Authors: Kelly McKain
Jessica and Jewel (5 page)
Tegan's asleep in her own bed as I'd hoped, but I'm still here â sigh! I was really looking forward to sneaking into the older girls' room tonight, but when it came down to it I just couldn't. I mean, what if T wakes up and finds I've gone and she's in this dark room all by herself? I couldn't do it to her. So she's fast asleep and I'm stuck here, writing this. I can hear them giggling and whispering down the corridor, which is making me feel even worse.
I had a great time with Dannii, Bailey and Claudia earlier, though. I looked in on Tegan and she was playing My Little Ponies in the younger ones' room (Lola has got the biggest collection I've ever seen). So I got to hang out with
my
friends â for a little while, anyway.
They were all sitting on Bailey's bed, which is the bottom bunk, with a towel draped down over it to make a camp-type thing. There was loads of giggling and shushing coming from under the towel. I soon found out why because when I joined in I realized they were talking about secret girls' stuff. It was so cool, but after only about 20 minutes Tegan's head appeared round the towel. “Jess, they're all sitting on their beds now,” she whined, “and each bed is a separate yard for the ponies and I don't have one so I can't play.”
“Can't you just set yours up on the floor?” I asked. I mean, argh!
Tegan gave me a look like I was being totally stupid. “No, of course not,” she said, “the
beds
are the yards.”
I sighed. “Well, perhaps you can share with someone,” I suggested.
Somehow Tegan managed to hear this as “Come and share with
us
”, which is NOT what I meant at all! She climbed straight in, chattering away about the My Little Ponies. Even though the girls were really sweet and pretended to be interested, it wasn't the same 'cos we couldn't talk about private stuff any more (Tegan's far too young for that). I didn't want the others to get bored and annoyed, and after all it was my fault she was there, so I made an excuse for us to go back to our room.
I ended up sitting on my bed reading
Pony
mag silently to myself, and when Tegan tried to snuggle in with me I wouldn't let her.
“You're
mean
, Jess!” she grumped, and then she went up to her bunk and huffed around a lot, making the whole bed shake.
Argh! I wish she wasn't in a mood with me, but she
can't
come in here again 'cos I
have
to get some sleep tonight. It's the trail ride tomorrow, after all! I can't wait â all that riding, all that time to spend with Jewel, and a night camping out under the stars!
I'm going to put this diary down in a minute and go to sleep so tomorrow comes as quickly as possible!
And guess what? I'm going to share a tent with the older ones!
After we'd had our talk about road safety and first aid, we got our ponies ready. Jewel seems extra sparky today, as if she knows we're off on an adventure! Then we had a break for juice and biccies, and Sally came and told us who'll be in which tent. When she said us four were together, we had a massive hug.
I was worried Tegan wouldn't be very happy about it, and that she might even beg Jody to let me go in with her, so I didn't catch her eye. But she didn't say anything, instead she just looked surprised and a bit sad. I'm not worrying about it, though â I know she'll be fine, and besides, this is my chance to have my Pony Camp sleepover exactly as I imagined it to be, with secrets and a midnight feast and everything! We're off in a few minutes â this trail ride is going to be SO brilliant! I'm even taking my diary with me. It's quite a dull day and Sally said it might rain, so I'm going to wear my riding jacket and slip it into the pocket, along with some sweets for a midnight feast!
The trail ride to get here was AMAZING andâ
Hang on, I'll go back to this morning and start from where I left off.
We all put on our yellow high visibility waistcoat thingies, mounted up and set off! I was so excited I couldn't stop grinning! We walked along the road for quite a long time, then signalled left to go up a country track. Jody was at the front of the ride, with Sally at the back. Johnny and James (Jody's husband and son) were meeting us later at the camping place in the Land Rover, with all the supplies and tents and stuff. As we went on up the track I got into a comfortable
rising trot on Jewel and it felt like we were gliding along with hardly any effort at all. Bailey couldn't say the same, though! She had to hold Flame back the whole way with half halts because she was desperate to go galloping off over the horizon. Eventually Sally told her to ride tight in behind Prince. It was so funny because Flame's nose was almost up his bottom, but it worked and she stopped trying to break out and settled into a nice trot.
We went on for quite a while after that, alternating between walk and trot, and the sun came out so I ended up tying my riding coat round my waist. After another hour or so we got into these lovely cool shady woods, and it
was really funny because we had to keep ducking to avoid the low hanging branches.
Then after another hour or so (I can see why Sally wanted us to build up some stamina now!) we stopped off in a field on the other side of the wood for a picnic. It was only water and squashed cheese and ham rolls from Jody and Sally's saddlebags, but we were so hungry and tired out (especially Lola and Alisha) that it tasted like the best meal we'd ever had! We all popped into the woods for a quick wee (not
together
, obviously!) then we were off again.
