Mossy Hill Academy~ The Competition

Chapter 8

As I slowly wake up I take in all the white, and the sanitised smell of the hospital. I remember hiding in the cave, being with Jack, and the dingo. Jack was prepared to jump in front of the dingo to save me, and that's what he did, only the dingo was too fast.
I reach up to rub my head, I feel a headache coming on.
Beside me, sitting on a chair is my mother and father, when they notice I'm awake they rush over to me, and dad calls a nurse over.
"Oh my gosh Zelie, how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, except my head hurts and so does my leg." I complain.
"That's okay, you'll be fine soon." She comforts me.
The nurse comes over to me, checks my blood pressure, and then she sits down on my bed.
"How are you feeling today? What hurts?" She politely asks.
"I have a headache, and my leg really hurts." I tel her.
"Okay, that's normal. Do you remember what happened?"
"All I remember is getting attacked by that dingo, and Jack..." I trail off unsure of what happened next, "Jack!" I realise, "Is he okay?!"
"Yes Zelie, Jack is perfectly healthy, but he's not eating, he misses you too much. We've had to play a recording of your voice and show him pictures of you to make him actually drink." Mum replies
"Your head was slightly knocked, but it's fine. Your leg was bitten and infected, it's will be sore for a while, but once you get home today you will just have to pop a few pills. One of these pills will stop the pain in your leg, and the other will help with the infection, have them once daily with breakfast."
"Okay." Mum replies for me.
I'm discharged from hospital that day, it's now Wednesday, and I'm allowed to stay in my form for a day. I'm not allowed to ride for a few more days though, because without the pills I'm in a lot of pain, I have a scar from where they stitched my leg up. Needless to say, I'm nor scared of dingoes, but that one was shot after they found me. It was lucky I had managed to get a call through to Mrs Maple, who tracked my call and called an ambulance.
Being confined to my room for the rest of today and tomorrow is boring, all I can do is read write and catch up on missed school work.
The next day I'm bored out of my head, and though my leg has no pain I know it's nowhere near better, still, I head outside to see Jack. I try to blend in with everyone else, and keep my head down as I make my way to the stable. Once I reach Jack's stall I'm mortified at what I see, he's laying down, he's lost a lot of weight, and he looks sad.
"Jack?" I call out to him hoping he will look up and see me.
His ears flicker to my direction, but makes no other signs of moving. I call out again, and this time his eyes open, and they search around for me, and once they locate me he sends out a weak nicker.
"Jack!" I open his stall door and rush to his side, his legs start to move, and he eventually stands up, and turns his head to me.
I hold onto his mane, and I thank him for saving me, if he hadn't have done that (jumping up to save me) then my injuries would have been a lot worse.
I grab his feed bucket and hold it out to him, he sniffs it and starts to eat, I'm relieved to see that he's eating. It's only been a few days since the accident, but he's lost a bit of weight. It's not that noticeable, except he's lethargic and some of his ribs are showing.
While I'm brushing mum comes into the stable and sees me with Jack, she doesn't look impressed, but then she sees his feed bucket is empty.
"He's eating again?" She asks.
"Yeah he is, and now I'm giving him a thankyou brush."
"That's nice of you, it seems he's officially yours now. I think I'll have to buy him for you won't I?"
I remember how dad and mum failed to buy Snooker, and where did that put him?!
"Yeah, you will. In fact, let's do it now." I pack away his brushes, and give him one last pat.
***
Weslow wakes me up that night, as we couldn't talk the other night.
"Zelie I need to talk to you." Her voice sounded urgent.
"Right now? At three am?'' I ask
"Yes, right here, right now."
"Okay, what's up?"
"I haven't been talking to you for a while because if Katrina, Sue, and Payton. They said that if I became your friend they would hurt Ghost, and she's my best friend. After you of course."
"I understand that, because they hurt Mali's horse last year when she refused to do what they told her."
"Where's her horse now?" She asks.
"He's dead."
"Oh."
"Yeah..."
"m not meaning to be mean Zelie, I'm just protecting Ghost."
"I know, but you have to stand up to them." I protest.
Honestly, I have no idea why I'm doing this. Perhaps it's because a little part in me is happy that Weslow is actually my friend.
By the end of the night we have a plan to outwit them, we just need the right time to deploy it.
In the morning Weslow and I tiredly head to breakfast, avoiding each other.
I sit next to James at breakfast, and it turns out he was really worried about me when the period ended and no one had found me. He's really sweet, and I'm glad to have a friend like him.
What am I thinking! It's obviously an act, but it seems so genuine. Maybe I should give him a chance, because maybe that's what everyone needs. Including me.
The pain in my leg reminds me to have my tablets, it's kind of awkward when everyone watches you chug down pills.
In Science James asks me to be partners in our experiment, and I accept. We get to blow stuff up, and it rocks!
At lunch time Mali comes up to me, I've mostly forgotten about her, but I need to give her a chance.
"Hey zee..." She awkwardly says to me.
James notices the discomfort between us, and excuses himself to see his other friends.
