The A Circuit 04- Rein It In (2 page)

“You should watch where you’re going, Katie.”

Nat’s voice was cold and harsh. Kate had always known that Nat had a mean streak, but somehow she’d managed to ignore it—mostly, anyway—all those years they were friends.

“Yeah. Watch where you’re going, moron.” Nat’s latest boyfriend, a loser named Cody, kicked Kate’s history book under
a desk. Then he threw an arm around Nat’s shoulders. “Let’s go, babe. It stinks around here.”

“You’re telling me.” Nat tossed her head and headed for the door.

Kate felt tears welling up in her eyes, though she gritted her teeth to stop them from escaping. She knew she shouldn’t let Nat’s garbage get to her. After weeks of dealing with her attitude, she should be used to it. But she wasn’t. It still hurt—every time.

“You need help?”

Kate glanced up. A guy she barely knew named Jon was kneeling down to grab a tube of ChapStick that had rolled under a desk. “Oh,” Kate said. “Um, thanks. I’ve got it.”

“Here.” Jon handed over the lip balm. Then he shot a look at Nat and Cody, who were just disappearing into the hallway. “What was that all about, anyway? I thought you and Nat were friends.”

“I guess,” Kate mumbled, hoping he wouldn’t ask any more questions. It hurt even to think about her relationship with Nat, let alone try to explain it to someone who didn’t know the story. What normal person would believe a lifelong friendship had ended over a horse? Kate could hardly believe it herself—especially since horses were what had brought her and Nat together, back in the days when they both rode at Happy Acres, a local lesson barn.

Things had started to change between Kate and Nat two and a half years ago, when Kate had left to become a working student at Pelham Lane, the fanciest barn in the area. Nat had never even heard of Jamie Vos, and didn’t get why Kate would ditch her old barn and her old friends for some snooty show
stable where she had to work twice as hard for half as much riding time.

Still, they’d managed to get through it and remain friends. Until last summer …

“Here.”

Kate blinked, snapping out of her thoughts. Jon was handing over her history book.

“Um, thanks.” Kate quickly stuffed the book into her bag. She was surprised someone like Jon had even noticed that she and Nat had been friends, since he’d been new in school last year. At least, she was pretty sure he was new. It was hard to keep track of everyone at their enormous suburban public school, especially since Kate’s mind was usually at the barn even when the rest of her wasn’t.

“Miss Nilsen, Mr. Friedman?” Mr. Barron had finished with the other student. Now he was staring at Kate and Jon. “May I help you with something?”

Kate gulped and stepped forward. “I—I wanted to ask you about homework for next week?” she said. “I’m going to be away, and you said I should check back today. …”

“Oh right. A horseback riding vacation or something, was it?” The teacher’s voice was vaguely disapproving.

“The Capital Challenge Horse Show,” Kate said, clutching her bookbag to her stomach. “It’s in Maryland. I’ll be working there all week.”

“I see.” Mr. Barron rustled through the papers on his desk. “Well, I have to admit I’m skeptical of this plan, Miss Nilsen. Your grades so far this semester haven’t been stellar, to say the least.”

Kate swallowed hard. “I know. But I’ve been studying like crazy lately, I swear. And I got a B-plus on the last quiz.”

“Yes.” The teacher studied her for a moment. “Well, I suppose we’ll give it a try. I’ve put together a packet for you, and I’ll expect all the assigned work completed and turned in as soon as you return. And of course you’ll need to work extra hard in the weeks after you get back to show me that it was worth my effort to do this.”

Kate gulped, almost afraid to remind him of the rest. “Uh, I’ll be gone for some of those later weeks, too. There are three more shows right after this one, and I’m supposed to work at all of them.”

The teacher’s eyes narrowed. “I see.”

Kate held her breath. For the past two years, she’d watched Jamie and the others head off to Indoors and wished she could go too. This was the first year Jamie had agreed to allow it—but only if she promised to keep up with her schoolwork. That had seemed like an easy promise to make at the time, but the reality was turning out to be trickier than Kate had expected.

“It’s no big deal,” she blurted out, feeling her cheeks go pink. “I mean, I know people from this school don’t usually do this. But other riders my age go to Indoors every year, and do the Florida circuit in the winter, too. I mean, most of them go to private schools, where they’re used to students doing stuff like that, but …”

She let her voice trail off. Judging by the deepening frown on the teacher’s face, her explanations weren’t helping.

