Timber Creek Academy

~19~

"And your time starts...now."

I began to read and annotate the first passage of my civics test. The day of its arrival has finally come, and honestly, I'm not feeling too good. Hailey had tried to convince me to eat earlier, but I couldn't. Between the nerves and the cramming of last-minute studying, there was nowhere for food to fit. I channeled every brain cell into focusing on the words that laid on the page.

Based on the excerpt, how did the Founding Fathers use the Enlightenment Period to influence the Constitution?

Hmm...why hadn't I spent the 30 minutes I used to look at costume materials for the stable's Halloween event last night instead to study even more?

I scribbled down my answer, and moved on to the next question. Oh boy...

***
"How do you think you did?" a girl in my civics class, Corrie, whispered to me as we left the class.

"I don't think I did awful, but definitely not extremely good. How about you?" I asked. I took a deep breath as she talked. I finally felt like I could take a breath.

"Same. I had a few problems understanding some of the exerpts, but other than that I thought I did okay," Corrie replied. "See ya."

"Bye," I called after her.

There's nothing I can do now. It all rests in Ms. Wilkin's hands. Whatever the grade I earned is the grade I get. Hopefully, it's an A. I need to ride at the clinic this winter break!

Hours later, I was jotting down my last homework assignment, then dashing off for my dorm. Luckily, Preston Hall was close to the math building, which allowed me to dump off my bag, and change for my riding lesson.

I jammed the key into the doorknob, and unlocked my room. I entered and smelled the sweet scent of pumpkin spice. Hailey had little scented bags around the room to give off a Halloween/fall theme. I loved it.

I quickly pulled on winter riding pants, wool socks, a long-sleeved thermal knit riding shirt, and added another coat for an extra layer of warmthness. It was freezing today!!

As I crunched on crispy, browned leaves on my way to the barn, I thought about the lesson. Mrs. Banks sent out a group message that the lesson would be in the indoor ring (yay!) since it was so cold, and that we would be doing lots of trot poles and gridwork. I was excited - this was exactly the kind of work that Leo needed to get back into jumping shape.

I hustled to pull Leo out of his field, and tugged on the lead line to encourage my "racehorse" to move faster than a lazy amble in the 41 degree air. "Let's go boy, we've got a lesson to go to!"

Once he was in the crossties, I groomed his shaggy-ish coat, then began to tack up. In no time at all, we were headed to the indoor ring.

I was surprised to see that I was the first one there. Usually Rachel was already done with her warm up by the time I was just mounting. I guess today was an exception.

I started Leo's warm up as the rest of the team arrived and got going. Weird, everyone was here but Rachel. Was she sick? I know she would never purposely miss a lesson...

By the time Mrs. Banks walked in, Rachel was still not here. Hmm....

"Please take your horses around the ring at a canter and go into forward position," Mrs. Banks instructed. I collected my reins, then asked Leo to go into a canter, then stood in my stirrups and went into forward position.

As we cantered around, wonders about Rachel's absence swirled around in my head. Maybe she was sick, but she was here in study hall, so I don't know.