Silver Hawk Ridge: Winds of Change

{ Chapter 5 }

   That night, I was sitting in the Kentwood common room with my friends. Charlie, Bianca, and Morgan had taken post on one small couch, with tiny Bianca having an even tinier Morgan on her lap (I swear those two were getting cuter by the day). We'd managed to get Madi out of her wheelchair and they'd dragged over a footstool from the nearby chair to prop her leg up on, with Avery faithfully by her side on the other small couch. Izzy had stolen a chair, and that left Kenny, Taylor, Drew and I crammed onto the largest sofa. Delaney and Eva had decided to spend time with each other as roommates, so they were MIA. Originally we'd plugged my laptop into the TV and played Jackbox games, but after getting bored with that we had retrieved Avery's massive movie collection from the dorm.

   "I still don't see what you have against the Sharknado series?" Kenny whined.

   "I'm pretty sure the fact that it exists in the first place is crime enough" Bianca retorted from across the room. Kenny's dejected scowl almost killed me.

   "Sorry buddy, you've been overruled" Drew jokingly patronized, patting his shoulder. This debate had gone on for about 10 minutes, and I was glad to see it come to a close.

   "Alright, executive decision, we're watching Finding Nemo" Avery said, getting up to put the disc in the TV.

   "And why is that your call to make?" Kenny cried out with mock incredulity.

   "You have poor taste and it's my movies, my rules" she said simply, effectively putting out his argument. Avery was pretty goofy and laid back, but boy could she really roast you and make a point if she wanted to.

   As the opening credits scrolled through, I glanced around at my rag-tag group. I'd never had a large group of friends like this till I came here. Now I was surrounded by more friends than I ever knew what to do with at any given point, and I loved it. The relationships that had formed were a nice addition to the chemistry. Morgan had completely commandeered Bianca as she leaned against her shoulder on her lap. Bianca placed a kiss on the top of her head and my heart melted a bit. These two would give me a cavity with how sweet they were. I laid my head back into the crook of Drew's neck and he swung my legs over his lap and pulled my white Sherpa blanket over us. I ended up crashing out before Nemo had gone anywhere near the boat, because I awoke to Drew shaking my shoulder and then end of the movie with Marlin waking up Nemo for school.

   "Somebody was worn out" he murmured against my ear. I stretched and yawned, my chest shuddering and rising like a buoy inside my hoodie. They all parted ways to head back to their rooms, while Avery and I cleaned everything up. We both stumbled into the dorm room and collapsed into bed after brushing our teeth. Time to get some sleep and start the semester.

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   The feeling of my alarm ringing at 5:00AM was perhaps the most atrocious one. I sprung out of bed and threw off the covers to beeline for my closet. After typing my hair into a low, squat ponytaiI, I threw on a pair of dark green fleece lined breeches to accommodate for the sudden cold snap (20°F...dear god this could be brutal), a black Nike combat thermal, ear-warmers, and my dark blue Mountain Horse coat. After throwing my backpack and school clothes onto my bed, I shoved my feet into my snow boots and walked out the door, snagging my keys and phone on the way out last minute (I might have needed those). I ran into Izzy in the hallway and we shoved off to practice in silence. Another dusting of snow was falling in the grey dawn of the winter. I was very thankful for under-helmet ear warmers on days like today as the wind howled around us.

   "Talk about a cold morning, aye?" All I gave back was a nod, because honestly I was way too tire to talk. The dry and enclosed shelter of the barn was much-welcomed after the brisk walk. Rega was already being groomed when we got there, as well as the other national team horses. Aside from ingredients that couldn't be re-hydrated, the horses' normal grain mixtures were combined with warm water to give them a warm, mash-type food to get keep their warmth in their bellies. I traded my winter boots and gloves for riding ones, and grabbed my helmet and tack to dismiss the groom, thanking them for their good care of my horse. I was thankful for quarter sheets because Rega would have been absolutely wild otherwise. Thankfully someone had gotten up early enough to turn on the heaters in the ring, but it still made the ring only about 20 degrees warmer. Again, thank you quarter sheets.