Anna stared down at her history book, but the words swam before her eyes. Across the room Terri hummed and painted; even the sound of the brush moving across the canvas was too loud. Anna suspected she was painting something Guns N' Roses inspired for the boyfriend.
On more logical days, Anna knew she shouldn't blame him, Fulton Reed, junior varsity hockey Warrior, scholarship student, and bruiser. It was no wonder he wanted to date Terri; she was well aware of how terrific her best friend was.
Signs of him were all over her room, he was always with Terri, pushing Anna out of the way, and Anna rarely had logical days.
When she had tried to read the same paragraph on the history of France six times without comprehending any of it, Anna slammed her book closed.
"Could you be any louder?" she snapped. Immediately she forced herself to turn her back on Terri so she wouldn't see the hurt expression slide across Terri's face.
"I wasn't making any noise," Terri defended herself, "or at least not hardly any. Anna what's wrong with you? Lately you've been so..."
Anna could fill in the blank with a variety of words, each more unpleasant than the last.
"Busy. I've been so busy lately. Now I have to go be busy elsewhere, so I can get something done."
Anna left her books on the desk and headed out of the room. She hesitated right at the door, unable to look at Terri, but not ready to leave her company. "I bought a horse," she said, her voice light and conversational. "It should arrive this afternoon."
"Anna, you already have a horse!" Terri burst out. The volume of her words startled Anna completely. "You already have a couple of horses. You can't just go out and buy a new one because you're bored with the ones you have!"
Anna's back snapped steel-frame straight. She wasn't bored, she was lonely, and she'd heard Terri say those exact same words about Shona a hundred times or more. It just wasn't fair; now that Terri had a boyfriend, she kept lumping the Valentinos together.
Anna looked back over her shoulder at Terri, her face twisted into a sneer. "No, Theresa, you can't go out and buy one. I can do whatever the hell I want."
She left the room in a huff, slammed the door behind her, and tried to stay away from the decorative mirrors hanging on the walls. She didn't need to see her reflection to know she looked exactly like Shona at her worst; she certainly sounded like her.
The Eden Hall stables didn't have as an elaborate a set-up as the Valentinos had at home in Virginia, nor were they as clean, but they smelled of hay, horse flesh, and well-worked leather. The equestrian instructors were smart and friendly, if a little put off by Anna's closed demeanor.
She missed her own horses, but knew why they'd been left behind. One was a stud and couldn't be wasted at boarding school; the other was a broodmare and should be in foal in the spring. Anna had plans to spend as much time as possible with the new colt or filly over the summer.
When Anna had received permission to board her new horse, the head of the department, Mr. Tonga, had assigned her a stall near the double doors at the very back of the last building. The riding trails started just outside and Anna would be able to head out without dealing with any of the less experienced riders.
Mr. Tonga was the best riding instructor she'd had, in part because he let her set her own pace and in part because he saw straight through Shona and was one of the first teachers Anna had to known who actually disliked her sister.
He showed Anna ways to tease out extra bursts of speed at the end of a run and told her stories about his years as a jockey before he became a trainer and then an instructor. She'd noticed he rarely talked to any of the other students outside of class, but didn't think anything of it.
When she found the stall he'd assigned her, she thought Shona had finally gotten through to him and convinced him to play a trick on her. The stall was old and worn-out; manure-stained hay was still stuck in the corners and the feeding trough was thick with dust. Boards dangled along the door and the latch was half torn away from the wood.
Anna didn't understand why it was such a mess. The stables were kept in decent, if not excellent, condition and all of the riders had to help with the maintenance. Most of the stalls at this end of the building had been turned into storage units and held boxes of unused helmets, blankets, and tack.
There was a small bar on the corner of the door. It was smeared with dirt and she wiped it clean with one hand. Bronze reflected the overhead lights and she could see the one word engraved in it: Finito.
Anna was intrigued. The bar was obviously a nameplate, but smaller than any of the others in the stable. She'd listened to the equestrian staff talk about their former horses and she'd never heard one of them so much as allude to a horse named Finito.
It was a small mystery, but it could be a good distraction from the problem with Terri. Anna immediately amended her thoughts; the problem wasn't Terri, but the strange resentment she felt for the boyfriend. Anna knew she was the one pushing Terri away, but she couldn't seem to stop.
Before she could do anything about the mystery or Terri, she had to get the stall ready for her new horse.
Anna quickly changed into old riding clothes, boots, and gloves and gathered together a broom, hammer, and nails. She wasn't quite sure what to do with the latter two, but she was certain she'd be able to figure it out, once she'd swept the stall clean.
It took longer than she expected to get the dust out of the feeding trough and the bits of old hay away from the corners. She swept hard and scooted most of it out the nearby door, but the trips back and forth to it and the time necessary to dig around at the back of the stall wore her out. She was actually sweating when she set the broom down and turned to the broken door.
