Something to Prove

Chapter 3: A Good Idea

I had just unpacking the last of my light blue luggage when I heard a tentative knock on the door and it opened. A pretty girl with shoulder-length blonde hair poked her head in.

"Aspen?" she asked with a smile spreading across her face.

"That's me. You must be Carly," I replied. She nodded and came to stand next to me. "It's very nice to meet you," I said, feeling more confidant than I thought I would.

"It's great to meet you, too. We didn't get any chance to talk over the summer, but I think we'll get along well enough." She seemed super sweet, and I liked her already. Carly surveyed the pile of my things on my bed and sighed. "I guess I'd better unpack, huh? This could take a while." She walked over to her own mountain of bags and turned to me. "I warn you, I can be a bit of an organizational freak. I'm not particularly neat, but I like everything to be in order," she confessed.

"That's fine," I said with a laugh. "I'm the exact same way." Score, we were already bonding! The two of us spent the next hour chatting and arranging our room.

"That's so cool that you ride," Carly said. "What's your horse like?"

"Well, Fallon's not technically mine. Yet," I said. "It's kinda complicated." The look I got from her made me explain. "It's a long story. But basically, I was part-boarding another horse named Splash when I first saw Fallon. She was a Grand Prix showjumper, but something happened and all of a sudden, she was terrified of jumping, then she even got scared by people in general. Her owner sent her to the barn I was at because she knew that Fallon would be able to retire happily there. I guess the barn owner, my coach, saw some potential left, because she came to me and asked if I wanted to work with Fallon, to help her get over all her fear. The only sort of thing I'd done like that before was work with a head-shy mare last summer, to get her to accept a halter. Anyways, I was out at the barn almost every day, and somehow found enough time to take care of Splash and work with Fallon. In two weeks I was able earn Fallon's trust enough that I could halter her, lead her around and even lunge her. After that, my coach said that if I could get Fallon back into working order, I could have her. I spent the rest of the summer competing with Splash and re-teaching Fallon how to jump." I took a breathe, suddenly dying for a glass of water. "When I got accepted into Canterwood, my coach and I decided that the level of riding I would be doing was too advanced for Splash, and that I should take Fallon."

Carly looked impressed. "You must be a pretty incredible rider to be able to have achieved so much with a horse that was considered a lost cause!"

I felt myself blush. "Really, I'm not a very good rider. All it took was a bit of patience," I said. By now, we'd put together the entire room. Both of our beds had fresh sheets and comforters and pillows, both windows had curtains hung, pulled back to let the sunlight spill into the room, we each had a colourful rug peeking out from under our beds and another was beneath our midnight blue couch, lime green pod chair, purple beanbag seat, coffee table and TV. Surveying the room, we both grinned at each other. "I think we can live comfortably here, what do you think?" I said.

"I think it's perfect!" Carly exclaimed! "Want to head to the cafeteria for dinner?" I quickly agreed, and we walked over to the caf. We kept talking, getting to know each other more.

"Dude, we have so much in common, it's scary!" I said laughing.

"I know! Like, how perfect is it that we both LOVE Marianas Trench, Adam Lambert, and Hedley, we're both obsessed with Pretty Little Liars and the Big Bang Theory, and we even have the same taste when it comes to clothes!" Carly giggled. "We were so meant to be roomies."

After coming back to our room, Carly and I went about our own night-time routines and went to bed. We both wanted to be as ready as possible for class tomorrow. I couldn't help but feel excited. I had a great roommate, and tomorrow I would find out what kind of cool classes I get to take and what riding would be like here at Canterwood. Maybe this, coming to Canterwood, wasn't such a bad idea after all.