Out of the Heat (open)

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie waved her hand in front of her face, hoping that the movement would offer at least a hint of relief from the heat that they had that day - although it didn't. She looked at the mare she was leading by the reins. "I'm sorry, sweetness." She said to the red-dun crossbreed. "I didn't realize that it would heat up so quickly." She had even skipped breakfast that morning so that they could get out early and have a walk around the cross country course. Fallon had been a little resistant about having to actually go over some of the jump, but she had easily jumped over the logs of the novice course. The mare was now lathered in sweat, and the human wasn't much better. "Come on, just a little further." They walked into the shower barn and the girl took in a deep breath of the cooler air that the concrete walls offered.

She led the mare into one of the wash-bays and attached the crossties onto the halter that Fallon wore under her bridle. She then quickly slipped the mare's gear off, being careful about how she took the bridle off as that she didn't hurt the sensitive mare's teeth. "I'll be right back." She had left the saddle blanket over the mare loins so that she didn't catch a chill, and the blanket would need to go into the machine before she used it again so if it got a little wet it didn't matter.

Picking up the saddle and bridle, Andie carried it into the tack room of White Oak and placed the saddle on a cleaning rack and would come back to that once the mare was happily grazing in her pasture again. She then grabbed a pair of pink shorts from her locker and slipped into the changing room to put them on, enjoying the relief of being out of the jodhpurs and chaps that she had been wearing since before she took the mare out that morning.

"Back!" She said as she jogged back into the shower. "Oh, sweetie!" The mare was standing in the cross-ties with her head hanging low as she dozed on her feet.

[jillaroo]

Samantha shoved a baseball cap over her brown hair. She had a smear of dirt across one cheek, and she was wearing scuffed cowboy boots and a pair of old jeans. She giggled when she saw her reflection in the window. But Samantha still felt more comfortable in her jeans and boots, than she did in the new shirts her mother had bought from the mini-mall in Elko.

Whistling tunelessly to herself, Samantha continued down the aisle of the barn, thinking ahead to English class and the pop quiz their teacher had scheduled. She’d taken Lighting out on a trail ride after her two morning classes and before it got too hot. She’d been looking forward to a nice cold soda, and a chance to dip her feet in the lake at the Blue Ridge Reserve. But first she had to cool herself down, and she knew the perfect place to do it.

A pretty brunette was already at the showers with her horse, and Samantha felt that familiar sinking feeling as she took in the girl’s toned legs and pink shorts. She recognised the girl as one of the cheerleaders, the kind that sat at the popular table with all the popular kids in the cafeteria. The kind of girl that Samantha wouldn’t think to talk to in a million years.

She tucked her hair back behind her ears, wishing at that moment the ground would open up and swallow her. When that didn’t happen, she took a deep breath and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Sure is hot out, huh?” she said casually, as she ducked into one of the empty wash stalls. Samantha smiled at the girl as she turned one of the taps.

The cold water spurted out suddenly, and Samantha squealed and jumped backwards. She was soaking wet, and she stood, frozen to the spot, her face red. Her expression was horrified as she looked down at herself, and she closed her eyes, hoping she would just disappear. When she opened them, and found herself still standing there in a puddle of water, her shoulders started shaking, and she burst out laughing.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie turned around at the sound of someone else entering the wash area.

“Sure is hot out, huh?”

Andie turned back to her mare as she carefully turned the tap on and aimed it at the mare's feet. "Way hotter than it needs to be." She responded in a friendly manner. She was with her horse so all her normal cheerleader-ness had been left at the door (so to speak).

She placed a hand on the mare's neck as the girl in the other wash-bay let out a squeal. "Are you alright?" She looked at the girl who was soaked to the bone. "Well, that's one way of cooling down." She said with a completely straight face. She pressed her lips together, but it was no use as she burst out laughing. "The real question is, do you fell better now?"

She pulled the blanket off the mare's back and threw it onto the ground outside of the bay, hopefully out of reach of the sweaty water that was going to come off the mare soon enough. She held the hose under one arm and used both her hands to gather her sleeveless t-shirt and tied it so that she now had an uncovered her midriff. She then took the hose in her hand and started washing the now drying sweat off her mare's body. "No!" She cried as moved to the mare's other side and Fallon shook herself like a dog, covering her handler in a spray of cold water.

