Home Sweet Drama (7 page)

“Thanks a lot.”

Mr. Conner finished writing on his clipboard and smiled at both of us.

“Those were excellent rides, girls,” he said. “Please dismount and cool your horses. See you next class.”

He shut off the camera and I dismounted. When my feet hit the ground, I felt all of the tension that been
building for days start to drain from my body. It was a mixture of relief that the tape was over and exhaustion from worrying about it so much. I leaned lightly against Charm's shoulder and for what felt like the first time in a while, I took a breath.

7

HOMECOMING THREW UP ALL OVER CAMPUS

HEATHER AND I COOLED THE HORSES WITHOUT saying a word to each other. I had a feeling she had been as nervous as I'd been about the test, but she'd never admit it. I clipped Charm into crossties and groomed him. He was so shiny from when I'd prepared him for the tape that all he needed was a light body brush.

I unclipped the crossties and led him down the aisle. “You deserve to spend the night outside in the big pasture, boy,” I said. He followed me outside and we walked across the stable yard to the pasture. We passed the outdoor arena where Callie was riding by herself. I paused, unable to look away. Black Jack, Callie's Morab gelding, was flexing his leg and back as Callie took him at an extended trot around the arena. His shiny black coat caught the sunlight and he looked gorgeous.

I turned away and caught Charm watching them too. His head was raised high so he could see and his eyes were on Jack. Unlike Callie and me, they were still BFFs.

“C'mon, boy,” I said. I tugged gently on his lead line and opened the gate to the pasture. I walked him inside, then unclipped his lead line. He stood beside me, not moving. I sighed and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I get it. I miss them too.” I dropped down and sat cross-legged in the grass. I plucked a blade of grass and twirled it in my fingers. Charm lowered his head and started grazing near me. I kept my back to Callie and just listened to the sound of Jack's hoofbeats in the arena.

When I left the pasture, the sky was starting to turn pink, orange, and purple. I hadn't realized how long I'd stayed with Charm. I walked through the center of campus and fought the urge to shield my eyes. It looked like Homecoming had thrown up all over campus and it kept multiplying every day. This morning five or six yard signs had been stuck along the sidewalk that I took from the courtyard to Winchester. Now, a dozen signs on either side of the sidewalk directed students to Homecoming activities and promoted the week's contests. Every dorm hall had a banner over their entrance and I looked down so
I didn't have to see the
WINCHESTER 4 THE WIN!
sign that draped over our entrance.

Inside the dorm I hurried down the hallway to my room. If I saw one more inch of green or gold … . I paused outside my dorm and took a breath. Paige had decorated the white board outside our door with a green marker. Her fun, flirty script read
Sasha & Paige
<3
Homecoming! Go CC!

I rubbed my eyes for a second, then opened the door. Paige was at her desk, typing on her laptop. She had her stack of textbooks beside her and her bio notebook was open. Maybe now was the perfect time to tell her what really had happened at my party.

“How's the homework?” I asked.

Paige looked up from her computer. “Almost done. One more question to answer. How was your taping? I was going to text you, but I figured you were probably decompressing with Charm.”

“You know me so well,” I said. “The taping went great, actually, and I was hanging with Charm in the pasture. He did a fantastic job.”

Paige beamed. “See? Told you there was nothing to worry about.”

“I was sooo nervous, but we got through it. And at
least I'm so busy that I don't have much time to worry about what Mr. Nicholson is going to say about how I rode.”

“From what you just told me,” Paige said. “I don't think you have anything to worry about.”

I grabbed a clean T-shirt and yoga pants, heading to the shower.

“I'm going to meet Ryan at the Sweet Shoppe as soon as I finish my homework,” Paige said. “You want to come? It's going to be
awesome.
I heard that all of the treats are green and gold!”

Siiigh.
Talking to Paige wasn't going to happen now.

“That sounds like so much fun,” I said. “But I've got homework.”

I left out the part that I couldn't stand one more second of Homecoming.

“Okay,” Paige said. “Totally get it. I'll bring you back something fun. I heard they have cookies with green and specially made gold M&M's.”

“Cool. Have fun with Ryan.”

“I will. I can't wait.”

Paige went back to her homework and I headed to the shower. I took extra time shampooing my hair—I wanted to make sure Paige was gone before I came out. I dressed,
dried my hair, and took longer than usual to flatiron it. I eased open the bathroom door, afraid Paige was still here. But our room was empty.

