Cedar Hills Equestrian Academy

Chapter 4

In that moment, I felt a whirlwind of emotions. Excitement, love, happiness, confusion, and sadness all swirled together in my mind, leaving me more than a little bit disoriented. I couldn't get over the fact that Saturn was mine now, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking about Quiet Meadows closing. I had practically grown up there, spending hours a week at lessons and countless more hours doing the work to pay for those lessons. Maggie was like family to me and I couldn't bear the thought of her stable being shut down, that place was my safe heaven. The worst thing about this whole situation was that she had totally accepted it, I wasn't even sure if Maggie was upset that it was happening. When we arrived at home from my evaluation ride, the first thing I did was grab my bike and high-tail it over to her place but when I showed up there, she was totally stoic. I just didn't get it, I knew that stable was Maggie's everything but yet she hadn't seemed the least bit perturbed when she told me that these things happen and there was no use spending my time being upset because I had "more important things to focus on, like going to Cedar Hills."

Speaking of which, it was the day I left home. School didn't actually start for another week but the students were expected to be there early to settle themselves and their horses in.

It was fair to say I little bit nervous. Or a lot.

"Are you ready, Aisling?" I heard my mother call from downstairs. "We need to leave soon!"

I nodded, before remembering that she couldn't see me. "I'll be right there, you can wait in the car!" I hollered back down to her.

I looked around my room for one last time. It looked more or less the same because I wasn't taking a whole lot of stuff with me. My clothes and such, Mr. Purple, a stuffed giraffe I'd had since I was little, a framed picture of me with my mom and dad, one of Maggie, and another if me on Saturn, holding a first place ribbon were pretty much everything I was taking.

"Aisling!" My dad called. "We need to leave!"

"Right, I'm coming!" I responded, this time actually standing up from my bed. I trailed my fingers faintly on the light blue walls before closing them tightly around my door handle and pulling the door shut. "Bye room." I whispered softly as I turned and walked down the stairs. I took another moment to say good bye to the house when I was standing on the front porch, still facing the front door.

My dad honked the car horn at me and I quickly turned and walked down the steps, opening the car door and flinging myself into the backseat.

"Ready, Honey?" Asked my mom, turning around in her seat. She was smiling but I could tell she was sad. I gave her an enthusiastic nod because I knew it would make her feel better. "Well then, let's get this show on the road!"

With that, my dad pulled carefully out of our driveway. We had picked up Saturn and loaded him into his trailer earlier that day and now we were all set. I pulled out my sketchbook from inside my backpack, sitting on the seat next to me, and began to draw. I didn't pay much attention to the scenery rushing by as I sketched out the vague shape of a horse while I hummed quietly under my breath. Once I had completed the rough outline of a general horse I began to shade in its body, using a multitude of short lines to give its hair color and texture. After that was finished, I began to add more details, the shine in the animal's eyes, the flare of its big nostrils, and the hairs on its muzzle. By the time we arrived at Cedar Hills, I had a pretty respectable horse drawing.

Dad pulled into a parking spot close to the main office and turned off the car. I unbuckled my seat belt and hopped out, taking a big breath of fresh air and stretching out my legs. "Hi there!" I heard a voice call.

I turned around and saw Nora walk out of the main office. "Hi!" I called back, waving.

"You must be Mrs. Tanner," She said to my mom once she was close enough, "I'm Mrs. Keldon, but you can call me Nora."