Fearless (5 page)

When we got close to the dining hall, I could see Madison standing in the crowd, searching around for someone. When she saw me, she headed in my direction.

“Everything going okay?” she asked, throwing one arm around my shoulder.

“Yeah, fine,” I said.

“What are you mad about?” Now she grabbed me and squeezed me until my arms were squished against my chest. She always called these love hugs. I called them wrestling holds. I tried to push her away, but she had a grip like Hulk Hogan.

A couple of Senior girls walked passed us. “Oh, look! Madison's little sister looks just like her!”

“I know, right? And they're, like, so close. My sister and I fight all the time.”

Maddy overheard them and grinned at me. “See what a good big sister I am? Don't you just love me?” She still hadn't let go of me, and it was hard for us to walk down a steep hill like a couple of conjoined twins.

“I love the fact that we're sleeping in separate cabins for the next month,” I told her.

Then she did the most irritating thing in the world. She planted this wet, sloppy kiss on my cheek while making an ultra-loud kissing sound. She knew how I hated stuff like that.

“Ah, but I'm your guardian angel! You can never get rid of me! I'll always look out for my wittle sister!”

“Yeah, I know.” That thought was slightly comforting.

But also majorly annoying.

On the first real day of camp, when morning activities were about to start, everyone in our cabin was trying to figure out where to go.

“Tennis, climbing tower, canoeing, riflery.” Reb read the list out loud. Last night at dinner, she'd been the last camper in our cabin to get here, and she'd come in and immediately taken charge.

“I think everyone can read,” Rachel told her. Tis had already left for tennis. Last night she'd come back to the cabin long after lights out, because she'd been hanging out with all the other CAs.

“I'm only being helpful,” said Reb. “I want all the new girls to feel at home.” She spread her arms out wide. “Please, feel at home.”

“You're so funny!” Brittany told her.

“Don't encourage her,” said Rachel. You could tell Reb was the kind of camper who drove counselors crazy.

“Can you please, please hurry?” Molly was standing in the doorway, holding the screen door open for me.

I was still pulling on my riding boots.

“Finally! Now come on!”

Molly took off out the door, walking so fast I had to do a little skip to catch up with her. It was a perfect morning for riding. Overhead, the sky was a gorgeous blue, but there was still a little bit of coolness in the air. I loved how fresh the mornings in the mountains felt.

“I honestly can't wait!” Molly exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air. “I can't believe it's been a whole year since we've seen all the Pine Haven horses!”

Molly was always excited about riding. I was just relieved that I was nice and calm, and that all my internal organs were behaving themselves at the moment.

I didn't feel at all nervous about starting lessons today. Partly because I knew we'd be reviewing things we'd already worked on.

“You think Madison will be at the stables this morning?” Molly asked.

All the CATs helped out at an activity, and since Madison spent so much time on a horse she was prac
tically a centaur, of course she chose riding for her activity. Why couldn't I have had a sister who was ultra talented at basket weaving?

“I'm not sure. I hope not. I don't want her hovering over me, watching every single move I make.”

“Yeah, I know she gets on your nerves, but overall, she's a good sister, don't you think? Hey, there's Whitney and Amber! Let's run!”

Molly dashed off, so I raced to catch up with her. Whitney and Amber were waiting for us at the bottom of the hill. The four of us had been assigned to the same lesson time, so we were all going to be together, just like last year.

A huge smile spread across Amber's face when she saw Molly. “Wow, you look so excited!”

“Excited? You call this excited?” Molly shouted. “I wanted to sleep in the stables last night!”

“I know,” agreed Whitney. “I love horses so much, I've often thought of becoming a veterinarian, but I'll do more good in the world as a doctor.”

Whitney was good at lots of things. Probably her greatest talent was letting everyone know that she was good at lots of things.

The four of us walked along side by side, and we were all dressed in shiny black boots and cream-colored
riding pants. A lot of girls glanced at us as we passed the tennis courts on our way to the stables.

You didn't have to dress like this; it was fine to wear jeans and sturdy shoes for riding lessons. But I've always loved dressing up in costumes, and at this moment, it suddenly made me so happy to think that at least we all looked like expert riders. Definitely a movie moment.

“Merlin is my absolute favorite horse,” said Molly. “I really hope he remembers me. I would've written him letters all winter if I thought he could understand what they were saying. When I was riding him, he seemed like he could read my mind.”

“I always ride Cleo,” said Whitney, pulling a scrunchie off her wrist and using it to pull back her strawberry blond hair. “Don't think I'm bragging, but of all of Pine Haven's horses, she has the best conformation.”

Why would it ever cross our minds that Whitney was bragging? She tugged on her ponytail and glanced at us, waiting for us to ask what
conformation
meant. I just smiled at her and enjoyed the temporary moment of silence while her mouth was closed.

“The horse I usually ride is Caesar. I wrote a poem about him last summer, about the way he raises his head up and down when he sees me coming. It's like he's nodding hello.” Amber sighed happily. “How about you,
Jordan? Who's your favorite?”

“Well, last year I mostly rode Daisy.” I paused, trying to think of something interesting to say about her to show that we had some ultra-psychic bond going. But I couldn't think of anything. I liked her just fine, and I got used to riding her last summer, but I'd never once thought about writing her a letter.

