Home Sweet Drama

by Jessica Burkhart

  “Nooo!” said a girl sitting next to her. “There’s so much we have to do!” She flipped open a notebook and stared down at a page of paper. “Manis, pedis, blowouts, tweezing …”

  I turned away. This was ridiculous. Of course they were excited—they weren’t being forced to go! The classroom started to fill up and I watched Eric, and then Jacob, walk inside. I didn’t want to look at Jacob. I’d hurried out of the skybox last night after I’d caught him staring at me.

  I paged through my health book, not even able to read the text. I couldn’t concentrate with everyone talking at top volume. Paige came in and sat beside me, grinning.

  “We should have had the day off,” Paige said. “This is such a waste of time.”

  “Yeah. Totally.”

  “No one can concentrate. We’re all focused on the dance!”

  I just nodded. I was thinking about the dance, but my reasons were different from Paige’s. I really didn’t want to dampen her first big school event with Ryan, so I had to make an effort.

  “Are you more freaked out or excited about the dance?” I asked.

  Paige paused, smoothing her purple T-shirt. “Can it be equal?” she asked, smiling. “It’s the first time I’ll be dancing with Ryan and I’m so nervous. You know that I took dance lessons, but it’s been a while. What if I’ve forgotten everything and I step on his feet or something?”

  “You won’t do that. You’re a great dancer—Ryan will have to work to keep up with you.”

  Paige’s tense shoulders relaxed. “And you’ll help me with clothes and makeup, right?”

  “Given!”

  Ms. Utz walked into the room. Usually the talking would cease and everyone would wait for her to take attendance. But today, the noise level stayed the same.

  “Class,” Ms. Utz said, looking up from her notebook. “Let’s stop the talking now. We’re about to start.”

  The loud talking turned to quiet chatting. Ms. Utz started to take attendance, but the whispers didn’t stop.

  “Excuse me,” Ms. Utz said. Her voice was stern. “I realize that it’s the last day before fall break and the dance is tonight. However, this does not permit you to continue to talk when class has started.”

  Now everyone fell silent.

  “Thank you,” Ms. Utz said. She went back to taking attendance. I tuned her out and went back to thinking about the football game. I had to have been caught up in the moment and pumped up by the craziness around me. I did not want to date Jacob. I didn’t even want to be thinking about him! But then why did my chest feel crushed whenever he looked at me?

  I had to stay away from him—faaar away from him. Especially during tonight’s Homecoming. We’d be forced to hang out together for a while for junior royal court stuff, but I’d stay by Paige and away from him.

  Ms. Utz finished taking attendance. She flipped through her teacher’s guide and settled on a page. “Let’s go over the final chapter about first aid for cuts and burns, then we’ll talk about homework during break.”

  “Paige,” she said. “Please start reading at the top of page ninety.”

  Paige started reading aloud and I made myself take notes as she read. I needed anything to distract me from thinking about tonight.

  When I got to theater class, I looked for Heather. I’d made up my mind that I wasn’t going to even so much as glance at Jacob. I was too afraid that people were already expecting me to be with Jacob. They probably thought we’d gotten together the second he’d left Callie. We had to keep distance between us as much as possible.

  I spotted Heather sitting in the front row and I walked down the main aisle to her row. The theater lights felt harsh at this distance from the stage and I felt like a spotlight was on me.

  “Omigod,” I said, falling into the chair beside Heather. “Last class for an entire week.”

  She rubbed her forehead. “I know. And it’s the last day of Homecoming. If it had lasted any longer, I would have locked myself in my room until it was over or something.”

  “Me too. We just have to get through the dance and then we’ve made it.”

  Heather nodded. “I just want to go riding and pretend the dance isn’t happening.”

  “Agreed.”

  And as excited as I was about this being my last class for an entire week, I hadn’t let myself think about break yet. Things with Paige were still a tiny bit off and if I thought about spending the week with her, I started to worry about things getting weird if she asked me about the party or if I had any interest in trying to be with Jacob. I glanced quickly behind me to see if he was here yet. He was sitting two rows behind me and a few seats over. I turned my attention back to the stage.