Anna wished she had a friend who could help with the physical labor, especially now, because she'd never had to rebuild anything in her life. Normally she did her work and part of Terri's too, but for once she wanted to be the one who got away with doing less.
She regretted the wish as soon as it slid through her mind, watering the seeds of doubt she'd been feeling about her friendship with Terri. They had sprang into existence the first time she heard everyone whispering about Terri and Fulton in the halls and they were like burrs, stuck too strong and painful to extract.
Anna tried to ignore her fears. Terri wasn't sleeping with him, she couldn't have passed such a milestone without telling Anna all about it, whether she wanted to hear or not. Terri couldn't even brush her teeth without saying something.
Anna regretted the uncharitable thoughts, too, but they ran on a loop in her head, peppered through her doubts and fears.
"Hi."
Anna was so startled she almost threw the hammer at the speaker when she turned to face him. He lifted thick, dark eyebrows at her and she dropped her hands to her sides. He was about an inch shorter than she was and reed skinny. His clothes were loose and dark, except for the bright orange words on the front of his shirt. The color was so bright in contrast the words blurred together. It clashed with his neon-green hair, too, and Anna squinted at him.
"Don't I know you? Aren't you—" he continued, but Anna crossed her arms, glared at him, and cut him off. She'd heard this question once an hour every day during the first week of class.
"Yes, I'm Shona's sister. Yes, she's head of the JV cheerleaders, but I wouldn't join the squad to save my life. No, I can't help you get a date. You're not her style." Anna sneered.
He shook his head and grinned. "Not what I was going to say. Your horse arrives today, doesn't he? I heard we had a new arrival soon."
"Oh." Anna pressed her lips together, transferred the hammer to her left hand, and thrust her right in his direction. "Sorry. I'm Anna Valentino."
"Raymond Sinclair. Most people call me Rai," he said, and returned her handshake with one just as firm. "Need some help with the door?"
"I know how to take care of a stall myself," Anna said, her voice hard. She snatched her hand away, grabbed a nail, and turned toward the door, but immediately hesitated. She didn't want to make it worse, but she also didn't want to lose face.
"You certainly are high strung," Rai teased. "I'm well aware you know what you're doing. I've seen you ride and you look really good." Anna blushed and couldn't meet his eyes.
"Thank you." She placed the end of the nail against one of the sagging boards, lifted the hammer, and hesitated again.
"I can still help, you know. I do a lot of carpentry work around here. Horses deserve a safe home."
This time, Anna turned and smiled at him. "Yes, please, thank you." She willingly handed over the hammer and nails and he set to work. After only a few minutes of silence, she couldn't stand it any longer, and asked him to explain what he was doing.
He grinned at her, helped her position the next board in place, and walked her through the steps.
Greg Goldberg shoved the last Snickers bar he could find into the plastic bag. It already bulged with other confiscated candies, but he'd been ruthless and scoured his room clean. Russ wouldn't know what hit him when he got back.
If he noticed at all. He'd been distracted lately, always reading newspapers. He'd even stopped playing the Sims, leaving Goldberg to take care of the Mighty Ducks Sims family they'd created.
He carried the bag down to Averman's room and hanged it on the door handle. He didn't know why he bothered. They'd probably be out of the school by Christmas, no matter what great plan Charlie cooked up.
If they weren't, if Charlie pulled off another miracle – they'd had plenty of miracles, what could one more cost? – he was going to be ready.
Fattening up Julie didn't work. She was still flexible and fast, a furless cat. She'd taken his spot, and he wanted it back. He'd always been goalie; he didn't know how to be anything else.
Big, fat Goldberg, clumsy comic relief, he fit in the goal. When he was in pads and the whole team was in pads, he wasn't the fat one anymore. Sure, he still got to suit up, but he rode the pine pony and looked like a big fat failure.
He couldn't make Julie bulk up and out, couldn't slow her down. He'd just have to speed up. And that meant shrinking and learning to skate better. Right now, both of those looked impossible.
He didn't want the rest of the team to know, either, so he'd have to be sneaky. They'd laugh a little, or tell him it was too much work. They'd mean well, but he knew they all saw him as Goldberg, same old same old.
It wouldn't hurt to wait until he'd shed some pounds. Maybe ... ten. Twenty at the most. He could do that, just stop eating candy and work out more. He'd have to fake it at meals, but he could cut back then, too. There was a nice weight room for the sports teams and he could always ask Luis for speed skating lessons, combining both his goals.
He'd be goalie again yet. He just had to change a little. Be less – Goldberg.
Anna tightened the reins as she steered Aprilo into the last turn. He'd run the course well, and she was exhausted from their training, but ecstatic. They approached the jump, Anna's heartbeat a match for the staccato rhythm of his hooves.
