Greengate Academy

Chapter 15 - Part II

A/N - Here's the beginning of part II! Thanks for reading! 

I stared at my old friends. It was the Sunday after the dance, and after they had seen everything I had done last night, or rather what Ethan had done to me, they had decided to completely drop me as a friend. 

I played with my food. I wasn't too hungry,  so I had just grabbed a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I hadn't eaten any of it. 

I know I looked horrible. Everytime I cross paths with Maddie in our room, her glares feel like daggers. I didn't feel like looking nice. I wanted my friends back. 

Zoe and I locked eyes, and she turned to whisper to them. I heard their loud laughter, and decided to get up and leave. I threw out my untouched cereal and put the tray on top of the garbage can, where they were supposed to go. I left and quickly went back to my room and got ready for riding. 

The rest of the morning felt like a blur as I tacked up Cole. I saw Connor in the aisle. Our eyes met, but he just averted his gaze. Really? No badly thought out insults like usual? 

I led Cole out into an empty ring and mounted. There was an entire course set up in here. And we were going to jump it. 

I put him through his paces, and he tossed his head happily. He hadn't been ridden since Thursday, because lessons were canceled on Friday. He was full of energy, and especially strong in the canter. 

The lessons Mr. Windsor had been putting us through were really helping Cole. In the few weeks we had been here, he had more muscle and had gotten better at a lot of things, like his leads, rushing jumps, and striding, just to name a few. For once, he was showing a lot of promise. Before, I just didn't know how to bring out the best in him. 

Cantering, I turned him toward an oxer. I felt his body rise over it, and then land on the other side. He swapped leads, not without kicking out, and we turned toward another vertical. I rose out of the saddle and my hands slid up his neck. 

I slowed him down when we landed. He was getting a little too excited, and we had to make good striding for the next vertical. He took it easily, and I turned toward another vertical. This one was higher than the rest. I heard him grunt as he lifted higher and higher off of the ground, and then landed on the other side. 

I turned him to the left to approach a combination. It consisted of three jumps, a vertical, an oxer, and then a final vertical. I saw the distance, and shortened his stride to accomodate. 

We flew over the first jump, and he took one stride before we lifted into the air again over the oxer. It was two strides until we finished the combination over the last vertical. 

"Good boy..." I rubbed his neck and worked to get him back to a walk. "Very good." I was out of breath. 

I looked to the fence and saw Mr. Windsor watching. He nodded at me once he realized I was there and then walked away. How long had he been watching? 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I got back to my room, and my heart dropped when I saw Maddie there. She glared at me as I stepped inside. 

"I still can't believe what you did," She snapped. I didn't answer and just walked to my room. "Zoe says you're a traitor, and I believe her." 

I closed and locked the door behind me, but Maddie still decided to try to terrorize me. 

"You're not going to answer? Well, I hope you're happy with Ethan because we won't ever forgive you." I heard her stomp off to her own room, and I collapsed on my bed, trying hard to not cry. That night I didn't sleep very well. 

The next morning I got ready and left without Maddie to breakfast. I knew she wouldn't want to see me anyways. I had been through enough over the weekend, and it was early so I decided to stop by the Cafe. It's full name was Cafe Bean, but everyone just chose to call it the Cafe. 

I pulled my coat around closer to me. I turned my head to see Brooklyn, sitting alone as the rest of her group talked with each other. That's when I bumped into someone. 

"Oh, I'm sorry! Are you-" I steadied myself and saw who it was. Zoe was standing in front of me, her coffee spilled and her face boiling with anger. 

"No, I'm not fine! You betrayed me! I thought you were my friend! And now you've made me spill my coffee, ugh." She crossed her arms. 

"Zoe, I've been telling Maddie all weekend and now I'm telling you, it's not my fault. It's Ethan's!" 

She just shook her head and brushed past me. Defeated I walked into the building, enjoying the immediate warmth. 

I waited in line, looking down at my scuffed pair of brown boots, one of the few pairs not for riding. I also had on dark blue jeans and a white and black striped shirt. I had a grey sweatshirt over it. 

"Claire?" The person in front of me asked. 

"Lauren! Oh, I'm so glad to see you." She smiled, but was clearly confused because I knew we weren't quite that close yet. "It's a long story." 

"This line's moving at the pace of a snail. Spill the tea, sis." 

"Okay, so..." I launched into the story of the dance, and by the end she was shaking her head. 

"And nobody believes you?" 

"Nobody." 

She thought for a second. "What if you got Ethan to tell them? I'm sure if he aso said it they'd believe it." 

I shrugged. "I'm really not sure. All I know is that I seriously need coffee." 

We ordered together. She got a frappe and a blueberry muffin. I just got a coffee with sugar. She stared at my empty seeming order as we sat down together. "You sure you aren't gonna get anything to eat?" 

"I'm not hungry." I told her. She looked at me, clearly concerned, but chose to not say anything. I needed sleep and a good meal, but with homework and riding and this friend drama it was keeping me up at night. I felt horrible, and I know I looked horrible. But I didn't care about that. The confidence I had Friday had slipped away as quickly as my new, fragile friendships I had developed. 

Once we finished, we went out seperate ways. I sat through Spanish silently, not raising my hand once. In Science, Connor and I spent the entire period without saying a thing to each other. That's a new record for us. My free period was spent doing homework on a bench alone. By math, I was just feeling worse. 

I sat down next to J.J., who had gotten there before me. I refrained from making eye contact, and grabbed a pencil, a calculator, and last night's homework. 

"Claire," He said to me. I avoided his gaze. "Claire Collins, look at me." 

I managed to lock eyes with him, and I felt my bottom lip quiver. Horrible things were said to me over the weekend, and I really couldn't handle any more. 

"What do you want?" It barely came out as a whisper from my throat. 

"Claire, honey, talk to me. I know they believe what they believe, but I want to hear your side of the story." 

So I told him everything. He nodded along with everything, and once I was finished he hugged me. 

"I believe you," He whispered. I felt relief flush my body. We both glanced at Ethan across the room. "That jerk. I'm gonna make him pay." 

"Don't. He's not worth it," I smiled, happy I managed to hold onto one person. "If you want to help, can you please try to get the others to listen to what actually happened? Or make Ethan tell them or something?" 

"Your wish is my command, C.C."