The Canterwood Crest Stable of Books

by Jessica Burkhart

  “I agree,” Mr. Conner chimed in, causing Heather’s grin to widen. “Excellent ride. Okay, Sasha. Your turn.”

  “Ready, boy?” I whispered to Charm. He dipped his head and stepped up to the starting line. After losing to Callie during our race, we had to do this right. But four jumps were harder than ten. With four, we couldn’t miss one or we’d look bad. Mr. Conner had specifically designed the short course to make us work harder.

  Staring forward, I gripped Charm’s reins and shoved my heels down in the stirrup irons. Four jumps, I whispered to myself. Just four.

  The buzzer sounded. I tapped my boots against Charm’s sides. He surged forward and we cantered to the first jump. I lifted out of the saddle and signaled Charm to jump. He bounded over the blue and white poles. He slowed, gathered himself and eyed the second one. His hooves pounded the arena dirt and he tucked his front legs and lifted over the brush jump. The water jump was next. I tightened my legs around Charm’s barrel, clicked and urged him forward. “You’ve got this, boy, c’mon,” I whispered. I counted down the strides—three, two, one. On one, Charm pushed off from his back hooves and propelled over the liverpool. He didn’t even blink at the blue plastic “water” below.

  All right! “Yes,” I whispered, stroking his neck quickly with one hand. “Good boy!” Charm hopped over the last fence and tossed his head. We trotted back to Callie and the Trio.

  “Awesome!” Callie called.

  Charm pranced past Aristocrat and we halted next to Black Jack.

  “Callie, you first,” Mr. Conner said. He put his clipboard on the table.

  “Nine,” Callie said, “Sasha let Charm have his head, but she was still in control every second.”

  Julia gave me a small smile. “Nine. Charm was ready for every jump.”

  Alison opened her mouth and then looked at Heather. Heather glared at her. “Eight,” Alison whispered. “You, um, you hesitated before the water jump.”

  I knew that wasn’t true, but there was no point in arguing.

  Heather undid her chinstrap. “Six,” she said firmly. “You didn’t collect him after the third jump, you could have started him stronger and he wasn’t paying attention to you every second of the course.”

  I opened my mouth, wanting to shoot something back about how none of that was true … but Heather was right. Sure, it had been a strong ride, but Charm and I needed more practice before we really deserved the nines Callie and Julia had given us.

  “All right,” Mr. Conner said. “This was a good exercise. Hand off your horses to Mike and Doug. They’ll cool and groom them after morning lessons so you can get to class on time, but they’re yours in the afternoon. See you later.”

  The Trio dismounted and headed for the door.

  “So mature, Heather,” Callie called after her. “You went after me on purpose.”

  “Please, Callie.” Heather led Aristocrat toward the door without a glance. “You’d know it if I went after you.”

  “Oh, my God,” Callie hissed the second the Trio was out of the arena. “She’s gonna be like this all semester!”

  I dismounted and urged Charm forward. “It’s still better than last year. At least she’s not trying to run me out of here or break up our friendship.”

  “True,” Callie said with a sigh. “I just want to work really hard for regionals. Want to practice together on weekends?”

  “Definitely. Saturday and Sunday, if we can. See you at English?”

  “Deal!” Callie said. We gave Black Jack and Charm to Mike and Doug. It was almost eight—only twenty minutes to shower and get to class.

  I hurried out of the stable and walked down the sidewalk. Ahead of me, the Trio sauntered up the path. Lateness obviously wasn’t important to them.

  “… so for the Sweetheart Soirée,” Heather said. “You have to remember that—”

  I’d completely forgotten to ask Paige about the mysterious Sweetheart Soirée. I walked a little closer to the Trio. Maybe I’d finally find out what—suddenly, Heather spun around and narrowed her eyes at me. Julia and Alison stopped beside her.

  My face reddened and I looked down.

  “Go away, Harriet the Spy!” Heather spat.

  I hurried past them, not wanting to make myself even later by getting into it with Heather.

  Sasha the Spy. That could be my new IM name.

