"Deep breaths, honey," said Veronica, turning off the highway onto a smaller, tree lined avenue. Haylee Parda gave her stepmom a nervous smile. Years of wishing, weeks of begging, and days of packing had all led up to this. Chestnut Hill. THE elite equestrian boarding school. Haylee, ever since she had been little, had been a pony girl. Her notebooks were full of doodles – horses galloping, jumping courses, horseshoes, and foals. Since age 8, she had trained with Mac Taylor, a previous World Championships coach, at his stable near her Seattle home.
Haylee took a few steadying breaths, and found Veronica had given her good advice as her heart slowed down slightly. You're in Virginia now, she reminded herself, attempting to smooth out her unruly strawberry blonde hair. Her heart sped up again as the Chestnut Hill crest came into view around the curve.
"Mom. We're here!" Haylee rolled down the window of the rental sedan and leaned out, nearly touching the brick gateposts as they passed.
The Chestnut Hill parking lot was a maze of activity – girls unloading, greeting each other, luggage everywhere, parents shouting, and younger siblings envious or heartbroken.
"Want me to come in with you, Hales?" Veronica asked, parking near the entrance. Haylee hesitated. Did she want to in there with her stepmom? Or on her own? Finally, her large amount of luggage and the possibility of a rooming mix up won her over.
"That'd be great," said Haylee with a grateful smile. V smiled back and got out of the car, popping the trunk. She helped Haylee pull out her bags – a rolling pilot case, a smaller replica, and carryon duffel. The mint green set was a going-to-boarding-school gift from Haylee's grandmother (Haylee thought she was being overly emotional), very posh and sleek. Rolling the pilot case behind her, Haylee couldn't keep from looking around in amazement as they followed the map from the website to the Adams dorm.
Graceful birches and willows dotted the pristine grass, and smooth slate walkways wound between the elegant buildings. A group of girls sat around a fountain in a circular courtyard, and in the distance, Haylee could hear whinnies and the clipclop of hooves. Haylee squeezed Veronica's hand.
"This is really happening!" she said giddily, laughing.
"I was wondering when spastic happiness would set in," said her stepmom with a smile.
"You're Haylee Parda?" A short, brownhaired woman checked her name off the list.
"I'm Mrs. Herson, your dorm monitor as long as you're in Adams. Now, you'll be in room 12, on the third floor. The stairs will take you up, or the elevator is over there if you must." Mrs. Herson looked around.
"Fiona, can you show Haylee to room twelve? I have triplets coming in."
A tall, pretty redhead walked over.
"Haylee, huh? Are you a rider, too?" Haylee smiled with the recognition of a kindred spirit.
"I've been totally obsessed my whole life. It's like a dream come true to be here. Usually I'm a jumper, cross country, that kind of thing, but I know dressage."
"I'm a jumper, too. Dressage can take some getting used to – I used to hate it when I was your age. But my aunt took me to go see the Lipizzaner show a month before school started, back when I was a sophomore – after that, I definitely saw it in a better light."
"You're here for school, too, Haylee," Veronica reminded her. Haylee smiled sheepishly.
"She thinks I'm destined to win the Nobel Peace Prize or something," she explained to Fiona.
"A man's reach should exceed his grasp," recited Fiona. "One of the first things we learn in English class, here anyway. That's kind of like Chestnut Hill's motto, substituting girl for man, of course. I think there's an official Latin one, but I'm not sure."
Haylee was only half-listening as she gazed in wonder around her. The third floor walls were painted a pale sea green, and the hardwood floors gleamed. Huge paintings of horses hung on the walls, capturing Arabians, Draft Horses, Foals, Appaloosas and ponies on beaches, meadows, or moonswept moors. Most of doors of the rooms they passed were already adorned by their residents, with signs, whiteboards, pictures, bulletin boards, and posters.
"And you'll be right here," finished Fiona, knocking on room 12's door. When no reply came, she opened it, peered in, and gestured Haylee to follow after her. As Haylee entered the room, she gasped. The room was large and airy, a lot bigger than she ever imagined. Since it was the top floor, the roof was vaulted and a huge alcove with a window let the golden sunlight dance over the hardwood floor.
Haylee: .com/gift/thm/thmgrl/thmgrlhen/
Aria: .com/gift/thm/thmgrl/thmgrlman/
Camilla: .com/gift/thm/thmgrl/thmgrlcdl/
There were three loft beds, three dressers, and a large closet took up barely any space in the spacious room, as well as a lounge area in the corner. .com/gift/thm/thmlng/thmlngcsu/
"Wow," Haylee blurted, then blushed when she realized how 'ditzy new girl' she sounded. Fiona gave her a quick grin.
"I said exactly the same thing when I first got here," she said warmly. "Your roommates should be here soon," she added. "You can claim your bed or wait for them – it's probably fine either way. I'll see you around in the stables, then!" And with a bright smile and a wave, she swept back out the door, no doubt to use the elevator while Mrs. Herson was occupied with the triplets.
"Well, I don't think you'll be getting homesick," said Veronica, looking around. "This has to be bigger than your room back home." Haylee grinned.
"Just a little. It's going to be so much fun, like a year-long sleepover."
"Now, don't stay up until 1 every night, okay," said V warily. Haylee could imagine what was going through her head.
"No worries. From what the brochure said, I'll be too busy studying. I just hope one of my roommates isn't a total snob…"
"Not talking about me, are you?" came a teasing voice from the doorway. "OMG, this place is huge! Do you think all the rooms are like this?"
Haylee whirled around to see a girl with a chic light blonde bun and blue eyes standing in the door way, staring in amazement around the dorm.
"If it isn't, we hit the biggest jackpot ever," replied Haylee with a smile. "I'm Haylee Parda."