“She . . . she's a beautiful horse,” I said finally. But it was a stupid thing to say, because she wasn't particularly beautiful. Not like Cleo—a dapple gray horse with a beautiful white mane.

Daisy was a bay. Pine Haven had lots of bays, but Cleo was one of the few gray horses. No wonder she was Whitney's favorite. But Daisy was a nice horse, and I liked her because she was really gentle.

Nobody said anything after my “beautiful” comment, and I felt like a conversation killer. Luckily, we were at the stables by now, so we all got excited again.

The stables had a big white barn with green trim on the doors and rooftop. Huge oak trees grew on either side of it, so there was always some nice shade nearby. To the right of the barn was the ring where we had our lessons, and in back was an open pasture with tall green grass growing in it.

I took a deep breath. I actually loved the way every
thing smelled out here. The summery smell of the hay in the horses' stalls. The rich, leathery smell of the tack, and also the scent of the saddle soap used to clean it. The smell of the horses themselves—a dusty, warm smell. And finally, the smell of manure drying in the sun. Not that I thought manure had a great smell, but when it mixed with all the other scents, it wasn't so bad.

“Hey, y'all, how's it going? My first class of the day,” said Wayward, one of the riding instructors. Her real name was Caroline Heyward, but everyone called her by her nickname. Except Whitney. She always called her Caroline.

I glanced around and didn't see any sign of Madison. Good. Maybe she'd help out with the afternoon lessons. Maybe she'd never even be around at the same time I was. Maybe she couldn't even remember where the stables were.

We followed Wayward in through the wide-open stable doors. As soon as Molly saw Merlin's black face over the door of the third stall on the left, she went over to him. “Merlin! I missed you so much!” She buried her face in his neck, and he snorted at her.

Whitney made a point of going to each horse and giving it a pat. Amber went over to Caesar. He was a tobiano paint horse, mostly white with large black
splotches all over. Amber murmured softly to Caesar, and he did the bobbing head thing at her.

I walked over to Daisy's stall near the end of the stable. I held my hand out for her to sniff, and her lips and tongue felt all over my open palm. Since I didn't have a treat for her, I stroked her face above her nose.

“Remember me? I used to ride you last summer.” She sighed at me, and I caught a whiff of her sweet, grassy-smelling breath.

I felt bad about thinking she wasn't beautiful. Her coat was bright brown, and she was an easygoing horse who never did anything scary or unexpected when I rode her last year.

When I first started riding, I wasn't too scared about falling off, the way lots of people are. My biggest fear was that the horse would step on my foot. Every time I had to put a bridle on a horse and lead it into the ring, I'd be slightly terrified, and I'd jump if it shifted its weight a little or stamped its foot.

Right now, though, I felt perfectly relaxed. Today's lesson was going to be fun.

“Y'all want to just pet these horses, or anybody feel like having a lesson?” asked Wayward.

“We're ready! Definitely!” said Molly.

“Looks like I'm just in time,” I heard a familiar voice
say. I turned around to see a dark figure silhouetted in the open door.

Even though I couldn't see her face, I knew it was Madison. She stepped out of the sunlit doorway into the shadows of the stable. She was wearing riding pants and boots too, and her long dark hair was pulled back in a French braid. Everyone was always saying we looked alike, but Madison is brunette and I'm blond.

“Hey, what's up?” said Wayward. “I guess you're my assistant. Cool.”

“Yep. Did Molly and Jordan tell you they want to learn to jump this summer?” Madison looked directly at me. She probably thought I'd never tell Wayward myself.

I pictured myself marching over to an already saddled horse and hopping on it. Then we'd go cantering across the pasture and jump over everything in sight—fallen logs, a stream, rail fences. That would wipe that skeptical look off Madison's face.

“Jumping, huh? That's cool. Sure, we can work up to that eventually. Not today, though.” Wayward smiled slightly at Molly and me.

Wayward was the most laid-back person I'd ever met. She never wore riding breeches, just jeans, and she always had on this crazy plaid cloth hat with a little brim
over her long, straight hair. She reminded me more of a skateboarder than a rider, but everyone said she'd been riding for years and that she was an amazing equestrian.

“So, Molly. I guess you'll be riding Merlin.” She looked at me. “Jordan. . . .”

“I always rode Daisy last year,” I reminded her.

Wayward squinted a little as she looked up and down at all the horses in their stalls. “Yeah, the thing is, I don't let Daisy jump anymore. She had an injury a few years ago.”

She paused, still looking over all the horses. “Let's put you on Odie.”

“I have to get used to a new horse?” I asked. My voice rose up in a really high squeak, and everyone looked at me funny.

“Don't worry. It'll be Zen,” Wayward assured me.

But already my heart was pounding. A strange horse I'd never ridden before. A new skill I'd never tried before.

And jumps were dangerous. I could fall. The horse could fall. We could even fall on each other! What was I getting myself into?

For a second I honestly felt like running to the open door at the far end of the stable and regurgitating in a pile of straw. Luckily, that feeling passed pretty quickly, but my heart wouldn't stop doing jumping jacks against my rib cage.