The Prize (2 page)

“Uh-oh,” Georgie groaned as she recognised the arrogant lope and russet hair of Burghley's head prefect, Conrad Miller.

Georgie could tell by the smirk on Conrad's face that he'd seen her take the shortcut over the gate.

“Hey, Parker!” His voice had the officious tone of a parking warden. “Students aren't allowed to jump school fences; it's against Blainford rules.”

Georgie felt a sudden sting of anger. Ever since she'd arrived at the Academy Conrad had taken a perverse joy in picking on her. Last term things had come to a head when Georgie's boyfriend Riley had held a mallet to Conrad's throat at the school polo tournament, publicly telling him to back off and leave Georgie alone. For the rest of the term Conrad had heeded Riley's warning, but clearly he had now decided that the truce was about to come to an end.

“You've got Fatigues, Parker!” Conrad said.

Georgie gave the prefect a withering look. “You're a real numnah, Conrad.”

“Watch your attitude, Parker – or you'll be on Double Fatigues.” Conrad shot back.

Georgie groaned. There was no point in arguing with Conrad. Besides, it would take more than Fatigues to dent her spirits. Tomorrow was the first day of the new term at Blainford and Georgie was back with a vengeance.

Last term she had been dropped from Tara Kelly's cross-country class and had to play polo instead. But now her dreams of eventing glory were back on track – she had regained her coveted place in the class for the last term of the year. And while she still had numnahs like Conrad to deal with – and even worse, his spoilt princess of a girlfriend, Kennedy Kirkwood, trying to take her down – she didn't care.

The past few months riding polo ponies had made Georgie fearless. Her riding had improved and her bond with Belle was stronger than ever. She trusted the mare completely – and more importantly, Belle trusted Georgie. They would be unstoppable on the cross-country course. Which was just as well because apparently this term Tara Kelly had a real test in store for them.

Georgie had heard the murmurings around the school ever since she had returned from her holidays. The final term exam would wind up eliminating more than one member of the cross-country class. By the time the year was over, only a handful of the Academy's elite young riders from around the world would remain – and Georgie was determined that she would be one of them.

Chapter Two

G
eorgie Parker was one of the lucky ones – unlike some girls who have to beg and plead their parents for a pony, she was born into a horsey family, destined to ride.

When Georgie joined her local pony club there were whispers that she had an unfair advantage, having a famous, world-class eventing rider for a mother. In reality, Georgie's mum, Ginny Parker, was extremely busy with her string of eventers so her daughter had to look after her own pony. And as for spoiling her with pricey show ponies, Mrs Parker insisted that good looks and glamour were the last things that mattered in a horse. Georgie's first two ponies, Smokey and Millie, wouldn't have won any beauty contests, but they were bombproof and sweet-natured.

Georgie was ten years old when her mum bought her Tyro. The black Connemara was barely broken-in when they brought him home to their farm in Little Brampton.

“You'll school him yourself,” Ginny Parker told her daughter firmly. “It won't be easy, but it will make you a better rider. And one day he'll be a brilliant pony and you'll be able to say that you taught him everything he knows.”

Bringing on a green pony like Tyro wasn't easy, but Georgie worked hard over the winter months so that when spring came she was ready to take him out to his first competition.

Unfortunately, the Little Brampton gymkhana dates clashed with the Blenheim three-star horse trials. Georgie usually accompanied her mum to all the big events as her junior groom, but she was so desperate to give Tyro his first outing she decided to go to the gymkhana instead. Her mum's best friend, Lucinda Milwood, who ran the local riding school, would accompany her.

Georgie would always look back on her decision that day with regret. But how could she have known that while she was having the time of her life at the local gymkhana, events at Blenheim were about to change her life forever.

Georgie still remembered the devastation on her father's face when she had walked in with her armful of red ribbons. “Where's Mum? Isn't she back yet?”

Then her father's words, chilling and ominous. “Georgie… There's been an accident, your mother fell on the cross-country course…”

Her mother's death devastated Georgie, but there was a second blow to come. Grieving for his wife, Georgie's dad, Dr Parker, could no longer face being surrounded by her horses. So he sold off Ginny's eventers, and would have got rid of Tyro too if Lucinda Milwood hadn't offered to keep the pony at her riding school.

