7

DARE

Sasha

“I KNOW I KEEP SAYING it, but this trail is beautiful, Sash,” Callie said. She walked Black Jack on a loose rein beside Charm and me.

“I picked my fave one,” I said. “I’m so glad you like it!”

I looked to my right at Jacob. He looked at ease on Bliss—a bay mare that Kim used for beginner riding lessons. Paige also looked comfy on a paint quarter horse—Belle—that Kim had suggested.

We were deep in the Connecticut woods, walking across a meadow. Heather and Aristocrat were near Alison and Sunstruck as they chatted. Brit and Eric were on the opposite side, walking their horses near the frozen creek.

Beneath me, Charm couldn’t have been more relaxed. He seemed to remember this trail too. The open meadow often had deer grazing during the spring. A creek snaked through the meadow, and on the opposite side of the field, a stone wall with browned-from-the-cold ivy separated Kim’s property from the neighbors.

“There’s one super-old farmer who has property over there,” I said, pointing. “He actually came to Kim’s office and told her none of us were allowed to ever ride on his land.” I rolled my eyes.

“Like, because the horses might ruin the crops or something?” Brit asked.

“That would be a legit reason,” I said. “Except he hasn’t planted anything in a zillion years! The only thing the horses would ‘ruin’ would be weeds.”

The group laughed.

“Wouldn’t he owe the riders if the horses trampled the weeds?” Alison asked. “What a nut job.”

“I think we need to add a little, oh, excitement to this ride,” Heather said. She met my eyes, and I saw that gleam in her blue eyes.

“No. No. No,” I said. “No way. Did I mention ‘no’?”

“Silver, come on,” Heather said. “You must know of a way onto the property, or we could jump the wall. We could take a quick little ride and get right back to the trail.”

“I can’t,” I said. “We all promised Kim we wouldn’t, so she’d never have trouble with him.”

Heather cocked her head. “This dude is old, right? Do you even see his house? I highly doubt his eyesight is good enough to spot a few horses all the way out here on the edge of his property. We won’t get caught.”

“I—”

“I dare you,” Heather said, grinning and flashing white teeth. “All of you.” She looked at each rider.

Silence. My friends’ eyes shifted from Heather to me.

“Well,” Callie said. “What if we jump the wall and jump right back?”

“Works for me,” Heather said.

“Callie!” I turned to my friend. “What are you doing?”

“There’s no way we’ll get caught, Sash,” Callie said. “Come on. Pleeease?”

Callie’s competitive side had taken her over. She never backed down from a challenge. Especially not one from Heather.

“I’m in,” Eric said. “As long as we all jump right back over. I don’t want to get Sasha in trouble.”

“Agreed,” Brit said.

“I’ll do it,” Alison said.

All eyes were on me. Excitement at Heather’s dare pumped through me. I’d wanted to jump that wall so bad forever. No one would find out.

“Okay, okay!” I said.

“Yay!” Heather cheered.

I held up a finger. “One condition: Jacob and Paige stay on this side. They can’t jump that wall.”

The group nodded.

“Of course,” Heather said. “I never said I wanted to do anything dangerous. You can be like our lookouts, Paige and Jacob.”

“For birds who might go tell on you guys?” Jacob joked.

“For anyone else who might have come to the stable since we got here and decided to trail ride,” I said.

“Got it covered,” Paige said.

Jacob smiled at me.

I leaned closer to him, not wanting to embarrass him in front of our friends. “Are you sure you’re confident enough on Bliss to be on one side of the wall while we’re on the other?”

“Absolutely,” Jacob said, stroking Bliss’s neck. “She’s a sweetheart. I feel totally safe.”

“I promise the next dare will include you,” I said.

Jacob grinned and winked at me.

“All right! I think Miss Fox should go first,” I said.

Heather dropped her knotted reins on Aristocrat’s neck and rubbed her hands together. She beamed. “I’d be honored. I’m going to canter Aristocrat in a few circles to warm him up first.”

Heather tapped her heels against her gelding’s side, and the chestnut broke away from the herd and moved from a trot to a smooth canter. Heather sat effortlessly to Aristocrat’s smooth gait, and they made a giant, sweeping circle in the flat meadow.

“Heather knows how to turn even a trail ride into an event,” Eric said, watching her.

“That she does,” I said.

Heather made two more circles, then trotted Aristocrat back to the creek bed’s edge. She turned Aristocrat to face the stone wall. I measured it with my eyes and guessed it was about three feet high. The ground on the other side was as flat as the meadow.

Heather gathered her reins, settled herself in the saddle, and urged Aristocrat forward. He moved into a trot, then a measured canter. His long legs ate up the ground, and soon they were strides from the wall. At the right second, Heather lifted her seat slightly out of the saddle and raised her hands along Aristocrat’s neck. The liver chestnut didn’t hesitate. He pushed off the ground with his hind legs, tucked his forelegs, and made a beautiful arch as he flew over the stone wall. He landed easily on the other side. That was exactly why Heather was on the Youth Equestrian National Team. Her form had been flawless. Heather let him canter a few strides before easing him into a trot and turning him back to us.

“See?” she called from the other side of the wall. “No crazy old farmer came and got me. Let’s go, people!”

Now I wasn’t anything but excited.

“I want to go!” I said.

Heather crooked her index finger at me. “Come to the dark side.”

“Go for it,” Eric said. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

I shot Jacob a smile before I squeezed my legs against Charm’s sides. He was ready to go. Even though Heather and I were friends now, I don’t think Charm had ever gotten over his rivalry with Aristocrat. He’d watched the other horse jump, and I knew Charm—he wanted to do better.

“We’ve got to warm you up,” I whispered to Charm. Talking to Charm while I rode him was one habit of mine that Mr. Conner hadn’t been able to break. I felt more connected when I talked to my mounts.

I took a deep breath of cold air as I let out the reins a bit and let Charm move from a trot to a canter. He jumped into a canter in a stride and I guided him in a large circle. He yanked his head up, swishing his tail. He wanted more rein to go faster. I tightened my fingers on the reins and pressed my tailbone into the saddle. We were going fast enough. I wasn’t about to let him fly over a stone wall—an object that wouldn’t move if Charm took a misstep and hit it.

Charm’s ears flicked back and forth. He wasn’t happy that I didn’t let him go faster, but I stayed firm and didn’t give in. We completed another circle, and then I pointed him in the direction of the forbidden wall. The second Charm realized we were about to jump, his tail swished excitedly and he put his attention on me. His hoofbeats pounded on the brown grass as we neared the wall.

At the right second, I moved into a two-point position and took my weight off Charm’s back. Charm thrust into the air and snapped his front legs under his body. I loved the feeling of being airborne. The landing was easy, and I let Charm canter a few strides and patted his neck. Grinning, I turned him back to face Heather and Aristocrat on our side of the wall and the rest of my friends on the other.

“That was the best!” I called.

That’s when I noticed Jacob jerking his head in the direction of the entrance to the meadow. That’s when I noticed none of my friends were looking at me, but instead toward the middle of the meadow. That’s when I noticed a dozen horses and riders making their way toward us.