Horse Country by Yamile Saied Méndez

Author:Yamile Saied Méndez [Saied Méndez, Yamile]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2022-01-04T00:00:00+00:00

Carolina didn’t tell Vida about the incident outside the school. When she walked into homeroom, she was relieved to see that Chelsie wasn’t in her class. Maybe she and Loretta and Tessa had clicked so well that they’d requested to be placed together. Which was for the best. Having to see her at the ranch constantly was already too hard.

They finally crossed paths at lunch.

At their usual table with a bunch of girls from their class, Vida was gushing about the best halo-halo she’d ever had. “No shaved ice in America can compare to—” She stopped midsentence.

Carolina followed her gaze and saw Chelsie making her way through the cafeteria looking like a cowgirl lost in a blizzard. Her eyes found Carolina, who looked away. She didn’t want to sit with her at lunch. Chelsie had taken over the ranch. She wouldn’t let her take over her friend group.

But she shouldn’t have worried.

“There you are!” Tessa called out to Chelsie from the table next to them. “Sorry we left you behind! We wanted to make sure no one else took our table.”

Chelsie didn’t say a word. She just sat between Loretta and Tessa, who exchanged a look like they’d won a blue ribbon.

“Remember, you don’t want to sit with the pooper scooper anyway,” Tessa pretended to whisper, but her voice was loud enough for the whole cafeteria to hear.

Carolina’s ears rang. Anger like lava threatened to come out of her mouth in the form of mean words. She took a deep breath and counted to three. She didn’t want to let those girls see that they’d hurt her.

But her intentions weren’t enough to hold her own temper in check. “You haven’t told them where you spend your mornings and evenings, have you, Chels? Maybe it’s time your friends knew I’m not the only pooper scooper in Paradise. Don’t you think?”

Carolina saw hurt cross her eyes for just a second. But Chelsie didn’t reply. Loretta and Tessa exchanged a charged look. When they seemed to realize Chelsie wasn’t going to explain, they changed the subject back to Chelsie’s sunglasses.

“Do you think the pink matches my beanie?” Tessa asked, trying the sunglasses on top of her hat.

Carolina turned her back to them, still fuming.

“Yikes. Where did that come from?” Vida said, raising her eyebrows.

“I couldn’t help it,” she replied, crossing her arms, flustered. “She had it coming.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have called her a pooper scooper,” Vida said in a soft voice. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m one hundred percent on your side. But you hate it when Loretta and Tessa call you that. Besides, you and Chelsie live on the same property. I thought you’d be friends.”

Carolina shrugged. Maybe Vida was right. Maybe she should’ve been more gracious. But she was hurting, and she couldn’t pretend. Not like other people.

That’s why she preferred horses. They didn’t lie or pretend. They always showed their true feelings. What they wanted. What they feared. And they only offered love.

If only people were as easy

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