The girl she was screaming at was tall and skinny with thick blonde hair and a pale complexion. She was wearing a maxi dress paired with combat boots and looked completely out of place, which was probably why she was already on Jess’s bad side.
“She’s not a rodent,” the girl said calmly.
“It is definitely a rodent,” Jess yelled back. “Look at those beady eyes and horrid little claws. Plus it probably has rabies or something. In fact, I’m going to go and find whoever is in charge and tell them all about your disgusting little pet. I’m sure they’ll make you get rid of it.”
Jess stormed off, followed by three of her friends. The blonde girl just stood there petting something that was in her pocket.
“Don’t worry,” I told her. “Jess yells at everyone.”
“Oh, I’m not worried.” She smiled. “I’m Fern and this is Phoebe.”
She stuck her hand in her pocket and pulled out a fluffy squirrel. At first I thought it was a stuffed toy but then it opened its little black eyes and blinked at us.
“She’s so cute,” I said. “Can I hold her?”
“Phoebe doesn’t really like strangers,” she said as the squirrel ran up her arm and nestled in her shoulder amongst her hair.
“Well with people like Jess around, I don’t blame her,” I said. “By the way, I’m Emily and this is Mickey.”
Mickey was standing behind me, looking a little intimidated at the fact that our new friend had a pet squirrel.
“Do you want to come over and hang out in our barn?” I asked her. “I promise we are a much friendlier bunch.”
“Well I have to stay near Excalibur.” She pointed to the stall behind her.
“Oh, I didn’t know you had a horse,” I said. “Well maybe you could bring him over too, if there are any empty stalls left on our side.”
I peered into the stall, expecting to see another bay or chestnut Warmblood since that was pretty much all the kids at Fox Run rode but instead there stood a gorgeous pure white horse with a long, flowing mane and tail.
“Wow,” I said.
Mickey looked in too. “That’s your horse?”
“Yeah.” Fern shrugged.
“Well what kind of riding do you do?” Mickey looked from Fern back to the horse.
They seemed like a completely mismatched pair. Like Fern should have owned a wispy Paint and Excalibur should have belonged to a knight in the dark ages or one of those Spanish riders that got their horses to leap up in the air and kick their legs out.
“Oh you know, a bit of this and a bit of that,” she said vaguely.
But I knew that if she was riding at Fox Run then she was definitely jumping because that was all their students did.
“He’s amazing,” I said. “Where did you get him from?”
“My father brought him over from England.”
“Wow, that’s so cool,” Mickey said.
“Yeah, then he died. Excalibur was the last thing he ever gave me.” She held out a nut and the squirrel grabbed it, then scampered back down her arm and into her pocket.
“Emily’s dad left when she was five,” Mickey said.
“That’s not the same,” I said, feeling embarrassed. “Come on.” I looped my arm through Fern’s. “You want to come and see our horses?”
“Sure,” she said.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Fern was one of the most fascinating people I'd ever met. She walked like a super model, all legs and swish. I could understand why Jess hated her. She was beautiful and cool, plus she had an amazing horse.
"Your pony loves you very much," Fern said as we stood outside Bluebird’s stall. "I can tell."
"He loves his carrots." I laughed. "And the fact that I shove them in his mouth as fast as he can eat them."
Fern just smiled like she knew I was lying. Then she turned to Hampton. "He's sad. He doesn't think he belongs anymore."
"Thanks to Jess." Mickey looked mad. "If she hadn't stormed off like that to get you kicked out, I'd have punched her in the face."
"No, you wouldn't." I put my hand on Mickey's arm. "It's just that Jess was leasing Hampton and now that we've got him back, he won't jump."
"He'll jump when he's ready," Fern said. "It takes a lot to get over being abandoned."
Then she looked at me. I looked away. Most people didn't know about my dad and it wasn't something that I just blurted out when I first met people like Mickey had. It made me feel uncomfortable. But Fern was one of those rare people who could say what was on their mind and it didn't come across as condescending or rude. And you wanted to hear what she had to say because you felt like she had somehow tapped into the mysteries of the universe and if you were quiet and let her speak, she would share them with you.
"Esther, do you think there is room for Fern to bring her horse over here?" I asked.
Esther was lugging extra water buckets into the stalls. She looked up and saw Fern standing there in her long dress with her pet squirrel and shook her head.
"I don't think so," she said. "I'm pretty sure all the stalls are taken."
"Maybe someone will switch?" I said brightly.
But it seemed that everyone had already settled into their little cliques. We were at one end of purple along with another barn that had a bunch of hunter riders. I'd seen them at shows and they were nice enough, or at least they weren’t as stuck up as the kids from Fox Run. Then at the other end of purple the western riders had congregated. I was kind of envious of the fact that their horses had long manes and they got to wear bright, shiny belt buckles and cowboy hats.
Over in yellow Fox Run had pretty much made sure that there were no western riders in sight. Everyone there came from an expensive barn and was normal, or at least their version of normal. Everyone except for Fern.
None of the parents had arrived yet so we sat around playing with Phoebe until the little squirrel finally fell asleep in a pile of hay.