After a bit more walking the track turned uphill next to a field, and Sally said us older ones could have a canter with her while the younger ones trotted on with Jody. Sally warned Bailey to keep Flame in behind Dannii and Fisher, and said no one was to pass her and Blue.
We set off in a nice easy rhythm, and it was brilliant, with Jewel's beautiful mane flying out
and me really sitting into her rhythm. I felt like we were old pros and that we could have been rounding up cattle on the prairie!
But after about 30 seconds, I heard Jody shout, “Tegan! No!”
I glanced round and there was my little sister, cantering with our group. “I want to be with you, Jess!” she cried, a big grin on her face.
I grimaced, but I had to focus on my riding, especially as the further we went up the hill the more speed our ponies were gathering.
Suddenly Twinkle was galloping past me and Tegan's grin turned into a look of terror. She was bouncing around in the saddle, hanging on to the reins for dear life. My stomach flipped over thinking she might fall off and get trampled by one of the other ponies. I wanted to help her, but there was nothing I could do. “Whoa!” she screamed, but Twinkle carried on bolting up the hill, overtaking Bailey and Dannii as well.
“Back to trot, girls, please,” called Sally calmly, as Tegan came up beside her. Claudia brought Shine back fairly easily and we all slowed down behind her. When Twinkle saw everyone else dropping back into trot he did the same â phew! On Sally's instructions we dropped to walk, then finally halted and waited for the other group to catch us up.
Sally had
seemed
calm, but that was only because we were in a dangerous situation. Now that Tegan was safe, Sally was furious with her. So was I. We both shouted, “What on earth do you think you were doing?” but T didn't answer.
I could tell she was about to cry. Jody sighed. “Tegan, that was an extremely dangerous thing to do,” she said sternly.
Tegan nodded and sniffled, and it seemed like Sally was about to shout at her again, but then Jody said, more gently, “You must never ever disobey me, Sally or any instructor again, do you understand?”
Tegan nodded miserably and off we went again.
Luckily, Sally and Jody forgot the whole thing really quickly, and pretty soon we found ourselves in a field with these big logs. Sally explained that they'd been put there as part of a cross-country course by the people who owned the farm up the hill. And then she revealed that we'd needed to practise our jumping because we had permission to have a go at them!
There was a small log that Jody took the younger ones over in trot, following on behind
her. We gave them each a loud cheer when they popped it. Then it was time for us to try the big one. It was the first time I'd done any jumping out in the open and my heart was thumping with excitement as I watched Fisher, Flame and then Shine go over (following Sally, to give Claudia an extra bit of confidence). We gave each of them a cheer, too, as they cleared the jump.
When it was our turn I gave Jewel a big pat, then gathered up my reins and circled her in trot, only squeezing into canter as we straightened up. I didn't want us to end up rushing it.
The log looked so big and solid and for a moment I thought,
Oh help, what if she bangs her leg on it?
But there wasn't time to worry. I just looked past it and trusted Jewel to get us over safely. In fact, we soared over and Jewel obviously loved it as much as I did because she went haring off in a fast canter on the other side, and I was so surprised I lost a stirrup! But luckily (probably thanks to the balance work we did on Tuesday) I remembered to sit back and down. Then I slowed Jewel with half halts and circling, and managed to get it back again. When we went into trot and headed back to the ride everyone was clapping and cheering.
“Good work, Jess! That was excellent!” cried Sally, and I couldn't help feeling really proud of myself. We had a few more goes each, and Tegan and the younger ones had great fun popping over the smaller logs in trot, too.
After that it wasn't far to the campsite. We did most of it in walk because we were getting tired out (and so were the ponies). As soon as we dismounted, Tegan was clingier than ever, probably because she was still upset about getting told off by Sally. After we'd brushed our ponies down we had to turn them out in the next field and she wanted me to go with her. I said no because it was only about 50 steps away and Summer was there already. I just wanted to spend a bit more time with Jewel. But Tegan kept going on and on at me until finally I got really annoyed and snapped, “Fine, come on then!” I stomped off up there with Jewel in tow, and Tegan following miserably
behind with Twinkle. She'd got what she wanted, but she didn't look very pleased about it.
I didn't say anything to her while we turned out our ponies, but she kept trying to hug me and was kind of hanging off my neck and going, “Please, Jess, cheer up!” It was so annoying that I couldn't help shouting, “For goodness' sake, can't you leave me alone for once, Tegan!”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Sorry, Jess,” she said quietly, then sloped off towards the tents.