Home for Christmas (10 page)

We walked to the arena, climbed the wooden fence, and settled ourselves on the top rail. I sat next to Khloe, with Ana on my other side. Four horses worked in the arena. A gray that reminded me of Whisper trotted in large circles in front of us. Two bays walked along the fence at the opposite end of the arena. In the center, a chestnut gelding fought his rider. The rider, an athletic-looking girl in a black wool coat, white helmet with visible scrapes, and worn-in paddock boots, struggled to hold the horse at a trot. The chestnut tossed his head and crow hopped, yanking the reins in the girl's hands. The girl's attention never wavered. The horse's antics had captured the attention of all of us—no one said a word as we watched.

The rider, who looked about Charlotte's age, refused to give in to the horse. She pushed her heels down and
sat deep in the saddle. The gelding tossed his head again, seesawing the reins against his neck.

“Think we'll get any horses like that to exercise?” Carina said quietly.

“I don't know,” I said. “Maybe only the volunteers who have been here for a long time get the really green horses. Or maybe our experience levels will be enough for us to be assigned a horse that isn't quiet to work with.”

I hoped I'd get to ride a horse that needed some retraining. It would be a challenge and something that I could learn from. Khloe's knee bumped into mine, and I remembered why we had chosen to separate ourselves from the guys.

“Spill,” I said, elbowing Khloe lightly. Each girl sitting on the fence turned her gaze from the unruly chestnut to Khloe.

“I couldn't wait until we got back to your place, Laur, to talk about Sasha and Co.,” Khlo said, using the group's nickname.

“Omigod! So crazy, right?!” Clare said.

“Seriously!” Ana added, shaking her head. “What are the odds that
Sasha Silver
ended up volunteering here too?”

“It really is like Sasha and her friends planned the same Christmas vacay we did,” I said. “We'll probably see them
again at Briar Creek, we know we'll see them here, and Union isn't very big. If we go out for dinner or grab coffee in the morning, we could run into them.”

“We, like,
never
see them at school, but we've run into Sasha so many times already since we've been in Union,” Bri said. “So weird.”

The other girls nodded. Hoofbeats approached us, and we fell silent as a tall, lanky bay walked past us. I didn't want to talk until the horse was out of earshot, in case my voice spooked him.

“I'm
so
lucky to be dating Zack,” Khloe said once the bay and his rider were a safe distance away from us. “And no guy is cuter than him, but I have to say it: Sasha's ex and her current BF are
so
cute!”

We giggled and nodded.

“I feel the same way about Drew,” I said. “But I agree with you, KK. Sasha's so lucky! Jacob and Eric are the hottest guys in her grade. Does anyone know why Sasha and Eric broke up?”

I looked at Khloe, Clare, and Lexa, since they'd been at Canterwood longer than Brielle, Carina, and me.

The three girls shook their heads.

“I heard rumors,” Clare said. She brushed a red lock of hair out of her blue eyes. “Somebody in my art class
told me that Sasha dated Jacob first, and then they broke up and she went out with Eric. Then
they
split, and Sasha went back to Jacob.”

Lexa nodded, leaning forward so I could see her from her spot farthest from me. “Jacob's supposedly Sasha's first love. It's so romantic! Like a movie. I heard Sasha and Eric were really great together, but Jacob was always ‘the one.' ” A dreamy smile came over Lexa's face. “They were meant to be together.”

I sighed, loving Lexa's story, and Ana made the same noise. I bumped my shoulder against hers and we both laughed.

“I don't even go to Canterwood, but now I want to just for the gossip and stories like this!” Ana said. She played with the ends of her light-brown hair. “If I went, though, Jeremy would have to come with me.”

“Oh, Ana-Banana,” I said. “Remember the days when you were Miss Anti-Romance and all about your artwork?”

Ana shrugged. “I have no idea what you're talking about, Lauren. You must be thinking of someone else.”

“Funny,” Bri said, tilting her head. “I seem to have the same memories that LT does. There was an Ana who swore off boys until this totally hot guy came up to her at the end-of-year dance.”

“Please keep talking about this cute guy,” Lexa said. “This is a good story!”

Ana, Brielle, and I laughed. It felt like old times—the three of us together and having fun.

“There were two best friends who practically
dragged
this girl to the dance,” I said. “Shocker—not—when the girl was asked to dance by one of the cuties, that made a lot of other girls crazy jealous.”

Ana, smiling, hung her head then lifted it. “You two are starting to jog my memory a little. This girl—who's supposedly me—was maybe uninterested in boys. Or maybe the right guy hadn't appeared until the dance.”

“Aww!” Carina said. “I'm guessing this guy is Jeremy, right? The one you would want to come with you to Canterwood?”

Ana did a little dance on the fence. “Okay, okay! You broke me.” She laughed. “Yes, the guy who asked me to dance was Jeremy. We've been dating ever since.”

“C'mon,” I said. “You can be more specific than that. How long exactly?”

“Seven months, two weeks, and one day!” Ana answered immediately.

Everyone laughed, including Ana.

“You're so lucky,” Carina said. “You've got a boyfriend,
Lauren has Drew, and Khloe's with Zack. I've never had a BF before.”

“Welcome to the club,” Lexa said. She extended a hand to Carina, and they shook hands.

“Maybe we should wish for boys to appear under the Christmas tree this year,” Clare said.

“Not the tree,” Khloe said. “Wish for under the mistletoe!”

