by Dave Warner
'Follow my lead,' said Charlotte. 'You'll be fine.'
Sure, sure. Leila began confidently enough but then it was Whack! Whack! Whack! One flag after another slapping her nose or her butt. Obviously they had cheated and made the gaps too narrow.
Charlotte hissed down at her. 'You can't do this by yourself. Let me help.'
Leila ignored her. Whack! Whack! Whack!
'If you don't listen to me, we'll keep doing it till you do.'
'Okay, okay. You show me how much better you can do.'
And to Leila's surprise she did. When she followed Charlotte's commands they only hit one more flag. By the time they came back on the reverse run, Leila knew where Charlotte was going to send her and they did the slalom not just quickly and without error but with style, as if Leila was stepping out on the dancefloor of one of those Sunset Boulevard discos. Come to think of it, this could be a brand new little dance she could show Hilary, Paris and those other gals. Oh, they were just gonna love having her back.
That night Charlotte didn't go to dinner. The last thing she wanted was the company of other girls. Instead she picked up some bread rolls from the kitchen en route to the stables, which were deserted except for the horses.
Leila was excited to see her.
'Hey, girlfriend! I've been reminding these nags here how we kicked their butt today.'
The grey mare, which Emma had selected as her mount, lifted her lip into a sneer. Leila's eyes bugged out at the rolls.
'Fresh bread!'
Charlotte rubbed Leila's muzzle and fed her one.
'Not that fresh.'
Leila woofed one down almost whole. 'Hey, compared to the chaff I've been on here, this is caviar.'
'I have to say, I was wrong about you, Leila. I thought you were bone lazy but I couldn't have asked for a better effort these last couple of days.'
Leila couldn't care less what she thought of her so long as she kept the bread rolls coming.
'People take a little time to get to know the real me.'
The grey mare rolled her eyes. Leila gave her the mind-your-own-business stare. The kid began brushing her. This was more like it. Hanging out here for a few weeks wouldn't be too foul at all if only some pizza could be thrown in. She tossed the idea to her new best buddy, Charlie.
'Pizza? No way. You still need to lose weight.'
'How about a little ice-cream sundae, chocolate and caramel topping, nuts ...'
'No.'
'What if we hold on the nuts?'
'No, we have a big challenge ahead of us.'
Leila decided not to push it. Things had a way of panning out. She looked over and noticed the saddle on the stall. The twee velvet horse dangled annoyingly. What if she was seen wearing that on worldwide TV? She'd be the laughing stock of the Viper Room. She had a reputation to uphold. Leila jutted her jaw at the toy.
'Any chance we could lose Poco here?'
'No way. My mum made it.'
Leila felt a twinge of envy. Imagine a mom who actually made you something? Even something as appallingly corny as this. Leila's mom had never made her anything except angry. When Leila was younger her mom always returned from her latest overseas tour with some stupid little doll or something. Like that was supposed to make everything right. These days she didn't bother, she'd got the message.
To keep the kid brushing, Leila figured she should start some conversation.
'So your mom is pretty proud of you, I guess.'
'She died. Not long after she made that horse.'
Leila felt awful. A real hoof-in-the-mouth job.
'I'm sorry, Charlie. Bum deal.'
The kid just said, 'Yeah,' and kept brushing.
Leila didn't know what to say. For a long time there was no sound except the rhythm of the brush. She decided to take another stab.
'So, tell me about this place you're from?'
The kid did. For well over an hour. Leila found herself doing something she rarely had before – listening. It was actually pretty interesting in a weird way, though the place sounded like Tijuana without the people. Imagine no cable and no macchiato? Leila perked up when Charlie got onto mustering. Could come in handy if Tommy ever did a western or cattle ranch movie.
The best stuff, though, was the stuff about the kid's folks. How Charlie and her mom and dad used to pile into the car and drive, like, two hours to find a shady spot where Charlie's mom would spread a picnic blanket, hopefully not on a bull ants' nest, and they would sit and eat boiled eggs and cucumber and pretend they were by a lake watching ducks.