"I found her," Fern said. "She was just lying there by the side of the road like she was dead and everyone said that I should just leave her because she probably had rabies or something but I didn't care. I couldn’t just let her die."
"What happens when she's fully grown?" Mickey asked. "Are you going to set her free?"
"If she can fend for herself, I suppose I'll have to," she said and I knew that Fern was a better person than I was because if I had a pet squirrel that was as cute as Phoebe, I'd want to keep it forever.
We listened to the radio for reports on the storm. They said it was almost at the coast. Soon we would start to get the feeder bands as they spawned off the hurricane, bringing squalling rain showers and driving winds. But for now the sky was clear and blue.
"Oh this is so boring." Mickey threw herself back onto a pile of hay.
"I thought you said that this was going to be the best thing ever?" I laughed.
"That was when there were hot guys around. Do you see any hot guys around now?" she groaned.
"They're all in the blue barn," Fern said. "It's like a bachelor party over there."
"Really?" Mickey sat up on one elbow. "Maybe we should go over and check out the blue barn then."
"I think you girls should stay well clear of the blue barn," Esther said. "I've already heard that people are getting drunk over there. I don't want you anywhere near that kind of environment and I'm sure your parents don't either."
"Fine but what can we do then?" Mickey said.
One of the western girls was walking by, her gigantic spurs chinking against the ground.
"We're all going for a ride," she said. "You can join us if you like."
"Can we?" Mickey asked Esther. "Can we go for a ride? Please. I'm so bored I might actually gouge my eyeballs out."
"You have the attention span of a fruit fly." Esther shook her head at Mickey's theatrics. "But fine. I guess you can go. No riding off the property though. I want you to stay here at the track. And make sure you don't go off riding somewhere that you're not supposed to be. We don
't need to get kicked out of here right before the storm comes because trust me when I say that there is no place else to go."
"We won't." Mickey beamed. "Emily will keep me in line, won't you Emily?"
Mickey looked at me and smiled. I just shook my head and sighed.
"What do you think?" I asked Fern. "Want to come with me and make sure Mickey doesn't do anything stupid?"
"Does she usually do stupid things?" Fern asked.
"When she's around boys?" I said. "All the time."
CHAPTER TWENTY
It felt kind of reckless, going for a ride before the hurricane hit but hurricanes weren't like tornadoes. They didn't spring up out of nowhere and race through, obliterating everything in their path. Instead they were slow moving and when they finally came ashore it was the consistent pounding wind with super-fast gusts that blew your roof off. But as we saddled up our horses, the sun was still shining and the sky was blue.
"I'm so glad we decided to bring our tack," Mickey said.
"Well I wasn't going to leave my saddle behind to get ruined," I replied from Bluebird's stall. "It's the most expensive thing I own, other than Bluebird of course."
Word of the ride spread through the barns like wildfire. It seemed that nearly everyone thought it would be a good idea to tack up and go explore the racetrack. After all there wasn't much else to do. A couple of the more serious people had congregated around a TV and were glued to the weather reports that were now playing on a loop but there didn't really seem much point. We knew the storm was coming. It wasn't going to turn now. We'd evacuated and now we just had to hunker down and ride it out. But everyone was already getting a little stir crazy and a ride was just the right thing for both people and horses to blow off some steam before we went into lock down.
Fern had gone to tack up Excalibur and she came back to meet us with Phoebe still on her shoulder.
"Do you think your trainer will watch her for me?" she asked. "I'm afraid to leave her over in my barn in case Jess does something horrid to her."
“Jess isn’t riding?” I asked.
“Her father won’t let her,” Fern said.
“Mickey will be happy about that.” I grinned. "And we can try and ask Esther but don’t be surprised if she says no.”
Esther wasn't exactly a fan of creatures that nibbled things with their sharp rodent like teeth. That was why she had Meatball, so that he would take care of business and she didn't have to. I felt a small twinge of guilt that we hadn’t been able to find him before we left. I only hoped that he had found some place safe to hide until the storm was over.
Esther got the horrified look on her face that I knew she would when Fern produced Phoebe and asked if she wouldn't mind watching the squirrel while we rode.
"Please," I said. "Otherwise Fern can't ride with us."
Fern had changed into breeches and riding boots but she still had on a billowy top that was more suited for a picnic than riding. Esther took in her outfit and then her eyes swept over Excalibur.
"That's quite a horse you've got there," she said.
"Thanks." Fern draped her arm over his neck. "He's the best horse in the whole world."
Esther shook her head and laughed but it was a good natured laugh. "You girls fall in love with your horses far too easily."
"Does that mean you'll watch the squirrel?" I asked hopefully.
"Yes, fine, I'll watch it. But if it tries to bite me, then it's on its own."
"She'll be good," Fern said. "I promise."
We took our horses outside and I had to admit that I felt kind of nervous. I'd never ridden with such a large group of horses before and neither had Bluebird. His head was high and his ears pricked as I tightened the girth.
"Don't do anything stupid," I told him.
"He's not the one you should be worrying about. I thought you were the one who was a bit dodgy when it came to decision making."
