Lunch (open)

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Once the morning classes were over and Cara had returned to her dorm to change into her riding clothes and pulling a baggy sweater over her head, she walked into the school cafeteria with her geography folder in hand - she was working on a picture to go on the front of the folder and wanted to get it finished before the next geography class.

Pushing a stray strand of hair out of her face, she stood in line at the salad bar. When she got to the front of the line she smiled politely at the annoyed looking woman behind the counter.

"What can I get you, sweetie?" The woman asked, her words so much warmer than the expression on her face.

The girl drew in a deep breath and gave the woman what she hoped could be classed as a smile. "May I please have a cup of shredded lettuce, a cup of sliced cucumber - skin removed if I may. A cup of diced celery and one baby carrot."

The woman, who's name is Alice, shook her head with a laugh as she put together the girl's requested salad, making sure to use the exact measurements the girl gave her, she even sliced up the requested baby carrot. "Can I get you a breast of chicken too?" She asked.

Cara shook her head. "No thank you, Ma'am." She said softly. Everything in the bowl the woman was holding added up to a grand total of fourty-one calories, adding chicken to that would add, at least, another eighty-six and she could afford that, not at this time of the day. She would have chicken with dinner. Handing over the money for the food, she took the proffered tray and picked up a set of cutlery.

Turning around, she headed over to the water cooler and filled a glass with water which she also placed on the tray. Out of her bag, she pulled her drink bottle and filled that up as well for later that day. She then surveyed the room and headed over to one of the few empty tables left. Placing the tray on the table, she sat down. Pulling the tray closer to her, she used the knife and fork to completely destroy the salad - chopped it up into bite-sized bits that she could pick up with only the fork. Pushing the tray away from her, she opened the folder. out of her bag she pulled her pencil case and out of that she took her charcoal pencil and began to once again work on the world map that she was drawing, her salad forgotten - for now.

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"Chicken, dear?"

Jess nodded, vigorously. "Yes please! It looks really good."

She was rewarded for her enthusiasm for the food with a smile from the frequently grouchy server, and the addition of a large piece of chicken to the rice and salad already present on her plate. "Anything else?" Alice asked, as she expertly balanced the filling plate while eying Jess. Jess ran her eyes over the selection, and shook her head, having already grabbed a yogurt and a bottle of orange juice from the fridge.

"No, that's great, thanks," she answered, and swapped some money for the tray of food, waiting as Alice found her some change. Whatever else other people said about the cafeteria workers, Jess had found herself getting on rather well with them - probably something to do with her generally earnest demeanour, and her frequent habit of looking mildly worried, something that often inspired people to be nice to her, not that she did it deliberately. It seemed to work with the people who served the food in the cafeteria very well, though, and, really, Alice wasn't nearly as grouchy as everyone said.

Accepting her change with another, "Thanks!" and moving away from the counter as another older student edged in behind her, Jess surveyed the room as she went to retrieve some cutlery, balancing plate, bottle and yogurt pot on her tray with a skill she hadn't possessed before coming to Blue Ridge. Nice to know that she was being taught useful life skills. Eyes flicking over the mostly unknown people at the tables - naturally shy, Jess hadn't found herself part of a large social group, and indeed didn't know the names of most of her fellow students even if she did recognise their faces - Jess altered her course, cutlery in hand, when she spotted someone she recognised very well.

"Hello," she said as she dropped herself into a seat across the table from Cara, "I hope you don't mind some company? I can go if you're busy..." She eyed up the work the older girl was focusing on as she spoke, and didn't put her tray down on the table. Despite having already sat down, she'd be happy enough to move off if Cara told her that, actually, she'd prefer to be alone... but that didn't mean that she wasn't hoping that Cara would look up from her work, and say that she didn't mind the company. Cara was definitely her best friend her at the Academy, even if Jess sometimes felt like she didn't understand the girl at all; despite only being two years younger, she sometimes felt that they were worlds apart, but she still really did enjoy her company, be it in class, around horses, or in the cafeteria.

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Cara's pencil worked in quick definite strokes across the page as her picture came to life. The hand holding the pencil had a paper napkin beneath it to stop it from smudging the pencil lines already on the page should she touch it - a small thing she'd taught herself as with her need for perfection one tiny smudge would ruin the entire picture.

She lifted her eyes from her work as someone slid into the seat opposite her, her head coming up as Jessica spoke. "Of course." She said with a tiny smile. "I've just about finished anyway." She finished the last coupe of lines she was working on and laid a piece of tracing paper over the picture before she closed the folder and placed it on the floor beside her bag.

She looked back at Jessica again, making sure to keep her eyes off the younger girl's plate, the last thing she needed to do was start counting the calories on her plate (yes, an evil habit. One she kept private for a reason). "How are things coming with Acorn?" She asked as she lifted the salad bowl off the tray and placed it on the table in front of her. She then picked up the fork and placed it in the bowl. Scooping up a forkful of the greens, she lifted it from the bowl before turning the fork over and allowing the food to fall back into the bowl - giving the impression that she was tossing the salad, rather than just playing with the food. "He seemed happier in the horsemanship class."