A flash of bright red caught her attention. Anna jerked her head to look at it just as Aprilo gathered himself and leapt. She clutched the reins and clamped her legs against his side, but her balance was gone. He landed, as smooth as he'd ever been, but the jolt still sent Anna flying.
She rolled in midair and tried to take the fall properly, but it still knocked all the air out of her lungs.
A wide, friendly face filled her vision; lines crinkled around his eyes and mouth and he frowned down at her.
"Are you all right?" he asked. His voice was a slow drawl. "That looked like a mighty nasty fall."
Anna opened her mouth, but still couldn't swallow any air. He checked her pulse and by the time he was done, she could gasp and start to form sounds something like words.
"How's Aprilo?" she muttered. He didn't have to ask to whom she referred nor did he seem surprised she was worried about her horse first. Instead he turned to look at something along the far side of the ring. Anna tried to remember how to breathe.
"He's fine, not limping at all. I think you just spooked him good when you fell off."
He held out his hand, helped her sit up, and then stand. Anna's back hurt and when she moved, her eyes crossed from the dizziness. When she could focus again, she swore under her breath.
Raymond "Rai" Sinclair led Aprilo toward her. He kept up a steady stream of talk, but she couldn't hear a word he said. His hair glowed in the sunlight, a bright, obnoxious red. Anna tried to cross her arms over her chest, failed, and glared at him.
"High strung," Rai said without preamble.
"Nah, he don't look so bad." The other boy's twang thickened. He took the reins and looped them over his arm. His hands roamed along Aprilo's face and neck, and he made low sounds in the back of his throat. Aprilo's shudders slowed and, after a minute, stopped.
"I didn't mean the horse." Rai sounded amused, but his face was creased with worry. "You ok, Anna Valentino?"
Anna made a face. She wanted to slap him, but she had no reason to blame him, even though his hair distracted her. She should have been focused, she shouldn't have looked away in the middle of a jump. She'd been stupid and careless; her embarrassment was no reason to lash out at him.
She'd performed in front of hundreds of people in three day events. Why had the presence of one dyed head made a difference?
Rai watched her face for a long moment before he spoke again. "Dwayne, this is Anna Valentino and your new friend is Aprilo. Anna, the very distracted young man is Dwayne Robertson. He's the best person I know to calm a horse."
"Pleasure," Anna said. She didn't mean it, but it wasn't his fault. Anyone so kind to her horse deserved a chance.
"You can call me Cowboy," Dwayne said, but he didn't look away from Aprilo.
"I think it's love," Rai said. Dwayne grinned and ran one hand along the horse's withers.
"He's great," Dwayne said. "Coulda used one like him out at the ranch."
"He is great," Rai agreed. He slid his hands into his pockets and faced Dwayne, even when he talked to Anna. "You're both great, in fine form. Are you going to ride in the spring competitions?"
Anna lifted one shoulder in a slow shrug and immediately regretted it. "Maybe. If I take another fall that bad, I'll be out for the rest of the year."
"Sorry." Anna swung around to face him. She wasn't sure if he apologized for distracting her or if it was just a polite comment. If the former, she wanted to know how the hell he'd read her thoughts.
Pain flashed from her back down her legs and she bit back a scream.
"You're really hurt," Raymond said. He faced her at last, and it was Anna's turn to look away. "Come on, we'll help get you two back to the stables."
Anna didn't bother arguing with him. She grabbed for the reins, and caught them around one hand, but the pain was so intense she couldn't close her fingers.
"Damn," she hissed and dropped her hand back to her side.
"I'd be glad to help untack him," Dwayne said. He smiled and it lit up his entire face. "He's a might fine horse and I wouldn't mind spending more time with him at all."
Anna nodded. When Rai reached for her arm, she shook him off and tried to walk on her own. Two steps later, she staggered, but didn't fall, because Rai was immediately there, stronger than he looked. He held her upright without a problem.
She let him help her, ashamed at her weakness or not.
"Still stubborn," Rai said. "Good to know it wasn't a phase."
"Still butting in where you're not invited, Raymond," Anna snapped. "Too bad that wasn't a phase." She would have said more, but Dwayne laughed at them. Rai joined in a second later, and she rolled her eyes, but the angry tension was gone.
Rai left her alone long enough to drag a few bales of hay together. He helped her lay down on it on her stomach while Dwayne cross-tied Aprilo in the aisle and groomed him.
"He picked up a rock," Dwayne said. "I'll get that out in a jiffy."
Raymond knelt next to her and massaged the back of her neck. His touch was light, tentative, and when she didn't fight him, he moved to her shoulders. It hurt, but he manipulated the muscles until the pain faded.
Anna only half-listened to the their conversation. It covered a wide variety of topics and she was surprised to hear them move from horses to music to the necessity of sports in schools. Both were in favor and she thought about walking away, especially when Dwayne told her he was on the hated hockey team, but she was comfortable and they were interesting.
