Read Online Taking The Reins (The Rosewoods Book 1) by Katrina Abbott - Free Book Online
Authors: Katrina Abbott
Tags: Humor, Coming of Age, Young Adult, love, young adult romance, young adult contemporary romance, Boarding Schools
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or grunt, either. It was a boy’s voice followed by a girl’s voice. He said something, she responded. Then she laughed. I turned my head toward the voices and realized they were outside.
Emmie and Dave.
They must have been right outside the back wall of the stables, just outside the office. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they were obviously reconnecting after their months apart.
I was glad it was going well; Emmie was a really great person and even though I’d just met her, she obviously deserved to have a good guy. A small part of me, the deep, dark part that I would never admit existed, was the tiniest, littlest bit jealous. Sure, not many girls got to go to super-exclusive boarding schools with stables and all the amenities of the rich and famous, but Emmie already had everything. Maybe it seemed like life was too easy for her.
And now that her and Dave were officially an item again, was that going to mean she wouldn’t want to be friends with me?
I mean, I realized we’d just met, but I’d quickly gotten the impression that we were going to be super-close friends—we’d really seemed to connect.
Boys always make things more complicated.
Especially for the single friend.
Not that I wanted Dave to break up with her or anything—not at all. Just maybe, I admitted to myself, I wanted what they had for me, too. Was it too much to ask that a guy notice me and want to hook up with me behind the stables? Two years in London, surrounded by cute guys with British accents and I couldn’t even get a guy to look my way at a school dance, let alone want to date me.
And really, what made me think it would be any different here? At least at my school in London, I’d had the benefit of being somewhat exotic: the American girl. But here, I was nothing but the new girl. At an all-girls’ school.
There was a good chance I’d get to see Will at the dance, but would he be interested? Had he just flirted with me because I was the new girl and had that damsel in distress vibe going on? When I thought of all the other girls at Rosewood, I couldn’t imagine he’d ever be interested in me. Assuming he was even single.
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, making me feel even more pathetic.
“Oh that’s rich, Brooklyn,” I said. “Now you’re hosting a pity-party for one in the stables, where even the horses don’t care. Ugh. Nice way to make a fresh start.”
As I stood there, berating myself, Emmie and Dave’s voices got quieter and lower and they seemed to be talking more slowly. Then they stopped altogether. Before I even realized what I was doing, I was straining my ears to hear more. I was suddenly rewarded with the softest of moans.
Oh my God; they’re making out! Not that it should have surprised me, but what was most surprising (and horrifying), was that I was standing there, eavesdropping .
Suddenly feeling like a total perv and the worst friend imaginable, I shook my head, mentally shut my ears and turned my attention to the top of the sign up form so I could get my name on it and get out of earshot:
Equestrian Team -
Tryouts this Friday, 7:00 a.m. in the indoor arena.
Must be available for practice M-F 6:30 a.m – 8:00 a.m.
& Sundays 7:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Sign up - one (1) name per slot below:
I blinked and read it again. Seven a.m.: right in the middle of my Community Service assignment. The one that was non-negotiable and unchangeable.
“Seriously?”
I took a deep breath and read the form a third time, hoping it would change as I read it. Or maybe I’d read it wrong the first two times.
But no.
Everything hit me in that moment and I was suddenly desperately homesick. Even though I didn’t have anywhere that I really called home anymore, I missed my parents and my brother and the comfort of everything going the way I expected it to, even if it wasn’t the life I really wanted. At least it was comfortable and easy and I never got my hopes squashed by a dragon of
Emmie and Dave.
They must have been right outside the back wall of the stables, just outside the office. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they were obviously reconnecting after their months apart.
I was glad it was going well; Emmie was a really great person and even though I’d just met her, she obviously deserved to have a good guy. A small part of me, the deep, dark part that I would never admit existed, was the tiniest, littlest bit jealous. Sure, not many girls got to go to super-exclusive boarding schools with stables and all the amenities of the rich and famous, but Emmie already had everything. Maybe it seemed like life was too easy for her.
And now that her and Dave were officially an item again, was that going to mean she wouldn’t want to be friends with me?
I mean, I realized we’d just met, but I’d quickly gotten the impression that we were going to be super-close friends—we’d really seemed to connect.
Boys always make things more complicated.
Especially for the single friend.
Not that I wanted Dave to break up with her or anything—not at all. Just maybe, I admitted to myself, I wanted what they had for me, too. Was it too much to ask that a guy notice me and want to hook up with me behind the stables? Two years in London, surrounded by cute guys with British accents and I couldn’t even get a guy to look my way at a school dance, let alone want to date me.
And really, what made me think it would be any different here? At least at my school in London, I’d had the benefit of being somewhat exotic: the American girl. But here, I was nothing but the new girl. At an all-girls’ school.
There was a good chance I’d get to see Will at the dance, but would he be interested? Had he just flirted with me because I was the new girl and had that damsel in distress vibe going on? When I thought of all the other girls at Rosewood, I couldn’t imagine he’d ever be interested in me. Assuming he was even single.
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, making me feel even more pathetic.
“Oh that’s rich, Brooklyn,” I said. “Now you’re hosting a pity-party for one in the stables, where even the horses don’t care. Ugh. Nice way to make a fresh start.”
As I stood there, berating myself, Emmie and Dave’s voices got quieter and lower and they seemed to be talking more slowly. Then they stopped altogether. Before I even realized what I was doing, I was straining my ears to hear more. I was suddenly rewarded with the softest of moans.
Oh my God; they’re making out! Not that it should have surprised me, but what was most surprising (and horrifying), was that I was standing there, eavesdropping .
Suddenly feeling like a total perv and the worst friend imaginable, I shook my head, mentally shut my ears and turned my attention to the top of the sign up form so I could get my name on it and get out of earshot:
Equestrian Team -
Tryouts this Friday, 7:00 a.m. in the indoor arena.
Must be available for practice M-F 6:30 a.m – 8:00 a.m.
& Sundays 7:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Sign up - one (1) name per slot below:
I blinked and read it again. Seven a.m.: right in the middle of my Community Service assignment. The one that was non-negotiable and unchangeable.
“Seriously?”
I took a deep breath and read the form a third time, hoping it would change as I read it. Or maybe I’d read it wrong the first two times.
But no.
Everything hit me in that moment and I was suddenly desperately homesick. Even though I didn’t have anywhere that I really called home anymore, I missed my parents and my brother and the comfort of everything going the way I expected it to, even if it wasn’t the life I really wanted. At least it was comfortable and easy and I never got my hopes squashed by a dragon of
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