Maple Stream Riding Academy

Chapter Ten: School...

        I wake up at 6:45 all giddy and happy. As I change and brush my hair, Maggie gives me a strange look. "What?" I ask.

        "You've never been excited to wake up at 6:50 in the morning," Maggie explains. "On  a school day."

        "Well, maybe I like school," I say, and we both start laughing. "Just, shhh, and get ready. We have to feed horses by 7:30 and let them out at 7:45 so the barn hands can clean their stalls."

        "Okay, but I got my eye on you," she sings. We laugh some more before we go to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Mason and Sam are sitting at the counter eating toast.

        "Where are the others?" I ask, looking around.

        "They wanted to leave early so they could make it to school on time," Sam explains.

        "Oh. Cam, what do you want to eat?" Maggie asks, reaching up to the cereal cabinet.

        "Eh, give me some corn flakes and I'll be happy," I reply, leaning against the counter. I'm wearing jeans, a horse necklace, combat boots, and an aztec-looking tank top and sweater. (Attached). I play with my necklace as Maggie pours me cereal, and we eat in silence.

        After Maggie and Samuel clean up out dishes and I grab my bag, phone, and laptop, we walk to the barn together. Maggie and Sam cracking corny jokes and Mason and I talking about our classes. Half way to the barn, things get serious.

        "Hey, Cam, about last night-," Mason starts.

        I cut him off by saying "It's fine. It's - I'm. Ugh. I like you," I stutter. "But for now, lets be friends. Get adjusted to school and lessons."

        "My thoughts exactly," he says, looking at me and laughing. We enter the barn and I scoop Raquel's food into her feed bin. I give her time to eat and then lead her to the group pasture. All of the other kid's horses are out here already, so I unclip Raquel's lead and watch her gallop over to the hay pile. I smile, and a minute later, I hear Mason walk up behind me.

        "Watch out," he says. I step back, watching. He unclips Apollo's lead, and the crazy horse takes off sprinting after Raquel. The jump around together, playing and rolling on the ground. "That's the first time he's chosen another horse instead of food."

        We laugh and walk to the school. Today's an odd day, so I have English with Abby, Algebra with Mason, and Culinary with Alex before cross country with Maggie, Reagan, Danielle, Kaytie, and Michael. Then I have show jumping with Mason, Alex, El, Reagan, and Sam. Obviously there will be other people in the classes, but thats all the people I know in them.

        I get my English notebook, algebra notebook, and culinary folder and put them in my backpack next to my laptop. I also grab an extra notebook and folder, along with my pencil bag. Then I make my way to English.

        I walk into the classroom and take a seat at the table that Abby, El, and Maggie are sitting at. I sit next to Maggie and across from Abby. Abby's sitting next to El.

        "I didn't know you two are in this class," I say, motioning to El and Maggie. "And you're my roommate."

        "Yeah, we never exchanged  schedules, remember? We wanted to keep it a secret... We made this deal on Wednesday," Maggie explains. "We only exchanged riding classes, doofus." We laugh, but quickly get quiet when the English teacher walks in.

        He's tall and has voluminous light grey hair and large rimmed glasses. On the whiteboard, he writes his name. Mr. Lutze. 

        "Hello, my little goslings, I'm your English 9 Honours teacher for the next few months. I hope you guys like reading," he says, adjusting his bow tie that has horses and horse shoes on it. "Don't be frightened by my outgoing personality or the difficulty of the class. As one, we will make it through the school year in one piece. We're like a pack of wolves getting through a blizzard. You young pups will follow me, the alpha, through the process. Yeah, sure, one or two of you will die along the way, but the majority of us will survive," he says, giving us a goofy grin. "Okay, we're going to start off the school year with a fun project. A mini book report. I'll give you guys today and tomorrow to choose a book. Bring it in on Wednesday when you will see me next time. The book has to be at least 350 pages long, preferably from the academy library. Miss, will you please hand these papers out to everyone?" He hands a small stack of white papers to Abby. "As she hands those out, I'm going to take attendence."

        After he takes attendence and Abby hands the paper out, we read the paper silently. I write my name at the top of my paper in neat writing.

        "For the project, you're going to make a 'new cover' for the book you choose. On the front page, draw a picture, the title, and the author's name. On the back, I expect you to write five fake reviews by made up people or companies. On the inside left flap, write a two paragraph summary of the story, and on the right inside flap, write your own 'about the author' on the author of the story. It's a nice, simple way to ease into the school year," Mr. Lutze explains as he sits on his desk. "For those of you who brought laptops, look at the bottom of the sheet."

        On the bottom of the sheet, it has a URL to the academy library.

        "Go onto that website and look through the books. If you find one that interests you, either put it on hold and pick it up later, or put in your name and group and it will be delivered to your dorm," Mr. Lutze explains.

        He finishes class by introducing himself more and the bell rings right when he finishes, sending us to our next class.