The Eventers Club

Chapter 36:

Authors note: hi all, just wanted to let you know we had a little mix up with names in the last chapter which we've now fixed. So if you read the chapter straight after it was posted you might want to check it out again. Thank you!

Ashleigh's POV:

I knew Eve had done amazing when I saw her beaming smile. And it's kind of hard to miss the announcement that she's now in 1st place. My friend was in FIRST place at a Spruce Meadows show, how cool is that?!

The person before me was about to finish and I was just checking Beauty's gear for that last time. I didn't feel one ounce of nervousness once I started riding. I know it's cliche but that's how my mind responds to pressure. Once I get into the zone of riding everything slows down and I'm fine again. As I approach the dressage arena, I take a deep breathe.

Picking up a working trot, Beauty and I enter the arena in perfect union.

...

"Ladies and gentlemen, that was Ashleigh Sutton on New Moon with the score of... 83.02%! That puts them in second place trailing just a few points behind" the announcer says over the loud speakers as I dismount.

When the realisation hit me, I threw my arms around Beauty and hug him. We did it! We're in 2nd place! Wow, the feeling was amazing, it all was so surreal. Someone is definitely getting pampered tonight.

"Nice job!" Tina and Blair exclaim bounding over to me in a hurry.

"Thank you! Oh my goodness, did you see him?!! He was incredible! He did the test so effortlessly that it was as though he knew it off by heart" I say bouncing on my heals with a stupid grin on my face.

"You both were incredible" Tina laughs.

"Thanks! I'm going to cool him out and then go see where Eve is, you want to come?" I ask loosening Beauty's girth.

"I've got my test in about an hour so I'll have to pass, I want Surfer to look and feel perfect" she explains in an apologetic voice.

"That's totally fine, I'll come watch you ride for sure" I smile, still on the high of being in the top 3.

"What about you Blair" the girl blushes, before opening her mouth and stuttering.

"Well... I uh can't... um well, it's just, I uh promised to meet a friend of mine today who I um yeah" she says, making Tina and I look at her weirdly.

"Blair, hey! I was looking for you everywhere" a guys says interrupting her crappy explanation.

Tina and I make eye contact knowing the meaning of her constant embarrassment. A mischievous smile falls onto Tina's face. Blair sends us a 'don't you say a word' look which made us burst into giggles. Drama queen Blair has a thing for this boy.

"Andy these are my friends, Tina and Ashleigh. Girls, this is Andy. Now we have to go, bye!" She says super quickly before dragging the confused boy away from us by the arm.

"I dibs telling Eve about this later, now we have something interesting to talk about!" Tina giggles.

...

The girls and I gossip excitedly as we watch a movie on the couch. We had gotten back to the hotel around 5pm today and have been speaking non stop since. We were all in the top 15 after dressage, there being around 50 contestants all together in prelim. Currently we were watching an Adam Sandler comedy, Darla being generous enough to supply us with many different movies for our trip. Another bonus was that we didn't have mopey Kelly with us. Not only was she busy going to a restaurant tonight, but she had also decided to stay with her parents in their hotel room.

"You should've seen her face Eve, she looked like a horse caught breaking into the feed bins! It was so funny!" Tina explains while I laugh hysterically. As said, Tina had the privilege to explain today's events concerning Blair. The girl right now was holding a pillow to her face groaning in embarrassment.

"Blair and Andy sitting in the-" Tina starts to sing immaturely but is cut off when a pillow hits her right in the face.

"Bulls eye" Blair smirks.

"Ow! Your no fun" Tina says pouting childishly.

"Says you!" Blair shoots back jokingly.

"Kids, what did I say yesterday, no fighting or we're going home!" Eve scolds with a serious expression.

Everyone completely stops and stares at her for a good few seconds.

"Don't start with me woman, we still haven't discussed you and Jake" Blair says giving her a challenging look.

"Eve and Jake sitting-" I start singing with Tina.

"Oh real mature girls, real mature" Eve says rolling her eyes at us.

...

Day two and it was cross country! First off today they have the advanced and intermediate riders doing their rounds. Us preliminary riders have to wait until 11:45am to walk our course. Something which Eve and I did yesterday so we would be more sure of what jumps to go over. Making a jumping error in cross country will throw us to the bottom of the leader board. So here we are sitting down next to the cross country course waiting for time to pass by. Tina was happy enough to take photos of riders that galloped by while Blair was on social media. Eve and I had been discussing school when a familiar name caught our attention.

"Next for cross country we have Sabrina Chapman on Crescendo" the announcer says. I tone his voice out as he goes back to talking about riders in the individual dressage competition being held.

The girls and I sit up properly and eagerly watch out for the rider. By the looks Sabrina was one of the best riders at EFA who was already successfully competing in intermediate level. It was something I wanted to move up to very soon, however I had my doubts. It might be a little to intense while I'm still at school. My school load doesn't exactly help me in any way either. They just dump stuff on me and expect that I have no life outside of school. Maybe the new school in Calgary will be some what better.

The footfalls of a horse grabs my attention and I see Sabrina racing around the bend coming our way. Opposite side of the track I saw EFA team members rise from where they were seated and cheer her on. Their cheering doesn't distract her as she goes up steps and glides over a trakehner jump. After that the pair clear a combination of corner jumps and canter off to their next set of jumps.

"He didn't even hesitate at the trakehner... Apollo would've definitely got looky about that one" Blair says quietly.

"Don't worry, it's not like we're riding against her. Plus your an incredible rider, don't discredit yourself" Tina says smiling.

"I know we aren't riding against her but if that's just a little glance at how well EFA students go in cross country, then there's more where that came from" Blair sighs glancing at the EFA riders worriedly.

"Don't worry, we've all done really well so far, we'll do great this afternoon" I said, trying to reassure everyone.

But suddenly even I don't feel convinced anymore, what if I was wrong?