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Jess set her tray down, a small but genuine smile on her face as Cara looked up from her work - a drawing, of the world? Something along those lines, she thought - and battled briefly with the top of her orange juice. "He's doing really well," she said, as she succeeded in her efforts to get herself a drink and took a swig of the fruit juice. "He really likes the T-Touch - it's amazing how well it works at calming him down. I try to do it before every ride, now, and I think it really is making him happier. It's nice that it's so... easy, I guess, to cheer him up."

Pausing to take a mouthful of chicken and rice, and having the manners to chew and swallow before she talked again, Jess continued to happily ramble about her pony. "I think the walnut and rescue remedies are having a difference, too, though it's a bit harder to tell as they're not quite so obvious when they're working. But he is a lot sparkier, and happier. He's all friendly again!" It was only as she finished that she realised babbling on happily about her own pony might not be the most tactful thing to do, given that Cara had had her horses stolen off her. Legally stolen, perhaps, but stolen nonetheless, Jess was quite sure.

She didn't have the full story, and was too sensitive of upsetting Cara to ask, but she'd gathered - as much from what Cara hadn't said as what she hadn't - that Cara was taking it quite hard. And she could see why, too: she knew she'd be a wreck if Acorn vanished from her life, and Cara had had a far harder life than she - though again she was getting that impression from insinuations rather than direct hints. She covered her uncertainty and flash of sadness on Cara's behalf by chewing down another mouthful of her lunch.

"You're being very healthy today," she said, in a hopeful chance of subject, because she wasn't sure whether she should be asking Cara about the horses she was riding now, or if that was too painful a topic to bring up, gesturing with her fork - luckily devoid of any food, otherwise she probably would have flung rice across the table - at Cara's little collection of vegetables.

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Cara smiled and nodded as Jessica spoke about how much happier Acorn seemed now that she was using the natural remedies on him. She bit her lip as she thought about the fact that there was now a teacher who handled both of those things. "If you need anymore help, you'll need to speak with Miss Chevalier." She pressed her lips together and chewed on her lower lip. "It's not that I don't want to help you out, I just don't want you to get in trouble for not speaking with the correct faculty member about it." She shook her head, completely mortified with herself. Please don't say I'm turning in to one of those teenagers that babbles when they get nervous!

She took a drink of water while the other girl chewed her food. Her own fork once again scooping up some salad greens and dropping them back into the bowl again.

"You're being very healthy today,"

Her eyebrows shot up at the words. "I have this for lunch every day. Or at least something along these lines." She shrugged slightly. "It is low in calories, nutritionally satisfying and enough to keep me going until dinner." If I actually eat any of it. The last she added silently as she scooped up another forkful, but before lifting it to her lips she tipped the fork and let it fall back into the bowl.

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Jess paused halfway through scooping up another mouthful of rice and chicken as Cara spoke, and acknowledged the fact that she'd never even considered checking with Miss Chevalier to see if Cara was right. She'd just assumed that she was, because she always had been, and because she was her friend. Not that it really bothered her that she had such blind faith in someone - she was the type of person who tended to trust anyone she respected utterly and explicitly - she was merely realising that she should probably have considered the fact that checking with a teacher might be a good thing, for Cara's sake if nothing else. "Oh! I... hadn't thought of that, but I will. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble when you're only trying to help. Sorry, I probably should've thought about that earlier. It's pretty cool that there's an alternative remedies teacher at Blue Ridge now, isn't it though? Have you had much to do with her?"

Blinking a little as Cara gave her an explanation that sounded like it came out of some nutritional information book, Jess hazarded a reply. "Well... that's nice I guess." She hid her look of concern with another mouthful of her meal, this time stabbing some of her own salad, deciding that Cara definitely wasn't quite right. She hadn't been this worried about food before, right? This had to be because her ponies had been taken away - as if Cara didn't have enough to deal with, whatever she did have to deal with because Jess still wasn't quite sure, but now someone had stolen her horses and it was clearly putting a lot of extra stress and stuff on Cara and it really just wasn't fair. At all.

And Jess really wasn't sure what she could do to try to make things better, either, which worried her as well. Cara had been so good to her that she really wanted to be just as helpful and nice in return, but she wasn't sure how, and sometimes she felt like she was getting all the benefits out of this friendship, while Cara was doing all the giving, and she didn't feel that it should be like that at all. Buying time as she figured out what to say by eating some more and drinking another gulp of her orange juice, she once again wondered what would be being the better friend. Asking Cara about it, or avoiding the subject entirely?

"So, how's Titania been coming along? I've seen you working with her a lot... she's really pretty!" In the end, Jess went for a halfway house. About horses, but not about her horses, and she hoped that she was doing okay. Having lived an incredibly happy life herself, she wanted to help, but didn't know how, and so almost always resorted back to just letting Cara steer the conversation. It seemed like the nicest thing to do, really.

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Cara pulled a slight face at the question as she thought about how to answer it. "I guess." She said lightly. "And other than class, I actually try and avoid Miss Chevalier. I'm kind of glad Phoenix isn't here now, heaven forbid she might offer me advice on how to handle the mare." She frowned slightly as how human her words sounded and shrugged it off.

