paige asked. She sat beside me, placing her leather messenger bag on the floor.

  I glanced at her, unsure if I’d heard her right. “Of course,” I said. I had no clue what this was about. Paige and I weren’t enemies anymore, and our relationship had never been exactly that, even after the Callie thing, but we’d been sort of frozen and hadn’t moved forward to repairing our past friendship.

  Our past BFF-ness.

  And it still hurt.

  Paige’s green eyes focused on mine. She took a deep breath and twisted a lock of red-gold hair around her finger. I shifted in my seat, hating the discomfort between us.

  “Sasha, I wanted to know—”

  Paige closed her mouth when the door to the classroom burst open with such force that we both jumped. Vanessa, a girl in our class, walked inside laughing with Alison. Behind them came a few other students and Mr. Davidson.

  I looked at Paige, desperate to know what she’d wanted. But it was obviously something Paige didn’t want to discuss in front of everyone. She gave me a sorry look and opened her notebook.

  Mr. Davidson went to his desk and started taking attendance.

  I’m going to have to sit through this entire class and be tortured, I thought. I’d have to wait until the end to see if Paige wanted to finish what she’d started saying. What if she said nothing at all—like it had never happened?

  I felt something being pressed into my hand. I looked down, under the table, and a tiny folded up piece of paper was in my hand. On the ripped up piece of notebook paper, in purple pen, was a note in Paige’s handwriting.

  Can we meet up and talk? Pls?

  For a long minute, I stared at the note, reading Paige’s familiar handwriting over and over.

  I finally wrote back.

  2mrw?

  Paige read my note and handed me another.

  Absolutely. Text me whenever.

  For the rest of English class, I tried to focus on the lesson and not think about whatever Paige wanted to talk to me about. I wasn’t too nervous—the way we’d just talked hadn’t been contentious. Paige didn’t seem like she was asking to meet with me just to fight. Or, at least, I hoped not.

  Later that afternoon, I was heading to free period when I saw Eric looking at a handout from one of his classes.

  “Hey,” I said, walking up to him.

  He looked up smiled. “Hey, Sasha. How’s everything?”

  “Good,” I said. “Busy, obviously. But good.”

  He adjusted the math textbook and notebook in his hand. “I’m glad. I’m happy you’re doing okay.”

  “Actually, I’m doing more than okay,” I said, my tone soft. “And it’s partly because of you.”

  Eric leaned his shoulder back against the wall, looking at me with his intense dark eyes. “What did I do?”

  “What you did with Jacob—the riding lessons—I can’t thank you enough. That was the best Halloween surprise ever. I knew you were my friend, but what you did was beyond amazing.” I swallowed. “It couldn’t have been easy for you to be around Jacob. You did it because we’re friends, and I really, really appreciate it.”

  Eric looked at me with soft eyes. “It was kind of awkward at times, sure. But Jacob cares about you and when he asked me, there was no way I would have said no. We are friends, Sash.”

  I watched. Standing there in his navy T-shirt and jeans, Eric looked like a guy I was lucky to have as my friend.

  “I’m so happy we’re able to be friends. We should definitely hang out sometime, if you want.”

  Eric nodded. “Definitely. I’m sure you’re going to be practicing like crazy for Huntington. We could work in the arena sometime, if you want.”

  “You’re on. I’d like that.”

  We both smiled at each other.

  “See you later,” Eric said. “I’ve got to get to class.”

  “Bye.”

  I felt good as we split up in the hallway. I headed to free period and sat in the back, so I could BBM Jacob before I started homework. Keeping one eye on Ms. Utz, who was monitoring this free period, I took out my phone.

  Sasha Silver:

  Just wanted 2 tell u that I talked 2 Eric a sec ago.

  I got a few questions on my English worksheet answered before I felt my phone vibrate.

  Jacob Schwartz:

  Oh, yeah?

  Sasha Silver:

  I saw him and wanted 2 thank him for giving u riding lessons.

  Jacob Schwartz:

  That was cool of u. I’m glad u guys r friends.

  As if it wasn’t already official, I had THE best boyfriend.

  Sasha Silver:

  Me too. I’m glad you’re cool w/it. We’re going 2 practice 2gether sometime since I have lots of work 4 Huntington.

  Jacob Schwartz:

  That’s a good idea. Prob will make u less nervous since he’s not your competition like Heather or even Brit.

  Sasha Silver:

  Yeah, I think so too. I don’t feel competitive w/Brit or H, but it’ll def b a nice break to

  “Sasha? Do you not have enough homework to keep you busy?”

  I yanked my head up, and Ms. Utz was standing over me, her arms crossed.

  “No, I mean, yes,” I said, flustered. “Sorry.”

  Ms. Utz held out an open hand. “I’ll hold onto your phone until
the period is over.”

  Blushing, I handed her my BlackBerry.

  After a stern look, she turned away and walked up the aisle to the front of the classroom. I put my eyes on my paper, not looking up at what I was sure was a classroom of people staring at me.

  After class Ms. Utz gave me back my phone, and I dashed out of the classroom. I had two BBMs from Jacob time-stamped after Ms. Utz took away my phone.

  Jacob Schwartz:

  U ok?

  A few minutes later . . .

  Jacob Schwartz:

  Did something happen 2 ur phone?

  As I left the history building, I barely watched where I was going as I typed him a message.

  Sasha Silver:

  Ugggh! Sorry!! Got caught by Utz and she took my phone. But BBM me whenever u want. TTYL.

  I weaved through the students hurrying—like always—to sports or other after-school activities. It felt like a rush of relief when I stepped inside Orchard and closed the door behind me.

  Quiet.

  Finally.

  I walked down the now fully-decorated fall hallway. Stephanie had decorated each hall table, put a wreath of real-looking leaves on her door, and had lit battery-powered candles at the end of the hall to make things feel cozy.

  I opened my door and the room was empty. Brit would be back any second, though, since we both had to get ready for our riding lesson.

  My phone buzzed and I pushed it on, expecting a BBM or text. Instead, it was an e-mail alert. All I had to do was read the subject of the e-mail before I tossed my phone on my bed and grabbed my laptop.

  My finger pressed the on button hard, and I ran my hand over the mouse, back and forth, to try and wake the sleeping computer faster.

  The subject of the e-mail kept running through my brain.

  SASHA SILVER & ERIC RODRIGUEZ? A HOT NEW COUPLE AGAIN?

  My computer finally came on and I went to the blog. The latest post, dated only minutes ago, had a photo of Eric and me standing in the hallway, smiling at each other. I could barely make myself read the text that was under the picture.

  Look at who was spotted in the hall today! Small-town Sasha Silver with her former boy toy and total hottie Eric Rodriguez. But didn’t they break up? Didn’t mousy Sasha manage (ummm, how, seriously?) to snag *Jacob*? If they’re as together as they’ve looked, I wonder how Jacob will feel that his GF is flirting with her old BF. Come on, Sasha. If you’re going to do that, at least be smart and do it in private.