Riding Star (12 page)

At the throw-in it was Luhmuhlen's ball, but the boys managed to lose possession almost straight away as Alice rode aggressively into the pack and stole it from JP, making a clean drive down the wing to Georgie.

There was a thundering of hooves alongside Georgie and she knew other riders were on her tail. Without looking back, she did the safest thing she could, hitting the ball swiftly and cleanly across the field to where Daisy could receive it and continue on towards the goal.

The shot she made was a good one, but for some reason Daisy didn't chase down the ball. Instead, she pulled her mare up and began waving her hands at Georgie across the field, shouting to her.

Georgie couldn't hear what Daisy was saying. Behind her, the hooves were still pounding loudly, which was odd since she'd offloaded the ball. Shouldn't the pack be heading towards Daisy instead of her?

Georgie realised too late why Daisy was shouting at her. She turned just in time to see two riders bearing down on her with their mallets raised. There was nothing so unusual about that – except that these two riders weren't the ones she was playing against. It was Conrad, with James Kirkwood riding behind him. By the time she saw them there was nothing she could do. Conrad's mare came in slamming hard against Princess's right flank, and he put out his arm and gave Georgie a violent shove. Before she could do anything to save herself the ground was rushing up to meet her.

T
he body blow had come out of nowhere and Georgie didn't have the chance to prepare herself before she hit the ground. She landed badly on her right side, getting the wind knocked out of her as she impacted, gasping for air.

As she struggled back on her feet, feeling decidedly wobbly, she couldn't believe what had just happened. She had never been blindsided like that before and the experience had left her shaken – her face was white with shock.

“Are you OK?” Alice was the first to reach her.

“I'm fine,” Georgie insisted. Her arm ached a little and she noticed a trickle of blood from her elbow next to a rip in her blouse. It was only a small graze, and nothing seemed to be broken. She was still surprisingly wobbly though and as she tried to take a step forward she felt her legs give way underneath her.

“It's delayed shock from the fall,” Alice said. “Conrad really took you out.”

She leapt down and helped Georgie over to the sideboards at the edge of the field. “Sit here and take deep breaths,” Alice said, bending over Georgie, who was still pale and shaken and having trouble breathing as Daisy and Emily joined them.

Daisy was leading Princess. “Conrad has gone too far this time,” she said. “He could have killed you! He actually pushed you off your horse!”

“He's a psychopath!” Emily agreed. “And what about James? He just watched him do it and he didn't even try to stop him!”

“The boys rode after them,” Daisy added, “but it's not like they can do anything. Conrad is, like, twice their size and a prefect.”

Georgie took a deep breath and pushed herself up off the ground.

“Hey, maybe you should wait before you try and get up,” Alice cautioned. But Georgie ignored her. She stood up and brushed the dirt off her jods. “Can you look after my horse for me?” she asked Alice.

“Sure, but where are you going?”

“Conrad has got to be stopped,” Georgie said. “I'm going to see the headmistress.”

*

Mrs Dickins-Thomson was in the process of packing up her desk for the weekend when Georgie knocked at the door.

“Enter!” the headmistress said briskly.

“Mrs Dickins-Thomson?” Georgie stuck her head in the door. “I know it's late. I'm sorry to bother you.”

“Nonsense, Miss Parker.” The headmistress carried on with her paperwork. “I told you my door is always open. Come in.”

When Mrs Dickins-Thomson caught sight of Georgie's ripped blouse, mud-stained jodhpurs and pale face she stopped shuffling papers at once.

“You've had an accident?”

“Well, sort of,” Georgie said. “I was playing polo with the Badminton House girls and Conrad Miller pushed me off my horse. It wasn't an accident though.”

“You think he did it on purpose?” Mrs Dickins-Thomson was taken aback.

“Conrad has a major problem with me,” Georgie explained. “It's the start of the Round Robin on Sunday and my team are scheduled to play against Burghley House – that's Conrad's team.”

“And you're concerned that if you play against Burghley there's going to be a repeat of today's incident,” Mrs Dickins-Thomson said.

Georgie nodded. “I don't think Conrad should be allowed to play,” she said. “He's dangerous. He could have killed me out there.”

“Miss Parker, you should have realised when you took up polo that there would be rough and tumble.”

“But Conrad wasn't even supposed to be there. And he did it on purpose!”

