Rival Revenge by Jessica Burkhart Read Free Book Online Page B

telling her that I wanted her in here with me, that I had to tell her what really happened, and that I missed her. But I didn’t.
    Callie laughed, but there was no humor behind it. “No. I meant, do you mind leaving ? I want to practice inside. Alone.”
    I paused. “Uh, sure. But you finished your lesson when I did, so—”
    â€œSo what? I want to practice more.” Callie stared at me from under her helmet. “It’s the least you can do, don’t you think? I mean, after what you did.”
    Her comment made me freeze. I didn’t know what to even say. But I knew I had to keep up the facade that I didn’t care about our friendship. She had to keep believing that I thought going after Jacob had been worth it.
    â€œCallie, I—” I stopped when Heather walked into the arena. She led Aristocrat over and looked up at us. Of course she’d had the same idea to practice more—we all had. She’d probably gone to grab a soda or something.
    â€œAre you really trying to kick her out, Callie?” Heather asked. She folded her arms. “That’s not happening. We’re riding in here too, so practice with us or go somewhere else.”
    Callie’s head jerked back a little. This felt surreal. It was suddenly Heather and me versus Callie.
    â€œWow, a turf war.” Jasmine, without Phoenix, walked into the arena and grinned at all of us.
    â€œYou’re not riding at all, so you have no reason tobe in here,” Heather said to Jas. “Get out.”
    Jas put a hand on her hip, her eyes flashing at Heather. “Whatever, Heather. Like I’m going to let you and Sasha force Callie out. I mean, I don’t like any of you, but Sasha …” Jas shook her head. “This is just wrong. You went after your BFF’s boyfriend. All she did was ask you to leave the arena so she could practice and you run and get Heather to stand up for you?”
    â€œI didn’t get Heather to do anything,” I said, trying to keep my voice quiet. If I yelled, Mr. Conner would be in here in two seconds. “I was here first, then Callie showed up. I’m not leaving.”
    â€œYou’re ridiculous,” Jas said. “You should have offered to leave. Everyone at school knows what you did. You’re the girl who tried to steal a boyfriend from her best friend. You really should just resign from the YENT and go home. No one wants you here.”
    I blinked back tears. I’d tried not to think about what anyone else had thought about me and my reputation on campus. And I wished I could believe that Jas was exaggerating, but I wasn’t sure. Did everyone think that?
    â€œJasmine, shut up,” Heather said. “You have no idea. So don’t pretend to know anything about what’s going on around campus.”
    Jas’s face went pink. This had to stop. I wanted to practice, not fight.
    â€œI’m staying on campus and in the arena,” I said. “So deal.”
    Jas shrugged. “Fine. Stay and let everyone talk about you. More fun for me.” She turned and walked out of the arena.
    Without a word, Heather mounted Aristocrat and trotted him to the far end of the arena and started riding him in large circles. I edged Charm toward the middle and went back to working on my stretches. Callie, as if deciding what to do, looked at the door, then turned Jack to the empty corner of the arena and began working on transitions.
    I sneaked a glance at Callie. She looked focused and not at all as if she was thinking about what had just happened. Before the Jacob mess, if Jas had ever said anything like that to me, it would have been Callie defending me—not Heather.
    It used to be Callie and me against the Trio. Now, Callie was looking at me as if I was on the opposite side.

OUT OF ALL THE ROOMS
    I STAYED IN THE ARENA UNTIL I FELT CHARM’S stride start to lag. I took extra good care of him—giving him two carrots