When Harper woke up the next morning, it was with exhaustion weighing heavy in her bones, her sleep had been fitful, and it felt as if she had hardly slept at all. There was a searing pain across her head and her muscles ached with the spontaneous exercise she had yesterday.
After she took some painkillers, Harper changed into her burgundy jodhpurs and a white shirt with her denim jacket. Harper took a deep breath and grabbed her full water bottle and her phone, she raced down the stairs and pulled her full-length boots on before she grabbed her keys and left the house before her dad or Miles would try and talk to her.
The lane was bright as she took the quick walk to the stables, once she arrived, she made a beeline for Robin's stable; she unlocked the door and threw her arms around his neck, "morning boy."
As it was fairly early in the morning, there were only a couple of people already in the yard. Harper smiled at them as she walked past to start her morning chores and to take care of Robin, no matter where she was walking, she kept an eye out for Pin. She walked into the feed room and made Robin's breakfast and stuffed a hay-net for the day for him. While he was eating, Harper mucked out his stable and emptied the wheelbarrow once she was done.
By the time she had finished, the other girls had arrived, and the yard was bursting with life. Harper came to the main part of the yard, after she put her wheelbarrow back, and saw that the new trainer was riding Raven. The pony squad was shocked until Mia saw their faces and came over to enlighten them.
"I see you've all met our new trainer, James Forsythe." Mia looked very smug. "he's here to help us win nationals, after Sam decided to become a criminal."
James ignored the comment about Sam and turned to the girls, "pleasure's all mine, and training starts, fifteen minutes ago. Tack your horses but leave them in their stables, be in the arena in five minutes."
Zoe crossed her arms as James walked Robin back to his stable, "well, I'm not training with Mr. Creepy."
"Are you a part of this team or not?" Mia scoffed, "or do you just want all of the attention to yourself, as always."
Harper cut Mia and Zoe off before they could continue bickering, "I need to find Pin, I'm worried about him and he took a huge fall for us."
Mia rounded her attack onto Harper, "he's probably just hoping you'll leave him alone for once, either way, once a criminal, always a criminal."
Before Harper could argue back with Mia and hopefully tear her to pieces, James came back into the yard and told them to get a move on. Harper grabbed Robin's tack and gave Mia a glare as she passed by her, she gave Robin a quick groom before she put his tack on and left it loose enough for being in his stable. She took a deep breath and headed for the arena with her hat on her arm.
Zoe, Susie, Harper and Mia leaned on the fence as they waited for Jade to join them, in front of the girls, James was setting up some kind of course. Harper took her phone out of her pocket and sent Pin another text asking if he was okay. She put her phone away when she saw Jade arrive in a neon green shirt that Becky clearly made for her.
James clapped his hands twice to get their attention, "okay, listen up. Two buckets each, two laps of the arena and two months to get you ready for junior nationals."
"Why don't we have the horses?" Zoe questioned as the team walked towards a pair of buckets each and held them.
"A champion horse needs strength, balance, agility and the ability to follow orders. As does his rider." James explained to them, aiming the last sentence to Zoe, "from now one, the order of importance is me, then your horse, then the buckets, then the fence, and then you."
James blew his whistle and the girls set off for their first lap of the arena. Harper grasped her buckets and started her walk around the arena, at her old stables, this was a type of training that they used to do that everybody hated. Although, they used to use bricks as opposed to water so that the weight could be increased.
"This is ridiculous." Zoe complained once she caught up to Jade and Harper, "does this even do anything to help us?"
Harper laughed lightly as she shifted her grip on the bucket slightly. "it actually helps, believe it or not."
"You've done this before!" Zoe practically screeched, which drew the attention of James who reminded them to keep on going.
Harper sighed, "I can't focus at all, I haven't heard anything from Pin, and I might go out of my mind from worry."
"I know right!" Zoe empathized as she glared slightly at James who told her to go faster, "and another thing is, how did they even know we were there?"
Jade, who was trying to do the exercise diligently, spoke up "maybe someone saw you?"
"Or maybe someone told them." Zoe thought absently as the group of three started their second lap of the arena.
After the bucket exercise, which seemed never ending, James made them take off their hats and put a blindfold on to carry hay around the arena. When Zoe asked what this did to help, Harper could only shrug and say she had no idea. Mia went first, then Susie and then Harper. She tied the blindfold tightly and picked up the hay with the carrying gloves that James had handed her, the exercise was to carry the hay for two minutes and not bump into any jumps or other bales of hay.
Harper finished her two minutes, without bumping into anything, and Jade went next, she fell over once as she tripped over one of the jumps. Zoe kicked up complaining when it was her turn, so James made her do the exercise three times.
The team watched in amusement as Zoe did the exercise for the last time, the four of them were having a drink of water while they watched Zoe carry the hay bales. James was letting them have a break while Zoe was carrying the hay.
Jade's phone buzzed which drew their attention away from their conversation once Zoe had finished and re-joined the group. Harper looked over Jade's shoulder and scanned the article on the stables that the reporter had made on them from a few days ago on the Holloway heist.
