Silverstone: Perfection is Not Enough

Chapter 3

"Jumpers?"

"Yep."

"Socks?"

"Yep."

"Phone?"

I take my phone out of my pocket and wave it around, making sure mum can see it in the rear view mirror. "Yes. Mum, I checked everything. Three times."

She sighs. "I know. But I can't help worrying."

"I know. Do you know how long it'll be until we arrive?"

"About half an hour, sweetie."

I sit back in the leather seat, looking out of the car window. Two hours before, I'd said my last goodbyes to Lilly and my other friends from school. The night before, I'd said bye to Debbie, Leanne and Blue. They'd cried, I'd cried, but now, the excitement has started to kick in, and I can't wait until we get there.

"Have you phoned your dad?" Mum asks. 

"Um, I'll do that now," I say, and find dad's contact. He hasn't been able to come as he's at work,  but I'd promised to phone. 

"Hello?"

"Hey dad," I say.

"Jessica! Are you there?"

"Nearly. Is everything good at work?"

"Yes, it's all fine. Good luck, honey. Just give it your all."

"Thanks dad. I'll ring you later."

"See you soon."

I ring off and put my phone back in my backpack. It holds my stuff like some books, a Horse & Hound magazine, and, obviously, my phone. So, just stuff to keep me occupied. It had worked for the last two hours, but now I was completely and utterly bored.

"So mum, where exactly is the school?"

"Well, to be honest, it's in the middle of nowhere. I'm using a SatNav to get there," she replies, turning a bend. We're on one of those really twisty, thin country roads edged with all the tall hedges, making the road seem even thinner. Luckily, mum's car is pretty small, so we don't really have much trouble. 

"If they keep horses, I guess they need room to house all of them. And the arenas, fields, school buildings, dorm buildings..." I trail off, trying to think of any more.

"Yes?" Mum asks, raising her eyebrows in the rear-view mirror at me.

"Please take the next left," the cool female tone of the SatNav instructs us. 

"Righty," mum acknowledges, indicating left and turning down yet another windy little road. 

Trees sweep by the car window, and I wonder what the school will be like. Will it be modern, or will it be old, ancient stone buildings? The stables will surely be high-tec and luxurious. And what would the people be like? Friendly, or really cool and distant, like Naomi at the competition?

"Jess, we're nearly there," mum informs me.

I nod and sit up, watching out for anything that looks remotely horsey.  

As we turn down another road, the SatNav tells us that the entrance will be on the right, so I crane my neck to catch an early glimpse. Mum turns through a pair of huge, white gates, with plaques on each, which probably read the name of the school when put together. I gasp.

The driveway is a huge, long stretch of gravel road, with equally spaced giant oak trees on either side. Mum drives down, and even though she's going quite fast, it seems like ages before we reach the end, where a huge old, stone building stands proudly. A sign directs us to the student car park, and it's manic. There are cars everywhere, and people everywhere.

"Mum, there!" I shout, pointing at a free space. Mum quickly zooms towards it, just about beating a shiny, silver Land Rover. 

"Phew. Right, where do you need to go?" She asks. I shrug, and climb out. Another girl, who looks roughly my age, stands next to the car next to ours.

"Do you know where to go?" I ask her. She looks at me and shakes her head.

"No, sorry. I'm new this year too. What's your name?"

"Oh sorry, hi, I'm Jessica Brooke. But just Jess to my friends."

"Oh, are you the winner of the scholarship?" I nod. "Well done! That freestyle routine was incredible, I saw it on TV."

Oh wow. It was on TV? I didn't even know.

"I'm Beatrice Jones. But please, call me Bertie."

I take in her light brown hair, which is up in a neat bun, and her almond-shaped eyes, which are hazel in colour. She's wearing nicely cut jeans and a light green jumper with brown leather ankle boots. You can tell she has money. But then, everyone here except me does.

"Hi Bertie. It's nice to meet someone nice so early on in the year," I joke. She laughs.

"The year hasn't even started yet. I hope we're in the same dorm building. There are four houses, Valegro, Secretariat, Seabiscuit and Frankel."

My eyes widened. "Wow. You know a lot."

"Both my older sisters came here, so I know the basics. Andrea and Opal Jones. They did pretty well. Andrea was head girl and Opal won riding awards for dressage. We're all completely different."

"I bet. What discipline do you ride most?"

"Show jumping. Definetly. But I like the others too. I've competed in dressage on my horse Opaque Mirror."

"How many horses do you own?"

"Oh, only three, and two are cast-offs. Opaque Mirror was Opal's, so she's been there and done it. She's dapple grey, a Danish Warmblood and such a sweet mare. Sweet Sugar is my hacking pony, and she was Andrea's first horse. She's grey, but white-grey, and I think she's an Australian pony. And Toblerone is my boy, the only one who was mine to start with."

"Wow." I try to take in all the information I just processed. "Which one did you bring?"

Before she could answer my question, a different voice divided our attention. "Year Eights! With me please!"

I turn to mum. She hugs me, and says, "Good luck sweetie. Remember, we're always here for you, whatever happens."

"Bye mum. I know, thank you so much for bringing me this far. I'll call," I reply, and follow Bertie towards the voice.