A horse named Bear

~ Chapter 7 ~

~ Chapter 7 ~

The first thing I notice about the stables is how they are perfect. The wood is carved with horses running through forests and tack is neatly lined up against the stalls. Hundreds of horses have their heads sticking out of the stalls; black ones, white ones, brown ones. Every horse and breed that you can ever imagine.

"Looks like we are finally here, Bear. Let's just hope this works out."

Yet another sigh escapes my lips and I begin to look for the stall Bear was supposed to be housed in.

"Looking for this?" A guys voice startles me and I nearly jump out of my shirt.

"What?" I say, turning around and staring with my mouth opened at one of the hottest guys I've ever seen in my life.

He stood tall with broad shoulders, his short blonde hair falling over his light blue eyes. It seemed that he was a god, fallen from heaven and given to me in my time of need. A smile comes to my face as my mind wanders, and he raises a brow at me.

"Something funny?"

"Eh.." I stammer. "No."

Suddenly, I realize that I must seem like a weirdo just staring at him like that. Shaking my head, I laugh a bit embarrassed and hold out my hand.

"I'm Kiana."

"Lucas. But you can call me Luke."

Shaking my hand, Luke manages a smile and points at an empty stall with a place labeled 'Bear.'

"That's where you can keep the big guy. It's away from the other stallions so that no fight break out."

He laughs, running his fingers through his long blonde hair.

"I don't know if he is like the others, but most of the stallions here don't get along with each other. They need to be kept separate."

I nod and lead Bear into the large stall, unhooking his lead rope from his blue halter and hanging it from a hook by the stall.

"Well thank you, I really appreciate it."

I laugh nervously.

"Not many people are very... Inviting here."

Luke shakes his head and sits on a bale of hay.

"Sadly no. This isn't the friendliest academy in the world. You obviously found that out by now."

I nod again and lean up against Bear's stall, running my fingers through his long mane.

It was weird how I felt like I could actually have a conversation with this boy. I was really never able to talk to guys, I always got to nervous. But there was something about Luke that just made it easy to talk to him.

"So what are you here for? Jumping? Dressage?"

His question comes to a shock to me and I turn my head back around to face him.

"Racing. Bear is a retired champion."

I smile and kiss the side of his head.

"What is a young stallion like him doing retired?"

My shoulders suddenly slump and I unlock Bear's stall, pulling the door away and leaning down.

"He suffered a career ending break last year." I say, running my fingers over a large scar that runs down his leg.

"That's to bad. A horse like him ought to still be a champion. Bear.. I guess I've never heard of him."

I smile, for this was always something that people wondered about.

"His real name is Bear, however he raced under the name Grand Slam. Just something about Bear not being unique enough."

He laughs and stands up, petting the neck of a horse that had been hanging its head out of the stall above Luke.

"So what do you do?" I ask.

"Mostly show jumping. But I guess I'm pretty good at steeplechase too."

Luke moves over to a small palomino horse who was leaning against the side of the stall with his head inside a hay sack.

"This is Atlantis."

Giving the stallion a quick pet, he smiles and returns to his spot on the hay bail.

"So have you been to your dorm room?"

"No, not yet. I literally just got here."

"Well would you like me to take you there?"

He stands up and brushes a few strands of hay off his blue jeans.

"Sure."

I hand him a slip of paper that had my room number on it and he sighs.

"Looks like you'll be stuck with Christina."

He shakes his head and flips his hair from his blue eyes.

"Christina..?" I questions cautiously.

"Ya. I guess you can consider her the biggest bitch in the entire academy."

With a chuckle, he hands me back the paper and begins walking out of the stables.

"Dorm room's this way."

I give Bear one last pat and run after Luke, making sure to swing a purple duffle back over my shoulder before I took off. The rest of my bags had been taken to my room by the academy workers, but I didn't want anyone touching this bag. It was.. Different from the others.

"So.." I think of a topic that might bring up conversation between us.

That's when I heard the scream.