Chapter Five: One Step Ahead
Sam and Jared had to hurry home to do some really hard Spanish homework, but promised to catch up with Allison the next morning. Brian stayed behind to make sure Allison could make it home. When they knew they were alone, he told her the truth about the note. At first she said nothing, making him worry that she could be mad, but then she found the words she wanted to say. �You know, that really doesn�t surprise me! Knowing you as well as I do, I actually planned it that way, except I didn�t plan almost leaving behind it and my binder. I knew that curiosity reins supreme in your mind meaning you wouldn�t be able to resist opening and examining my binder.� �What? Grr�I hate it when people are one step ahead of me. It�s definitely not fair!� Brian growled. �Sorry, but it was the best way I could think of to tell you that special information. Besides, people might not necessarily be one step ahead most of the time. You may just be one step behind,� she giggled. �Look we�re already at your house and I need to go change for my riding lesson, or I�ll be late! You don�t mind if I change into my breeches and boots in your bathroom, go ride, then come back, change back into street clothes and then we do our German homework together? That way while I ride, you can work on your homework from the classes that I don�t have. Sound good?� �Sure. Go ahead,� Brian replied. Allison raced into the bathroom after grabbing her breeches from her book bag. Her mom had dropped off her knee-tall boots and black riding helmet earlier at Brian�s so she grabbed them too. She pulled all of them on and quickly combed her hair into a pony tail. She grabbed her riding helmet and raced out their back door. She ran down the street towards the nearby stable, jumped the tree-railed fencing and tore across the pasture. She panted heavily as she grabbed the brown halter off of the hook by the gate and fastened around her 19-year-old gelding�s nose. �Hi, baby boy! How are you? I brought you a carrot,� she crooned. She showed Dunny the carrot, then with a large sweep of her arm and a snap or two of her fingers, Dunny stretched out his left leg and bowed regally. She gave him a bite of the carrot and led him toward the barn. She brushed him down and saddled him. She slipped his bridle on and mounted up. She rode for an hour, carefully watched and instructed by her trainer. Halfway through her lesson, she changed her tack so she ended up riding both English and Western styles. She gave Dunny two more carrots as treats before unsaddling him and leading him back to his pasture. Allison hung the halter by the gate, and then jogged across the field, over the fence, and back down the street to Brian�s.
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