They included her at odd moments, too, and that was a nice change.
"I gotta go, I have a pile of homework," Dwayne said after he put Aprilo in the stall, watered him, and fed him carrot sticks from the bag Anna brought with her every time she rode. "Don't know if we'll even get our scholarships back, but if we do, I'd better be ready for class Monday."
For the first time, Anna didn't feel one hundred percent happy about the revoked scholarships. "I hope you do get them back," she said and surprised herself.
"Thanks." Dwayne grinned again, his short, bitter mood already gone. "And thanks for letting me take care of Aprilo. I really miss the horses at home."
"Thank you, Anna said. "Anytime you get homesick, feel free to take him for a ride. I don't get to spend a lot of time here, and I know what it's like to miss familiar things."
"Gee, thanks!" Dwayne said. He clapped Rai on the shoulder, gave Aprilo one last pat, and waved goodbye to Anna before he took off for the dorms at a run.
After a few minutes of silence and massage, Rai asked, "How long have you known Terri?"
Anna immediately tensed. "How the hell do you know Terri?" She could feel his shrug.
"Mutual friends. I know some people in the art department."
At that, Anna relaxed and some of the pain drained out of her body along with the tension. Rai continued the massage and worked his way down her back before she spoke again.
"I've known her since I was nine," Anna said. She was surprised at herself, but couldn't sit in silence with him for another minute; she began to understand why Terri babbled so much around her. "My father acquires floundering companies and makes them turn a profit. He took over the company Terri's father owned and she took over my life."
Rai returned his hands to her neck. "Sounds serious."
"She's been my best friend ever since." Anna pulled a face. "Or she was until some stupid jock came along."
If he'd asked her a question, she would have refused to answer. Rai remained silent and attentive. The temptation to finally spill her emotions to someone who would listen, to someone who gave a damn, was too much.
"Shona, my sister, she's a real bitch. She's always been that way and I used to defend Terri all the time. Shona hates her because she's not rich." Anna stretched her arms over her head and the movement didn't hurt at all. "I don't like rich people."
She stopped, surprised. She'd never admitted that to anyone, not even Terri. "I don't," she repeated, voice stronger. "They only care about stupid things and their lives are so fake. Maybe that's what I like best about Terri. She's always real and she always tells the truth. My family lies all the time. It's what they do, it's the business they're in. You have to lie, to smile at people you hate so they continue to invest in your projects.
Terri never lies. It is what I like best about her."
"It sounds like a good friendship." Rai's voice blended well with the faded sounds of the horses and other riders. "You ended it because she has a boyfriend?"
"I didn't end anything!" Anna yelled. She sat up, knocked his hands away, and turned to face him. "She's the one who stopped spending any time with me."
"Hey, it's ok," Rai said. He held his hands out, palms toward her, and kept his tone low. He sounded exactly as he had when he'd soothed Aprilo. "I didn't mean to upset you. I just wanted to know if the boyfriend caused all the problems, or if you'd had fights before him."
Anna shook her head. "Not that I noticed. She would have told me if I'd done something wrong.
"I don't want to talk about Terri anymore. Tell me about yourself instead. All I know is you have a weird nickname and you like horses."
Rai nodded. "I'm a junior, I don't drink, I play guitar—bass in a band. I've lived around here my whole life, but I want to move to California after graduation—Santa Cruz, really, because The Lost Boys is my favorite movie and it's just a laid-back, fun town. I'd really like my own horse. They call me Rai because no one likes to say long names and because I'm a terrible influence, a 'Raiebel' my friends say."
"Why do you dye your hair? Terri does it so people will notice it first and not her hi—" She cut herself off when she realized the confidence she was about to break. Rai ignored the awkward moment, to her relief.
"I like color. I don't want to be like everyone else, especially here."
Anna nodded. "Makes sense. Did you go here all through high school?"
"My dad, too. Family tradition, which includes going to college around here, too, but I'm going to ignore that one."
"He'll let you go to California?"
"He can't stand the idea, but it doesn't matter. I do lots of things he hates."
Anna raised one eyebrow and couldn't hide her skepticism. "Like what? Dye your hair for attention?"
"Take music classes, not business management, perform in a band, and date guys," Rai said calmly.
Anna froze, one hand halfway lifted to pull a strand of hair out of her eyes. She'd never known anyone was homosexual, or at least not openly, and she didn't know quite what to say.
"Is that hard?" she heard herself ask.
"Dating guys? Sometimes. Sometimes it's no different than with girls. Dating can be tough, period. You should know that."
"I don't date," Anna replied automatically. "How do you know what it's like to date girls?"
Rai laughed. Even though he laughed at her, she liked how it sounded. "I'm bisexual. I like guys and girls."
Anna chewed on the inside of her lip while she thought about his words. "Are you dating a guy now?" she asked.
