Mossy Hill Academy~ The Competition

Chapter 12

Three pm seems ages away, but luckily we have our riding lesson today to distract us. Mum came over this morning to tell us our lesson has been moved forward, so I slowly make my way over to the stables.
Jack is in his small paddock munching grass, and when I call out to him he doesn't even look my way.
"What a self centred brat..." I mumble.
After that comment he snorts at me and comes trotting over, "You know I love you too much to call you such an insulting name." I tell him, and he nuzzles into me.
I brush his little fringe out of his face, making a mental note to get it and his tail clipped. Before I can get distracted again I hop on Jack's bare back and circle him around, then we jump the fence, heading to the cross ties.
Today I really can't be bothered to tack up today, but it's one of the rules here,
No bareback riding in lessons unless you have permission from the teacher
It's a very annoying rule today, and I know that if I break it I'll have a detention and won't be able to se my 'dads' today. So I suck it up, clip Jack into the cross ties and head to the tack room. Once I have his tack and brushes I quickly groom him, starting with his mane, untangling the knots that have formed.
He just has to roll in the mud and grass as soon as I've washed him, and people wonder why I leave him inside the day before a show.
After I've quickly brushed through most of his mane and tail, I quickly run over the rest of his body, knowing that I'll give him a proper brush later today. As soon as he is saddled up I pull the reigns over his head and lead him to the outside arena, where Mrs Grill mounted on Crimsyy, holding some red flags in her hand.
I have no idea what they're for.
After everyone else is coming out from the stables mum begins her speech about what we're doing today.
"Good morning class, sorry to wake you." She eyes two of the boys standing next to James who are yawning. "Today we'll play a game, it's a competition, the winner will get a prize. Everyone will put on a high visibility vest, and then you'll line up here. I'll blow my whistle for everyone to start, then you'll all follow these small red flags around the different trails, and the race will end here. It's about eight or nine kilometers, but you should all handle it. For those of you who don't finish, see me after class for extra duties."
Half the class groan, because they were probably just going to walk it lazily with their friends. Me? I'm gonna win this thing.
The whistle is blown, and the next thing I know hooves are pounding down all around me. Katrina and Mali have taken the lead, followed by Weslow, James and I. The rest of the class are behind me, but I don't care about them. All I care about is winning, and I know that James and Weslow (possibly Katrina) are my biggest competition. No offence to Mali, but her horse (star) isn't very good at long distance, she puts all her efforts into going fast, quickly, but she can't sustain it.
I concentrate on gaining speed, and by the first few hundred meters Star seems to fall behind, and I easily overtake her. James and I decide to make our move on Kat at the same time, and we come close to her, closing in on her left is me, and James is on her right.
"Come on Jack!" I urge him to go a tad faster, so we can get the speed to overtake her, in between snorts he finds the energy to get us past her. James sits just behind us, only just nosing in front of Katrina.
Once we get a few lengths ahead I still don't slow Jack down, and we still are keeping our lead so far. Soon enough we have gained a strong lead, and I slow Jack down a little. He's breathing hard, but I can tell he's not injured or going to hurt himself. The flags are dotted along a trail, I don't know where this one goes, but after today I'll know. The trail twists, Jack and I glide along the turns, acing every transition and obstacle.
In front of us are new obstacles, and we are coming at them too fast! It's a small oxer jump, and I'm surprised, mum didn't mention any jumps....
I slow Jack down urgently, hoping we can make this. Luckily we are able to control or speed and fly over the jump, then I click my tongue and we try to re gain some speed that we lost due to the jump, I see the finish line up ahead, but in my peripheral vision I see James gaining on me. Duke looks utterly tired, but James is still pushing him on.
Jack and I start our sprint towards the finish, but Duke's long powerful strides are making them gain on us.
"Come on Jack!" After this he deserves a bath and some Finnick food. (Sugar cubes) Finnick food are what we call sugar cubes, because there's a horse called Finnick that mum owned, who LOVES sugar cubes!
As we are about to cross the line Duke comes right up next to us, and we both cross the line at the same time. Mum even takes a photo, but when she shows it to us we can see that Duke and Jack's noses are equally level.
"Well you two, it looks like you have tied." Mum chuckles.
She waits for everyone else to finish, before awarding us our prizes.
When everyone is finished the race, and hydrated again she gathers us around in a semi circle.
"Well done to the two winners of our little cross country race, James and Zelie, the last finishers were Maysilee and Samuel, you two have stall mucking." She hands them shovels and points in the direction of the stables.
"I noticed you two walking the whole way, so now you are mucking everyone else's."
Maysilee and Samuel both look at each other and groan, Mrs Grill sends them a stern look, and they sulk away.
