Best Enemies Page 8

“Can’t you keep that slow horse moving?” Jasmine snapped at Eric.

  Mr. Conner walked over before he could say anything.

  “Good job,” he said. “These exercises will teach you to work as a team and to pay attention to timing. Let’s run through a few more.”

  Mr. Conner worked with us for another half hour before he dismissed us. “Nice work, everyone,” he said. “See you next class.”

  He strode out of the arena and Heather rode Aristocrat beside Phoenix. “Are you trying to sink our team?” she asked Jasmine.

  Jas rolled her eyes. “Do you think I care about the team? This drill stuff is so lame. Mr. Conner should be focusing on us as individuals so we have a better shot at the YENT.”

  Eric looked over at Jasmine. “We just spent forty-five minutes working on transitions and staying in control of our horses. Each of us—as individuals.”

  “Yeah,” Callie added. “Mr. Conner knows what he’s doing.”

  Jas sighed. “I don’t even know how you made the team, Eric. But no big deal. I’ll be off this team and onto the YENT soon anyway.”

  She trotted Phoenix away from us and I stared after her, tempted to chase her down and toss her into the big puddle by the fence.

  Callie, Heather, Eric, and I just looked at each other. No words necessary.

  18

  CHEATING ON CHARM

  “CHARM, IT’LL BE OKAY,” I SAID. “WE’RE JUST going to play in the water.”

  It was a warm Saturday afternoon and I’d led Charm over to the creek to work on his water phobia. I’d texted Eric to see if he’d wanted to come, but he was playing baseball with his friends. Mr. Conner had said I could work with Charm at the part of the creek that was in sight of his office. He’d understood that I’d wanted to work through this on my own.

  Charm snorted, slowing as we approached the creek. “C’mon,” I said, patting his neck. “I’m right here.”

  I led him in small circles a few yards away from the creek bed. With every lap, I increased the size of the circle and led him closer to the creek. After ten minutes, I was dizzy and Charm was still feet away from the water.

  “Let’s go, boy,” I said, leading him toward the creek. Here, the water was only six inches deep. But Charm dug in his heels, raising his head and refusing to step into the water. It wasn’t like I could pull him in. I had to show Charm there was nothing to be afraid of.

  I led Charm a couple of feet away from the creek and tied his lead line with a slip knot to a sturdy tree branch. Charm, relieved to be away from the water, relaxed and tipped his ears forward.

  “Oh, we’re not done,” I said.

  Charm watched as I walked away from him and stepped into the creek. I’d worn my pink rain boots so I could walk through the water. Water swirled around my ankles and I turned back to face Charm.

  “See?” I asked him. “I’m totally fine.”

  Charm snorted like he didn’t believe me. I stayed in the creek for a few minutes, sloshing my boots through the water. Charm kept his eyes on me the whole time. I finally untied him and patted his neck.

  “Okay, that’s it for today’s water lesson. But next time, you’re going in, ’kay?”

  Charm and I walked back to the stable yard and I took him to the big pasture, turning him loose inside. “Later, boy.” He trotted a few strides before breaking into a canter, his mane whipping through the air. He zoomed past Aristocrat and Phoenix and came to a halt beside Luna, who was grazing. Never shy about eating, Charm started munching grass beside her.

  I turned and walked back to the stable to hang up his lead line. Inside, Alison had Sunstruck in crossties. The Arabian’s coat gleamed. Alison had even polished his hooves.

  “He looks amazing,” I said.

  Alison nodded. “Thanks. But he’s bored. He loves to exercise and I haven’t been able to do anything but lunge him.”

  I rubbed Sunstruck’s cheek. “Can Heather ride him for you?”

  “I asked her a few days ago,” Alison said. “She will whenever she can.”

  “But she’s probably superfocused on Aristocrat since the YENT tryouts are two and a half weeks away,” I guessed.

  Alison smoothed Sunstruck’s mane. “Yeah.”

  “I could ride him sometime, if you want,” I offered.

  Alison looked up at me immediately. “Really? You would?”

  “Sure,” I said. “Charm’s done for the day, so I’m free.”

  Alison smiled. “Thanks. Really. I was getting desperate.”