In exchange for Tyro's livery, Georgie helped Lucinda around the stables. The yard became like a second home to her over the next three years. Despite her mother's tragic accident, Georgie was determined to follow in her footsteps and become an international eventer, and with Lucinda's support she finally convinced her father to let her audition for Blainford Academy.

Blainford, the exclusive equestrian boarding school in Kentucky, USA, had a track record for producing world champions in every field of horse sports. Georgie's mum and Lucinda had both been pupils there, and it was Georgie's dream to take her pony and go there too.

But when Georgie aced the auditions Dr Parker broke the news that he couldn't afford to send Tyro with her. The fees for the Academy were exorbitant for Georgie alone, and the cost of shipping her beloved Connemara all the way from the UK to the USA – plus the boarding fees for the pony – would simply be too much.

Desperate to go Blainford, Georgie was forced to make one of the toughest decisions of her young life. She agreed to sell Tyro and ride one of the Blainford school horses instead.

That horse turned out to be Belladonna. Beautiful, talented, and oh-so-difficult, the bay mare with the white heart on her forehead had something special about her. It wasn't until halfway through the first term that Georgie found out that she had been paired her up with the foal of Ginny Parker's favourite mare, Boudicca.

Belle was a complicated ride and Georgie had spent the first three terms at Blainford coming to grips with this difficult new horse.

Then, just when she was finally connecting with Belle, came the worst blow of all. Georgie was dropped from cross-country class.

Faced with finding a new riding subject, Georgie had taken up polo. Belle coped surprisingly well with the fast-paced, rough action on the polo field, despite being sixteen hands high when most polo ponies were fifteen-two. But Georgie knew that the mare's special abilities were wasted on chasing a little white ball. Belladonna was bred to jump – plus she had the speed and stamina required to make a great eventing horse. Their comeback in Tara's class this term wasn't just about Georgie – it was a chance for Belle to prove herself too.

The boarders had been trickling back into Blainford all that weekend, returning in time for the start of the new term on Monday. Georgie's room mate, Alice Dupree, came with the news that she was no longer riding her beloved William. She had brought back a new horse on the truck from Maryland and the Badminton House girls couldn't wait to get down to the stables to meet him.

“Don't get too excited,” Alice told them as they walked along the driveway to the stable block. “He's another hand-me-down – like all of my horses.”

Alice inherited horses the way most girls got their big sisters' outgrown clothes. She was the third Dupree sister to attend Blainford. Her eldest sister, Cherry, was now a professional rider on the national showjumping circuit, and Alice's new horse, Caspian, had belonged to her.

“He was supposed to be Cherry's next Grand Prix superstar,” Alice told the others, “but Cherry's been crazy-busy with work, riding other people's horses. Mum said since Caspian wasn't getting ridden, Cherry should give him to me for the term.”

Until now, Alice had been riding William the Conqueror, a well-bred chestnut warmblood. But over the holidays she had noticed that Will was scratchy on his left foreleg. By the last week of the holiday that scratchiness had developed into a hoof abscess and Will was lame. When the vet was called out to the Dupree ranch to cut out the abscess he did some x-rays and found that the gelding also had degenerative arthritis in his hocks. The abscess would cure – but the hocks were a disaster. It was the end of William's jumping career.

The Badminton House girls knew how much Alice had adored Will. But she seemed pretty thrilled with having Caspian as his replacement – and when they arrived at the stables they could see why.

Caspian was a stunner. A long-limbed Oldenburg, pale grey with dapples on his shoulders and rump, and a steel-grey mane and tail, he stood in his loose box and nibbled blithely on his hay net while the girls admired his beauty.

“He's gorgeous!” Emily was wide-eyed.

“I know!” Alice looked at him possessively. “He's so handsome I just keep staring at him!”

“Is he any good at cross-country?” Daisy asked.

“He's never done it,” Alice conceded. “He's brilliant over coloured poles, but that's all he's ever jumped with Cherry. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.”

Monday afternoon would be when the eventers had their lesson with Tara Kelly.

“Tara might take it easy on us,” Emily Tait said hopefully. “It's only our first day back.”

Daisy gave a hollow laugh. “I doubt it!”

Emily turned to Georgie. “Can she eliminate you a second time? Or do you have immunity now?”

