Stillwater Equestrian Academy

Chapter 17

Three days until the rodeo.

I woke up groggy. I looked at the time. It was four in the afternoon. I sat up in my bed and looked around. Everyone was scattered in the room, asleep. I gently shook Maddie awake because I didn't wanna wake everyone up.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes. She looked at me. "Stevie, you're awake! Everyone, she's awake!"

That's not what I wanted.

Everyone woke up. Mom came over to me, sat down in front of me, and hugged me.

"How do you feel, Sweetie?" Mom asked.

"Better." I said. "What's everyone doing here? And why was everyone sleeping in this room?"

"Everything was cancelled because of you giving blood last night. We wanted to make sure you were doing good. We can't lose you. You're much to valuable to lose."

"Thanks guys. But I'm fine. Y'all ain't gonna lose me. I promise y'all that."

Barbara came over to me and gave me a physical to make sure I was ok.

"Stevie, I want you to take it easy for the rest of the day." Barbara said. "Tomorrow you can get back to training. Ok?"

"Yep. I will, Barbara. I promise."

"Good Stevie."

Dad came over to me and gave me a hug as well. He looked at his watch. "In the meantime, we're ordering pizza for dinner. It'll be here in about seven minutes now. So you woke up just in time. You up for it, Honey?"

"Yep Dad, I am. Sounds great to me."

"Good Honey." He kissed my forehead.

Just then a knock sounded on the door. Casey opened the door, paid the bill, and took the pizza and the sodas. We sat there and ate our pizza and drank our sodas. Then I picked up my guitar and started playing. I sang a few country songs. Then they all dispersed to their own rooms, they took the trash with them so I wouldn't have to deal with it.

I put my guitar down and picked up my CD player and listened to my music while I went back to sleep. I knew I'd be back to my old self by the next day. But I couldn't sleep. So I went for a walk instead. I took my weapons with me. Plus a few EpiPens. I went to the hotel's gym and got on the treadmill and ran. After that, I got on the bike and peddled in order to stop my legs from hurting. I needed the exercise. When I was done, I went back to my room and showered. I changed into another set of pajamas. I then began reading my book where I left off. Then I began doing a crossword puzzle. But I was getting bored. There wasn't much I could do. So I had no choice but to try and sleep. But I still wasn't tired. I needed something to put me to sleep. So I watched a boring movie... It, by Stephen King. Soon I was out like a light.
*****
Two days until the rodeo.

The next day I was back at work, training for the rodeo.

I added the scissors move, the handstand, the arial splits, spinning on the top of my head, the one leg stand, the mill, the flag, the knee spin, and etc. We added some fighting moves as well. That's Tai Chi and karate were added as well.

Everyone else followed suit until we all had it down pat. Then we added everything together, finishing with a dance through and a drop to our knees with our hands up in the air and the flag above my head. The flag twirlers held the flags above their heads. The knife twirlers head the knives above their heads. The pistol twirlers held their pistols above their heads. The rifle twirlers held the rifles above their heads. The rope twirlers held the ropes above their heads. The fire dancers held fire poi above their heads. And the light dancers held light poi above their heads. Yeah, we were breathing hard, but it was worth it.