It took at least an hour for someone to wake up. This someone happened to be Mika, who took one look at Flynn leaning against my shoulder (I pretended to be asleep) and the horses in our laps and squealed silently before running to wake everyone up. Through half-closed eyes I saw them all sleepily rub their eyes and look around. I could practically see their hearts melting as they looked at the four of us and had to bite back a grin.

"What you looking at?" I said suddenly and they all jumped back with little shrieks. I burst out laughing, which woke up Flynn and the two horses. All three of them got up with a collective groan, which made us start laughing all over again.

The other horses ambled over from where they had been dozing and stuck their noses out at us. Brin almost fell over as Star began rubbing her head up and down her back, clearly finding her owner a convenient scratching post.

"How long were we asleep?" Marcy yawned and I thought for a moment. "About an hour."

She looked stunned. "I've never fallen asleep at the beach before. Must be getting old." She started chuckling at her own joke as she bridled and mounted Diamond, and we all shook our heads at her as we began to move off.

Archer looked at Flynn and I riding next to each other without any tack. "I still can't believe you idiots decided to ride tackless. What if the horses spook?"

"Then we'll just have to deal with that if it happens," I laughed back. "It feels quite liberating, actually - you should try it." Archer just snorted.

We rode along a rocky path just above the tideline, and made it back to the stables without trouble. We had missed lunch, though, and our stomachs were loudly informing us of our mistake. Maybe there would be some leftovers in the dining hall that we could snag.

We warmed the horses down in an outdoor arena after our gallop through the woods when we had left the rock track to return to the school. Luckily Varsity wasn't there to bother us this time, although I felt sure I could beat her in a game of insults if I came face to face with her again.

The horses were walked round the arena on a long rein (apart from Flynn and I, who hadn't fetched our bridles yet), to let them stretch their necks. Once they were sufficiently cooled down, we led them back and put them in the stalls. I hated seeing Robin go back inside on such a gorgeous day, but I understood that she still had to get used to the environment and the other horses - who she could see by looking over the door - before she was turned out.

We retrieved our keys from where we had hidden them, filled and strung up haynets, checked the horses' water and made our way up to the dining hall. To our dismay, all the food had been cleared away, but a kitchen porter got one of the chefs to make us sandwiches, which we accepted gratefully. We went back to Brin and Mika's room to crash for a while.

"Well, I'd say that was a pretty good day," Marcy said round a mouthful of roast beef sandwich. "I think we're all a bit sunburned, though." We looked at our arms and agreed that we all looked a bit more like lobsters than we did before. "At least it'll fade to a nice tan," I put in optimistically.

"So, what should we do tomorrow?" Archer asked but Brin already knew the answer. "The academy does this thing every year where everyone rides around together to socialise their horses and let the managers work out which horses don't like each other. It's really fun, actually, and it gives everyone an opportunity to make new friends."

"Who knows, maybe we'll have more people in our friend group by this time tomorrow," Flynn laughed and Mika looked horrified. "I don't think there's any more people here on scholarship," she said quietly, hopefully.

"Well, we wouldn't have suspected Autumn to be here on scholarship if I hadn't been rooming with her, would we?" Marcy argued. "Although I do think that six is enough, call me introverted all you want."

"I'd have the horses but not the people," I laughed. I would choose horses over people any day, whether those people were friends, family or my soulmate. It sounds extreme, but horses were my world.

"I want all the horses." Marcy stared off into space, no doubt thinking about all the equines she wanted to buy.

"Hey, do you guys want to go shopping at some point?" Brin asked. "Horse shopping, of course. I need to buy new boots for Star."

I perked up at this. I loved going on horsey shopping trips. "I'll come, but I'll probably have no money by the end of it. At least Robin'll be happy, I suppose." Of course, I didn't add that she already had way too many accessories. A couple more couldn't hurt, right?

"Now that I think about it, Melody really needs some more shampoo. Trying to keep that white patch staying white is a nightmare." Archer shuddered.

Flynn and Marcy chuckled. "At least your horse isn't dapple grey. And Diamond's even lighter than Silver." She looked ready to have a full-on argument about whose horse was the hardest to keep clean, so I quickly stepped in. "So we could go on Monday?"

Marcy grimaced. "Team tryouts. We could go on Tuesday though."

I was immediately alert. "Team tryouts? What? Nobody told me about this!"

"Yeah, it's only me and Mika who don't try out for it. We're not very competitive. Brin tries for dressage, Archer likes showjumping and Flynn's a cross-country freak." Marcy had the audacity to look disgusted.

"What's that face for?" I protested. "Showjumping and cross country are great. Sorry Brin, but you're alone for the dressage argument."

"Dressage is by far the best discipline! You must be in tune with your horse to perform the movements." Brin looked so certain of herself. Poor girl.

"Maybe, but try jumping a course without knowing the capabilities of your horse, or galloping cross-country without knowing your horse's limitations. You need to know a horse if you ever want to succeed in the showjumping and cross-country circuits." I was getting passionate now and I was almost enjoying this argument. By the looks on the others' faces, I knew they were enjoying it too.

"Bloody hell, Autumn, I never knew you had prepared for this kind of argument a hundred times," Brin laughed. She was about to say more, but suddenly Marcy's stomach growled so loudly it made us jump.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I'm kind of hungry."

"You've just eaten!" I couldn't believe this girl. How could she be so hungry right after eating a sandwich the size of her face?

"That was ten minutes ago," she whined. "My stomach is like a horse's - it needs a steady supply of food."

"You'll get used to her eventually," Brin said as she saw my expression. "Her appetite can be a bit... unpredictable."

"Hey! I'm right here, you know!" Marcy looked affronted. She seemed ready to defend herself, but suddenly zoned out. "Horses," she mumbled.

"Are you all right?" I asked, slightly concerned. She waved me away with a vague hand. "Just thinking about horses."

I gave the others a questioning look and they just shrugged. "It happens."

"Riiiight..."

We sat in silence for a moment until Brin and Mika started playing a horse game on Brin's phone. Archer said he had some things to sort out back in his room, and Marcy said she should probably call her parents, since they were the obsessive types who always wanted to know what she was doing. That just left Flynn and I.

"We should probably go get our bridles," he said after a while and I slapped a hand to my head. "Ohmygod, I completely forgot about them! Let's go before they get too damp."

——————

First of two parts since the chapter was really long :)