We stayed on the fence, laughing quietly and chatting about boys. My mind drifted to Brielle's own boy-related past: a string of one-time dates at Yates Prepatory followed by a few dates with her longtime crush, Will, and finally, Brielle and Taylor. I waited to feel anger in the pit of my stomach about Bri's betrayal, but it didn't come. Instead, I kept giggling and talking with my friends, not one thought of Brielle and Taylor together coming to mind and dimming my happy mood.

12

Sasha

“I COULDN'T THINK OF A
better way to end the day,” Brit said. She looked supercute in lounge-y clothes—a hot-pink velour tracksuit with a long-sleeve white tee that said
WHERE'S THE MISTLETOE?
in rhinestones.

“Totally agree,” I said. “If you grab that tray, I've got this one.”

“Got it.” Brit picked up the green-and-red tray full of snacks. We had Chex Mix and bowls of caramel, cheese, and butter popcorn.

Brit and I had finished filling bowls with munchies for everyone. Paige, Eric, and Alison had already carried steaming mugs of hot chocolate into the other room.

We'd all agreed to do our own thing once we had gotten back to my house around lunchtime. Each of us
had taken quick showers and changed out of our stable clothes. Mom had grilled cheese sandwiches for us and we'd chowed down. Eventually, we'd all wound up chatting in the den. I'd been flopped on the couch reading celeb gossip on my BlackBerry. Then Heather and Alison had joined me. We'd gotten into a long talk about how amazing all of the horses were and how much we wished we could take all of them home with us. Mid-convo, the rest of my friends had wandered into the den.

“What're you guys up to, hon?” I looked up, almost bumping into my dad.

I motioned to the tray in my hand. “We're having snacks and hot chocolate in the den.” I smiled and sidestepped him, with Brit behind me.

I entered the den, passed the tray to Jacob, and surveyed the space.

Everyone was sprawled on the floor. The Christmas tree lights were on—the only light needed in the room—and the colored bulbs cast a soft light over everything. A fire crackled in the fireplace, and there were enough throw blankets for everyone.

I sat next to Jacob, our backs resting against the couch. Across from us, Heather and Alison shared a fleece throw.

“This popcorn is delish,” Paige said. “Thanks, Sash.”

Dad walked in, stopping in the middle of our ragged circle. “Is there enough light on in here?” he asked. “I can't see a thing. Can you all see?”

I looked at everyone. They all nodded at Dad. “We're good, Dad,” I said. “I can turn on a light if we need it.”

“Okay,” Dad said. He put his hands in the pockets of his gray sweatpants and left the den.

“Sorry, Paige,” I said. “The popcorn totally came from the store. You know what happens if I even try to make regular microwave popcorn.”

Paige giggled and everyone else joined in.

“Sasha set the microwave on fire,” Paige said through her giggles. “She didn't press the popcorn button and just guessed on the timer.”

Footsteps shuffled down the two steps into our sunken den, and, still laughing, I looked up to see Dad.

Again.

“Sorry,” Dad said. He held his reading glasses in one hand. “I forgot my book.”

We all munched on food while Dad walked to one of the recliners near the fireplace. He shuffled through a few books, took one, and finally left.

I shook my head. “Sorry again,” I said, whispering. I
didn't want to hurt Dad's feelings if he was close enough to hear. “He's being weird. I have no clue why.”

“Back to the story,” Callie said. She stretched out on her stomach and rested her chin on her hands. “I need to hear the end of this popcorn saga!”

“Yes!” Alison said. “How long did you set the timer for?”

I sniffed, raising my chin in the air. “I don't know. As long as popcorn
should
take. Like fifteen minutes.”

That caused another round of laughter.

“I bet that nearly made Livvie combust,” Eric said.

I nodded, thinking of my dorm hall monitor when I'd lived in Winchester. “Yeeeaaaah. She might have banned me from the microwave.”

Jacob put his arm around me and kissed my cheek. “Thankfully, I'm not dating you for your cooking skills.”

“You'd starve,” I said. “And—”

Dad walked past us and peered hard at the fireplace mantel.

“Dad?” I asked. “What are you doing? If you forgot something else, do I need to start worrying about your memory loss?”

My dad ran a hand over his light-brown hair, shaking his head. “You have a few more years before it's time to worry about that. I'm just . . .”

Dad trailed off as he kept looking at the mantel. Slowly, I felt Jacob's arm shift until it was back at his side. I frowned, looking at him. He shifted his green eyes between us and then at my dad.
What?
I mouthed. Jacob did the same gesture.

“Oh!” I said aloud.

Everyone turned their head to me, including my dad.

“Sorry,” I said. “Totally did not mean to say that out loud. I was just thinking about tomorrow.”

Dad picked up the set of glass reindeer on the mantel, examined them, and put them down.

“Dad?” I asked. “Can I help you find something?”

“No, no,” Dad said. “You kids go right ahead and keep having fun. Pretend I'm not even here.”

Um, impossible.

“Hey, Eric,” Jacob said. “Want to see this new phone app I got today?”

Eric paused for a half second, flicking his eyes to my dad and then Jacob. “Yeah, definitely.”

Jacob got up from beside me, walked over to where Eric sat against a recliner, and pulled up who knows what on his phone. Now the guys were semi-separated from the girls.

“Ah,” Dad said. “I think I'm looking for a decoration
that your mom turned into an ornament. Let me check this tree, then I'll be out of here.”