Elite Ambition Read Online Free

going to figure it out and I
promise
you’ll have a drama-free semester.”
    â€œHow?”
    He looked down, then back at me. “We’ll talk more this week. I know we can do this. And to start things right, on Friday, after the stress of the first week is over, I’m telling Callie the truth. She has to know what happened at your birthday party.”
    â€œJacob, no. No, no, no,” I said, my voice rising. “You can’t tell her the truth—I don’t want you to. We’ll come up with another way—something—to handle this.”
    He shook his head. “I have to, Sasha. I’ve been making this huge mistake the whole time, and I’ve got to make things right. You’ll have a chance at getting your best friend back.”
    He got up, his eyes never leaving me. “I want to proveto you that I care about you as much as I’ve been saying I do. And this is the best way to do that—I’m going to show you.”
    And with that, he gave me a soft smile. It left me staring after him as he left the courtyard.

 4 
    ONE OF THOSE GIRLS
    I REACHED THE STABLE WELL BEFORE MONDAY morning’s riding team meeting. We had a meeting and lesson this morning to kick off our week of preparation for the schooling show on Sunday. Mr. Conner, my riding instructor, had e-mailed everyone last night to let us know to tack up our horses and meet him in the indoor arena.
    All morning, Paige and I had chatted sporadically as we’d gotten dressed. She didn’t have to leave as early as I did, so she’d stayed behind in our room. Things weren’t bad between us, but they weren’t …
right
yet either. Maybe it was going to take time after our blowup at the Homecoming dance for things to be okay between us. But I wasn’t worried about my friendship with Paige. We’dbonded since the first night I’d been at Canterwood. I knew we’d get our full friendship back.
    I thought back to our talk last night about break. I’d told her everything about how Heather had e-mailed Jacob as me. Paige had been furious. She’d asked how I’d made it through the ride back to school with Heather. I’d told her that I understood why Heather had e-mailed Jacob, even though I hated her methods. When the conversation had ended, I could tell Paige wanted to ask me the big question—if I wanted to get back with Jacob now that I wasn’t with Eric. But she hadn’t and I was relieved since I wasn’t sure if I would have been ready to talk about it yet.
    I walked down the stable aisle, my boot heels thudding on the concrete as I went to the tack room. Rows of gleaming saddles straddled racks and bridles hung from golden hooks.
    I grabbed Charm’s black saddle, bridle, and saddle pad, carefully balancing everything as I walked to his stall. Charm was probably still sleeping—he liked to snooze as late as he could.
    I put his tack down on the trunk outside his stall and called to him, looking inside the box stall. “Charm?” Just like I’d predicted—he was sleeping in the back cornerwith his head down. He lifted his head, looking up at me and blinking.
    â€œTime to wake up, sleepy,” I said. “We’ll get you all nice and shiny and go to our lesson.”
    Charm’s eyes looked a little less glazed over at the mention of grooming. He loved any attention and being brushed was one of his favorite things.
    I held his halter, leading him out of his stall and into the aisle. The pair of crossties in front of his stall was empty, and I clipped the ties to the side of his halter. He lifted his head, watching the activity around him. Other riders started to arrive—I saw Heather had crosstied Aristocrat a few stalls ahead of us.
    Heather leaned down to rifle through Aristocrat’s tack trunk. She stood, saw me, and waved.
    â€œHey,” I mouthed, waving back.
    We both got to work—there was never