The light filtered gently from the sky, it bounced off of the ground and illuminated the ground. The ground was dry underfoot as it had not rained for a couple of days and the sky was a pale blue and there were no clouds in the sky.
Harper was stood with Becky and Jade where the three of them were waiting for Zoe to get back from her hack with Marcus. The couple had made it official after dancing around each other for months.
"There they are, the yards hottest couple." Becky tuned on her blogger voice as she held up her phone which was recording Marcus and Zoe, "No offence Harper and Pin, who come in a close second. Happy, but for how long? Marcus is leaving for the academy in just two days..."
"Can you stop filming them? It's seriously creepy." Jade said to Becky as she walked away from her horse.
Becky shifted her focus to Zoe and started counting down until junior nationals, which didn't help anyone's nerves. After a comment about Bob being Prince Charles, Marcus left the girls with a bemused face.
Their peace was ruined by Mia, "Becky! Get your horse out of Firefly's stable now!"
Becky, Jade and Harper all ran over to where Bob had gotten into Firefly's stable for the second time that week. They saw that Bob had his neck over Firefly and was eating his hay, Becky rushed over to Bob and grabbed his lead rope and practically pulled him out of the stable.
They tied Bob up in the main part of the yard and they petted him and tried to reassure Becky that Mia didn't really mean it.
As Mia's dad owned the stables now, Mia had taken it upon herself to be the boss of them all. She was very fond now to making speeches and ordering everyone around the yard, she did less and less of her own chores each day.
"Everybody listen up!" speak of the devil, Mia started on a new speech, "we've got our sights set on junior nationals, which is why I've set up an exclusive with the local paper. I want this yard spotless, get to it!"
Everyone groaned internally and forced themselves to look at the chore board to see what they had to do, and what random chores Mia had created. Harper groaned when she saw that she had to sweep the entire yard and the entrance, her back was going to hurt a lot at the end of this.
Harper went around the back of the stables and grabbed a broom when she overheard Mia being rude to Pin, she turned on her heel quickly, "could you be any ruder Mia?"
"He works for the yard, so he works for me." Mia scoffed and she crossed her arms across her chest and quirked an eyebrow at Harper, challenging her to argue back.
Harper's eyes rolled so hard that her head hurt a little, "actually, your dad is the boss, your just bossy. You can't heap more chores onto Pin and not even do them yourself, Firefly is your horse so act like it."
Before Mia could snap back, Elliot called her into the office, she turned harshly on her heel and flicked her hair as she walked away. Harper had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes again.
Harper went to turn away, but Pin grabbed her by the arm, "you're in a bad mood, what's wrong? You never tear that harshly into Mia."
Pin had always been good at reading Harper; it was something she liked but it would irritate her that he could discern her feelings so easily.
"My brother is coming to visit tonight and it's going to end up being a screaming match, he and my dad have never gotten along." Harper ran her hand down her face and over her eyes in frustration, Pin grabbed her hand before she could start rubbing her eyes with it – a bad habit that she needed to break when she was frustrated.
Pin still held onto her hand as he spoke, "I'm sure you'll be fine, just call me if it all goes badly."
A smile stretched across Harper's face, "oh, my hero."
The couple barely had a chance to laugh before Mia rounded the corner and screamed at them for slacking off. Harper barely contained her laugh as she walked to the main part of the yard to begin to sweep. She worked contently for around a half hour, where she tackled the main part of the yard and the haystack.
Harper couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Rosie, who was wearing jodhpurs, walk past. "I never thought I would be alive to see this." Rosie smiled at her and walked towards where Ben was.
Harper was just about to tackle the entrance to the stables when Becky ran up to her and grabbed her by the arm.
"Becky? What's going on?" Harper asked as Becky stopped running, took her broom, and placed it on the wall and carried on running.
Harper's question was partly answered when she saw that the entire yard, minus Mia and Marcus, was inside the tack room. Becky detached herself from Harper and threw herself onto the sofa next to Jade, Harper went and stood next to Pin who was polishing something by the sink.
"The county show cup has gone missing." Zoe explained and gestured to where the county show cup was supposed to be and instead it was replaced with a horse mug, "someone from Holloway took it."
