Leaping Hearts

Chapter 2

“Guys… I have something to tell you-“

My best friend, Sophia, interrupted me with an excited giggle.

“OMG, me too! There’s gonna be a party at Lewis’ house on Saturday, and he’s got a swimming pool, and we’re all invited!”

Mollie, another friend of mine, butted in too.

“We can’t swim! There’ll be boys there! Besides, my swimming costume’s all babyish and gross.”

They chattered on, noisily, giggling and flapping their hands. I glared at my chestnut mare’s ears, trying not to get irritated at my ever-effervescent friends. Heather always listened to me. Her coppery head swivelled round to face me, and her loyal brown eyes stared at mine. For a horse, she was very perceptive. I patted her on the neck and turned back to my friends. Heather turned round too, and whinnied at Sophia’s grey welsh mountain pony, Pierre, who stamped his hooves on the tarmac.

“Guys, there’s no point being on horses if we’re just going to talk about boys, let’s go!”

We reached the gate and I flipped it open so that we had access to the flat planes of the stubble fields we used for galloping.

I clicked Heather into a canter, and the other two followed me, like always. They always did what I did, in fact, I was the one who got them into horses in the first place. It sometimes got annoying, always being copied, but I liked the fact that they thought what I was doing was right.

Mollie’s skewbald loan pony, Bessie, caught up with Heather and I in a smooth canter, so I eased her into a gallop, eager to stay in front. I slowed her back down into a canter, however, when I noticed a felled tree a little way in front of us.

“Hey, look guys , that tree’s small enough to jump, right?”

The others peered at me, and then at the tree suspiciously, but as I thought jumping it to be a good idea, they did too.

“I’ll go first.”

I squeezed Heather sides with my calves, and she immediately sped into a smart trot, and then into a canter as we neared the log. It was bigger than I thought it was, possibly teetering on the edge of unsafe, but Heather was speeding up to it, and I couldn’t stop now.

I gave her a little tap with my heels as we got onto the right stride, and then she leapt, seemingly stopping in mid-air. My heart thudded as I saw the ditch on the other side: huge, and filled with oozing, sticky mud. This didn’t faze Heather though, as we cleared it cleanly, with inches to spare. As we reached the ground, she gave a triumphant whinny, and cantered off with a flick of her tail.

“Mollie, Sophia, there’s a ditch on the other side of this!” I called to them, just as Sofia kicked Pierre into a trot. “I’m not sure if it’s safe.”

They both trotted around the log to me, still staring at the gaping ditch that I had just cleared.

“Whoa, that was amazing, Kitty!” Sophia raved on about me joining the village show jumping team, a common topic for both of my friends. They rattled on about my ‘brilliant’ riding skills as we trotted in sync home through the fields and the woods. I got sick of their constant worship for me: sometimes I applied the word ‘cronies’ to them, rather than ‘friends’.

“Wait,” Sophia said, as we neared her house, “What was your news?”

I almost didn’t want to tell them.

“Well, you know Tabby Morrison,” I said, not looking in their eyes.

“Yeah, she’s going to that posh academy, isn’t she?” Mollie stared at me, eyebrows raised.

“Umm, well, you see…”

“I’m glad Tabby’s going.” Sophia cut me short. “I don’t like her, she’s boring and such a know-it-all. She’ll fit in at some snobby, nerd’s school with all of the other weirdos.”

Thanks for making this easier, Sophia.

“Well, uh, I, um…”

The words caught in my throat and tears began to sting in my eyes. I took a deep breath and stared and the pair, blinking. Mollie, the cleverer one of the two, caught on, and her mouth fell open. She kicked Bessie on, and they trotted away down the road, not looking back.

“What’s her problem?” Sophia asked, totally dazed.

“Look, Soph,” I took a breath so that I could get the rest of the sentence out as quickly as possible. “I’m going there too.”

Sophia stared blankly back at me. “What?”

“I’m to Hollyview academy, with Tabby, next week.”

Sofia blinked and dismounted, leading Pierre off to her house. Just before she got there, however, she turned round to face me.

“I don’t care. I never liked you anyway.”

And with a stony face, she disappeared through the back gate.

Blinking back the tears , i sighed and rested my head on Heather’s mane. After a second, I sat up straight, wiped my eyes and kicked her on. I didn’t need them, anyway, they just got in my way.

“Come on then, girl, it’s just you and me.”