“Umm … birds?” I asked hesitantly.
Paige smacked her forehead. “Sasha Silver! C’mon!”
What other animal … oh! “Horses! Oh, my God, that’s perfect! You’re a genius!”
“Obviously,” Paige said and went back to her algebra homework.
I logged into MSN and started typing a message for Jacob to get when he logged on. i’ve got an idea! I started to write when his gray offline icon turned green.
GamerGuy: hey!
SassySilver: hi! i was just leaving u an IM.
GamerGuy: yeah? did u come up w/ an idea 4 film?
SassySilver: paige did
GamerGuy: tell me. can’t think of nething! :/
SassySilver: well, the only animals on campus r the horses. maybe we can do r doc on them?
While I waited a few seconds for his response, I wished I could take it back. He probably hated the idea.
GamerGuy: u know the horses rlly well, so … i think it’s a gr8 idea.
SassySilver: u do? rlly?!
GamerGuy: we can talk 2mrw or something and come up w/ r topic. ok?
SassySilver: gr8.
GamerGuy: cul! Ttyl …
I logged out and looked over at Paige. “He loved your idea!”
“He did? Really?” Paige had a teal sticky note stuck to her arm. “That’s great! Now you’ll get to impress him even more with your horsiness.”
“Right.” I laughed. “I will.” I flipped open my homework notebook and scanned tonight’s assignments. Last semester’s homework had been nothing compared to this. Biology needed to be done first since it took me the longest. Ms. Peterson had already announced that we’d have a quiz this week. I stared at the book and tried not to think about Heather and Jacob. My e-mail notifier dinged.
Hey Sasha, hope it’s okay that I looked you up in the student directory. Thanks for the help today! You were right—I’ll never be the same after my Utz encounter. —Eric Rodriguez
I smiled at the message before turning back to my homework. Suddenly, the work didn’t seem so bad.
QUIZ ME
ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, I HEADED TO MY usual spot in the caf—a round table under a giant window that overlooked a frozen-over grassy knoll with a stone bench.
“Sit,” Paige instructed. She was sitting next to Callie and Nicole and they were sharing a giant plate of curly fries.
“Can’t,” I said.
“Why?” Callie asked. She put down her fry.
“I have a bio quiz today,” I said. “I’ve got to study.”
“Want help?” Paige asked.
“No, it’s okay.” I adjusted the backpack strap that started to dig into my shoulder. “I’m just going to sit over there and study.”
“Yell if you want help,” Nicole said.
“I will.”
Sigh. I didn’t want to sit by myself. I’d much rather sit with Paige, Callie, and Nicole and gossip about our day. I walked over to a tiny table with two chairs by one of the windows. The table was barely big enough for my bio book and tray. I popped open my Sprite and flipped to chapter three. My grades were too important to slack off now. Especially with regionals coming up.
I tried to force down my panic and concentrate, but nerves didn’t help.
My phone buzzed. It was Jacob.
Hey S—I got an idea 4 film.
What? I texted back.
How about the intelligence of horses. U always say Charm is smart. Can U prove it on camera?
Definitely! I texted.
That was a good topic, but I’d have to think of a way to show how smart Charm was. I redirected my obsessive focus to bio. For now, this was my main priority.
I read the first paragraph three times until it finally sank in and then I started on the rest of the text. My queasy stomach told me this wasn’t going to be enough studying.
Twenty minutes later, I looked over at Paige and Callie’s table and saw they were already gone. I dumped my tray, slid my backpack over my shoulder, and picked up my book. I could get in a few extra seconds of studying while I walked to class. I headed across the caf, keeping one eye in front of me and one on my book.
“Hey.”
Eric stood in from of me, wearing a black jacket over a green polo shirt and slouchy cargo pants.
“On your way to class?” I asked.
“PE,” he said. “Ms. Yee is teaching us how to play squash. What about you?”
I held up my book and made a face. “Bio. I’ve got a quiz that I’m totally going to fail.”
