Mossy Hill Academy~ The Competition

Chapter 11

The next few weeks fly by, with lessons for horse riding, and preparing for upcoming CAT's (common assessment tasks) and shows. I still can't get over the fact that Cloudy is actually gone, forever, and I'll never brush her again, or ride her.
"Zelie Grill please report to arena B for your group lesson." The speaker announces.
That reminds me, I'm late, very late. Mum is probably fuming by now, because she hates people who are late. I get a move on and race to the stables, to find Jack is already tacked up at the cross ties. It was probably Weslow who did this, or mum. No, mum wouldn't do something like this.
I unclip him and ride him out of the stables, breaking the rule of no riding in the stables, but I need to get to my lesson.
Once I get to the arena I notice that there's no jumps set up, nor is anyone in here.
"That's strange..." I mumble to myself.
Jack starts to walk off while I'm still in his back, so I pull up the reins.
"Whoa boy, stop!" I urge him, but he still walks on.
He takes me outside, and suddenly, I can no longer be bothered to get to my class.
Sadly that's where Jack is taking me, to the ménage where everyone else is.
"Ah Zelie, nice of you to join us!" Weslow jokes.
"Better late than never..." Mum mumbles to me, while handing me a small bag.
"We're on trail duty today, so people with tongs will pair up with someone who has a bag, then I'll assign you to a trail." Mum tells us.
I look towards Weslow, and she has a bag too, so we won't be allowed together, and she heads out with another one of her friends. James comes over to me with some tongs,
"Wanna be partners?" He asks.
A smile creeps it's way onto my face, "Sure."
We get instructed to go on the canyon trail, and I'm actually kinda gad for it, because it's one of the cleanest trails there is.
"Remember when we were here last time?" I ask.
"Yeah, I do, and the worst part about it was not getting to finish the cake!" He exclaims.
I chuckle at that, "So it wasn't losing Duke that upset you, it was not getting to finish the picnic?!"
"Yup." He agrees.
He picks up some rubbish with the tongs, and shoves it in the plastic bag. It's actually kind of dangerous to have a flapping plastic bag around horses, at the scholarship trials last year one of the idiots flapped one near my horse, and it spooked him.
It almost cost me my spot in the scholarship.
We climb up the trail, picking up the odd pieces of rubbish, and all the time we are talking. James is a very nice guy, and he's quite funny.
When we reach the sign telling us to continue on foot we both look at each other and grab out our lead ropes to lead our horses.
"Don't you feel like leaving Duke tied down there?" I tease.
"Ha ha, Zal." He humours me.
The view from the cliff is still amazing, but not as good as it was at night, because the lights on the trees aren't on.
I tie Jack up to the tree, and James does the same to Duke, then we both wander over to the edge of the cliff, and I'm thinking of the problem with my dad.
Why would someone pretend to be him? I mean, what would they gain by doing so?
"You alright Zal?" He asks me, and puts a hand on my shoulder, startling me.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I assure him.
"Come on Zelie, I know that look, what's up?" He presses the matter.
"Nothing." I snap, annoyed at the fact that he won't leave it.
He puts his hands up in the surrendering position, "okay Zal, I believe you."
I sigh, and lean on the railing, why is life so complicated?
James looks at his watch, and he tells me that we should head back, the period is almost over, so we grab our horses and the our time back to school. There's an awkward silence when we are riding, he knows something is up, and he knows I'm not going to tell him.
"If something is wrong Zal, I'll be here to talk to, but if you don't want to talk, that's okay too." He tells me.
Gosh, what did I do to deserve him?
"Thanks." I reply, genuinely meaning it.
The silence becomes less awkward, and we swap over the tongs and bags. When I see some rubbish I'll pick it up and shove it in the bag, but there's only a few pieces, and we soon become bored.
"Do you wanna have a race back to the large for shaped rock about 100m away from the school?" James challenges.
"What's the prize?" I ask.
"Bragging rights?" He offers.
"Nah, that's wimpy. How about the loser has to muck the winners stall after." I suggest.
"That and bragging rights? I'm in! Zelie Grill, prepare to lose!" He boasts.
"Oh Jack, we're going to show this egotistical jerk what we're made of." I chuckle.
"Ready," Jack says.
"Set." I say.
"GO!" He yells, and he urged Duke into a smooth gallop.
I click my tongue and kick my heels into Jack's sides, gaining speed. We're both neck and neck to far, and I know Jack still has more energy in the tank, but I notice that Duke is breathing hard and slowly losing speed.
I take it that he's not an endurance horse, and I sense this opportunity to take the lead. Jack increases his speed, seeming to fly, and we glide over the ground. Up ahead I see the strange foot shaped like rock, and I tell Jack to hold up his speed for a few more seconds. Suddenly the rock whizzes past us, and I urge Jack to slow down, and he tries to, but ends up slipping on the trail. About fifty meters after the rock, Jack finally slows to a stop, and we have beaten James and Duke.
"So, how are you at mucking stalls?"
