Endeavor

Chapter 4

"Maya... Maya! Wake up."

I felt someone shaking my shoulders and swatted at whoever was in front of me.

"Just a few more minutes." I sighed groggily, almost falling back into my slumber.

"Maya, you fell asleep in Magen's stall. It's 7:00."

At that point, my eyes snapped open to see bright red hair, standing in every which way. I immediately stood up and rubbed off all the hay that had attached itself to my hair and clothing.

I stroked Magen's side before stepping back and yawning.

"I guess I better get going." I sighed, starting to walk away.

"Wait!" Alys looked down at her hands before looking back up at me. "Me and Glory were going to go to her house for a little, and she was wondering if maybe you wanted to come?"

I grinned, hearing my friend's name, "Sure! Are we leaving right from the barn?"

"Yeah, Glory's just in the office. Come on!" Alys beckoned for me to follow, before cantering to the office.

I smiled, and followed after Alys's lead, and picked up a canter as well.

As we neared the office, I could see Glory's blonde hair glinting through the windows. Alys opened the door for me before plopping herself down on the desk. 

"My mom's getting here any minute. I got some new jumps too, so prepare to eat my dust." Glory stuck her tongue out at me. 

It was a tradition, whenever we went to Glory's house, that we would set up all of her jumps in a mini course in her living room and compete against each other. Glory was the best at straight-forward courses, but I was by far the champion at jumpers. 

Glory's mom pulled into the barn parking lot, and all three of us raced to the car. Alys reached shotgun first and stuck her tongue out at us as she climbed into the car. 

The drive to Glory's house was fast, as the giant brick house loomed before us. All three of us walked inside, talking about horses and professional riders. 

"Beezie Madden is by far the best rider I've ever seen. Although she mainly does jumpers, she would probably be a beast in equitation." Glory sighed. 

"I have to agree with you." Alys and I nodded in agreement.

"Let's set up the jumps! I can't wait to beat you guys in everything." Glory smirked.

"On one condition." Glory and I looked at each other nervously before looking back at Alys. "We have to do a high jump competition." 

"I don't see any harm in that." But that was my mistake. 

All of us warmed up over a tiny vertical before setting up a small crossrails course with two outside lines and two diagonal lines. 

Glory went first and took her time with the jumps but got all of the strides. The rest of us did the same thing as Glory, so we didn't take too much energy right away. 

We spread out and raised the jumps up six to seven holes to the top few holes. A few oxers were added for an extra challenge. 

The course was a straight forward outside, bending, outside, diagonal. Glory went first and almost knocked the second jump of the bending. 

Alys went second and cleared everything by miles, adding in some long distances to make our hearts stop. When I went, I took my sweet time, almost throwing myself over the jumps. 

After a few more courses and fun jumpers, we got to the high jump. We started at 2'6 and decided to go from there. 

Right off the bat, Alys fell over the jump, knocking the whole thing. 

"Looks like you're out, Alys." Glory grinned triumphantly.

"Nuh uh uh. Not so fast. I get another turn, as that, was in fact, on purpose." Alys went around and cleared it after we set it back up.

When we got to 3'9, Glory refused before barely clearing it, and Alys and I cleared it easily. 

Glory knocked it twice at 4'3 and Alys and I kept going up.

I stared down the 4'9 jump as I got ready to hurdle over it. 3, 2, 1, and I was in the air and gliding over the jump. When I landed, my hand flew back and hit the pole out of place. 

"Looks like someone's out." Alys sang. 

"Did you not see that I landed it and my hand hit it?" I questioned. 

"Nope!" Alys said cheerfully.

"I would suggest finding the nearest eye doctor because you must be blind." I joked.

Alys flew over the jump easily, and I almost already knew I was out. 

Alys cleared 5' before knocking 5'3. We called it a night after that and put away all of the jumps. All of us sat down around the table to Glory's mom's chicken and rice. 

That night, I knew I had found my two new best friends. 

(I have found out that I can't upload on Wednesdays :( )