Chapter 2- Easy, right?

My alarm clock blared in my ear and I groaned. Why were tryouts so early? This shouldn't be legal. Cassidy stirred in the bed next to mine. The alarm clock stated that it was 5:10 in the morning. I had just enough time to get ready for my test. We took turns changing in the bathroom and we put on our riding uniforms. I loved my purple eggplant breeches and I wore my favorite black tee.

"See you in English!" I yelled over my shoulder while walking/running toward the stables. We had exchanged our schedules and we unfortunately only had lunch and English together.

I checked my phone after I tacked Beethoven up in his black saddle, pad, and polo wraps. And it was only 6:00. Ten minutes to warm up.

I met the instructor in the outdoor arena already to go.

"Hello. I am Mr. Davis and you are going to be evaluated along with all of the other riders this week. We will place you all either in Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced riding groups. Please note that there are limited spots in the Intermediate and Advanced groups."

I shivered. I would practically be competing to be on the intermediate team. I just need to focus to do my best. That's all that matters.

"I'm going to yell out a command and continue that command until I say otherwise. Okay, walk."

I began walking around the arena making sure I had my head up, heels down. I planted by butt in my seat when Mr. Davis told us to trot. I posted and made extra sure I was in the correct diagonal. I couldn't make beginner mistakes today.

"Please pick up the canter and when you're ready, I want you to show me a flying lead change."

I cued Beethoven to canter and I knew we looked seamless. We cantered to the corner of the arena and across the diagonal before I asked him to change his lead. I squeezed slightly and slid my foot back a smidge. I could feel his weight shift below me as we were suspended in the air for a fraction of the second. Mr. Davis never told us to stop, so I kept it up until he told me to take a break while he set up a jump course.

"We got this, boy." I whispered to Beethoven. "The jumps aren't too high. They're probably about three feet. We got this."

"Ophelia, first the green vertical over to the faux water jump. From there you will go to the triple on to the red vertical. Your last jump will be the slightly higher vertical. You got that?"

I nodded and he nodded back. I picked up the trot, and I circled around before easing into my canter. We headed toward the first vertical and I slowed Beethoven's stride slightly. We easily cleared the jump and I kept myself slightly above his back as we cantered to the faux water obstacle. Even though there was no water in it, Beethoven still hesitated.

I cooed to him and we pulled ourselves together as we soared over the jump and Beethoven careful not to touch anything. We made a tight turn toward the triple. I counted the strides... three... two... one... I leaned toward Beethoven's neck and righted myself. One... two... strides and we were over. We cleared the last jump in the combination and I patted Beethoven's neck.

"Good boy!" I praised him. He was so getting carrots after this. As we cantered toward the last jump, Beethoven asked for his head. I loosened my grip slightly and he picked up the pace turning a two stride into a one. My heartbeat quickened. I knew we had jumped much higher, but I was still worried. I half halted slightly and gathered up the reins. This time, he slowed his canter just in time to gracefully clear the vertical by at least seven inches.

I smiled and patted Beethoven's neck. I definitely saw some carrots in his future. I pulled Beethoven into a walk and parked in front of Mr. Davis. He smiled, too.

"Not too bad, Aimery. How is the flat work coming?" My smile widened. I liked dressage almost as much as I liked cross-country. Almost.

"Not too shabby." He was decently good at dressage, but had only picked up on it near the beginning of summer. I had worked hard with him and I think we would do all right.

"I think Beethoven and you are perfect for each other. You nicely balance out. I'll let you know where I place you." I thanked Mr. Davis. Beethoven and I had only been together for two years, but it seemed like more. Beethoven was also somewhat green at only six years old. Everything was a fun adventure with him. I cooled him down and let him back into his stall before feeding him a carrot.

I pulled my phone out of my locker by Beethoven's stall and texted Cassidy. It was seven in the morning and I only had an hour before class started. Cassidy responded almost immediately.

Ophelia- Cas, finished! Can u bring food up 2 room?

Cassidy- Kk. I take test after class- tell u how it goes. I get oatmeal.

It was more of a statement than a question, so I didn't tell her I would rather something else. I ran back to the Crescent building and took a shower as quickly as possible. I let my naturally wavy brown hair scrunch up as I put on the outfit I had picked the night before. It was a super cute blue paisley skirt with a loose white shirt I tucked in. I wore gold hoop earrings and golden ballet flats. I added minimal amounts of makeup and I would be ready after I ate breakfast.

Cassidy arrived just as I finished putting on a think layer of shimmery pink lip-gloss. She smiles and waved two bowls of oatmeal in my face. She stuck a spoon in each other them and handed one to me. As we ate as quickly as possible, we put everything we would need in our backpacks before leaving the dorm room and setting the empty bowls in the sink of the communal dorm kitchen.

"We'll clean those up later, right?" I asked Cassidy, but she only shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Yeah… we'll think about it."

I chuckled and we hurried to English class. We got to class a few minutes early, thank god, and we were able to get seats next to each other in the middle of the classroom.

"I'll see you at lunch, right?" I asked Cassidy. She raised her eyebrows and mouthed "duh" just as the bell rang and class started.

English wasn't as hard as I expected it to be. We deconstructed a few sentences before our teacher handed out a pop quiz on our summer homework. Almost everybody groaned, but we knew the test was going to be easy. At least I did. The English homework had been über-easy for me.

The rest of the day went fine. I think I did okay in Science class and Algebra wasn't as easy as it could have been, but I hadn't royally screwed up yet. At lunch I sat with Cassidy and her friend Elise. I think we all got along just fine.

I had a few classes after lunch, but they all went by in a blur because I was super excited to go to my film elective as my last period. I heard it was über-easy. All we did was watch movies and write screenplays.

"Alright, class. My name is Mr. Baker and I teach the film elective. Now despite what you may have heard, we do not just watch movies and write screenplays. We partake in the art of film. Movies can take you places you've never been." Well… okay then.

The boy to my right snickered and Elise full out laughed. I nudged Elise with my right elbow and she pulled herself together pretty quickly. Mr. Baker shot a dirty look in my direction. Great to know we're getting off on the right foot.

"Today, we are going to be watching The Hunger Games. I think you all will enjoy it. It has a great show of special effects."

With that, the lights turned down. When the movie started, I threw Elise another look before turning to the boy.

"What was that?" I whispered. "You two got me in trouble!" He smirked. "Sorry to ruin your perfect reputation at this school." A beat. "Wait, you're new, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm new. Can we not ruin my nonexistent reputation though?" He snickered again. I rolled my eyes and turned back toward the screen. The main character just got enrolled into the messed up death system or whatever. What's her name again? Catnip? Candice?

I wasn't in a very good mood for the rest of the day, but I tried to hide it. As I did my homework I thought about making the Intermediate team. Wouldn't that be nice? All I could do was hope.