Twice the Talent (5 page)

Ava was impressed. “You are really like a horse whisperer or something.”

Kylie looked pleased. “It's in my blood, I guess.”

She grabbed the reins, and Ava followed her as they moved to the paddock.

“I've got to ride her inside the fence while she's training,” Kylie explained. “I'll just take her around the perimeter a few times.”

“I'll take pictures!” Ava offered, holding up her phone.

Kylie brought Checkers inside the paddock and locked the gate behind her. Then she used a set of small steps to climb up on the horse's left side. Checkers skittered a bit as Kylie mounted her, but she calmed down as soon as Kylie had her feet in the stirrups and both hands on the reins.

“Let's go, Checkers!” Kylie said, and the horse broke into a gentle trot. Ava watched her friend go, remembering how nervous she had been the first time Kylie had brought her to the ranch. Watching Kylie ride so confidently made her itch to give it another try.

Then a noise made Ava turn her head.

Vroom!
A motorcycle was coming down the long drive to the ranch. In the paddock, Kylie patted Checkers's head.

“Nothing to be afraid of,” she told the horse.

But Ava could see thick white smoke pouring from the bike's exhaust. The bike sputtered. And then . . .

Boom!
It backfired, making a sound like a loud gunshot.

Startled, Checkers reared up high on her back legs.

“Kylie!” Ava screamed.

Kylie's hands gripped the reins tightly as Checkers lost her footing. The horse stumbled and toppled to the ground, taking Kylie with her!

Her heart pounding, Ava ignored the pain in her ankle as she ran back up to the ranch.

“Kylie needs help!”

“But Checkers is okay, right?” Kylie asked weakly.

“Honey, we've told you that already. She's fine,” Mrs. McClaire said. She looked up at Ava, Alex, Coach, and Mrs. Sackett, who were gathered around Kylie's hospital bed.

“A broken leg, and all she can think about is that horse,” said Mrs. McClaire.

Mrs. Sackett put an arm on her shoulder. “You look tired, Renée,” she said. “How about we go get a cup of coffee and leave the kids alone for a bit?”

Mrs. McClaire looked at her daughter. “Will you be okay? Dad is right outside talking with the nurse.”

“I'm not going anywhere, Mom,” Kylie joked, and managed a small smile. Mrs. McClaire seemed satisfied.

“All right, but just for a few minutes,” she said, and she left the hospital room with Coach and Mrs. Sackett.

It was seven o'clock that night, and Ava had been waiting for hours to see Kylie.

“Kylie, this is all my fault!” she blurted out. “I'm the one who said you should ride Checkers.”

“Ava, it's okay,” Kylie said. “It was a freak accident.”

“We heard you're going to need surgery to fix your broken leg,” Alex said.

Kylie nodded. “The doctor says the surgery's nothing major. But I'll be on crutches for a long time. And maybe even in a wheelchair at first.”

Then she managed a small smile. “Look at us! We're injury buddies!”

Ava looked down at her small brace and then at Kylie's leg, which was propped up on the bed and supported by a wicked-looking brace with metal rods. Kylie looked small and scared and hurt in the big hospital bed. Suddenly Ava's sprained ankle didn't seem like the end of the world anymore.

“Yeah, but you get some time off school for your injury,” Ava said.

“I could bring you all your homework while
you're recovering,” Alex offered cheerfully, but Kylie groaned.

“Please! Getting out of homework might be the only good thing that comes out of this!” she said.

“Yeah, what were you thinking, Al?” Ava joked.

Alex's phone chimed before she could answer. She tapped on the screen to see a video from Lindsey. It was the Dancing Divas—the name Lindsey, Rosa, Emily, Charlotte, and Annelise had chosen for their Variety Show act—practicing their dance routine, along with a message.

Dance with us! Practice Tuesday.

Alex rolled her eyes.

“What's up?” Ava asked.

“It's Lindsey,” Alex answered. “She and some of my other friends are doing this silly dance routine for the Variety Show, and she keeps asking me to join them. But there is no way I would be caught onstage doing that dance! We all know I'd make a fool of myself. And they keep bugging me to join them, even though I keep saying no.”

“Oh no, the Variety Show,” Kylie said, and her eyes filled with tears. Ava suddenly realized that she'd never seen her best friend cry before. Poor Kylie!

“Were you going to be in it?” she asked sympathetically, but before Kylie could answer, there was a tap on the open hospital door. It was Owen Rooney, a tall boy with dark, curly hair. He was a receiver on the Ashland Tiger Cubs—and Kylie's sort-of boyfriend.

“Your mom said it would be okay if I came in,” Owen said.

“Of course,” Kylie said, sitting up a little.

Owen walked closer to the bed and pulled a book out of his jacket pocket. Kylie's eyes got wide.

“Is that the newest Andromeda Saga book?” she asked.

Owen nodded. “Yeah, it just came out this week. I thought you might want to read it while you're stuck in here.”

“But you should read it first!” Kylie protested.

“I have my own copy,” Owen said. “This one's for you. I thought we could read it at the same time and, you know, talk about it.”

Owen handed her the book, and Kylie looked
really cheered up. Ava couldn't help thinking about that time back in Massachusetts when bronchitis had kept her out of school for a week. Her sort-of boyfriend, Charlie, had come by every day to talk to her. He brought her goofy presents like a tiny teddy bear and every sports magazine he could find.

