Mossy Hill Academy~ The Competition

Chapter 6

What is dad doing here? Why is he chopping down trees, and why is he in a managers uniform. Before I can start firing questions at him he starts talking, "Hey Zelie..." He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, it's what he does when he gets nervous.
"Um, hi, dad." I reply, "what are you doing here?"
"Just some work, you know?"
"Actually dad I don't know, because you never told me." I point out.
"About that..." He trails off.
"What about it?" My foot starts to impatiently tap.
"We needed the money, and it was the only way I could ovoid selling the farm."
"How did you get us into that financial trouble in the first place?" I ask.
"You see, the fees for Mossy Hill Academy aren't that cheap..."
"So it's my fees?"
"Not entirely, usually it wouldn't be any trouble, but since people have found out that your mother hasn't been dead, they've been sending their horses to Mossy Hill Academy to be trained, we lost a lot of business."
I'm so annoyed at mum, she couldn't have directed the customers back home, it's greedy of her.
"Why would she do that?" I angrily ask.
"She didn't mean to Zelie, it's just the way things are, why does it even matter? You can still attend Mossy Hill Academy." He nervously looks the other way, then he starts To fidget.
Oh, okay." I guess if dad has forgiven her, then I should too, but I can't.
I lean forward to hug him, I've missed him so much, but I'm caught off guard when he pushes me away. "Not now Zelie, I have work to do. Have you seen any horses around here?" He asks.
"Yeah, Jack is over there." I point to my gelding.
"Jack? Is her yours?"
"Yes, he's my horse."
"I thought Snooker was yours?"
"He was, but someone didn't pay for him so he got given to another rider."
"Look, I have to go, bye..." He walks away pretty fast.
I'm not sure, but something seemed off about that, my laid back and horse loving dad was all nervous and skittish. There's more he's not telling me, but why?
I walk Jack into the pond and he has fun splashing around, it reminds me of the time I took Snooker in. I can't think of that, Jack needs my full loving attention, and so that's what he'll get.
After Jack starts to get bored, and my legs get tired we decide to head home, and I try to push those thoughts out of my heads and think about my classes, and how to get Snooker better.
Once we reach the stables I take Jack to the cross ties, I take off his tack and return it to his special spot in the tack room. I grab out his brushes, and I get to work on brushing him. After a while of trying I decide to take him to the wash station, he's still pretty muddy from the pond today. After unclip ping him from the cross ties I lead him to one of the wash stalls, I set about using the special hose to wash off the mud on ha legs and coat. Once the mud is gone I try to dry him with a towel, and then I brush his mane. Once he's dry (mostly) I take him back to his stall, and he stands in the corner, closing his eyes. I fill up his water and feed bucket, leaving his yard door open, so he can come in and out as he pleases. Once he's settled in his yard I bid him farewell and then I head outside. The sky starts to darken, and I hear the unmistakeable sound of thunder, in the distance I see the lightning. I count the seconds between the thunder and lightning, there's a 10 second gap, it's about ten kilometers away.
I hurriedly jog out to the field, one of the rules here is that we have to bring the horses in if a storm starts, because some horses try to run away, and end up hurting themselves. I grab Missy and Merlin's halters and lead ropes from the fence post, I call Missy over, knowing Merlin will follow Missy. I clip on their halters, and attach their lead ropes, then take them to their stalls. They both are happy to be inside while there's a storm, and when I leave them with some food, they greedily gobble it up.
Inside my dorm Weslow is sitting there, should I tell her about my dad? No, better not complicate anything, so instead I mumble a quick hello, and then I flop onto my bed, lulled to sleep by the thunder.
When it's evening I finally wake up, Weslow is sitting on her bed calling someone.
"Yeah I know it's a stretch, but please, try." She begs.
What is going on today?!
When she sees me she apologises to the caller, and then hangs up.
"Wanna grab some dinner and then meet Mali?" she suggests.
"Sure." I monotonously reply.
We lock our dorm and head to the dining hall, I'm shocked at what I see. Mali is seated next to another girl, and they're laughing together. When Weslow and I approach them they stop, look at each other, and glare at us.
Weslow is confused, the emotions is sprayed all over her face. "What's with you two?" She asks. I can tell she's resisting the urge to spit at them.
They look at each other, then they ignore us.
Mali turns to me, "Sorry, I'm not friends with people who go around blaming other people for their own problems."
Weslow and I share a confused look, then take a seat at another table.
People everywhere give us greasy looks, and I try to ignore them, when a boy comes up to Weslow and asks her if I pay her to be my friend. How rude is that?!