Leila expected Charlie to be sad when she told those stories but she was bright as a button reliving those good times. Leila got a pang wishing she'd driven somewhere with her folks and eaten boiled eggs and cucumber. Sure, she'd been to lots of opening night Hollywood shindigs with sushi, chicken yakitori, canapés, live salsa bands and free slushies, but when she started telling the kid about Hollywood and how great those parties were, she had to force her smile. She didn't quite feel it in her heart like Charlie obviously did.
Eventually Charlotte thought to check her watch. She was shocked to find it was well after nine p.m. She had to go. Leila couldn't believe three hours had passed. It felt it had gone a lot quicker than Lord of the Rings.
'I'll see you tomorrow.'
Charlotte kissed Leila on the muzzle. It was a different sort of kiss to what you got at the restaurant of the Four Seasons. They were air-kisses, missing the cheek by a mile. Usually Leila would snarl if somebody tried this sort of smooch. She didn't like people getting close to her. But tonight she let it go. After all, she needed to make the JOES so she supposed she should put up with it, keep the kid happy.
The next week breezed by. Charlotte spent practically every spare minute with Leila. When they weren't improving their dressage work on the arena, stepping between rubber tyres, hurdling, spinning and reversing, they were swapping tales of home. Leila had so many fantastic stories about the movies she'd been in. Of course, Charlotte had no idea who these famous actors were but now and again she would sneak a look at the magazines the other girls brought down to meals and she'd realise that the actors on the cover were Leila's Hollywood friends.
Leila was gradually getting fitter. From being the worst of the pairings at Thornton, Leila and Charlotte were closing in on the very best, who Charlotte grudgingly conceded included The Evil Three.
Charlotte and Leila had got into the habit of taking long afternoon rides to the farthest corner of the property, where they could natter freely away from prying ears. Ninety per cent of what Leila talked about was food. What this or that actor turned on for their 'opening' or engagement or break-off-of-engagement parties. Whenever Charlotte tried to get Leila to talk about her mum she muttered 'show pony' and changed the subject. Today, though, she had opened up about her father.
'He made over thirty movies. He kept doing more and more dangerous stunts to help provide for me and Mom. All that time, not once did the studio take him to a classy restaurant. Chaff every day of his life until he died. And they buried him where he fell. That's the studios for you.'
'And you hate them for it.'
'Of course I do.'
'And your mum?'
Leila got defensive. 'I was a kid. She should have been there.'
'She was being a mum and dad for you.'
'Well, she failed. Hey, did I ever tell you about the time J-Lo and I caught the bus?'
Charlotte was aware Leila was changing the subject. She couldn't imagine anybody who had a mother not wanting to spend all the time they had with them. They were cantering along the top of a wooded ridge, the sun orange and fat and beginning to sink, as if it had just finished a long lunch and wanted a snooze. Leila finished her J-Lo story. Charlotte felt she'd missed something.
'I don't get it. You caught a bus, went one stop and got off.'
'Yeah.'
Leila was smirking and shaking her head at the memory.
'But what was the big deal?'
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'We rode the bus – that was the big deal. Hey, did I ever tell you about the time in Rome? The studio had this amazing cake made in the shape of a Ferrari ...'
'What's that?'
Charlotte had spotted something moving in the valley below.
Leila didn't miss a beat. 'A Ferrari is an Italian racing car ...'
'No ... that!'
Charlotte pointed below where she had seen movement. Through the trees they could make out a familiar shape.
'That, my friend, is a horse,' said Leila smugly.
Charlotte decided they had better investigate and sent Leila forward down the hill. It became very slippery near the bottom and she needed all her skill to keep Leila from sliding, though Leila, of course, would have claimed it was only her experience working on some dance film clip that kept them upright.
Finally they came to the floor of the valley. Fifty metres away a big black horse looked over at them.
'He's magnificent,' said Charlotte as they trotted towards him.