“Interesting, but irrelevant,” Mr. Barron said. “I don’t care what other students do. I’m only concerned with
my
students. Just how much school will you be missing, exactly?”

“Um, I’m not sure yet,” Kate hedged. “After Cap Challenge I’ll be back for a couple of days, then we leave for Harrisburg—um, that’s the Pennsylvania National Horse Show—on Wednesday afternoon. Then another break before the Washington International down in DC, and then last is the National in Kentucky.”

The teacher’s expression soured more with each show Kate listed. “I’m afraid when you first mentioned this to me, Miss Nilsen, I didn’t fully understand the scope of your commitment,” he said. “I think I’d better discuss this with your parents before we go any further. When would be the best time to call them?”

“What?” Panic squeezed Kate’s throat, making it hard to breathe. “Um, are you sure that’s necessary? They’re really busy right now, and they already signed the permission slip to let me miss school next week—it’s filed in the main office.”

She tried not to let her desperation show. Mr. Barron couldn’t call her parents—well, her father, really, since her mother never answered the phone anymore. A disapproving comment from a teacher might be all it took to make her parents change their minds, since they were barely on board with the whole Indoors thing as it was. Technically, the only show they’d actually agreed to let her attend so far was Capital Challenge. They’d left the others open to discussion once they saw how the first one went. Not that Kate had told Jamie that …

Mr. Barron was still frowning as he glanced at his watch. “Fine. But I want to go on record as thinking this isn’t the best idea for your academic well-being, Miss Nilsen. You’ll need to prove me wrong.”

“Okay,” Kate said weakly. “Thanks.”

She took the bulging manila envelope he handed her, trying not to notice how heavy it was. Only then did she notice Jon hanging out by the door, waiting for her.

“What was that all about?” he asked as they emerged into the hall, which had emptied out almost completely as everyone headed to lunch. “You’re going to a horse show?”

“Not just a horse show.” Kate paused to stuff the manila envelope into her bag. “It’s one of the biggest shows of the year. People come from all over the country for it.”

“Oh. Like the Kentucky Derby or something?”

Kate swallowed a sigh. Why did it seem as if the general public had never heard of any horse sport other than racing?

“Yeah,” she said. “Something like that, I guess.”

Just then her cell phone buzzed. She fished it out and found a text from Fitz.

Bored to death in French right now. Why can’t we all just speak the same language? Wish u were here to tickle my feet & wake me up. Ooh la la!

Kate couldn’t help smiling. Sometimes she still got a weird, sort of unreal feeling when Fitz looked at her or kissed her or even sent her a text. The feeling that this had to be a dream or a joke, because Fitz Hall—wealthy, witty, gorgeous Fitz Hall—couldn’t possibly be her boyfriend. But those moments were getting less frequent, replaced by the more comfortable feeling that maybe Fitz really did care about her. That maybe the two of them did have something special, like he’d told her from the beginning. That they were right for each other despite their very different backgrounds.

“Anything important?” Jon asked.

Kate quickly stuck the phone back in her bag. “Just a text from a friend.”

But the smile stuck with her all the way to her locker. So many things were difficult these days—Nat, her family, school. Even her job at the barn stressed her out.

Then there was Fitz. Sweet, silly, sexy Fitz, who somehow hadn’t become bored with her yet. Who still seemed just as smitten with her as ever, despite his playboy rep. Who was sometimes the only one who could make her smile when things started getting to her.

At least she still had one thing that was easy.

Chapter Two

It was getting dark by the time Tommi pulled her BMW into one of the last open spots in Pelham Lane’s gravel parking area.

“Looks like it’s going to be crowded in the indoor today.” Zara sounded cranky as she unclicked her seat belt.

Tommi knew how she felt. Now that school had started and it was getting dark earlier, the juniors and working adults were mostly stuck riding in the indoor ring during the week. The indoor was one of the largest in Westchester County, but even so, with that many riders it could feel awfully cramped.

“We’d better get inside.” Tommi checked her watch. They’d gotten stuck behind an accident on the Triborough Bridge, which had delayed them for almost forty-five minutes. “Everyone else is probably here already.”

They headed into the big main barn, which was brightly lit and full of activity. Max, one of the grooms, was hustling by with a wheelbarrow full of fresh shavings. An adult rider was buckling her helmet while talking on her cell phone. An
alert-looking Jack Russell terrier trotted past with a leather jumping boot in his mouth.

