Rival Revenge (20 page)

I looked up when a head poked over the stall door.

“Hey,” Paige said. “Can I come in?”

“Sure.” I got up and helped her unlatch Charm's stall. I had to smile when I watched Paige pat Charm's shoulder and look comfortable around him. I remembered how tentative Paige had been around Charm the first time she'd met him. But now she was a total pro—she knew how to groom and she could walk and trot.

But as I watched Paige closer, I knew something was up. She was tugging at the ends of her hair like she did when she was nervous. Paige sat on the clean sawdust next to me and we both giggled when Charm meandered over to us and stuck his head down to nose Paige's hand with his muzzle.

“He's offended that you came to visit without a treat,” I said. “How dare you.”

Paige bowed her head. “So sorry, Charm. I'll come back with
two
carrots next time—promise.”

That seemed to satisfy Charm. He walked to the other end of his stall, cocked a hind leg, and started to fall asleep.

“I wanted to talk more about Homecoming,” Paige said, turning her head to look at me. “I know you don't care about it. And I get it! I really do—you have to be around people that will make you feel uncomfortable. But you can't let them ruin it for you.”

Interest level? Still zero.

“The whole thing is just supposed to be fun. Not something to make you anxious.”

I nodded. This wasn't about Homecoming. Paige was working up to talk to me about something else—something bigger.

“We can do everything together,” Paige continued. “Whatever activities there are—I'll be there, obviously. I won't let Callie, Jacob, or Eric make things weird for you. I
promise.
”

“Thanks,” I said. “I knew you'd be there for me. But …
I know you.” I eyed Paige. “Why do you
really
look so worried? You didn't come here to talk more about Homecoming.”

Paige drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin
on top. “You're right—this isn't just about Homecoming. I mean, part of it was because I
really
do want you to give Homecoming a chance, then decide if you really hate it. But I've watched you since last weekend, Sasha, and I'm worried.”

I shook my head. “I know I scared you when I fainted. And sleeping over with the Trio probably hurt your feelings and I'm sorry if it did.”

“It's not that. I want you to do whatever makes you comfortable, and you did. I'm worried about
why
you fainted. You passed out because you were stressed and crazy exhausted. You've been doing this to yourself since the weekend and it's not like you.”

I swallowed and looked down. “Paige, I—”

“Just let me finish.” Paige's voice was soft. “I expected you to be devastated about Eric
and
Jacob
and
Callie. I thought we'd get through it and eat tons of brownies together and that you'd let me help you. I'm your best friend, Sasha, and you've shut me out this week. If I did something—if there's something going on—I'm asking you to tell me. Trust me like you used to and just talk to me.”

I glanced at Paige and saw a mix of hurt and worry on her face. She had always been the first one I'd gone to about everything and she obviously sensed I was hiding
the real truth about what had happened. It made me feel sick that I'd hurt her or caused her to worry about our friendship. That was the last thing I wanted to do.

“Paige, I …” my words trailed off. I couldn't even finish my sentence. Paige and I looked at our laps for a couple of minutes, waiting for me to talk, but I fell silent. There was no explanation I could give her. I'd resigned not to tell anyone and I had to stick to it.

“I'm going back to our room,” Paige said, getting up and brushing off her jeans. “If you can't talk to me, I guess … I guess I'm just wasting my time.”

Paige reached over Charm's stall door, feeling for the latch.

“Nothing's changed between us,” I said, not wanting to let her walk away. “You're still my best friend.”

Paige stared at me for a second. “If that was true, you'd let me help you.”

She walked out of the stall and secured the door behind her. I dropped my head into my hands. I had to do something. If I lost Paige, I'd have nothing. Tears burned my eyes. I didn't even know if I wanted to stay at Canterwood if Paige and I weren't friends.

I went back and forth with two options—either telling Paige the truth, which I suspected she already knew,
or come up with a believable lie that she would accept. I hated even thinking the word
lie
since it had gotten me into so much trouble last week. But Paige was way off this time. I was doing what I needed to do with school, riding, and everything else. I couldn't slow down or I'd never stay on the YENT, my grades would slip, and I'd be kicked off the team.

Paige, who hadn't lost any of her friends and was just starting a relationship with Ryan, didn't understand one important thing—that when you lost everything, you had nothing to lose. And if I stopped for one second, I knew I'd realize how much I'd really lost.

RIVAL REVENGE

I GOT UP, BRUSHED OFF MY PANTS, AND LED
Charm into the crossties. I still wasn't ready to go back to my room and needed something to do. So while Charm was in the aisle, I mucked his stall and gave him a fresh layer of sawdust. I filled his hay net with two flakes of hay, gave him his grain, and decided to clean his water bucket.

I unclipped the bucket from the wall and carried it into the indoor wash stall. I hosed it, soaped it, and filled it with clean water. Then I focused my attention on Charm. I groomed him, taking my time to wash and dry his white sock and his blaze. I grabbed clippers from my tack trunk and trimmed his whiskers and bridle path. I picked his hooves—noting that it would be time for him to be shod soon. I ran a wide-toothed comb through Charm's mane
and tail and sprayed them with a leave-in conditioner.

Charm's coat had a soft, coppery sheen when I finished and his blaze and sock were a brilliant white. It made me feel better to see him look and feel his best.

I unclipped him and led him back to his stall.

“Please don't lie down, okay?” I asked. “Just for one day?”

Charm seemed to wink at me—like a tease. I mock-rolled my eyes at him and blew him a kiss. “See you tomorrow, guy.”

