Initiation (24 page)

Again, Whisper didn't even flick an ear in Khloe's direction. I slid my boot behind her girth and nudged her side. I could have drifted asleep to her smooth canter. Khloe called out various commands, but Whisper didn't respond.

Khloe edged Ever out of the center of the arena and joined Whisper and me as we cantered.

“Trot,” Khloe said, her voice louder over the two sets of hoofbeats.

Whisper's ears flicked back and she slowed. Before I could push her forward, she changed gaits to a fast trot.

Khloe, on purpose, let Ever canter around us. Whisper's ears flicked back and forth as she eyed Ever. The mare's black tail streamed behind her as the distance
between her and Whisper lengthened with each stride. I held Whisper to a trot and she fought my hands, the reins rubbing on her neck, as she strained to catch Ever.

“Canter,” Khloe called.

I was ready. Whisper yanked her head up, trying to get more rein, but I didn't give up an inch. My legs stayed loose around her sides and I pushed myself deeper into the saddle. Whisper snorted, tossing her head in frustration. I held firm, not giving her what she wanted. Khloe and Ever lapped us and I kept Whisper to a trot. It took a few more laps before Whisper settled and I let her canter.

Khloe and I slowed the horses to a walk when the floodlights came on.

“Let's call it a night,” Khloe said.

I smiled, patting Whisper's neck. “Good place to stop. Thanks again, Khlo.”

“It was fun.” Khloe swung her leg over Ever's saddle and lowered herself to the ground. “Whisper's such a beautiful mover.”

I dismounted. “I think so, too. And you're so lucky with Ever—the bond you two have is rare.”

Smiling, we led our horses out of the arena. My session with Khloe had gone better than I'd imagined and I couldn't wait for my next lesson.

I KNELT NEXT TO A LIGHTLY SNORING KHLOE.

I'd been up for hours already, doing homework. I'd managed to finish everything and, determined not to be sleepy, I'd switched to coffee. The bitter liquid had tasted
disgusting
even with heaps of Splenda, but it had kept me awake. Wide awake.

“Khloooeee,” I whispered. “Khlo. Khloe.”

Khloe cracked open an eye. “Lauren. What are you doing?”

She buried deeper under her covers.

“It's Friday. Sleepover day! Last day of school before the weekend. I've been up forever. It's sunny outside and the perfect day for a lesson and—”

Khloe sat up, her blond hair static-y from her
pillow. “Lauren. How many cups of tea did you have this morning?”

“Tea? No tea! I had
coffee
! I never drink coffee. Ev-er.”

Khloe rubbed her eyes, laughing. “Um, no more for you. Ev-er.”

I sat still for a minute, realizing it was the first time I'd been this stationary all morning. “Oops,” I said, giggling. “I guess I had a little too much caffeine. I'm so sorry I woke you up!”

Khloe looked at the clock and pressed a button. “My alarm was going to go off in five minutes, anyway. I'm glad it's Friday, too. Hey, you survived your first week!”

“Almost,” I said. “One more day. I'm really looking forward to tonight.”

“I will be,” Khloe said, rubbing her forehead. “After I audition.”

“You've been working on your lines every free second. You know everything about
Beauty and the Beast
. There's nothing you can do to be more prepared.”

“Yeah, well, Riley wants it, too. She's a good actress and she's been in my face about every chance she gets.”

“I'm sorry. You don't deserve that. It's just like riding with her. But you know how talented you are. Don't let her psych you out.”

“You're right,” Khloe said. She took a big breath. “Let's get ready, get through classes and make it to the fun stuff.”

Getting through classes was exactly what I did. I went from class to class, engrossed in the material. It kept me from fixating on tonight's sleepover. Except for in between classes. It was my first social event at Canterwood. I didn't even care anymore about Riley—I just wanted to hang out with the girls. I'd gotten a lot of homework done in last period—study hall—so tonight was all about having fun. It felt good to be caught up with homework and knowing I wouldn't spend the night at my desk.

Between my classes, I updated my Chatter status.
LaurBell: Sleepover 2nite! So xcited!
J

I got a response, minutes later, from Taylor.
TFrost: Have fun! Skype me this wkend.

His reply made me smile. I couldn't wait to “see” him over Skype. I adjusted my backpack and left the English building, typing a response.

LaurBell: I will! Can't wait 2 talk.

I changed clothes in record time and hurried to the stable. I couldn't wait to get in the arena and see if my practice session with Khloe would help during today's lesson.

“Lauren!”

I stopped and Cole waved at me.

“Hey,” I said. “What's up?”

Cole grinned. “I heard you made glee club. Congratulations!”

“Thanks! I can't wait for next week's first practice.”

“Me either.”

“You're in glee, too?”

“Yep,” Cole said. “I auditioned at the last minute. I have bad stage fright, but I've always wanted to do something like glee club.”

“Auditioning was definitely scary. What convinced you to do it?”

We reached the stable entrance and stood off to the side so we could keep talking.

“More like
who
convinced me,” Cole said. “Lexa told me I had to try if it was something I really wanted. I tried to talk myself out of it by saying I hadn't practiced a song. When I made that argument to Lexa, she said it was better to get up there without having too much time to think about it.”

“So you did.”

“I did
not
sound even remotely prepared, but Mr. Harrison said if I worked hard he'd accept me. I promised
I would. Now I'll be seeing you every Wednesday.”

“That's so cool, Cole,” I said. “I'm not the best singer either, trust me. We'll get better together.”

