Together we fly

Chapter IV

I went back into Moms Guest apartment. I didn't wanna go back into my room just yet. I was scared to meet the other candidates just yet, we'd be competitors after all, and roommates. But mainly competitors. I was scared one of them would treat me like shit the whole week. "I'm nervous Mama." I sighed. Mom pressed her lips together and asked me: "Why. You have nothing to be nervous about." She looked at me, a bit worried but had that typical ice blue fire in her eyes. "I'm scared they won't like me. My roommates I mean." I sighed. Mom gave a playful pat on my shoulder. "They won't, they're just as nervous as you- don't worry about it." she smiled and I stood up. "You're right. It'd be weird when I just wouldn't arrive there in time." I said ready to leave.  "One thing-" said Mom. "Yes?" I said turning back. "Have fun... enjoy yourself, kay?" said Mom, and I nodded. Before I walked over- what felt like an eternity to the dormitory buildings. I entered the room again, and there she stood. A blonde haired girl with two pearl earrings, she had a phone case of some high- end brand. Her whole appearance looked like she came straight out of Gossip Girl, mine and Amy's favourite series. She was talking to her friend over the telephone, she had to be from one of the French speaking areas in Canada. Since she spoke French over the phone. She hung up a minute later. Before looking me up and down. Scrunching her small button nose. "And who might you be." she asked and I was surprised on her accent- free English. "Charlotte. I'm auditioning." I replied in my nicest voice. "Mhm, showjumping or dressage." she asked as if it was a question to judge me on, based of my answer. "Uh what?" I asked. "Are you auditioning in showjumping or Dressage." she sighed, speaking so slowly as if I was deaf. "Uhm showjumping." I answered. "Uh- huh." she nodded before shaking the hand I had hold out for her. "Elya." she said quickly before turning back to her phone. "Do you know if it's only us or if we get another roommate?" I asked her. She looked a bit confused before saying: "Everything's packed with students. So I'm sure we'll get another roommate." she said, and the tone of her voice made me sound stupid. "I wonder how they can tolerate this tardiness here." she said and pointed on our roommate. Or lack there off. But in that moment a girl barged into the room with her big family. "This is the room. I think." said the girl. She was a tall African American girl. Her hair was braided into two box braids. She had brought her Mother, father and some of- what I assumed were uncles and aunts, as-well. She kissed each and everyone goodbye, before climbing on the top bunk. "Uhm- your family has gotten dirt on the floor." said the blonde haired girl. "Oh- man I'm so sorry." she sighed and facepalmed. "It's no problem." I quickly intervened. "I think they have a cleaning service here." I smiled. And the girl immediately began to shake everyone's hands. "I'm Claire." she smiled at the blonde haired girl. Who pulled back her hand. "Claire nice to meet you." she said as she shook my hand. "Charlotte." I replied with a smile. "Do you guys have your own horses here?" she suddenly asked. "Yea." said Elya, the small blonde haired girl. "Oh that's cool- me too." said Claire. I shook my head, and gained a judgy look from Elya. For a moment there was an awkward silence before Elya stood up and went outside. "Where did she go?" I asked. "I think the buffet." said Claire. Before climbing down her bunk bed. "Do you wanna see my horse." she said while smiling. "Uh sure." I said while smiling. I followed her. Her horse was a beautiful black pinto with white- ish blue eyes. "He's pretty." I said. "Yup, I know he is - he's a Dutch Warmblood. His name is Cat Blue." she smiled softly. "Cute- I have a Horse too." I smiled. "Really- oh my god show me." said Claire exited. I showed her a photo of Delilah. My palomino with the golden dappled coat and the dark brown eyes. Claire covered her mouth. "Oh my god- she's so pretty. What's her name?" Claire asked exited. "Daily Delilah K." I said. "Daily Delilah K..." she repeated in awe. "I think I should go to the Buffet aswell. The whole running around Campus has made me hungry." I replied, and it was true. Claire reminded me of my friend at home. Amy. I walked back to the house. I didn't look back at Claire. I found her a bit annoying though I knew that was hypocritical. I saw Elya sitting alone in a corner and I grabbed a bit of cake and a Bologna sandwich. She made some space for me. Not that I expected that. "What do you think about Claire." she suddenly asked and I was taken