Twice the Talent (4 page)

Coach Rader nodded. “We'll miss you out there, Ava.”

“I can still come to practices,” Ava offered. “You know, so I can learn strategies and stuff.”

“Why don't you take it easy this week?” Coach Rader suggested. “Then we can check in on Monday and see how you feel.”

Ava sighed. “Yes, Coach,” she said, and walked away toward her Spanish classroom.

Take it easy.
That was all everybody kept saying. But nobody seemed to understand—how could she take it easy when all she wanted to do was get back on the basketball court?

“Hey, is your sister okay?”

Alex looked away from her locker after second period to see Corey standing there, with a worried look in his blue eyes.

“I think not playing basketball hurts more than her ankle does,” Alex replied as she shut her locker door.

Corey nodded. “I can't imagine being benched from football right at the start of the season. That would be awful.”

Alex walked in the direction of her social studies classroom, and Corey kept in step with her.

“So, um . . . that's a nice sweater,” he said, a little awkwardly.

Alex looked down at her white cardigan. “Oh, thanks! It's not as exciting as my ugly sweater, though. That was really something.” Thanks to Uncle Scott, her ugly sweater had snowflakes with white twinkling lights.

At the reference to the party, Corey's eyes locked with hers, and they both blushed. Alex knew they were both thinking of the same thing. Their almost-kiss under the falling snow . . .

“Um, hey, Alex.”

Max was standing there, wearing a white T-shirt with a green stain right in the center. “I asked Mrs. Bridges yesterday, and she said you're my partner for the social studies project!” he blurted out.

“Oh yeah, that's . . . that's great,” Alex said. She looked back at Corey, but the moment was gone—and Corey was already making a hasty retreat.

“See you later!” he called out as he raced off down the hall.

“Yeah, so we'll be working collaboratively,” Max said.

“Heard you the first time!” Alex said cheerfully, forcing a smile. She didn't want to be annoyed with Max, but she had been looking
forward to being Emily's partner. Not to mention that he had interrupted her moment with Corey. She and Corey hadn't talked much since the party. What might he have said if Max hadn't shown up?

She and Max walked into the classroom, and Alex slid into her seat. When the bell rang, Mrs. Bridges walked out from behind her desk, holding a sheet of paper.

“Okay, I'm going to officially assign your partners for the project,” she announced. “And I don't want to hear any complaints about who you're paired with. Here's what's going to happen. Once you're paired up, I want you to sit together. I'm going to be giving you class time to work on the project.”

She looked down at the list. “Okay, Alex and Max.”

“Poor Alex,” Lindsey said. “She's got Sleeping Beauty as a partner!”

Some of the kids laughed, and Alex smiled weakly. She knew Lindsey was trying to be sympathetic to her, but it still felt mean.

“Please keep the commentary to yourself, Lindsey,” Mrs. Bridges said. “Okay, Ryan and Shane . . .”

Max picked up his books and moved to an empty seat next to Alex. She quickly opened her social studies folder and got down to business.

“So, I printed out the project rubric from the school website last night,” Alex said. She produced two sheets of paper. “Do you need one?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Max said gratefully. He looked at it. “So, first we need to choose one of the rights in the Bill of Rights. That's pretty cool. I kind of like the First Amendment. Not abridging free speech and stuff.”

He yawned, and seeing him do so made Alex yawn too. She hated when that happened. She had read somewhere that even if you read the word “yawn” on a page, it could make you yawn.

“The First Amendment is a good one, but I think everyone's going to pick that,” Alex said. “Maybe we could pick something juicier, like the Fifth Amendment. It means you can't be on trial twice for the same crime.”

“Double jeopardy,” Max said. “That could be interesting.” He yawned again.

Alex felt another copycat yawn coming on, and she covered her mouth.

“Max, what's with all the yawning?” she asked him point-blank.

“Oh, sorry,” Max said, but he didn't offer any explanation. And then he yawned again.

Alex laughed. “Not fair!”

By the end of class they had worked out a plan to research their project, and Alex felt like she knew Max a little better. He seemed friendly, and even smart—just really tired.

As she left class, Mrs. Bridges pulled her aside. “Alex, I wanted to talk to you about Max,” she said when she rest of the students had left.

“Oh?” Alex asked.

“I purposely put you two together for this project,” the teacher said. “I think he could use a little extra help these days, and I would appreciate it if you could give him a hand. You're such a good student, Alex, and you'll be a wonderful role model for him.”

Alex smiled. Mrs. Bridges had said exactly the right thing to appeal to Alex—she immediately resolved to help Max as much as she could.

“Of course I'll help him,” Alex said.

“Thank you, Alex,” Mrs. Bridges said. “I knew I could count on you.”

Mrs. Bridges's praise stuck with Alex for the rest of the day. When the last bell rang, she and Ava met by their lockers.

“Mom's finishing up early to give me a ride home,” Ava said bitterly, as if that were a punishment of some kind. “Are you coming home now or are you staying after for something?”

Alex shook her head. “I have a meeting for the Variety Show.”

Ava raised her eyebrows. “You're involved in that, too? Is there anything you don't do?”

“I'm not performing,” Alex said quickly. “Just organizing things.”

