New Strides || Canterwood Crest || Book 19

8 ↬ caution: hot mess

To say that our lesson went badly was an understatement.

It was horrible. A total hot mess. For all of us.

"More leg, Sasha!" Yelled Mr. Conner for the thousandth time. Charm, who was starting to tire, had faded behind my leg and was almost breaking to a trot!

I half-heartedly tried to recover and finish our course, but I just couldn't focus. At all!

"Halt! Come back to the centre of the ring immediately!" Mr. Conner had clearly had enough. Flushed and embarrassed, I halted Charm and walked him towards Mr. Conner, Heather, Callie, and Brit in the center of the ring.

"What is wrong with the four of you today?!" Fumed Mr. Conner as I lined up beside Brit. "Sasha can't keep her horse going, Heather has gone off-course every chance she's gotten, Callie's position is stiffer than ever, and Brit can't find a distance!"

We looked down shamefully. These were beginners' mistakes. What a disaster!

"Go trot your horses on a loose rein then cool them out. We are done for today." And with that, Mr. Conner stormed out of the arena.

We did as we were told, then dismounted, and handed our horses off to Mike and Doug - morning lesson protocol. We had just under an hour to shower and get ready for our first class of the day.

"I can't believe we let that happen," whispered Heather as the four of us exited the stable. I couldn't agree more. I mean, me losing focus over something like this and screwing up big-time? Totally normal. But for the same to happen to Brit, Callie, and especially Heather? That was insane.

"We can't let that happen again. Like, ever." Brit's cheeks were still red - from the cold or embarrassment, I couldn't tell.

"Couldn't agree more." Muttered Callie. Out of all of us, she was the most annoyed with herself.

"I vote we pretend that this lesson never happened, and come up to ride after school today to hopefully get some decent practice in," I suggested. Callie, Brit, and Heather nodded in agreement, but we still couldn't shake the sting of this morning's mishaps.

Mostly, the news that we were going to have eight new inconveniences arriving very, very shortly.

♣ ♞ ♣

By the time Brit and I returned to Orchard after our evening ride, there was barely enough time for us to grab dinner from the cafeteria. We had made it there in record time, and even still it was almost empty for the night. For once, it wasn't difficult to find a free table.

"I. Am. So. Exhausted." Even speaking was too much effort. I halfheartedly bit into a piece of cantaloupe after finishing my slice of pizza. Probably not the healthiest dinner, but whatever. I was too tired to care!

"Same. Being this tired should be illegal." Brit was finishing up a bowl of chicken noodle soup.

"I can't believe Mr. Conner is letting this happen. You know, all the exchange students."

Brit sighed. "Same. I hate to say it, but I'm actually really stressed out now. Like, really stressed out."
"Me too! Like hello, Mr. Conner, are you trying to kill us all?! There's no way we can compete with these kids. They're not even here yet and I already know they're going to be so much better than me."

Brit reached out to touch my arm. "Sash, don't say that. You're an amazing rider and you know it. Who knows, maybe all these supposedly impressive exchange students will show up and totally suck!"

I sighed. "I guess. But still. It's just that everything was finally falling into place, you know?"

"I feel the same way."

"I guess we'll just have to wait until this weekend to find out how awful this is going to be."

Brit sighed dramatically. "Only a few more days left of normality." She raised her cup of lemonade. "A toast, to the last few days of life at Canterwood Crest before everything turns weird."

I couldn't help but laugh. I raised my cup and tapped it against hers.

"To the last few days of life at Canterwood before everything turns weird."

♣ ♞ ♣

"Sasha! Wake up!"

Huh? What time is it? What's going on?

"Sasha!!!!"

It was Brit again, calling me. I opened my eyes a little, just enough to see Brit sitting at her desk, laptop open. According to my alarm clock, we didn't need to be up for another twenty minutes.

"Brit, what on earth are you doing?"

She didn't answer my question. "Sasha, get over here! You have to see this."

"Ugh, fine," I grumbled. I rolled out of bed, slipping my feet into a pair of fuzzy slippers. I padded over to Brit, who spun in her rotating desk chair to face me.

"Gosh, Brit how long have you been awake for?!" I couldn't contain my surprise. She was dressed and totally ready for the day.

She waved her hand dismissively. "Not that long. I just woke up earlier and couldn't go back to sleep. But, that brings me to something very, very, important."

"What?"

She spun back around to face her screen and motioned for me to look as well. Her browser was open, and looking at an email sent earlier this morning by Mr. Conner. He always sent emails at odd hours.

"It's to the entire team," Brit explained. "And it's about the exchange students."

That got my attention.

"Huh? Let me see." I leaned in closer to get a better look.

Dear Heather, Callie, Sasha, and Brit,

I would like to remind you of the upcoming arrival of our eight foreign exchange students. I expect that each and every one of you will give your utmost effort in ensuring that our new students feel welcome here at Canterwood Crest. Being members of the YENT, the four of you are not only ambassadors of the CCA riding program, but the entire school. For that reason, I would like the four of you to act as mentors for our new students to help them adjust to life here at Canterwood. I have attached a list of the names of our exchange students to help you get to know them upon arrival:

Tess Van den Berg, Emma Peters, Mia Peters, Thomas Visser, Noah Klaasen, Sophie Aldenberg, Finn Aldenberg, Lars Jansen

I trust that each of you will represent Canterwood as the wonderful school that it is.

Regards,

Mr. Conner

"Oh my gosh," I exclaimed. "Brit, this is perfect!"

She turned to face me, eyes sparkling with a mischievous grin. "Thank goodness I woke you up early. Now we have time to carry out some important business."

Mr. Conner had just sent us the names of our new foreign exchange students. That meant one thing.

It was time to figure out who we had coming to Canterwood.