AFTER THE SHOW JUMPING ROUND, THE mistakes Julia had made during dressage were almost out of my mind. She’d had the best ride, easily, out of everyone. Callie and Alison hadn’t made any mistakes or knocked any jumps, but they hadn’t had that … sparkle Julia had shown. She’d taken all twelve of the jumps, including a tricky triple combination, with fire. It had been as though every second in the arena that Julia had spent with Mr. Conner had gone into her jumping.
She left the arena with a huge smile on her face.
But so had Alison and Callie.
I shifted on the bleachers, turning to look at Heather.
“I have no idea,” she said. “Julia could have just wiped out her mistakes from dressage.”
Brit zipped up her navy and sky blue PINK hoodie. A chill had started to settle in the air. “Honestly, I wasn’t even thinking about scoring when I watched them. All of their rides were so tight and well-paced that I was seriously taking mental notes about what I could do better.”
I checked the time on my phone. Four-thirty. Now, time was just going to be suuuper slow while Callie, Julia, and Alison did cross-country. The course was short, to keep the horses and riders from getting exhausted. The girls had walked the course after another break and they’d had a diagram of the jumps to study for over a week.
Since none of us were allowed on course, we had to wait along with everyone else on the crowded metal bleachers to see how each rider did. And that meant also … counting the seconds until my date with Jacob.
“Can I see the course diagram?” Brit asked Heather.
“Sure.”
They bent over the paper and, as they started to talk, I stopped hearing them and my mind went to tonight. I had no idea what Jacob had planned. The Sweet Shoppe? A movie? A cozy dinner in the common room?
Just thinking about tonight made me feel warm against the fall chill. A date, a real date, with Jacob was something I couldn’t even begin to digest. I’d been on dates, obviously, with Eric, but this was my first date with Jacob. The boy I’d chatted with at Ms. Utz’s office when I’d been a scared newbie, trying to figure out my schedule and what my life was going to be like at Canterwood. The guy I’d spent hours with, playing Mario Kart and bonding over movies during Mr. Ramirez’s film class.
Giggling next to me yanked me out of my daydream. I looked at Brit and Heather. They were staring at me with silly grins on their faces.
“What?” I asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Oooh, I don’t know,” Brit said in a singsong voice. “I’ve just never seen you blush over cross-country.”
Heather batted her eyelashes, tossing her blond hair in a teasing way. “Silver’s thinking about Jaaay-cob.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, okay! I spaced for a second and it’s my first date ever with Jacob and I’ve been waiting forever for him to ask me and—”
“Omigod, take a breath before you hyperventilate,” Heather said, shaking her head. “You’re ridiculous.” But she said it with a smile. She knew what this date meant to me and how important it was, especially after all she’d done in the past to get between us.
I listened to Heather, took a deep breath, and focused my gaze on the course diagram. The riding order had been determined—Julia, Alison, then Callie.
Brit, Heather, and I had eaten lunch with Julia and Alison. Both girls had seemed calm, but excited to start cross-country. It would be the final step of testing and it was the perfect way to let the horses de-stress. Trix and Sunstruck loved cross-country and the course looked liked so much fun—it was a diagram I wanted to save and try sometime.
The course consisted of several hedges, a log jump, a brief trek through part of the creek, and then cantering up and down a few hills to test stamina.
My phone buzzed and I looked at my texts.
Hey Sash—I can’t wait to see you tonight! Meet me in the courtyard at 7, okay?
Jacob.
I couldn’t type back fast enough.
I’m so excited about tonite. I’ll be there @ 7. 
“Julia should be coming in any second,” Heather said, looking at her phone while I put mine away.
Julia and Trix had done a beautiful turn out of the skybox and had set off at a strong canter toward the woods.
“There she is,” Brit said, pointing to the finish line.
Julia’s red protective vest made it easy to spot her. She let Trix into an easy gallop as she rode between two plastic poles that signaled the end of the course.
A beaming Julia rode Trix up to the bleachers, swinging a leg over the saddle. Ben, already on the ground, grabbed her before her boots touched the grass and hugged her. They’d been BF/GF for awhile and made a cute couple.
“You’re done!” Ben said, his pale skin flushed with excitement. “How did it go?”
“It was amazing,” Julia said. She loosened Trix’s girth, letting the mare breathe. Trix was tired after a long day of testing. Her coat was slick with sweat despite the cool weather, her nostrils flared pink, and her breathing was fast.
