I scrunched my face in disgust as I bit off the eraser off my pencil, staring down at the blank notebook in front of me.

Briggs and I had been trying to do homework, but had given up shortly after opening our textbooks. Neither of us had the energy or focus with the fate of our barn hanging on by a thread.

" ...With Amelia, Greg and Danielle gone...we're three riders short for the first summer show...what are we going to do? " He asked as he spun around to look at me from his spot at my desk.

I spit the eraser out of my mouth. " ...Well...we still have Hailey...and your not planning on leaving to go to Amelia's new stable...are you? " I looked at him. I had been nervously thinking he was going to say yes, too afraid to ask until now.

I smiled when a look of disgust crossed his face and he shook his head.

" No way! West-Afton will always be Thunder and my's home, and no new state of the art stable will take me away from here! "

I giggled. " Well then, we better get ourselves a new team... "

He raised a brow. " You think we can put together a new team in less than a month? How are we going to find riders who are at our level of jumping? "

I glanced around my room until my eyes landed on my laptop at the edge of my bed. I snapped my fingers and pointed to it.

Briggs stood and grabbed it, sliding next to me as he handed it over. Our hands brushed and I blushed, quickly turning my attention to the screen as I pulled up Facebook and clicked on the page that was created for our town equestrians.

" What're you up to Dante? " Briggs asked.

I clicked the top box to write a new post and let my fingers fly over the keys. " Not wasting time asking every kid at our school wether they ride horses, and if they do, if they can jump up to a metre sixty " I replied as I finished typing, breezing over for any spelling mistakes before hitting post. " This is much easier... "

Briggs leaned closer to read the post and I couldn't help the redness that crept into my cheeks. I had to re-read the post to distract myself.

Anyone here that can jump a meter sixty course message me! Show opportunity and a chance to be a part of a great, supportive team! :)

Briggs smiled. " I like it. It gets to the point, very professional "

I laughed. " Please, I was practically begging "

" ...Ya, I guess your right " He teased.

I smacked is arm playfully. " Hurtful! "

We both laughed until our stomachs hurt before he encouraged me to refresh the page to see if anyone had seen the post.

To my surprise, it had already been seen over fifty times and liked by ten people, but no messages yet. A few minutes past, but still nothing in my inbox.

" Looks like someone commented... " Briggs tone dropped and I quickly checked the comments on the post.

Amelia: Wow, West-Afton needs to resort to Facebook to bring in riders? Talk about desperate... Meanwhile Lakeside Acres has more riders than we do teams! People are on waiting lists, can you believe that? ;) maybe it's because we don't teach riders like this...

Under the comment Amelia had posted the video she took during the derby lesson, when I had fallen off Omega. The video that had gone viral in the past month and had been the start of the downfall of my excitement to go to Kinswood, which I was still not entirely sure I was going to go to anymore, not when my barn needed me...

" Ignore her " Briggs brought me back from my thoughts about Kinswood. " And don't let her rattle you about Kinswood. I still expect to be saying goodbye at the beginning of summer after the show "

I smiled sadly at him. He always figured out what I was thinking about. It was as sweet as it was annoying sometimes.

I shut my laptop lid and sighed. " Briggs...I'm not so sure leaving would be a good idea. Not unless I knew that West-Afton would be okay with my absence, not having to close down... "

He stood and stretched. " Then let's make sure it doesn't close " he turned and extended a hand to me. " I know we can do this...together...forget Amelia " he smirked. " How does that sound? If we succeed, you go to Kinswood "

I smiled as I took his hand. " And if we fail? " I bit my lip, hating to be so negative. I had always tried to stay positive after everything that had happened after my dad died, but this was different. The negative was dangerously close to becoming reality, and it was scary.

Suddenly, I saw my dad, standing behind Briggs and smiling at me.

" The boy has a point. If anyone can get a team together and win a show in less than a month, it's my daughter. So, Mia? What do you say? You up for the challenge? "

I smirked. I could never pass up my dads challenges when I was younger and I wasn't going to start now.

I shook Briggs' hand firmly. " Who am I kidding? We won't fail. I mean, it's us after all " I smirked. " You have yourself a deal Harrison... "

By summers start, I would either be heading off to Kinswood, or losing everything I love...