Leila wasn't excited. Any horse that good looking just had to be a gelding. As she got closer she noticed something familiar about him. The way he stood, the way he looked over like he was so cool ...
Wait a second.
She knew this horse. This was bully-boy from the paddock back near the film lot! She heard Charlotte's sharp intake of breath.
'Over there.'
Bully-boy was forgotten as Charlotte reefed her around. Now she saw it. A bundle on the ground, twenty metres away. The bundle moved. It was a boy, about Charlie's age, and he was trying to get to his feet.
'Are you okay?'
Charlotte dismounted and began running in one fluid movement. The boy blinked and looked up, a little dazed. His helmet was lying off to the side.
'Thanks, I'm fine.'
'You don't look fine.' Charlotte could see he was having trouble standing.
'No, I guess I'm not a hundred per cent. Warrior slipped coming down the hill and I fell off. No damage to the head, that's too thick, but I think I twisted my ankle.'
Charlotte could easily have disagreed about the head part. His head looked fine to her, actually pretty darn cute if you liked that sort of thing in boys. Not that Charlotte did. His assessment of his ankle seemed on the money. He was trying to hop on his good leg.
'What are you doing here?' he asked casually, picking up his helmet.
'What are you doing here, you mean. This is Thornton Downs.'
He grinned.
'Your geography's not too hot. You're on Milthorp land.'
He must have seen the doubtful look on her face.
'Did you cross the stream about two ks back?'
She confirmed she had.
'That's the border.'
Charlotte felt immediately foolish. And then worried. What if Strudworth found out? There was bound to be some rule against it.
'You won't tell, will you?'
He laughed out loud. 'No way. I don't want everybody to know I was dumb enough to fall off my horse.'
Charlotte liked him immediately for saying that. None of the girls at Thornton Downs would ever have admitted messing up. They were all too busy trying to psych each other out.
'Would you mind?'
He nodded at the horse and for a moment Charlotte didn't understand what he meant. Then she realised he needed help to get on.
'You're not going to try and ride with that ankle. You can't even walk.'
'I'll be fine once I'm on.'
Leila only half heard this interchange. She was too busy circling the bully-boy stallion.
'So, we meet again,' he whinnied.
Leila snarled back in horse. 'Yeah, we meet and we say goodbye.'
'Suits me.'
'Me too.'
They continued to eye each other warily as Charlotte helped the boy over. Leila thought the boy wasn't bad looking in a boy band sort of way. Charlie could do worse.
Charlotte watched the boy get his bad foot into the stirrup.
'I won't be able to put any pressure on it, so if you could just steady Warrior ...'
She did and the boy pulled himself back into the saddle. She saw him wince but he settled in and picked the reins back up.
'Thanks, see you round.'
He trotted off, struggling to stay straight. Charlotte felt Leila's hot breath on her neck.
'Hope he's better than his ride.'
Charlotte was surprised at Leila's negativity. 'I thought Warrior looked impressive.'
'Hey, Warrior thinks Warrior's impressive. What's the story with the spunk?'
'The spunk?'
'The boy. Come on, you can't tell me you didn't notice he was cute.'
'I didn't notice.'
It was a white lie. Charlotte had noticed but it wasn't like that impressed her. She was more impressed by his owning up to being a klutz and falling off his horse.
'Sure you didn't notice. What's his name?'
It was only then that Charlotte realised she had no idea. Not that it mattered. She would probably never see him again.
By the time they got back to the stables, Charlotte had been regaled at length with Leila's previous encounter with Warrior. Charlotte tried to point out that from what Leila had told her, she hadn't exactly been friendly to the other horses, but Leila failed to see it. She was a star, they should have been happy just to share a paddock with her. Leila finally let go of her outrage to bring the subject back to treats.
'Come on, Charlie, just a little itty-bitty sundae with whipped cream.'
As always, Charlotte patiently explained that they still had a long way to go. Leila replied that was what Charlotte had said a week ago and since then Leila hadn't put a hoof wrong.
