Stone Creek Academy: Deception (#2) *slow updates*

Chapter Four

"Oh," I said.

"My," Halle breathed, her jaw as wide open as mine.

"God. This is incredible!" Ash squealed, rushing into the barn ahead of Halle and I to touch a garland. The barn was completely decked out for Christmas! Red, green, and gold were all over. Ribbons were strung all about, twinkling Christmas lights lined the horses' stalls, wreaths hung out of the horses' reach on their stall doors, and all the horses' stall fronts were covered in holiday wrapping paper. Some students had even wrapped their tack trunks to look like presents that matched their horses' stalls. It was so cool!

The stocking-shaped bag full of horse cookies rustled in the pocket of my chocolate brown puffer jacket. Halle and I practically had to drag Ash away from the decorations so we could go see our horses. Beau nickered at me the moment we rounded the corner, and from the stall right next to Beau, Halle's horse Tinseltown, affectionately called Tinny, whinnied loudly.

"Hiya bubby boy," I crooned as I stepped up to Beau's stall door. He thrust his head over the door and leaned his face against my chest, and I rested my chin on his bridlepath. It was so sweet and adorable when he did that! Soon I heard him snuffling my pocket for the treats concealed within it, so I dug my hand inside and offered him one of the aromatic cookies, which he promptly took.

As Beau crunched through the treat, I noticed Ash rubbing the face of a striking chestnut to my left. The horse was huge, at least 17 hands, and gleamed the same color as a freshly minted penny. He also had an exceptional amount of chrome, or white markings. As I moved to stand next to Ash, I noted four tall white socks and a blaze that covered more than half his muzzle and almost all of the front of his face.

"This is Kingslaide, or King," Ash said, having read my mind and known exactly what question I was about to ask. I smiled and extended my hand. King sniffed it delicately, then bumped my hand to ask why I had no treats for him.

"Sorry, he can be a bit vain sometimes." Ash laughed, running the big horse's face. She wore a light blue E.I.S. shirt, steel grey puffer jacket, orchid purple breeches, black custom boots with rhinestones around the top border, and had her hair in a loose French braid.

"There are worse flaws than vanity in a horse," I shrugged. King turned away and returned to munching his hay. Halle appeared suddenly at my elbow, causing me to jump and startle. We shared a laugh, then Halle turned to us both and asked, "Ready?"

Linking arms, we walked out of the warm, cheery stables into the bleak, frigid air of Massachusetts in winter. Setting course for the nearest indoor jumping arena, we chatted about various small things like school, boys, and getting together for a trail ride next weekend. Soon, we were settling ourselves in the semi-comfortable chairs of the arena's viewing lounge.

"Good morning everyone," Coach Mike thundered, walking briskly to the front of the room. Two trainers, one of whom I recognized well, filed in right behind him. One was Celia Worth, coach to Stone Creek's International jumping team. She must've recognized me, because she gave me a tiny wave hello.

The other I didn't recognize. He was an average height, muscular, and looked to be Italian. Surely he was a coach here, since he had on a jet black polo embroidered with the Stone Creek Academy logo. Bright green eyes twinkled mischievously from underneath perfectly trimmed black hair and a Rolex baseball cap.

"For those of you who do not recognize my companions, this is Coach Worth, our international jumping team coach. And, I would like to introduce you all to Mr. Sean Bauswell. Mr. Bauswell is taking a few years off of the international jumping circuit and has kindly offered to coach Stone Creek's advanced team. This team will compose of 20 riders split into two groups, and tryouts will be held on January 23, after the holiday break. I will let him explain more." Coach Mike told us. I glanced at each of my friends. An opportunity to move up to the advanced team would be perfect.