I Dare You [ Cedar Ridge Equestrian Academy ]

Chapter 3: Stable Chaos

I resist the urge to trot Nemo down to the stables. I am so so excited to look at everything! I decided to keep the paperwork with me in case someone asks me something important and I can't just shrug at them. I enter the double doors and the crunching of hooves on gravels turns to shod clops against concrete.
I actually have to stop for a second. Is this place even real? Two aisles branch in either direction off a central aisle that I am currently standing in. The stalls face inwards towards an aisle, against either the stone wall or the wooden wall of another stall. The stalls are made of oiled hardwood and metal bars, each with automatic watering (a rare and magical entity in my home) and hay rack. Man this place is luxurious. At the end of each of the four aisles is a shared tackroom for the aisle. The stalls stretch out for ages. How the fuck am I meant to find stall 12!? A girl about 20 years old dressed in working clothes approaches me smiling warmly.
"New here? I'm Rosie, one of the grooms." Rosie is short and stocky, yet very pretty. The smile makes her seem all the more welcoming.
"Yeah. How can you tell?" I grin, "Is there a map or something? This place is actually massive." Rosie points to a corkboard, which me and Nemo wander up to. Nemo looks as astonished as I do, I don't think he's ever seen this many horses in his life. A printed map labels all the stalls by number. Each aisle has 20 horses in stalls facing each other and the tack room on the end, making Nemo in the bottom left aisle, close-ish to the doors. Sweet. I turn to Rosie and smile again.
"I'm Georgie, I'm the new scholarship girl, and this is Nemo. Would you mind escorting me to stall 12?" Rosie returns the smile and takes the lead.
"Of course! You seem like you could use the company. I'll help you bring all your stuff down from the parking lot if you want, too."
"Oh awesome! I could definitely use a hand with that." I am not a light packer. I think everything I've ever bought for Nemo has been crammed into the car boot and trailer. Rosie leads us down the aisle, with Nemo manically trying to greet every horse down the aisle as we go. Rosie stops at stall 12 and opens the door for me. I lead him in and pull off his halter. Someone has already put hay in his rack. I step outside and latch the door, before leaning against it. Nemo wanders over to me, sniffing me to make sure I haven't accidentally brought treats. I turn to Rosie before Neem can inhale me or something.

"Do the horses get turned out much?" I ask as we hike up towards the car to get all my stuff. Rosie chuckled.
"I spend half my day turning out and collecting horses. Trust me, they spend more time in the paddock than stalls." I sigh with relief. Rosie suddenly turns to me quizzically.
"Hey, you know there's an introduction orientation at 1pm right? With lunch?" I gulp and rip out my phone. 12:07pm. SHIT.
"As a matter of fact, I did not!" I splutter, "I haven't even been to my friggin dorm yet!" Rosie's laughs lightly.
"Don't worry, I'll grab your horse stuff. You're just like me, a little bit too caught up in the horses for your own good. Grab your other stuff and go to the dorms quick and try settle in. Also, swearing is considered a warning, but I'll let it slide, Georgie." God I wanted to hug her right now.

I yank my suitcase up the last few stairs out of breath, duffel bag hitting my knees. Dad follows suit, hauling two other bags, equally out of breath.
"Man, look at how fit we are!" He laughs through panting. Three floors. The elevator was out of order, just my luck. It looked about as rickety as my trailer did nonetheless. I pull my case and bags up to dorm 302, and open the door. Purple Pixie and another girl I didn't recognise were organising their stuff in awkward silence.
"Hi!" I say breathlessly, bags and father still in tow. Pixie turns and smiles immediately, other girl makes brief eye contact and continues unpacking.
"Hey! You're Georgie, right?" I nod. "My name's Tahlia, nice to meet you." I grin at her. Funny how little warmth makes you like a person. I turn quick to my dad, and ask him to just dump my stuff on the unoccupied bed by the window. Tahlia claimed the bed in the corner, while Other Girl claimed the bed closest to the door I assume to the bathroom.
"You too! I see you guys are waaay more organised than me. And smell less like horse." I get to work unpacking breeches and polos of my own, rescuing my boots from the squish of my suitcase.
"I so badly wanted to go to the stables first, but mom took Jazz and made me go unpack first." She sighed.
"Oh dude, it was for the best. That place is crazy!"
"I know! I've been here for two years already and it blows me away every time!" Well didn't I just sound dumb. They've all seen the stables before, I'm just a new kid. I was suddenly struck by panic. I wrangled my phone out my pocket. 12:43. I have to get changed. Like, right now.