Maple Stream Riding Academy

Chapter Seven: The Rest of the Pine Group

        I had been galloping Raquel around one of the arenas when I noticed trucks with trailers coming in. I had been jumping with Raquel earlier, and now is a good time to call it quits. Working quickly, I bring Raquel into some cross ties and took her saddle and saddle pad off. Grabbing my keys from my pocket, I open my cubby and put them away. Alex is at her cubby, cubby five, and Abby at three. I say hi and take off my helmet and get my brush bag and Raquel's nice leather halter. She has to look perfect for the new students coming in. I give her another thorough brush and hoof pick, and replace her bridle with her halter. I put everyting neatly back into my cubby. Not really paying attention, I leave the tack room, and I accidently bump into someone.

        "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" I say, recovering from my haze. I look up to see who I hit and get greeted by the warm green eyes of a boy. I start stuttering and helping im pick up the brushes from his dropped brush bag. "I d-din't m-mean it-t! I-I'm so, so, so sorry!"

        "Hey, it's fine," he says, taking the brushes from me. He opens locker seven (the one next to mine :o) and offers his hand for a shake. "I'm Mason. You are?" I freeze for a minute before speaking again. 

        "Me? Oh, I'm Cami," I say, watching his face carefully. "Do you, uh, need any, like, um, help or anything?"

        "Sure," he says, smiling at me. "Want to help me get  Apollo out of the trailer?"

        "Sure," I say. He leads me over to his trailer. I peer inside and see a beautiful dun Paint gelding. "He's beautiful."

        "Yeah, he's my lil' man. Right, Polie?" Apollo turns his head to see Mason. "Okay, I'm gonna hop in and hold him, after I'm in, can you unlatch the bar? He'll bolt if I don't hold him."

        "Yeah, okay," I say. Once Mason is in the trailer with Apollo, he gives me a thumbs up and I unlatch the bar. Mason slowly backs Apollo out of the trailer and leads him to stall seven, which is next to Alex's stall and across from mine.

        "Okay, well, I have all of my stuff in my cubby, can you show me the dorms?" Mason asks, smoothing down his dirty blonde hair.

        "Yeah, sure,"  I say, flashing him a smile. I lead him out of the barn and I hear Abby and Alex laughing at me. Mason and I walk to the dorm house and open the door for him. There are a few people I don't know in the house, but I just turn my attention to Mason. "What room are you in?"

        "Uh, room four," He replies. 

        "Third floor," I say, leading him upstairs. His door is slightly ajar, it seems like his roommate is already here. "I'll let you be." I go upstairs to my room and realize my door is open.

        "Oh! This must be the girl with the horse I saw in the barn! And she likes Fall Out Boy!" a girl's voice exclaims. A male voice - probably her father- replies with a grunt, and I open the door wider. There's a girl about my height with long, light brown hair that got straightened. She's standing with a man who vaugely resembles her.

        "Hi, I'm Cami! You are...?" I ask, holding out my hand for her to shake. She shakes it generously.

        "I'm Maggie, your roommate. You have a beautiful horse, by the way. What's her name?" Maggie asks.

        "Oh that's Raquel," I reply. "Do you have a horse here?"

        "Yes, I have my blue roan paint mare, Blue Moon, or Moon," she says, pulling out her phone and showing me a picture of her horse.

        "She's stunning," I say.

~

        The rest of the night filled with meeting everyone in the dorms. Laura came and told us that there are eighteen students in the dorms, and when everyone is in their rooms, I go around meeting everyone. In dorm one there are two shorts girls with shoulder length hair, one with blonde hair and one with brown. The blonde one introduces herself as Sasha, and the brunette one as Hannah.

        In dorm two, there are two blonde girls named Danielle and El, both about average height. In dorm three, a girl with red hair answers the door. Her name is Natalie, and her roommate, who is tall and thin, introduces herself as Reagan.  In dorm four, Mason and his brown-haired friend Sam greet me by throwing a paper airplane at me. In dorm five, Nate and Reese greet me. They're brothers, but don't really look alike. Reese is tall and has brown hair, while Nate is short with brown hair and freckles. In dorm six, a tall brown-hairedguy named Michael greets me and introduces me to Paul, a short pale, blond kid.

        Earlier, Maggie, Abby, Alex, and I met Kaytie and Felicity. Kaytie is a bit short for her age and has long curly hair, while Felicity is also short, with shoulder length blonde hair. The six of us are on the same level, the level above the boys. We sat in a circle, talking, exchanging numbers and talking about out horses. At about 7:00, the six of us and Reagan walked to the barn. I met Moon, and Kaytie showed us her bay gelding Cowboy, Felicity showed us her dungelding Dart, and Reagan showed us her Morgan Apple.

        We slowly walked back to the dorm, walking in at 7:45. The boys were playing air hockey and the girls were sitting on the couch, watching a movie. We decided to join them and I slowly drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

(Last boring chapter, I swear)