Midnight Ride

New town, new school, new people, new life. This was my situation right now. I had transferred all the way from France so I could attend the elite boarding school of Winston Academy. I had transferred not only for their high academic program but also for their fantastic 5 star riding program. I arrived a week early to give myself enough time to move in and get used to the campus. I got assigned an awesome roommate named Emma who was like the best artist ever. I even got her to start painting Midnight my Friesian mare. She showed me where all my classes were since we practically shared the same schedule, she even introduced me to some of her friends from last year. We're like meant to be roomies.

Today was the big day. My first day at Winston. I got up early, made myself a cup of tea, and very carefully chose out my first day outfit. I chose a short pink top and a pair of dark blue jeans, along with a black three-quarter jacket. Once my roomie gave me the thumbs up, we gathered our notebooks and laptops and set off for our homeroom teacher, Mrs. Hopkins. She was tall and had a very firm look to her. I think she looked a little like a wrestler I had seen on a poster once. Emma and I stole seats to each other in the center of the room. As soon as I sat down, the bell rang and Mrs. Hopkins walked in. She introduced herself, then told us to turn to the first page of our notebooks and write a page long essay of what we want her to know about us and what we hope to learn in eighth grade. For me this was pretty easy, I just jotted down a few things about my past riding experience. I also put down that I struggled a little with algebraic expressions.

"Rrringgggg" chimed the bell. Emma and I said bye to each other and went off in different directions to our second period classes. For the half-an-hour break I raced backed to my dorm to change for riding. I was trying out for the equestrian team today so I decided to use my show clothing, instead of my normal, slightly-worn barn close I normally would use. I got changed and slipped a sweat shirt over my top so I wouldn't get it dirty while grooming. I raced down the stairs, and jogged across the courtyard towards the stable, just when I was turning the last corner to get Midnight, a guy from the riding class walked out of the tack room.

"OUFFF," I mumbled as I fell to the floor.

"Oh my god," the dark haired boy said, "I'm so sorry about that, are you all right?"

"Sorry," I stumbled, "I didn't see you coming. I was in a rush to get my horse, I have tryouts in a hour."

"Don't worry I went through that last year it can be really stressful, my name is Jacob by the way," responded Jacob.

"I'm Lauren, do you possibly know where I could find an open set of cross ties?"

"Yeah, straight down the hall and to your right. I bet there's a pair open. I was just about to get my horse Luke to try out for the advanced team, want to groom together, I could tell you a little about how Mr. Alanson does these tests," said Jacob.

"I guess I could under that circumstance, I guess. Meet you at the crossties in five minutes?" I smiled.

"Yeah but I'm going to beat you there!" Jacob teased.

Lauren ran into the tack room, got Midnight's halter, and then got Midnight. By the time she finished and had him at the crossties, Jacob was already grooming Luke.

"Told you, that you couldn't beat the master," Jacob said so seriously I burst out laughing.

"There's always a next time, don't get used to it," I assured him.

When we finished grooming, we walked our horses over to the arena, it was 5 minutes till the test. There were about 20 kids trying out for the basic, intermediate, and advanced classes, but only 5 spots on each. That made me nervous. When my name was called, Jacob cheered me on as I walked Midnight in. Midnight did so perfectly until jumping when he knocked a jump. I was certain that I wouldn't get intermediate spot. Jacob and Luke on the other hand, didn't miss anything I cheered to them when they completed the tests with perfect scores. Jacob and I agreed to meet at the media center, when the email came out announcing the spots for the teams.