Charlotte and the Starlet (12 page)

'What's that?'

Charlotte had spotted something moving in the
valley below.

Leila didn't miss a beat. 'A Ferrari is an Italian
racing car ...'

'No ...
that!
'

Charlotte pointed below where she had seen
movement. Through the trees they could make out a
familiar shape.

'That, my friend, is a horse,' said Leila smugly.

Charlotte decided they had better investigate and
sent Leila forward down the hill. It became very
slippery near the bottom and she needed all her skill to
keep Leila from sliding, though Leila, of course, would
have claimed it was only her experience working on
some dance film clip that kept them upright.

Finally they came to the floor of the valley. Fifty
metres away a big black horse looked over at them.

'He's magnificent,' said Charlotte as they trotted
towards him.

Leila wasn't excited. Any horse that good looking
just had to be a gelding. As she got closer she noticed
something familiar about him. The way he stood, the
way he looked over like he was so cool ...

Wait a second.

She knew this horse. This was bully-boy from the
paddock back near the film lot! She heard Charlotte's
sharp intake of breath.

'Over there.'

Bully-boy was forgotten as Charlotte reefed her
around. Now she saw it. A bundle on the ground,
twenty metres away. The bundle moved. It was a boy,
about Charlie's age, and he was trying to get to his
feet.

'Are you okay?'

Charlotte dismounted and began running in one
fluid movement. The boy blinked and looked up, a
little dazed. His helmet was lying off to the side.

'Thanks, I'm fine.'

'You don't look fine.' Charlotte could see he was
having trouble standing.

'No, I guess I'm not a hundred per cent. Warrior
slipped coming down the hill and I fell off. No damage
to the head, that's too thick, but I think I twisted my
ankle.'

Charlotte could easily have disagreed about
the head part. His head looked fine to her, actually
pretty darn cute if you liked that sort of thing in boys.
Not that Charlotte did. His assessment of his ankle
seemed on the money. He was trying to hop on his
good leg.

'What are you doing here?' he asked casually,
picking up his helmet.

'What are
you
doing here, you mean. This is
Thornton Downs.'

He grinned.

'Your geography's not too hot. You're on Milthorp
land.'

He must have seen the doubtful look on her face.

'Did you cross the stream about two ks back?'

She confirmed she had.

'That's the border.'

Charlotte felt immediately foolish. And then
worried. What if Strudworth found out? There was
bound to be some rule against it.

'You won't tell, will you?'

He laughed out loud. 'No way. I don't want
everybody to know I was dumb enough to fall off
my horse.'

Charlotte liked him immediately for saying that.
None of the girls at Thornton Downs would ever have
admitted messing up. They were all too busy trying to
psych each other out.

'Would you mind?'

He nodded at the horse and for a moment
Charlotte didn't understand what he meant. Then she
realised he needed help to get on.

'You're not going to try and ride with that ankle.
You can't even walk.'

'I'll be fine once I'm on.'

Leila only half heard this interchange. She was too
busy circling the bully-boy stallion.

'So, we meet again,' he whinnied.

Leila snarled back in horse. 'Yeah, we meet and we
say goodbye.'

'Suits me.'

'Me too.'

They continued to eye each other warily as
Charlotte helped the boy over. Leila thought the boy
wasn't bad looking in a boy band sort of way. Charlie
could do worse.

Charlotte watched the boy get his bad foot into the
stirrup.

'I won't be able to put any pressure on it, so if you
could just steady Warrior ...'

She did and the boy pulled himself back into the
saddle. She saw him wince but he settled in and
picked the reins back up.

'Thanks, see you round.'

He trotted off, struggling to stay straight. Charlotte
felt Leila's hot breath on her neck.

'Hope he's better than his ride.'

Charlotte was surprised at Leila's negativity.
'I thought Warrior looked impressive.'

'Hey, Warrior thinks Warrior's impressive. What's
the story with the spunk?'

'The spunk?'

'The boy. Come on, you can't tell me you didn't
notice he was cute.'

'I didn't notice.'

It was a white lie. Charlotte had noticed but it
wasn't like that impressed her. She was more
impressed by his owning up to being a klutz and
falling off his horse.

'Sure you didn't notice. What's his name?'

It was only then that Charlotte realised she had no
idea. Not that it mattered. She would probably never
see him again.

