Derby Darling

chapter 2

September 2012

Katie POV

"Ugh, where is that sweater?" I muttered.

It was my first day of high school, and I did not want to be late. I was not excited. Calloway Prep was a an expensive private school that my parents decided that my brother and I should both attend, so that we would have as many opportunities as possible to have successful careers inolving things other than horsebackriding. Despite having told them at age six my firmly unchanging ambition was to become a jockey, future triple crown winner, they insisted I needed to explore everything before deciding on the only thing I had ever known. My brother Dylan had hit a extreme growth the year he turned 14, and at his current height of 5'11 at age seventeen, there was little change he was headed toward the same career path as me. Dylan had flourished at Calloway Prep, doing every sport immaginable, while somehow maintaining a 3.9 gpa his first two years. At my height of 5'1 and 100 pounds, I was still in the running toward becoming the best jockey the world had ever seen, daily thanking God that I was going to take after my small mother. 

"Kaaatie!" Dyan yelled "C'mon down, you don't want to be late for your first day!"

I finally found the troublesome sweater, and pulling my favorite grey sweater with the picture of a horse racing on the front over my head, I ran down the stairs, out the door, and jumped into the car. Dylan walked out of the house, and hopped into the car.

"Excited?" he teased, "I heard you have math first. Oh, you're just going to love math at Calloway..."

"Noooo" I groaned. I glared at him.

Sometimes I wondered how we were possibly related. Dylan, with his blonde hair and green eyes, was growing extremely handsome, where my hair hand only darkened over the years, and I knew I, with my almost black brown ringlets, and very green eyes, was growing extremely odd looking. Dylan had discovered his mathematics ability extremely early, and had gotten bored in AP calculus sophmore year. I, on the other hand, was  only average at everything.

As Dylan parked and I got out of the car butterflies started to dance in my stomach. There were kids everywhere, laughing and talking with friends. Dylan directed me to my first class, geometry, and I tiptoed in and looked around. My relief was palpable as I saw my friend Cammie. Cammie had been my friend since third grade, and we had forever gotten into mischief together ever since.

Cammie waved. "Aren't you excited?" Cammie squealed, "our first day of being high schoolers," then, together we went "Naaaaaahhhhh!"

I grinned. There was a reason we were friends. Algebra was uneventful, and then soon it was lunch. Cammie and I walked into the lunchroom together. "OHMYITSDYLAN" Cammie whispered to me, seeing Dylan at a table with older students. I giggled. Cammie claimed she had fallen in love with Dylan when we were ten and she had broken her arm by jumping off a log into the river near Sunset Stables, and when I raced back to the house, only to find Dylan at home, her Prince Charming had come to save her. Well, at least in Cammie's words.

"Dylan's excited" I remarked, "Luke's first day at Calloway is today."

Luke Owen, the son of the owners of Sunset Stables, would return after spending years living with his grandparents in Canada. His granparents had both passed, and his parents had decided it was finally time to come back to Kentucky. Dylan and Luke had kept in touch through snail mail, then email, then by skyping over the years.

I hadn't seen Luke around, but I supposed I would eventually. I had distant memories of following Dylan and Luke around until I was eight years old, but mostly of him and Dylan trying to disappear when I wasn't watching. I had always foiled their plans, though. My horse and I were the best trackers in the whole county. 

"I don't remember any Luke," Cammie wrinkled her forehead in puzzlement.

"Luke moved away right before you came," I explained, "he has been Dylan's best friend for forever."

I stared at the group at Dylan's table, but I couldn't recognize anyone I remembered as Luke. At eleven, Luke had had dark brown hair and blue eyes, and while there were many kids at the table with that hair/eye colo combination, I didn't regonize any. 

"C'mon," I said to Cammie, "Let's eat." We sat down at a table ourselves, and discused just how much we hated all our classes.