aback by the sudden question. "She's a bit much, but I'm sure she's just nervous." I asked, not trying to sound too harsh on Claire. She was 12 or maybe 13 so I didn't want to judge her as bad as I would judge someone who was my age or older. "I think she's annoying." said Elya blatantly. I gasped, and she chuckled. "But she's a child." I sighed. "Doesn't change a thing." said Elya, tapping on her phone while eating cake. "So you have a horse here." I tried to change the topic. She nodded and scrunched her nose again. "You don't." she said ironically. I nodded. "What kinda horse." I asked. She sighed, a bit annoyed at me probably. "Bay Pony, his name is Dexter."she explained and showed me a photo of a pony with one of the best trots I had ever seen. She didn't even had to mention that he was a dressage pony. "What's his heritage." I asked. "You probably won't know but his father is Dallmayr K, grandfather is a Welsh Pony." she sighed. I truly didn't understand her pony's lineage. She got up and left. And I just sat there, some girls said there in groups of three, and a flock of around fifteen boys sat on the other side of the cafeteria. Suddenly I got sad. Everyone seemed to get along pretty well with each other. Not me and my roommates though. Elya seemed to be more of a loner and Claire was super bubbly and made me kinda nervous. I would have to wait until tomorrow to meet my horse too. So there was nothing really to do, or was there?I looked around, there was a pin board in the cafeteria, one of them was a chart with all horse names and where they stood. I quickly took a photo, it couldn't hurt knowing where each of the horses stood. At first I looked at a Gelding named Fizz, he was a chestnut with a huge white streak. He had a sign with his name age and lineage on it. 'First- Class Hero' was his full name and he was 13 years old. Then I looked at a grey Mare, who looked shockingly similar to Samson, my trainers horse. Her name was Sommerflüstern, she was a 7 year old Trakener mare. I looked at most of the other lesson horses as well. All seemed to be well cleaned and you could barely tell that they were lesson horses. All had a sign with their name, heritage, age and breed on them. The rest of the evening was over quickly I walked around with Mom and she was amazed by all the horses- especially a dark bay Stallion named 'Tornado V.' since he was a grandson of the legendary Totilas. She was just a bit perplexed when I told her, that I wouldn't be riding any of the Dressage horses.
The next morning rolled around and I was awakened by Elya's alarm. Claire still seemed to be sleeping, but Elya was up and running in Khaki breeches and a black shirt. I woke up Claire, who seemed to be a bit Grumpy in the morning. Before I dressed myself. I chose a soft pink T-shirt, that made my caramel coloured hair, with the few blonde strands look elegant and well rounded. And some navy blue riding breeches, before washing my face and applying some Mascara and lipgloss, I slept well, surprisingly, so my Eye-bags weren't as heavy as they were yesterday.  Before I ran down the stairs among the flock of boys that I had already seen yesterday. I went into the Cafeteria and grabbed some breakfast, a stack of three pancakes with jam, and a bologna sandwich, with dark bread. There were no tables in the cafeteria though, since the breakfast took place outside today. I spotted Mom outside and sat next to her. "I still hope you get that dark brown stallion." she said, teasingly. "What was his name again? Tornado?" she chuckled. "Mom." I said embarrassed because Claire and Elya weren't far away, and I didn't want them to hear my mom's comments about the horses. I secretly hoped to get Fizz, the chestnut gelding. He seemed to be experienced. Suddenly Mrs. August, Ms. Bouchard and another Male teacher whose name I didn't know appeared on the podium, that we head seen the speech at yesterday. "Good morning, dear esteemed students and dear parents, today will be an exiting day for all our students. The first day of the auditions will always be the most exciting but also the most nerve wracking day. So I advise any of our students to get a good breakfast and not drive themselves too crazy." Mrs August smiled. "Another exciting event today is getting to meet your horses. Well for those who didn't brought their own horse." Mrs. August said. "Let's begin." she said, and handed Ms. Bouchard the Microphone. "We'll start with the showjumping class." Ms Bouchard packed out a list. "Okay I'm starting with Mister Joel Adkins." A boy with red hair and dark eyes stood up. "Your horse for the week is- Cover Girl." The boy sat back down