MSRA ⇢ Starting New

⇢ 2 ; meeting friends

After Bridget's parents came back with the rest of her belongings, I helped her unpack and get everything organized. By the time we were finished, it was almost six, and we had to go feed our horses before we could eat. For these first three days while students are arriving, the school is having us do our own stalls, feeding, watering, and other chores, but once school starts, they'll take care of that for us so we can focus more on school.

"This is Scarlett," she said, showing me her black Quarter Horse mare as she dumped her food into the bin.

"Hello gorgeous," I cooed to the pretty horse. Right across the aisle, I showed Bridget Hope, who snorted happily when she saw her grain.

"She's beautiful," Bridge said. "You're doing cross country as your major, right?"

"Yep," I said as we walked back to the grain room. I tossed my scoop back into the bin. "What about you?"

"Show jumping," she said. "But we could still have dressage together for a minor."

We headed to the dining hall together, and there were only about 100 or so kids eating in there.

"So apparently one of the upgrades was less students," Bridget said as she picked at her salad. "They said that they had quote 'too many students to safely keep track of', so they reduced the number to only 400 students."

"So, what's the whole deal with the schedules?" I asked. 

"We have four one hour core classes and one fifty minute elective class before lunch starts at 12. Lunch lasts two hours, you have time to eat, change, and get your horse ready before your primary riding class starts at 2 and lasts an hour and a half. Then you go to your riding classes. Some people have their two secondary classes first, then their primary, but everyone in our grade has their primary class first, then their secondary classes. The primary classes are an hour and a half, and the secondary classes are 45 minutes. So, you'd go to cross country, then right after to go dressage and show jumping."

"Makes sense," I said as I took it all in. 

Bridget's eyes got wide for a second, then she whispered, "Noah, six o' clock."

I turned around and saw Noah heading towards us with a water bottle in his hands.

"Hello ladies," he said, sliding onto the bench next to me. "How are we all doing?"

"Good," I said, shutting my phone off. I looked over at Bridget and she looked at me expectantly. "How are you doing, Noah?"

"I'm doing great," he smiled, twisting the cap on the bottle on and off. "Now, I came over here to ask you if you two would like to go on an exploratory ride with me and a few of my friends tomorrow?"

I glanced over at Bridge. "We're not doing anything tomorrow, so sure."

"Great!" he said, standing up. "Meet us at the Student Support building at one after you're done your chores."

As he walked away, I looked over at my roommate. "What?"

"He's totally into you," she said as she leaned back and crossed her arms.

"He's just being nice," I said as I piled my trash onto my plate. "Besides, I barely know him."

"Still," she said, standing up and following me to the trash. "He's hot and you're single."

"Whatever," I said rolling my eyes. "Let's go back to our rooms. I'm exhausted."

-

Back at our rooms, I sat on my bed flipping through the newest edition of Horse Illustrated, choosing a horse I would keep on each page. The paint on page 1, but the Friesian on page 2, and the hunter jumper on page 3 was to die for.