Riding Star (14 page)

When Georgie took the ball off a Cavalier and made a sprint up the field towards her goal, Belle proved her worth by out-galloping two Cavaliers and then shoulder-barging another so that Georgie could take her shot. The first Cavalier she'd passed was trying to ride up the other side to block the goal mouth, but Daisy rode him off with a knee-barge to leave the goal open so that Georgie could shoot and score. Goal number two!

The score was two-nil to the girls as they came off the field.

In the pony lines Riley was already standing by with Georgie's next mare, Jet. Georgie dismounted and mounted up again, but she noticed that the Cavaliers had a far cooler way of swapping horses. They simply got their grooms to line their new mounts up alongside them and then vaulted from one horse to the next so that their feet never touched the ground.

“You see?” Daisy said, watching the Cavaliers. “This is why we need our own grooms!”

“Well, it's not helping them win the game, is it?” Alice pointed out as she dismounted and grabbed Will's reins from Kenny.

“They'll take us seriously from now on,” Georgie pointed out. “They're going to come back at us with everything they've got in the second chukka.”

“Well then, we need to raise our game,” Alice said.

Georgie turned to Emily. “You're doing a great job in defence. This time do some big shots up the field and Alice and I will chase the ball where it lands.”

“What about me?” Daisy asked.

“You're our Hell-raiser,” Georgie said. “Drop back from your frontline position and tackle hard every time they get the ball, ride them off their line.”

“But they'll get a penalty if I foul them!”

“The ref's not going to call foul on you!” Alice said. “You're just a girl, remember? How can a girl foul some big guy on a varsity team?”

In the second chukka Daisy rode so hard at the Cavalier's players that at one point she almost knocked the number three off his horse.

“It wasn't on purpose!” Daisy objected. “I was just trying to get the ball.”

By the end of chukka two the Cavaliers had managed one goal to the girls' two. The score was now four-one to the Badminton House team and on the sidelines a crowd was beginning to gather.

By chukka three the Cavaliers came back with a vengeance, but the girls were ready for them.

“We're already in the lead so the next two chukkas should be all about defence,” Georgie said. “I'm going to stay back with Emily to protect the goal; Alice and Daisy, you're on your own.”

It was a sound tactic. The Cavaliers simply couldn't get the ball past Georgie and Emily and when they made a crucial mistake in a lineout Alice capitalised on it, sent a pass up to Daisy and the three girls watched as Daisy went on alone against two Cavaliers, rode them off and made the goal!

There were cheers from the sideline as the girls took to the field for the final chukka ahead by five points to one. The Cavaliers had a no-prisoners attitude, but they got called for fouling when one of them got too rough with Emily and there was a penalty shot from the goal mouth. Daisy shot the ball screaming through the goal. The girls had won in a landslide – six points to one!

There was a huge roar from the crowd as the final bell went. On the field the girls hugged before pulling themselves together and organising their horses in a line to ride up and shake hands with the Versailles Cavaliers.

“Good game,” Georgie smiled at the Cavaliers captain as he shook her hand. “Whatever,” he grunted in reply.

“They weren't very good sports about it, were they?” Emily said as the girls left the field.

“Think about it from their point of view,” Alice said. “It must be like losing to your kid sister.”

“Shameful,” Daisy agreed.

The girls were heading back towards the sidelines when a man with a thick thatch of jet-black hair came out of the crowd and strode across the field towards them.

“Congratulations, Georgie,” he called out. “An unexpected win – I imagine it will be the upset of the day.”

The man looked smug as he added, “Especially since you aren't meant to be here.”

Georgie was mortified. She was face to face with the last person she had expected or wanted to see. It was Heath Brompton, the Blainford Academy polo master.

T
he thrill of victory was short-lived.

“I have no idea how you girls organised this little escapade,” Heath Brompton said, “and I'm not about to discuss it now. Clearly you have contravened Blainford rules and you are out of school bounds without permission.”

“But, sir—” Georgie started. But Mr Brompton cut her dead.

