Little White Lies Read Online Free PDF Page B

be on her for once—not my ever-present boy drama. I wasn’t going to take away from her crush on Ryan. I had to handle this on my own.
    My phone buzzed and I opened it to find a text from Callie.
Eric and I r in the same sci class. Cool, huh?
    Awesome!
I wrote back. Ms. Peterson shifted toward my side of the room and I shoved my phone under my leg.
    But maybe it wasn’t so awesome. My best friend and boyfriend were in the same class—alone—every day. What if they somehow figured out that Jacob and I were acting weird and realized something had happened between us?
    I caught Paige looking at me and I smiled at her. Suddenly, I was glad I’d signed up for theater. I had a feeling the acting lessons were going to come in handy.

5
LESSON ONE
    BY THE TIME I WALKED TO THE STABLE FOR my first YENT lesson, I was exhausted. I’d spent my lunch period in the bathroom, sitting in a locked stall and working on homework. I’d been too nervous about seeing Jacob at lunch to go. Thankfully, Callie had bought my excuse that I had to run to the admin office before my next class.
    I passed Black Jack’s stall at the stable. Callie’s Morab gelding was snoozing in the back of his stall. I stopped and looked at him. Charm and I had both lost a teammate.
    Jack walked up to me and put his head over the stall door. I scratched under his forelock, then rubbed his cheek. I’d never be able to make it up to Callie for what had happened. It wasn’t my fault that Jacob had startedliking me again, I knew that, but I still felt bad. If Jacob hadn’t been acting so weird, maybe Callie and I would be grooming our horses for practice right now. I’d
never
had a lesson without Callie.
    Ever.
    â€œSee you later, boy,” I told Jack. I left him, grabbed Charm’s tack, and went to his stall.
    â€œHi, guy,” I said to him.
    I led him out and started grooming him in the crossties. My mind had just begun to wander when I heard hoofbeats clattering down the aisle. I looked up from brushing Charm’s flank and Heather was glaring at me, holding a tacked-up Aristocrat.
    â€œDo you think Mr. Conner will wait for you to show up, or what?” Heather asked.
    â€œWhat?” I checked the giant wall clock near the grain room. “Omigod! We have to be there in two minutes! I totally spaced.”
    I dropped Charm’s body brush and scrambled to grab his tack from on top of the trunk in front of his stall.
    â€œObvi,” Heather said. She looked over her shoulder, then let go of Aristocrat’s reins. “Give me Charm’s bridle.” She held out her hand to me.
    I tried to keep my mouth from falling open. “Thanks.”
    â€œOh, don’t look at me like that. I’ll deny it if you
ever
tell anyone I helped you. And I’m only doing it because I don’t want the
real
Canterwood riders to ever look bad. No matter what Mr. Conner says, Jas is
not
part of our team.”
    I didn’t dare argue with her. Heather and Jas would never stop hating each other. No matter how long Jasmine was at Canterwood, Heather would always see her as an outsider.
    Heather bridled Charm while I saddled him. I put on my helmet and we led both horses toward the exit.
    â€œReally, thanks,” I said.
    Heather rolled her eyes and walked faster. “You can stop talking to me now.”
    I laughed under my breath and stopped Charm a few feet out of the stable. The sun hid behind fat, puffy clouds and a slight breeze tugged at Charm’s mane. Heather and I mounted and let the horses walk toward the arena.
    At the far end, Jasmine warmed up Phoenix. The gray gelding, sweating in the heat, moved perfectly under Jasmine. They looked even better than they had at YENT camp. I let Charm into a slow trot, forcing myself to focus and not worry about Jasmine and Heather.
    But I couldn’t stop sneaking glances at them. My oldinsecurities about my riding abilities had hit me full