The a Circuit (23 page)

There was a moment of silence after Zara’s question. Tommi wasn’t sure what to say; she was still trying to process what had just happened. It didn’t seem fair that Zara would get away with this, or that Fitz would be punished for something he hadn’t done.

“You don’t think Jamie will kick him out, do you?” Kate asked, turning to Tommi.

“Doubtful.” Tommi shook her head. “He’ll be pretty hard on him for a while, though. Guaranteed.”

“Look.” Zara took a deep breath. “This isn’t right. I don’t want to feel guilty every time I come to the stupid barn. Maybe I should go talk to Jamie after all. And apologize to Javier, too. I never would’ve ratted him out even if my wild guess turns out to be true.”

Tommi could see that she meant it—all of it—and just like that, it didn’t seem to matter anymore. “Talk to Javier if you want, but don’t bother confessing to Jamie,” she told her. “Fitz may not have crashed that horse, but he’s done plenty of other stuff he could stand a little payback for.”

She shot a look at Kate, who didn’t meet her eye. She looked like she was spacing out a little, probably still trying to process all this. Or maybe trying to stop herself from hyperventilating over being that close to Fitz. But Tommi could deal with that later.

“Anyway,” she went on, turning her attention back to Zara, “if he’s so eager to take the fall, maybe we should just let him. His parents can afford to rehab that horse, or buy the owners another one, or whatever it takes.”

“Okay,” Zara said. “But I—”

Tommi didn’t let her finish. “Look, I know how easy it is to make a mistake. Especially when everyone’s always watching you, just waiting for you to screw up.” She shrugged. “I’m willing to give you another shot if you’re really sorry about what happened. But only one more. Third strike and all that.”

Zara almost rolled her eyes at Tommi’s comment. She still wasn’t thrilled with the idea that Fitz was throwing himself on his sword or whatever, especially since she wasn’t sure why he’d done it. But this was all starting to feel a little too after-school special.

She almost said something sarcastic, but stopped herself as she met Tommi’s eye. Maybe she
did
understand, at least a little. She’d grown up in the same fishbowl as Zara had—sort of, anyway. Could she really trust her to keep a secret this huge? Could she trust any of them?

What choice did she have?

“I think Tommi’s right,” Kate said in her wimpy little voice. But now, for the first time, Zara noticed it had an edge of strength to it. Or something like that. “Fitz decided to do this. Even if he did it without thinking it through, he needs to deal with it.” She glanced over at Tommi. “
Especially
if he did it without thinking.”

Tommi’s eyes widened for a second. Then she nodded.

Zara had no idea what that was about. But she didn’t really care. It had just really sunk in what this meant. She was okay. She wasn’t going to get kicked out of the barn, at least not right now. And maybe she’d even just found a couple of new friends here. Or at least people she might want to have as friends. She had a feeling she was going to have to work pretty hard to earn their trust after what had happened—as hard as she’d always expected everyone to work to earn hers. Was it worth it?

Just then Tommi gasped. “Oh my God!” she cried, staring at her watch. “I need to get moving. I told the guys I wanted to tack up Legs myself for our class today, but he needs a really good warm-up, and …”

“Say no more,” Kate said. “I’ll help you get him ready.”

“Me, too,” Zara put in.

The other two glanced at her with surprise. But then Tommi nodded.

“Thanks,” she said, shooting her a small smile.

Zara followed as the other two girls hurried toward the tack room. Yeah, maybe it was worth it. At least it was worth sticking around long enough to find out.

What’s up next for Zara, Tommi, and Kate?
Read on for sneak peeks of the next

A CIRCUIT
novel

ZARA

“Zara! Hi!” Summer was in the aisle watching Max sweep when Zara entered the barn. “I was hoping you’d come out today. Did you get my text?” She hurried toward Zara, her obnoxious little brat of a dog leaping at her heels.

Great. Just what Zara needed to make her foul mood even worse. Summer was like the ugly chin zit you assumed would go away if you ignored it long enough. Only it didn’t. Just kept getting bigger and more disgusting.