“We are not discussing this, Parker. Get your horses loaded on the trucks and get them back to school. You will meet me at Mrs Dickins-Thomson's office this afternoon at four and we'll resolve this matter then.”

It was a grim ride back in the horse truck. Nobody spoke. Back at the stables they unloaded the polo ponies and led them back to their boxes, rugging them up and leaving them with their hard feeds. By the time they were done it was only twelve o'clock. They had another four hours to kill before they were due at the headmistress's office.

“We could go and watch the end of the Round Robin,” Emily suggested.

“What's the point?” Alice said. “We're already in trouble; I don't think turning up for the second half of the tournament is going to dig us out of this mess.”

“I didn't mean that,” Emily said. “It's just that Alex is playing and I thought it would take our minds off things, you know, until the meeting.”

“What do you think Mrs Dickins-Thomson is going to do to us?” Daisy asked. “Do you think we could be expelled?”

“Ohmygod!” Emily was shocked. “Mum and Dad are going to kill me!”

“Whoa!” Alice raised her hands. “Everybody calm down. You're blowing this out of proportion!”

“No, I'm not,” Daisy said. “We were off school property without permission. That's suspension at least!”

Emily groaned. “I wish the meeting was now. I want to get it over and done with.”

“Come on,” Georgie said. “Let's go and change into our whites and watch the polo until we're called to the gallows.”

*

The Luhmuhlen game helped to relieve the tension as the girls cheered for Cam, Alex and JP. It was a good game too – the boys narrowly losing to a very good Lexington team in the semifinal round. As the clock ticked closer to 4pm, Georgie tried to focus on watching the final match, but all she could think about was the trouble they were in – and the fact that it was all her fault.

“No, it's not,” Daisy insisted as the four girls walked up the driveway after the last game, heading for Mrs Dickins-Thomson's office. “It was my idea that we go and play the Bluegrass Qualifier.”

“You mustn't blame yourself, Georgie,” Emily added. “We knew the risks. We wanted to play badly enough to take them.”

Georgie shook her head. “There's no reason for us all to get expelled. Let me tell Mrs Dickins-Thomson that it was my idea and I made you guys do it.”

“You're not really grasping the whole team spirit thing, are you?” Alice replied. “We're in this together. That's how this started and that's how it will end, OK?”

“Yeah, Georgie,” Daisy agreed. “There is no ‘I' in team.”

“There's a ‘me' though, if you jumble it up,” Emily added.

The others stared at her.

“It's just a joke,” Emily said. “You know, to lighten the mood before we all get expelled.”

At the top of the stairs Heath Brompton was waiting for them at the door of Mrs Dickins-Thomson's office. Georgie could have sworn she saw a satisfied smirk pass over the face of the polo master as he ushered them in.

Four chairs were already lined up waiting for them in front of Mrs Dickins-Thomson's desk and the headmistress was standing there, beckoning for them to take a seat.

“Mr Brompton has filled me in on the rather surprising developments at the Bluegrass Cup,” Mrs Dickins-Thomson said. “I cannot believe you girls would defy school rules and take yourselves off to a polo competition without permission. Do you understand the distress and embarrassment you might have caused if something had happened to you? No one from the school even knew where you were!”

“Yes, they did—” Emily began her sentence and Georgie panicked. Emily was going to blab that Kenny had been there with them. If Mrs Dickins-Thomson found out, the school caretaker could be fired! Thinking fast, Georgie lashed out and gave Emily a brutal kick under the desk.

“Ow!”

Mrs Dickins-Thomson frowned. “I'm sorry?”

“Yes, ma'am,” Georgie said hastily. “You're right. No one at the school knew where we were – but there were four of us there, and we're old enough to look after ourselves.”

“Four of you – and sixteen horses!” Mrs Dickins-Thomson pointed out. “You are responsible for the care of these animals. Taking them off school property and going to an open event like this is unthinkable. And Mr Brompton told me you were up against the Versailles Cavaliers! You could easily have been hurt playing against grown men!”