  Ms. Scott walked up the stairs and stood at center stage. She wore her trademark red lipstick and her black hair was pulled into a half updo. “You all aren’t thinking about, I don’t know, the dance tonight, are you?”

  Everyone laughed.

  “I’m not the kind of teacher who assigns homework over a break,” Ms. Scott said. “How is it a break if you’re working?”

  “Exactly!” a girl a few seats down from Heather said.

  Ms. Scott smiled. “It’s the last class of the day and as my ‘happy fall break’ gift, I’m letting you go now. I’m sure you’ve got lots of things you’d like to do before the dance, so go.”

  The class started cheering and clapping. Even Heather and I smiled at each other. Who cared why class was canceled—at least it was!

  “Have a fun, safe break and see you all soon,” Ms. Scott said.

  I was out of my seat before she finished her last word. Heather followed me up the aisle and I almost broke into a jog to get out of the theater before Jacob could try to talk to me or something.

  “I’m definitely not using the extra time to get ready for the dance,” Heather said. “I’ve got my riding clothes in my bag, so I’m changing and riding before our lesson.”

  “Totally thinking the same,” I said. “Maybe the stable will be quiet since lessons were optional today.”

  Heather snorted. “No one’s going to show today. We’ll be the only people there when lessons start—you know it.”

  Mr. Conner had sent an e-mail this morning and had said lessons were optional for all students who wanted to use the extra time to pack for a trip home if they were going off campus for fall break or to get ready for the end of Homecoming. There was no way either Heather or I would miss a lesson—especially not one for the YENT.

  The farther away we got from the theater building, the more I relaxed. Jacob wasn’t coming after me to talk and Callie was still in class.

  We walked into the stable and the main aisle was deserted. It was so weird to be here without the usual crowd.

  “Are Julia and Alison riding after class?” I asked.

  “They better ride since they just got their privileges back, but they’re being crazy about Homecoming, so I don’t know.”

  We changed in the bathroom and got our horses’ tacks. I smiled at Charm as I walked down the aisle toward his stall. His head was hanging over the door and he pointed his ears at me as I approached.

  “Hi, guy,” I said. I put down his tack and reached up to run my hand down his blaze. “I’m glad we get to hang out more together before I go to Paige’s for break.”

  I unlatched his stall door, clipped a lead line to his halter and led him out. I put him on crossties closest to his stall and got his tack box from my trunk. I wanted to take my time grooming him—he deserved extra attention since I’d be away for a week. But I trusted Mike and Doug to take excellent care of him and Charm loved them both.

  I grabbed Charm’s hoof pick and ran my hand down his leg, squeezing above the fetlock. He raised his hoof and I scraped out what little muck had accumulated since yesterday. After his hooves were clean, I brushed him until he was super shiny. His chestnut coat gleamed softly under the overhead lights and from the sunlight that came in through the windows.

  I tacked him up, thi
nking about how Heather was probably about ready to come find me to see what was taking so long. I snapped on my helmet and we started toward the indoor arena. It was too hot to ride outside right now.

  “What took you so long?” Heather asked when I led Charm inside. She rolled her eyes as she rode Aristocrat over.

  “I wanted to spend more time with him,” I said. “I’m going to miss him over break.”

  Heather nodded and the attitude disappeared from her face. “I get that.” She reached down and patted Aristocrat’s neck. “I’m going to miss him too. But it’s only for a week. When we get back, we’ll practically be living in the stable to get ready for the schooling show.”

  “That’s true.” I smiled. “We’ll be back for a day and we’ll start complaining about the schedule.”

  Heather rolled her eyes. “You know it.”

  I let Charm into a trot and we moved toward the arena wall. Heather followed behind us on Aristocrat and I dropped my shoulders, which had inched toward my ears all day because of the stress about tonight. I busied myself with thinking about something else I had to do: pack. I’d been ignoring it all week as my relationship with Paige went up and down. Tonight was important—I didn’t want anything to go wrong at the dance—especially the night before I went to Paige’s for a week.