“Nope, didn’t get any text from you,” Zara lied. “Your phone must be screwed up or something.”

Summer’s pale blue eyes widened with alarm. “Do you really think so?” she exclaimed, fishing a shiny new pink cell phone out of the pocket of her Tailored Sportsmans. “But I just got it! It’s exactly like the one Tommi has—well, except hers is boring black—so I figured it was probably, like, really good …”

Zara hardly heard her. Her mind was already wandering back to her father’s big news. Yeah, leave it to Zac to think she’d actually be okay with having a babysitter while he was in Europe. Clueless didn’t even begin to cover it.

But whatever. It looked like she’d just be spending even more time at the barn than usual. At least for the rest of the summer.

As she wandered off down the aisle, she realized Summer was tagging along at her heel as obsessively as her stupid mutt might do. And yapping nonstop just like him, too. Did she even notice that Zara wasn’t listening?

“… and anyway, I heard Fitz is, like, totally grounded from the next show,” Summer was saying as Zara tuned back in. “I wonder if—”

“That’s nice,” Zara cut her off. “Got to run. Ellie’s probably waiting for me. And she hates to wait.”

Both those things were true, at least. Zara had called ahead from the car to ask the grooms to get the mare ready. And Ellie tended to get testy if left in the cross-ties for half a second longer than she felt was necessary.

Zara couldn’t help smiling as she thought about her new horse. Yeah, so maybe it hadn’t all been smooth sailing so far. But that was part of the fun, right? At least Ellie had a mind of her own. Zara was already looking forward to the next show when the two of them could show everyone what they could
really
do.

“Oh, you mean you’re going for a ride right now?” Summer asked eagerly.

“Um, duh,” Zara said. “Why do you think I came to the barn? To get a mani-pedi?”

Summer appeared totally unfazed by the sarcasm. “Cool, I was thinking about riding soon, too. I’ll join you.”

Zara bit her tongue—literally—to stop herself from snapping out a rude reply. Sure, Summer was a pain in the ass. But she wasn’t really the one who was making Zara feel like crap. Nope, that honor belonged to her own father, the guy who barely noticed when she stayed out until dawn or came home wasted three nights in a row—and yet suddenly seemed to think she needed to be treated like a five-year-old.

“Whatever,” she muttered as Summer hurried off down the barn aisle shouting for Miguel.

Zara turned toward Ellie’s stall. The mare was cross-tied in the aisle with Zara’s saddle already neatly positioned atop a spotless Mattes pad. Javier was bent over the horse’s front legs, fiddling with her sheepskin-lined Eskadron boots.

When she saw the young groom, Zara’s stomach twisted as she instantly flashed back to the Hounds Hollow showgrounds. The drunken crash. The injured horse. Her desperate threat to turn in Javier, to tell Jamie he was illegal. How long had it taken for someone to tell Javier about that? Whatever, he had to know all about it by now. All about how she’d almost ruined his life.

One of the barn dogs, Hugo, was sitting nearby chewing on a stray bit of hoof the farrier must’ve tossed him. The dog wagged his tail and jumped to his feet when he noticed Zara coming, which made Javier look up as well.

“Hi, Miss Trask,” the groom said politely, his dark eyes unreadable behind their long lashes. “She’s almost ready for you.”

“Thanks,” Zara muttered, not quite meeting his gaze.

He finished adjusting the boot and stood. “Are you ready?” he asked. “I’ll bridle her for you now if you like.”

“Sure, thanks.”

Javier hurried off toward the tack room with Hugo right behind him, leaving Zara standing there feeling guilty and unsettled as she wondered what the young groom was thinking about her right now. Ugh. And this was supposed to be her refuge from the annoyances of home?

Just then Fitz wandered into view at the end of the aisle. Great. Another person she definitely didn’t feel like dealing with right now. She’d barely seen him since the end of the show, mostly because his parents had banned him from the barn for a week once they heard what had happened. Well, what had
supposedly
happened.

