Mounting up

Chapter 9

"Thanks again." I say smiling as Kayden drops me off at my dorm. He gave my hand a squeeze. "How about a second date next week sometime?" He asked. "We'll see." I reply, my eyes twinkling brightly. He nods and leaves once Paige opens the door.

Paige squeals. "How was it?" She demands as I place my purse on my bed. "Oh it was dreamy! He took me off campus to the Cheesecake Factory then we watched a movie in the media hall on campus. After we sat in the courtyard for awhile and watched the stats!" I replied, staring off into space.
"Aw! Sounds awesome!" She sighs as she hangs my jacket in my closet.

I got dressed in PJs and together Paige and I sat down in front of the TV to watch some Teen Wolf. "He's hot." Paige sighed, engrossed in the TV show. "You said that about every guy in this show." I pointed out, my eyes not moving from the TV. "But... I can't help it that they're all so hot.." She giggles. "Someone's a playa'." I laugh. "That's rude." She faked a mock hurt look.

I giggled and flicked a piece of popcorn at her. It landed in her hair. Untangling it from her hair, she popped it into her mouth and a small smile appeared when the buttery goodness reached her tastebuds. "Ewwwww. It could've had hair on it!" I make a disgusted face.

Paige laughs as the credits roll. "Bedtime." She yawns and stretches as she shuts off the TV. "Aw." I pouted. Paige giggles "It's school tomorrow and it's your first riding lesson tomorrow morning." At this prospect I brightened up and snuggled under my covers.

She takes out her glow-in-the dark retainer and places it on her bedside table. I lean down from the top bunk and say "Goodnight Paige!" "Goodnight Eleanor!" She replies. I lean down and flick the lights off. I snuggle back under the covers and fall asleep quickly.

I pull on my riding boots, while Paige buttons up her plum breeches. I walk over to the full length mirror and gaze at my reflection. Frizzy blonde hair is tucked into a ponytail, dark brown eyes stare into the mirror, accented by gold eyeshadow. A thin coat of lipgloss and my face is perfection. I finger the soft fabric of my gray athletic wear t-shirt from Fabletics.com. The gray cotton shirt is pared with dark navy breeches. I look professional, the navy breeches neatly tucked into shiny leather riding boots.

Paige comes to stand beside me. I look at her outfit, silently approving her fashion choices. Flat-ironed dark red hair falls past her shoulders. Green eyes sparkle in the dawn sunlight, her eyes being accented with peach eyeshadow. I glance down to her white athletic wear t-shirt that also happens to be from Fabletics.com. Her plum coloured breeches match nicely, complimenting the boring white t-shirt and the scuffed riding boots.

"Ready to go?" I pause before opening the door. "Yep." She makes her way out of the door. Once at the stable, I grabbed everything I needed. I arrived at Elle's stall, and I cooed to her "Hey baby girl."

Her ears perked up and she woke up from her napping position, laying down on the soft bedding in her stall. I latched myself in and judged by the stable's early morning craziness; it would be better to groom and tack her up in her stall. I squeezed her foreleg and she did as commanded, lifted up her right front hoof so I could pick it. I picked all her shoes and instead of giving her a quick groom, I full-on pampered her with brushing.

"Elle needs a bath." I thought to myself as I evened out the saddle pad. After putting on the half-pad I plonked the brown leather BUTET jumping saddle on top. I tightened the girth and after buckling up my helmet, I re-checked the girth.

"Ready to go?" I asked Paige. "Ready!" She echoed back. With the reins in one hand I led Elle out of the stall and down the stable's main aisle. I mounted her in the arena and smiled to myself when I saw the familiar surroundings. I started warming up.

I took Elle through some laps around the arena. Throughly engrossed in Elle's movements, I was suprised when Mr.Rossi's voice broke the silence in the arena. "Good Morning Riders!" He says cheerfully, the early-morning sun glinting off his navy-blue polo. On the left breast, in gold stitching, the polo said: WPET ((Windsor Preparatory Equestrian Teams)) and underneath that it said: Senior Varsity Riding Team.

A couple people groaned and gave a half-hearted wave. I gave a full-wave, being a morning person. . Elle snorted and pawed the ground as a good-morning to Mr.Rossi. His smile widens. "And good morning to you to Elle." He gives a little laugh.

An hour later, I'm back in my dorm room, getting changed into a school outfit. "Skirt or pants?" I ask, holding the two bottom choices up against me. "Hm. I think personally it's a little chilly out but that skirt matches your eyes better." Paige comments, giving me a once-over.

I chose the skirt and tug it on. The A-line skirt looks great with my lavender key-hole top. On my feet I was wearing black leather flats. "Ready for the Windsor Preparatory craziness?" She paused before opening the doors to the cafeteria hall. "Ready." I grinned, pursed my lips and entered the cafeteria hall.

Paige and I piled our tray high with waffles, whip creams, strawberries and sausages. We each took milk as our drink and before we left the line, We swiped our meal-cards. We found a table and sat down beside Nicole. "I'm baaaack!" I called brightly. Nicole grinned. "I can't believe it! I missed you so much!" She cried as she hugged me tightly. I squeezed back tightly.

After a short reunion and eating some well-deserved food, we stood up together and walked towards the dirty tray line-up. "Hey. Have you seen Brittany since you've came back?" Nicole asks, handing her dirty tray to one of the dish-washing people. "No I haven't. I texted her." I responded, my stomach churning. "That's odd. When you were gone, Brittany talked every econd day of how much she missed you." Paige commented. I hand my tray over to a dishwasher person and say "Well maybe I'll see her in one of my classes today." I replied, the unease I felt about Brittany building by the second.

"That's true. You and me have the morning classes together along with Brittany--"

"And in the afternoon, Nicole and I share all of our classes together but not with Brittany." I interrupted Paige. She sent me a mock glare. We paused before entering the Biology class room. Nicole smiled and said "I'll see you guys at lunch, OK?" We nodded and Nicole left for her first class of the day.

We entered the biology classroom and right away, I spotted Brittany. She was sitting with a couple friends from cooking; some I reckonized, some I didn't. Leaving Paige to grab our desks, I sauntered over to Brittany.

"Hi Brittany! I'm back! I got accepted again!" I smiled brightly. Brittany loosely tossed a smile towards me. She turned back towards her little possé. "Isn't that great girls; Little Miss Flawless is back!" Brittany said, her voice dripping with coldness and sarcasm. Her little group of Asian girls snickered. Brittany turned back to me. "I don't want to hear about you're flawless anymore. Go tell it to someone who cares!" She snarled. Hurt and betrayed, I speed-walked back over to Paige.

Paige having seen the whole thing, pulled me into a soothing a hug while I tried to put the tears back in. Tears slowly fell down my face. I wasn't crying but the tears were leaking. Mr.Wyatt walked into the biology classroom. "Good Morning Biology 8!" He bellowed as a few stragglers scrambled to desks. "Good Morning Mr.Wyatt!" We replied in unison. He smiled and said "I'd like to welcome any new students we have today. May your years at Windsor Preparatory be the best years of your life!"

The class cheered and Paige squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. "Now! Let's get started. Please flip to 164 in the textbook!" He demanded. Paige opened up her textbook; I followed suite. "Who would like to read the text on Pg. 164 to 165?" He asked. My hand flew up. "Thank you, Miss.Hastings." He accepted my hand.

Taking a deep breath, I felt the eyes of my classmates burning holes in my head from staring at me. I could hear Brittany's group snicker quietly. I swallowed.

No. I could do this. With a breath of courage, I started reading.