I Wish It Would Rain

Chapter 23: Final

I just screwed things up royally. The one guy that I truly liked, and just about loved, his heart is now broken thanks to me. We were just starting to get close again too. I must be one of the stupidest people on the planet. But, my foolish pride wouldn’t allow me to take him back, no matter how much I really wanted to.

So, it was Friday morning, and I was still in Columbus at the American Quarter Horse Congress. I was happy because I had made the call backs for the final class of the 17 year old equitation class. Out of like a hundred or so people and to make it to the final twenty riders, now that was just amazing.

I was out in the warm up area, waiting to go back into the arena to finish the class. As I was trotting around the ring, I heard someone call my name. When I looked around, I really shouldn’t have been surprised to see Keith’s Uncle Seth waving at me.

I heard you made the finals for your class. Congrats!” he said as I approached him.

“Uh, thanks. I’m so excited! I mean, to get to the call backs at the Congress? Now, that’s a miracle,” I said excitedly.

“Well, you’re one of the best riders I know, and you deserve it. You’re still coming out to the ranch this summer, right?” he asked.

My eyes went wide in shock. I totally forgot about going to the ranch this summer. But things between Keith and I are really weird.

“Uh, of course I am,” I stuttered out. “But, I just have to tell you right now that things between Keith and I really aren’t that great at the moment.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” he laughed while waving it off. “You two are still young, and I know that you’ll work it out eventually. Trust me, I know about these types of things, even though I’m a guy. But, you two are perfect for each other.”

My mouth felt like it was going to hit the ground. Did he really just say that? He hardly knows me at all, and he’s saying things like that? Thankfully, I was interrupted in my thoughts when they called for my class to go back in.

“Good luck Penelope! And don’t forget what I said about Keith,” he called as I followed the others, making our way back inside the arena.

He just had to say that, didn’t he? Now, I’m probably going to royally flub up in this class, not being to concentrate on my ride. But now, I wouldn’t able to do even that with Seth’s words flittering throughout my head.

How would I be able to concentrate on keeping my heels downs, my shoulders back, my hands up and equally apart, all while not looking like a stiff. People say that riding a horse looks easy, but it is definitely not. But, I seem to have a natural ability, as some people have said. I’m hoping that some of that ability will pay off.

Before I knew it, all of us were at the other end as the judges (yes, I said judges. In most horse shows, there is only one judge, but at the Congress, they have five different judges for one class, and usually they’re the judges for the whole day. It’s cool). Anyways, they add up all the totals, like they’ll tell you what you placed under each judge, or if you even placed under any of them at all.

I ended up placing 3rd under the first two judges, and then 2nd under the remaining three judges. Looking around, I started freaking out, because a couple of times, the person who placed first under one judge would get fourth or fifth under another judge, and then the person who placed second would end up getting fifth or sixth under another judge. If I did my calculations right… well, I would be very happy.

As they were starting to hand out the ribbons for the placings, starting with tenth place, I started getting jittery. With each name of the rider and their horse called, the nervous butterflies in my stomach kept beating faster and faster. After they called the name for the third place rider, my breath caught in my throat. They were either going to call me next, or…