Managing the Swans

Chapter 1

Rolling the stable door open and turning the lights on I am met with the horse's heads looking at me from their box doors. Stepping into the feed room I pick up the morning feeds and start tipping them into the feeders. The chewing of the horses fills the shed as I unlock the gear room and grab the key to the bike.

Throwing the hay and feeds out for the paddocked horses I get to watch as the sun rises, and the paddocks get light up slowly.

Back to the stables, I start saddling up Atticus, my first horse of the morning. The radio plays in the background, the music filling the quiet of the stable. This is the time that I enjoy the most, the time before all the students start flooding the campus. Leading Atticus out to the arena I glance back to see some of the teachers arriving. Getting on I start my warming up, beginning my workday.

4 horses worked later I take a break, putting the worked horses out into their day yards. Finally getting a chance to sit down I open my computer to check my emails and messages from the stable webpage.

"Update required on ..." Send that later. Horse is fine.

"Feed change for ..." Again, really?

"... entered ... competition for... in the ..." That's too high for that rider.

"Feed delivery arriving on ... at ... This delivery includes ..." Good. I was running low on that.

"Farrier came to see ... Please pay invoice." Send to owner.

Email after email passes the screen as I field them from most urgent to 'they can wait'. Wow. Some of these owner's get a bit overwhelming.

"Gosh, she's not even here. I don't know why we even bother paying her for anything." Whispers leak through the door from the walkway. The hushed sounds can only mean that students have begun to filter down to the stables before their first lesson. Most of the girls only come down in the morning to take photos so they can post them to their social media to make it seem like they are do something. But they are just all money, fancy expensive show gear, and top-level horses that they can't ride. Then they board the horse and make someone else do all the work. That person being me, taking all the blame if they think something is wrong.

I don't even bother to go outside to acknowledge the girls. They'll only give me dirty looks and sneer at my messy clothing. You try to stay clean when around horses. At least they aren't as bad as the girls back home.

Their voices fade away again as I get up off my chair, eyes starting to strain from trying to translate everything I see. The school bell rings throughout the stables just as I receive a message. Sighing, I pull my phone out of my pocket and read the text.

Great, now the principle needs me. Rolling my eyes, I start my way around the back of the school to the offices.

I'm greeted by the kind smile of the receptionist as I walk through the double doors of the front of the school. "Hi Miss Kimura, I got a message from Mr Hayashi about wanting to speak with me."

"Oh yes, he is in his office waiting for you." She can obviously see the worry on my face as her gaze softens further. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble. You know that he really likes having you around."

"Thanks Miss Kimura."

I step up to the office door and give it a quick knock. Hearing Mr Hayashi's voice from inside I enter and take a seat at his desk.

"Miss Carpenter, good to see you again. Thank you for coming up so quickly." Mr Hayashi's voice is slightly rough, but his eyes are soft as he looks at me from across the desk. "I wanted to check in with you and see how you are going now that the school term has set in."

"It's been a little different having the other students on campus, but I haven't really had any trouble." I decide to not mention the rude students, I can handle them myself. "I'm not having any trouble with the schoolwork, it's actually nice to have something else to do if I'm being honest."

The principal just watches me for a moment, he almost seems to toss a few things round in his mind before opening his mouth again to speak. "I'm glad that everything is going well. If you have nothing else that you need from me, I just have a few things that you need to read over and sign before you head back to the stables."

"I'm sure I can do that." I smile at him as we both get up from our chairs. He makes his way around the desk and out the door, getting a packet from Miss Kimura on the way past.

"You can use this room here to finish everything, you won't be disturbed whilst classes are in session." Placing the packet on the table along with a pen he makes his way back out of the room. Silence envelopes the room after the door closes as I sit in the chair and start looking at the paperwork.

Half an hour later all the papers are completed and signed. I am so glad that they translated it into English for me, it would have taken 3 times as long if I had to do it all in Japanese.

"Thanks Miss Kimura, is it alright if I leave these papers with you?"

Miss Kimura looks up at me over her computer screen. "Sure thing, sweetheart. And, so you know, the bell is about to ring so the halls are going to be crowded."

"Okay, thank you." Great, just what I need, hallways filled with uptight teenagers.

The bell rings just as I step out of the office, seconds later the door to the classrooms slide open and students start to enter the hallway. And with just my luck, I must exit through the back doors to get back to the stables.

I get weird looks as I pass by students, either for looking like a foreigner (I am) or for not being in the stuck-up school uniform (breeches are more comfortable anyway). As I get closer to the centre of the school the halls become so crowded that I have to start pushing my way through, which only gets me more strange looks.

Just as I am about to push past another student they step out of the way and scamper off to the wall. Glancing around I notice that all the bodies that were pushing against each other trying to get to their next class are now pushed up against the wall of the hallway leaving the middle completely clear. Looking up the now clear walkway I can now see a cluster of tall bodies making their way through the cleared passage. Great, they seriously do this for the populars. Rolling my eyes, I continue down the now unobstructed hallway, as I get closer the figures get clearer. The boys are dressed in the standard uniform, nothing really stands out as the reasoning behind their popularity. The only thing a bit different about the ones I can see is that they are tall by Japanese standards, and they appear to be fit. As I get closer the olive haired one at the front makes eye contact with me, holding it until I walk right through the middle of their little group not missing a beat. I'm not going to let a group of rich jocks make me back down, not again. Keeping my eyes forward I get through their group and finally make my way back to the stables, sitting down to do my schoolwork.

What I didn't notice was the soft curious gazes of said rich jocks following me as I pass by them without a care before they share small smiles with each other as they walk off again.