Intangible | Free Rein [Pin]

- Chapter 6 -

The island was drenched in early morning sunlight, the heat warmed Harper's bare shoulders as she walked down the lane towards the stables. She already had a slight tan from the sun she had already been exposed to that summer, it was nice to see her fairer skin turn a healthier colour. As she was turning the corner into the stables, she could hear a car behind her. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was Holloway's car and they were there for the friendlies.

Without turning around, she walked into the stables and Mia brushed past her to go and talk to Holloway, she had her game face on, and Harper knew to stay out of her way when she looked like that.

While Holloway sorted themselves out for the competition, Harper started to prepare for her own round, even though there was loads of time between then and the actual jumping competition. She wandered into the tack room and grabbed Robin's tack along with his white saddle pad that was only used for competitions or shows. It was odd to see people with uniforms walking around, as the general attire was sweatpants and a hoodie, usually covered in mud.

Harper was going to tie Robin up in the main area to groom out all the mud that he had collected during his night in the field. There was mud covering his legs, the ends of his tail and across his neck, there wasn't quite enough to make the excuse of giving him a hose down as you could get it out with some brushes.

She went to collect Robin's lead rope when she realised that hers had frayed nearly beyond belief and was one moment away from breaking. It was a lot worse than when she last saw it, one of the younger kids must have grabbed it and pulled a strand out which caused it to practically to fall apart. Harper groaned and had to go back into the tack room to try and grab a spare, as she opened the door, she bumped into Ted.

"Sorry! I wasn't paying attention." Harper apologised and helped Ted to pick up one of the brushes from the ground that she had knocked over.

Ted loaded the box back up, "head in the clouds?"

Harper laughed and fiddled with the lead rope in her hands, "something like that, do you know if there are any not-frayed-to-death lead ropes hanging around anywhere?" The spares in the tack room were also on the verge of breaking, it was impossible to find a decent one as people often hid them in corners and on shelves.

Ted grimaced as he inspected Harper's lead rope that was in her hand, "I will have a look, I think I saw where one was hidden."

Harper smiled in thanks and waited for Ted to grab her a lead rope. She tossed her old one in the bin and made a mental note to buy another one when she had the chance. Her vibrating phone drew Harper from her thoughts, she pulled it out and saw that she had a message from her dad.

It said that he would arrive to Friendlies a little earlier than they needed too, and he had invited her brother, Miles. Harper was so happy that her dad and brother were making an effort to get along, finally.

She sent off a quick message in reply and looked up when she saw a lead rope be held in front of her. "Thank you so much, Ted! You are my saviour."

"No problem." Ted smiled at her before he rounded the corner, where he bumped into Pin.

"Alright dad?" Pin asked as he fiddled with his uniform slightly.

Ted patted Pin on the shoulder, "yeah, just, be careful or you're going to lose that girl."

Pin frowned for a moment as his dad walked away from him before he was called away by his teammates.

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Harper, finally, led Robin out of his stable and tied him up by the fence. In order to keep tensions low, the Holloway lot were set up by the main arena; so, they didn't have to worry about bumping into each other an awful lot.