  “Drop your hands, Silver,” Heather said. “You look ridiculous.”

  Oops. My hands were at chest level. I settled them over Charm’s neck.

  We worked through a solid warm-up and coached each other while we waited for our lesson to start.

  “Aristocrat’s head seems high,” I said.

  Heather nodded once, then corrected him. Aristocrat lowered his chin the second she asked him to.

  I almost couldn’t believe what we were doing—if we’d tried to critique each other weeks ago, we would have torn each other apart. We still weren’t really friends, but our relationship had definitely changed.

  I looked up, surprised, when Mr. Conner entered the arena. I glanced up at the wall clock near the skybox—Heather and I had been practicing for more than half an hour. We’d been working so well together that it felt like we’d just gotten started.

  “I had a feeling you’d both be here,” Mr. Conner said, smiling. “I sincerely appreciate your dedication to the team. You both continue to impress me.”

  I held back a grin.

  “Thanks,” Heather and I said.

  “Today’s going to be a little different,” Mr. Conner said. Heather and I looked over as Mike led a tacked-up Lexington into the arena. He handed Mr. Conner a helmet, which Mr. Conner put on and then mounted Lexington.

  “For the first half of the lesson, you two are going to stay in the center of the arena and you’ll critique me.”

  Heather and I looked at each other—confused. Mr. Conner was a top-level rider and there was no way we’d find anything wrong with his riding. We weren’t even close to being experienced enough to give him feedback.

  Mr. Conner looked at our faces and grinned. “I’m not going to ride in my normal style. I’m going to start with some obvious mistakes and I want you to point those out. As we go, my mistakes will become more and more subtle. You’ll have to work harder to find them.”

  It sounded fun to be able to critique Mr. Conner instead of him always pointing out where we needed to improve.

  “Any questions?” he asked.

  Heather and I shook our heads.

  “All right,” Mr. Conner said. “Let’s get started.”

  Heather and I moved Charm and Aristocrat to the center of the arena, swapping places with Mr. Conner. He guided Lexington along the wall and my eyes swept over his body, looking for mistakes.

  “Shoulders down and back,” Heather said. Mr. Conner listened to her and I focused, determined to find the next mistake. I watched as Lexington, still young and inexperienced, took advantage of the extra rein Mr. Conner gave him.

  “Tighten your reins,” I called. “He’s drifting because no one’s keeping him in line.”

  Mr. Conner tightened the reins and guided Lexington back along the wall.

  It was getting tougher now. Heather and I both watched him, looking for some mistake.

  “Elbows in,” Heather called. I looked closer and noticed she was right. Mr. Conner tucked his elbows closer to his body.

  He let Lexington into a trot and immediately, I knew something was off.

  “You’re—” Heather and I started at the same time.

  She motioned to me.

  “You’re on the wrong diagonal,” I said.

  Mr. Conner sat for a beat, then started posting—this time on the correct diagonal.

  Heather and I called him on a few more errors before he drew Lexington to a walk.

  “How did you feel about that exercise?” he asked, halting the gray in front of us.

  “It was different to see things from your perspective,” I said. “You’re watching a lot when we’re riding and I never thought about that part of it before.”

  Heather adjusted her reins. “I thought it was helpful to see someone else make mistakes—some we do and don’t even realize it—and to see how that would look to a judge.”

  “Exactly,” Mr. Conner said. He reached down and rubbed Lexington’s neck. “That’s what I was hoping for—I wanted you to see what the judges witness when they watch you and others ride. At this point in your riding careers, you rarely, if at all, exhibit any of the early mistakes I made. That’s how it should be. As lessons for the YENT continue, we’ll keep working on the finesse of your riding.”

  He smiled at us. “All right. Back to me critiquing you. Space out your horses and start spirals at a trot.”

