2.
Lisa, Carole and Stevie all walked up to the puzzled looking Kayla.
"Sorry about that, Miss Brennan," said Lisa, "Don't mind her, that's Veronica, she's our resident spoiled brat and she's in an especially bad mood right now."
"Yeah," said Stevie with a smirk, "She had to do actual work today."
"It kind of ruined her chance to show off in front of you." Said Carole
"That's okay," said Kayla, "I don't like show-offs anyway. Oh, and just call me Kayla."
"Okay," said Lisa, "By the way, I'm Lisa and this is Carole and Stevie."
"Hi, nice to meet you," said Kayla exchanging greetings with all the girls.
"Come on, we'll take you to Max's office so you can get signed in." said Stevie.
The girls led Kayla to Pine Hollow's office and she greeted Max and signed the check in list. Pine Hollow was expecting several more riders as well.
According to Max the guest houses would be full when all the riders finally showed up. The girls were just coming down the stairs from Max's office when several more riders walked in.
Kayla stopped short when she saw the black-haired boy that walked in with the group.
"Oh no," she groaned
"What is it?" asked Carole
"Do you see that guy that just walked in, the one with the black hair and smug look about him?" asked Kayla
"Yeah," said Lisa, "What about him?"
"That's Satoshi Suoh my ex-boyfriend," said Kayla frowning.
"I take it you're not on good terms with him." Said Carole
"You take it right!" snapped Kayla, "I dumped him last year when I caught onto what he was up to."
"What do you mean?" asked Stevie
"Satoshi likes to win and he'll do whatever he has to do to win," replied Kayla, "not long after we started dating, I found out he was only trying use my feelings to manipulate me into throwing the tournament because I was his stiffest competition."
"After I dumped him, I caught a guy trying to drug my horse with tranquilizers!" said Kayla, "I was never able to prove the guy worked for him, but I have my suspicions."
"You don't trust him," said Lisa nodding in understanding.
"No and neither should any of you!" Kayla answered.
"Don't worry we'll be careful," said Carole. Kayla and the Saddle club then went to meet Kayla's horse, Magic. After they made sure that Magic was nice and comfortable in his new stall, they took Kaya to her room in guesthouse #2.
While Kayla was getting settled, Stevie came out to talk to Jacen. She found him in the tack room putting the newly repaired bridle back on the rack.
"J.C," she said calling him by her personal nickname for him.
"Yeah, Stevie," he said, "what's up?"
"You need to keep a close eye on Satoshi Suoh," said Stevie, "He's Kayla's ex-boyfriend."
"Um, Stevie, I need more of reason than that to keep a close eye," said Jacen
"Kayla believes he was behind a plot to drug her horse last year after she dumped him." Replied Stevie, "She can't really prove the guy that she caught trying to shoot her horse full of tranquilizers was working for Satoshi but she has her suspicions so, keep an eye on him for her, please!"
"Alright," said Jacen shaking his head knowing Stevie wasn't going to take "No" for an answer.
"Thanks J.C.," she said
Just as they were turning to leave Kayla came walking into the tack room carrying her saddle and the rest of her tack.
"Oh, hi," she said, "I didn't mean to interrupt."
"No, No, you're not interrupting anything," said Stevie quickly, "This is Jacen one of our stable hands."
"Hi, Jacen," she said shaking his hand, "I'm Kayla."
It was at this point that Stevie noticed a slight blush in Kayla's cheeks. Stevie smiled to herself but didn't say anything.
"Hi," said Jacen with a smile, then he saw the saddle in her hands, "Here let me help you with that." He took the saddle and put it on one of the empty racks. Kayla hung her bridle and leads on the hook next to it.
"Thanks," she said to Jacen, then she turned to Stevie, "I'd better go warn Max about Satoshi."
Stevie nodded.
After Kayla left, Stevie turned and smirked at her cousin.
"You have an admirer," she teased
"Stevie." Jacen scolded half-heartedly
"I know, I know," said Stevie, "You're spoken for."
"Well not anymore actually," admitted Jacen rubbing the back of his neck.
"What?" said Stevie as they walked out of the tack room, "I thought you were dating that girl Misty Larkins from your school."
"I was until she dumped me, over the phone, the night before the spring dance for the captain of the football team." Said Jacen
Stevie groaned and shook her head.
"That's terrible," said Stevie, "well for whatever the opinion of a crazy cousin is worth, any girl who would do that to you isn't good enough for you!"
Jacen smiled and shrugged a little.
"Thanks," he said, "well, it doesn't bother me so much now, besides, I've got a job to do!"
"Right," said Stevie.
Later that night after lights out, Jacen was out walking the grounds once last time before he turned in himself. All together they had eight guest riders including Kayla and Satoshi. Along with the riders there were the three chaperones that came with them.
He was near the fence by the front entrance to Pine Hollow when he heard half-whispering voices approaching his position. Stepping back into the shadows where he couldn't be seen, he watched as a group of two boys and two girls emerged from the shadows in the direction of the guest houses.
Jacen recognized them. He had familiarized himself with them as they arrived. There was Satoshi, Jake Turner a rider from the west coast, Kelsey Chambers and Aimee Tucker the Australian riders.
"Come on, guys, hurry up if you want to go to that midnight party the others are throwing in the basement of the hotel!" Said Satoshi
"Isn't it just our luck that we would get put here instead of there!" muttered Jake
"That's what happens when you have a big event in a backwater place like this!" sneered Satoshi, "now come on, Bryce sent someone to get us but he's not going to wait forever!"
"Shhh, be quiet," hissed Kelsey, "You're going to wake up the chaperones!"
"Not likely," smirked Jake, "With the amount of that knockout stuff I put in their supper tonight they'll be lucky if they wake up before noon tomorrow!"
To Be Continued…Please review.