"I'm not dating anyone," Rai assured her. "The only guy I'm interested in doesn't swing that way, so I'm content to be his friend and introduce him to nice people who own beautiful horses."
It took a minute before his words made sense. "Dwayne?" she burst out, and then lowered her voice conspiratorially. "You want to date him?"
Rai tensed for the first time; even his face tightened. "Is that a problem?"
"No!" Anna said immediately. "I didn't mean it like that. I don't care if you want to date one guy or a hundred guys." She paused. "Well, I might care if it was a hundred guys, but just because that's an impressive number. I meant he didn't seem like your type. People like you always date someone who also dyes their hair, is in a band, rebels, not a clean-cut jock." She couldn't stem the flow of babble.
"That's very judgmental of you," Rai told her. He didn't sound angry, just honest. "It's fine if I want to date a guy, but I have to date a clone?"
"Not what I said at all!" Anna grabbed his arm when he turned away and dragged his attention back to her. "I was just surprised. Pleased! It's nice to see someone who doesn't conform even to the rules of nonconformity!"
Rai laughed again, full, loud, and sudden. Anna self-consciously released him and touched one finger to the corner of her mouth.
"I'm babbling. I'm sorry. I don't normally talk so much."
"I like it when you talk," he said. "We just need another topic."
Many topics later and a missed dinner, they stopped talking just in time to hurry back to the dorms so they didn't break curfew.
A private room was the greatest thing in the world.
Adam didn't have to see anyone he didn't want to see. He'd come in after class and practice, lock his door, and ignore everyone else. He didn't even have to leave to use the phone, even though he hadn't called anyone since he'd talked to Portman. He didn't want to talk to anyone else; he didn't need to, not yet.
Even if he did, he wouldn't choose anyone here. Danny was great, but Portman was the one who got it, everything he said, because he took the time to listen and because he knew everyone involved. Almost everyone, not varsity, but close enough.
Portman was smart, too. One of the many things Adam was tired of with the Ducks was their perpetual inability to see Portman as anything but a mindless mean machine. He was big, but he wasn't stupid, he just knew what people needed to hear, and when, and he wasn't afraid to tell them the truth, good or bad.
Adam'd had an idea Portman wasn't the one-sided tough guy he'd acted like when he spoke up for the first time during class with Ms MacKay. Looking back, Adam wondered why he didn't see everything clearly then.
Fulton had asked a dumb question and when they laughed – Adam knew it was wrong, mean, but it was so hard sometimes – Portman stood up for his new friend in the only way Fulton would have handled. He'd agreed, acted dumb, because he didn't care what people thought.
He'd not believed it at first, but by the end of the Goodwill Games, he'd seen enough to know Portman was a great guy, smart and talented. He'd been the one who suggested they practice even though Bombay hadn't shown up yet. Then, when the team started arguing with each other, he'd picked a fight so everyone, even Fulton, could focus their anger on him instead of on tearing the team apart.
Ever since, Adam had tried to figure out why he'd done it and why Portman let people think he was stupid when he wasn't.
Right before he'd started Eden Hall, he thought he'd figured it out. Portman just didn't care what people thought about him. Maybe it was partly because he was so big he could handle himself in any situation, but Adam was sure most of it was Portman was just that confident and secure in his self-worth. He didn't have to be validated from the outside.
Adam wanted to be like him.
He'd thought a new school was a good place to start over, to act like that. Maybe if he pretended long enough, he'd really be it.
Maybe it was working. The old Adam wouldn't have hit Charlie. The old Adam put up with too many things, and he wasn't doing that anymore. He still worried too much and he was willing to bet Portman didn't sit around at night, think about what he'd done during the day, and wonder what would change if he did just one thing different.
Adam thought too much and he knew it, worried too often. He started to reach for the cell phone, but stopped himself before he could grab it. He couldn't rely on Portman to fix everything for him, especially when he wasn't even here.
Adam flopped back on the bed. Rumors were flying, the Ducks had lost their scholarships and would be out at the end of the semester. He didn't know where he stood. Yeah, he was here on scholarship, but that was to play on the JV team. He was varsity. The Ducks didn't talk to him, varsity didn't talk to him, and he could be screwed too or he could be staying or ... he didn't know what else might happen.
Part of him thought it would be better if he got to stay and the others left. He tried to squelch the thought, and then asked himself why. They didn't care about him, why should he want to be nice anymore, especially just in his own head?
He missed them though, some of them, the old them. The way they'd been a team.
A private room was the greatest thing in the world, and the worst. It gave him too much time to think.
Terri was drawing when Anna let herself into the room. Anna grinned; not even Terri's uncharacteristic silence brought her down.
"Do you want to watch a movie?" Anna asked. "I'll even feed you popcorn if you're hungry."
Terri looked up, startled, and then agreed.