"Well, we've got to get it back." Jade spoke up from where she was on the sofa, "if Mia gets back and the cup is gone, she will skin us all alive."
Zoe formulated a plan in her mind, "I'll get the cup back, Holloway doesn't know who I am so I can just pretend I'm trying to find somewhere to keep my horse."
Susie interjected, she had a picture of the cup in Holloway's trophy case, "you can't go on your own."
The group was silent for a moment before Harper spoke up, "there is one other person they may not know." Harper turned to face Pin, as did everyone else.
"Alright then, I can't exactly clean a stolen cup." Pin smirked and put down the thing he was polishing. "Let's get saddled up then."
Everyone poured out of the tack room with their gear and tried to avoid Mia and Marcus. Ben and Rosie were tasked with keeping Mia, Marcus, Elliot and Maggie in the dark about what they were doing; mostly to keep Mia from exploding.
Harper swung Robin's stable door open and cooed softly at him as she brushed him quickly and put his dark green saddle pad on then followed it with his saddle. His tack was beginning to get on with age, Harper would need to begin to save up to get a new one. She did his girth up and slipped his bridle on and made sure that all of the straps were done up.
The group was almost ready to go, Harper slipped out of Robin's stable and went to grab her helmet from her locker. She slipped her phone into her bra, if it were in her pocket it would fall out.
As she walked out of the tack room, Harper slipped her hat on and walked Robin out from his stable and over to the mounting block near to the entrance. Susie, Becky and Jade were already mounted and waiting for the others. Harper led Robin up to the mounting block and jumped on Robin.
She walked him away from the block as she saw Pin approaching to mount onto Elvis, she tightened his girth enough and made sure that her stirrups were slightly shorter than usual as they may have to gallop to get away and light seat was the best way to do that.
Slowly, everyone arrived, and the group set off for Holloway with Susie leading the way as she knew the back route to Holloway where they could avoid being seen. She knew these routes as her boyfriend was a rider there, Harper didn't know what the boy looked like as she didn't see Susie stand to Mia for once.
They cantered across the fields and slowed to a trot when they saw a road come in to view that led up to the huge yard that was Holloway. Susie led the group over to an area of trees near to the main building where they can hide, they all dismounted, and Pin handed Elvis to Harper while Zoe handed Raven to Becky.
"This place is huge." Becky sounded gobsmacked, "it makes us look like a dollhouse."
Susie reminded them what they were there to do, "They usually practice between three-thirty and four-thirty, so if you go around the back; they won't see you." Zoe and Pin nodded, and they ran towards the main building, looking around frantically for any Holloway riders.
Harper stroked Elvis's nose gently as they waited anxiously for them to return with the cup in hand.
While they were waiting, Becky got started on reasons why Holloway may have taken the cup from them, "maybe they need it for a top-secret mission?"
"Or maybe they're just thieves?" Harper reasoned as she giggled slightly at Becky's resigned face.
The sound of Becky's phone ringing startled everybody, she turned it on speaker for everybody to hear and Rosie's frantic voice rung through, "where are you guys? I can't stall Mia for much longer!"
There was a slight pause before Rosie exclaimed, "gotta go!" Rosie didn't manage to actually hang up the call, she just hid it behind her back, away from the approaching Mia.
As Mia didn't know Rosie was on the phone to the group, she started talking about the nationals team, "after that, I'll make my nationals team announcement. I'm the Captain, obviously, then there's Susie, Harper, Zoe and replacing Marcus will be Jade."
Jade's face morphed into one of absolute shock, she was not expecting to make the team. She had always struggled with believing that she was a good enough rider to get onto the team for nationals or even regionals like the county show.
Sensing Jade's slight panic, Harper attempted to reassure her, "welcome to the team! You get a big locker now."
Becky and Jade had a little heart to heart that Harper and Susie didn't try and listen to as it was personal between the two girls and the worries that Jade had. Seconds later, Pin and Zoe rounded the corner with the county show cup.
"Holloway knows we're here!" Zoe shouted at the group, which caused everyone to scramble to get back onto their horses.
Harper threw Elvis's reins back to Pin and mounted onto Robin quickly. She looked up and saw two of Holloway's riders coming towards them.
"How did they know we were here." Susie questioned; panic seeped through her tone.
