Madison v.s The Travelling Exchange Students

Chapter Forty: A Long Plane Ride Home

"Hey, Bud!" I cheer.

Virgo flicks his chocolate ears in my direction, continuing to munch on his hay. Releasing a breath, I lean against his stall door. It isn't as big or as well kept as Virgo's SEC stall, but it's more than enough.

I'm extremely lucky that he can even return to his SEC stall.

"It's going to be a long time before we can ride together again, dude," I mumble, resting my cheek on my arms.

Virgo snorts, causing his mane to toss about, then downs the last chunk of hay in his mouth. I can't resist the smile that forms when Virgo walks over to me, placing his muzzle on the crook of my neck. His hot breath tickles.

"I know, it's sad," I say, stroking his glossy neck.

He snorts again. I kiss the edge of his mouth and his whiskers brush my cheek.

"But don't worry, you aren't trapped in this stall forever; Alex will be riding you," I explain. "He's going to whoop your ass."

Virgo tosses his head in the air like he is protesting. I laugh, throwing my arms around his neck and burying my face into his cheek.

"It'll be fine, don't complain! You'll love jumping as big as he can."

My horse huffs, blowing air into my hair and fluffing the end of my ponytail.

"Hey, Mads."

At the sound of a voice next to me, I let Virgo go. It's a pleasant surprise when I see Bishop standing to my right, Rosie standing lazily behind him in a red saddlecloth and her black dressage saddle.

"You guys doing flatwork?" I ask, crossing my arms and leaning my back against the stall door.

Bishop rolls his eyes from under his helmet. "Yep," he replies, popping the 'p'.

I may laugh at his attitude but looking at Bishop's jodhpurs and polo shirt compared to my black shorts and grey tank top causes my heart to pang.

"But did you hear the good news?" Bishop asks with a waggle of his brows.

I give him a long look. "Um, I didn't know anything good could be happening right now."

Bishop grins and offers me his arm. "Let me show you."

I give Virgo one final kiss on the cheek. Smirking, I link my arm through his and together we walk through the stables with Rosie walking briskly behind us.

Today the stables are rather busy with both SEC riders and the everyday teenagers and adults stabling their horses here. The Junior team has a lesson in five minutes-a lesson I'm unfortunately missing-so as we walk I see Georgia tacking Aviation up.

When we make eye contact, she gives me a sneer before rolling her eyes. I shake my head and poke my tongue out at her and for her sake, I'll pretend I didn't see the smile on her face as I walk away from her.

We'll never be friends but... she is probably one of the best I've got.

Bishop and I continue our walk through the stables, our foreheads pressed together as we laugh about Georgia's attitude. We reach the stable entrance and when I go to take a step over the threshold and into the evening sun, Bishop grips my arm tighter.

"No, wait," he whispers with an uncontrollable smile. Bishop nods towards the patch of trees that are sat to the left of the stables; I follow his gaze.

"Look at him," Bishop scoffs.

I bunch my brows in confusion as I'm not quite sure what I'm meant to be looking at. Then I see what Bishop means and it is actually quite a delightful sight.