Zara still couldn’t believe he’d jumped in to cover for her. The weirdest part was that he hadn’t even done it to try to get in her pants. That would have been better, actually. She would’ve known how to handle that.

This? Not so much. She didn’t like owing anyone anything.

“Hey, good lookin’. What’s cookin’?” Fitz quipped when he got closer. “Didn’t know you were here today.”

“Sorry, guess I forgot to alert the media,” she muttered.

It came out sounding more sour than funny, but Fitz laughed anyway. “How’s Ellie today?” he asked, stepping over to give Ellie a scratch on the withers. The mare turned her head as far as the cross-ties would allow, nuzzling him in obvious hope of scoring a treat.

Zara didn’t answer. Javier had just returned with her bridle. He expertly slipped it on, then handed over the reins.

“Do you need anything else, Miss Trask?” he asked in his soft voice.

“No, I’m good.” Zara forced a smile. “Thanks.”

“See you, Javier,” Fitz said. As soon as the groom disappeared around the corner, he glanced at Zara. “Hey, guess what?”

“Do I have to?” Zara jammed her helmet on and clicked the throat snap shut.

“What? No, seriously.” Fitz lowered his voice. “I was talking to Max, and he said nobody ever told Javier what happened that night. You know—what you said about him.”

Zara spun around to face him. “Wait, for real?” she said. “Come on. This place is gossip central. How could he not know?”

Fitz lifted one shoulder, then let it drop. “Guess the other guys didn’t want to freak him out. I told Max you were never going to actually rat out Javier to Jamie, anyway. So no harm, no foul. At least for that part.”

Zara wasn’t sure how to respond, so she didn’t. Just turned and lifted the saddle flap, pretending to check her girth.

After a moment of silence, Fitz cleared his throat. “Anyway, I just thought you’d like to know,” he said. “Gotta go. Have a good ride, okay?”

“Thanks,” Zara muttered without taking her eyes off the girth.

She wasn’t going to let Fitz know it, but her mood had just ticked up a notch thanks to his news. Okay, so all the other juniors still knew exactly what she’d done, plus now she had this new garbage at home to deal with. But at least she wouldn’t have to feel guilty every time she looked at Javier from now on.

At least there was that.

TOMMI

“Easy, big guy,” Tommi said as Legs shifted restlessly at the end of the lead. “Come on, just one more time up and back, okay?”

The sound of the show’s loudspeaker system crackled in the distance, but the shed row was deserted except for the two of them. Jamie was still out at the eq ring, Elliot had just left to take an adult client’s horse to the warm-up, and the other grooms were busy elsewhere. Tommi was glad. She needed some time alone with Legs to figure out what was going on with him.

Just then Legs pricked his ears and lifted his head, staring toward the end of the aisle. Turning that way, Tommi saw Kate entering, still dressed in her tidy navy show jacket and tall boots.

Tommi felt a flash of guilt. Oops. She’d meant to try to get over to the ring to watch Kate’s eq trip.

“Hey,” she called. “Did you already ride? How’d it go?”

Kate frowned, a dark look flashing through her eyes. “Could’ve been better.”

Uh-oh. Tommi knew better than to ask. Kate would tell her about it when she was ready.

Meanwhile Kate was looking at Legs, who was pawing at the sawdust footing. “He any better today?” she asked.

“I’m not sure. Actually, do you have a sec? I could really use someone to jog him while I watch.”

“Sure.” Kate took the lead, giving the lanky gelding a pat. “Come on, Legs. Let’s go.”

She clucked and wriggled the lead, urging Legs into a trot. Tommi kept her eyes trained on the horse’s legs, watching for any sign of a bobble, any shortness of stride—anything at all that wasn’t what it should be. But whatever it was that she’d felt, she couldn’t see it now. She sighed as Kate and Legs stopped.

“Anything?” Kate asked.

Tommi shook her head. “I’m starting to think that bitchy hotshot trainer chick was right yesterday,” she muttered. “Maybe I did choke—maybe I imagined the whole thing.”

“No way,” Kate said. “Trust your gut. If you thought he felt off, it was better not to push him, right?”

