Madison v.s The Travelling Exchange Students

Chapter Two: The Meeting From Hell

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I hobble into the Admin room. Making it seem like I'm okay actually makes the pain worse. As I enter with Alex behind me, the slow-level chatter stops. 

"My God Maddie!" cries a familiar voice.

Lily jumps up from her seat in the front and makes a dash to me. When she throws her arms around me and gives me a hard squeeze I wince. She immediately let go, gritting her teeth.

"Ooo, I'm sorry! How are you anyway?" Lily asks.

"Heard you took a nasty tumble on the cross country course!" shouts Jack, a boy with light brown hair and a crooked grin.

"Yeah well, I'm fine but Sarah is now in hospital with broken bones. I got off lucky," I snap.

Lily tugs at her blonde hair. She's on the Senior Competition team but is also not just my roommate here at SEC but also my make-shift big sister.

Lily steps to the side and I hobble over to the white plastic chair that is next to Bishop.

"The Queen arrives," he smiles.

"Yeah, in nearly one piece."

"You're gonna be okay for the trip, right?" Bishop asks.

Ah, the trip.

The one thing that has been constantly on my mind-well until I stacked it. 

Antonio announced at the end of December last year that when the competition season starts back up again, the Senior and Junior teams will be travelling around Australia. Eleven of the best youth riders in the country competing in every state for eight months.

"It is to start building a name for yourselves," Antonio told us. "You will all be a part of the next generation of Australian riders, so this will be a great start to your journey."

Now we are a week out from leaving and I couldn't be more nervous or excited. 

"Of course I will be okay. Virgo and I wouldn't miss this for the world," I whisper back to Bishop.

I glance around the Admin room. It isn't a very large space with only a whiteboard at the front and plastic chairs stacked along the back. Usually, there are fourteen kids sitting together laughing and chatting. 

Now there are only ten.

Of course, Sarah isn't here. Ella, Tom and Cassie, all Senior Competition riders, are also not present. They have left.

Cassie was pulled by her parents. I still remember the screaming match between her mother and Antonio. She pulled Cassie from the team because she didn't like that there were horse thieves around SEC.

Ella got too old to be on the Senior Competition team since she turned nineteen. Now she works in Brisbane and helps rehabilitate ex-racehorses. 

Tom's parents made Tom go back home to Canberra to live with them. Apparently, his Grandmother got very sick quickly. He wanted to be there for her.

So our family isn't complete. I miss Ella and Tom, their energy at the clubhouse, the movie nights, their outrageous opinions. Seeing Jack now sat next to Will, Lily's boyfriend, and not Tom still makes my heart hurt.

There is no more Jack and Tom. No more foolish pranks. No more funny jokes.

The Admin room door opens and in strides Antonio, commanding our attention instantly with the ex-Olympian-and-Head-Coach aura that constantly circles him. Behind him, Theo shuts the door before joining Antonio's side up at the front.