  “Desperate… awesome,” I said, smiling back at her.

  “You know what I mean. I’ll go grab his tack.” Alison darted off and came back with Sunstruck’s gear and we tacked him up together. I got my helmet and changed into the spare pair of riding boots that I kept in my tack trunk. In the arena, Alison held him while I mounted. Sunstruck was a hand shorter than Charm and much slighter. For a second, I felt like I was cheating on Charm.

  “Anything I should know?” I asked Alison, looking down at her.

  “His mouth is sensitive,” Alison said. “So keep your hands light. You’ve probably been around him enough to know everything else.”

  I nodded. “Okay. Let me get used to him, then you can coach us.”

  Alison moved into the center of the arena and I walked Sunstruck to the fence. He moved comfortably under me and I took him through a figure eight to get used to how he handled. He turned from the slightest movement of my hands.

  “He’s great,” I told Alison.

  “Thanks.” She beamed. “Want to trot him?”

  I nodded and let Sunstruck into a trot. His gait was smooth, almost like floating. Alison watched as we made two laps around the arena.

  “Heels!” Alison called. I pushed down my heels.

  “Cross over the center and reverse direction,” Alison said.

  I trotted Sunstruck past her and did a sitting trot around the arena. Alison coached us for a half hour before she finally nodded. “Ready to quit?” she asked.

  I slowed Sunstruck to a walk and hopped off. “He’s a great guy,” I said, rubbing his neck. “I’m in love with Arabians now.”

  Alison laughed. I handed her the reins and unsnapped my helmet. “I’ll take it back to the tack room,” Alison offered.

  “Thanks.” I handed it to her. “And if you want me to ride him again, just ask.”

  “I will, thanks.”

  We looked at each other for a minute.

  “Go ahead,” Alison said. “Ask. You know you want to.”

  “If you guys didn’t cheat, why does Drake keep saying there was evidence that you did?” I asked finally.

  Alison looked me in the eye. “Jasmine.”

  “What? What does Jasmine have to do with anything?”

  “I don’t know why, but I just know she set us up somehow.”

  “But how?” I asked doubtfully.

  Alison shook her head, staring at the ground.

  “Have you told Heather that? You know she’s looking for any excuse to take Jas down.”

  Alison nodded. “Don’t say anything to anyone. Just forget about it.”

  Alison and I weren’t friends, but I’d seen a different side to her before. My stomach turned in on itself. Suddenly, I had a sick, sinking feeling. What if Julia and Alison really were innocent?

  19

  HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

  AFTER CLASSES ENDED FOR THE DAY, I dropped my books in my room and changed to go riding. Mr. Conner had a meeting with YENT scouts today, so he’d scheduled an extra practice for the advanced team this weekend. I eyed the pile of homework on my desk.

  “It’s growing,” I said to Paige.

  She nodded. “But you’ll get it done. Only two more weeks of school before summer!”

  “It seems so far away,” I said. “But at least today’s Sweet Shoppe day.”

  Paige nodded, her eyes widening. “Yeah. I think we each deserve two cupcakes today.”

  “Agreed.”

 
; When I got to the stable I found Eric by Luna’s stall.

  “Hi,” I said.

  “Hey,” Eric said. “Feels like I never see you outside of the stable.”

  “No kidding. With finals coming up, homework, riding, and a zillion other things, it’s been kind of crazy.”

  Eric reached out to take my hand. “Don’t get too stressed out.”

  “I’ll try not to,” I said, concentrating on forming words. It was hard to talk to him when we held hands. “And to give us plenty of energy for homework, Paige and I are going to the Sweet Shoppe after I ride. Want to come?”

  “Sure,” Eric said.

  “Be right back,” I said. “I’m just going to grab Charm.”

  I walked down the aisle and stopped when I peered into Charm’s stall. It was empty.

  Not. Happening. Again. Hiding horses was so last semester!

  I spun around and almost slammed into Jasmine.

  “Watch it, Sasha,” Jasmine said, shaking her head. “You could hurt someone.”

  “Where’s Charm?” I asked. “Did you move him? If you did anything to him, I’ll—”

  Jasmine held up a hand. “Calm down. Poor Charm looked bored in his stall, so I turned him out in the back pasture.”