Tommi didn’t answer. Just stared at the horse, who was standing there nudging at Kate’s shoulder with his muzzle, looking bored and impatient. With no clue that he held her entire future in those long, slender, oh-so-fragile legs of his.

Just then Zara wandered into view. “Hi,” she said. “What are you guys doing?”

“Trying to figure out if Legs is lame or if I’m crazy,” Tommi said with a loud sigh.

Zara wrinkled her nose. “You mean because of that thing yesterday? You’re still obsessing over that?” She grinned. “Come on—we all know you punked out of that class because you knew you couldn’t compete with my awesome ride!”

Tommi shot her a look. “Whatever. This isn’t a joke. If he’s not sound enough to hold up to the show lifestyle …”

“Don’t panic, Tommi,” Kate put in softly. “It could just be an abscess or some other minor thing like that.”

Zara didn’t look too interested. “Hey, so did you already finish your eq class?” she asked Kate. “I meant to come over and watch, but I got, um, distracted.” She smirked and licked her lips.

Even though she was still distracted by her own problems, Tommi couldn’t help noticing the little gesture and wondering what it meant. Could it have something to do with Grant?

“So I got there a little too late—Jamie said you’d already finished,” Zara was saying. “Anyway, how’d it go?”

“It went,” Kate said tightly.

“Ooookay.” Zara raised an eyebrow. “Guess that means no ribbon this time, huh?”

Kate shook her head, staring at the ground. Tommi winced on her behalf. Why did she always have to be so damn hard on herself? So she’d blown a class. It happened to the best of them. Kate needed to shrug it off and move on, not eat herself alive over it.

“So what happened?” Zara asked. “I thought you guys were, like, the new barn superstars or whatever.”

“Maybe Fable is,” Kate said quietly.

Zara shrugged and returned her attention to Legs. “So what’s wrong with him, anyway?” she asked, giving the gelding a pat.

“Good question,” Tommi replied grimly. “I could feel he wasn’t quite right when I rode him. But I can’t see anything from the ground, so I’m not sure what to do about it.”

“Well, that’s why we have vets, I guess.” Zara didn’t sound too concerned. “It’s not like you don’t have other horses to ride.”

Tommi didn’t know why she’d bothered to say anything. Why she’d expected Zara to understand. How could she? She’d never taken anything seriously in her life, at least as far as Tommi could tell.

“Whatever,” she said. “If he doesn’t get better, my pro career could be over before it begins.”

“Lighten up, chica,” Zara said. “This is supposed to be fun, right?” She stared from Tommi to Kate and back again. “Right?”

Kate shrugged, keeping her gaze on the floor. Tommi just rolled her eyes. In her opinion, Zara was a little too much about the fun. But what was the point of saying so?

The buzz of her cell phone interrupted her thoughts. It was a text from Alex:

Hi Tommi—hope ur having a good show! Can’t wait 2 c u when u get back on Sun. Maybe we can get 2gether then if ur not 2 tired from winning all those blue ribbons & stuff?

Tommi smiled as she scanned the message. He was so sweet—and hearing from him was exactly what she needed right now. It was a reminder that there was more to life than horses.

She texted him back quickly:

Sun night sounds like a plan. Will let u know 2morrow what time I’ll b home, ok? ttyt!

After sending the text, Tommi stuck her phone back in her pocket. Kate handed her Legs’s lead.

“I’d better go,” Kate said. “Javier offered to cool Fable out for me, but I know he’s got other stuff to do, so …”

Letting her voice trail off, she took off down the aisle. “Wow,” Zara commented. “She seems even more stressed than usual. And that’s saying something.”

“She’s fine. Just busy, that’s all.” But as Tommi watched Kate disappear around the corner, she couldn’t help feeling a flash of concern. Kate
did
seem extra tense lately. Was it because Fitz wasn’t at the show? Tommi wondered if maybe having him around was good for Kate after all.

Then Legs shoved at her with his head, and she gave him a pat.

“Okay, mister,” she told him. “We’re not accomplishing anything here. Let’s get you back to your stall.”