  HEATHER’S SOUR PUNCH

  IT WAS FINALLY LUNCHTIME AND THE SMELLS of pizza and brownies filled the caf. English, algebra, and bio had dragged. It was our first day back, so there wasn’t really much work to do, but that wouldn’t last long. I slid my tray onto the table and took a seat with Paige, Callie, and Nicole.

  “Status?” Paige asked me.

  “Tired,” I moaned. “Working out with Charm in the morning is harder than I thought. Plus, I’ve got another lesson after school.” It was only day one and I was already complaining. I felt bad—a million students would kill to be at Canterwood and here I was complaining about it.

  “It’ll get easier,” Paige said, poking at her strawberry yogurt. “You’ve got to adjust to your new schedule.”

  “I guess,” I said. “At least I’ve got film next.”

  “Oooh,” Paige made a kissy face. “you mean your class with Jaaay-cob?”

  I laughed and punched her on the arm. “Stop it!” I squealed—but I couldn’t help scanning the caf for him. It was already lunchtime and I had yet to see him even once—I hadn’t even passed him in between classes!

  “Soon you’ll ditch me and take Jacob trail riding instead,” Callie teased.

  “Ignore them!” Nicole said with a laugh. “They’re just jealous.” Nicole was on the intermediate team. Last semester, she had tried out for the advanced team but hadn’t made it. She’d been crushed, but she was working hard and would definitely be trying out next fall.

  At the end of the period, I got up to throw away my trash. I passed one of the long tables in the center of the room and saw the new guy, Eric, sitting with a couple of guys from Blackwell Hall. He jumped up from his table and grabbed his tray when he saw me.

  “Headed to class?” he asked.

  “Yeah, film,” I said as we emptied our trays. “How’s the first day?”

  “Good so far,” he said with a nod. “Except I have an appointment with …” He checked his schedule. “Ms. Utz. Know where she is?”

  “Yep, I’ll show you. You’re going to have fun with her,” I laughed.

  “Uh-oh,” Eric looked at me skeptically. “Why?”

  I bit my lip as we headed outside. “Let’s just say she’s not shy.”

  “Is she crazy?” he groaned.

  “You have nooo idea.”

  “Tell me! It’s just cruel to send a guy in unprepared.”

  “Well,” I said. “Let’s see. First rule—no direct eye contact.”

  Eric’s eyes widened. “What?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What else?” Eric asked, seeming amused.

  “She wrestles,” I said.

  Eric stopped walking and turned to stare at me. “I can’t tell if you’re kidding or not,” he said. “Please be kidding.”

  “Sorry, Eric. I’m not,” I said. “She’s got, like, a championship ring.”

  I stopped in front of Ms.Utz’s office and motioned to the little reception area just inside where a couple of other students were seated and waiting.

  Eric looked inside. “Okay,” he said. “At least I’m not alone, right?”

  “It’s sort of a rite of passage,” I agreed. “Good luck.”

  “Thanks, Sasha—I’ll catch up with you later.” He walked backward through into the reception area with wide eyes, with the classic mock–horror movie look that said: “If I don’t make it out, call for help.”

  I laughed and headed for the Canterwood Media Center. Last semester, film had been an evening class on Fridays, but now the class had been moved to early Monday afternoons. I ran my fingers through my hair and applied a new coat of lip g
loss as I got closer. Mint was always my go-to gloss after meals.

  Jacob, hi, I practiced in my head. You look great.

  No—way too boring. Hey, Jacob—what’s up?

  Okay, generic much? Maybe it should be more like, Jacob! I’m so excited to see you! I’ve been thinking about you all break, ever since we danced at the winter dance. Are we going out, technically? Because all of my friends are asking me and I don’t know how to answer them.

  Yeah, that won’t freak him out at all. Not even a little bit.

  No time to think now. I pushed open the door and walked inside.

  The concessions stand was closed until the theater opened tonight. I missed the smell of popcorn and the zillions of candy choices.

  I was about to step into the theater when a familiar laugh made me turn around. Heather, looking stylish and pretty in a bubblegum pink puffy coat and white cashmere sweater, had her blue eyes glued to Jacob. He stood a couple of feet away from her and she twisted her bar stool back and forth. I took a deep breath and walked over. “Hi, Jacob!” I said.

