Broken Prodigy | COMPLETED ✓

Chapter 11

My excuse for the sprained wrist is, "I fell and knocked it,". Lame, I know, but it doesn't give much away, and makes more sense, too, than the truth.

I get Kayla to use the mounting block to get onto Polly, and she starts walking around the arena. Along one side of the arena are some small jumps, no bigger than about forty centimetres. I tell Kayla to warm Polly up first, and she does, moving Polly from a walk to a trot then doing a couple of small lopes.

"Okay, now when you're ready, trot her over them," I tell her.

Kayla trots Polly over both the jumps, and she easily plods over them. Then Kayla pats Polly and does it again.

After a couple more tries, I decide she can take it to the next level. "Kayla, do you know what strides are?"

She nods. "Of course!"

"Good. If you want, you can trot her up to the first jump and bring her into a lope over the second, alrighty? Then maybe lope over both of them."

Kayla as gotten used to me saying lope instead of canter, so she doesn't need to ask what I mean. She nods once again and rides off to try it. I hear the creak of the gate opening and turn to see Georgia walking up to me.

"Hey. Where were you yesterday? When I got back from the show, you and Gus were nowhere to be found," she says.

I haven't had the chance to come up with an excuse for that. "Oh. Uh, my dad needed my help with something. I don't know where Gus was."

And as if I have summoned him, Gus walks into the arena as well.

"You left me this morning," he tells me quietly when he reaches me and Georgia, but not quietly enough for Georgia not to hear.

"What?" Georgia demands. Gus realises what she's heard, and does his crooked smile.

I grab Gus by the arm and pull him away from Georgia. "Do you know how that sounds to her?" I hiss.

"You still haven't told me where you went."

"Where do you think? You were taking too long, so I walked home."

"It would've been quicker for me to just drive you."

I groan. "Go away. I need to clear things up with Georgia. Thanks for that, by the way."

He smirks, and even though I'm angry at him, my stomach can't help but flutter. His smile is that typical cute boy type. Pushing the annoying thought away, I shove his shoulder. He holds up his hands in resignation, then walks out of the arena.

Georgia runs over to me. "Oh my god! Were you, like with him this morning? Doing what I think you were doing?"

"Jeez, Georgia, no! That's disgusting. I'll tell you what happened."

And I do. After making sure she wouldn't tell anybody- especially Maya, because there is no way she'd let me train Bess if she knew what happened to my wrist- I tell her the whole story. She stands there, gawking at me, and I try to keep one eye on Kayla, who has no idea what's going on.

"Wait, so you're telling me, you spent the night at his house and nothing happened?"

I sigh, mostly at the fact she's more interested in this than whether my hand is alright. "No, Georgia. Nothing happened. We can't bear each other."

"Then why on earth would he do what he did? Most boys wouldn't put their life at risk for a girl unless they liked them. A lot."

"Seriously, Georgia? You're blowing this out of proportion. Gus never risked his life for me."