Showjumpers (14 page)

G
eorgie adjusted the straps on her midnight-blue dress and stepped back to look at herself in the mirror.

“Do you think I should wear a necklace or something?” She cocked her head to one side as she stared at her reflection.

“Ohhh!” Alice leapt up from her bed. “I know what you can wear with it!”

She ran over to her dressing table and grabbed a red silk sash with gold lettering, and tied it across Georgie’s shoulder. “Perfect!”

Georgie giggled, “It’s not a beauty pageant!”

“We should all wear them,” Alice said. “You know, if Adelaide House had won I bet they’d wear their House Showjumping sashes to the Formal.”

Georgie had won a lot of ribbons and rosettes over the years, but she had never been more proud than she was when Mrs Dickins-Thomson tied the red winner’s sash around Belle’s neck. It was the best fun ever doing the victory lap of the showjumping course, Georgie leading the team as they waved to the crowd.

By now the whole team knew why Georgie had been late. Her heroic dash across country was quickly becoming part of the legend that would go down in Badminton House history.

Once the competition was over, Georgie told Tara Kelly the whole story of what had happened too. Tara had listened, a serious expression on her face, and when Georgie finished she thought for a while before she spoke. “I can take up the matter with Mrs Dickins-Thomson,” Tara said, “but I’m afraid it will be very much your word against Conrad Miller’s. And since he is a prefect, and you were out of bounds, you might actually end up in trouble yourself.”

The unfairness of this, and the fact that Kennedy was going to get away with sabotaging her once again, infuriated Georgie and the rest of the Badminton House girls. Still, at least Tara Kelly believed her.

“She knows it wasn’t your fault,” Alice consoled her.

“But it was,” Georgie replied. “If I hadn’t blown the whole James thing so out of perspective, then I would never have fallen for it. I should have known he’d never write a note like that. I think in my heart I just didn’t want to admit that it was fake.”

Looking back, Georgie still didn’t know what went wrong between her and James. But whatever had happened, it was over and done with now.

Anyway, she didn’t regret her wild ride across the Blainford grounds. It was like everything had come together when she was riding Belle that day. She hadn’t tried to fight the mare and had just let her run, and something inside Georgie had clicked. She understood Belle now – and knew exactly how to handle the mare on the cross-country course.

Georgie never thought she would be looking forward to the Formal, but tonight she felt she deserved a chance to let her hair down.

But first she had to put her hair up. “Ummphh, hold still!” Alice was struggling with three hairbands and a mouth full of hairpins.

“Oww! You stabbed me!” Georgie winced as Alice shoved a pin in to secure her blonde hair in a cute, messy chignon.

Alice stood back to admire her efforts. “It’ll have to do,” she said. “We’re late.”

“Just as well we weren’t competing against the clock this time,” Daisy groaned as Georgie and Alice finally joined her and Emily at the front door.

Usually the Badminton House girls made the long walk up the school driveway in jodhpurs and riding boots. But tonight there were giggles as they negotiated the road in the moonlight in precariously high heels and sparkling dresses.

They’d arranged to meet the boys under the archway at the front of the quad. Matt, Alex and Nicholas were already there waiting for them, along with Cameron, who was dateless, like Georgie.

“You’ll see. Going solo isn’t so bad,” he told her as they walked towards the hall. “If you play your cards right, I might even save a dance for you.”

“Gee, really Cam? Thanks!” Georgie said sarcastically.

The Formal was being held in the Great Hall and the seniors, including Kendal, who was on the social committee, had been in charge of the decorations, which had an autumnal theme. The doorway to the Great Hall was strung with gold and white fairy lights, and inside there were more lights strung over gigantic papier mâché maple trees, their carnelian leaves covered with a faint dusting of sparkling white fake snow.

“I know,” Kendal groaned, “it’s cheesy, right?”

“No,” Georgie said. “No, really, I think it looks beautiful.”

