Some People Change (Currently Editing)

Chapter Thirty-Two

I jumped out of Taylor’s truck before he stopped it. I needed to find Ed and tell him about Wes. It was unbelievable to me how childish Wes was acting, but how cruel he could be.

Ed was in the tack room, dusting off some saddles. I entered and then stood there, not really knowing what to say. Ed raised his head and looked at me a few seconds longer.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“We had a little run-in with Wes.”

“What?!”

Ed dropped the cloth he was holding and then hopped to his feet.

“Taylor and I were just about to leave the lake when Wes pulled up beside us.”

“That son of a-”

“Ed,” Jason said behind me, raising up his hand to cut his brother off. 

I spun around to face him.

“What did he say to you?” Ed said.

“He didn’t really threaten me or anything, he just tried to talk me out of competing in the gymkhana.” I answered.

“And what did you say to him?”

“I told him there was no chance that I would do that and I looked forward to beating every rider there.”

“That’s my girl,” Jason murmured, smiling at me.

“We’ve come too far to back out now, Kayla,” Ed said. “And don’t let anyone tell you different.”

“I won’t,” I replied firmly.

“Well, speaking of the gymkhana, we need to talk about it,” Ed said. 

“I’m listening.”

“You already know it’s in four days, so we need to incorporate some last minute training, and Amy has already agreed to let you spend the night before the gymkhana here. Also, you’re required to have some sort of nice Western outfit. It can just be black jeans and a fancy shirt, but nothing too casual.”

“I thought gymkhanas were the definition of casual,” I said.

Jason and Ed laughed.

“Not around here, sweetheart,” Jason answered. “Everybody makes a huge deal about them. Winning a gymkhana is like winning a gold medal at the Olympics.”

I laughed at the comparison.

“I guess I can go shopping for something tomorrow.”

“We have a few things around here, you just need to try them on,” Ed said. “We can do it tomorrow. For today, it’s too late to really do anything. Tomorrow we’ll do a little bit of practice and that should be good.”

“Ed, who exactly am I competing against?” 

“Other riders just like yourself.”

“But they’re better than me, aren’t they?”

“Now, I didn’t say that. Yes, they’ve probably been riding longer, but even if we added them all up, they wouldn’t have as much determination as you.”

“You’re just saying that, Ed.”

“No, he’s not,” Taylor said, finally joining us. “You’ve had more falls and more challenges in a matter of months than most riders have in a lifetime.”

“Taylor’s right,” Jason said. “I used to teach, and in all my years, no one has ever shown so much courage as you have.”

“Thank you, Jason.”