Mrs Dickins-Thomson frowned. “Did a teacher witness this episode?”

Georgie shook her head. “No, just us.”

“I'm afraid without a teacher to back you up, I can hardly get Conrad Miller banned from the tournament,” Mrs Dickins-Thomson said.

Georgie looked devastated.

“Well, can you at least have the Round Robin redrawn so that we're playing another team?” Georgie asked hopefully. “One that doesn't have Conrad in it?”

Mrs Dickins-Thomson considered this. “Sit down for a moment,” she said to Georgie. She stood up from her desk and left Georgie alone in the office staring at the painting of Seabiscuit. When she returned a few minutes later the polo master was with her.

“I've been explaining your situation to Mr Brompton,” Mrs Dickins-Thomson said. “He seems to think that the problem is a bit more deep-seated than just today's incident.”

Heath Brompton nodded. “Georgie has been having problems holding her own on the polo field since the term began. She had a serious fall two weeks ago and then last week she refused to play a chukka because she was too nervous to go on the field. She stayed on the sidelines instead playing stick-and-ball by herself rather than joining her team and taking part in a game.”

“Is that true Miss Parker?”

“Well, sort of,” Georgie started. “But Conrad caused my fall that time too. He hooked my stick!”

“Falling is a part of playing polo, Miss Parker,” Heath Brompton said. “I've already told you, I'm not entirely sure that someone of your –” he hesitated, choosing his words carefully – “sensibilities is suitable as a player. You can't expect to be treated differently.”

“But I don't!” Georgie couldn't believe this was happening.

Mrs Dickins-Thomson frowned. “You say you aren't asking for special treatment, Georgie, but you've come in here asking me to change the Round Robin draw to your advantage. I can't exhibit favouritism towards the girls' team.”

“They've been nothing but trouble as far as I'm concerned.” Heath Brompton saw his chance. “We should never have allowed a girls' team in the tournament in the first place. It goes against the traditions of the academy.”

Mrs Dickins-Thomson looked thoughtful. “I'm very keen to establish a girls' polo team, but I agree this is hardly an auspicious start. The board of the academy will be attending the polo on Sunday and I don't want their first glimpse of our new girls' team to be tears and tantrums on the field.”

She turned to Georgie. “I think we've rushed you into this too quickly, Miss Parker. We've got your team up and running before they were ready for the cut and thrust of competition.”

“What?” Georgie was confused. “No! It's not like that. We'll play Burghley!”

But it was too late to backtrack.

“I'm sorry, Miss Parker, but I am withdrawing the Badminton House girls' team from the Round Robin this year. Give yourselves a full season of training and then we can look at entering a girls' team in the tournament next year,” Mrs Dickins-Thomson said.

“But that isn't what I meant to happen!” Georgie was horrified. “We've been training really hard. We're ready for this.”

“Miss Parker, I'm afraid your actions tell a different story,” Mrs Dickins-Thomson said. The stern tone of her voice made it clear that the conversation was over. “There will be no girls' team in the Blainford Round Robin this year.”

*

When Georgie arrived back at Badminton House, the others were waiting in the living room for her.

“How did it go?” Emily said eagerly. “Is Conrad going to get his butt kicked?”

“Not exactly,” Georgie admitted.

There was a stunned silence as she told the girls the whole story.

“I knew I should have come with you to back you up!” Alice was furious.

“Didn't you explain to her how Conrad did it on purpose?” Emily asked.

“I can understand them dropping you from the Round Robin, but how did you manage to take the rest of us down with you?” Daisy asked.

“Daisy!” Alice glared at her.

“Well?” Daisy shrugged. “I'd just like to know how it is that Georgie gets knocked off a horse and then suddenly I'm the one who's not playing in the tournament.”

“None of us are playing, Daisy,” Emily said. “Because we're a team. And a team of four – minus one – is no longer a team.”

“It's not just about me,” Georgie said. “Heath Brompton has this whole thing about girls playing. He thinks we're too soft to ride against the boys and my complaint was the perfect excuse for him to get us dropped from the competition.”

“So what now?” Emily asked.

“We wait until next year, I guess,” Georgie said.

“There has to be another way to get back in,” Alice said, but for once none of the girls could think of an answer.

*

It was Sunday morning straight after breakfast and the girls were walking down the driveway heading for Badminton House.

