Red Oak Academy Book One: Mount Up

~Chapter Twenty Six~

I turned Seagrass in a twenty meter circle at a working trot. I was surprised how light he was, with his mouth just resting on the bit. Most school horses, after being ridden by many riders of different skills, picked up bad habits but Seagrass seemed to be unaffected by this.

I sneaked a glance at Rachel who was concentrating on making Ribbons do a flying lead change. The lanky palamino mare circled around and at an almost invisible signal from Rachel, she switched leads in mid air.

I focused on Seagrass again, bringing him into a floaty canter. I could just imagine him flying over oxers.

After about an hour, I looked at Rachel. She had her feet out of her irons and her reins were resting on Ribbons' neck. Both Seagrass and I were sweating and I followed Rachel's lead, relaxing. I walked up next to her and she smiled at me.

"So," she started. "My mom should be picking us up in about twenty minutes. Do you want to get these guys put away then say goodbye to Becca and Matt?"

"Sure," I said, swinging my leg over Seagrass' back and landed on the ground. I swung his reins over his head and Rachel and I walked them back to their stalls.

After we put Ribbons and Seagrass away, we headed back to Becca's office to say goodbye. We knocked on the door and listened for a reply.

We didn't hear anything so we put our ear closer to the door. "Matt, I can't do it anymore! I don't know what to do and if I don't have the money by the end of the month, they are shutting us down!" We heard Becca's frantic voice.

"Aunt Becca, everything will be alright. We will find a way to hold them off for a little bit longer. Don't worry." Now Matthew was speaking.

I looked at Rachel. "We probably shouldn't disturb them," I told her. "I'll just write a quick note and we can go." Rachel nodded and I grabbed a piece of blank paper and a pink pen hanging from the bulletin board outside.

Becca,
Sorry we missed you. Thank you so much for letting us use your horses. It was a lot of fun! I'll miss you!!

Rilee♥♥

"Okay," I said, pinning the note and pen back to the board and Rachel and I went outside and hopped into Rachel's mother's car. Pulling out of the driveway, we turned toward away from the direction of my house.

"Where are we going?" I turned to Rachel.

"Well, I thought that since I get to see you this entire week, we would do some fun stuff together. We're going to get manis and pedis!" She squealed. "I mean, if that's okay with you?" She looked at me questioningly.

"Yeah, that sounds great!" I said, enthusiastically. I zoned out as she droned on about all the fun stuff she had planned for us. How is Tori? I wondered. I knew she was being unfair but a little bit of me missed her.

Ever since the "James Incident" she had tried her best to ignore me, even switching partners in science so she didn't have to be my lab partner. Now, because of this, I was partners with Aldean Lincoln, who smelled like he used no hygiene products and hardly ever talk except to find fault with everything I did.  I was already doing bad enough in chemistry and with a horrible partner and friendship stress, I was balancing on the edge of failing the class.

"Hello? Rilee?" Rachel waved her hand in front of my face and I blinked rapidly.

"Ohmygosh, I'm sorry Rach. I totally zoned. That all sounds great!" I had no clue what she had been saying for the past five minutes.

"Really? Great!" She threw her arms around me in an awkward hug thanks to the seatbelts restraining the both of us.

We arrived at the Nail Salon and Rachel and I hopped out. Rachel leaned in the front seat to tell her mom that after we got our nails done, we were going to head to lunch and that she would tet her when we were close to being done.

We headed into the salon and a middle-aged Japanese woman met us at the front desk. "How can I help you?" She asked.

Rachel smiled, "We need two deluxe mani pedis please." She said, pulling her wallet out.

"That would be sixty four dollar."

Rachel handed her the money and she motioned for us to follow her. She lead us back to rows of plush chairs and told us our manicurists would be there soon.

We sat down next to each other and began immediately playing with the massage settings on our chairs. I laughed at Rachel's facial expressions as the massage went up and down her back. She looked like she was in pain but at the same time she was enjoying it.

Two young Japanese women came over and introduced themselves as Mai and Lang. The asked us to choose our polish colors. Rachel chose My Twin Mimmy, a bold yellow color from OPI and I ended up going with Worth a Pretty Penne, a pretty bronze color that matched my skin tone perfectly.

Mai and Lang started out by filling the little tubs at our feet with water and turning on the mini jets in them. I slid mtpy feet into the one at the base of my chair and relaxed as the warm water ran over my feet.

Mai and Lang talked in rapid Vietnamese as they rubbed lotion and scented scrubs up and down our legs. Rachel and I shared an amused look as they started yelling at each other, arguing in their high pitched voices.

After our legs were scrubbed and removed from the water, they were rubbed with warm, smooth stones then dipped in melted wax. After the wax hardened, it was pulled off and lotion was rubbed on again.

"This feels so  good!" I smiled at Rachel. "Thanks for bringing me here."

"No problem," she replied, opening her eyes from where she had been resting. "Consider it part of your early birthday present."

I cocked an eyebrow, "Part? As in more than one? I knew you were my best friend for a reason!"

She laughed and closed her eyes again, totally relaxed. I sighed in happiness. This was what I needed to totally relax and get Tori out of my mind.

Next, Mai and Lang grabbed the bottles of nail polish on the short metal cart in between them. Mai expertly spread the polish over my toenails and soon they were completely covered. She guided me over to a small table with special lights to dry the nails. As I waited, I fipped through a Seventeen magazine.

After Rachel and I's nails were dry, we were taken to a different area of the salon where we got our fingernails done just like our toes.

Walking out of the salon, I hugged my best friend, "Thank you so much Rach! I had so much fun!"

She smiled at me deviously, "Oh, we aren't done yet."

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Fun, fun, fun!!

Okay so this was really long, but I wanted to show them having a lot of fun together! This is based off my trip to a nail salon. My grandma took me for my birthday last year and it was super fun. The nail polish colors are from OPI. I had fun going to their website and exploring all the colors and names!

And this leads me to the question of the chapter! (I know, we haven't had one of these in a while!)

If you could name an OPI nail polish color, what would you choose?? :)

I would say... hmm... I Need Sunshine. It would be a bright, bold yellow.

The next chapter will be a continuation of Rilee and Rachel's fun trip! 9 more chapters to go!! ♥♥

Thank you everyone for over 6 thousand reads!!! I love you all so much!! ♡

'Til next time!

Abbi ♥♥