Charm didn't look up to respond—his face was in his grain bucket as he chewed noisily.

I left the stable and took a different way back to Winchester—a long path that made a loop and went past Orchard. I still needed more time to think about how to handle Paige. I didn't want it to drag on forever—I had to make a decision. And the right one. I scuffed my shoe against the sidewalk and was glad when the sun hid behind the clouds. The air seemed to cool a few degrees almost instantly.

I started past Orchard and saw Heather walking up the stairs. She half-turned and saw me. She started to look back to the door, then focused on me.

“Since you don't have any form of a life, I know you've
got nowhere to be,” Heather said. “Come to my room with me for a minute.”

“Okay,” was all I could get out. I was too surprised to react to her insult.

In silence, we walked to the Trio's suite. Heather opened the door and I followed her inside. Julia and Alison were out and I stood twisting my fingers, unsure what this was about. If Julia and Alison hadn't gotten the DVD, Heather was probably about to inflict a new form of torture that she'd devised just for this occasion.

“Sit,” Heather said.

I sat on the couch—the end closest to the door—and Heather walked back and forth from the window to the coffee table before finally sitting on the table's edge.

I'd never needed my soothing mint lip gloss more than I'd needed it now, but it was back in my room. I licked my bottom lip and willed Heather to just say whatever it was.

Heather tucked her blond hair behind her ears. “Julia and Alison got the DVD.” She smiled, shaking her head. “They actually got it.”

“That's great!” I said. “They're going to be cleared now. Everything just happened at the right moment and
we didn't even have to do anything to Jasmine—she did that to herself.”

Heather nodded. “I know. But you …” She paused and for a second, I thought I saw tears in her eyes before she blinked a couple of times. “You saved my best friends.”

“I hope someone else would have done the same for me. And we never have to talk about it again. I want Julia and Alison to get back on the team and for this entire cheating thing to go away. I have to apologize to them—I thought they really did cheat.”

“I understand why you did,” Heather said, shrugging. “I wouldn't have believed you either, if the roles were reversed.”

“Mutual distrust. I doubt that'll ever go away,” I said, half-smiling.

“Never.” Heather said it so fast, we both laughed.

“But now that Julia and Alison should be okay, at least you can focus all of that energy on your riding.”

“Yeah, if I didn't have that dumb Homecoming nomination.”

I had to fight the urge to jump up and hug Heather. “I feel the same way! Everyone's so excited—and that's fine—but I didn't ask to be nominated. I didn't want to participate at all.”

“Me either. It's all so lame.”

We smiled at each other. Real smiles. Something we actually agreed on. That was kind of happening more often.

“But,” Heather continued, “I don't want to be completely consumed by riding again. I've done that my whole life. And I've …”

I let a few seconds go by before I asked, “You've what?”

Heather's guard dropped in that moment. I
saw
it happen. Her tough girl attitude evaporated.

“I missed a lot,” Heather said, speaking slowly. “My dad was pushing me so hard about riding—and I loved it, really—but there was never a break. I was at a horse show every weekend, training before and after school. My life revolved around winning—not horses or how much I really do love them.”

I tried to keep a neutral expression on my face and not show how shocked I was that Heather Fox was admitting these things to
me.

“So do you regret it?” I asked. “Working so hard and competing like you did?”

Heather shook her head. “Not for a second. Riding professionally is my dream, but it's also got to be something
I love doing. And when my dad's obsessed with it and how many shows I can win, it's not fun anymore. I almost gave up horses—my favorite thing—because of it.”

“Did you start riding because you wanted to compete?” I asked.

Heather laughed. “You won't believe this, but I actually pleasure-rode first. I didn't even think about showing until my trainer told my parents I had talent. Then, lessons went from once a week to three times a week and it escalated from there.”

“I'm coming from a different place, obviously,” I said. “My parents have been supportive of my riding, but they're hands-off. They let me make the decisions about what I do. That's worked great. Until now. They don't see how many hours I'm really in the stable here, or how I'm obsessing over the tape for Mr. Nicholson. So we're both getting pressured—you from your dad, and me from myself.”

Heather nodded. She didn't look like she was going to blackmail me with something to be sure I'd never repeat any of this. She needed someone to talk to.

“You're going to become me,” Heather said. “If you keep riding like you are, you're going to be obsessed. You won't be able to enjoy anything—movies, TV,
whatever—because all you'll be doing is thinking about what riding exercises you could be doing right now, how you messed up that oxer last week, and how many points you need to qualify for championships.”

I shifted on the couch. “I'm not obsessed with riding. I just have more time. And I needed to practice more anyway. But I'm not going to have as much time next week with—”

“Homecoming,” Heather said, finishing my sentence. “Lucky us—that's going to be
fantastic
.” The sarcasm in Heather's voice made me smile.

“Oh, please,” I said. “You know you want to win.”

Heather laughed. “
You
do. And you know it. But if either of us were to win, you know it would be me.”

She smirked at me and I was glad, strangely, to see that side of her back.

“On that note,” I said, “I've got to go.” I got up and opened the door. “I'll probably win. Maybe that would make the whole thing worth it.”

“Oh, God,” Heather said. “Delusional, you poor thing.”

We both rolled our eyes at each other and I shut the door.

Walking out of Orchard, I felt better than I had in
days. I'd never expected to have a real talk with Heather—especially not one where she opened up about her background with riding. We hated each other most of the time, but it got harder to dislike Heather every moment when we had interactions like that.