Halfway through the movie, Anna couldn't keep her thoughts to herself. "Terri, have you ever known anyone bisexual? Or homosexual?"
"No!" Terri said immediately. She continued, but made a sound close to a stutter over the next word. "M-maybe. Not bisexual, but ... maybe? Why?" Her eyes were so wide Anna started to worry.
"I met this guy today. He's bisexual. Are you ok?"
"I'm fine," Terri said, and laughed. It sounded fake, but Anna didn't want to argue with her when they'd got along so well.
"It's weird, isn't it. I mean, I've never met anyone not strictly heterosexual." Anna pressed her lips together and stared at Terri's side of the room and all its distracting decorations.
"Did you ... have a problem with him?" Terri asked, her voice soft.
"No. It shocked me but ... He was really nice. It shouldn't matter if he dates guys." She hesitated, gave it more thought. "It doesn't matter."
Terri nodded, an unreadable expression on her face. Anna held up a piece of popcorn and, after a second, Terri opened her mouth and let Anna slip it inside. Anna grinned at her, pleased at their renewed closeness.
A commercial came on, too loud and obnoxious, and the moment was gone.
Dwayne looked up and down the hall. Rai didn't seem worried about sneaking into one of the girl's dorm, but Dwayne was sure they'd be caught at any moment. He shoved his thumbs into his belt and waited.
Rai knocked on the door again. After a moment, it opened, and Anna stared at them and frowned.
"Come on," Rai said. He grabbed Anna's hand and pulled her forward out of her room. She stopped long enough to shut the door and then they were headed for the stairs, and Dwayne relaxed.
No one said anything until they were outside and headed toward the classroom buildings.
"What's going on?" Anna asked. Rai didn't say anything and she looked back at Dwayne. He grinned, pulled his hat low over his eyes, and tried to look mysterious.
"Raymond found something you should see."
Anna tilted her head. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah." Dwayne knocked his hat back into place and sighed. "I was trying to be mysterious," he explained. "This is going to be a good yarn to tell around the campfire and I just wanted to practice."
"I don't really spend much time around campfires," Anna said. Dwayne nodded and looked away, disappointed. He'd been so excited when Rai showed him what he'd found and he wanted her to feel the same.
Anna dropped Rai's hand and fell back to walk next to Dwayne. "Sorry," she said. "Tell me about it?"
"Yeah!" Dwayne's mood shifted immediately. "Rai told me about the name bar and said he'd never heard of a 'Finito' in the stables. He asked some of the staff, but no one will talk about it. It's a mystery!"
"So what did Raymond find?" Anna asked. Before Dwayne could tell her, Rai stopped him. They'd reached the main building, but Rai led them around to a side entrance instead of through the front doors.
Once they were in a small hallway, Rai pulled two small pieces of metal out of his pocket.
"Keep watch, would you Dwayne?" Rai asked. Dwayne nodded and headed down the corridor toward where it connected to the main hall. He leaned back against the wall and tried to look casual. No one glanced his way.
He heard a door open behind him, but he didn't turn to look. When a hand landed on his shoulder, he leapt into the air.
"Come on," Anna whispered. He followed her back down the hall and into the room. It was a storage room full of boxes and old junk. Everything was covered in a layer of dust and Dwayne sneezed.
Rai followed a zig-zag path to the back of the room. A display case was shoved sideways into the corner, and the three of them could just squeeze in together. It was locked, but one of the glass panes was broken and Rai reached in to pull a photo off of the bottom.
It had been clipped from a newspaper, but the name and date were cut off of the top. The black and white photo was grainy and the newsprint faded. He could still read the words under it.
Trainer's horse, Finito Linea, is the first to be housed in the new stables on the prestigious Eden Hall campus.
"Who's the trainer?" Dwayne asked.
Anna pointed to the man standing in front of the stables. They were smaller than the present day buildings, but still familiar. "It looks like Mr Tonga, but he looks a lot younger. I wonder how old this is."
"That's the next step," Rai said. He put the picture back on the shelf and herded them toward the door. "We need to check the newspaper collection, see what we can find."
"I'll do that," Anna offered. "I have to work on my French project anyway."
"I'll find out if my father remembers anything," Rai said.
Dwayne was the first one out in the hall, but he turned back to the others. "What can I do?" he asked.
Anna shrugged, but Rai hooked his arms through both of theirs. "You need to focus on finding a way to keep your scholarships," he said. "Once you guys get that worked out, we'll talk about this more."
"Are you sure?" Dwayne asked. Rai and Anna both nodded and put his worry to rest. They walked out into the main hall and headed toward the front door, blending in with the other students.
"Out of my way, punk!" Cole barreled through people, shoved Dwayne, and tried to bounce him into the lockers, but Rai tightened his arm and pulled Dwayne out of the way. "Good thing your fag boyfriend saved you!"