“Uh-oh. Want me to quiz you on the way over? The gym’s on the way.”
“Oh.” I paused for a second. “No, that’s okay. I don’t want you to be late or anything.”
He shook his head. “Bio is my best subject.”
Well, if he was going to insist …
“Okay.” I handed him the book. “Ask me anything.”
He scanned the page. “How many bones are in an adult body?”
I thought for a second. “Two hundred and six?”
“That’s right! Okay, question two.”
By the time we reached my classroom, Eric had asked me twenty questions and I’d only messed up a few.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” he said. He pushed his dark hair out of his eyes and handed me the book.
“Thanks to you,” I said. “Are you riding later?”
“Yeah, you?”
“I’ll see you there.”
“Good—see you there.” Eric turned and headed out the door to go to gym.
I watched him walk away and crossed my fingers. Even with Eric’s help, it was going to take a miracle to get a good grade.
ALL FOR ONE, AND ONE FOR ALL. NOT.
CANTERWOOD TEACHERS MUST HAVE TAKEN a course over break on how to torture their students. If we didn’t have homework, we had papers or pop quizzes. I knew they were trying to prep us for finals, but it was only the first week back to school!
Saturday had finally come.
“You riding today?” Paige asked, flipping through Martha Stewart Living.
“Yeah, but I’ve got to send an e-mail with the film proposal to Mr. Ramirez. He wanted them yesterday, but Jacob and I couldn’t decide on one until this morning.”
“What’d you pick?” Paige closed the magazine and peered at my laptop screen where I had my e-mail open.
“We decided to do it about how horses are smarter than people think.”
“How’re you going to do that?” Paige pulled on her pink snow boots.
“Well, we don’t know yet. I’m still thinking!” I watched Paige head for the door. “Where are you going?”
“My friend Erin, in Orchard Hall, has a strawberry tart recipe she thinks I should consider for my application. Then I’m going to write the first draft of my essay for my contest packet.”
“I’ll come with you to Orchard,” I said. “I’ve got to meet Callie before we ride.”
I sent off my e-mail to Mr. Ramirez, and then pulled on a stable jacket, one with a few stubborn stains from Charm’s grassy mouth, and tugged on my boots.
Paige and I got halfway down the hallway when a hot pink flyer shaped like a rose caught our attention.
“It’s another Sweetheart Soirée announcement!” Paige said.
We hurried over to the bulletin board.
THE SWEETHEART SOIRéE MAY BE FAR AWAY,
BUT KEEP YOUR EYES HERE … FOR ATTENTION YOU MUST PAY.
MORE FLYERS WILL COME, SO LOOK FOR ANOTHER RHYME.
IF YOU DON’T PAY HEED,
YOU’LL SOON BE OUT OF TIME.
“Wow,” Paige whispered. “This is going to be so fun! I can’t wait.”
“Me neither,” I agreed. “I have a feeling it’s going to be huge!”
We looked at each other for a second before we headed back down the hallway and walked across campus. I hunched against the cold. Our shoes crunched over the brown grass.
Orchard, a stark contrast from Winchester, had beige-
and-cranberry-colored walls. The old, wooden floors were shiny and polished. I loosened my coat and enjoyed the toasty warmth. I headed for Callie’s room on the second floor and Paige went up another floor to find her recipe. I paused by the glass door that overlooked a small balcony. I could just see the stable roof from here.
I knocked on Callie’s white door, covered with “Canterwood Crest is the best!” stickers. Callie, dressed in her breeches and a purple hoodie that set off her dark hair and honey-colored eyes, pulled open the door. “Sasha!”
“I walked over with Paige,” I explained. “She came to get a recipe from some girl named Erin, so I thought I’d tag along and meet you a little early.”
Callie nodded and pulled her black hair into a ponytail. “Yeah, Erin is the recipe girl of Orchard.”
I sat on Callie’s desk chair and looked around. I’d only been in her dorm a few times last semester, and not once since school had started again.
