AN: Hey guys, long time, no post. I just wanted to get something up. Sorry, I will no longer be updating my old stories. I'm not really into Twilight anymore. Not to mention, I haven't touched those stories in years. I'm in college now and I just don't have any interest or time for it. I will try to post as much as I can for this story though. I might accidentally post econ notes…. I take notes for econ with my computer so yeah…and sometimes I write instead of taking or while taking econ notes. Clearly I multitask during econ. *Its so boring* This is the first chapter (clearly) but I have the 2nd chapter in the works right now. I'll try to get that up soon! It's hard to say when though because exams are soon.
Rachel led her horse, Wicked, through the barn to go outside to the arena. There is something that most people don't know about Rachel. Sure, most people know about her many classes for dance and voice. But, very few people know about her having riding lessons. She has been riding about as long as she has been singing. She competes in hunters, jumpers, and equitation as often as she can. She is one of the leaders in zone points for zone 5.
She led Wicked up to the mounting block outside of the large arena filled with jumps. She pulled down her stirrups and then lifted herself up and settled into her CWD saddle. She warmed up and was ready to begin her lesson. This lesson was vital, because she has a show coming up this coming weekend. She wanted to qualify for this year's Maclay Finals. She didn't quite qualify for this year's Maclay that is being held next week. This year her, her fathers, and her trainer have come up with a plan for her to be able to compete to qualify for Maclay and possibly USET Finals. Both Maclay and USET are equitation based finals.
Rachel has three horses that she owns and currently competes on. She has Wicked for equitation, yes he is named after the musical. She has Awolnation, or Sail, for show jumping. Then, she has Spring Awakening, or Wendla, for hunters.
Each of the horses were imported from Europe after she tried them. Wicked is a black Dutch Warmblood. Awolnation is a grey Hanovarian. Then, Spring Awakening is a bay Oldenburg.
Rachel also still owns her childhood ponies. Broadway Baby was her first and leadline pony from when she was three. She showed Hakuna Matata, or Pumba, in short stirrup. She competed Lion King, or Simba, in the small ponies. She showed West Side Story, or Tony, in the medium ponies. Then she competed on Broadway in the large ponies. All the while she showed StarKid in the pony jumpers.
All of the horses and ponies are still owned by her even though she doesn't ride the ponies much anymore. She leases them out so that they can teach other little girls how to ride.
Rachel's walls are basically lined with ribbons, champion coolers, etc from her shows, along with her playbills and Broadway posters.
When Rachel was younger, more of her life was devoted to riding. As she grew up, less time was available for her to ride. She used to have a show every weekend when she was younger. Now she was lucky to have one every other. Riding started out as a hobby when she was three. She started in the leadline and then it seemed like she quickly made her way through the divisions on the local levels. Since she started showing on the "A" circuit when she started in the small ponies, her parents took her out of school for at least two weeks, if not more, so that she could compete at the Winter Equestrian Festival, or WEF, in Florida.
When Rachel moved to the "A" Circuit she became too good for the barns that she had been riding at. There were no more barns in the area that were capable to teach her more and to allow her to compete at the level she wanted. Her dads ended up building this farm. They wanted their daughter to excel in the world. So they pushed her to explore her talents. They nurtured her love of the equestrian sports as much as they did her singing and dancing.
When it came to building the farm, they bought acreage on the edge of Lima's city limits so that they could build up this farm. They built a large barn that was originally for about 15 horses. Soon, they had many people wanting to board their horses at Pembrook Stables. Especially after they hired the current trainer, Holly Holiday, who had riders coming home with top ribbons from every show. Now, with the popularity of the stables, they have had to build more barns and amenities on the farm. Now they have about sixty stalls in total on the farm. The main barn has an attached indoor arena, then they have two large outdoor arenas that are able to be used as show facilities, and then a turf arena.
"Rachel! That last jump was horrible! Fix your striding and do it again!" Holly said. Rachel turned Wicked and adjusted his canter and pointed him to the jump again. This time the jump was pretty much picture perfect. "Better." Holly told her. "Okay, you're done for tonight. Cool him out and I'll see you tomorrow after your glee rehearsal." With that being said, Holly walked off and into the barn. Rachel guided Wicked to walk along the rail and to stretch out his neck.
While Wicked was calmly walking along the arena fence, Rachel noticed her dads near the end. She guided Wicked over to them. "Hey sweetie." Her dads greeted her. "Hi." She greeted back. "Rachel, we have to go to a conference for my work." Leroy told her. "Oh, where is this one?" "Florida. We have to leave tonight." "Oh, okay. Are you guys going to be back in time for the show?" She asked. "We should be." Hiram told her. "You know the rules, Honey." Leroy told her. She nodded. "Bye, have a good flight!" She said to their retreating backs.
For some reason, things didn't feel right with this. A bad feeling stayed with Rachel.
After a few more laps, Wicked was cooled down. Rachel dismounted, ran up her stirrups, and brought him into the barn. As she walked in, one of her favorite grooms came over to take Wicked. "Thanks Ben!" "It's all good Rach. You know Wicked is one of my favorites."
"Yeah, you're one of the few people he actually likes other than me." She replied. It was well known in the barn that Wicked liked a select few and only those few could do anything with him.
"I'll see you later Ben, I have to get ready to go!" She waved as she walked off towards the tack room. She quickly entered and changed from her field boots into her sperrys. She put her boots, helmet, and gloves in her locker and shut the door. Going out to the parking lot she saw her driver, Max, waiting for her by her Range Rover. She threw her bag into the back of the car then climbed into the backseat for the ride home. Her dads had a driver for her since they couldn't drive her to her many activities all the time. Plus she couldn't drive herself with her being 14. She couldn't wait until she could drive herself. Max pulled into her driveway twenty minutes later.
"Thanks Max! See you tomorrow!" She called as she got out of the SUV once it was parked in the garage. The main thing Rachel wanted at this moment was a nice warm bubble bath to soothe her aching muscles.
An hour later, after she had gotten dressed and eaten, she was curled up on the living room couch watching Funny Girl when she heard a knock on the door. She got up to answer the door. "Uh Holly.. why are you here?" She asked. "Rachel, honey, you need to sit down." Holly told her. "No, answer my question! You're making me nervous!" Rachel noticed the sad, pitiful look that Holly had on her face. Holly grabbed her arm and led her back over to the couch.
"Rachel, your dads…well.. Honey, their plane crashed.."
"What?" Rachel asked in disbelief. "No. No, no, no, no! You're making this up! This is just some sick joke!"
"Honey, I have never lied to you. I would never lie to you. It was reported on the news. Honey, there were no survivors."
With that, Rachel collapsed to the floor and started bawling. Holly moved from the couch to the floor and pulled the crying teen into her lap. "We'll figure things out Diva." Holly said, using the nickname she had called Rachel when she was in her pony days.
Rachel just cried herself to sleep in Holly's lap.