Anna whirled, spitting a curse, but Rai pulled both of them toward the door.
"It's not worth it," he murmured and let the tide of people carry them away from Cole.
"Why'd you do that?" Anna burst out. She jerked away and stepped in front of Rai and Dwayne. "You can't let him say that shit!"
"Why not?" Rai shrugged. "He can't hurt me, and what he says doesn't matter. Why fight when there's no reason?"
Dwayne frowned. He'd heard other people say things about Rai, but he wasn't always sure what they meant. Now he was beginning to understand. Rai looked at him and immediately dropped his arm.
"Sorry," Dwayne said suddenly. "He's just got it in for me. He shouldn't hate you guys, too."
Rai smiled and patted his arm. "He's never liked me, it's not your fault. I've got band practice, I have to go. Unless you guys want to watch?"
"Why not?" Anna said, but Dwayne shook his head.
"Can't, hockey," Dwayne said. "Let me know when I can help."
"Of course we will," Anna said. "If you have any free time, I'm sure Aprilo would like to see you. I've not been able to ride him much."
"Thanks!" Dwayne said. Ahead of them, he saw Luis and Averman cutting across the lawn and took off running toward them, yelling a good-bye over his shoulder.
Russ rearranged his backpack on his shoulders. When he'd first started Eden Hall, he'd made fun of the fact they had lockers even though almost everyone lived right on campus. Now, with his bag weighed down by thick textbooks and too many notebooks, he wished he had a suitcase on wheels to carry the load.
His stomach grumbled; it was almost dinnertime, and he'd spent the entire afternoon looking for one very hard to find girl. Dwayne had given him specific places to check, but so far he hadn't had any luck in the band room (though the group practicing really needed a better drummer and he wished his brother was around to show them how it was done), the stables, or the dining hall.
He decided to check the library and give up for the night. When the front of the library didn't reveal any potential suspects, he made his way toward the back.
Jackpot.
In the farthest corner, a young blonde woman had a newspaper spread out in front of her. She turned pages slowly and every so often she'd make a note in a notebook she'd shoved to one side.
"Anna Valentino?" he asked, and stumbled over her last name.
She immediately flipped the notebook closed and glared up at him. He waited, but she didn't say anything to acknowledge his presence.
"You're Anna?" he asked again.
"And you're a hockey player," she snapped. "Go away."
Dwayne hadn't warned him about this. Russ sighed, grabbed one of the chairs from a nearby table, and dragged it up until he could sit across from her, straddling the chair backward.
"Sorry, not from around here, don't understand," he quipped.
Anna's frown deepened. "So where does 'go away' mean 'pull up a chair and make yourself at home?'"
"L.A.," Russ said. "Probably New York, too, but I've never been. I'm Russ. Dwayne sent me to talk to you."
At Dwayne's name, she relaxed a little. "He told me a friend of his wanted to talk to me," she said, half to herself. She raised her voice. "He didn't say he's send a jock."
"Dwayne's a jock, too," Russ said, his temper warming. "And there's nothing wrong with being a jock!"
Anna snorted. "Sure. Dwayne's only a little bit a hockey player. Mostly he's an equestrian."
"Riding a horse is a sport. That means you're a jock, too."
Anna's face shut down. He'd never seen someone go so cold so fast. "Go away," she said and the anger he'd heard was gone, replaced by indifference. She opened her notebook again, picked up her pen, and went back to work.
He crossed his arms over his chest and rested them on the back of the chair.
She ignored him for ten minutes. His stomach growled again, he sighed, and stood. This time, he was able to see what the books and articles were about. Mysteries of Minnesota read one, spineless and only thin paper stapled together. He glanced at the newspaper she read and the headline caught his attention, despite its small size and spot at the bottom of the page: "Mysterious Thefts In New Stables."
"Is that about Finito?" Russ asked. Anna's head came up, but this time she just watched his face. Her expression looked curious. "I checked old editions of the school paper, but I couldn't find anything."
"Neither could I," Anna said. She stared at him for another minute and then shoved the newspaper in his direction. He immediately spun the chair and sat back down. His backpack landed at his feet with a loud thump. "It isn't about Finito directly, but it's still pretty interesting."
Russ read through it as fast as he could. It didn't mention any of the horses by name, but tack had disappeared from three or four different storage areas and a significant amount of money had been stole from the equestrian team's headquarters, money they had planned on donating to the new city hall.
"It doesn't have anything to do with the mystery horse," Russ sighed and pushed the paper away. His chin dropped toward his chest; he couldn't believe he was missing dinner for this failure.
Anna looked smug and smoothed her fingers through her hair. "Not entirely true," she said. She glanced around, leaned forward, and lowered her voice. "Dwayne said I could trust you with this. Can I?"
He nodded, intrigued by the conspiratorial atmosphere.