They were walking through the trees and Georgie was leading the way to the drinks table when Alice reached out and grabbed her by the arm. “Uh-oh,” she said. “Maybe we should get our drinks later?”

Georgie looked up and saw what had made Alice hesitate. Standing in front of the punchbowl was James Kirkwood. He was by himself, holding a drink, and when he saw Georgie he waved at her, beckoning her over.

“Forget about him, Georgie,” Alice said. “Why don’t we go and dance with Cam and Matt instead?”

“No,” Georgie said. “It’s OK, Alice. You go dance. I’m going to talk to James.”

“Really?” Alice looked worried. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“No,” Georgie said. “Thanks, Alice, but I need to do this on my own.”

As Georgie walked across the floor to James, she realised it was the first time for ages that they had been face to face like this.

“I heard what happened at the showjumping finals,” James said. “You know, about the note and stuff.”

Georgie felt herself blushing. Great! So James knew that she’d gone galloping off to meet him when he wasn’t there.

“Well, Kennedy can be quite convincing,” Georgie stuttered. “The note said you’d split up from Arden and you wanted to see me. I know that sounds stupid but—”

“It doesn’t sound stupid,” James replied. “I have split up with Arden.”

Georgie was shocked. James dug into the pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a piece of paper. “When I heard about what Kennedy had done, I realised that maybe I’d been wrong about some things too,” he said.

He handed the piece of paper to Georgie. “Here. Read it.”

It was just like the note Kennedy had written to Georgie, in the same green pen with the exact same handwriting:

“Well, yeah, I know that now,” James said. “But when I found this letter in my room that night I didn’t know what to think. Then Dad asked if I wanted to go to New York with him and…”

“I get it,” Georgie said, still examining the letter in stunned disbelief. “I guess I would have gone too.”

James sighed. “I should have figured it out. All that stupid stuff about kissing the hounds – only Kennedy would be that childish. But even for my sister this is beyond uncool.”

“She got us both,” Georgie said softly.

“So,” James stuck his hands in his pockets and looked up at her through his blonde fringe. “What now? Are we going to be friends again?”

Georgie looked serious. “I’m going to have to think about it.”

James looked dejected as Georgie turned to walk away. She took two steps and then she spun around again with a grin on her face. “OK, I thought about it!” She laughed, “We’re friends again!”

Georgie couldn’t wait to tell Alice. She found her standing with Cameron by the buffet and enjoyed the looks of astonishment on their faces as she told them all about Kennedy and the forged letters.

“Holy horse rustlers!” Alice almost choked on a miniature savoury tart. “She’s even more of a witch than we thought!”

Georgie nodded.

“Oh, man,” Alice shook her head in amazement. “That girl has so got it coming!”

“You know what we should do…” Alice began. But before she could outline a plan, a spotlight suddenly illuminated the centre of the dancefloor.

“What’s going on?” Alice asked as Tara Kelly came sweeping into the spotlight with a microphone in her hand and an uncharacteristically large grin on her face.

“Good evening, everyone!” she said. “I have a special treat in store for you. A little bit of entertainment to get the party started! Performing at Blainford Academy tonight, showing off his legendary break-dancing skills as penance for being the
losing
coach, we have a world-famous showjumping superstar – the one… the only… Hans Schockelmann!”

Tara turned around and pointed a finger at the DJ, who started pumping out hip-hop music. There was whooping and hollering from the crowd and then reluctantly, Hans Schockelmann stepped forward from the edge of the dance floor and into the spotlight. The crowd went wild, applauding and cheering as Hans took a bow and then, grudgingly, with a pained expression and absolutely no good humour whatsoever, got down on the floor and did a backspin. Then he staggered to his feet and launched into the robot. By the time he did the moonwalk to finish off his routine, Cam, Alice and Georgie were laughing so hard they were crying.

“Hey, Georgie,” Cameron said as they finally calmed down. “Have you noticed that guy over there is kind of staring at you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“By the door,” Cameron said. “He keeps looking at you. Do you know him or something?”