“Not the way they played!” Alice couldn't help muttering.

“I'm sorry? What do you mean, Alice?” Mrs Dickins-Thomson said.

“I mean those guys never laid a hand on us,” Alice said. “They weren't fast enough. And they weren't very good sports about it either.”

Mrs Dickins-Thomson stared at Alice. “Alice Dupree. Are you telling me that your team won? That you actually beat the Versailles Cavaliers?”

“Totally!” Alice said. “We whupped them by six goals to one.”

Mrs Dickins-Thomson was stunned. “But they're a top varsity team, aren't they?”

“Uh-huh,” Alice said.

“Did Mr Brompton not tell you that we won?” Georgie asked. “He was there when we came off the field.” Mr Brompton, who had been standing by the door all this time with his arms folded, suddenly looked rather uncomfortable.

“Mr Brompton?” Mrs Dickins-Thomson turned to him. “Is this true? Did the girls actually win the qualifier?”

Heath Brompton coughed awkwardly. “Did I not mention that bit?” he asked.

“No,” Mrs Dickins-Thomson replied stiffly. “You did not.”

She turned back to the girls. “So if you won your qualifier I take it you've progressed to the next round tomorrow?”

Georgie nodded. “We're scheduled to play in the low goal category, obviously, because we're all minus-two players.”

Mrs Dickins-Thomson stood up from her chair. She looked suddenly animated, almost excited.

“Mr Brompton,” she turned to her polo master. “Please go down to the stables and prepare two of the school horse trucks for the morning. And we'll need polo jerseys. And can you send Mrs Dubois in to see me?”

“I'm sorry?” Heath Brompton looked confused. “Polo jerseys?”

“Yes, in the school colours obviously. The boys' jerseys in the small size should fit the girls.”

“What's all this for?”

“The Bluegrass Cup, Mr Brompton!” Mrs Dickins-Thomson said. “The girls are playing for Blainford Academy. They must be wearing the school colours.”

The headmistress turned back to Georgie. “When Mrs Dubois arrives we'll organise anything else you need. She can sort out your entry details. It's a bit last-minute, but we'll make an announcement at the dining hall tonight that there will be a second bus provided to the venue so that any students who wish to come along tomorrow in view of this news can also attend.”

“So you're letting us play?” Georgie couldn't believe it. “You're not going to expel us?”

“Miss Parker, why on earth would I do that?” Mrs Dickins-Thomson looked shocked at the notion. “Blainford is in the finals for the Bluegrass Cup. You and your team have the opportunity to bring great honour upon the academy. This is marvellous news!”

As she shut the door behind them the girls all breathed a sigh of relief.

“Wow,” Emily said.

“We're playing for the glory of Blainford Academy,” Daisy added.

“So why is it,” Georgie asked, “that I feel even more terrified now than I did when I came in here?”

*

The next morning at 5am, the girls loaded their ponies up in the trucks once more.

Georgie had clambered up into the cab alongside Emily with Kenny at the wheel and they were just about to set off when there was a tap at the passenger window. Georgie got the shock of her life when she peered out into the darkness and saw Tara Kelly standing outside.

“I wanted to wish you good luck before you set off,” Tara said.

“Thanks,” Georgie said.

“I'll be escorting the pupils on the nine o'clock bus, so I'll be in the stands watching you,” Tara said.

Georgie was about to wind her window back up again when Tara spoke again.

“Georgie, that grey mare, the dapple one?”

“Yeah?”

“She's your best horse. If I were you I'd save her for the last chukka.”

As they drove down the Versailles highway towards Frankfort, Georgie tried to think about her tactics for the match. It wasn't easy focusing, however, with Emily burbling on in the seat alongside her.

“I can't help it. I talk when I'm nervous,” Emily said.

“Having a few nerves is good,” Georgie assured her. “It gets the adrenalin moving.”

“What about if you have so many nerves that you think you might throw up?”

