Oak Valley Stables

Chapter five

It was Tuesday. Gale and Victoria prepared for their second day at Oak Valley. They weren't going to see their horses during lessons but they were going to care for them after school. First lesson was maths, like it always was, so they went together.
They met Jackson and Jake outside of the classroom before the teacher called them in. Gale sat down next to Jackson and Victoria. Their teacher started to call out the register. Gale got her maths book out and wrote the date at the top of the page.
"Hey, Gale-" Jackson whispered. Gale looked up from her book.
"Yeah?"
"I got you this, from the library..." Jackson passed her a book under the table. "It's a name book. It's got a section on Slovakian names..."
Gale's face lit up. "Thanks!" She smiled.
"Miss Robins, Mr. Young, is there something you'd like to share with the class?" The maths teacher asked, in an annoyed tone.
"Uh... No, sir..." Gale stuttered.
"Good. Moving on to Algebra..." The teacher turned back to the board. The class giggled, Amber laughing the loudest. Gale felt herself blush as she shoved the book into her backpack.

"Come on! Let's go see the horses!" Victoria throw a pillow at Gale.
"Wait! I'm looking for names!" She told her friend. Victoria went to sit by her friend.
"Stanislav? Tebor? Vavrinec? What type of names are these?" Victoria asked.
"Slovakian names." Gale rolled her eyes. She kept reading through the names. "What about Vladimir?"
"That sounds nice. It's a bit long though," Victoria added.
"It could be shortened to Vlad," Gale suggested.
"That's good. What's it mean?"
"It means 'Universal ruler'. Fancy, huh?" Gale smiled, closing the book. "Fine, let's go. If I make you wait any longer, you'll burst."

Gale and Victoria arrived down at stables to muck out their stalls.
"Hey, Jackson!" Gale walked up to her stall.
"Howdy," Jackson appeared, from his stall with a wheelbarrow.
"Have you seen any chalk?" Gale asked.
"Sure, here-" Jackson past her a piece of chalk. "Why'd you need some chalk? You thought of a name yet?"
"Yep!" Gale wrote 'Vladimir' in big letters on the board. "How does that sound?"
"Vladdy?" Jackson smiled.
"Sure, Vladdy will do," Gale smiled back.
"Need a hand with that stable?" Jackson asked, as he wheeled the barrow past Gale.
"Nah, I'll be okay," She replied.
"I'll help you, anyway," Jackson yelled over his shoulder as he went to empty the barrow on the muck heap.

"Done!" Gale kicked the last piece of clean straw across the stall floor.
"Hey, have you come up with a full name for Vlad?" Jackson asked, as he put the pitchfork away.
"No. I will some other time," Gale yawned. "I'm going to bed, now," She smiled. Jackson nodded.
"Hey, Jake, have you seen Victoria?" Gale called into the tack room.
"No. I think she left already. You guys have taken ages, to be fair," Jake replied. Gale rolled her eyes.
"Oh, well. I'm going to my room now. I'll see you later, Jackson," Gale went to leave.
"I'll walk you back," Jackson smiled. "I'm gonna go back to my room now, anyway."
"Thanks," Gale nodded, blushing.

As they made it to Gale's room, Jackson said goodbye.
"I'll see you tomorrow," He told her.
"See you then," Gale waved, before going back into her room.
"Oooh, was that Jackson?" Victoria asked, lying on the bed. Gale closed the door.
"How could you tell?" Gale asked.
"The accent," Victoria replied "He sounds like a cowboy. He's hard to miss," She laughed. Gale laughed too.
"I guess he is..."