Chosen (12 page)

Ana shot me a
go-with-me
look. “Please. Lauren and I knew exactly what we were doing. We just . . . pretended not to know we'd, you know, stopped and that you were right in front of us.”

“Yeah,” I jumped in. “And we got you too—ha.”

Brielle stared at us and I tried to look back without squirming, but I couldn't. I was always the first one to crack.

“Okay, okay!” I said, letting out the laugh I'd been holding in.

“Laur!” Ana shook her head. “Geez. Couldn't even last ten seconds.”

The three of us linked arms and made our way toward the stable. In this moment, I couldn't imagine leaving my friends, Cricket, Briar Creek, and certainly not Taylor. For
the first time since she'd told me about it, I was
glad
Kim had told the Canterwood coach about my accident. Now I was prepared for the rejection. And possibly even a little relieved by it.

I walked down the aisle, passing the stalls. Some had been renovated recently and others were on the list. I examined Cricket's stall, which hadn't been redone yet. The wooden boards had been warped over the years by humidity. There were horseshoe scrapes in places where an upset horse had kicked the wood. At one time there had been a horse who'd cribbed the wood, leaving bite marks along the top of Cricket's stall door.

“Hi, girly,” I said. Her gorgeous bay head poked over the stall door. She strained her neck to reach for me, and I rubbed her muzzle. What a cutie. “Let's get you tacked up so we can get to our lesson. After, we're going trail riding in the woods and we'll cool off in the creek.”

When I'd first started riding Cricket, she'd
hated
trail riding. She'd wanted to stay close to the stable, fighting to go back whenever I'd take her out. But when Brielle, Ana, and I had become friends, we'd wanted to get away from the stable to talk and have fun. I'd told them how much Cricket hated the trails, but they weren't worried.

We'd gone out, and immediately Cricket had started acting up—flaring her nostrils and putting her ears back. After a few minutes she'd started to watch Breeze, who was enjoying every second of the ride. Cricket began to relax more and more each time we went out. Now I often forgot how much she'd used to hate it.

I grabbed her tack, got her groomed and ready, and, together, we headed to the indoor arena. We were the first inside.

Brielle, Ana, Leah, and Dianna trickled in as we warmed up. I had a feeling today would be a flat-work lesson. I didn't see any jumps set up. Plus, we'd jumped last time
and
Kim had given us a dressage pattern to memorize at the end of last week's lesson. I could memorize a dressage test in minutes. If only that applied to schoolwork!

We warmed up our horses by walking and trotting them in circles and figure eights. The indoor arena wasn't very big, so we had to be mindful of where everyone else was in the arena.

Kim walked inside, and I smiled when I saw what was in her hand—dressage markers.

“Leah? Ana? Would you mind dismounting and helping me place these?” Kim asked.

Both girls got out of their saddles and took a handful of markers from Kim. They placed them around the arena, and soon the markers, A, K, E, H, C, M, B, F, were in place in the twenty-by-forty meter pattern.

My heartbeat picked up.

This
was my world. I lived and breathed dressage. I'd first seen it in the Olympics when I was five. I'd been hooked ever since.

My parents had taken me to a local show a few weeks later. I remember sneaking away from them to go down by the arena, as close as I could get, to watch. The horse and rider, so in sync, had been captivating.

“Lauren?” Kim called. “Pay attention, okay?”

“Sorry,” I said. My face burned with embarrassment and I snapped out of my daydream.

She turned her gaze back to our group. “You're each going to ride the dressage pattern you've memorized,” Kim continued. “I will not be calling out movements unless you get off track. Leah, I'd like you to ride first.”

Leah, a fairly pretty brunette, was the least experienced dressage rider in our class, but she was learning fast.

She nodded to Kim and tightened her reins. Her Dutch Warmblood gelding, Forrest, was
huge
at almost seventeen hands high—a funny match for his petite rider—but
Leah rode him so well. The rest of us moved our horses out of the way and prepared to watch her ride.

Leah let the black gelding into a smooth walk to X. She stopped, saluting sharply, and began the pattern we'd all learned. I knew every movement, and I said them to myself as Leah rode, hoping she wouldn't go off course. Leah and Forrest had a beautiful ride—they only had a few trouble spots.

“Leah,” Kim said. “That was nice. A couple of your circles were a few meters off, and I'd like you to work on cleaner transitions. Remember that they should be seamless—this requires grace. Think of dressage like a ballet. A professional ballerina does not stop between each sequence of movements. Her dance is one movement, as far as the audience is concerned. One moment she is posed in an arabesque. The next she is in the air. The transition is invisible to the naked eye.”

Leah nodded. “I will. I knew our first circle was off, and then Forrest seemed to think that's what I wanted him to do for the next circle. But it was my fault for allowing him.”

“I'd like you to work on those. Next lesson, I'll be looking for improvement,” Kim said.

She turned to me. “Lauren, your turn.”

Then a strange thing happened. The anxiety I'd been holding on to in every muscle, every bone in my body, from my other lesson—the way I'd choked before the jump. The way my stomach had fallen to my knees when Kim had told me what she'd disclosed to Canterwood about my accident. It was all gone—the bad memories, the clenched stomached feeling of failure. All of the unwanted baggage I'd been carrying around with me since the failed jump fell away from me.

I remembered who I was—the girl I'd missed so much without knowing it. Lauren Towers: competitive rider. Good at dressage. At home in the arena. I felt free.

I felt like myself again. And this was my dance.

It was me, Lauren Towers, who sank into the saddle, dropping her weight into her heels. Cricket loosened under me as she walked forward and stopped exactly on X.

