True Riders (12 page)

“No worries.” Adam gave Foxy a pat. “See you.”

As soon as she had the pony settled in for the evening, Brooke dashed for the house, cringing at the cold rain pelting her face. Inside, the twins were busy with their toys and barely looked up as she hurried toward the stairs.

In her room Brooke changed out of her damp, dirty clothes and then flopped onto her bed with her laptop. She'd just realized she hadn't told the Pony Post about Kiersten yet. After scanning the latest news about her friends and their ponies, she started typing.

[BROOKE]
Hi guys! Sounds like you're all having fun with your ponies! Foxy and I had a good ride today, tho it was a short one b/c it started raining. Oh well! The forecast is clear for the rest of the week, which is good. I can't believe the show is so soon!

But never mind that—I forgot to tell u there's a new girl in my class, and guess what? She's a rider! Well, she used to ride, anyway. She had to stop when she moved b/c her parents split up. But I invited her to ride Foxy sometime, and she's coming to watch us at the show. Isn't that cool? I mean, u guys are great!!! But it's kind of nice having a horse friend I can talk to f2f too, u know?

She posted her message and then waited a few seconds, but there was no immediate response, so she logged off. Before shutting down her computer, she sent Adam a quick e-mail, reminding him again to come over as soon as he could the next day.

On Thursday afternoon Brooke changed into her riding clothes in record time. She'd sat with Kiersten again that day at lunch, and talking about the show had made her realize how close it was—just two days away now!

“I hope Adam gets here soon,” she muttered as she tightened the pony's girth and led her out of the shed. “Come on, Foxy. Let's warm up while we're waiting for him.”

She mounted and got to work, asking Foxy to walk, trot, and canter and also practicing some of their other moves, like leg-yields and backing up. It was a relatively warm, pleasant day, and Foxy felt fresh and alert, pricking her ears at blowing leaves and skittering to the side when one of the drafts let out a loud snort on the far side of the fence.

Finally, though, Foxy felt focused and ready to jump. But where was Adam?

Brooke halted near the gate and checked her watch. It had been more than an hour and a half since school had let out. What could be keeping him?

She chewed her lower lip, trying to decide what to do. She definitely didn't want to jump without him there. She and Foxy were still getting back into the swing of things over fences, and even though her mother was right inside, Brooke felt a little nervous about jumping alone.

Besides, Adam was supposed to be coaching her. Wasn't that the whole point of doing this show? Brooke wished she had a cell phone to call or text him with, but every time she asked about getting one, her stepfather kept saying she could have one for her next birthday. In the meantime she had to borrow a phone from one of her parents when she needed one.

“Adam'll probably be here soon,” she muttered, tightening her grip on the reins as Foxy shifted impatiently under her. “Come on, girl. Let's do one more trot around the pasture.”

When they had finished that, there was still no sign of Adam. Glancing up, Brooke saw that the sky was already going orange and pink with the rapidly approaching sunset. If she wanted to do any jumping today, she couldn't wait much longer.

“Aargh,” she said aloud. “I just wish he'd get here already!”

She turned Foxy back across the field, vaguely planning to do some figure eights or something. But she was still watching the sliver of driveway she could see from here, hoping for a glimpse of Adam's bike. As Brooke kicked Foxy into a trot, the pony spooked at something—Brooke wasn't even sure what.

“Hey,” Brooke said, pulling her to a halt. “Stop that, Foxy.”

The pony snorted and tossed her head. Brooke felt a quiver of nerves but told herself not to freak out. Foxy was just testing her to see if she was paying attention, and she'd flunked the test.

“Sorry, girl,” she murmured, giving Foxy a pat and then asking again for the trot.

Ten minutes later she was practicing circles and figure eights when she noticed her mother hurrying across the yard. Brooke rode over, hoping her mother wasn't coming to say that the twins wanted to ride again.

“Brooke,” Mrs. Rhodes said. “Adam just called. He asked me to tell you he can't make it over today after all.”

“What?” Brooke's heart sank. “Why?”

Her mother shrugged. “I was on the other line, so we didn't get into it.”

“Oh. Um, okay, thanks.” Brooke shot a look at the jumps as her mother disappeared back into the house. It was tempting to skip jumping for today, wait until tomorrow when Adam could be there to coach her.

But no. Tomorrow was Friday, just one day before the show. If she wanted to be ready, they needed to practice jumping
today
.

Squaring her shoulders, she gathered up her reins. “Come on, Foxy,” she said. “We can do this.”

She gave the pony a kick, turning her toward the nearest jump. But Foxy hesitated, flicking her ears back and forth and stepping to the side instead of trotting forward.

“Please, Foxy!” Brooke exclaimed, her determination already seeping away into the mass of nervousness in her gut. “Just let's get through this, okay?”