Harper's eyebrows drew together in confusion, "it says that Pin stole the cup on his own! That puts him right in the line of fire."
"This is perfect," Mia smiled down at her phone and Harper felt her blood boil at the sight of it, "if Pint takes all the blame then this yard's reputation is still intact."
"He's one of us!" Harper exclaimed angrily, she felt as though she was doing too much shouting for the whole month over these two days. "He could be charged Mia."
Mia laughed, and crossed her arms, "even better! That should put a line under the matter."
Harper slammed her cup back onto the tray and walked towards the gate, but she was stopped by James who put his arm out, "where do you think you're going?"
"I'm going to go and help Pin." Harper said bluntly, nothing was going to stop Harper. Not even James, if she had to push him then she would just push him; consequences be damned.
James hesitated for a moment before he dropped his arm and let Harper walk past, she pulled her helmet back on and walked into Robin's stable by the side entrance. She tightened his girth and sorted his tack out before she led him over to the mounting block. A few pairs of eyes followed her as she mounted onto Robin, was she was supposed to be in the main arena training with the rest of the team.
The ride to Holloway didn't take too long, but it was best if she went there in a canter. She walked Robin over to the field that led to the rest of the island, checked his girth and set him off in a trot to start a light warmup. Once she reached the moors, she urged Robin into a canter and allowed him to gallop in order to stretch his legs.
Harper remained in a light seat position so that it was easier for Robin to balance in the field. She slowed him down to a canter once she saw the first sign for Holloway and back down to a trot before she walked him down the gravel path that led to the main building. She dismounted Robin and tied him to a fence with the reins before she took her hat off and turned to face the admittedly, huge building. Harper patted Robin on the neck before she started walking onto the grounds. She didn't get very far before she was stopped by a girl on a bay horse.
"Can I help you?" The girl asked, it wasn't in a rude tone, more of a curious one.
Harper looked up at her, "I'm looking for Pin, have you seen him?"
"I'm afraid you're too late." The girl on the horse pointed towards Holloways own cross-country course that they had.
Harper looked over and saw Pin riding Elvis, Harper felt an immense amount of relief surge through her veins, but she also felt proud. She had always told him that he was an incredible rider, even better than Mia, but he had never believed her and had never taken her nudges to try out for the Brightfield's team. He was just as stubborn as she was. As she looked closer, she saw that he was riding in Holloway's uniform, Mia was not going to like that, not at all.
"I'll bet you didn't know he could ride like that." The girl on the bay commented, she sounded slightly smug, as if she had uncovered something Harper hadn't already known.
Harper chuckled under her breath with a smile on her face, "of course I knew."
"Anyway, practice isn't over for another half hour." The girl explained, "you can wait in the main building; I'll take you there." The girl led Harper towards the main building and instructed her on where to wait.
Harper sat down on the, in her opinion, too extravagant sofa and waited for Pin. She pulled out her phone and called Mia to tell her that Pin was now on the Holloway team. Harper held the phone slightly away from her ear to avoid the volume of the complaints Mia was making. Mia said that she would threaten Pin back onto the team, but Harper managed to convince her to let her talk to him first. Mia agreed and hung up the phone right after.
She rolled her eyes and distracted herself on her phone until Pin arrived. Harper sent a couple of texts to her brother, who was exploring the village on the island, she sent him a couple of good places to grab something to eat. After a few minutes, she got bored of her phone and started to fiddle with her little Robin necklace that had hardly been off of her neck since Robin had been stolen. It meant a lot to her, even more than before.
Some voices down the hall distracted Harper from her thoughts and she recognised one of the voices as Pins'. When they rounded the corner, Harper's heart sank slightly as she recognised Callum, the boy that never seemed to leave her alone and harassed her and Becky.
"I'll catch you guys up." Pin said when he made eye contact with Harper, Callum and the other boy went down the corridor and shut the door behind themselves.
Once Harper was sure they were gone, she wrapped her arms around Pin and squeezed him tightly, "learn to answer your damn phone!"
Pin laughed as he squeezed her back and kissed the top of her head, "I didn't know how to break the news to you, I thought you'd be upset."
Harper pulled away from Pin and smacked him on the shoulder lightly, "I'm not upset, I'm so proud of you. I always said you were a great rider, now we get to compete against each other properly."
"I'll beat you to first place individual at nationals!" Pin joked, before his thoughts shifted suddenly, "how'd it go with your brother and dad?"
Harper deflated instantly, "just as I thought it would, absolute screaming match. Anyway, Mia is going to try to threaten you back onto the team."
"I'm sure things will sort themselves out, yeah?" Pin reassured her, "and I'll talk to Mia, don't worry about her."
"I need to get back, Marcus's leaving party is nearly over and I need to say goodbye to him." Harper smiled as she stepped back from Pin, their interlaced fingers dangled in the space between them before Pin pulled her back towards him. Pin smiled down at her and kissed her lips gently.