  I trotted Charm to the left end of the arena and started maneuvering him through the pattern. My mind was focused on our ride—we had a show after fall break and I wasn’t about to waste one second of our lesson.

  We completed a few spirals before Mr. Conner held up his hand.

  “Halt and I’ll explain what we’re going to do next,” he said.

  Heather and I stopped our horses in front of him, ready for instructions.

  “I want to practice leg yields,” Mr. Conner said. “We haven’t worked on them since last year, so I want to remind you how to execute them.”

  I took a breath to keep down my nerves.

  “Even if you don’t intend to specialize in dressage,” Mr. Conner said, “knowing how to do leg yields is a valuable tool for jumping. If you approach a jump at the wrong angle, a leg yield can help straighten your horse before he reaches the jump. Also, for pleasure riding, you can use leg yields to move to the side of a trail or to make opening and closing gates easier.”

  I nodded at that. Sometimes I had to dismount to open or close a gate. If I could do better leg yields, I’d be able to stay in the saddle.

  “For this lesson, we’ll refresh our memory about how to leg yield by doing it at a walk,” Mr. Conner said. “Practice this on your own in between lessons and we’ll eventually work up to doing it at a canter.”

  We nodded and I made a mental note to watch a few clips of leg yields on MyTube later.

  “Heather,” Mr. Conner continued. “I’d like you to go first. Ask Aristocrat to walk forward, then move him toward the wall. He should naturally want to walk along the wall since that’s how we work during lessons. But don’t allow him to turn completely—just bend.”

  Heather nodded. “Okay. And once he starts to bend, I’ll ask him to move sideways while still going forward.”

  “Exactly,” Mr. Conner said. “Let’s see you try it.”

  Heather walked Aristocrat in a straight line, keeping him away from the arena wall. Then she started to bend him toward the wall, and when he moved toward it, she pressed her boot against his side when he took another step forward. She also moved the inside rein with her hand and within two strides, Aristocrat began to move forward and sideways at the same time. They continued the movement for three strides before Heather turne
d him away from the wall and back to us.

  “That was nice, Heather,” Mr. Conner said. “How did you decide when Aristocrat had bent enough?”

  Heather put the reins in one hand and pushed up her helmet. “I read an article in Young Rider about leg yields and I think it said the horse bent enough when you could see his nostril and eye.”

  Mr. Conner smiled. “That’s correct. A great execution for the first attempt. Good job.” He turned to me. “Your turn, Sasha. Remember not to pull on the reins—be gentle and ask Charm to flex to the side and not turn.”

  I nodded. “Okay.”

  But I didn’t feel okay. It had been so long since I’d done leg yields—I worried that I’d forgotten everything and wouldn’t be able to do it. I gave Charm rein to move forward because I knew the longer I sat still, the more I’d overanalyze and make myself and Charm more nervous.

  I kept him straight for several strides before I flexed my fingers around the reins and asked him to bend just slightly. He started to make a complete turn, so I restraightened him and made him move forward for several more strides before asking him to bend again. This time, he moved slightly instead of a full turn. I timed pressing my leg against him when he moved his back leg forward.

  C’mon, move sideways! I begged in my head.

  It felt as if he wasn’t going to do it and then he moved sideways and forward at the same time.

  Yes!

  I kept pressing and relaxing my leg against his side and I didn’t make him take as many steps as Heather and Aristocrat had done. I patted his shoulder and we turned back to Mr. Conner and Heather.

  Mr. Conner nodded at me. “Excellent, Sasha. Charm isn’t as familiar with these movements as Aristocrat, but he listened to you and he worked hard at paying attention to what you were asking of him. Keep practicing it.”

  “We will,” I said.

  “Let’s try that again,” Mr. Conner said. He gestured at Heather. “Take Aristocrat though it at a walk.”

  I watched Heather start the exercise and I felt eager to try again. When it was our turn, Charm seemed to know exactly what to do. He listened to me the first time and we completed the leg yield without making the same mistakes we had the first time. Mr. Conner made us practice for another half hour before he signaled us to bring our horses in front of him.