She kicked again, and the pony spurted forward, half-trotting and half-cantering. Brooke hauled back on the reins, not wanting to rush the jump. Foxy skidded to a halt, tossing her head.

“Quit it!” Brooke cried, suddenly near tears.

Foxy snorted and tossed her head again, prancing to the side. Fed up with the pony's silliness, Brooke gave her a stout kick—and Foxy responded by humping her back and bucking!

Brooke gasped. “Hey!” she blurted out, freezing in shock. Foxy had never bucked under saddle before!

Before Brooke could figure out what to do, Foxy leaped forward, yanking her head down and bucking again—and before Brooke quite knew what was happening, she hit the hard ground with a loud “Oof!”

CHAPTER

BROOKE CLIMBED TO
her feet, shaking all over. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart. She'd landed on her hip and was pretty sure she'd have a bruise there by morning, but otherwise she wasn't hurt. Her glasses had even stayed on, though they were slightly askew.

Foxy had cantered off a few strides and then stopped, lowering her head to sniff at the frostbitten grass. As the pony started to graze, Brooke adjusted her glasses, then headed toward the pony on trembling legs and grabbed the dangling reins.

“What was that all about?” she said, her voice as wobbly as the rest of her.

Foxy lifted her head and nudged at her, nickering as if to ask why she was on the ground all of a sudden. Brooke wasn't sure how to react. This wasn't the first time she'd fallen off a horse, of course. The first time had been so long ago that she couldn't even remember it. It wasn't even the first time she'd come off Foxy.

But it's the first time she dumped me on purpose,
Brooke thought.

Her eyes filled with tears again. What had happened, anyway? Yes, Foxy had been a little unpredictable lately. But nothing like this!

If Adam had showed up like he was supposed to, it wouldn't have happened,
she thought with a sudden flash of resentment.
And if Ethan and Emma didn't keep wanting to play cowboy . . .

She sighed without bothering to finish the thought, reaching up to give Foxy a rub on the nose. This wasn't Adam's fault. It wasn't really Foxy's, either, or even the twins'. It was just one of those things that happened sometimes, especially with a young horse. The best thing to do was get back on and forget about it.

Brooke wasn't sure she could do that, though. At least not right now. She still felt pretty shaky, and that was liable to set Foxy off again. Maybe it would be safer to put her away and try again tomorrow. . . .

Ten minutes later Brooke was back in her room unlacing her paddock boots and wondering if she'd done the right thing. If Adam had been there, he probably could have talked her into getting back on right away. Or even if he couldn't have, he would have been willing to get on himself, ride Foxy around a little so she could end on a good note. A little bucking wouldn't scare him at all.

But it scared me,
she admitted, kicking her left boot in the direction of her closet.

She was sure she'd be over it by tomorrow—at least enough to get on and ride again. Nothing could keep her away from Foxy for long.

But that show was another thing entirely. Suddenly it just seemed way too soon, way too much. Luckily, she knew the perfect place to get some advice about what to do.

Soon she was on the Pony Post typing away. She poured out the whole story to her friends, from talking to Kiersten again at lunch to getting bucked off just now. Nobody responded, so she set down the laptop and headed to her parents' room to use the phone.

Adam didn't answer his cell, so she left a message asking him to call her back as soon as he could. Then she wandered back to her room.

She spent the next half hour or so trying to focus on her homework, though she didn't get much done. Finally she gave up and grabbed her laptop again.

There were already a couple of responses to her post.

[NINA]
O, B! Naughty Foxy!!! So sorry to hear u came off! Just remember it happens to the best of us.

[HALEY]
Ya, when I first started jumping, I spent more time flying thru the air than in the saddle, lol. I hope you're not too sore tmw.

Wondering if either of her friends were still on the site, Brooke quickly opened a text box.

[BROOKE]
Thanks, guys.

She waited, but no more messages appeared, and she sighed, realizing that Nina and Haley must have already logged off. Too bad; she really could have used someone to talk to right now—someone who understood what she was going through. She wondered if she should try calling Kiersten, but Brooke quickly remembered that she didn't have Kiersten's phone number.

Realizing that Adam hadn't called back yet, she hurried to her parents' room to try again. This time he picked up on the third ring.

“Yo,” he said. “Sorry, I was just about to call you back.”

“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Um, so what happened to you today? Foxy and I waited for you.”

There was a pause. “Uh, actually the coach invited me to basketball practice today.”

Why? You're not on the team,
Brooke thought, though she stopped herself from saying it.

“Yeah?” she said instead.

“Yeah. You know that kid Victor Robertson?”

Brooke didn't, not really, though she vaguely recognized the name as belonging to a tall kid in the grade ahead of them. “Sort of.”

“He broke his leg in two places doing BMX yesterday.” Adam sounded excited. “That means he's off the team, obviously, at least for this season. So Coach made me the new alternate!”