"Visiting hours are over now." A voice interrupted them; it was the girl that showed Harper to the building earlier.
Pin chuckled lightly as he glanced up at the girl, "yeah thanks Gabby." There was a twinge of sarcasm in his voice. He turned back to face Harper, "I'll see you later?"
Harper smiled at him and grabbed her hat, "bye Pinothy."
As she was walking down the corridor towards the exit, Pin shouted after her, "stop calling me that!"
"Never!" Harper shouted back at him before she waved and walked out of the door. She walked quickly over to where Robin was tied up on the fence.
Robin knickered lightly when he saw her, Harper stroked his nose gently before she untied him and used the fence post to jump back onto his back. She had to be quick, Marcus would be leaving soon, and she would miss him if she didn't hurry. Harper worked Robin up into a canter and then let him gallop so that he would have exercised enough for the day.
When Harper pulled into the yard, there were a few minutes left before Marcus was due to leave for the pier. The yard was vibrant with colours of green and gold, there were rosettes with Marcus's face on them and Harper had a feeling that they were from Becky.
Harper put Robin into his stable and was pulled out of the stable by Jade to get a team photo with Marcus. Harper took her hat off quickly and squeezed into the photo, they took a couple of them and Maggie promised that she'd send them to everyone.
"Come on, golden boy, give me a hug." Harper joked as Marcus turned towards her. Marcus laughed and pulled her into a hug, it was like hugging a big bear.
Marcus ruffled her hair gently, "stop calling me golden boy."
Harper laughed and shoved him towards Zoe so that he wouldn't miss his ferry, the whole stables waved them off as they walked out of the yard. Everyone sighed sadly and walked back into the yard to clean up, Harper offered to help clean up, but Maggie insisted that she didn't need to as she didn't have the chance to help and set up.
The yard was bustling with life as everyone walked around, the whole yard had been there for the party, so it was a lot busier than usual. Harper danced around people as she put her hat away and went back for Robin's tack, she untacked him quickly and placed his saddle and bridle back in their places.
Robin was pretty sweaty from the gallop in the heat, so Harper brought him around to the hoses to give him a bath. She tied him up on the wall with his headcollar and started the hose over his body and legs.
While she was using a sweat scraper to get most of the water out, Mia rounded the corner and spotted Harper, "Well?"
Harper sighed and stopped cleaning Robin, "I tried Mia, I tried as much as I could. I don't like it that he's not around here anymore."
"That's not good enough! If he got into the Holloway team, he must be amazing." Mia complained before she turned on her heel and stormed away.
Robin knickered at Harper, and she giggled before she continued taking care of Robin. She picked out his hooves before she led him out to the field to let him turn out for the night. Harper took Robin's headcollar off and encouraged him to walk into the field, he stuck his head up in the air and whinnied before he bolted into the field and spun around a few times. Still a colt at heart.
Harper turned away from him and put his headcollar back on the hook outside of his stable, she cleaned up around Robin's stable and put all of his brushes back onto their box and then that box into the tack room. There was nothing else she could do as Robin's stable was still clean enough and all her chores for the day were done, so she helped to clean the last of the party decorations.
Maggie had gone with Rosie to the pier, Rosie had practically demanded to be taken there. A lot of people had already gone home, and everything slowly was cleaned up.
Eventually, there were no more reasons for Harper to be hanging around the stables and she knew that she would have to face the music of her family. Although she attempted to make the walk last for as long as possible, it felt like mere seconds before she was opening her front door.
The door swung shut behind her as she took her boots off and placed them down next to the door. Harper tossed her keys into the pot by the door and took a deep breath.
"Harper, is that you?" She heard her dad call in the house, "I'm in the kitchen."
Harper walked shakily into the kitchen and distracted herself by opening the fridge to make something to eat. There was a twinge of surprise in her as she saw that the fridge was full of food, and it wasn't her that had to go and get the food. She pulled out the butter and ham.
"How was your day?" Harper asked as she busied herself with making the sandwich, she was afraid of what would happen once they got on to the subject of what happened last night.
"It was alright," Sean paused for a moment, "about last night, I am so sorry about everything that happened."
Harper sighed to herself, she just wanted the subject to die down again so they could ignore the awkward tension that shrouded the house, "it's alright dad."
Sean stood up and walked over to her, "it's really not, I've been an awful dad to my children, especially you. I am willing to try and make up for what I've done, I can't say I'm sorry enough if you felt that I abandoned you when you needed me."
Harper felt herself put the knife back onto the counter and stop making her food.
"Give me another chance, please Harp?"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[EDITED]
Hello everyone! Editing Angelica here, once again I have added another 1000 words and I'm honestly not sure where they keep coming from but apparently I have even more to add to this story. I felt like this chapter isn't very good, as I wasn't very happy with my writing when I wrote this chapter initially but I feel better about it now, it seems to flow better, if that makes sense.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
- Angelica