“Of course you are,” said Ava with a grin. “And I'll be comfortably sitting in the audience while you're running around backstage.” Then she sighed. “I better go out there before Mom starts to worry,” she said, throwing a morose look in the direction of the gym as she limped away.

Alex shook her head. She hated to see her twin so down. She tried to imagine what she would do if she sprained her ankle and were told to take it easy, and her whole body shuddered.

Ava walked outside to find her mother's red SUV parked in a premium spot right by the entrance to the school.

“You must have been waiting here for an hour to snag this spot,” Ava said.

“I didn't want you to have to walk too far,” Mrs. Sackett said.

“Mom, I've been walking around school all day, and my ankle doesn't even hurt,” Ava said, but she winced as she climbed into the passenger seat. “Well, maybe a little.”

Mrs. Sackett smiled sympathetically. “You are one tough cookie, Ave.”

Ava looked out the window as they drove home. Even though her friends kept complaining that it was chilly, the sun was shining and the leaves on the trees were green. She still had a hard time believing that it was winter. Winter was supposed to be gray and white, not green and blue.

Mrs. Sackett turned the corner, and the car headed toward the park a few blocks away from the Sackett house. Inside the park, a dark-haired boy was shooting hoops by himself.

Ava rolled down the window and waved.

“Hey, Jack!” she called out.

Jack Valdeavano waved back, and Ava felt a pang. Jack was one of the first friends she had made in Ashland, and she had to admit she had
a bit of a crush on him as well. On any other sunny day she'd be right there in the park with him, playing basketball. She looked down at her brace and sighed. It was so unfair!

Then her phone chimed, and she looked down to see a text from Kylie.

You looked so
all day! Mom says you can come out to the ranch on Saturday to hang. Can you?

Ava read the text out loud so her mom could hear. “So, can I?”

Mrs. Sackett nodded. “Yes, as long as you promise that you won't even think of getting on a horse!”

Another thing I can't do,
Ava thought. But she was grateful her mom hadn't said she had to stay home and take it easy!

“Thanks, Mom,” Ava said, and she smiled for the first time since she'd sprained her ankle. At least now she had something to look forward to.

“You know, we don't have to stay inside the house all day,” Ava told Kylie, as they ate lunch on Saturday afternoon. “I'm allowed to walk around and stuff.”

Kylie smiled. “Yeah, I know. But your mom texted my mom to make sure you weren't going to ride any horses, so I thought it would be depressing if we went out to the stables.”

Ava swallowed a bite of her ham sandwich. “Well, it wouldn't hurt to go
look
at the horses, would it?”

Kylie's mom walked into the kitchen. She had the same friendly smile as Kylie, and she wore her hair in braids too, although hers
were always tied up in a neat bun.

“Mom, can we go down to the stables if we promise that Ava won't ride?” Kylie asked.

Mrs. McClaire looked at the girls with narrowed eyes. “Do I have your word?”

“Yes!” Ava and Kylie said at the same time.

Kylie's mom smiled. “Then of course. Just clean up after your lunch first, please.”

Ava and Kylie grinned at each other and quickly finished their sandwiches and carrot sticks. They cleaned up and headed out to the stables.

“You haven't seen Checkers yet!” Kylie said, practically bouncing with excitement.

“Is Checkers a new horse?” Ava asked.

Kylie nodded. “She's a painted pony, white and black. Gorgeous. She's broken in, but she still needs a lot of training. Mom and Dad are letting me do it,” she said proudly.

“She sounds beautiful,” Ava said, and when they reached the stables, Ava saw how beautiful the horse really was. Checkers had a black-and-white pattern all over her coat, from her legs up to her mane. She wasn't as tall as some of the other horses at the ranch, but Ava's head still only came up to her shoulder.

Kylie slowly approached her and stroked her nose.

“How's my girl?” she asked, and the horse nodded her head, nuzzling into Kylie's hand.

“It's so cool that you get to train her,” Ava remarked.

Kylie nodded. “I should really give her some exercise today. . . .” Her voice trailed off.

“Kylie, you can totally ride her!” Ava said. “Don't worry about me.”

“But that's not fair, if I get to ride and you don't,” Kylie said.

“It's okay, really!” Ava said, and she meant it. “It'll be fun to see you ride her. Besides, I've got enough pain in my legs right now without being sore from riding, too,” she joked.

Kylie looked hesitant, but Ava urged her on.

“Come on, saddle her up!”

“Let me grab my helmet first,” Kylie said, grinning.

She left the stable and came back a minute later wearing her riding helmet. Then she attached a rope to Checkers's halter, slowly leading her into the tack room in the stables. The horse calmly followed her. Kylie threw the rope around a ring in the tack room wall and began
to saddle her up. She gave Ava a mini lesson as she worked.

“First you put the bit into her mouth,” Kylie explained. “That's the hardest part for me. She doesn't seem to like it. But once it fits into that groove into her mouth, she calms down.”

Kylie slowly and carefully put on the rest of the tack, explaining each step to Ava as she did it. She pulled the bridle up over Checkers's ears, put a blanket on her back, and then strapped on the saddle and cinched the girth underneath her chest. Finally she attached the straps on the front of the saddle to the horse's breast collar.

With each step, Kylie petted the horse and spoke to her in a soothing voice. “There you go, Checkers. That's my girl,” she said.