Dreams

Nine: Do I?

Zara's POV:
Monday morning.
I don't like Monday's.
School starts again.
I have to wake up early and I have to study. A lot.
I was currently sitting in history class listening to the teacher talking about World War II.
I didn't mind history that much. But it was second period on Monday morning and I was tired. I felt my eyes close right before someone tapped my shoulder from the side.
"You good?" It was Thomas.
"Yes, just tired." I replied with a slight smile on my face. He smiled back and I turned my attention back to the front of the classroom where the teacher was.

After another hour history class was finally finished. I packed my bag and made my way to my locker. I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder.
Thomas, again.
"Oh hey! Do you need something?" I asked.
"Yeah, do you have time to work on the project after school today? We could go to my house if you're okay with that." He asked. Thomas always spoke with surety and confidence. I wish I could do that sometimes, I never know what to say.
"Yes! That would be good, you know since we're a bit behind but that's fine!" I replied. "Can we do it around 16;00 tho if u don't mind." I asked.
"Yeah sure! I'll text you my address later okay?" He said.
"Sure! See you later!" I said
"Bye!" He said walking away with a smile on his face.

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I ended school early, around 13:00 so when I got home I changed quickly and went to the stables.
"Hey Frank!" I said happily.
"Oh hello Zara!" The old man said, turning around to face me.
"Do you need help with the stables?" I asked.
"Oh no, go ride, it's perfect weather today!" He said.
"Okay! See you later!" I walked outside to get Diomedes from the field.
I only had to ride one horse today, so that would be perfect since I had to go to Thomas' house and do some other school work.

I rode Diomedes, I mainly worked on getting him relaxed and stretching him.
When I first started riding him he was very lean and had a bad outline, but it's has been getting a lot better. He's a very trustable horse and feels safe and fun to ride. Frank said he will sign us in for a competition in a few weeks.
We won't start very high, but that's fine since he's still young.
He's been improving a lot over the past few weeks, and you can see he's already gained a bit of muscle, especially on his neck and behind.

After cooling Diomedes down and cleaning everything up I went home.
I quickly took a shower and changed into a normal outfit before quickly heading out the door to get to Thomas' place on time.

I biked over to the address he sent me and rang the doorbell. A girl, around the age of 8 opened te door. She has dark blonde hair and the same blue eyes Thomas has.
"Hello! I'm Jess." She said.
"Hey! I'm Zara." I replied.
I heard someone come down the stairs and a few seconds later Thomas was standing behind his little sister.
"Hey, come in!" He said.
I walked inside.
We walked through a glass door toward the living room. A woman around the age of 45 was sitting on the couch.
"Hello, you must be Zara. I'm Joanne." She introduced herself.
"Yes, nice to meet you." I replied.
"Uhm, we're heading upstairs now to work on our project, see you later mum." Thomas said.
I followed him up the stairs into his room.
The room was mainly white with one dark blue wall, onto the wall there were several pictures of him with his family, friends and at the track. On the wall opposite of the door there was a shelve with several trophies.

"You're rooms nice." I said, sitting down on his desk chair.
"Thanks!" He said, sitting down on the bed.
We talked a bit more before starting to work on the project. Although we didn't get a lot done due to keeping our conversation going and joking around.
I don't think I've laughed that much in a while, it was nice.
"So, you ride horses, right?" Thomas said after a moment of silence.
"Yes, I ride three horses at a farm for an older man. It's fun!" I said.
"How did you get there?" He asked.
"Oh well, my old trainer knew the man a bit and she knew he was searching for someone to ride his horses so that's how we came into contact." I said. "How's racing going?" I asked. Thomas had told me about him racing in British formula 4 before, basically everyone in school knew since it's not very common.
"It's great honestly! I started racing for Rodin Carlin this season and it's going pretty well." He said.
"That's nice, do you like racing?" I asked him. I felt like he knew what is was like to hate your sport sometimes whilst also loving it.
"Yeah I do, but sometimes I just wonder what I really like about it you know. I mean I do like it but it's very hard sometimes, I'm just afraid I won't be able to keep my seat." He replied.
"Yeah I get that, at least as far as I get racing." I replied with a chuckle.

I looked at my phone; "21:45".
"I should probably head home, it's getting late." I said.
Thomas looked up at me. "Oh yeah, I'll walk you downstairs."
We headed down the stairs and I said my goodbyes to his mother and sister before putting my coat on.
I opened the door and turned around facing Thomas.
"I'll see you at school tomorrow." I said.
He looked down at me his face pretty close to mine, without saying anything. I looked into his eyes.
"Oh, yeah, see you tomorrow." He said, standing up straight again, a slight blush creeping onto his face.
"Bye!" I waved before biking off.
What had just happened?

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I made my way to Olivia's house, I hadn't been to her house for a while. It was already late but my dad wasn't home and my mom probably wouldn't care that much if I was at Olivia's.

I knocked onto the door, her mom opened.
I said hi to her and her dad before heading up the stairs towards her room.
Olivia had a nice and cozy room. Three of the walls were white and one was dark green with string light and a lot of Polaroid pictures.
"Hey!" She said. Olivia was always enthusiastic and energetic.
"Hey! Long time no see." I joked.
"Sooo, how was it?" She said with a wink.
Bree and Liv both think Thomas likes me. I really don't know anymore to be honest. But, do I like him?
"It was fine okay, nothing happened!" I said.
I thought back to what happened when I left, blushing slightly.
"You're blushing! You totally like him!" Liv exclaimed, as if she'd won the most important debate in her life.

"I don't know. Do I?"

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"In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different."

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Authors note:
Hope you guys liked this chapter! Do you want more chapters like this or ones more focused on horses etc or friends, school etc?