“You feel sick?” Kenny glanced at her. “Chewin' tobacco is the best thing to settle a stomach,” Kenny said. “It's got medicinal properties.”

Emily watched with revulsion as Kenny took another wad from his pouch of tobacco on the dashboard and shoved it into his mouth, exposing his tobacco-stained teeth in the process.

“I am definitely going to be sick,” Emily groaned.

The two trucks marked with the Blainford Academy emblem rolled in convoy through the gates of the Frankfort polo grounds.

Kenny turned past the fields and headed for the same parking bay they had occupied the day before.

He pulled the truck to a stop and Georgie jumped out and lowered her ramp. Beside her, Heath Brompton parked the second truck. Georgie gave him a smile, but the polo master didn't smile back. He looked his usual surly self as he dropped the ramp and went inside the truck to get the horses.

“I don't think he's very happy working for a bunch of girls,” Emily said as she stood watching the polo master who was leading out Jocasta and Jet.

“Some of us, on the other hand, don't have a problem with it.”

It was Cameron Fraser. He was dressed in his polo whites and standing there with Alex, JP and Riley.

“Your stick chicks,” Cam said, taking a bow, “reporting for duty.”

“I didn't know boys could actually be ‘stick chicks',” Georgie said.

“Well, you can call us mallet men if you like,” Cameron said. “We're here to do your bidding. We'll groom your horses, prepare them for battle and warm them up between chukkas.”

“Plus,” Alex added, smiling at Emily, “we'll stand on the sidelines and scream and cheer for you and we'll be waiting here to kiss you if you win.”

“Cool,” Emily said. “I always wanted my own personal groupie.”

“I think we're a bit better than groupies!” Riley said. “We're an integral part of the team!”

“Of course,” Georgie agreed with a smile. “Now go and get my ponies ready for me, will you?”

“Yes, ma'am!”

As the boys bandaged the ponies, Georgie, Alice, Daisy and Emily put on their whites, their pads and their jerseys. Today, instead of the Badminton House colours, they wore the Blainford Academy school colours. Dark navy polo shirts with a pale blue sash stripe across the front and a silver crest on their breast pockets.

“I think I'd rather be saddling up than just standing here getting nervous,” Alice said as she put on her boots.

Georgie looked at her watch. It was ten o'clock and they were due on the playing field in half an hour. “Let's make good use of the time we've got,” she told the others, “and go and check out the competition.”

The draw for the Bluegrass Cup had been posted that morning. The girls were up for the low-grade title game against the Winchester Reserves.

“Do we have any inside information on them?” Emily asked.

“Alice has been doing some digging,” Georgie said. “Alice?”

“The Winchester is a very established polo club,” Alice said. “They've been around for over a hundred years. They're pretty fancy too – posh grounds and all that. These guys are their low goal team, but they're pretty handy. And they're not exactly known for being clean players – they've got a rep for unnecessary fouling and rough play.”

“What are their team colours?” Daisy asked.

“Yellow and black, “ Alice said. “Keep an eye out for them.”

“Uhhh, guys?” Emily said quietly. “I think I might have just found them.”

She pointed over to the far side of the warm-up field where four men, dressed in bright yellow jerseys ringed with thick black bands, were warming up.

“Those guys are huge!” Daisy said.

“They're not men – they're mountains,” Emily said. The girls watched as the Winchester number one lined up against number three and then intentionally rammed him so that their horses bashed up against each other in a bone-crunching display of aggression.

“Whoa! If they treat their own horses like that, what's it going to be like to play against them?” Daisy said.

“Ohmygod!” Emily whimpered. “Does anyone else here suddenly miss the Cavaliers?”

“We can still outrun them,” Daisy said. “Play it like we did last time?”

Georgie shook her head. “It won't work. They'll have seen the way we played against the Cavaliers and they'll be expecting it. If we try to run they'll ride us down.”

“Well, then what are we going to do, Georgie?” Emily said. “They're gonna crush us.”

“No,” Georgie said. “They're not… because we're gonna crush them first.”