Reining Her In (Student/Teacher Romance)

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

It seemed like there was a groan every other minute and we'd only been here for twenty of them. Most of them were coming from Barney. He was leant against the side of the stable, his shovel not touching any horse shit. "This is awful." It was the most childish of whines, and I rolled my eyes.

"Just get on with it, and you'll be done. It's really not that bad."

He had a car air freshener hung around his neck like a necklace. "I can't breathe Penny. It smells."

"That's because you haven't gotten rid of the shit yet."

He pouted. "I don't want to."

"Should haven't been caught partying, then."

"He has a point, though," Ruby complained from the side of me, putting a hand to her nose and then realising that it had been too near the poo to guarantee she wouldn't be smearing it on her face. She grimaced. "My goal is to be rich enough that I can pay someone to do this."

"You're already rich enough to pay someone to do this. You go to a school that pays people to do this." I shovelled a heap of hay and shit into the wheelbarrow beside me. "Stop being such wimps, honestly."

Nessie whinnied beside me in agreement.

"You're the one who's weird here, trust me. Do you really like doing this stuff?" Barney said.

"I don't dislike it. I mean, it's part of having a horse, you know? It's just not a big deal."

They rolled their eyes, and Mr. Campbell appeared, directing them towards somewhere that was unattended. The other people who we'd partied with were at the other end of the stable, but I could still hear their complaints, too.

Ruby and Barney grumbled, but accepted his direction and pottered off, dragging their spades behind them on the concrete and making the most awful sound. I winced against it, and then got back to work. I could feel Mr. Campbell's eyes on me.

"I expected you to be in their corner, for some reason."

"What, a princess who wants to ride horses but not actually have anything to do with them?" I shrugged. "I'm kind of the opposite." I gave Nessie a push on the bum so I could get around to her other side. "I like being around horses. They're soothing. Especially Nessie." I gave her a pat on the neck. "I was lucky to get her assigned as my main riding horse."

Mr. Campbell continued to watch me as I shovelled and dumped hay into the wheelbarrow. He was leant against the side of the stable, arms folded, and hair in disarray. It couldn't have been brushed in weeks. I wanted to run my fingers through it.

Swallowing, I hoped I hadn't stared too long, and returned to my shovel.

"I've only been here a few days, but I get the impression there's more princesses than people who actually care about horses here."

"It's not their fault. It's a lifestyle. They've all grown up on estates with people to do it for them. I mean." I looked down at myself with a sweeping gesture. "It's not very glamourous."

"Did you not grow up on an estate with someone to do it for you? This is a very different life to what I'm used to."

I didn't want to stop shovelling to stand and chat, I was worried it would scare him off. "I did, but then I came here and it turned out competitive anything wasn't for me, so I spent my time with the horses instead. Something had to calm me down after being constantly told that you're never going to be good enough." I cleared my throat. "So, you didn't come from an estate?" I hoped he'd just ignore my mini-rant.