As soon as we finish dinner I stand up and practically run to the mustang dorm. I reach for my keys in my pocket, but I seemed to have dropped them. A figure runs through the rain towards me, and as they get closer I see it's none other than James.
"Hey, I figured you could use these." He hands me my key ring with my mustang shaped key.
"Uh, thanks." I mumble. Then I unlock the door, and head inside. Just as I am about to slam the door shut James sticks his foot in the doorway, stopping the door.
"I may not have known you for very long Zelie, but I do know that this isn't how you usually act."
"Boys aren't allowed in girls dorms."
"Rules a were made to be broken."
"Rules are here to keep us safe."
"Why don't we go break some more rules?" He asks.
I raise my eyebrows, what does he mean?
"Come with me, grab a coat or something, we're going to the stables."
I'm not sure whether I should go, because I can't break any more rules, and I intend to stay away from James. He's not really my friend, I know he's like Sue, pretending to be nice, then backstabbing me.
"Come on!"
"Sorry, not tonight. I have some math revision to do..." I mumble, closing the door in his face. Before it closes I see he looks disappointed, probably because I didn't fall for his trap.
Well, try harder next time James. I fall onto the ground, and I hug my knees.
Outside I see his shadow, he's slumped against the door. Weslow comes up to him,
"What's with Zelie?" He asks
"The rumours must have gotten to her."
"Oh, those ones, what have you heard?"
"Just things about Zelie framing Sue, hurting Snooker, and being a prick to everyone."
"That's tough..."
"Yeah..."
Weslow comes in through the door, sopping wet, and I retreat quickly to the bathroom. I don't get it, how did these rumours get spread?
It must have been the same way Sue got that photo of Mali and I, perhaps while I've been thinking it's entirely Sue's fault, she's had an accomplice. It must be Mali, but deep down I don't believe she would do that. Maybe Katrina and Payton had something to do with it, they could have hacked her phone and sent Sue the photo, maybe, maybe not.
I turn on the shower, hopping in with my clothes on, not caring that I could catch a cold. The freezing water somehow calms me, and I almost fall asleep.
It's not long before Weslow bangs in the door, telling me to stop wasting the water, it seems I want in there for five minutes, but an hour. I turn the water off, and I walk over to the sink. I look ugly, and I have no real friends, except Jack. I freshen myself up and get into my pyjamas, the Eminem lyrics from his song 'so bad' popping into my head.
Why you think the only thing I got on is my pyjamas?
It's not a bad song, I don't even know why those lyrics came to my head.
After my pyjamas are on I flop onto my bed, and I grab out my book. It's called Pine Creek Deboulè Academy. Three girls start a pranking war against three others, and then, well I haven't gotten that far into the book yet. Once I've read a few hundred pages Weslow approaches me.
"Hey Zelie, are you excited for school tomorrow?" I can tell she's trying to make conversation, she knows school isn't my favourite thing, I'd much rather be out in the paddocks with horses.
"Not really, but look. I have a small problem, and I need to talk to my mum." I tell her.
"Well, it's past our curfew, buuuuuuuut..."
"What?" I hate it when people leave me hanging.
"I guess you could sneak out."
Before she can say any more I race out the door, not caring that my puppy pyjamas are getting wet, or that anyone could look out their window right now and see me. I rush to mum's office, knowing that she will still be up doing paperwork.
I knock on her door, and I hear a small 'come in'. So I enter, and she swivels her skinny chair around.
"Isn't it past curfew."
"Mum I need to talk."
She looks surprised when she realised that it's me.
"Oh, hey Zelie. What's up?"
I'm not sure about this, mum still can't believe that I'm talking to her.
"It's about dad."
"What about him?"
"Do you now where he is right now?" I ask
"Of course, he's at the farm, it's breeding season and preparing for all the stallions and mares."
"No he's not, I saw him today."
"Zelie, he called me yesterday telling me about the horses we plan to breed."
"No mum, he's not. I SAW HIM!" I insist.
"Zelie, calm down, he is at home."
"Whatever." Dad hasn't told mum about his other job, that's weird.
Perhaps he has his reasons, but that's just weird. He's been acting really weird lately, and I don't like it, I want the old laid back dad back.
He must have his reasons for not telling mum, but it doesn't mean I'm not upset by it.
I storm back to my dorm, and when I get there Katrina, Payton and Weslow are all talking together on Weslow's bed. When they see me, all I get is glares, except from Weslow. She just looks ashamed and sorry, but I have no idea what about.