I spun around and there was Will sitting on Blue in a western saddle, the reins in one hand and a cowboy hat in the other. I wanted to be mad at him but I was also kind of glad to see him.
"Oh, it's you," I said, trying to sound casual.
He leant down, his face cracking a smile. "You don't fool me."
"I never thought I did," I said.
The four of us kept to the back of the pack because the western horses were kind of crazy. They pulled at their bits, foam flying everywhere and some of them took off.
"Those are the barrel racers," Will said. "That's my friend Hank." He pointed to a guy on a chestnut who was being carted across the parking lot. "We actually used to win against him back in the day."
"I can't believe Blue was ever as crazy as that horse," I said.
"He had his moments." Will patted the old horse. "But I think he's mostly forgotten about them now."
"Your sister isn't here, is she?" I looked around, half expecting to see Sasha cantering up on her black horse with a pair of scissors in her hand, ready to cut all our tack.
"No." Will shook his head. "She took her horse up north to be with the rest of her string."
"And you got left behind? That's not very nice," Fern said.
"It's not that bad." Will winked at me.
"Knock it off," I told him.
When we got to the track, people split off into groups. We found ourselves with a really nice bunch of ladies on dressage horses who were about as keen to go galloping off as we were. We walked our horses across the dirt, looking up at the grandstands.
"The racetrack seems so much bigger than it looks on TV," I said. "Galloping all the way around here must be exhausting."
"Yes, it looks very exhausting." Fern pointed to a girl whose horse was galloping out of control.
"Those people are going to get us kicked out of here." I shook my head. "Let's go and see some of the real racehorses."
When I was little I thought maybe one day I would be a jockey, galloping crouched to the neck of my horse as we flew past the others and crossed the finish line. But that was probably only because I watched National Velvet a hundred times. And then I grew too tall anyway. Besides, jockeys were really skinny. I kind of liked junk food too much to be that skinny.
"Did you hear that the track is haunted?" one of the dressage ladies asked us.
"I thought that was a joke," I said.
"I don't think so," she replied. "Apparently there is a white horse that roams the track at night, the ghost of a horse that died in its first race."
"That's so sad," I said.
"Don't be silly," Mickey said. "There's no such thing as ghosts."
But I wasn’t so sure.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
When I was little, I used to pretend that I could see my sister, Summer. She died when I was five and I didn't really manage to grasp the concept of death and all that stuff. I used to think that she had just gone away and that one day she would come back. Mom eventually took me to a local church where a guy in a white robe explained to me all about heaven and hell and what happened when you died. Even then I really didn't understand it but the priest had said that Summer was an angel now and I knew what angels were. We drew them at Christmas and then cut them out and decorated them with glitter and cotton balls at school.
So every morning I would tell my mom that I could see Summer standing at the bottom of my bed, all glowing wings and bright light. Looking back I now know how hard that must have been for her but at the time I didn't understand why she just dismissed me.
But then one morning Summer actually was standing there. I rubbed my eyes and blinked hard a couple of times but she just looked at me and smiled. She didn't have the wings or the halo. In fact she looked just the same as the last time I had seen her, dressed in breeches and boots with her show helmet in her hand. She sat on my bed and I snuggled up next to her.
"When are you coming home?" I asked her.
"I can't come home," she said. "I'm dead."
"But you could come home if you really wanted to," I sai
d in my most childish voice.
"I wish I could," she said. "But it doesn't work that way."
"What way does it work?" I asked her.
"I'm not sure," she said.
We sat there for a while until I finally started to cry.
"Mom sold Pudding," I sobbed, missing my fat pony.
"I know." She patted my hair.
"It's not fair. I want him back."
"You'll have a pony again one day," she said.
"I will?" I wiped my eyes.
"One day you'll be the kind of rider that I was meant to be. I'm giving my gift to you."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"You'll figure it out when you’re older." She smiled. "And try to be nicer to Mom."
"Mom is mean," I said.
"No, she's not," Summer said. "She's just been through a really hard time."
"Is Dad with you?" I asked her, looking up into her pale face.
She shook her head.
"Then where is he?"
"I'm not sure," she said softly.
"Do you think he'll come back one day?" I asked hopefully.
"No, I don't."
Eventually Mom called me down for breakfast. I ran downstairs, babbling all about how I'd seen my sister and talked with her and everything. Mom tried to brush me off but I insisted on dragging her upstairs to see for herself only Summer had gone. Every morning I looked for her but I never saw her again.
Still, I liked to think that she was watching over me and I hadn't really thought much about that morning until now. She said she had given me her gift. Did that mean that if she was still alive, I wouldn't have turned out to be such a great rider? I would have been the mediocre one. The second place finisher. It was too awful to think about.
"Look." Mickey pointed over to a group of grooms who were lounging on the fence smoking.
A couple of them were grazing long, lean thoroughbreds that snatched at the grass like it was forbidden fruit, which it probably was. I bet when the trainers were around, they weren’t allowed to do that. "Maybe they can tell us all about the ghost horse."
White Horses (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 10) Page 6