Julia’s parents stepped down to hug her and pat Trix.
“We’re so proud, sweetie,” Mr. Myer told her.
“You’ve got to be exhausted,” Mrs. Myer said, brushing back sweaty strands of hair that had escaped from Julia’s ponytail. “What do you have left to do?”
Julia hugged Trix’s neck. “I’ve got to have her vitals checked, then Mike or Doug will groom and feed her. They already offered.”
“We’ll be at The Sweet Shoppe,” Mr. Myer said. “Your mom and I are going to grab coffee. When you’re ready, come meet us for a bit.”
Julia nodded, giving her parents a one-armed hug while she held Trix’s reins with the other hand. “The Sweet Shoppe is exactly where I want to be. I’m dying for a giant Coke and strawberry cheesecake.”
I was surprised that Julia wanted to go to The Sweet Shoppe and not stay to hear how Callie and Alison did. She was full of confidence today.
She turned to Ben. “Want to come?”
Ben nodded. “As if I’d miss celebrating this with you. Text me when you’re heading over and I’ll be there. I know you made it, Jules.”
Julia gave Ben a quick kiss. “Thank you. I’ll text you soon.”
She turned to us, a satisfied smile on her face. She looked sure, so sure, that her name would be added to the YENT roster tomorrow.
With that, Julia led Trix toward the stable and Alison walked Sunstruck to the starting box. She had to take her time easing the gelding out of the box or he’d leave early and start off at a too-fast gallop. Heather, Brit, and I, along with parents, the scouts, and many of the intermediate and beginner riders watched as Alison settled herself into the saddle, waiting for the starting signal.
The bell sounded and Alison, keeping a tight rein on Sunstruck, forced him to turn slowly and do a slow canter. Sunstruck jumped forward a few strides, trying to pull the reins through Alison’s gloved fingers. But she didn’t let him get away with it. She held him back and, by the time they reached the woods, Sunstruck had settled into the collected canter.
“Good start,” Brit said. “If she’d let him gallop when they were supposed to be cantering, she could have gotten him too excited for the course.”
“Alison’s great about that,” Heather said. “She may be quiet, but she knows how to handle him better than anyone I’ve seen.”
While Alison finished her ride, Heather, Brit, and I chatted about the latest stable gossip.
“Did you hear that Lexington’s owners are selling him?” Heather asked.
Lexington was a gorgeous steely gray that Mr. Conner had been training.
“Wow,” I said. “I wonder if a Canterwood student will buy him.”
And we, well, mostly Heather, kept chatting about what was going on around the stable.
“I did hear that Andy, Troy, Ben, and a few of the other guys from the team had taken a trail ride a few days ago,” Brit put in. “Apparently, they found a new trail that’s really great for stamina building.”
Heather and I looked at each other.
“So finding out where that is,” I said. Charm and I definitely needed a new course to try.
The time Alison was riding passed faster than I imagined it would. It seemed as if she’d just started when we heard hoofbeats approaching.
Alison came back smiling and went straight for Mr. Robb. As she rode closer to him, he took photos of her grinning at the camera. When Alison reached him, she leaned down to hug him before dismounting.
Heather, Julia, and I surrounded her. She took off her helmet, shaking out her ponytail.
“Omigod, that was so much fun!” she said. “I swear, I totally forgot there were scouts on the course.”
“That’s great!” Heather said, hugging her friend. “I’m so proud of you.”
My head turned toward Heather so fast, it almost gave me whiplash. I’d never heard her say something that nice.
To anyone.
Ever.
Apparently, Alison hadn’t either. She hugged Heather again, teary. “Thanks,” she said.
Heather extracted herself from Alison’s arms, shaking her head. “Geez, Alison. Don’t turn this into a TV talk show moment.”
Heather sounded annoyed, but Alison and I knew her too well. She’d meant every word of what she’d said to Alison.
“Don’t worry,” Alison said, still giddy from her ride. “I won’t tell anyone that you were just supernice to me.”
With a smile, she led Sunstruck in for the vet check, and Callie, who’d been trotting Jack in serpentines and circles to loosen him up, headed for the start box at the sign from Mr. Conner.
This time, Heather, Brit, and I sat without saying a word. There was no need for words when Callie rode through the finish line and headed for her parents. The smile on her face said it all—she’d done well.
Extremely well.