Alice frowned. “It's not an episode of
Survivor
, Emily. No one gets ‘immunity'!” She did air quotes as she said the last bit.

Georgie agreed. “Just because Tara let me back into the class doesn't mean she won't get rid of me again.”

“Someone's going to have to go,” Daisy said bluntly. “We won't all make it through to the second year.”

“Can we not talk about this?” Emily said, getting upset. “I don't want to lose any of my friends.”

“Geez, Emily, it's only getting kicked out of cross-country class,” Daisy told her. “It's not like life and death!”

“Isn't it?” Alice questioned.

All the girls knew that at Blainford, where the cliques ruled the school, being Tara Kelly's eventers was like a badge that you wore with pride. While the polo boys were rich and arrogant, the showjumperettes were glamorous and stuck-up, the westerns were laidback and the dressage geeks intense and uptight, the eventers stood out as fearless and loyal.

Apart from Kennedy and Arden, who had transferred from showjumping and had always made it quite clear that they wanted nothing to do with their classmates, Tara Kelly's first-years were a tight-knit bunch.

The danger that they faced on the cross-country course gave them a sense of camaraderie. But there was also a fierce rivalry amongst them for class rankings. Tara Kelly went through her ruthless elimination cull of her pupils in the first year to make sure that only the very best were allowed to continue up the grades. The way Tara saw it, elimination wasn't about ruining young lives, it was about saving them.

Eventing was a demanding subject – and a deadly one for any rider who wasn't skilled enough to meet the challenge. Travelling at a fast gallop over solid fences meant huge risks for both horse and rider. Even the rodeo class had a grudging respect for the broken bone count in the eventing department. Incredibly, so far the first-year eventing class had avoided any major injuries.

Or at least they had done until now. As they left the stables and walked up the school driveway the girls spied Nicholas Laurent ahead of them. The French rider was one of their cross-country gang and he was on crutches and sporting a bright blue plaster cast on his leg that went all the way to the knee.

By the time the girls reached the dining hall, Nicholas was already in the queue, trying to hold his dinner tray whilst balancing on a single crutch. The other eventing boys – Cameron Fraser, Alex Chang and Matt Garrett – were all with him but none of them were offering to help. Instead, they were greedily dishing burgers and fries on to their own plates.

“Don't you guys ever think about anyone else?” Alice said casting a dark look at Cameron and the others as she stepped forward to relieve the grateful Nicholas of his tray. “Nicholas, you go and sit down. I'll get your food and bring it over for you.”

“Merci, Alice,” Nicholas said. “Get me extra frites, OK?” He hobbled off to take a seat at the eventers' usual table while Alice piled his plate and her own. As soon as Laurent's back was turned the girls began whispered speculations on the cause of the broken leg.

“Do you think he did it practising cross-country?” Emily asked.

Georgie shook her head. “I bet he did it on the hunt field in Bordeaux.”

“I hope the horse was OK,” Alice said looking back over her shoulder at him as she dished up the fries. “It looks like it must have been a bad fall.”

When the girls finally joined Nicholas and the other boys at the table, however, he refused to tell them anything about the accident.

“I don't want to talk about it,” Nicholas was adamant.

“Why not?” Matt Garrett frowned.

“Because…” Nicholas paused. “Because… it is no big deal. There is nothing to say.”

“Nicholas,” Alice was insistent, “you're in a cast. You have crutches. It looks like a big deal to us.”

Nicholas shrugged.

“Come on,” Cameron persisted. “Tell us how you did it.”

Nicholas cast a sideways glance, checking the room to see if anyone else was near the eventers' table.

“OK,” he said, leaning in over the table, his voice hushed in a conspiratorial tone. “I will tell you what happened.”

The riders all leaned in and waited in silence for him to speak. Nicholas looked serious. And then, in a quiet voice he said, “I was playing tennis.”

There was a choking sound as Matt Garrett almost snorted his orange juice out through his nose. “Tennis? Seriously? You did it playing tennis?”

Nicholas looked around the room nervously. “Please don't tell anyone,” he said. “I've already had three girls ask to sign my cast. They think I did it falling off on a three-star course in Saumur. If they knew that I tripped making a backhand shot it wouldn't be good for my reputation.”