By the time they got back to the stables, Charlotte had
been regaled at length with Leila's previous encounter
with Warrior. Charlotte tried to point out that from
what Leila had told her, she hadn't exactly been
friendly to the other horses, but Leila failed to see it.
She was a star, they should have been happy just to
share a paddock with her. Leila finally let go of her
outrage to bring the subject back to treats.

'Come on, Charlie, just a little itty-bitty sundae
with whipped cream.'

As always, Charlotte patiently explained that they
still had a long way to go. Leila replied that was what
Charlotte had said a week ago and since then Leila
hadn't put a hoof wrong.

'The trials are just three days away. You can last,'
said Charlotte firmly. She put away the brush, kissed
Leila on the forehead and left. Leila watched her exit
through narrowing eyes. She liked the kid, she really
did, but fair was fair. If she wanted a treat, she would
get a treat. One little treat, what harm could that do?
There was more than one way to scoop a sundae. She
had tried being polite and asking for the kid's help but
the fact was, she didn't need it. She could do it all by
her little ol' self.

The dining room was alive with the sound of girls
gossiping. Strudworth had announced they were to
assemble there for some special announcement and
each girl in the room had her own ideas as to what
that might be. Well, each except for Charlotte. She
didn't really care and had no desire to find out. She
had Leila. One good friend was all you ever needed.
When Strudworth entered the room and rapped her
boots with her riding crop, the whole room fell into an
excited silence.

'Tomorrow we have a special treat. A friendly jumpoff
against the boys from Milthorp.'

There was a collective intake of breath. Much to
Charlotte's disgust, one girl – Charlotte had a feeling it
may have been Rebecca – actually squealed.

Strudworth continued. 'We beat them last year but
it will be a lot tougher this year because Todd
Greycroft will be riding for them. So tally-ho, let's
show those Milthorp boys what the gals from
Thornton have.'

Some of the more enthusiastic girls started the
Thornton chant.

'Thornton, Thornton the academy. We're the best
as you will see. Point-to-point, hurdle, steeple, you
can't touch the Thornton people. Gooooooo
Thornton!!!'

In the stable Leila was dimly aware of some loud
chanting in the background but she was primarily
focused on the delectable pizza she was chomping.
Overall she thought the Supremo was the best and she
was glad she had ordered two. But the two Mexicanas
were tasty and the Three Cheeses with thick crust also
had something to recommend it. She smiled at how
simple it had been. After all, she'd done all the hard
work before when she'd tried to call Joel Gold.

She'd trotted out of the stables back to the office,
dialled the pizza place whose menu was by the phone
and ordered, emphasising they remember the bonus
Cokes and sundaes. She'd spied the tin marked 'petty
cash' by the phone. If they were going to call it 'petty'
she guessed that meant nobody would miss it. She'd
given Charlotte's name, told them she'd leave the cash
with the horse Leila at the stables and to leave the
pizzas there in case Charlotte was busy. Simple. The
delivery guy had brought the pizzas right to her stall.
Mmm, that pizza tasted fine. She let out a loud burp.
Boy, that Mexicana was hot! She tried to get to her feet
but it was struggle. Maybe she should have skipped
the Three Cheeses?

The next day, Charlotte watched from the sidelines as
Lucinda sent her horse over the last jump for a perfect
round. She might not like her, but Charlotte had to
admit she could certainly ride. The Thornton girls
were lined up on one side of the arena, the Milthorp
boys on the other. Both the boys and girls politely
applauded each competitor. Thornton had done
exceedingly well and was far enough ahead that now
only a complete disaster would rob them of victory.
Being the last to ride for Thornton, Charlotte was
nervous but still confident. Leila had handled most of
these manoeuvres very well just twenty-four hours
earlier. Strudworth rode down the Thornton line like
a general urging on her troops.

'Now, let's see what this Greycroft has got.'

All eyes, including Charlotte's, turned towards the
Milthorp line. A magnificent, powerful black stallion
eased out and moved to the arena. He looked awfully
familiar. And so did the rider. It was the boy she had
met the day before.
That
was Todd Greycroft!
Knowing how badly he had twisted his ankle,
Charlotte didn't think he'd have any chance of
completing his round but to look at him you would
never know there was anything wrong. He rode with a
real fluidity.

She heard Rebecca gasp, 'He's gorgeous.'

Charlotte didn't think any boys were 'gorgeous'. A
chocolate cream cake was gorgeous, not a boy. But he
certainly could ride gracefully.