Follow Your Dreams

Chapter 14: Know Your Enemies to Beat Your Enemies

"Let me get this straight. You're lying to your dad to spy on Rosemary Stables?" Jake said. We were in Study Hall again and it was Friday. I nodded with an evil grin. I had only agreed to take the job because I wanted to check out Rosemary Stables and learn its flaws. As I said, I would do anything to save Little Creek Stables. "Wow, I never expected you to come up with a plan that was this crazy." Jake chuckled.

"You know that old saying. You need to know your enemies to beat your enemies. Rosemary Stables will definitely seem better than Little Creek. However, it will just have more flaws then. I'm sure I can find a way to prove how amazing Little Creek is. While we try to earn the money to save Little Creek Stables, I'm sure we can promote business and show how amazing it is." I explained.

"You definitely have your work cut out for you. I heard that Emilie moved Storm there." Jake said. I nodded and let out a quiet groan. That was one of the things that I wasn't looking forward to when I started work tomorrow. The bell rang and I slung my backpack over my shoulder.

"I also thought of a time for the fundraiser. I was thinking that we could do it on the last weekend of March. We'll still have most of the month to set up then. That's plenty of time for me to learn about Rosemary Stables as well." I said as Jake and I walked out of the classroom together.

"That sounds good to me. Now, I just have one concern. Who is going to take over your half of the chores, and tell Mr. Davis?" Jake said and stared at me with intense blue eyes. I looked up at him, making a puppy face. He groaned and shook his head. "Fine, I'll take care of that, but you owe me." He grumbled. I laughed and ran ahead to my bus.

I slipped into my usual work clothes and grabbed an apple from the kitchen while I waited for my mom to come out from her room. Once she walked out, she gave me a puzzled face. "You're not usually up before me. Also, are you sure you want to work at Rosemary Stables? You used to love Little Creek and you always act like it's a second home to you." My mom sighed.

"Just trust me, mom." I said simply and walked to the garage. She followed after me and we both got into the car as she drove to Rosemary Stables. It was on the opposite side of town from Little Creek. It took about an hour to reach Rosemary Stables, unlike Little Creek Stables which had a fifteen minute ride.

"Call me when you are ready to come back home." My mom said as she pulled into the long driveway. She parked beside some other cars in the large dirt space meant to be used as a parking lot. I nodded and jumped out, my jaw immediately dropped. Whatever size Little Creek was, Rosemary Stables seemed to be tripled. I'm not exaggerating either. My dad's white house sat out front and looked to be three stories tall. The barn behind it was enormous. It looked like it could hold forty horses rather than fourteen. There appeared to be three pastures, all of which were surrounded by white fencing. The indoor arena was huge and fancy looking along with three outdoor rings.

Everything that I looked at, I couldn't help but compare it to Little Creek Stables. There looked to be about twenty other stable hands, all of which were busy. There were a bunch of riders as well. I noticed a black Hanoverian in the indoor arena, taking jumps with his rider. It was definitely Storm and Emilie. Emilie's blonde hair flowed from out of her helmet as she soared over the jumps with Storm. "There you are Kate! Pretty nice, isn't it? Better than that old rundown excuse for a stable." My dad greeted as he walked over to me.

"It wasn't rundown." I quickly defended Little Creek for Mr. Davis. Sure, Little Creek was small compared to this place, but it wasn't rundown. Little Creek was like a second home to anybody who worked there. Everybody knew each other and they were all friends, or really good riders. By the looks of things here, nobody knew each other or bothered to communicate. That was a major flaw at this stable.

"Sure it wasn't. If that's what you feel like thinking. Just remember though, you left it for this place." He responded. I felt a pang of guilt even though I was only here to spy. I shook it off and remembered to stay focused to my mission. I calmly walked alongside my dad as he gave me the unneeded tour. It wasn't hard to tell what each place was. Once my tour was over, I began my work. As I entered the barn, I noticed that the stalls were huge. The barn looked like it could hold forty horses, but it only held thirty. Every stall had a shiny golden nameplate above the door, although some plates were left blank. I could almost see the prices of the expensive looking horses in the stalls. Rosemary Stables was too new to be completely full, but it definitely had more business than Little Creek.

"I really need to find more flaws..." I murmured and got to work. As I worked, I kept an eye on every horse. The horses weren't treated with love or care. I noticed this as I watched some stable hands work with the horses. They handled the creatures roughly and yelled when a horse didn't listen. I noticed a stable hand pull out a whip when the horse tried to rear and escape. I quickly ran in front of the whip, feeling the sting hit my cheek as the whip struck me instead of its target.