  “Hey, Sash!” Jacob said. He smiled at me and, I swear, subzero air radiated off Heather. “It’s great to see you finally! Sorry we could never meet up before.”

  I smiled at him—this was going way better than I’d expected!

  “You two have class together?” Heather snipped.

  “Yeah,” I said. “We sit together. Too bad you didn’t sign up for film.”

  “There’s always next semester,” Heather said.

  “Ugh,” Jacob said. “Don’t even talk about that. I need to get through this one first.”

  I smiled at him and inched closer. “Well,” I said. “Don’t want to be late.”

  Heather looked at her phone. “Yeah. You wouldn’t want that.”

  I half-rolled my eyes.

  “See you later,” Jacob said, smiling at Heather

  “Later,” Heather said. Her tone was sweet as strawberry Skittles, but the look she gave me when Jacob turned around was a Sour Punch.

  “How was break?” I asked, ignoring her and walking with Jacob into the theater.

  “It was great! My aunt and uncle came over and we played snow football on Christmas Eve.”

  “That sounds really fun,” I said. “Snow football?”

  We maneuvered down the backpack-littered main aisle to our seats.

  Jacob smiled and I could see his dimples. “It’s way better than playing on the grass.”

  My annoyance at Heather started to slip away. Talking to Jacob always made me smile.

  When we reached our row, I stopped to let Jacob go first and he halted at the same time.

  “You go,” we said in unison. We laughed and my cheeks flushed.

  Jacob motioned for me to go ahead and I did the same, mirroring him.

  “I’ll just go, then!” I said.

  “I was about to get a traffic cop,” Jacob said. He followed me and slid into the cushy seat next to me. Maybe he didn’t forget about me over break. There was a definite like vibe.

  I wanted to ask Jacob why he had been talking to Heather, but I couldn’t. It’s not like I was for sure his girlfriend or anything. Jacob could talk to other girls if he wanted. Or even go out with them. But I hoped he wouldn’t want to … oh, God, I was not going to make myself crazy over something so silly!

  He’d been talking to Heather. That’s it. I settled into my seat.

  Mr. Ramirez turned on the lights and stepped to the front of the classroom. “‘The best kind of prize is a surprise!’”

  Mr. Ramirez often started class with a film quote.

  “Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!” I called out.

  “That’s right!” Mr. Ramirez said. “Excellent, Sasha. Today’s surprise is that we will be discussing our exciting semester project.”

  “Good job with the quote,” Jacob whispered.

  “In a moment, we’ll begin watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated film produced by Walt Disney,” Mr. Ramirez said. “But before we start the film, let’s go ahead and discuss our semester project. You will be partnered up to write, shoot, and direct a two- to four-minute film. These films will be due before midwinter break and I’ll view them while you’re on vacation. In just a moment, I’m going to assign partners.”

  Ooh! I turned to Jacob to whisper to him, but Mr. Ramirez was looking in our direction. I squinted and tried to send him an ESP signal, but he didn’t look at me. Guess my powers weren’t fully formed. I moved my foot to nudge the side of his seat to get this attention, but my foot slipped and kicked Jacob’s leg accidentally.

  “Ow!” Jacob said and looked down.

  OMG!

  “Sorry!” I whispered.

  He gave me a sideways look and rubbed his shin.

  “I’ll be basing partners on alphabetic pairing,” Mr. Ramirez added.

  Great. He couldn’t have said that two seconds ago, before I kicked my crush?

  “Sorry,” I whispered again when Mr. Ramirez started to name partners. “I meant to kick your chair.”

  “Uh huh,” Jacob teased. “Sure you did. Why did you want to kick my chair?”

  “I …” I paused, feeling shy. “I was hoping we could be partners, or something—but that was before Mr. R said partners would be alphabetical.”

  Jacob started to reply, but Mr. Ramirez reached us before he could.

  “Sasha Silver,” Mr. Ramirez called. “You’ll be paired with … Jacob Schwartz.” Yes!

  Jacob grinned. “No bruises necessary.”

  Mr. Ramirez finished pairing everyone up. “After we watch Snow White, I’ll hand out the genres. Each team will be assigned a genre, such as fantasy or comedy, and you may use that any way you choose.”