"Get the cup back to Rosie." Pin shouted as he turned Elvis away from the group and rode out in front of the Holloway riders, "Hey! Looking for your cup? Come and get it."
Harper shouted, "Pin! Don't!"
"Don't worry about me!" Pin urged Elvis on and galloped away from the Holloway riders and led them away from the group.
Everyone apart from Harper galloped away instantly, Harper hesitated before she followed them. Harper urged Robin up into a canter and then a gallop when he was ready, she checked over her shoulder constantly all the way back to Brightfields.
Unfortunately, Maggie told them that their trip was not worth it as the cup was rightfully Holloways. The reporter that Mia had brought to the stables walked away from the conversation with a smug smile on her face, she just got the scoop of the century.
"She's going to write about how we're all cheats and thieves and how Sam was probably the best of the bad bunch." Becky was hurt and angry, the whole entire situation made them all look like criminals.
When Harper returned Robin to his stable to keep him out of the way, she got back to Marcus muttering something furiously.
"Where's Pin?" Zoe asked, she hadn't realized that Pin hadn't ridden back with them as she was in the front of the ride.
"Pin can look after himself." Marcus's voice was ice cold and it sparked flames of anger in Harper.
Words fought their way out of Harper's throat, "what's that supposed to mean?"
"Zoe, look for him if you want. I'll be here, sorting out the mess that he has caused." Marcus walked past Harper and bumped her in the shoulder, she was about to turn around and give him a piece of her mind when Zoe stopped her.
Harper took a deep breath and walked into Robin's stall, she untacked him slowly and groomed him thoroughly to delay having to go home. Once Robin's hooves were cleaned, his coat brushed completely, and his mane and tail brushed to perfection. Harper took his tack off of the door and placed it into the tack room and changed his saddle pad out for a black one instead.
She put her hat into her locker with her gloves and pulled her phone out of her pocket to text Pin, again. No reply. Harper sighed and grabbed the saddle pad along with her water bottle, she walked out of the stables and felt like she was walking free of a cloud of gloom. Her walk down the lane was peaceful and the trees danced lightly in the wind.
The key went into the lock smoothly, once the door swung open, Harper could hear the oddly strange sounds of her dad as he clambered around the house.
"Dad?" Harper called out as she shut the door behind herself and slipped her boots off, "I'm home."
There was silence for a moment before her dad spoke up, "your brother is arriving in an hour for dinner." Under his breath, he muttered something like, "god help us all."
Harper sighed as she ran up the stairs quickly and ran into her room. She leant against her closed door and pushed her palms into her eyes, she could already feel that the night would not go well. She forced her feelings of anxiety down into her stomach and chose to ignore them.
Before she went into the shower, Harper sent another text to Pin, asking again if he was okay. Once again, there was no reply. The beast of nerves welled itself heavier in her stomach. She forced herself to place her phone down and head into the shower, then she changed into a casual pink dress that rested on her mid-thigh, Harper also put on a small pair of shorts underneath.
Just after she pulled a waterfall grey cardigan on, she heard a car coming up the driveway. Harper leaned over to her window and looked out and saw that her brother, Miles, was getting out of the car.
Despite the anxiety Harper felt towards the evening, she ran down the stairs quickly and pulled open the door before Miles had the chance to knock. She rushed forwards and enveloped Miles into a hug. He laughed and rocked the pair of them side to side.
"Someone's missed me, huh." Miles chuckled as he let Harper go and walked into the house and took his shoes off, "don't think I'll be able to say the same about dad, though."
Harper's mood plummeted, "please at least try not to fight, I don't think I'd be able to handle it."
Miles shakes her by the shoulders gently, "Harp, he practically neglects you! You've told me that he's never home and you have to shop for yourself every week!"
"Don't make him explode, for me?" Harper begged, her hands were already becoming clammy from the nerves of what was to come.
"No promises." Miles rolled his eyes and ruffled her hair slightly.
Harper groaned and led Miles through to the kitchen where her dad was placing the food onto the table. The pair of them acknowledged each other before they sat down, Harper lowered her eyes and sat down at the table. They helped themselves to food quietly.
