The Year of the Horse (Book two of the Almair Series) (Completed)

Chapter 3 (Edited)

"So, this is what your room looks like," Ava said, looking around my room. "I thought it would be messier."

I glared at her playfully. "Well, my room wouldn't be messy, but this is it. I know it doesn't look like much, but it is comfortable." I sat down on my bed and looked around, smiling, glad that it hadn't changed over the year that I had been here.

"To me personally, I like the color of the paint," Jason said, sitting down on one of my beanie bag chairs, while Brody jumped up onto the bed next to me.

"Ya, it is so... so..." She frowned, not knowing the word.

"Calming and relaxing?" I asked, raising an eyebrow while I looked at Ava, helping her out.

She nodded her head. "It is very calming and relaxing." She looked around my room, seeing pictures of me and animals. She grabbed a picture off of my dresser and frowned, coming over to me. "I didn't know you rode." she said, showing me the picture that was in her hands. She sat down on the other side of me. "Who's this?"

I took the picture in my hand and smiled, seeing me on a Paint mare with a Black Overo coat. I had ridden this mare for years, and I had started when I was 5, because I had seen a movie that had a horse show, where a female was jumping a horse. I had told my parents I wanted to do that, so they let me. "Her name is Sauda, which means Dark Beauty in Swahili." I shrugged my shoulder, missing the mare before sighing. "I did ride for about 5 years, but I stopped a little after..." I shook my head and sighed.

"Even then, I didn't know that you rode," she said, turning to look at me. There was a frown on her face because, she knew what I meant.

"I want to start again, but... my parents keep saying that it wasn't safe for me to ride anymore." I glared at the carpet, not knowing why they didn't want me to stop.

She turned to look at the picture again. "Why is she named for Dark Beauty?" she asked, changing the subject.

I smiled grateful that she had changed the subject. "She was named Dark Beauty because that is what she is. She is beautiful, but she has very bad mood swings for a horse."

"How?" Ava asked, smiling.

"After that picture was taken, she bucked me off into a fence. My mom called her a she-devil because she changes from one instant to another. To me, it was kind of funny on how it all worked out in the end."

"Why is it funny?"

"Well, her attitude towards me was a lot different than it was towards other people. To other people, she would hate them for a long time and get into trouble with them, but... with me, her attitude changes. She can be a pain in the ass, sometimes, but we had made like this silent agreement, which I don't remember of, for her to be nice to me, if I was nice to her."

"Cool."

I sighed and went to my bag. That was the only thing that had changed, I kept my bag in my room now and not downstairs. "Well, let's get your homework done." I pulled my math book out of my bag before going over to my desk, which was big for two people

She sighed but took out her book and sat down next to me.

And then, we began working on her math homework.

***

"Man, why can't she teach it like this?" Ava asked, finally getting the problems that she had given us.

"Well, it's because she wants you to think," I replied, smiling.

She stuck her tongue out at me, teasingly. "It's not funny."