Turn N' Burn

Chapter 4

"Where were you this weekend?" Avery shouts, slamming hands on my desk in English.

"The- The project. With Austin." I can't stop the blush that surrounds my cheeks.

"O-M-G did you survive?" She says with a smile, causing the rest of the class to laugh. Her hair is tied in a blonde ponytail today and she wears a tight fitting T-shirt with blue skinny jeans.

"Yeah it was. . . Fun," I trail off, looking away. My usual confident self deteriorating.

Avery watches me mischievously as Austin walks into the room, giving me a side glance as he stumbles to his seat. Today he wears a Panic! At The Disco tee with grey sweatpants. He has earbuds in as he sits in his seat. I keep my eyes on him but neither of us speak.

The bell rings and Avery sits in her own seat, looking between me and Austin one last time.

Austin keeps teaching me to ride, all the tips and tricks one would need to know. At school all we can do is stare. Our project is already done so when we do work on it together it's mostly silent. But then I show up on his little farm and he's talkative and smiley. I've come to like both sides of him in all honesty, maybe even a little too much.

He throws me on Flash again, him on the ground as he makes me run through the pattern after warm up.

I run to first, queuing the horse quickly. Flash turns in and I have to use my inside leg to keep off it. "Look up!" Austin shouts, loud as he can. My worst habit, but finally I do. Then to second, full speed ahead. We turn sharp and gallop to third. Another tight barrel before we run home.

"That was great!"

"What was my time?"

"Eighteen point nine zero one!"

I nod, "Again?"

"If you want."

There's a few more days of school left, essays get graded today in fact.

I run the pattern again, and it looks good but not any faster. "Ugh! I wanna beat you already!"

"Patience my friend, it's hard to beat the master," He laughs, petting Flash's forehead. "I have a show Thursday evening, wanna compete? I can pay for your run if you want."

My face heats up, "Y- You think I'm ready?"

"I know you are!" He laughs. A bright one filled with joy. His laugh is the best I've ever heard. Cute and childish. I want to show the world his amazing laugh.

"O- Ok, if you say so!"

"We have a lot of work to do then, let's run through one more time, k?"

"Ok, then will you run through?"

"Yeah, once or twice but he'll need a long cool down so I won't go full speed. Probably just a high lope."

I nod, turning Flash around for one final send.