Constructive criticism is much welcomed!! Please let me know if I should keep going with this one.
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xoxo Sagey
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"Rae Jackson! Please report to the Administration office immeadiately!" The intercom rang across the stables, loud and annoying.
I steered my horse over to the fence, tied her up and headed over. I ran over my recent activities in my head. Nothing I could have gotten in trouble for thats for sure. I havent made any kids cry or insulted parents or authority members since my last visit to the office.
The air conditioning froze me upon entering the building and I quickly headed back to Mrs. Smiths office. When I walked in I could not believe my eyes. Jake Sutton was sitting in one of the chairs, looking like he would really rather be somewhere else right now. The older man and woman must have been his parents I assumed.
Jake Sutton was a rising movie star, the sex object of every teen girls fantasy in the country. He mainly starred in new MTV series and some horror movies. I didnt really keep up much with TV anymore but I definitely knew who he was. And boy was he hot.
"Ah Ms. Jackson. Lets cut to the chase here. I dont like much small talk."
Lets just say she wasnt my biggest fan, but I made the barn money so she put up with me.
I nodded and leaned against the counter in between Mr. Famous and Mrs. Smith.
"Mr. Sutton's parents would like to sign Jake up for riding lessons. He has been acting a lot lately and they say he needs to escape to the country for the summer, keep his head clear. All the other instructors have students who they are working with full time. You are the only one available. If you take Jake as your only student this summer your dorm rent will be free for the duration of his training. Deal?"
I quickly processed the information and nodded eagerly. That was a sweet deal. My parents gave me money for everything else, but as a rule of this stable you had to work for your food and dorm rent.
I hoped this kid wasnt a jerk. He was 16 like me which would make it so much easier than training a 6 year old. I dont like kids very much.
"Great. We will work out a schedule later this afternoon after Jake gets settled in. Thank you for your time Rae."
That was obviously my cue to leave so I nodded and smiled to the Suttons and left. After I left the building the full reality of the situation hit me. I would be spending my entire summer with the most famous 16 year old in the country and on top of that he was an insanely hot guy. Most girls would take this as a blessing. Its a curse to me.
See, out of all my relationships I always found out somehow that I was his rebound. He loved his ex more and I was just used as a tool to make her jealous or help him get over her. Whenever a guy was with me he was always thinking about her. While he was my top priority I was never his. And after a while it hurt. It really hurt.
So after my last and worst breakup I finally decided that I was done with guys. You could never trust them. Girls were just objects, especially me. So spending all summer with one of the hottest guys alive was not really the way Id like to spend my summer. But technically I would be making $100 a month for this so Id better buck up.
***
Briarwood Stables is one of the fanciest stables in Minnesota and is for a reason. We have three barns filled with stalls and tack rooms, two indoor arenas, four outdoor fenced arenas, a huge building of dorms for the more permanent residents, and everything any horse and rider could ever need.
Its definitely equine paradise here. For over 50 years we have been one of the most prestigious stables in the country and that is for a reason. We have both English and Western riding sports here. From barrel racing and reining to dressage and jumping, there was definitely every opportunity to make money here and only the richest people even had a chance of riding for this place.
My parents are quite wealthy and work constantly. So they dump me here every summer and every holiday break at school. So I wouldnt actually call them parents. They are just people who pay for me on a daily basis because by law they are required to.
So my home is here. All of my friends and adults that come quite close to parents. They support me emotionally, whereas my other 'parents' support me financially. I dont mind. I didnt really lose my parents, they just have never been here. So its easier to live without something you have never lived with before.
As long as I make the stable money in shows then my parents continually send me one thousand dollars a month for spending money. Being rich is nothing to me. If I had my parents on a daily basis I would be completely fine with living in a run-down shack in the middle of no-
"Rae." A hand was waving in front of my face. I had been staring at an apple tree for who knows how long.
"Hey Kristen." Kristen was my best friend here. She was in kind of the same situation as I was. Dumped here almost as much as I was because of her parents work schedule.
"You alright?" She asked, concern written all over her face. She knew how sometimes I went to another world. Depression was a regular thing in my life, a little less frequent lately though.
"Yeah." I gave her a convincing smile, I was genuinely happy to see her.
"Wanna go for a ride?" I recognized her black mare, Ash, behind her.
I grinned." Yeah sure. Let me go get Buddy, hes all tacked up and ready to go."
I jogged over to get my horse, Ive had him for a while now. Hes my personal horse that I can rely on, fully trained by me hes the horse I take out when I want to go on the trails or need to take first in a show. Hes very reliable and pretty much my baby. If there was ever a bond between horse and rider, this was it.
He was an Appaloosa, quite the uncommon breed for this stable, and he was all white with some sorrel spots around his legs and eyes. One eye was blue and the other was half blue- half brown. He was quite the unique horse and I loved him for how flashy he was.
I got on and cantered over to Kristen who had already mounted up and was ready to go. Once I reached her we headed out at a slow trot until we got to the trail.
"Okay, dish. What did you get in trouble for this time?"
She must have assumed I was called to the admin office for disciplinary procedures. I grinned at her and she raised an eyebrow questionably.
"I will be personally training Jake Sutton this summer as my only student. Smith said if he was my top priority my dorm rent would be paid for the summer."
