Meon Brook Academy - Part one

Chapter 4

I sit down on the hard plastic chairs, a plate of toast and egg in front of me. The table I'm on is empty - only me sitting here. I begin to eat my lunch when I feel presence beside me. I look up and see a dark haired, short girl sitting next to me.
"Hey!" She says.
"Hey," I reply.
"I'm Ruby. What about you? Are you in the riding programme?"
"Imogen. Yeah, I'm trying for the Meon Elite team. You?"
"Yep, I'm trying to get In the elite team with my chestnut, Rich Red Alliance. You?"
"Yeah. My horse is May Flower, tall black, you've probably seen her?"
"Oooooh that's your horse? She's beautiful!"
"Thankyou! Do you want to come see them? The food up here is horrible"
"I agree-the food is disgusting here. I normally eat up in the cafe but it was shut today. Let's go see them!"
Ruby and I set off towards the stable block, chatting on the way about Allie and May, and their bloodlines.
"May is a foal of THE chilli morning? Are you kidding!" Ruby asks in awe of May.
"No! She was too dainty for the hard badminton but I think she can do it."
Ruby nods as we reach the stable.
"What block is May in?" She asks
"B. What about Allie?"
"B! What number?"
"15. You?"
"14!"
We both stroll into the stables and get our horses.
"Bareback?"
"Definitely," I grab Mays bridle and hook it over her ears. Ruby does the same and we both walk them out to the small ring. I mount and walk May round. Ruby trots round, with perfect position.
"Jump?" She asks. I nod and Ruby canters towards the green vertical, set at about 2 foot in the middle of the arena. She pops over it and comes back to trot. I do the same, and we keep raising the jump up.

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Once we finish riding I walk up to my dorm and get a shower. Amber is down in the tea room with her boyfriend Anthony, the boy that I was stood next to this morning. I pull on some joggers and walk down to the canteen where I was meeting Ruby for dinner. We were going to go up to Ruby's dorm and order Pizza with her room mate, Amelia, the girl who owned Paddy. We both walked up to Rubys room, under our heavy sweaters. Once at Rubys dorm, there was 3 pizza boxes on the bed, 2 little cartons, a long tin foiled thing and 2 two litre bottles of coke.
"Woah you guys went all out!" I laugh. We open all the stuff, revealing a cheese pizza, a pepperoni one and a Hawaiian. The two containers contain large chips and onion rings and the long tin foil package is garlic bread.
We eat all our food whilst watching Pretty Little Liars on the television then I go back to my dorm. Once at my dorm, I hear voices inside my room. One I know belongs to Amber, the other I'm not sure. I swing open the door and see Amber, In my bedside drawers with a posh looking girl. They both jump back, startled and I see in their hands a photo I took when May was a foal.
"What do you think you are doing?" I ask, trying to be as calm as possible.
"Umm... We were... Umm.." The blonde stutters.
"Brit asked if she could see a picture of May, so I was looking for one." Amber interrupts, sounding not as confident as she looked.
"I'll be having that back," I say, snatching the precious photo of May. "And I would appreciate it if you got out of my room." I say to 'Brit'.
"Umm..ok..." She mumbles and walks out.
"Hey Im, sorry about tha-" I cut her off.
"I don't want to hear it." I say and crawl into bed.

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I get up the next morning, and Amber is fast asleep. I get a quick shower and change into my riding gear - today is our first challenge. A mini competition, but the last place person gets kicked out for good. I choose to wear my white Forever Oak breeches and Ariat black show shirt. I pin my hair back and pull on my long boots, then jog to the stables. I lead May out of her stall, into a wash rack. I tie her up and start to curry her rich black coat. I plait her mane and tail, then Ruby and Amelia come in.
"Hey Immy!" Ruby says.
"Hey guys," I reply.
I carry on getting May ready, then go into the tack room and pick Mays tack for the day. I pick her Brown John Whitaker saddle with the fluffy breast plate, her brown matching bridle with the grackle nose band with fur, her white saddle pad with Navy blue piping and her white boots, with navy detailing. I pick her white and blue ear bonnet, and bring it all to her rack. I put her ear bonnet on first, then her bridle and boots. Finally I place her saddle on her dainty back, run down my stirrups and go back to the tack room to get my helmet. I place it on my head and unclip May from the cross ties. As I'm leading her to the mounting block, I feel my mobile buzz. I pull it out and see a message from Mum.