"Aria Donovan," said the girl, smiling and coming in. "This is so cool. My parents were convinced I was bringing too much stuff – I can't wait to text them! I flew over by myself, you see – my dad's the American ambassador to Wales and we've been living there for close to a year, so I took the nonstop by myself."
"It must be gorgeous there," said Veronica. "I'm Veronica, Haylee's stepmom."
"Nice to meet you," said Aria with a dazzling smile. "I'm sure Haylee will miss you tons."
"I don't know about that," Veronica said with a laugh. "Say, though, hon, I've got to go if I'm going to make it through security in time for my flight – do you think you'll be okay with Aria?"
"Mom, I'll be fine, okay? I'm not going to run off and get kidnapped!"
"That's my girl. I'll see you at Thanksgiving, okay? Jamie will want to hear all about Chestnut Hill."
"Sure thing," said Haylee, inwardly wincing at the thought of her hyperactive horse-crazy 9 y/o 3rd cousin. (Hey, she had a big family) Veronica departed with one last wave, and Aria and Haylee were left alone.
"So," said Aria easily, setting her suitcases beside Haylee's, "should we sumo wrestle over who gets which bed or what?"
"You're deciding beds without me! Guys, it's like the number 2 rule of being roommates that everyone discusses this calmly and rationally. I thought everyone knew that one." A tall, slim African American girl with shoulder length dark hair strode in, pulling purple striped suitcases behind her. "And to think, I've already ditched my parents. Where's moral support when you need it?" Haylee warmed immediately to this energetic newcomer.
"I'm Haylee Parda,"she said, smiling.
"And I'm Aria Donovan," chimed in Aria. "Resident VIP."
"I thought I was the VIP around here," complained Haylee.
"Well, excuse you, but I'M the only VIP in this neck of the woods," the brown-hair girl said in an affected Southern drawl. "Didn't ya hear? Camilla Hathaway is the It girl right now."
This took the three girls over the edge, and they collapsed laughing.
"Okay, now I really want to know," said Aria, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "What's the FIRST rule of being roommates?" Camilla looked mischievous.
"Dibs everything really, really fast," she announced, standing up. "Bed closest to the door is mine!"
"I'm in the middle!" yelled Aria, sprinting over.
"And, hmmm, which bed do I want today…." Haylee mused loudly. "Oh, I sense in tremors of the universe I'm meant to be in the one farthest from the door. Oh, hey, it's the only one left. Man, I'm psychic." Camilla just giggled mischievously.
"Say, what does your guys bed stuff look like?" asked Aria, digging around in her bag.
"I've had mine for practically three days – my old bed is a queen size, so I had to get new," said Camilla, pulling out some tied plastic bags. "Sheets…" she pulled out bright turquoise sheets, "then this totally awesome duvet cover we found online," accompanied the appearance of a black duvet cover with multicolored dots. "I can't wait to sleep tonight – can you believe I've never slept on a top bunk? Total new experience." After a quick examination of Haylee's sea green collection and Aria's posh British pink & tangerine set, the subject soon returned to each other.
"You're both 13, then?" asked Haley curiously as she unzipped her suitcase.
"I am – my birthday was in March," said Camilla, fanning herself with a neon folder.
"Mine was two weeks ago," said Aria cheerfully, starting to stack her textbooks on the desk under her bed. "I'm probably the youngest seventh grader here." Haylee shrugged.
"No worries, mine was in July. You're only a few months younger."
"It feels like years," sighed Aria. "I'm always the youngest in classes, riding –"
"Ahh!" Haylee ran over to Aria and hugged her. "I'm not the only barn-crazy one here!"
"Helloooo? I ride too! You Brits are such attention hoggers!" Camilla pretended to pout, but quickly joined the group hug.
"Oh my god, this is going to be so much fun. I can't wait to ride – I think our first lesson is tomorrow, right?" Haylee returned to her suitcase and started piling the folded clothes in stacks around her.
"Unfortunately," said Camilla glumly.
"Do we have it together?" said Aria quickly. "I applied for Intermediate. Hopefully I can get onto the Competing Team…" The three girls grabbed their schedules and compared swiftly.
"Yes!" cheered Aria.
"Practically everything but Computer and English Lit are together," said Haylee, scanning the lists.
"Yeah, Aria, yours are reversed. Bummer." Camilla gave a quick smile.
"Not a biggie. It's drama that should be loads of fun," said Aria, shrugging.
"Really? I haven't heard much about it," said Haylee, leaning in.
"My cousin, Felicity Harper, went here – they added it the year she was a sophomore. It's supposed to be AMAZING. They put on this fully costumed, makeuped, special effects play at the end of the year, and the class performs at school exhibitions, there's improv championships, and," Aria lowered her voice and glanced around surreptitiously, "sometimes they take fieldtrips up to Broadway."
"Omigod! Are you kidding!" squealed Camilla.
"Can you imagine?" Haylee saw herself, actually AT Broadway, seeing famous actresses perform the songs she heard on the Theater radio station her mom listened to in the car.
Aria nodded wisely.
"It's going to be amazing. Now, does the schedule say anything about dinner? I am totally starved, it's 10 pm to me, remember." Camilla and Haylee shot her confused glances.
"Wales in five hours ahead. I need food!!!" Aria explained.
"It says, um, dinner in the lounge at 5:15 – Orientation during. Well, you're in luck, Aria. We have fifteen minutes to figure out where the lounge is."
"Aw, honey, we don't need to find it," drawled Camilla, smiling impishly. "We follow someone who looks like they know where they're going."
As Haylee laughed and linked arms with them, striding down the hallway and down the stairs, she felt a rush of adrenaline surging through her. She was officially a Chestnut Hill girl.