A second later Joy, the barn’s assistant trainer, raced into view. “Whiskey, get back here!” she exclaimed.

Tommi darted forward and grabbed the dog’s pink rhinestone-studded collar. “Stop, thief,” she said with a grin.

“Thanks, Tommi.” Joy wrestled the boot out of the dog’s mouth, then straightened up and smiled. “Hi, Zara. You guys better get ready—Jamie’s in a hurry tonight.”

Tommi released Whiskey’s collar. The rowdy little dog belonged to Summer Campbell, another junior rider, and Tommi knew it was pointless to try to find her and convince her to keep him on a leash like she was supposed to. Somehow, Summer never seemed to believe the barn rules applied to her.

“Of course Jamie is frantic,” Tommi told Joy with a smile. “We leave for the show tomorrow.”

Joy chuckled. “You know him so well.” Suddenly her smile faded. “Excuse me—I just remembered something.”

She raced off down the main aisle toward the center section of the barn, where the office, tack room, restrooms, and various storage spaces were located. “Does she ever stop moving?” Zara wondered, watching her go.

Tommi shrugged. “Maybe when she’s asleep. Come on, I’ll walk you to Keeper’s stall—it’s right on my way.”

As they headed deeper into the barn, another junior rider, Marissa, rounded the corner of the aisle. She was leading a kind-eyed bay gelding decked out in a Baker stable sheet.

“Zara!” Marissa exclaimed. “Oh wow, I wasn’t sure you’d show tonight. You know—because of the news?”

For a second Tommi wasn’t sure what she was talking about.
Then she remembered that odd encounter at school earlier that day. “Oh right. Did you ever figure out what the latest gossip is all about?” she asked Zara.

“No. I was rushing to meet you after school and forgot to get my phone back from the office.” Zara raised an eyebrow at Marissa. “Care to fill me in?”

Marissa’s already-round brown eyes widened. “You mean you haven’t heard?” She pulled an iPhone out of the pocket of her Tailored Sportsmans and worked it with one hand while her horse nosed at her pocket, looking for treats. “Here,” she said after a moment, shoving the phone toward Zara.

Tommi didn’t really care about the latest stupid rumor and was about to move on to her horse’s stall. But Zara’s quick intake of breath stopped her.

“What?” Tommi asked.

Zara’s full lips had all but disappeared into a thin, grim line. “See for yourself,” she said, tossing Marissa’s phone in Tommi’s direction.

Tommi caught it and scanned the blog entry.

Can it be? Pelham Lane junior Zara Trask has become a fixture at the East Coast shows since her famous father, Zac Trask, moved the family from LA to NYC. Now rumor has it that Zac might be getting more involved with Zara’s riding … and maybe even with one of her fellow juniors!

“So is it true?” Marissa tugged on the reins to stop her horse from wandering past her to check out the hay flakes stacked in a wheelbarrow nearby. “Because everyone is already trying to figure out who it could be.” She giggled. “It’s not me, I swear!”

Tommi almost rolled her eyes. Marissa was cute enough, with her dimpled smile and curly dark hair, but somehow Tommi couldn’t see an international superstar like Zac Trask even noticing her, let along risking scandal to have an illicit affair with her.

“
So
not true,” Zara snapped. “Duh! When was the last time you even saw my dad around this place? Let me think—it was the day before
never
!”

“Yeah. I figured it was just a rumor.” Marissa actually sounded disappointed. Tommi wasn’t surprised. The girl lived for gossip. “Anyway, I’m sure nobody really believes it.”

“Whatever.” Zara frowned and turned away. “Better go get ready.”

She stalked off down the aisle. Tommi could tell she was annoyed, but she’d get over it. Her whole life took place in the public eye, pretty much. And this was far from the worst thing that had ever been written about her or her parents. For a moment, it actually made Tommi feel grateful for her own family situation. Okay, so everyone knew her last name, and it was annoying to know that a lot of people would always believe she’d bought her success in the show ring instead of working for it. But at least her father wasn’t the type of guy who got accused of crazy scandals. Or
any
scandals, for that matter. Even thinking about it made Tommi smile, picturing him puttering around the house in his half-moon glasses and scuffed suede slippers, with a copy of the
Wall Street Journal
dragging along losing pages behind him.