Grand Prix and Olympic posters with world-class equestrians covered Callie’s side of the room. Her plum-colored bedspread stood out against the dark, polished wood floors. Pictures of her little brothers and parents sat on her desk in funky-shaped frames.
“Ready?” Callie asked.
“Ready,” I said.
We headed out the door. “What do you want to work on today?”
“Well, I was thinking Jack’s stride is a little short and—” Callie stopped when we passed Orchard’s common room.
“I know, Dad. I know.” Heather’s voice came from inside.
Callie and I hung back, hugging the wall. I peered inside carefully. Heather was perched on the edge of one of one of the room’s recliners and she held her phone five inches away from her ear. A math textbook, crumpled papers, and pens littered the table.
“Dad, you don’t have to worry,” Heather said. Her free hand clenched into a fist. “My riding will be enough to get me through regionals. I don’t have to cheat!”
My eyes widened. Callie gripped my arm.
“Dad,” Heather sighed, digging her toes into the carpet. “I’m the best on the team. I’ll win my classes. We still have weeks to practice and—”
Mr. Fox must have cut her off because she stopped talking.
Heather stood and started to pace. “Dad! You can’t bribe a judge! I’ll win on my own.”
She looked as if she was going to toss the phone across the room. She swallowed hard and her face reddened. “If you do that, I’m not going to regionals. I’ll tell Mr. Conner that I’m sick.”
I shifted in the hallway and my boot squeaked. Heather’s head snapped in our direction. Run! shot through my brain. Callie and I shot off down the hallway and hid around the corner. For a minute, we couldn’t hear anything. When we were sure Heather hadn’t followed us, we went to the front door and slipped out of Orchard.
Once we were out of sight, I stopped and put my hands on my hips. “What was that?”
“You know Mr. Fox,” Callie said. “He’ll do whatever it takes to make Heather win. He wants her on the YENT.”
“Yeah, but bribing a judge? C’mon, that’s crazy, even for him. If he got caught, Heather’s riding career would be over.”
Callie shrugged. “It’s worth the risk to some people. But you heard Heather—she won’t do it.”
“What if she changes her mind?”
“No way.” Callie shook her head. “I’ve known her longer than you have. She’s not like that. She loves to win, but she wants to do it herself. She’s too competitive to win like that.”
“Too bad she doesn’t want the whole team to do well,” I grumbled as we reached the stable yard.
“I guess,” Callie said.
“You guess?”
Callie got quiet for a second and adjusted her fuzzy ear warmers. “I mean, yeah, we do have to ride as a team, but during a show, you’re on your own.”
I blinked and glanced at Callie as we walked over the frozen ground. I hadn’t expected her to say that. Callie was usually the cheerleader for teamwork.
“Sasha, you know how it is. Sure, people look at Canterwood as a whole, but scouts don’t pick entire teams for the YENT. They take single riders—individuals. They’d never choose everyone on the Canterwood team.”
“No, I’m sure they wouldn’t, but you can’t ride just for yourself. Mr. Conner keeps saying we have to help the team.”
Our boots crunched over the icy grass and I dabbed a bit of lemon gloss on my lips just to give my hands something to do. Even though we’d only been friends for six months, I thought I’d known Callie pretty well—maybe I didn’t know her as well as I’d thought.
“I’ll do everything I can for the team, you know that,” Callie said. “But if I have to do something more—
something better—to get scouts to notice me, I will. And so will Heather. And so should you.”
A-GIRL TO F-GIRL
A GIANT RED F WAS SLASHED ACROSS MY biology quiz. Sasha, see me after class was scrawled next to it.
An F. Not a C or even a D, but an actual F. My face reddened. Not a good way to start a Monday.
In front of me, Julia and Alison turned around to see my quiz. I flipped over the paper, but it was too late. Julia gave me a stony glare and shook her head. The Canterwood team needed me at regionals. I kept my eyes on my desk and refused to look at anyone.
Ms. Peterson dismissed the class and I hung back in my seat, pretending to pick up all of my papers slowly, as everyone else shuffled outside. I didn’t want anyone to know why I was staying behind.