again. "Next we have- let me look." she took a long look at the paper. "Miss Charlotte Asmus." That was me, it took me a few seconds to realise that they just had called my name. I stood up and could feel eyes burning on my skin. "Your horse is Sommerflüstern, she stands in barn I, Box 4 on the right side." I smiled. That was the mare that looked so similar to Samson. Mom looked a bit perplexed. "Who's that again?" she asked. "The grey mare next to the chestnut." I answered. I didn't know how to feel about Sommerflüstern just yet. I just hoped she wouldn't be too difficult to ride. Maybe like Samson, or no- I had problems with Samson when I first rode him. He even bucked me off a few times. Mom suddenly tapped my shoulder. "Go make yourself familiar with that horse. I'll stay here and tell you everything later." said Mom. She knew how nervous I was when I first rode Samson so she wanted me to be more confident when I rode Sommerflüstern. I ran to the stable. There she stood. A beautiful grey mare- she was tall and had dark mischievous eyes. I looked in the tack room. She had a dark brown saddle and a normal English snaffle with a simple D-ring. That had to be a good sign- they didn't have to use heavy bits on her. However dark brown just wasn't my colour. But who'd care anyways. I don't think they would throw me out of blue Mountain because my boots were a different colour than the rest of the equipment.

A few minutes later the other students came flooding in- among with their parents and friends. "Charlotte. Go get Sommerflüstern ready... you are second in the parcour." said Mom. "Really?" I asked. "Yes, they start at 9:30." said Mom. We had- wait 8:45. "Mom grab the saddle I need some time to prepare myself for Sommerflüstern." I yelled. Normally I wouldn't yell at Mom, cause she took that personal. But she knew how stressed I was. So she helped me get the saddle on Sommerflüstern, which for the past few minutes we only called Sommi. Three minutes later I sat on her and Mom brought me into the indoor arena to warm up. I began walking and trotting. Her walk was something to get used to. But her trot was comfortable to sit. Then I began cantering. She was a fast horse, faster than Samson, but a bit heavier than Delilah. I than began jumping over a small, around 80cm vertical. In that case she was similar to Samson. She overjumped a lot, and I had to give her space so she wouldn't jump me out of the tack. But she had a nice stride going. Then it was here. The Moment, I was invited into the outdoor arena to look at the jumps. They weren't high but the parcour was complex. Two combinations, 1 sharp turn, oxers and triples. Though it was nothing I hadn't seen before it was still scary. I calculated the strides I needed- though I took one stride away since Sommi was so much bigger than the other horses. I knew the red haired boy was before me. I watched his round from Sommis back. He knocked a pole. "10 centimetres higher." said Miss Bouchard. And some helpers set the jumps ten centimetres higher. The jumps now stood at 125cm and the boy knocked two poles. "Enough." said Miss Bouchard, and the boy left the arena. The guys set the jumps to 115 again. Now was the Moment I had to ride. I began cantering, then I took an elegant turn towards the first jump. "One two three- jump." I told myself. The stride was good- not perfect but good. The next jump was trickier it was a sharp turn into a combination. I tried to make the turn a bit broader but my line still ended up crooked. I didn't knock anything though which I could than Sommi for. Than the Oxer, this turn was easy, after that followed a straight line into the combination, my distance wasn't as good as usual since the jumps stood close together but it had to suffice. The rest of the parcour went smooth. "Make the jumps higher 25cm." said Mrs. Bouchard before whispering: "Try to overjump that." . Wait- that would be 135cm?! I barely ever jumped that high. Not to mention with another Horse than Delilah. I quickly remembered what my trainer said "The higher the jumps get the more the horse will run, let it run." It made sense, Sommi was a fast horse I'd have to let her run- give her enough space and count my strides. I cantered again- this time it was more of a gallop than a canter. Then we jumped- or flew.Every single jump after that I felt closer to the sky. I continued the parcour with my fullest concentration and I was so happy when it was over and I didn't knock a pole.Mrs.Bouchard smiled. The other teachers looked at me kind off shocked but wrote something down. "Enough. Good job Miss Charlotte."said the male teacher and I rode Sommi off the arena.