Free Rein||Broken Home/Pin

Chapter 5

Amber POV:
I calmly lead Sparrow out of her stall and take her to stand with the other girls. Both Becky and Jade had beautiful horses with them as they groomed them, and I'm pretty sure that Zoe was grooming Major. He's such a gentle horse.

"Is this Bob?" I ask Becky as she grooms the paint pony. She nods. "The one and only, but I do share him with my younger brother" she explains. "He's cute" I compliment. "I know" she smiles. She didn't say that in a rude sort of way, but almost like a 'thank you' kind of way.

"Do you show?" I ask as I take out a brush and start grooming Sparrow. "Yeah. Dressage" she says as she moves on to Bobs long mane. "Wow. Have you won?" I ask. "A few times, yeah. But every year, Bright Fields looses the competition" she frowns.

"Oh" I say, going to Sparrows other side to groom all of the shavings off. "What about you Jade? Do you compete?" I ask. She look over the back of her horse at me. "I wish. I've always wanted to make the jump team but I never seem to make it" she admits.

"Well, if you'd like, maybe I could give you some pointers" I suggest. Her face lights up. "Yeah. I'd like that" she smiles. I move to Sparrows belly and brush all the shavings off.

"So Amber...." Zoe begins. I grab a hoof pick and begin cleaning out Sparrows feet. "Mhmm?" I ask. "What's going on with you and Pin?" She asks causing Sparrow to snort. I finish cleaning her foot and move to the next.

"Nothing's going on between us" I simply state, focusing more on Sparrows foot than the conversation I'm having. "Oh come on. We've all seen the way he looks at you" Jade pipes up and I finish Sparrows foot. I go to her other side and pick up the next one. "Do you guys really want to know?" I ask.

I hear a chorus of 'yes'' so I tell them. "About 8 years ago, I moved from here to Alberta with my dad. Before I left, Pin and I were close friends" I say. "And!" Zoe pushes.

"And what?" I say, dropping Sparrows foot and moving on to the final one. "That can't be it" Jade exasperates. "But it is" I say, finishing up her foot. "That's the story" I add. "Pinber" Becky mutters.

"Pinber?" Everyone questions looking at Becky, including me. "Yeah. Pin and Amber" Becky shrugs. I roll my eyes at her and continue brushing Sparrows mane and then move to her tail. Once finished, I head to the tack room and grab light blue saddle pad, and her matching brown saddle and bridle. I also grab my helmet on my way out.

Once I'm back out, I saddle up Sparrow and put my helmet on before bridling her. I fix her forelock before checking her girth and mounting. "Everybody ready?" Jade questions. I noticed that she had a bag hanging on the side of her saddle.

I look around. Jade was on her horse, Becky was on Bob, Zoe was on Major and I was on Sparrow. "I think we're good. Let's go" Becky encourages, leading the way with Bob. He really was a cute little fella.

We walk onto one of the trails, Becky leading the way followed by Jade, Zoe, and I was in the back. I didn't mind though. I hadn't been on these trails in years and I think that Sparrows more comfortable following other horses rather than leading.

After about a half hour of walking, trotting, and cantering through the moors, we stop at the top of a hill where there is a huge oak tree. Jade dismounts first and takes the bag off her saddle. From the bag, she pulls out a blanket, bottles of water, and peanut butter and jam sandwiches. "You're not allergic to peanuts are you?" She asks looking at me.

"No. I'm good" I smile, sliding off Sparrows back and flipping the reins over her head and into my hands. Everybody else dismounts and ties there horses up to a post that was beside the tree. I tie Sparrow up as well. I take my helmet off and sit on the blanket.

We all sit on the blanket and Jade hands us each a sandwich and a bottle of water. "Thanks" I smile at her. "So Amber, before you left, did you hear any stories about the legendary ghost pony?" Becky asks, staring wide eyed at me.

I nod. "I've heard of him. He's said to roam the moors" I say. She squeals. "Finally, someone I can talk to" she exclaims. Zoe and Jade playfully roll their eyes at their over excited friend while Becky goes into a deep description about the ghost pony, but I had zoned out.

I was staring off into the grassy landscape that stretched and stretched until the ocean cut it off. It was breath taking. A warm smile crept onto my face when memories of me and my mom running around these hills together danced through my mind. It's like the accident never happened. It was like the past 8 years never happened. But reality is a painful thing sometimes. The last 8 years did happen and my mother did die in a car accident 12 years ago.

A pair of hands clapped in front of my face. "Amber" Zoe calls out. I turn and look at her and notice that everyone was now staring at me. "Sorry, I kinda lost myself for a minute there" I let out a short, embarrassed laugh. "But why are you crying?" Jade asks. "Is something wrong?" Becky adds.

I reach up and touch my cheek. I was crying. "Oh. Ha. It's nothing" I try to shrug it off. "No. Come on. You can tell us" Zoe says in a calm yet serious voice. "Ok" I sigh. "About 12 years ago, my mother was killed in a car accident. We used to run around these hills together" I tell them part of the story. I wasn't telling the other part.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I can see why you were upset" Becky says. I wave it off. "It's fine. It happened years ago" I say like it's no big deal. Jade changes the conversation to something about Marcus having a crush on Zoe and she just simply denied. "Guys. He doesn't have a crush on me. Trust me" Zoe groans. I guess that they've had this conversation before.

"Well what about Amber" Zoe tries to take the pressure off her. "What about me?" I ask. "Pin totally has feelings for you" Zoe nudges her shoulder with mine. I roll my eyes. "I am not having this conversation" I stand up. I walk over to Sparrow and break apart some of my sandwich and offer it to her. She takes it and licks her lips.

"You're such a special girl aren't you?" I ask, tickling her nose. The other horses look at me, and I offer each of them a piece. Bob nearly took my entire sandwich. "Hey greedy. The rest is mine" I tell him, hitting his nose lightly.

I rejoin the girls at the blanket and sit back down and finish my sandwich. "Hey Amber?" Jade asks. "Yes" I smile at her. "How old are you?" "16. Why?" I ask. "No reason. I was just curious, but also, how did you learn to jump like that? I don't even think that Marcus could jump like that bare back" that causes everyone to look at me. "Yeah. Bridle-less too" Becky adds.

"When I was training Sparrow, we didn't have the money to buy a saddle or bridle. We wouldn't have had the money to buy Sparrow but her owners didn't want her because she was a mare. So, when I trained her, I trained her with a halter. Nothing else" I explain.

"Who wouldn't want a mare?" Becky exclaims. I shrug. "I don't know. They wanted a stallion I suppose. And she wasn't it. So I took her home" I smile, turning to look at my beautiful mare. "Wow" Zoe mutters. I smile slightly.

Suddenly, Becky's phone goes off. "My shift starts soon, I've got to get back" she frowns. "Come on. Well all go" Zoe suggests. We all clean up and pack everything up before putting on our helmets, untying our horses, and mounting up. We canter off through the open fields of the moors back to the stables.