  Mr. Ramirez went to turn on the movie and Jacob leaned over to me. “Have you ever written a script before?” he asked.

  “Never,” I admitted, “But I’m taking creative writing this semester, so maybe that’ll help.”

  “Cool,” Jacob nodded.

  We settled into our seats to watch the movie—but there was no way I could concentrate on a wicked witch and forest animals when I had just been pretty much assigned to spend massive amounts of time with a boy. The boy.

  At the end of the movie, Mr. Ramirez started to pass out the genres. “Remember to read two chapters in your film textbook,” he said.

  I wrote down the assignment.

  “Jacob and Sasha,” Mr. Ramirez said. He smiled at us. “Your genre is documentary.”

  “Documentary,” Jacob said to me. “We can do this, right?”

  “We can so do this,” I replied. “Did you see March of the Penguins? Maybe we could do something like that.”

  “That would be fun,” Jacob said. “How about Charge of the Connecticut Carpenter Ants?”

  “Aw, you stole my idea.”

  We laughed and started to pack up our books. Jacob shifted in his seat.

  “Want to IM about ideas later?” he asked.

  “It’s a … plan.”

  More dimples.

  In that moment, I knew there was nothing to worry about. Jacob didn’t like Heather. He liked me.

  SWEETHEART SOIRÉE SECRETS

  FILM CLASS HAD ENDED HOURS AGO, BUT I kept replaying my conversations with Jacob in my head. He was definitely the cutest guy I’d ever seen. Those green-gold-flecked eyes, that hair, and …

  “Earth to Sasha,” Paige teased from her desk. “You okay?”

  “Fine,” I said. “Just trying to decide what Jacob and I should do for our documentary.”

  “It has to be good if it’s worth a big part of your grade.” Paige put down her butterfly-covered pencil. “Any ideas?”

  “We talked about maybe something with animals. Ooh, hey—before I forget—do you know anything about this Sweetheart Soirée thing people have been talking about?”

  “Not much.” Paige frowned. “It’s a secret. I know the Canterwood ballroom is always the
location and they bring in caterers and decorators. The Soirée is a Canterwood tradition that started back in the early eighteen eighties.”

  “Wow. I can’t even imagine Canterwood back then,” I said.

  “I know. It was an all girls’ school, so the guys came to the Soirée from the Dover School for Boys. There’s a legend about the first Canterwood Sweetheart Soirée, too.”

  I sat up straighter. “Tell me!”

  “Okay. So, it was, like, 1884 and the Canterwood adults decided to throw a Valentine’s Day party for the staff. They thought Valentine’s Day was too mature for kids.”

  I nodded.

  “The ninth-grade girls decided to protest,” Paige continued. “They sent letters to the guys at Dover and asked them to help. On the night of the party, the guys sneaked over from Dover. Everyone dressed up in their best clothes and crashed the adults’ party.”

  “And they weren’t expelled?” I asked.

  “You’d think, but they weren’t. The Dover boys were banned from visiting campus for the rest of the year. But the kids found a way to hold their own secret Valentine’s Day party the next year. The students held it every year until the teachers finally caught on and authorized the party in the early 1900s. But the year of separation between the guys and girls is the real legend. It’s rumored that their broken hearts inspired some sort of party game that everyone still plays every year.”

  “Hmm,” I said. “Who gets invited?”

  “Everyone, I think,” Paige said. “Headmistress Drake wouldn’t okay a party if any of the students were excluded. I heard a rumor that last year, Canterwood hired a DJ from New York City. There was also a black tie dress code.”

  “Whoa.” My wardrobe would need serious updating if those were the rules this year. I stretched my arms to the ceiling and yawned. “I’ll have to keep trailing Heather to see if she knows more details.”

  Paige rolled her eyes. “She probably does know something.”

  “Ugh. I can’t keep wasting time on her. I’ve got to figure out this film thing.”

  We were quiet for a couple of minutes and then I started thinking aloud again.

  Paige ambled over to the window and looked outside. “Maybe you could film a herd of deer or …” She turned away from the glass and looked at me. “What animal is on campus right now?”