A/N: Context wise, this is set before book 100 where Lisa's parents' divorce. The CI was in book 101. This is more or less a book inserted into the canon series, but minor things might not line up (I don't know how tight the timeline is and the content of 101 books is a lot to remember :D). If not, you can think of it as being on a bit of a floating timeline. A book on its own to enjoy.
Written for writing prompts 225 – write about a character that failed a target, at the Basket of Books Challenge Forum (link's in profile).
Last Leg
Chapter 1
Lisa Atwood loved the smell of Pine Hollow. It was the perfect place to come to relax when the world was getting to her – if relaxing could be synonymous to being up to one's elbows in manure.
Lisa laughed at the thought, though she thought relaxing and chores were probably the same thing in Max's dictionary. Max Regnery, the owner of Pine Hollow Stables, believed that riding was not just about being on horseback but about the maintenance that came with horses as well. Anyone he caught chatting about or standing idle would be given a pitchfork or a bar of soap and expected get working. Not that Lisa minded: she loved taking care of horses, and knew that covered everything from riding them to the less gratifying tasks like mucking out stalls. As an added bonus, it kept the costs of classes and boarding down.
Lisa didn't have her own horse like her two best friends, but Prancer was the next best thing. The thoroughbred was currently in crossties in the aisle while Lisa spread fresh shavings, but it wouldn't be long before Carole and Stevie arrived and they'd be on the trial.
Carole Hanson and Stevie Lake: Lisa's two best friends and fellow members of the Saddle Club. They had only two rules: to be horse crazy, and to always be willing to help a friend in need. Neither of those rules were any trouble for the three of them. Carole had been riding almost as long as she'd been walking and Stevie hadn't started much later. Lisa was the newest of them, but every extra moment she spent in Pine Hollow helped her get closer to horses and become a better rider.
The second rule usually meant Carole and Lisa were bailing Stevie out of some jam related to schoolwork or her practical jokes. Stevie, with one elder brother, one twin and one younger brother, was a born troublemaker and, while she was a bright girl, she wasn't the most dedicated student. Her report more often had Cs and the occasional B – not like Lisa's which was, except for one occasion she still didn't like to think about, a spread of perfect As.
Lisa liked things to be perfect. Perfect grades, perfect stall – perfect family. She sighed and grabbed the rake; that was the problem after all. Her parents had recently been arguing. Or arguing more than the normal happy couple argued. They'd been arguing as she left as well, not even noticing she was leaving early and because she needed to get away from them.
After all, mucking out stalls was a necessity but not one they came right before a trail ride to do. Lisa sighed, finished levelling the chips and surveyed her handiwork. Prancer made a noise of impatience as she gave the stall a final, critical eye.
Lisa laughed. Horses, especially Prancer, could always make her feel better. 'Passes your inspection princess?' she teased.
Prancer nudged her as she put the rake safely out of the way where no horse nor human could trip over it. 'Impatient, huh.' Lisa unclipped the cross ties and led the thoroughbred back in to her stall. 'It seems a little silly to bring you back in here just to saddle you up, but we'd be blocking some of the other stalls.'
They – the Saddle Club – weren't the only ones planning on going on a trail ride that morning. The weather was beautiful and it seemed school was in a lull for everyone. Carole was a year behind Lisa but at the same school: Willow Creek Junior High. Stevie was at another school altogether: the private school Fenton High. Most of the other riders at the stable went to one school or the other, so that weekend almost everyone was free.
Max had swooped in like a vulture and most of Saturday had gone towards cleaning out the tack room and the shed. A few like Veronica diAngelo had bailed out on chores, but the rest of us were happy to pitch in. Veronica had ridden in the indoor ring instead; the weather had been okay on Saturday, but not great.
But even she wouldn't miss the chance for trail riding in the gorgeous Sunday sun. With the snowy season nearly upon them, there were precious few opportunities to hit the trails. And all the riding they could get in now would be instrument in the Carolina Invitational in December. It was still a few months away – the applications hadn't even opened yet – but they were all thinking about it. Veronica was telling everyone who would listen that she'd come away with all the blue ribbons. The Saddle Club was hoping they could beat her.
It wasn't the greatest attitude to bring to the stables, or to competition, but Veronica rubbed all of them the wrong way. Pretty, wealthy, spoilt and stuck up: that was Veronica diAngelo. And she was a good rider too. But so were they – well, not herself so much, Lisa sighed, tightening the girth around Prancer and checking the bridle. Prancer shifted restlessly. 'You're ready to ride, aren't you girl?' Lisa grinned, patting her. 'We'll have to wait until Carole and Stevie get here I'm afraid.'
Prancer shifted from side to side, hooves raking in the freshly scattered chips. She wanted to ride now, and she was making her dissatisfaction with waiting plain. Lisa looked at her watch; she'd finished early, and there was no point in grooming Prancer before a trail ride; they were planning on giving their horses a good grooming when they got back.
'How about a warm up in the indoor ring?' she offered.
Prancer whinnied her agreement.
.
Stevie hurriedly swallowed the last bit of toast into her mouth and dug in the closet for her riding boots. She could swear she'd put them there after the chores at the stable yesterday, but now she couldn't find them. Worse, she'd overslept and had to eat her toast while searching – and now she'd finished her toast and was running late and still couldn't find her boots.