  “What? Why?” I asked. “Why would you move my horse when you knew I was coming to ride?”

  Jasmine pouted. “I’m sorry. I thought I was doing something nice for him. And since you’re not so serious about the team, I figured there’d be a chance that you’d skip riding.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” I argued. “Whatever. I’m going to get Charm.”

  I stepped away from Jas and took a side exit, heading for the back pasture. Charm’s hooves are going to be sooo muddy, I thought, thinking about the downpour earlier today. It was going to take me at least twenty minutes to get them clean. I stopped midstep.

  My horse wasn’t a chestnut anymore. He’d turned bay! Charm was coated from forelock to tail in mud. A thick coat of mud.

  Jasmine.

  Was.

  Dead.

  “Charm!” I said.

  Charm trotted up to me and bumped my arm with his muzzle, streaking mud on my jacket sleeve.

  “Hey!” I cried. But Charm blinked innocently. He loved it.

  I grasped his mud-coated halter and led him out of the pasture and into the stable.

  As he walked down the aisle, mud splattered onto the floor. Eric’s back was to me as he cleaned Luna’s hoof.

  “Help!” I wailed.

  Eric looked up and almost dropped Luna’s leg. He set it down and stared, shaking his head. “What happened?”

  “Jasmine! She turned Charm out and did this to him. I’m going to find her and—”

  Eric stepped away from Luna. “She just left. Forget her—focus on Charm. Want my help washing him?”

  “If you want,” I said. “But you totally don’t have to.”

  “I don’t mind,” Eric said. “We’ll finish faster together and then we can go riding.”

  We walked Charm to the outdoor wash stall. Eric clipped him into the crossties and I filled a bucket with warm water and Mane ’n’ Tail shampoo. I turned the hose on low and aimed it at Charm’s hooves. I moved it up his legs, then his chest, and finally let water run down his back.

  Charm didn’t move. “You love a bath, but you won’t go through the creek?” I asked him.

  Eric grabbed a rubber currycomb and started loosening the mud clumps on Charm’s forelegs. “How’s that going?”

  “Not well,” I admitted. “I’ve been in the water more than he has. But I’m going to get him over it before the YENT. I have to.”

  “You will. And I’ll help you whenever I can.”

  “That would be great.” I moved the hose over Charm’s back, trying to rinse away as much mud as possible before I started scrubbing. Water ran down Charm’s hindquarters, sending streams of dirty water down his tail and onto the rubber mats under him. I put down the hose and picked up a soapy sponge.

  “At least I can see Chestnut now,” I said. “Before he was—ahhh!”

  I shrieked when Charm swished his tail, slapping me in the chest and face. Globs of mud stuck to my jacket and I swiped at dirt on my face. “CHARM!”

  Eric, crouched by Charm’s left foreleg, stood and peered around Charm at me. “Oh, Sasha. You…” He smirked and his shoulders started to shake.

  “Eric!” I said, glancing down at my muddy jacket. “It’s not funny!”

  “I know!” Eric said. “I’m sorry, but…” He couldn’t finish his sentence. He burst into laughter and walked over to me, grabbing me in a hug. Within seconds, I was laughing too. When he let me go, he had mud smudged on his gray shirt.

  I ran my hand along Charm’s barrel, coating my fingers with mud. “This,” I said. “is for laughing at me!”

  I wiped my hand on the side of Eric’s face and left a giant streak of mud.

  “Sasha Silver!” Eric boomed.

  I giggled. “Now we match!”

  “Oh, yeah?” Eric grabbed the hose and held it, pointing the nozzle at me and daring me to move.

  “You wouldn’t,” I said, taking a step backward. Charm looked at me as if to say, Don’t even try to use me as a shield.

  Eric stepped forward and kept the hose aimed at me. “Oh, I think I would.”

  “But! But!” I protested, laughing. “I’m your girlfriend. You can’t hose your girlfriend. It’s, like, a rule.”

  Eric rolled his eyes to the sky, as though thinking. “Really? Never heard it.”

  “Eriiiic,” I said. “Don’t—”

  A stream of cold water hit me in the chest and I screamed. “Ahhhhh! Omigod! Eric!”

