Gone With the Wind (REWRITING)

Eight

"Are you nervous for tryouts today?" Paige and I were eating lunch together. It was Friday, which means I had survived my first week at Forestwood.

"A little bit. But I'm hoping I at least get on the intermediate team." I replied, shoving a spoon full of mac and cheese in my mouth. "Although it would be great to get on the advanced team with you."

"Who knows, maybe you could. But it will be hard. They are only accepting one more person." Paige said, swallowing her bite of turkey sandwich.

"Who else is on the team?" I asked, leaning back into my chair. I am stuffed on food.

"Just me, Lex, and the trio. It would be great to have you on the team." Paige answered, stacking her empty tray on mine.

"Lexie's on the advanced team?" I was so curious to know all about what happens in the stables, and what teams are like.

"Yes," Paige said, getting up. "She's good with dressage. You do show jumping right?"

"And cross country." I added. Whisper was amazing at jumps, it's just me who needs to focus.

Paige smiled as we got up to leave, a handful of garbage was in her hand. "I do show jumping too." She replied, placing the garbage into the trash can by the door.

♤♤♤♤

I sat down in science class just as the teacher, Mrs. Holding, walked in.

"Alright class, let's start with a pop quiz!" She stated, handing each of us a small page.

I groaned and shook my head. I didn't study last night, I was too busy with math homework.

I picked up my pencil and wrote my name in the top right corner of the page.

What is the middle of earth called?

I read the question and answered it. Starting off easy.

I continued down the quiz, answering questions I knew and leaving other to figure out after.

Twenty minutes later, mrs. Holding turned off her timer.

"Please hand your quizzes forward so the people infront can mark it. I use this type of marking I use for quizzes that we will do every Friday." She explained.

Alison was in front of me. Fun. I handed my quiz to her and turned around to grab the person's behind me.

We went through and marked the test and graded it. This person got a b+, pretty good.

Julia turned around and chuckled at me. That's not good.

C- was written on my page. That's not good at all. I started panicking and couldn't focus for the rest of class.

I was the first to rush out. I needed to get back and study immediately, before tryouts.

"Woah Sash, you good?" I ran past Lexie in the courtyard and yelped back to her.

"Fine, just excited!" I hated lying to my friends but I had no time to talk.

I fumbled over the keys to my dorm but managed to unlock the door. I ran over to my desk and pulled out my science books.

I had 30 minutes to study before I had to get ready.

♤♤♤♤

"Sash? Your going to be late for tryouts! Get ready!" Paige yelled after bursting through the door.

"What! Shoot." I gathered my things and placed them into my bag, then rushed over to put on my riding stuff.

"You have to hurry Sasha." Paige ushered.

"I'm trying!" I yelled from the bathroom. "Done!" I followed up a minute later.

"Good let's go!" I followed Paige out the door and we rushed to the stables.

"Just in time," I breathed. I went to tack up Whisper with Paige by my side, helping me out so I wasn't late.

Apparently, Mr. Conner hated it when students were late to practices or meetings. You wouldn't get to ride for that practice.

Five minutes later, Whisper was tacked up and ready to go with three minutes to spare.

As I walked into the indoor arena, I hopped on Whisper and warmed up with the other riders.

"Hey, your the new girl right?" A tall girl with tan skin trotted beside me.

"Yes.. And you are?" I questioned hesitantly.

"I'm Callie," She smiled. Her long black hair flowed under her helmet. "This is Eclipse." She patted her horses black neck and brought her hand back to the reins.

"He's gorgeous." I smiled back at her.

"And who's this fine mare?" She looked down at Whisper.

"This is Whisper," I replied.

"She's so-" Mr. Conners Voice cut her off.

"Callie, Sasha. I said bring your horses over to me."

We both glanced over and saw all the other riders lined up in front of him. Oh boy. I ducked my head as Callie and I walked our horses over to the crowd.

"Now, I want every rider out of the arena and I will call you guys in one by one." Mr. Conner instructed, looking down at his clipboard. "Lisa, you can start."

The rust of us rushed out the door and waited outside for him to call our names.

"Sasha, your turn." Mr. Conner said. I followed him inside with Whisper by my side.

"We are going to start with show jumping." I gave him a slight nod to hide my excitement. I wanted to become a famous rider in show jumping, it has always been my dream.

He gave out directions and I cantered Whisper in a circle twice before heading towards the first jump.

3...2...1.. Now!

On now, I lifted slightly out of the saddle as Whisper leaped over the high jump.

We continued this process before returning to Mr. Conner at the end of the course.

We came close to knocking a rail but finished with a clear ride.

"That was an amazing ride Sasha. The last thing we will do is dressage." Mr. Conner said, writing something on his clipboard. "I will call out directions."

I nodded my head and brought Whisper over to the X and saluted.

Dressage was not my thing and I tell myself I need to work on it, but jumping steals that time. I've never really liked dressage but it's important to learn if I want to become a better rider.

"Extended trot to C and walk to D." Mr. Conner called out instructions for the rest of the dressage part.

At the end, I walked Whisper to X once more and saluted. Mr. Conner excused me out and finished writing something on his clipboard.

♤