She picked up a forkful of salad and shoved it in her mouth. Trying not to look like the food tasted as horrible as it did in her mouth or that she was struggling to actually eat it, she chewed and swallowed the food, she chased it down with a big drink of water and pushed the plate away from herself. "I'm not that hungry."

Cara arched an eyebrow at the question about Titania. "She's a good horse, perfectly trained." She replied softly. "Almost too perfectly trained. I guess I'm just used to riding ponies that like to test me every now and then, not that there's anything wrong with Titania, she just isn't Phoenix." She had used the mare's name twice now, and it seemed that every time she said it, it hurt a little less. She looked at Jessica, her eyebrows raised. "Everyone is tiptoeing around the fact that my horses... well ponies got uplifted and I'm left all alone and seemingly emotionless. It's sweet, but getting annoying. Yes, they are gone. No, I have no idea where they are or what's going to happen to them. Yes, I am hurting. No, I am not going to give up on riding. no, I'm not going to burst into tears if asked about them." She gave a bitter laugh. "I wouldn't know how anyway. I'm used to riding school ponies, that's how Phoenix and I got together, anyway. I'm just keeping my nose to the ground and hoping that Phoenix will turn up in some publication for whatever reason." She gave Jessica a smile. "I refuse to allow Mr Andrews to break me, and if he thinks that taking my horses away will make me any more submissive and go begging, then he has another think coming." She blew out a deep breath. "Okay, I feel better now."

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Jess blinked. She was certain that she'd never heard Cara say so much in one go. Ever. She suspected she might never hear her say so much in one go again, either, but apparently she'd needed to vent. Apparently Cara did vent like any other teenager, even if only occasionally.

"Oh," she said a little faintly, as Cara ground to a halt with a sigh, somewhat thrown by the atypical behavior but thinking that, probably, it was a good thing that Cara wasn't just repressing it all. She was sure she'd read in several places that people talking about things was always a good sign, because it showed that they were accepting the events, or something. "Okay." She rather wished that those places had mentioned what to do when someone suddenly began venting at you, especially when you rather thought that your attempt at being delicate and sympathetic had precipitated said venting.

"I'm sorry. I guess I just kinda thought you wouldn't want to think about it," she continued, when she'd halfway sorted through all that in her mind, realising that she'd just have to go with her instincts and wing it for what would be a good response. She'd just have to hope that, naturally, she'd manage to hit on something that would show that though she respected Cara with every fiber of her being, she was also worried about her, because... that was what friends did. They liked people, and then cared about them, even if, sometimes, that care was sometimes not very appreciated. Though Jess thought that Cara did, actually, appreciate it, she could understand how it could get a bit irritating.

"I hope she will turn up in something," Jess agreed, figuring that presumably talking about Phoenix would be okay, given Cara had brought her up first, and especially given that Cara was complaining that people kept walking on eggshells around her. "I mean, you can't be the only person in the USA who understands ponies like her, and it wasn't as if she couldn't preform with the right rider!"

"I'm sure there must be a pony in the stables who would test you." The thought was offered a trifle tentatively as Jess finished swallowing some more of her lunch, "I mean, maybe you could ask if you could work with someone else. Didn't Miss Carr buy some ponies from the most recent auction? Or did Miss Carr want you to work with Titania specifically?" Or maybe Cara was avoiding a more difficult pony because that would be too much like Phoenix? Jess, not being particularly well-versed in psychology beyond what she'd read through her voracious devouring of books, wasn't really sure.

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Cara shrugged at the girl's apology. "It's fine. I guess I got a little tired of people asking all the right questions, but not the ones they wanted to. It's kind of like a doctor know you've got cancer but trying to eggshell the fact that yes, you are going to die." She crinkled her nose up. "Okay, possibly not the best choice of things to compere with, you get the idea though." She smiled at Jessica. "You however, have been wanting to ask since the day it happened. I guess you held back because I don't exactly do the proper human emotion thing. I am trying though."

She thought about her golden mare. "Knowing the man, he would have put her in some dismal place where she would never compete again. I almost hope that whomever has her now turns her into a broodmare because of her attitude, she'd make pretty babies." She paused and thought about the newest auction arrivals in the barn. "Miss Carr has asked me to work with one of them, however she's in need of training under the saddle so she'll never be a challenging ride once she gets to that stage, it's not in her nature.There is a Welsh, Thoroughbred cross that might be interesting to work with though. And between you an me, I don't want a horse that can test me, I just want an animal I can bond with. Learning off each other is an added extra, but not a necessity." She tipped her head to the side as she studied the younger girl for a moment. "I think you would do well on Titania. She's beautifully trained and I've never known her to buck - other than out of excitement after jumping - and you know me, I bring out the naughtiness in all animals." She smiled to show that it was just an observation, she loved Acorn and knew that the Connemara gelding was a great match for the young girl and was the best teacher should would ever find.

OOC: Speaking of Acorn, his picture has vanished on his profile.