'Alex!' she hollered out the door. 'You'd better not have hidden my boots!'
'Who, me?' her twin replied innocently. 'Would I ever do such a thing?'
Stevie could list all the times Alex – or Chad or Michael – had done something with her riding boots. Like the time they'd put honey and oatmeal in them. That had taken her ages to clean out. Or the time they'd put glue on the inside and gotten her socks stuck in them. Or the time they'd switched out her new ones with ones from two years ago.
But she didn't have time for listing things – or entertaining her brothers. If they were responsible, their punishment was going to have to wait until after the trail ride – and would be all the more sweet for the wait.
She dug out her blue riding jacket, some games she didn't even know she still had, some school stuff and a huge bunch of riding magazines that needed to be sorted. She dumped everything except the jacket in an empty space of floor and dug around some more. She finally found her boots right at the back – an odd place considering she'd just used them, but she shrugged and pulled them on. She still needed to dig her gloves out of the laundry and catch a bus – and, at this rate, she really would be late.
'Find your boots?' Alex yelled as she rushed down the stairs.
Stevie wasn't going to admit he hadn't done anything. Not until she'd looked at every inch of it. Especially since they did feel a little funny – but they were wearable and that was what mattered. 'No thanks to you!' she yelled back, sending clothes flying as she dug through the laundry basket.
'Mum's going to be mad,' Michael giggled, watching her make a mess.
'Then you can clean up,' Stevie decided. 'I'm late.'
'A quarter.'
She groaned. Her brothers drove a hard bargain. 'Maybe,' she relented with a glance at the clock, fingers closing around the familiar scratchy material. A cry of triumph later, she yanked them out and pulled them on. 'If you lot haven't done anything to my boots and if you clean up properly.'
She dashed out of the door in time to hear Michael asking Chad, who was in the kitchen, if he'd done anything. She wasn't about to fall for that trick.
.
Carole wasn't running late like Stevie, but she wouldn't be getting to Pine Hollow with any time to spare either. She'd been online, writing a lengthy email to Cam Nelson, a rider she'd met for the first time in person at Briarwood. She'd talked to him a lot before that though…and had gone so far to be a little jealous. That was when she'd thought Cam was a girl – and she'd been quite shocked to find him a cute guy instead.
They'd kept communications afterwards – and even gone on a few dates, but they were just friends in the end. They didn't get so many chances to talk either, with Cam having moved further away because of his father's work. Long distance calls were expensive, so emails and chat were the way to go, and Carole just hadn't been able to resist a quick email before going to Pine Hollow.
She should have known better. Emails were never short when they were about horses, and they always were. It didn't help that she was known to be scatterbrained – not quite like Stevie who'd stuff everything everywhere and then struggle to find things where she was sure they were. Carole would just put something somewhere and, if it wasn't related to horses, forget it entirely. Her father used to joke that she'd forget him sometimes, but she couldn't forget him.
Especially when he was tooting his horn and yelling up to her now. 'Carole? This ride's leaving right about now.'
She quickly pressed send and grabbed her coat. 'Coming Dad,' she yelled back, pulling her boots on.
Her father tooted the horn again, but this time in jest as she rushed out the door, locking it behind her. 'To Pine Hollow!' she declared, sitting in the front passenger seat and slamming the door closed.
'Roger that,' Colonel Hanson grinned at her. 'You sure this is the right weather for a trail ride?'
'Just look outside, Dad,' Carole replied, waving at the sun. 'And it's warm up a lot since yesterday.'
'That it has,' he agreed, pulling out of the driveway. 'And I'm sure your horses are going to love the sun as well.'
That was the plan. And also not to run into Veronica, who would just nag them about the Carolina Invitational. She still needed to decide what classes she'd enter. Jumping was a must: she loved jumping, and Starlight was a natural. Pleasure riding would be fun – especially if they were anything like they'd be on the trails.
Of course, that was a long way off. They didn't know the exact classes offered, or the fees. The date to send for application forms hadn't been finalised yet either. But Carole couldn't help but be excited about anything horse related, including competition, and she couldn't help but get fired up when Veronica was running her mouth. None of them could; Veroncia had managed to get under each of their skins, but Carole had a very special bone with Veronica. Before Danny…and before Garnet as well, Veronica had had a black Thoroughbred stallion called Cobalt. And Carole had loved that horse. But Veronica had pushed it into a careless jump and Cobalt had to be put down after his foreleg broke. Carole hadn't quite managed to forgive Veronica for that.
Maybe that played a role in her need to beat Veronica, to not let her and Danny take the blue. Carole returned to the classes that had been in the last Carolina Invitational. Hunter jumping. That was a definite yes. Show jumoing…ditto. Dressage…probably not. She'd leave that to Stevie, who despite being disorganised in general aspects of life, was brilliant at the discipline she needed for dressage. Pleasure riding…she might do that. And if she recalled correctly, there were several levels to each class as well. She could only enter so many classes, which was a shame because she loved every bit of riding and would enter them all if she could. And if there was a trail riding class, she'd enter that as well.
But for now, she would be more than happy with the trail ride coming up, with her friends. Starlight and Belle and Prancer trotting on the well-beaten paths around Pine Hollow together, sunlight dripping from their manes and the chill in the air staving off sweat. It would be just perfect.
She sprouted a happy grin on her face as her father continued driving to Pine Hollow.