The Mystery across the hall

Brightfields

It was a long and absolutely boring day at school for Zoe and Pin, they had lunch together, and most of their class periods together..except for 3rd period where Pin never showed, and showed up looking absolutely drained in 4th period.

They all had to meet up at the end of 7th period in the cafeteria to wait for the councilor Sam, who was Marcus's cousin, and the owner of Brightsfield stables. They had to work and stay in the yard until after 8th period and they could go home at 5:30pm.

Pin was sitting on the Cafe table slumped over looking more zoned out then usual, Mia was hanging off of Marcus's arm while Susie sulked in the corner with Callum sending death glares Pin's way.
Zoe sat on the table near Pin not knowing what to do, she noticed Pin cradled his bandaged arm closer to his chest then he did before which gave Zoe the suspicion he got into another fight, but if he did Mia would have already had the video for blackmail, and Becky would have posted it on her blog, she tapped Pin gently on the shoulder and wasn't expecting the slow turn Pin gave her instead of his usually jerky and quick movements.

"You alright?..it looks like your arms hurting you.."
Zoe asked genuine concern and curiosity mixed into her question.

Pin looked down at his arm instead of denying anything wrong with his arm or himself.

"I tripped on the stairs..nothing serious..just hurts more.."
Pin said not looking up from his bandage as he responded.

"Did you go to the nurse?"
Zoe asked

"I did..I'll be alright.."

Pin said giving her a quick smile which probably shocked Zoe the most about the whole encounter.

"You...you should come over for dinner tonight..after Brightsfields"

Zoe said anxiously awaiting a response.

"Sure..that sounds great.."
Pin said nodding looking back down at his shoes as Sam walked into the cafe.

"Ok listen up..there's not a lot to do at the yard today except take Raven and the rest of the horses for a hack..Marcus will be leading the hack. pin you'll be riding raven..Zoe you'll be on Major, Mia firefly ok?"
Sam said looking around at the students.

They all nodded their head except for Pin who looked genuinely confused as why he was the one to ride Raven and not Zoe but didn't question it any further.
They all followed Sam back packs slung over their shoulder that contained their muck boots, their change of work clothes, and their phones and water bottles, all the things they essentially needed for their work at the stables for the remainder of the day.
They all crammed into the small bus used to transport the kids to Brightsfield and only those students, the ride was only about 5-10 minutes depending on how fast Sams decided to drive, or how annoying Mia was being.

They arrived at Brightsfield stables as Pin and Zoe sat across from each other on the bus but not on the same seat, Mia and Marcus hung around the middle of the bus, Susie and Callum usually hung behind them following whatever they were ordered to.

Marcus was a good guy, he just had good looks and a big ego when it came to Mia, he knew she was toxic and mean to Pin but hoped she would change her ways.
As the door cranked open they all stood up chatting as they walked out of the bus towards Brightsfields as Pin and Zoe followed closely behind, they all went to their respective horse stalls but instead of Pin going to his house to get Elvis, he went towards Raven's stall as Zoe walked to Majors. Pin slowly approached Raven with a mint in his hand softly whispering praises as Raven ate the mint from his hand giving him the opportunity to gently take hold of Raven's halter and led him out of the stall slowly into the yard where the others were waiting with their horses.
It felt weird mounting Raven but he slowly settled down into the saddle taking up Raven's reins

"It's a slow day today as Sam said, so we'll just be taking a ride outside of the yard..then come back and muck the stables if needed."
Marcus called out to the others as him and his horse turned to face them.

"Can I get my water bottle from the tack room?..I forgot it in there.."
Pin asked his head looking over Raven's neck.

"Sure Pin want us to wait for you?"
Marcus asked.

"No it's fine I'll catch up..thanks."
Pin said with a small closed smile as he hopped off Raven and made his way into the tack room, Zoe paused as Pin disappeared into the tack room as the others started following Marcus up to the hills, she could vaguely hear Becky going on about how ghost pony lived there and still roamed the moors..she slowly made a yip sound and Major started following them with one last glance towards the tack room.

Pin watched through a crack in the door as Zoe followed the others, he would have to be more careful now that Zoe probably had her suspicions as always. He walked towards the supply cabinet as he pulled out a thin lock-pick from his pocket and slowly started picking the lock, he remembered the words he had said to Zoe before.

"I might not be a car thief..but I've been picking locks since before I was born."

The memory faded from his mind as he heard the familiar click of the lock finally sliding open as the chain fell loosely from the door handle, he stared at it for a second pondering if this is really the best he could do for the situation he was in..he shook the doubt from his mind as he opened the door quickly spotting the clear bottles filled with a light brown liquid, next to a row of needles. He swallowed thickly at the sight of the needles but quickly proceeded to stuff a bottle of the sedatives into his green hoodie pocket along with a needle he tried to avoid all eye contact with, he quickly closed the door slid the lock back in place, and walked out the door not forgetting the old water bottle he doesn't even use anymore to cover any suspicions anyone might have had.

He jumped on-top of Raven once again with a gentle yip Raven started to slowly walk on the others just going over the top of the hill, he saw Zoe turn her head and wave a little upon seeing Pin, and continued to walk on with the others as Pin slowly followed, his dads last words he had said to him rang eerily in his mind.

"Be good son..I'm proud of you, keep me proud of you..find the strength to trust the Steels again..for me."

He kept his head high as he approached the others nodding a slight hello to Zoe and Marcus as he came to a even walk next to Zoe.

"Got what you needed?"
She asked with no suspicion, just curiosity.

"Yeah..i keep forgetting it in the tack room, sorry."
Pin said gesturing to his bottle safely tucked into a holder next to his foot.

"Don't apologize! Becky said GP might get you if you take too long."
She chuckled after that pulling a small grin from Pin.

"Becky thinks storms on the island are ghost pony and maid of the islands way of saying someone pissed them off..it's Becky."
Pin replied earning another laugh from Zoe causing a bigger grin to spread on his face.

"Welp, at least we don't have much yard work today."
Zoe replied after having recovered from her laughing fit.

"Right..your right.."

As the hack went on and Becky was out of Ghost Pony stories and Mia's back hurt from riding and they headed back towards the yard, Pin's mind was occupied with the upcoming dinner he had with Zoe...and her mom..he didn't know how he could keep his cool, and if she wouldn't let anything slip about her, his dad, and Pin himself...

Hope your enjoying the story so far, it gets better next chapter❤️