[jillaroo]

“Probably not the way I would have chosen,” Samantha said in between giggles. She took off her cap and ran a hand through her wet hair. Her bangs were plastered to her face, and she could feel water sloshing around in her boots.

She tugged at one boot and let the water run out, imagining the look of horror on her maths teacher’s face when she showed up for class. Just then, there came a loud shriek from the wash bay over. Samantha looked up in time to see the girl given a shower by her horse. Her hands flew to her mouth, and she tried to control her laughter, but it was no use.

Samantha exploded into giggles at the sight of Andie standing there in her shorts and tee-shirt, looking nothing like the girl she recognised from class. “Eua De Wet Horse,” she said in a cheesy French accent. “Ze scent of summer.” She reached for a towel, and chucked it at the girl. But her throw went wide and the towel ended up in a puddle. “Oops,” she exclaimed. “I think that was the last one.”

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie collapsed in a fit of giggles as the towel flew past her and landed right in a puddle. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you did that on purpose." She gave the girl an evil eye, but the act was spoiled by the fact that she was still giggling. "I'm Andie by the way." She guessed the girl already knew who she was, or at least her school status, but it was always nice to introduce yourself to someone you didn't actually know - even though she already knew who Samantha was.

She got back to hosing down her mare and used the rubber curry comb to get the worst of the dried sweat out of her coat, wishing that she had brought some shampoo down with her. There again though, she was just going to release the mare into the pasture when she was done, so shampooing her would be a waste of time. "Oh! we've only got ten mins before the afternoon classes start!" She quickly turned the water off and began to scrape the excess water off the mare's back before.

[jillaroo]

As if she wouldn’t know who Andie Simone was! She was only like the most popular girl at school. Samantha had seen her in the hallways chatting with the other cheerleaders, and more than once, had found herself staring enviously at the girl’s slim figure and easy manner. But somehow, the picture in her mind didn’t quite match up with the girl standing before her.

This girl didn’t seem to care what she looked like, and Samantha thought she seemed happier than she did when she was at school. She grinned back at Andie. “I’m Samantha, but only my parents call me that. Everyone else just calls me Sam.” Samantha looked down at her watch and groaned. There was no way she’d be able to make it to class on time if she had to go to her room and get changed. She only hoped that she could slip in before the teacher noticed.

Samantha pulled a face and stuck out her tongue. “I’ve got maths, yuck. Our teacher is so lame, last week we watched a video about some famous mathematician and then the other day we had to do a bunch of problems for homework.” She recalled the second day of class, when she’d turned in a whole page of sums for correction. He had peered down his nose at her tatty notes with a look of disgust. ‘This looks more like a dog’s breakfast than yesterday’s homework Miss Hale...and what on earth have you spilled all over sums 1 through 5?’

She coughed and put a hand dramatically to her forehead. “I think I’m coming down with an acute form of Very Wetus,” she told Andie, and her brown eyes sparkled mischievously. “Either that, or I’m allergic to long division.”

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie groaned as she sympathized with Sam about her maths teacher. "I can totally understand. If it wasn't for the fact that I would lose my captaincy if my grade average dropped, I'd totally skip maths class!" She carefully threw a sweat rug over her mare's back so that it would help draw out any more water that was still on her coat and keep her from catching a chill while she was in the shade of her pasture. "I've got bio next and the prof is going to murder me for being late, but I can't not take Fallon out to her pasture." She grinned toward the other student and gave a couple of coughs. "I think I'm coming down with something too. Maybe it's contagious and we should go see the nurse? We wouldn't want the rest of the school to come down with it."

She removed the cross-tied from her mare's halter. "It was great talking with you, Sam. Maybe we could go hacking out together sometime?" she rubbed Fallon's nose. "We'd better run girl so that I have a chance to go and change before I slip into the lab like a shadow. Ohmigod, how does Cara do it!" She looked at Sam. "Don't know if you've met her yet, but one moment the seat at the front of the room will be empty, you'll blink and she'll be sitting in that very seat. The girl moves like a ghost!" She gave the girl a wave. "Laters."