Charlie had a new girlfriend now, and he and Ava didn't text as much anymore—especially now that the Patriots' season was over.
I haven't thought about Charlie in a while,
she realized wistfully.

Alex nudged her out of her reverie. “We should probably, you know, leave these guys alone,” she whispered.

Ava looked up and saw that Owen and Kylie were deep in conversation about some alien princess or something and nodded to her sister.

“Kylie, I'll come back and visit,” Ava promised. “And I'll make sure Alex
doesn't
bring your homework.”

“That was a genuinely nice offer,” Alex protested as Ava dragged her out of the room.

They found their parents talking with Mr. and Mrs. McClaire. After a round of good-byes, the Sacketts headed home.

“Thanks for bringing me,” Ava said on the ride home.

“Of course, sweetheart!” said Mrs. Sackett. “I'm just glad that Kylie is going to be okay.”

“So am I,” said Ava.

And I'm going to be okay too,
she thought.
From now on, no more moping around!

“Uncle Scott, I have to catch the bus in twenty minutes!” Alex said, knocking on the bathroom door.

“I just need three more minutes, Alex!” Uncle Scott called through the door. “I've got to finish shaving and then use my Neti pot. I need my sinuses clear for this interview!”

Ava walked past Alex's open door on her way downstairs.

“Neti pot? Is that the thing that looks like a teapot in the downstairs medicine cabinet?” Ava asked.

Alex nodded. “Right. But it's not a teapot. He uses it to clean out his nostrils.”

“Seriously? That's gross!” Ava said. “That is almost enough to make me not want to eat breakfast, except that I am so hungry I could eat three breakfasts!” Then she walked off.

Alex sighed and pounded on the bathroom door again. “Why are you in
our
bathroom, exactly?” she asked.

She heard the sound of running water. It stopped, and then her uncle answered.

“Because your dad was in the shower downstairs when I woke up, and I have an early interview,” Uncle Scott replied. “Can't you go eat breakfast and then use the bathroom when I'm done?”

Alex frowned. She had her morning routine worked out: She got up and showered before Ava even opened her eyes. Then she got dressed and went back into the bathroom to tame her stray curls with a flat iron.
Then
breakfast.

She glanced at the clock.

“Fine!” she said, and headed downstairs.

“Alex! You sound like an elephant,” Coach said as Alex continued stomping into the kitchen.

“It's Uncle Scott,” Alex said. “He's disturbing my morning routine.”

“Oh boy,” said Tommy, digging into a huge
bowl of oatmeal and sliced bananas in front of him. “That's a criminal offense in Alex's book. Poor Uncle Scott.”

Mrs. Sackett came in through the back door with Moxy on a leash.

“What about Uncle Scott?” she asked.

“He's disturbing Alex's morning routine,” Ava reported.

“Oh, right, the job interview!” Mrs. Sackett said, sounding exceedingly chipper. “Alex, you let your uncle do whatever he needs to do to get ready. Besides, it looks like you're ready for school anyway.”

Alex grabbed a banana from the basket on the counter. “For your information, I have not tamed this wayward strand of hair,” she said, yanking on it to demonstrate its waywardness. “It constantly gets in my right eye. I won't be able to concentrate in school all day if I don't get back up in that bathroom and use my flat iron on it. Is that what you want?”

Just then Uncle Scott came bounding down the stairs. Alex had to admit that he looked job-interview ready. He was freshly shaven, and he'd styled his wavy brown hair with just the right amount of gel. He wore a crisp blue dress
shirt with a red tie and dark blue pants.

“Looking good, bro,” Coach said.

“Yes, your nostrils look especially clean,” joked Ava.

“Mock all you want, but that Neti pot keeps me healthy,” Uncle Scott retorted.

“Good luck!” Alex said as she raced past him and back up the stairs to fix her wayward lock.

She was heating up her flat iron when her phone chimed with a text from Emily.

Home with a cold!

Oh no, feel better!

Alex reached for the flat iron—it wasn't quite hot yet, but she was out of time. Her curl went untamed, and Alex spent the whole day brushing it away from her face. She was still brushing it away as she entered third-period social studies.

Max lifted his head up from his desk as Alex walked past. “What's up?” he asked. “You look somewhat perturbed.”

That's an odd way of putting it,
Alex thought,
but very observant
.

“Oh, it's just . . . families can be challenging, you know?” she asked, thinking of Uncle Scott.

Max nodded. “Tell me about it,” he said, and then he started to put his head back down on his desk again.

“Wait!” Alex said. “We need to meet in the library to do our research for the project. Are you free tomorrow after school?”

“What?” Max looked confused for a minute. “Oh yeah, sure.”

Lindsey walked past Alex and gave her a look that clearly meant,
What are you talking to him for?
Alex was almost going to say something when Mrs. Bridges walked in and the bell rang.

“All right, everyone open up to page one hundred twenty,” she announced, and Alex forgot about Lindsey's look as the lesson began.

But as soon as the last bell rang, Lindsey charged up to Alex's desk. Rosa hung behind her, curious.

“Alex, I heard you talking to Max. Why are you making plans with him when he'll probably sleep through your study session anyway? Tomorrow is dance practice. I thought you were
too busy to dance with us,” she said accusingly.

Alex quickly glanced in Max's direction. He had just gotten up from his desk, and Alex was sure he had heard Lindsey. She cringed.