Georgie looked up and saw him immediately. He wore a sleek navy suit, and his dark hair was combed back, exposing his high cheekbones and those green eyes. Georgie noticed once again the way his slightly crooked nose made him even more handsome than if it were perfect.

“Riley,” Georgie breathed. “It’s Riley. He came after all!”

“That’s Riley?” Alice nearly choked on her drink. “Georgie! You didn’t mention he was gorgeous!”

“I thought I did,” Georgie said as she began to walk away.

“Trust me!” Alice called after her. “I would have remembered!”

Riley stood watching Georgie as she walked towards him. “Nice dress,” he said with a smile.

“Nice suit,” she replied. “I didn’t think coming to a dance was your type of thing.”

“It’s not,” Riley admitted. “But then I realised that there are some Blainford students I do like.”

“Which ones?” Georgie asked.

“The ones that wear pretty blue dresses and talk too much when they should be dancing,” Riley said.

And in one deft move, he spun her on to the dance floor.

“I thought you couldn’t dance!” Georgie was amazed.

“I said I didn’t dance – I never said I couldn’t,” Riley smiled as they moved in time. “So how are you and Belle doing?”

“Not so good,” Georgie said. “We got kicked out of cross-country class.” And he saw the way her lips trembled as she said the words.

“Riley, I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Georgie’s eyes filled with tears. “The only reason I’m at Blainford is to become an eventer and if I can’t ride cross-country…”

“Well then,” Riley said, “I guess you’re just gonna have to find a way to get back in that class again.”

The way Riley said this, as if it were the easiest thing in the world, made Georgie suddenly realise that this wasn’t over. Kennedy might have taken her place from her in Tara’s class – but it was up to Georgie to take it back.

“You’re right,” Georgie said. “And Belle
is
so much better – we both are. You should have seen the way Belle jumped back over the school fence, Riley – she took a metre-sixty as if it wasn’t even there.”

“That mare of yours is a special horse,” Riley said. He paused and then he said, “Hey, did Kenny tell you that Talisman won his race the day after you rode him?”

“Really?” Georgie couldn’t believe it.

“Dad and the boys down at Keeneland are calling you the good luck charm,” Riley said. “He wants to know if you’ll come back and ride track again next weekend.”

Georgie stopped dancing. “Is that why you’re here? Did your dad send you?”

Georgie wrenched herself free from his arms and stood there on the dance floor, staring at him defiantly.

“Oh, come on, Georgie!” Riley pleaded, “Don’t be crazy!”

“I’m not being crazy,” she said. “Why are you here, Riley?”

Riley raked a hand through his hair and stared at the floor. “Don’t make me do this, Georgie. I’m no good at this romance stuff.” he mumbled uncomfortably. “This was a mistake, me turning up here like this. I’m sorry, I…”

But he didn’t get a chance to finish because Georgie suddenly shocked everyone in the hall, including herself, by planting a kiss on him.

“I’m no good at the romance stuff either,” she breathed as she pulled away and stood in front of him once more, her heart racing.

Riley smiled. “Well then,” he said, putting his arms around her and drawing her close. “I guess we just need to practise.”

STACY GREGG
grew up training her bewildered dog to showjump in the backyard until her parents gave in to her desperate pleas and finally let her have a pony. Stacy’s ponies and her experiences at her local pony club were the inspiration for the
Pony Club Secrets
books, and her later years at boarding school became the catalyst for the
Pony Club Rivals
series.

Pictured here with her beloved Dutch Warmblood gelding, Ash, Stacy is a board member of the Horse Welfare Auxiliary.

Find out more at: www.stacygregg.co.uk

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

www.stacygregg.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins
Children’s Books
in 2010 HarperCollins
Children’s Books
is a division of HarperCollinsPuWishers Ltd, 77–85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London, W6 8JB

Text copyright © Stacy Gregg 2010

ISBN 978-0-00-733344-8

Stacy Gregg asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.

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EPub Edition © SEPTEMBER 2010 ISBN: 978-0-007-41237-2