𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 [ Adopted by Elizabeth Olsen ]

Chapter 1: "Hi!"

⚠️TW⚠️: Mention of death, mental illnesses and abuse

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Hi! My name is Novella but usually go by Nova. I'm 16 years old and I live in London. I'm an orphan and I live in an orphanage in Greenwich. I've lived there pretty much my entire life, as my parents died when I was young.

Well, my mother died, my father is still alive but in jail. After my mother's death he became abusive so it's just easier to pretend that he's dead too.

I've been through multiple foster homes but no one wants to adopt a 16-year-old, at least not one with as many mental health problems as I do. I've been diagnosed with PTSD and social anxiety, and I have occasional panic attacks. Yeah, I'm a lot to handle.

Luckily for me though, I found a safe place. The barn. I've been obsessed with horses for as long as I can remember, and I started working at this eventing barn not too far from the orphanage when I was 12 years old. It started with just barn work, like mucking out and making hay nets.

Then I started building my reputation, and I got to start taking the horses in and out and tacking them up and stuff. I got some lessons for free as a thank you for the work I had done, and I soon learnt to ride. After I learnt to ride, I got to teach some of the younger kids how to do so.

A couple of years later the barn manager, Mr. Miller, got me my first loan horse. Her name is Luna and she's a jet black thoroughbred with a white star. She's nothing extremely fancy, but she's my heart horse. After I have had a bad day, I can come to the barn and she'll improve my mood. She makes me feel safe and loved.

I get to keep her for free, as long as I still do any work that's required of me at the barn. As a thank you I get to keep Luna here for free, along with some lessons here and there. My riding has improved a lot, and I'm currently competing in intermediate classes and at 3-star events.

Mr. Miller has called me a "riding prodigy" many times. Riding is my passion, and it helps me escape reality and my miserable life at the orphanage. Well, that's a lie, the orphanage is fine and the owner Miss Riley is nice, she's the closest thing I have to a mother and we are quite close. The other kids are all right too, we don't have a lot in common though. I just wish I had a proper family that's all.

Anyway, today started as a normal Saturday. I woke up at 6 am after getting 4 hours of sleep at most because of nightmares. Insomnia is fun. I got dressed, ate some breakfast and took the tube (underground) to the barn. When I got there, I fed all of the horses I was in charge of today, along with Luna of course. When they were done eating I turned them out (put them out in their fields) and got started on mucking out.

That took me a good hour, but when I was done, I made the horses dinner and I also changed out their water. I swept the barn because the floor is always a mess in the morning, and then I went over to the whiteboard to see what today's plan was.

We have a whiteboard at the barn with all the info you would need. Like who is in charge of which horses, if any horses are being clipped or shod on that particular day, if there are any lessons, or if anyone has rented the arena at a certain time.

I saw that there was a lesson at 12, that's weird. There are usually never any lessons on the weekends unless someone was unable to have their lesson during the week. Oh well, it's probably nothing.

I then went to go find my best friend, Ally. I met her on the first day I worked here, and we hit it off pretty fast. We have the same humour and we became best friends immediately. She has a horse named Crystal who she competes with.

I walked over to Crystal's stable and found Ally still mucking out. She usually got up a bit later than me so I was always done before her, even if I had 5 horses to take care of while she just had Crystal.

"Good morning Al, you awake?" I asked with a smirk while she just glared at me. I would always tease her about her not being a morning person. "Shut up", she grumbled. I just laughed. Our friendship is kinda weird, one moment we'll be teasing each other and then the next we'll be having a really deep conversation.

Anyway, Ally soon finished mucking Crystal's stable, so we decided to go out into Luna's field and just sit there and chat for a bit. We do this a lot, sometimes we'll just sit out in the field with the horses for hours, just talking together about anything and everything.

I also grabbed Luna's headcollar (halter) because I would most likely be bringing her in soon to ride. We walked out to the fields and sat down pretty close to where the horses were, just beneath a tree.

We just sat there and chatted for a while, and I also asked her if she knew who would be having a lesson today, however, she was just as clueless as I. After about an hour or so it was almost 10 o'clock, so I caught Luna and we walked back to the barn.

Ally had to leave, she said something about a family gathering or something. I put Luna in the crossties and went to fetch her brushes and tack along with my helmet and boots. I quickly brushed her off and picked her feet out.

I then put on her boots, saddle, and breastplate because I decided to do some jumping today. I then got myself ready, I put my hair back in a low ponytail and I put on my helmet, boots and gloves.

When I was all good to go, I slid Luna's headcollar off and replaced it with an ear bonnet and her bridle. I then led her out to the outdoor arena, where a course was set up from yesterday.

I left the fences as they were, but I did put one of them down so that I could warm up over it. I didn't have a ton of time to ride, it was already 11 o'clock, and whoever was supposed to have a lesson at 12 had booked the arena I was riding in, so I had to be out of there at 12.

I mounted Luna and started warming her up. After doing walk, trot and canter on both reins, I jumped the fence I had put down a couple of times to finish warming up. Today I decided to make a course out of the fences which were already set up and really focus on our straightness because that's something we had been struggling with recently.

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Hi! Welcome to this book, I hope you at least somewhat enjoyed the first chapter! I know you all want to see Lizzie, she's coming in the next chapter, don't you worry.

I just want to remind you of the current upload schedule, which is 1 update every Wednesday and Saturday.

How are y'all doing?

If you have any questions, feedback or ideas, please don't hesitate to tell me, I'll try my hardest to answer to everyone :)

My pm's are always open if you have questions, or if you ever need someone to talk or vent to, I'm always here

Remember to stay safe and to take care of yourselves <3

Love, Frida (The author) xx