New Strides || Canterwood Crest || Book 19

7 ↬ mr. conner's bombshell

Monday morning lessons sucked.

Brit, Callie, Heather and I scurried across campus in the chilly fall air. Typically, we didn't have morning lessons on the YENT, but sometimes they were the only option due to Mr. Conner's scheduling conflicts. Lately, he had been busier than ever.

It felt weird, the four of us leaving Allison behind to go for our lessons. Luckily, she wasn't jealous of us, or our place on the YENT. Allison was disappointed that she had to wait to test again, but she also understood that staying on the advanced team was the best way for her to prepare for what was to come.

"I wonder what we're going to work on today." Brit's teeth chattered as she spoke.

"I guess showjumping," Heather replied. "We haven't practised course work in a while."

Naturally, Heather was right. As we entered the stable, I peered into the indoor arena which was already illuminated and (hopefully) warmer than the windy outdoors. Spread out across the beautiful arena was a course of ten jumps, all of which gleamed as if they had been painted just yesterday.

Excitement bubbled in my chest. I hadn't jumped charm in a while - lately, our lessons were focused on dressage. I knew that Charm would be excited too - jumping was his fav!

Half an hour later, the four of us were tacked up and mounted in the indoor arena, waiting for Mr. Conner to arrive. As we waited, we each worked our horses through a light warm-up. Charm, who definitely knew that we were jumping, was extra exuberant this morning, tossing his head with excitement every chance that he could. I glanced around the arena and noticed that everyone else's horses seemed to be fresh today as well. Even Apollo, Brit's normally calm gelding, threw in a playful buck as he cantered a twenty-metre circle. The horses were definitely feeling this crisp fall weather!

When Mr. Conner finally arrived, the horses seemed to have settled a bit. He was a little bit late, which was odd - Mr. Conner was a stickler for punctuality.

He motioned us all to the centre of the arena.

"Good morning, my apologies to have kept you waiting. I was finishing up with an important call relevant to some exciting things that will be happening later this week."

I suddenly felt less tired. What exciting things? Hello, Mr. Conner, SPILL!

As if he could read my mind, Mr. Conner smiled. "I was going to wait until after this lesson to tell you, but I suppose I had may as well tell you now..."

The four of us stared expectantly as he paused to sneeze. Was he ever going to tell us what this special news was???

He finally did.

"This weekend, we are going to be welcoming some European exchange students to Canterwood."

We were all silent. Exchange students? We'd had exchange students at Canterwood before. One of Lauren Towers' close friends was an exchange student, though she had gone back to Sweden. What was so special about exchange students, and what did they have to do with Mr. Conner??

"These exchange students," Mr. Conner continued, "Will be coming to Canterwood not only to continue their studies, but also to ride on our Youth Equestrian National Team."

My jaw dropped open, and I turned to see that Brit, Heather, and Callie's had done the same. WHAT???

"Um... exactly... how many of them?" Heather asked slowly. Omigod, this was going to be a disaster - I could tell already!

"Eight - they are coming from the Netherlands." Mr. Conner smiled, clearly unaware that this bombshell had just pretty much shattered EVERYTHING! Everything was finally falling into place for me - I was comfortable with my place on the YENT, I had a new horse to start working with, amazing friends - I could go on and on. But exchange students coming to ride for the YENT? That was going to ruin everything! As if there wasn't enough competition already amongst the four of us. And eight of them! EIGHT! What was he thinking?!

"How is that going to work, having eight new riders for the YENT?" Heather inquired. Of course, she was already getting the facts, scoping out the situation. I could sense a hint of concern in her voice - she was probably worried about Allison, and whether or not she would still have a chance of making the YENT come the next round of testing.

Mr. Conner didn't miss a beat.

"The new students will be riding for a new branch of the YENT specifically catering towards exchange students. Many other schools across the country will be, and already are participating in it. They will, however, still be training with the four of you, though we will end up splitting the twelve of you into two groups of six for lessons. You will also still compete against them, for Canterwood Crest Academy, though the points they accumulate throughout the year will count towards a different category than yours."

"Will Allison still be able to test for the YENT?"

"Since we have reached near capacity for this team I will be testing riders for the YENT on a case-by-case basis, only if they display excellent skills and development with promising potential."

Okayyyyy, so that didn't really answer the question. I could tell that Heather wasn't quite satisfied with that answer either, but she let it go. Heather was slowly learning to use more discretion when picking her fights.

I glanced to my right and took a look at Brit and Callie. Brit didn't seem phased by the news, just curious and surprised. Callie, on the other hand, had stiffened in the saddle, her eyes staring into the distance, probably calculating all the possibilities for the new competition that would be shortly arriving to Canterwood. Callie was one of the fiercest competitors here - this news was definitely going to take a toll on her.

"Okay, everyone out to the rail at a working trot rising!" Mr. Conner called, back into typical work mode.

I urged Charm out of the centre of the arena, though I knew perfectly well that there was no way that any of us would be able to focus now.