"Rewards hard earned are never easily kept"
Savannah Bell has earned a coveted position at Silver Hawk Ridge, a prestigious equestrian academy. Upon arrival, she discovers it is not the end of her trials. It's hard enough being a teenage girl...
The Monday after a show weekend is one like no other. The varsity team was exhausted, but well rested, whereas the National team got back late Sunday afternoon. Izzy has earned 2 firsts, 2 seconds, and 1 fifth place. Since it was a team only competition, there were team placements as well, and they had happily slid into second place overall. Of course that meant they had until first period today to finish any of their work, which was usually pretty hefty if you were a typical AP student (which many of them were).
Homecoming was this week, and the ensuing madness was torture. Teachers would be doing everything not to give us homework this weekend, but that meant our work would be piled on during the week. There were however fun parts to the whole thing. Even boarding schools do homecoming spirit week, and we would be hosting all kinds of athletic events this week. Girls were taking the bus trip on Saturday morning to get their hair and nails done. Since we worked with the horses, we, as a general rule and just common sense due to fate, didn't bother with fake nails. Besides that we did our hair and makeup for shows all the time (not to mention that Bianca is a seasoned dancer), so it made sense just to do each other's here for free.
Most of the girls had slept in because Monday's spirit day was pajama or sweats day, so effort in appearance was unnecessary. I was getting up early so I could have breakfast with Drew in the math building common area. Avery had decided on a giraffe onesie (because that girl had an endless supply of them it seemed), and I had chosen a red sweater and grey cotton shorts. I chose my other pair of glasses that were gold circle rims because the weather had been drying my eyes out like crazy too much for contacts, and suited the occasion. I promptly tossed my hair into a messy top knot and hefted my backpack and white fluffy blanket onto my shoulders. Shoving my feet into a pair of memory foam slide on slippers, I headed to grab breakfast and meet Drew.
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The bright orange sun was just peeking out over the tree tops, basking the clouds in a peaches and cream glow, which, coupled with a cool breeze, made for a gorgeous Kentucky morning. After wandering into the math building holding a bag and travel cup from Starbucks, I scanned the room for Drew. I found him perched on the edge of one of the tables in the corner in a black long sleeve t-shirt and UCLA plaid flannel pajama pants.
"Hey there sleepyhead" I teased, setting my my breakfast down and my backpack beside beside the table. After rolling his eyes, he pulled me into a into a hug, resting his chin on my head while I rested my head on his shoulder. Since I'm 5'9", this usually isn't a thing. I inhaled and was comforted by the familiar smell of his subtle cologne. Once we released, we sat at the table and ate our breakfasts.
"Did you have any idea of how to plod through the Calc work? I finally just pulled up the answer key for the last quarter of it" he said wearily, staring down at his work. I had spent nearly all of my Saturday afternoon trying to get it done.
"I mean it took forever, and I kept stumbling on the x and y variable combos, but I got it. Implicit differentiation is a special kind of torture invented JUST for math students, that's what I think" I said, rolling my eyes. I was just thankful that Dr. Wells trusted us enough to let us see the answer key and take pictures. My pre-calc teacher back in SC wouldn't even grade our homework until the day it was due, and it was always on accuracy, rather than completion.