  I reached down and grabbed the bucket of dirty water, sloshing it in Eric’s direction. He started to dart away from me and I soaked his back. Eric stopped and turned slowly, his hair dripping. He kept the hose trained on me.

  I was out of ammo.

  “Truce?” I begged.

  Eric stared at me for what felt like forever before lowering the hose. “Truce.”

  We collapsed into laughter near the grass beside the wash stall with Charm—the only clean one of the three of us—looking over us.

  20

  AWKWARD

  LATER THAT AFTERNOON PAIGE AND I WENT to the Sweet Shoppe together to meet Eric. We walked inside and looked for an empty table. At a booth near the back, Callie and Jacob had their heads bent together over an ice cream sundae. Callie, seeing us, waved. Jacob glanced up and nodded once before focusing back on the ice cream.

  Why couldn’t he just stop being awkward around me?!

  Paige and I sat at a table near the window.

  “He can’t even look at you,” Paige whispered.

  “I know. One second, he acts like we have a shot at being friends again and the next, he won’t even talk to me. I don’t get it.”

  Paige played with her menu. “Maybe he just doesn’t know how to be friends. He—”

  I shot Paige the zip-it! eyes when Eric walked in. I didn’t want him to hear us talking about Jacob. That would only result in more awkwardness.

  “Hey,” he said sitting across from me. “You look a lot cleaner.”

  “Ha, ha,” I said. “I told Paige what you did.”

  Paige shook her head, teasingly. “Not cool, Eric.”

  “But did Sasha tell you what she did to me?” Eric asked.

  Paige peered at me. “Sasha?”

  I tried not to look guilty. “I might have put a tiny bit of mud on Eric’s face.”

  Eric’s brown eyes focused on me. “Tell the truth, Sash.”

  “Oh, fine! I swiped an entire handful of mud on his face.”

  Paige giggled. “You conveniently left that part out.”

  I shrugged and we all cracked up.

  “Let’s order,” Eric said, after we’d calmed down. “What do you guys want?”

  I didn’t have to think about my order. “I’ll have chocolate pudding
and a Coke,” I said.

  “Sticking with the theme of the day, huh?” Eric asked.

  I nodded. “Yep. The pudding will remind me of how I got you.”

  He mock-rolled his eyes. “Paige?”

  “Oooh, mint chocolate pudding for me, and a Coke too, please,” Paige said.

  We handed Eric our student ID cards to charge the food to our accounts.

  Callie and Jacob got up from their table and walked by. “See you, guys,” Callie said to Paige and me.

  “Bye,” we said.

  Eric, waiting for our orders at the counter, turned and saw Callie and Jacob. He gave Callie a quick smile and eyed Jacob. Jacob glared back and almost stopped walking until Callie shot him a look. Eric watched Jacob until the door shut behind them. When he put our snacks and drinks on the table, he was still frowning.

  I wanted to tell him that he didn’t have to get annoyed every time he saw Jacob, but I didn’t say anything.

  “Probably one of our last afternoons of fun before we have to start crazy studying,” Paige said.

  “I’m starting tonight,” I said. “Good-bye, TV and movies.”

  Eric sipped his soda. “I’m getting the impression that finals are tough here.”

  Paige nodded. “They’re hard, but you just have to study. A lot. Oh, and don’t sleep. Just… study. Constantly.”

  Eric lowered his spoon into his bowl of chocolate ice cream. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Not really,” Paige said, hanging her head. “You’ll see.”

  We joked about finals and chatted till we’d all finished our snacks.

  “I’ve got to go,” Eric said. “I told Troy I’d meet him.”

  He squeezed my hand before getting up. “Text you later.”

  “Okay. Bye.” I smiled at him.

  Paige and I looked at each other.

  “Do we have to go study?” I asked.

  “After I have one more sip,” Paige said. She started to take a drink, but her eyes stopped on something over my shoulder. Her face turned the same color as her pink straw and she coughed, almost sputtering soda.

  “Paige?” I leaned toward her. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes,” she squeaked. She put down her soda and looked at the table. Paige pulled the menu in front of her and started reading it.