“Um, Ms. Peterson?” I stepped up to her desk and clutched the quiz in my hand.
“Yes, Sasha. Thanks for staying over for a minute.” Ms. Peterson adjusted her rimless glasses and closed her grade book.
“I’m sorry about the quiz. I studied hard.” But it wasn’t enough, I thought.
Ms. Peterson nodded. “I know you did. You came close on many of the answers, but I don’t think you understand the material.”
My face burned. This had never happened at Union. I had gone from A-girl to failure in months. What if I didn’t make honor roll again? I had made it every single time at Union. That had been my thing—the stable girl who always made high honors.
“I’d like to see you get some help. Would you like me to set you up with one of my older students? There are several high school seniors in my advanced classes who tutor.”
No way was some random stranger going to find out how dumb I was. Plus, doing biology in front of a science whiz would make me nervous. What if I kept getting the answers wrong and the tutor couldn’t help me? Then what?
“Thanks, but I’ll try to study on my own a little more first.”
Ms. Peterson took off her glasses. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help, Sasha. This is difficult material. You’re a smart girl. I know you can do this, but if you want to stay after and have me help you with your homework, just let me know.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
I couldn’t wait to get out of here. “Sasha?” Ms. Peterson called. “I’m sorry, but if you fail another quiz, I will have to call your parents. Canterwood policy.”
Oh, great. Just great. I nodded and slid out the door. That could NOT happen! It was only the second week of school and I’d already failed something. My grades had to be good or no show for me and Charm. I jammed the paper into my backpack.
Callie was waiting for me around the corner.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, getting a glimpse of my face.
“Failed a quiz,” I mumbled, applying a sticky layer of strawberry shortcake lip gloss—perfect for a crisis.
“It’s just one quiz. You’ll do better on the next one!”
“I have to. Or my grade will be too low to show at regionals.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Callie said. “You can do it.”
I smiled at her and wondered how I’d ever felt weird around her after she’d made the comments about the show. Callie was competitive—there was nothing wrong wit
h that. But when I needed her, she was there for me.
We linked arms and ambled out of the building. Seeing Charm would definitely make me feel better.
Inside the stable, Callie and I headed for Charm’s and Black Jack’s stalls.
“Let’s take them for a walk before the meeting,” Callie said. “Since we don’t have time to ride today.” Mr. Conner had sent the seventh grade advanced team e-mails yesterday and had announced today’s unmounted meeting.
“Okay.” I grabbed Charm’s lead line off the hook outside his stall. “Hey, handsome.” Charm’s ears pricked forward and he came right to the stall door. One look at Charm’s big brown eyes made my worry fade a little. It’s just one quiz. I repeated Callie’s words from earlier. “Let’s focus on you, mister.”
Charm snorted and gave me a look that said, Of course you will. I pulled open his stall door and clipped the lead line onto his halter.
Charm and I met Callie and Black Jack by the hot walker. “Let’s just walk around inside for a few minutes,” Callie said. “It’s way too cold outside!”
Charm followed me next to Callie and Jack. “What do you think the meeting is about?”
Callie shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe something about the show?”
Callie, Charm, Jack, and I walked slowly down the aisles. I looked at each of the horses inside the stalls. Most were geldings and mares, but there was a young stallion, Lexington, at the end box stall that Mr. Conner was training. None of us could go inside his stall because he was temperamental sometimes. I peered inside as we walked by. Lexington, a light gray, slept with one hoof cocked. Maybe next year, I’d be able to convince Mr. Conner to let me help him train a new young horse.
“Right,” I said to Charm. Before I could lead him, he turned right at the end of the aisle.
“Whoa.” Callie’s eyes widened and she turned Black Jack so he’d follow Charm. “When did you teach him that?”
“The voice commands?” I slowed Charm’s walk. “I’ve been working with him on those for a while. He can turn right, left, stop, and even count to five.”
The Canterwood Crest Stable of Books Page 19