***
I sat by my stall as James mucked it, while Duke and Jack were outside in their paddocks. After a half hour of James working non stop, and grumbling about how this isn't fair, when I remind him that the race was his idea.
When he's finished we sit together in the empty field, under an apple tree licking icy poles. Right then and there I decide to tell him about my dilemma with my father, and I take and deep breath, looking him in the eye.
"Listen James, about before, I sorry. There was something wrong, it's my dad."
"Aww Zal, it's okay." He tries to comfort me.
"I saw him in the woods, chopping wood illegally on Mossy Hill Academy land. Except the other day I saw mum, and he hadn't told her, except I don't think it was him in the woods."
I tell him about seeing him yesterday and how he swore black and blue that it wasn't me, and I believe him, because my dad never lies.
He nods along, and comforts me, telling me that he will help me. I even tell him about the mysterious call I got before the tryouts, telling me certain letters and numbers.
"We will figure this out, and it's sorta cool. I've always wanted to solve a mystery!" He tries to put a positive spin on things.
I smile at him, he doesn't have to do this.
"First off Zelie, we will be calling in sick today. For we are going to the forest, where you saw the person pretending to be your dad. We shall question him, until he trips up in his lies. So, let's go."
"Won't our horses be tired?" I say, remembering our race today.
"Trust me Zal, Duke and Jack will be fine, it's them, they never get too tired for an adventure."
"Just like us." I add.
"Just like us." He agrees.
We quickly run and tack up our horses, then we meet up outside the stables.
"Are you ready?" I ask him.
"Dude, I was born ready!" He pumps his fists up in the air. "By the way, I told Weslow and Mali that we weren't 'feeling well' and told them where we were actually going, they're our alibi." He explains.
"Gosh James, you're making me feel like I'm committing a crime!" I exclaim.
"We will be treated like that if we're caught, so let's get a move on!" He suggests sarcastically.
I roll my eyes, and click my tongue, directing Jack towards the trail that leads to the forest. Jack quickly follows in pursuit, and he catches up to Jack and I.
I've never been on this trail before, how much further is it?" He asks.
"Not far, but then we will have to veer off the trail."
"Okay." He replies.
We trot for a bit on the trail, and when the trail widens we canter side by side. Soon enough we come to the part in the trail when we have to veer off, so I alert James, and I tell him to dismount Duke.
We lead our horses to the tree where I tied up Jack last time, and we tether our horses there.
"Where to next?" He asks.
"Just a few hundred meters this way." I point in the direction where we are headed, and he walks directly behind me.
"What's that noise?" He asks, meaning the humming noise.
"That is the sound of trees being illegally chopped." I inform him.
"Oh."
"Yeah..."
We peek at the guys chopping trees from behind a tree, and we try to survey the situation.
The gut who is pretending to be my dad is sitting down on a tree that has fallen down, talking to a woman. I can't hear what they're saying, and for the most, I don't really care.
James and I decide to go over to the manager when the lady leaves him, and then we'll trip him up in his web of lies.
Well, that's the plan.
After a small wave from the lady she leaves my 'dad' and heads over to a tent with some other guys.
"Hey dad." I wave to him. He looks confused for a second, then he waves back at me.
"Hey Zelie! How are you and...?"
"Dad, you remember him, I introduced you two at the academy yesterday when you came and visited!" I remind him.
"Yeah, I remember." He makes his way over to James, a and shakes his hand. "Nice to see you again."
"Well dad, I have a question for you. I'm slightly worried about you, because your memory is going a bit wacko. I know you don't even remember James, and you don't even remember our meeting the other day. So I shall remind you again, wait no, my bad. Yesterday I forgot to tell you to meet me, so tomorrow on Saturday at three pm, you shall meet me at the cliff trail. If you don't meet me there, I will personally take you to the doctors for a medical checkup." I tel him harshly.
"Yes Zelie, I will be there." He tells me,
"Great, by daddy!" I hug him and then walk off with James.
We hide behind a tree, making sure we wait a few more minutes until we dare to go closer, to hear their conversations.
"Who were they?" A man asks.
"That is Mr Grill's daughter and friend, I'm trying to get something from her. Now leave me, I have work to do."
"Are you really going to meet her tomorrow?"
"I don't have a choice, do I?" He growls at them.
James and I sprint back to our horses, who nicker when they see us, and we try to quieten them, so we aren't heard.
We don't speak a word to each other until we reach the trail, and when we do James is stunned.
"I can't believe that, I mean, wow. There's not much else to say, except that we need to tell someone." He says.
"No, we tell nobody.' I almost hiss.
"Chill Zal, I won't."
"Thanks."
"So what are you going to say to him when you meet tomorrow?"
"Oh, I won't have to say anything." I smirk.
"Why?'
"Just one second, I need to make a quick call."
"Okay."
"Hey dad it's Zelie here, I have a small problem. Yes, it's sort of important, meet me at the cliff trail tomorrow. Three pm sound good? Great! See you there."
I turn to James, "I won't need to say anything."