I knew the four things Kim would be watching for: my position-slash-aids, Cricket's submission, her gaits, and impulsion. Ana, Brielle, and I spent hours coaching each other on all of these things. We loved that dressage's goal was to encourage a horse's athleticism and willingness to perform. I always shot for a score of sevens, with tens being the near-unobtainable best, when I rode. Today was no different.

After a salute and a brief pause, I asked Cricket to move into a trot and track left to C. We made a twenty-meter circle at E, which I could
feel
was the right size, and headed from E to K at a collected canter. I halted her at A, making her stand for five seconds, then asked her for a working trot where we made a half twenty-meter circle to the left and at C made a half twenty-meter circle to the right.

I couldn't wait to tell Cricket how well she'd done once we were back in her stall. Everything about dressage I loved. Memorizing the tests were oddly fun for me. I would draw the course with markers and read the movements to myself over and over. The circles, collected trots, extended walks, and all of the other parts that I needed in the arena were ingrained in my brain.

When I was a kid, I'd made a set of cardboard dressage markers that I'd set up in our backyard. I'd pretend I was on horseback and would “ride” the test. Sometimes I'd even put on my dressage habit—my breeches, ratcatcher blouse, stock tie, black coat, boots, and helmet.

I put my focus between Cricket's ears. The small mare liked dressage, too. We'd been a great pair because of it since I'd started riding her.

We made a couple more circles, then I eased her to a
walk and let her move into a free walk on a long rein down the center line to X. Cricket stopped, standing square, and I saluted for my final motion of the test. I joined Dianna, Leah, Brielle, and Ana.

Kim was smiling when I looked at her. “That was great, Lauren,” she said. “It's evident that you're very comfortable with dressage. There's always room for improvement, but right now I'd like you to work solely on jumping before next lesson. Either in the indoor arena or with a partner outside. You've got this part. You don't need to practice as much with dressage.”

“Thank you,” I said. “And I will . . . do some jump work before our next lesson,” I added reluctantly.

I leaned forward in the saddle to rub Cricket's neck and whisper my thanks for her incredible performance. The mare blew out a breath, most likely glad her turn was over. Now we got to relax and watch the rest of the riders.

Dianna, Brielle, and Ana had good rounds. Dianna's test was particularly sharp—every movement was alternately crisp and soft when it needed to be.

After our tests, Kim put us through a few flatwork exercises that made my legs and arms ache, but in the kind of way that I knew the workout was good for me. We worked for another half hour before Kim motioned for us
to dismount. We followed her instructions and stopped our horses in front of her.

“Thank you, girls,” Kim said, holding her red clipboard. “You all came prepared and worked hard. I appreciate everything you put into this lesson. We'll be working outside next class, weather permitting, so be prepared to meet in the outdoor arena. Okay! You're free to go. Have a great weekend, ladies!”

DIANNA AND LEAH WAVED TO BRIELLE, ANA,
and me as they led their horses out of the arena. They were probably going shopping—it was their favorite after-lesson activity. Usually, they only stayed long enough to cool out their horses and groom them.

“Trail ride?” Ana asked, looking between me and Brielle.

I nodded. “I vote we go bareback.”

“I'm in,” Brielle said. “It'll keep Zane cooler.”

“Same with Breeze,” Ana said. “She's too hot from the lesson.”

We led our horses close to the tack room, unsaddled them, and took turns holding each other's horse while we put away our saddles and pads. I brought an absorbent
towel with me and the three of us dried the sweat off our horses.

Grabbing Cricket's mane in my hand, I crouched down a bit, then pushed off the ground, swinging myself onto her back.

“Show-off,” Brielle said, grinning. She used the mounting block and slid onto Zane's back. Ana followed her in kind, and the three of us walked our horses out of the stable, heading for our favorite spot in the woods.

Most of the area surrounding Briar Creek was rural, so there was a ton of farmland for us to explore. Not to mention no one was ever in sight except for one elderly farmer who always refused to let us walk on his land. It was a running joke in the stable that he probably checked for hoof prints in the field every day.

I let my legs hang loose around Cricket's sides. Her ears pointed forward and there was an extra bounce in her stride as we left the stable behind—she was glad to hit the trails. Zane, Breeze, and Cricket walked side by side as we walked past the fences of the turnout pasture, another part of the Briar Creek renovation that Kim was still working on.

We kept the horses at a slow walk, making sure they
cooled and eased their muscles after the lesson. The well-worn dirt path was so familiar it was likely I'd be able to find my way to my favorite part of the trail that led to the creek with my eyes closed.

“Okay,” Ana said, looking at Brielle. “So spill it already! You made us wait through the entire lesson.”

“Yeah,”
I added, having almost forgotten. “
You
IM'd
Will
! Tell!”

Brielle was one of the most popular girls in our grade and was always on dates with different guys. But she'd never like-liked any of them the way she did Will. For a second, she only smiled this
I-have-a-secret
smile.

“Bri-elle!” Ana shouted.

Brielle couldn't hold back even a second longer. “WhenIsawhimlogonIwaslikeomigod!” All of Brielle's words mashed together.

Ana and I laughed.

“Bri, if you're not into him anymore, just tell us,” I teased.

Ana, known to grow impatient while popcorn was cooking in the microwave, looked like she was about to explode. “Brielle! Slow down and tell us what happened before I completely freak out.”

Brielle's face was bubblegum pink. She took a breath.
“Okay. I just logged on for a second to see if I had any IMs and he logged on. I almost shut my laptop!”

“So, what'd you do?” Ana asked. The girl had zero interest in boys herself, but when it came to her BFF since kindergarten, she seemed to need to know immediately. It was adorable.