True Riders (8 page)

CHAPTER

AFTER THE FINAL
bell on Friday, Brooke was on her way to her bus when she spotted Kiersten walking ahead of her. Speeding up, she fell into step with the new girl.

“Hi,” she said, still feeling a little shy about just walking up and talking to someone she hardly knew. “How's it going?”

Kiersten smiled. “Fine,” she said. “What about you? Any big plans for the weekend?”

“Sort of.” Brooke shifted her backpack to her other shoulder. “If the weather doesn't get bad again, I'm hoping to do tons of riding.”

“That sounds cool.” Kiersten looked a little wistful. “I used to love spending all weekend at the barn too.”

Oops. Brooke hadn't meant to make her feel bad. Should she invite Kiersten out to see Foxy, maybe even go for a ride or something?

Then she remembered why she was planning to ride so much, and realized that sort of thing would have to wait. “See, my friend Adam wants me to do this horse show near where I live,” Brooke explained. “Um, so I need to really do a lot of riding and jumping and stuff to make sure Foxy and I are ready, you know?”

“A show?” Kiersten sounded interested. “What kind of show? I used to—”

“Brooke!” Adam raced up to them, interrupting the new girl. “Guess what? I entered you in the show online just now in study hall.”

“You did?” Brooke felt her stomach flip over with nervousness.

“Uh-huh.” Adam looked pleased with himself. “It's official! I mean, I didn't pick out your exact classes or anything, but we can probably do that when we get there.”

“Yeah, I'm sure you can,” Kiersten put in. “That's usually how shows work.”

Adam blinked at her, seeming surprised to see her standing there. “Okay.” Shifting his gaze back to Brooke, he grinned. “So let's get home and make sure Foxy's ready to kick butt!”

“Good luck with your schooling. See you Monday, Brooke,” Kiersten said, shooting her a quick smile before hurrying off toward her own bus.

As soon as she and Adam walked into the house, Brooke knew they were in trouble. The twins were waiting for them just inside.

“Adam!” Ethan howled, flinging himself forward.

Adam caught him and swung him around. “Yo, little buddy.”

Meanwhile Emma tugged on Brooke's sleeve. “We want to go riding,” she announced.

Brooke gritted her teeth. As she'd told Kiersten earlier, she and Foxy had a lot of work to do if they didn't want to embarrass themselves at that show. How were they going to get anything done with the twins pestering her for rides every five minutes?

She was about to tell them no way, but Adam responded first. “I can take them for a quick spin if you want,” he told Brooke. “You know, while you get changed into your riding clothes.”

Brooke's mother appeared just in time to hear him. “Oh, Adam, that would be wonderful!” she exclaimed. “The twins haven't stopped talking about how much they've been enjoying their rides.”

“No problem.” Adam grinned at Brooke. “Take your time getting changed.”

Brooke didn't follow his advice, exchanging her school clothes for her riding jeans and paddock boots in record time. When she was ready, she paused by the window, peering in the direction of the pasture. She couldn't see Foxy or Adam or the twins, though she spotted her mother standing in the middle of the yard bent over her phone.

When she got outside, Adam was on Foxy bareback, with a giggling Emma sitting in front of him. Brooke's mother had made it to the gate to watch by then, and she glanced over as Brooke stopped beside her.

“Adam's so good with the twins,” Mrs. Rhodes said with a smile.

Brooke barely heard her mother's words. She was watching Foxy, who looked a little anxious, though only someone who knew her well would notice. In any case, she was behaving herself so far, letting Adam steer her along at a slow walk.

“My turn!” Ethan yelled as Adam rode the pony back toward the gate.

“Okay, hold your horses, dude.” Adam laughed. “Get it? Hold your horses?”

Both twins giggled loudly, and Brooke stepped forward to help Adam exchange one twin for the other. As soon as Ethan was in place, he grabbed the reins in front of where Adam was holding them.

“I can steer,” he announced. “I know how.”

“No!” Brooke blurted, remembering how upset Foxy had been the last time Ethan had tried to “steer” her. “Adam will steer.”

Adam glanced down at her and shrugged. “Okay, you heard her, bud,” he told Ethan.

“No!” The little boy's face went all stern and stubborn. “Me!”

“Then you can get off right now,” Brooke snapped.

“Wait. I have a proposition for you, E,” Adam said. “If you let me do the steering, we can try a little trot. How about that? Only real cowboys can trot bareback, you know.”

“Okay.” Instantly Ethan was all smiles again. “Giddyup, Foxy!”

