Briarsridge Riding School

Chapter 28

People bustled in and out of the warm cafe, sending in drafts of colder air. I sipped my Chai latte, taking in the scene. Beautiful decorated booths and tables covered in red and green everything, bells jingling as other students walked by, and right in front of me, two very disgruntled guys glaring at each other. I sighed.

"Okay, so if this isn't going anywhere, then I'm just going to leave." I gathered up my things and pushed back my chair. "Mr. S didn't give us free food and drinks so we could glare at each other." Brandon followed me to the door.

"Hey, look I'm sorry. I just-I'm trying to restrain from socking the guy in the face. If you'll come back to the table I'll do my best to make conversation." He apologized, leaning on the door and keeping me from going out.

"Fine. But if there is more than a two minute silence I'm leaving." I huffed, walking back to my seat. Brandon took his original seat, this time not looking at Luke. I cleared my throat. "So how long has everybody been riding?" I asked, opening up the table. Brandon spoke up.

"Since I was 3. And since I'm 14, almost 15, that's somewhere around 12 years." He took a sip of his coffee.

"I've been riding for the same time, except I started when I was four." Luke said, looking at me and gesturing for me to answer my own question.

"Well, I've been riding since I was six, and I'm fourteen, so eight years." I took Luke's muffin from his plate and took a bite of it before placing it back in front of him.

"Hey! Did you pay for that?" He asked.

"Nope." I mumbled, my mouth full of chocolate chip muffin. "But neither did you, Prince Charming." I retorted.

"So what's something that you personally want Mr. S to tell us?" Brandon asked switching the subject, but not without chuckling first. "Personally, I want him to tell us why he chose us for the team. I want to know why he thought I was better than the other riders who didn't make it, and if there was anything I could improve upon." I nodded.

"Personally," Luke started just as a certain presence walked in and stood behind us. "I want Mr. S to tell us that his hair is fake and it's a toupee or something. Seriously, a man of his age can't naturally have that hair." He finished.

"Well, Luke," Mr. S boomed, scaring Luke so bad he fell out of his chair. "I would like you to know at the next lesson you will be using a special saddle so when you get tacked up come see me." He began to walk away. "And Luke, trainers must keep their hair secrets a secret." He added with a grin before leaving.

Luke sat in his chair, his face bright red. Brandon and I looked at each other, and burst into laughter. Luke joined in after a while, and by the time I managed to stop, I was short of breath and tears were running down my face.

"I miss this! I hung out with mostly guys in my home town, and we were constantly laughing or joking or getting in trouble. I have to go, I'll see you boys in the morning!" I picked up my bag and now cold chai and waved goodbye before stepping out into the cold of the outside air.

I arrived back in my dorm hall, only to see a note from Julia hanging on my door.

Hey Scarlett! When you get back, come to my room! I have something to ask you.... >:)
Jules

I didn't even bother to take the note off the door, unlocking it and walking into my room. I threw my stuff down into my navy blue bed cover, changing into grey sweatpants and a white tee, grabbing an old soccer team sweatshirt before leaving my room and knocking on my friend's door.

"Come on in!" I finished struggling putting on the hoodie and walked inside, greeted first by the aroma of brownies, and secondly with a warm hug.

"Hey Jules! Sorry, I got back about ten minutes ago, I really needed warmer clothes on. My poor Florida skin isn't used to this." Julie laughed, tugging me into her "living room" decorated with her team colors of maroon and white. "What's up?"

"Well, I got selected to help design the school's winter festival, and I'm having a complete brain freeze!" She handed me a plate of brownies, and motioned for me to take a seat. I sat down on a plush maroon beanbag, crossing my legs.

"Hmmm.... Any particular theme?" I took a bite of the brownie, looking Jules in the eye.

"Fire and ice. So obviously red and blue, or at least red color scheme versus blue color scheme, but like what activities and things?" She readied her notepad as I thought for a second.

"Well, you could do carriage rides through the woods with like a little light show of red and blue, and maybe we could see if the big lake would be safe to ice skate on." I took a breath. "And there could be different party rooms, like with board games and stuff and you can sign up in advance to reserve that room for like 1/2 hour?" I waited for my friend to finish writing before continuing. "And you could write Christmas cards to all your friends for a small fee each that we would deliver?" I looked at her. She gave me a grin before getting up.

"Hang on for a min. I'm keeping you here, how much food will you need?" She began to call the school delivery. I gave her a sly smile before continuing with ideas.

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Whew! So sorry that took forever, I couldn't think of a single thing to write for a while! Please tell me what you think, I love to hear advice and commentary from all my readers!