The atmosphere at the table was tense enough that Harper could almost taste it in the air between the bites of her food. Between the sounds of the cutlery moving, there was no attempt to make any conversation by her dad. Harper and Miles had attempted to keep a conversation, but their dad would reply curtly.
Miles sighed and Harper knew that it wasn't a good sign, "did you go and watch Harper at the County Show?" He knew the answer, he hadn't been able to attend himself, but he had insisted that Harper sent him pictures and the video of the course.
Their dad hesitated, "no."
"And why not?" Miles probed further, he was doing exactly what Harper asked him not to, he was planning to make their dad explode on them.
"I was busy." Their dad's cutlery dragged harshly across his plate.
Miles put his cutlery on the table harshly, "just like you always are since mum died? Have you even had a glimpse of Harper's life since you arrived here? Do you know anything about your own daughter?"
Sean snapped then, he stood up and slammed his chair back harshly, "don't talk to me like you're all high and mighty! You've hardly been around either!"
Harper's breathing was harsh as she bore holes into the kitchen table, she willed herself not to cry. Not to be weak.
"At least I still talk to her! Most days you aren't even around." Miles's voice was on verge of screaming, "Harper told me that she's gone four whole days without seeing your face!"
Her dads eyes focused on Harper, "did you tell him that?"
A new set of tears sprung to Harper's eyes at the confrontation, she spoke in a very, very quiet voice, "yes."
"We lost mum and you let Harper lose you too." Miles moved the conversation away from Harper, always the protective brother she loved, "do you have any consideration for anyone but yourself?"
"Do you hear yourself? You left as soon as you finished college and didn't even show up to Julie's funeral!" Their dad spat vicious words across the table, each one was like a stab in Harper's beating heart that hurt more and more.
"Stop it," Harper's voice was coarse, and it hurt her throat slightly, "please stop."
Miles hadn't heard her and continued to spew venom with his words, "do you even know what it's like? How much it hurts when you seal yourself away from us? When mum started to get sick, you stopped attending my school events and Harper's competitions. It was like you used mum as an excuse!"
"Never talk about your mother that way!" Sean screamed as he slammed his hands down on the table, making the plates rattle slightly. "and that is not true."
Harper's fear was replaced with anger in a split second, "But it is true! It's completely true! You stopped caring about us years ago and you haven't even tried to hide it."
"Get out of here! Right now!" Sean's anger turned to Harper, "adults are talking."
Harper pushed her chair back harshly and ripped past her dad and brother, she ran upstairs quickly and slammed her door shut behind her. She practically ripped her dress off and changed into Pin's green hoodie with a shirt under and her denim jeans, she grabbed her phone off of her bed and tried to call Pin again.
Tears rolled down her face as the call went through to voicemail, she rubbed her face harshly as she realised that the screaming was still happening downstairs. There were cruel words being screamed that would do damage for a long time to come.
"Please, please pick up." Harper begged into the phone as she pulled on an extra jacket for warmth, "please, I just need to know you're okay."
The call failed, so Harper opened her window and got ready to climb out, just in case, Harper called him again and frowned when it failed again. Harper sighed and gently set herself down onto the small, brick shed that was situated under her window. The wind nipped at her cheeks as she pulled the window shut behind her and jumped down from the shed.
Even as she walked down the driveway, she could still hear the shouts from the house. Harper let herself sprint down the lane until her lungs burnt and her legs ached from the strain. She wasn't paying attention to where she was running to, but she slowed to a stop when she saw Pin's house. Harper ran a little closer and saw that Elvis wasn't tied up outside and his tack wasn't there.
Harper sighed and turned the other way on the beach, the wind chilled her to the bone, and she pulled the hood up and shrunk into her jacket.
She walked around the island until the sun set well beyond the horizon and the moon began to dance in the sky with the stars.
- - - -
Hello! First chapter of the new book, if you look closely, I reworded something from the prologue and slotted it in here!
Ahh, I'm so scared that this is a rubbish chapter and that I've disappointed you, I'm sorry :(
Season 3 was a roller coaster, wasn't it? I'm going to be honest, season 2 is my least favourite season (pls don't come for me)
After editing this chapter, I added over 1000 words, which is absolutely insane. I will continue to edit them all to a standard that I like :)
Hope you enjoyed reading!
- Angelica