Carry On (Book 1)

Chapter 45:

Ariel's POV:

So...here we were...

The final moment of the clinic

Storm's moment

My moment

Our moment

I took a breath as I mounted Storm tackless and took in the crowd as I waited for our music to start playing. I could see the judge from the last show waiting expectantly in the crowd, arms crossed. he had been watching every day of the clinic and his expression hadn't changed once. Now was the time to do just that...change his mind...

I saw my family, my dad and sisters, smiling and waving to me as our eyes met. Like the judge, they had been here every single day of the clinic, but their smiles never faded.

I saw the friends I had made at Willow lane, some new, some old, lining the stands. I saw Maddie sitting next to Noah, their hands intertwined.

Then I set my eyes down on Storm. The one who had started it all by allowing me to help him, by trusting me...by helping me through everything, even if some times he still acted like a storm in a bottle.

He was my tamed Storm, and yet, he would never be tamed, because that's who he was.

The music started playing over the loudspeakers and I let Storm walk on until we reached the center of the arena, then halted him and directed him in turning in a circle

So much had happened in such a short time since I started at Willow Lane. Everything since bringing Storm here, to adjusting to the tougher classes, to making new friends and enemies, to everything that had happened with Jack...

After two circles I asked Storm to pick up a canter and spread my arms out to the sides, growing more confident as the crowd awed and clapped.

Before Willow Lane, I was just a girl from a poor family who faced a tragedy. Now I was doing exactly what my mother had been doing, helping people and horses alike, spending my time riding and doing what i loved to do.

I brought Storm to a halt and asked him to back up before spinning again in a circle. Storm snorted as he lowered his head and I could feel him relax into the familiar liberty routine that we had been working on for years now.

Storm was also a different horse. before Willow Lane he was a horse that would only ever allow me to even be in the same stall as him. Now, not only was he loving the grooms who took care of him when I was in school, he let Maddie ride him. From once being unridable to opening himself up to new people and horses alike, he wasn't the perfect bombproof champion, but I had never asked or wanted him to be. Storm would always be Storm, but i wouldn't trade or change him for the world, because he was my world.

I halted Storm and dismounted, running my hand along his shoulder as I made my way around his front. I whistled and clucked as I directed him to trot in a circle around me. When I turned, he changed direction and when i spun the whip around near his legs he responded by spinning in a circle on his hind legs, nickering and whinnying with excitement.

These first weeks at Willow Lane had been a rollar coaster of emotions, with both good things and bad things happening to everyone involved. Now however, the dust seemed to be settling, and everything and everyone seemed to be calming down.

I held up the whip and Storm skidded to a halt. I walked around him, whispering praise to him as I ran my hand down his leg, the one with the scar. Tapping his fetlock with the toe of my boot, Storm slowly lowered himself down to the ground with a heavy groan.

Now I was even more excited to be spending the fall break with my best friend, and, if possible, completely ecstatic to return to school afterwards, to see exactly what was in store for all of us in the time before winter break.

On my cue, Storm rolled over and I grabbed his front legs, holding him upright on his back. The crowd clapped and Storm lifted his upper lip, making everyone break out into laughter and making me smile. He enjoyed this just as much as I did.

I have made my first real best friend in Maddie. I had somewhat fixed my bad relationship with Olivia. I was helping horses and owners fix themselves and I had more horses to work with than even my mother had lined up when she was alive. Though I never wanted to overshadow my mother, I had realized just how much it meant to me to be able to continue doing what she loved and teaching others about what she believed in when it came to horses.

I stretched my leg over Storm, slowly leaning forward until I was positioned between his front legs and able to give his muzzle a quick kiss and I rubbed his shoulders.

I could see the audience stand up as they clapped while me and Storm stayed like this for a long time, until I finally moved and allowed him to roll back onto his side and get up.

I felt tears prick my eyes as I gave Storm the cue to bow before bowing down beside him. I could see through blurred vision that even the stubborn judge was giving us a standing ovation.

And beside him, in the one, tiny open space left in the roaring crowd, I saw my mother, smiling down at me as she clapped along, and I watched as she mouthed the words that made me burst into a blubbering mess.

'That's my girl'

It was in that moment that I knew that there was nowhere I wanted to be more than Willow Lane Academy, doing exactly what my mother worked so hard to become.

Because I was Sally Whitmans daughter.

I was Ariel Whitman, horse whisperer of Willow Lane and I couldn't wait for the rest of my time here!