"Right, Zelie and James you're lucky I have been able to locate another prize. Pick a hand, James."
Behind mums back are two prizes, I don't know what they are, but I hope it's not a terrible prize.
"Left."
Mum holds out her left hand, and nestled in her palm is a dainty soft brush. James thanks her and takes the brush. In her other hand she reveals another brush, and I take it from her, quickly exchanging smiles.
"You two are free to go, ten minutes early." She instructs us.
We thanks her for the brushes and letting us go early, then we excitedly rush out of the arena with our horses.
James shows me his brush, the handle is made of a soft light blue material. On the non bristle side of the brush is a beautiful hand painted picture of a clydesdale in a field with her foal. I look closer at my brush, my handle is a bright green, and my picture is a horse playing polocrosse.
As I untack Jack I wonder what he was like when Paige was his owner, what did he do? Was he a trail horse, perhaps a show horse? I make a mental note to ask Mrs Maple about him, I look at my watch.
It's one pm, almost lunch time, and it's someone's birthday today, so there's cake! James and I meet up outside the stables, "Do you wanna grab some lunch, some cake perhaps, and then slowly head up to the cliff?" He asks.
"Yeah. I agree "Wait, ugh!" I realise that we could have left half our horses tack on, and left them inside. Now they're outside and un tacked, it'll just take more time to get to the cliff now that we have to tack them back up.
"What?" He asks. I tell him about the saddle dilemma, and he just chuckles,
"I guess we should have thought of that before!"
I smile at him, and we walk towards the kitchen. The best part about lunch on weekends is that lunch is served from one pm to two thirty pm, so everyone can be flexible.
We grab some sandwiches and a slice of cake each, and gobble it all up. We still have plenty of time to spare, so we head to the stables to see Missy and Merlin. We grab some finnick food and call them over, Missy slowly makes her way over here, and Merlin just follows her.
After they've been fed James and I go to tack up our horses, I don't bother brushing Jack down, because we've just gone for a ride, so all I have to do is tack him up.
*******
The minutes are ticking down to three o'clock, and I'm getting more nervous as each second passes.
I turn to James, "What if thy don't show up, or the fake one gets here first and beats me up, or-"
James cuts me off by placing his hand over my mouth, "Take a chill pill Zal, we'll be fine."
I take a few deep breaths, then I recompose myself, "Okay, thanks."
From down the mountain we hear the clip clopping of a horse, James and I glance at each other.
Who will it be? My real dad, or the fake one...?
We both peer over the edge of the cliff, and we see a dapple grey horse with a rider. As they get closer I notice that it's my real dad, so I go up and hug him as soon as he dismounts.
"Hey Zelie, I've missed you too!" We hug for a few seconds, then I point to a spot where he can tie up his horse.
"Which horse is that?" I ask, trying to stall for as long as possible, until the fake dad comes.
"Oh, this is one of the trail riding horses for rent at Mossy Hill Academy, I think his name is Shaggy Shepherd."
"Oh, cool!" I pat Shaggy between his ears.
Once Shaggy is tethered to the tree I turn to dad and James.
"So James, this is my dad, and dad, this is my friend James." They exchange smiles, and then shake hands.
"So what was the point of meeting here today?" He asks.
"Well, we called you up here because we have a slight problem..." I trail off.
"What sort of problem?" He warily asks.
As he says that another man and his horse are coming up to the cliff, it's the fake dad from the woods.
"Who the heck is that!?" Dad asks!
"I have no clue, but hide behind that tree and watch this." I instruct him.
"Hey dad!" I run over to him, and we hug awkwardly tomorrow.
"Hey Zelie, how have you been?" He asks.
"Great thanks! I need you to meet someone." I tell him.
"Okay, who is it?" He asks.
"Dad, I want you to meet, Dad." I announce to him.
My real dad comes out from behind the tree, and the fake one mumbles a swear word under his breath. Then he tries to run away, but James sprints after him, and tackles him to the ground.
"You Sir, are in a deep muck." James chuckles.
My real dad comes over to us, "Geronimo?" He asks.
The fake dad looks ashamed, "I'm sorry David."
James and I leave the two men to chat, and we sit in the edge of the cliff, on top of the railing, I'm feeling pretty dauntless right now.
"What was that all about?" James asks.
"I have no idea, but I've heard the name Geronimo before." I think aloud.
"As in the books? Geronimo Stilton?" He jokes.
I roll my eyes at him, "Not there you stupid oaf!" I slap him on the arm playfully.
He fakes a look of hurt.
"I've heard Mali talk about a Geronimo..." I trail off.
"Oh sheet!" I exclaim, sheet is my replacement word for another bad one that I probably shouldn't use...
"What?!" James asks, slightly alarmed.
"Geronimo is Mali's dad!"