Read Online Take the Reins by Jessica Burkhart - Free Book Online Page A

“Heather headed right for you,” she assured me. “All you could do was pull him up.”
    I shook my head. “I shouldn’t have let him go that far. Something just came over me and I didn’t want to let her take the fence.”
    â€œBut you stopped,” Callie said. “Heather didn’t. It wasn’t your fault.”
    â€œCharm is okay and that’s all that matters,” I conceded, wiping tears away with the back of my hand.
    â€œC’mon, let’s go,” Callie said. “I’ll buy you a smoothie.”
    I gave Charm one last good-bye pat and secured the door. Callie and I linked arms and headed away from the stables.
    After the afternoon I’d had, I was glad to have a friend like Callie to leave with. No matter what the Trio said to me, I had Charm, Callie, and Paige to remind me why I came to Canterwood in the first place. Anyway, I wasn’t about to let anyone bully me into leaving.
    11
HE SMELLED MY LIP GLOSS
    THE CANTERWOOD MEDIA CENTER WAS JUST across campus from Winchester. I’d never been there before, but Paige told me it had a massive movie theater, a TV lounge, computers, and video games.
    I was going to my first film class—we were supposed to meet in the theater, listen to a brief lecture from the teacher, and watch a movie.
    Inside the brightly lit theater, three rows of seats were roped off and a paper sign had been posted that read “seventh-grade film class—please sit in your assigned seat.” I scanned the rows until I spotted a piece of paper with my name taped to the back of a chair. Sinking into the deeply cushioned red chair, I opened my purple notebook and wrote film class. It looked like a small class, onlyabout fifteen seats had papers on them. A couple of girls found their seats in front of me.
    â€œExcuse me,” one of my classmates said as he stepped in front of me and took a seat on my left.
    I looked out of the corner of my eye, and when I saw who was sitting there, I could have died !
    Jacob.
    When he pulled his notebook out of his bag, our arms almost touched and I looked away from him. Okay, I could do this. Just ignore the pounding heart and be cool. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to be cool. Those eyes, that gorgeous hair—he even smelled good—like peppermint. This called for a lip gloss action plan! Digging into my jacket pocket for a tube, I found one of my favorites—s’ mores. I applied a thick coat.
    Jacob looked at me. “Hey, you’re the new girl from Utz’s office—Sasha, right?”
    O.M.G.
    I nodded and gave him what I hoped was a cute smile.
    He shifted in his seat. “What’s that smell?” he asked.
    Oh no . Did I smell like horse? Or worse…manure? I glanced to the other side and took a quick whiff of my shirt. Secret Vanilla with a hint of caramel body wash. Maybe I didn’t smell the horse scent because I was tooused to it! Too many years at the stable. Too many years of muck. And horses. And hay. Dear God, I was immune! I could smack myself for not taking Paige’s offer to make me cinnamon sachets for my sock drawer.
    â€œWhat smell?” I asked, my cheeks pink.
    He sniffed the air. “It’s chocolate. I can’t figure out where it’s coming from.”
    Phew! Chocolate definitely wasn’t horsey. I jammed my hand into my jean pocket and produced the lip gloss. “It’s this,” I explained, holding it up.
    He peered at the label with gray green eyes and laughed. “It’s making me hungry. You don’t have a cheeseburger-scented one, do you?”
    â€œNope, sorry.” I said, shaking my head. New mission: find cheeseburger-scented lip gloss. I’d have to hit Sephora.com the second I got back to the dorm.
    I hadn’t even noticed that people had filled the seats around us.
    A gangly man with a pale face stood in front of the class. He was dorky in a Peter Parker