We went into the stable and gathered our tack to ready Whisper and Valentino for our lesson. I tacked up Whisper, put on my helmet, and walked her to the indoor arena. I reached the entrance at the same time as Clare and Riley. Clare's red curls were back in a low ponytail under her helmet and she wore an off-the-shoulder T-shirt with a light pink tank top underneath. Riley hadn't put on her helmet yet. She looked ready for a show in tall boots, white breeches, and a button-down shirt.

Say something nice,
I told myself. Something to set the mood for a good night.

“I'm glad you both were free to sleep over tonight,” I said. “Khloe and I are really excited.”

Clare smiled. “I can't wait. Movies. Junk food. Talking about boys. We need this after the first crazy week of school.”

Riley surprised me by nodding. “Of course we'd be there,” Riley said. “I'd be worried about Khloe if I wasn't there.”

“Why would you be worried about Khloe?” I asked.

Riley made a sympathetic-slash-matter-of-fact face.
“She's going to be crushed after auditions. We'll get the cast list by tomorrow via e-mail and Khloe's going to need all the support she can get.”

I clenched my jaw. I wasn't going to let Riley talk like that about Khloe. It was bad enough that she was doing it to Khloe's face, but she wasn't going to talk behind her back.

“Hey, let's go get warmed up,” Clare said. Her voice was high and cheery. She looked back and forth between Riley and me.

“You're a wonderful actress,” I said to Riley. She smiled as if I'd
finally
realized her talent.

“Thank y—”

I cut her off midword. “To pull it off that you're not worried about Khloe in auditions. I'm totally buying it, even though I know you're
way
smarter than to count Khloe out of snagging the lead.”

I smiled sweetly and led Whisper away from Riley, Clare, Fuego, and Adonis.

I mounted, ignoring the dagger stares I felt Riley shooting at me. Lexa, who'd been walking Honor, rode up next to me.

“Why's Riley so mad at you?” Lexa whispered. “She looks like she's ready to knock you off Whisper!”

“She was trash-talking Khloe and I stood up to her,” I said. “I tried to be nice because of the sleepover tonight, but Riley went after Khloe's acting and I couldn't keep my mouth closed.”

Lex sighed. “She always has to start something. I'm glad you said whatever you did. Riley ran into us in the hallway today and told Khloe she was setting herself up for disappointment by even trying out for the lead. Riley said she didn't want Khloe getting hurt and to really consider trying out for a role she could realistically obtain.”

I groaned. “That's the problem with Riley. She rarely ever says anything outright mean—it's always covered by this fake sugary sweetness.”

“Lexa and Lauren,” Mr. Conner's voice boomed across the arena, and I jumped in the saddle.

I looked over and Cole, Clare, Riley, and Drew were lined up in front of Mr. Conner. Lexa and I were walking our horses along the wall. I hadn't heard him come in!

Lex and I trotted Whisper and Honor to the end of the line. My cheeks blushed and I could barely look at Mr. Conner.

“Whatever conversation you two were having must have been extremely important,” Mr. Conner said, crossing his arms.

“I'm sorry,” Lexa and I said at the same time.

“So important,” Mr. Conner said as if he hadn't heard us. “That if it wasn't the first week, I'd say you should continue it while you muck stalls after the lesson. This will be your first and last warning. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

Lexa nodded.

Stall duty was the
last
thing I wanted to do today before our sleepover. Lex and I had lucked out that Mr. Conner had given us a break. I wouldn't be caught not paying attention ever again.

“Please move your horses to the wall,” Mr. Conner said.

Whisper and I ended up behind Cole and Valentino. I couldn't help but marvel at the lanky gelding's black coat. Not a spot on him had been bleached from the sun— every hair was a stunning, shiny black except for one white sock on his hind leg.

“Trot,” Mr. Conner called.

All of my attention went to Whisper. This week's lesson was going to end on a good note.

Whisper stayed at a walk until I signaled her to trot. I posted, lifting myself slightly out of the saddle with the movement of her leg. She kept pace with the other horses
and there was an extra spring in her step. It was as if she knew it was Friday, too.

“Cross over the center, change direction, and sitting trot,” Mr. Conner called.

Drew, at the front of the line, was the first to move over the arena's center. He'd put red bell boots on Polo and the blood bay trotted smoothly across the arena. The rest of us followed him.

We lapped the arena in the opposite direction and every muscle in Whisper's body was engaged. That was one of the most important qualities in a dressage horse. She had an ear back in my direction, listening.

“Canter,” Mr. Conner called.

I deepened my seat, waiting for Whisper to react to the verbal cue. She didn't. Whisper kept a steady trot until I signaled her to canter. I smiled to myself. I couldn't wait to tell Khloe. She was going to be so happy.

Mr. Conner's eyes shifted from one of us to the other. He took notes, scribbling fast.

“Slow to a walk and bring your horses to the center, please,” he said.

This time, Drew stopped Polo next to Whisper. He glanced over, smiling at me. I returned his smile, feeling my toes tingle. Drew was
très
cute. So cute. But I couldn't
start thinking about boys yet. Not right now. I had to learn how to juggle school, glee club, classes, friends, and everything else before I even
thought
about guys. But . . . that didn't mean I couldn't
look
at Drew.

I turned my gaze back to Mr. Conner.

“You all did well during your first week,” he said. “On Monday, we'll begin more intensive work. I want you to rest up this weekend and prepare yourself. We're going to end the week's lessons with jumps.”

Riley and Clare high-fived. Drew whispered, “Yes!”

I froze. What if I stayed like this—immobile—when it was my turn? It wasn't as if I could say
no.
I fidgeted with the reins.
You jumped all summer without a problem,
I reminded myself.
And you jumped during testing.
This felt different somehow. Maybe because I was riding in front of other people.

“ . . . and then you'll be free to go,” Mr. Conner said.