I hated that things were off between Paige and me, but I just couldn't deal with the Homecoming talk. I didn't want to take anything away from Paige's excitement, but it just annoyed me.

I unpacked my books from my bag got ready to do homework. It was surprisingly light for tonight. I settled on my bed and started on my math homework. Right now, it was one of the few times I wished I could go back home for the night—or the week. Canterwood was the last place I wanted to be right now. I knew exactly how tonight would go: Paige would come back and gush about her date with Ryan and that
was
something I wanted to hear about. I loved seeing her excited about a guy and it was fun to analyze every minute of her dates. But the topic of conversation would eventually switch over to Homecoming. And it was wearing on me. Fast.

8

YOU IN?

AN HOUR LATER, I WAS ABOUT TO TAKE A break when my phone beeped. I flipped it open and found a text from Heather.
Come over 4 a sec.

What's up?
I texted back.

OMG, if ur gonna ask 20 ?s 4get it.

Sry, jeez. B rite over.

I was too intrigued to pass up a visit to the Trio's suite. Heather never asked me over just because. There was always a reason.

I slid on silver flip-flops, applied a quick coat of orange-strawberry gloss, and grabbed my purse.

When I got to Orchard, I hurried to their room—eager to get inside and minimize any chance of seeing Callie. I knocked on the door and Julia let me in. She
actually smiled at me. It was a nice change from the usual look of disgust on her face when she saw me. But I wondered how long she'd be nice to me before she went back to Old Julia.

“Hey,” Alison said, walking out of her room. She looked cozy-chic in a white cotton sundress with a half dozen plastic bangles on her wrist.

“Heather's got something to show you in her room,” Julia said.

I followed them into Heather's room and she turned to look at us, shaking her head at me. “It took you, like, forever to get here, Silver. Don't get lost next time.”

“I didn't get lost,” I said. “And I got here in five minutes.”

Heather dismissed me with a wave of her hand. “Whatever. Anyway, since you're finally here, we can talk about tomorrow's Homecoming sitch. It's,
gag
, Crazy Dress Day.”

I nodded, but was totally unsure what this had to do with anything. Julia and Alison sat at the edge of Heather's bed and I leaned against the doorjamb.

“I'm sure you've already come up with a
fantastic
, brilliant idea for an outfit,” Heather said, her tone oozing sarcasm. “But since we all know you haven't, I've obviously come up with a solution.”

Heather pulled open her closet door and reached inside. She pulled out an outfit and held it up. “Interested?”

All I could do was stare. It was a crisp show shirt, red jacket, and ivory breeches. These were show clothes I'd drooled over in catalogs but couldn't afford.

“Oh, and these,” Heather said. She leaned down and grabbed a pair of tall black boots. She set them in front of me and I almost stopped breathing. They were Cavallo boots. Fifteen-hundred-dollar Cavallo boots. I had to force myself not to reach down to pet them.

“Heather, that outfit's gorgeous,” I said. “Wow. But it's probably too small for me.” I wasn't willowy like her.

Heather snorted. “Puh-lease. I live in Manhattan. I knew your size two seconds after I met you. Everything will fit. We're all wearing our best show clothes. You in?”

I hesitated. If I took the clothes, what did that mean?
Oh stop it,
I told myself. It meant nothing. They weren't inviting me into their group—all they were doing was offering to let me dress up with them.

“Silver? Hello?” Heather said.

“Okay,” I said, smiling. “We're going to have the coolest outfits.”

Alison tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Of course we are. And everyone else can be jealous of us.”

“As if they ever aren't,” Julia said with a smirk.

Heather handed me the clothes and boots. “These better come back in the same condition that I gave them to you or you'll have to sell Charm to pay me back.”

“I'll be careful with them.” But I was already wondering if I should really take the expensive clothes and boots.

Heather shook her head. “Oh my God, take them and go. I was just kidding.”

“Okay, thanks. I've got to go anyway and get back to my homework.”

“I've got a ton of homework too,” Alison said. “Ugh.”

“See you,” Julia said. With a smile, I left them and walked out of Heather's bedroom. I let myself out of their suite, carrying Heather's clothes and boots. I wasn't becoming part of the
Trio
, was I?

9