"So what's been happening?" I ask
"Look, I'll cut to the chase. I've been with Sue for a while because my mum said I need to help her around because she's new, and she was quite stern. While hanging out with those girls I've found out something bad, they're going to overdose Ghost with food and give her colic, next Thursday. I can't do anything, because they have their eyes on me. Except they heard you and Weslow thing last night, they planted a small microphone under her bed, you have to keep your horses safe, they might do the same thing for Jack." Her face is filled with worry for our horses, and I remember how Katrina killed Woody, Mali's old horse.
"I'll save them, for Woody."
She half heartedly smiles at me, then rushes over to Katrina and Payton.
If they're going to harm our horses, they'll have to go through me first, because if Jack is hurt I'll never forgive myself for losing another horse.
I can't tell Weslow, but perhaps I can tell James...?
Our riding lesson is boring, everyone else gets to practise their jumping, while I get to groom horses.
"Here's a list of horses that need a brush." Mum shows me a list with a few horse names on it, they're the horses that are for rent/sale here.
In stall 18 there's Lonesome Lightning, stall 19 is Gemma, and stall 22 is Archie. At least there's only three, Gemma and Archie are best friends, and they've lived here since Mrs Maple's father died. They were his horses.
I lead Lonesome Lightning to the cross ties, the ones that are outside, so I can watch my class jump, today they're focusing on the oxers. Snooker found those ones easy. His coat is already shiny, and he doesn't need much of a brush, so I'm done with him quickly. When I try and take Gemma away from Archie they make such a fuss that I decide to take them both at the same time, to make life easier.
While I brush Gemma I see that Sue isn't in the lesson, yet she was marked here. When I spin around I see her with Ghost, well not with Ghost, but she's fiddling with her tack.
This makes me suspicious, at the scholarship competition they slit Star's tack, making her saddle slip when they were jumping, causing Hannah to, die.
When I think of it, those girls aren't just stupid selfish grassholes, they're practically murderers. This aggravates me, and without realising it I'm just brushing a patch on Gemma really hard, and she alerts me by stomping her hooves, almost landing on my feet.
"Sorry Gem Gem." It's my little nickname for her.
Once she's received her apology she snorts and reaches out to Archie, I'll check Weslow's tack after I brush Archie.
Archie's bay coat is no shining, his black socks not filled with dirt, and his white striped muzzle is now white. As I'm putting Gem and Archie away Mrs Maple comes up to me,
"You did a lovely job on those horses, and I wanted to congratulate you on your position on the cross country team."
"I'm the emergency." I reply.
"That's still quite an achievement, and I believe that you could have gotten in with a horse that excels with jumping."
"Jack is a perfectly fine horse."
"I know he is, but you and lonesome lightning would make a great jumping pair. If you want to ride he, just ask me." She waves quickly before heading off.
What does she mean by that, Jack is a perfectly fine horse, and he's a good enough jumper. Yet Lonesome Lightning might be better, but I don't care, Jack is mine.
I head out to the arena, to see how my class is going, and I walk next to mum.
"Done already?" She asks.
"Yep, brushed and turned out." I reply, "do you want me to do another horse?"
"No it's fine, you can watch the rest of the class, there's only ten minutes left."
I nod my head, James is taking Duke up to the first jump, and he clears it easily. No wonder he made the team, and while he's jumping it makes me miss jumping sky high. Snooker was a very athletic horse, and we made a great jumping team. Jack is a good jumper, but next to Snooker's jumping skills, his look puny.
Sue takes up Star, I'm sort of annoyed that she's riding her. Stars a good horse, but not the best. They only just clear the jump, I'm actually surprised she made the team.
"Alright everyone, go for a cool down lap around the ring, then cool down and brush your horses. Unlike last time, I expect all tack to be cleaned and stored properly." Mum instructs them.
A chorus of yes' come back, and they all start to walk their horses around the ring.
"You can go back to your dorm and have free time now Zelie, unless you have something else to do." Mum tells me.
"Thanks." I smile at her quickly and I go to find James.
James and Duke are at the cross ties, after just finishing their lap.
"Hey Zelie, your leg feeling any better?" He asks
"Yeah, thanks to the medication." There's a bit of awkward silence between us, but he breaks it.
"Excited for the cross country trials next week?"
"Yeah, but I'm only an emergency rider." I remind him.
"That's fine, but you have to cheer for me!" He flashes me a smile.
'I will be." I confirm.
While James brushes Duke I fill up his feed and water buckets, and then I start to plait his mane.
"Men don't have braids." He tells me, while trying to take them out jokingly.
"Oh yeah, but real men wear pink!" I pul out a pink ribbon and tie it to Duke's halter at the top.
"We'll compromise, no plaits, but I'll keep the ribbon."
"Sure!" We both end up joking around, and it takes twice as long as it should to finish up with Duke.
Before dinner we head our separate ways, and I remember I was going to check Ghost's tack. So I run/hobble sort of, towards the stables.
I pat Jack on the way, and when I get to Ghosts stall her tack is gone. Her saddle isn't there, her bridle and saddle pad are missing too.
Then I spot them on the floor, torn up and scratched to bits. Weslow is in the competition next week, and she can't compete without tack. What would the saboteurs gain by knocking out Weslow, because if she can't compete, then...
Then I will.
They're out to get me.