Adam nudged the pony into a trot. Ethan squealed with glee, which made Foxy speed up a little.

“Careful!” Brooke called. “You're getting pretty close to that—”

She gasped as Adam steered toward one of the crossrails—and Foxy trotted right over it!

“Whee!” Ethan yelled. “Do it again, do it again!”

“No, I want to try!” Emma shrieked, climbing up the fence and waving her arms. “Me, me!”

Brooke watched Foxy, who looked high headed and a little prancey as Adam turned her and aimed her at the same jump going the opposite way. This time the mare actually broke into a choppy canter a couple of strides out and leaped over with a snort. That made Ethan cheer even louder.

“Okay, that's enough jumping!” Brooke called loudly.

“But I didn't get to do it yet!” Emma complained.

Their mother stepped forward, arms wrapped around herself. She wasn't exactly dressed for the weather, in her stylish but not very warm leather jacket.

“Brooke's right. That's enough for today,” she said. “It's freezing out here! Emma, you can try jumping another time. Let's go in and warm up by making some cocoa and cookies, hmm?”

“Cookies!” Emma cried happily. “Since Ethan got to jump, I get to lick the spoon!”

“What? No!” Ethan shouted, practically launching himself from Foxy's back.

Brooke stepped forward just in time to catch him. “Oof,” she said, setting him down. “Go on. First one to the house gets the first cup of cocoa.”

After her family had disappeared inside, Brooke saddled up and mounted. Foxy felt tense again, and when Brooke asked her to walk, she scooted to the side instead.

“She feels sort of skittish,” Brooke told Adam, who was adjusting the jumps.

He glanced over. “Really? She felt fine to me.”

Brooke shortened her reins and asked for a walk again. This time Foxy obeyed, though her head stayed high and her steps were short and choppy.

“No, she's definitely a little freaked-out.” Brooke steered in a circle, which finally made the pony lower her head a little. “I'd better do plenty of warming up on the flat before we even think about jumping.”

“Okay, you're the boss.” Adam leaned against the fence and watched as Brooke put the mare through her paces. Foxy settled down quite a bit, though she still seemed ready to burst into a faster gait at any moment.

Finally Adam waved toward the jumps. “Give it a try,” he called.

“I'm not sure she's ready yet.” Brooke brought Foxy to a halt, which only lasted a few seconds before Foxy stepped off again without being asked.

“What's the big deal?” Adam shrugged. “You can ride that pony through anything. You guys are an awesome team!”

Brooke couldn't help feeling flattered. Maybe he was right; maybe Brooke was making too big a deal of this.
Borrowing trouble
, as her grandfather liked to say. After all, she'd trained Foxy from the ground up, riding her all over the countryside, through creeks, up and down hills, past scary tractors and cows and flocks of geese, and much more. They'd survived all that just fine. What were a few small jumps?

“Okay. I guess we could try one and see how it goes. . . .” She turned Foxy toward the nearest crossrail and asked her to trot. Foxy surged forward, breaking into a canter just as she'd done on Ethan's second jump.

“Excellent!” Adam cried as the pony landed and raced away. “She looked really good.”

“Thanks,” Brooke said breathlessly. “She rushed it a little, though.”

“That's probably just because she's still new to jumping. Try another one.”

After the twins went to bed that evening, Brooke couldn't resist complaining to her mother, who was over at the sink washing up after dinner. “Can't they lay off the riding at least until after my show?” she asked, picking up a dishrag to dry the plate her mother had just washed. “It's getting Foxy all riled up, and I need her to be calm if we're going to be ready to do our best.”

Her mother glanced at her with a serene smile. For some reason doing the dishes always helped her relax, which was why she'd always refused her husband's offers to install a dishwasher.

“I know sharing is hard, Brooke,” she said.

“It's not that,” Brooke protested. “It's just that Foxy is still green. Like, today she kept rushing all our jumps, and I'm pretty sure it's because of the twins riding before.”

“Just try to be patient with them, sweetie, hmm?” Brooke's mother handed over another plate. “Think back to how horse crazy you were at that age. What if the Stockleys had gotten impatient with you pestering them to ride their horses all the time?”

Brooke focused on the plate, not saying anything. She didn't remember those days like that at all. She'd been even shyer back then, and never would have dared pester anyone. It was Mr. Stockley who'd noticed her staring longingly at the drafts, feeding them handfuls of grass whenever they came close enough to the fence. He'd offered to give her a pony ride, and when he and his wife had seen how much she'd loved it, they'd started inviting her over all the time.