Maple Stream Riding Academy

Chapter Six: Laura's Surprise

(I made this 'map' of the Academy, hope it helps)

Last night was fun. We Skyped Callie, made ice cream sundaes, sang like idiots, and watched a scary movie. I woke up, threw on a pair of breeces, got my boots on, and did my hair in a braid down my back. I checked my phone and saw a text from Monique, my best friend.

M~ Heyy girlie! How's the new school so far?

C~ So much fun already! We start classes in ten days. Eeeeppp

M~ Any cute boys?

C~ Haha, not yet. Only people in the dorm at the moment are me, Laura, Alex, and Abby. No boys yet

M~ Kay, tell me when they arrive

C~ ? Okay...

M~ Ugh I gotta go, classes are starting in an hour and I gotta get to school. Bye girlie

C~ Byeee

I walk downstairs and grab my keys. "Cami! Pick a colour," Alex shouts as I walk down the stairs. "Blue, green, maroon, black, white, or purple?"

"For what?" I shout back.

"A key chain to holf your keys together," she explains.

"Maroon," I shout, making my way back up the stairs.

"Okay, here," she says, tossing the key chain to me down the stairs.

"Aw, this is so cute!" I exclaim. It's made of maroon fabric string, and is braided. At the beginning of the braid, there is a small, brown wooden horseshoe braided into it. I get my two keys and tie them together using the tails of the braids.

"Don't tie it too tight yet, Laura has to give you your locker key," Abby shouts from the kitchen. I run down the stairs to the kitchen and Laura tosses me a key. The key reads 118. I add it to my little key collection.

"Locker 118, nice," I say. "What locker are you Abby?"

"Locker 120," she replies. "Hey, locker buddies!"

"What locker number is Alex?" I ask excitedly.

"132," Laura replies, taking a bite of her cereal.

"Where's the cereal?" Abby asks, pointing to Laura's bowl.

"Top cabinet to the right of the fridge," Laura says, looking through a Dover catalog.

"Aw geez, I'm too short. Cami, help?" Abby asks. I laugh and grab the Frosted Flakes from the cabinet. "Want any?"

"Sure, I'm gonna use the bathroom real quick though," I say, starting up the steps.

"Don't go all the way back upstairs, use the one in my room," Laura says, eyes fixated on a long sleeve riding shirt.

"Okay, thanks," I say, opening her bedroom door and using her bathroom. I wash my hands and walk back out into the kitcen, Abby handing me a bowl of cereal. A few moments later, Alex runs down the stairs, her hair bouncing with every step.

"None for me?" Alex fake whines.

"Nope, there's some right here," Abby says, grabbing a bowl of cereal from behind her.

"Aw, sisterly love," I say, patting Alex's head. She growls at me and my phone goes off. "Callie!"

Callie and I have a short conversation before she leaves for school, and Alex laughs at me. "Sisterly love," she says, patting my head.

"Girls, it is currently 8:45. I recommend that you girls go take care of your horses, maybe practice some jumping, and let them out in our pasture. We're expecting students to start coming in at eleven, and it get's hectic. You'll definitely want to help people out. Expect at least ten more people for this dorm at least. This dorm only should be expecting twenty students, its the Red Group that has twenty-three, I believe. But they're also the largest dorm and barn with thirty-two stalls and fifteen dorm rooms," Laura says. "Believe me, they all come at once, it's awful. Some people will go right to the dorms, others right to the barn, others to the office."

We all finish out breakfast talking about horses, and the four of us walk to the barn together. When we get to the barn, a truck and trailer with a Virginia licence plate is pull up to the barn. Laura squeals and runs to the drivers side of the truck. A tall, handsome man steps out of the car and hugs her. They walk back to the trailer together and open the door, revealing a cute palomino Thoroughbred mare.

"Girls meet Jake and Sundance, or Dancing on the Sun. Jake is my boyfriend and Sundance is my Thoroughbred mare who I teach dressage on," Laura says. We all introduce ourselves and Laura asks if we can organize her things in her cubby, cubby number twenty-three. The very last one.

Laura leads Sundance to her stall and Alex, Abby, and I all grab some stuff from her trailer and head back to Laura's cubby. Jake follows us holding three saddles, one for dressage, one for jumping, and one for all-purpose riding.

"Don't tell Laura yet, but I just bought her this dressage saddle for her birthday. She still doesn't know about it, and I want it to be a surpise. Last year for teaching dressage, she used her all-purpose saddle," Jake explains, handing a saddle to each of us to put on the saddle racks. "Thanks guys, but I gotta go get my horse. I'm the counselor for the Grey Group and I also teach barrel racing. I'll talk to you guys later."

We organize Laura's cubby and call her in when we're done. "Laura, come see!" Alex exclaims. Laura walks into the cubby room and opens her cubby.

"Where did this come from?" She asks, lifting up the dressage saddle. When she does, a note fall from the saddle. Putting the saddle back down on the rack, she reads the note outloud.

"I'm sorry I didn't give you anything but flowers and chocolates for your birthday. I wanted this to be a surprise. I truly, dearly love you. XOXO -Jake," she reads, getting teared up. "It's beautiful, I love it," she says, stroking the expensive looking black leather saddle.

"Well, I'm gonna go take care of Raquel," I say after a long period of awkward silence. I open my cubby and get Raquel's all-purpose saddle, brush bag, bridle, and saddle pad. I fill her water and food and groom her in her stall so she can eat. I do a good job brushing her, making sure her coat shines red.