"Dammit!!! I just took on my last student yesterday! I so could have gotten him! You lucky bitch!"
I just laughed. We cussed at each other all the time. But we were so close we could read each others minds and I knew she was just being herself. She wasnt actually mad at me.
I just looked at her and she recognized the look. She gathered up her reins as I did and we both took off at a full gallop for the rest of the ride.
***
Beep!!!Beep!!!Beep!!! CRASH!
Stupid alarm clock. How does the floor feel you annoying piece of shit!
I was just a ray of sunshine in the morning.
I crawled miserably out of bed and dragged my half conscious self to my shower and did my daily routine. I had to meet Jake at the main barn in a half hour. Last night we drew up a schedule. In the morning from eight to noon we would work on English or Western riding. Whichever one he took to more. Then at noon we had an hour lunch break and from one to three we got to either go on the trail or play in the arena. A pretty easy schedule if I must say so myself.
Today was a relaxed day though. We picked out a horse for him to use this summer and then had him try both English and Western riding styles and then played for a while after lunch, so we can get him used to his new horse and saddle.
Okay, maybe I was a little excited. I grinned at myself in the mirror as I looked at the finished product. I spent extra time on my makeup and left my hair down in gorgeous blonde waves. Yeah, I was trying to look hot today. Hell, what girl wouldnt if they were me?
I headed out to the barn, my heels clicking on the spotless floors as everyone bustled around me to get morning chores done. I was to meet Jake in the lounge. He wasnt there so I decided to make some coffee and watch TV while I was waiting.
I had just finished my first cup of coffee when Jake strolled in. I wasnt going to let his looks intimidate me and make me one of his hysterical fan-girls. He looked at me and I glanced at the clock pointedly. He was a half hour late. Being late was frowned upon here.
"Sorry, I overslept." He grinned sheepishly and I almost passed out.
I just nodded. It was the first day, so whatever. "Coffee?" I offered.
"No, Im already late. Might as well not waste time." With that, he strode to the exit door.
"Wrong door, Mr. Sutton." I said trying to hide my giggle.
"Call me Jake and I knew that." I nodded disbelievingly.
I walked over to the door leading to the stable area and explained the days plans to him. He nodded and I was quite impressed with his enthuisiasm. He looked like he really didnt want to be here yesterday in the office. I liked this attitude turnaround.
As we walked down the row of stalls I explained each horses temperament to him. He had five horses to choose from. One was Misty, a nice mare for an in training 8 year old child. Thunder was a black and white paint who was a nice horse but he did get a little argumentative at times when he wants to go back to the barn for food. Lightning was Thunders sister and she had earned her name. She was one of the fastest horses in the barn and quite a hard horse to manage, even for me. I was training her right now. Rayne was a great mare who did whatever you asked of her but was slow for the more advanced rider. And last but not least was Yoshi. A favorite around the barn, he was named for his neverending high pitched neighs. He is a very well trained horse for the more advanced rider.
All of these horses are just ones that the barn owns so students have full rights to them since they have no sole owner like Im the sole owner of Buddy.
Jake paced the stalls, studying each horse in turn. I was not at all surprised to see him stop by Thunders stall." He seems good." Of course he would pick him, he was a very muscled horse and guys that wanted to look manly were attracted to him.
"Why him?" I asked out of curiousity.
"He looked at me. The other horses didnt give me a second glance."
I fought to keep my jaw up. He actually thought about his decision. He wasnt some brainless actor who signed autographs and took pictures with his groupies. I smiled and handed him Thunders halter. It was always kind of funny to see newbies halter a horse and part of me wanted to mess with him.
He put the halter on with no problem and led Thunder out into the hallway.
"Been around horses before?"
"My grandparents had them, I grew up with them."
"So why the lessons?"
"My parents want me to show. They say it will be good for me to bond with an animal and have to rely on him to help me succeed instead of just my own talent. Like say for acting."
I nodded and smiled." Makes sense. Well Jake, training you is going to be a breeze so I hope youre willing to learn."
***
I got Buddy out and tacked him up. I preferred to train in a Western saddle so I put that on and asked Jake what he would like to try first.
"I think Ill like Western better so Im gonna try English first before I get dead set on Western." He smiled and led Thunder to the crossties. I explained to him how to put the English saddle and bridle on and after about a half hour we were in the arena. To my amazement he already had Thunders stubborn ass cantering in a circle without any trouble.
"Looks like youve made a friend." I smiled at him and asked him if he would like to switch to Western. He nodded eagerly and we headed back to the crossties. This kid was full of surprises because before I knew it he was cinching up the saddle and putting on the breastcollar without any of my help.
I wasnt even going to ask this time. I just shook my head and headed back to the arena after he was mounted up. In the end he preferred Western, which to his luck so did Thunder. I had trained him in both English and Western sports and Thunder showed an aptitude towards Western sports.
We played around in the arena for a couple more hours and after we were both exhausted headed to dinner. The whole time we had been laughing and joking like we had been best friends for years. Only Kristen brought that side out in me and I liked him for being able to do it.
He had dinner with me and my friends showing no shame in sitting with a bunch of girls. Dinner was filled with laughs and stories and for the first time in a while I was truly happy. After dinner I walked back to my dorm on my own, smiling the whole way there.