“The Round Robin starts in an hour,” Georgie groaned. “I can't believe we're not in it!”

“Hey,” Emily looked down the driveway at the red pick-up heading towards them, “is that Riley?”

Riley pulled up in front of the girls and wound down his window. “Hey, Georgie!”

“You're not allowed to drive up here,” Georgie hissed at him. “It's out of bounds!”

“Oops!” Riley grinned. “Maybe one of the prefects will give me Fatigues.”

“Riley! I'm serious!” Georgie was beginning to freak out. Everyone was looking at them. “You need special permission. If Conrad sees you he'll use it as an excuse to punish me.”

“Geez, how do you keep track of all the lame rules in this place?”

“Riley, please!”

“OK, OK,” Riley said. “I'll turn round and go back – I'll park by the boarding house and meet you there.”

He gave her a wave as he drove off.

“So… are you two back on again?” Alice asked as soon as Riley was out of earshot.

“No,” Georgie said. “But at least we're friends again.”

Georgie had been the one to make the phone call in the end. She had phoned Riley to tell him how well Princess had settled in and she also told him that it was over with James.

“Did you tell him why?” Alice asked.

Georgie shook her head. “I don't want to make Riley think that our break-up was his fault, because it wasn't.”

Finally things were going well with Riley, and Georgie didn't want to put too much pressure on their relationship. It was a big step already that he'd agreed to come along to watch the polo with her. Considering he was virtually allergic to Blainford the fact that he was willing to be here for her must mean something.

It was a cold day and Riley was pulling on his lumberjack coat and beanie as the girls arrived back at their dorm.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked Georgie.

“We just need to change into our school whites,” Georgie said. “It's a special event so they make us wear a different uniform for it.”

Riley waited outside while the girls got changed into their white jerseys and skirts and their navy-blue woollen winter blazers.

As they walked up the school driveway the other Blainford pupils were also dressed in their whites. Some of the students on the driveway were obviously riding later that day and were already in their polo breeches with brown knee-high polo boots and pads, and their house colours. Each of them wore a numbered shirt emblazoned with a giant number from one to four depending on their team position.

“How many teams are there?” Riley asked.

“About thirty,” Alice said. “It's a big competition.”

“So explain to me why you're not riding?”

“Georgie!” Alice was shocked. “You haven't told him yet? Oh, come on! You have to tell him about Conrad!”

Georgie glared at Alice, wishing she would shut up. She hadn't wanted to tell Riley because she was pretty certain that he would go after Conrad. Which would only make matters worse. Right now, she was pretty good at making things worse herself without getting Riley into trouble too.

“I got into a scrape on the field.” Georgie tried to downplay it. “It was unfair, but the upshot is that the headmistress sort of banned us girls from the competition this year.”

“It's not the headmistress's fault,” Alice added. “The polo master totally has it in for Georgie. He doesn't think that girls should play polo.”

There were four polo fields set up on the main grounds directly opposite the entrance to the school quad. Each polo field was almost twice the size of a football field and between the fields tiered grandstands had been erected for pupils to sit on. For the teachers and parents there were four white marquee tents where champagne and caviar were being served.

“Isn't there any real food?” Riley grumbled as he passed the caviar tents and took up his bench seat. “What good is a bunch of little black fish eggs? They should have hotdogs and fries!”

The students were quickly filling up the stands and they didn't have long to wait until the first games began. The first match on the main field was between a Luhmuhlen team and a team from Lexington House. It didn't get off to a very exciting start. The play was muddled and none of the players seemed to be capable of connecting with the ball accurately. The referee kept calling fouls as mallets swung wildly through the air and players miscued their hits and caught the ponies on their wraps. The ball volleyed pointlessly from one end of the field to the other without either team ever looking likely to score a goal. It was tedious to watch and by the end of the first chukka the score was nil-nil.

“Are you kidding me?” Alice shook her head in disbelief.

“We could have totally creamed these guys,” Emily said. “They don't even know how to play.”

“Seriously?” Riley said. “So you guys are better than this?”

“Way, way better!” Georgie said.

It was frustrating to watch the next three chukkas, but the girls persevered because the next Luhmuhlen team was Cameron, Alex, JP and Mark.

The boys had been originally rostered to play against a Lexington team, but because Badminton House had been cut, an entirely different polo side were taking the field against them.