'The trials are just three days away. You can last,' said Charlotte firmly. She put away the brush, kissed Leila on the forehead and left. Leila watched her exit through narrowing eyes. She liked the kid, she really did, but fair was fair. If she wanted a treat, she would get a treat. One little treat, what harm could that do? There was more than one way to scoop a sundae. She had tried being polite and asking for the kid's help but the fact was, she didn't need it. She could do it all by her little ol' self.
The dining room was alive with the sound of girls gossiping. Strudworth had announced they were to assemble there for some special announcement and each girl in the room had her own ideas as to what that might be. Well, each except for Charlotte. She didn't really care and had no desire to find out. She had Leila. One good friend was all you ever needed. When Strudworth entered the room and rapped her boots with her riding crop, the whole room fell into an excited silence.
'Tomorrow we have a special treat. A friendly jumpoff against the boys from Milthorp.'
There was a collective intake of breath. Much to Charlotte's disgust, one girl – Charlotte had a feeling it may have been Rebecca – actually squealed.
Strudworth continued. 'We beat them last year but it will be a lot tougher this year because Todd Greycroft will be riding for them. So tally-ho, let's show those Milthorp boys what the gals from Thornton have.'
Some of the more enthusiastic girls started the Thornton chant.
'Thornton, Thornton the academy. We're the best as you will see. Point-to-point, hurdle, steeple, you can't touch the Thornton people. Gooooooo Thornton!!!'
In the stable Leila was dimly aware of some loud chanting in the background but she was primarily focused on the delectable pizza she was chomping. Overall she thought the Supremo was the best and she was glad she had ordered two. But the two Mexicanas were tasty and the Three Cheeses with thick crust also had something to recommend it. She smiled at how simple it had been. After all, she'd done all the hard work before when she'd tried to call Joel Gold.
She'd trotted out of the stables back to the office, dialled the pizza place whose menu was by the phone and ordered, emphasising they remember the bonus Cokes and sundaes. She'd spied the tin marked 'petty cash' by the phone. If they were going to call it 'petty' she g
uessed that meant nobody would miss it. She'd given Charlotte's name, told them she'd leave the cash with the horse Leila at the stables and to leave the pizzas there in case Charlotte was busy. Simple. The delivery guy had brought the pizzas right to her stall. Mmm, that pizza tasted fine. She let out a loud burp. Boy, that Mexicana was hot! She tried to get to her feet but it was struggle. Maybe she should have skipped the Three Cheeses?
The next day, Charlotte watched from the sidelines as Lucinda sent her horse over the last jump for a perfect round. She might not like her, but Charlotte had to admit she could certainly ride. The Thornton girls were lined up on one side of the arena, the Milthorp boys on the other. Both the boys and girls politely applauded each competitor. Thornton had done exceedingly well and was far enough ahead that now only a complete disaster would rob them of victory. Being the last to ride for Thornton, Charlotte was nervous but still confident. Leila had handled most of these manoeuvres very well just twenty-four hours earlier. Strudworth rode down the Thornton line like a general urging on her troops.
'Now, let's see what this Greycroft has got.'
All eyes, including Charlotte's, turned towards the Milthorp line. A magnificent, powerful black stallion eased out and moved to the arena. He looked awfully familiar. And so did the rider. It was the boy she had met the day before. That was Todd Greycroft! Knowing how badly he had twisted his ankle, Charlotte didn't think he'd have any chance of completing his round but to look at him you would never know there was anything wrong. He rode with a real fluidity.
She heard Rebecca gasp, 'He's gorgeous.'
Charlotte didn't think any boys were 'gorgeous'. A chocolate cream cake was gorgeous, not a boy. But he certainly could ride gracefully.
Leila narrowed her eyes at the sight of that bully-boy stallion trotting out into the arena as if he was Lord Muck. Huh! Leila hoped he broke a leg. But the way he sailed over jump after jump told her that wasn't likely. What a show-off!