"I think someone was trying to sabotage the stables," she whispered. "I just don't know who or why, but if you read the small articles in the local papers, avoid the main pages, there are quite a few strange incidents on campus. Too many to be coincidence."
"Do you have any theory on who it was?" Russ matched her tone. His mind whirled with questions, but he didn't want to break the fragile camaraderie between them. Dwayne had warned him Anna was touchy.
She shook her head, but her blue eyes sparkled. "No." She grinned at him, a quick expression that made her face suddenly beautiful. "Not yet. I think it's time to start talking to people.
"Dwayne said you had to write an article. Do you want to help us figure out what happened and use this as your story?"
"Damn straight," Russ said.
"Come on." Anna stood so fast he was startled by the movement. She refolded the paper carefully and left it on another table. She shoved her notes into her carrier bag and headed for the front door. He had to hurry to catch up.
"I'm starving, aren't you?" she asked, her voice too loud. The librarian shushed her, but Anna smiled at her brightly and held the door for Russ. As he passed by her, she whispered, "We'll talk in the cafeteria where no one will be able to hear us."
He was surprised again by her efficiency. Normally getting any food meant spending a lot of time standing around in lines, but somehow Anna swept through them. People parted for her and he didn't know why, but followed dutifully in her wake, most of his mind turning over the mystery.
She steered him toward a table along the back wall. There was an empty table between them and the next group of people, creating a buffer zone, and the mash of conversations was loud enough to make it difficult for anyone to overhear if they talked quietly.
On the way, Russ saw Goldberg sitting next to Fulton and his girlfriend – she had purple hair, which was a little weird here, but not back home. They weren't sitting with the Ducks, and though Goldberg's tray was piled with food, he didn't seem to be eating any of it. Goldberg waved at him and pointed to one of the chairs, but Russ balanced his tray precariously and shook his head.
Over at the Ducks' table, Dwayne saw the commotion and popped to his feet. He snagged his tray and met them at the new table.
Anna seated herself with her back to the wall, at the edge of the table. She placed her bag at her feet and began to methodically take small bites from her food, moving in a circle around her plate.
For the first few minutes, they remained quiet as they ate. Then a guy walked over and sat down without saying anything; his hair was pink and streaked through with strands of bright red. In the sea of brunettes and blondes, both he and Fulton's girlfriend stood out.
"Hey, Rai," Dwayne said.
"Cowboy," Rai replied. He nudged Anna and she pushed her tray in his direction, pulled out her notes, and placed them on the table in front of her. Rai started to eat the food Anna'd left untouched and Dwayne introduced him to Russ.
It took a second, but Russ recognized him as one of the guys who'd been in the band room practicing. He'd been on bass and hadn't sounded bad, but the drummer really ruined good music.
"Here's what I've learned so far," she said. She leaned forward and her voice was so quiet everyone else had to lean toward her to hear. "There was opposition from the board about opening stables in the first place. They didn't want to divert the money from the sports they already had—the "male" sports." She made a face. "Trouble started before the stables were even built. Tools disappeared, wood was broken, the ground was torn up. No one was ever charged."
"This doesn't have anything to do with Finito," Russ said. He didn't hide his disappointment.
"Not yet," Anna admitted. "The articles disappear for awhile, but then there was a big fire. The stable itself – it was only one building back then – was saved and most of the horses, but one died. He wasn't caught in the fire itself, he was sick and they couldn't get him out in time."
"Smoke damage?" Rai asked.
"Colic," Anna said. "But that's where it gets weird. He shouldn't have been sick, he was on a strict diet and Mr Tonga had him in a training regime. He would have kept a close eye on Finito, so I don't know how he could have gotten into anything to make him ill."
"Tonga won't talk to me about it," Rai said. "Not Dwayne either. My father was here then, but he said he doesn't remember anything. I don't believe him, but I haven't had time to talk to him about it much."
"So what are we going to do now?" Russ asked. He took a drink from his soda and realized he'd finished his food without noticing. "If no one will talk about it and that's all you've found in the articles ..."
"We need to find out what Finito was training for," Anna said. "I think he was sabotaged and as soon as we find a motive, we'll be better able to figure out who would do it. I know people were upset about the new program, but Mr Tonga didn't have any say in it. Hurting Finito wouldn't do much, as far as I can tell, so I don't know why it happened."
"Maybe he really was just sick," Russ suggested.
Anna looked skeptical, but Rai broke in before she could say anything else. "Maybe, but I want to know for sure. Anna, Tonga might talk to you, he likes you. I'll try my father again. Russ and Dwayne, come up with a list of staff who would have been here then and who are likely to talk to us."
Lunch ended and all around them, students headed toward the doors back to the classrooms. "I don't want people to know we're researching this," Anna said, even quieter than before. "It caused a lot of problems then and no one wants to talk about it now. It could stir up trouble and we don't want that. Not yet."