now Issie had been looking at all the horses in the stable with a clinical and rational eye. But at that moment, when Tara asked her to choose, she went purely on gut instinct.
“Victory,” she said softly. “I’d choose Victory.”
“Really?” Tara said. Issie felt like she had just sat a test—but she had no idea whether she had passed or failed.
“Well,” Tara continued briskly, “we’ll come back to the stables after breakfast with the others for a try-out. We’ll see if you still feel the same way once you’ve ridden him.”
“We’re trying out the horses this morning?” Issie couldn’t believe it.
“What did you think you’d be doing?” Tara Kelly shot back. “This isn’t a holiday camp, you know.” She still wasn’t smiling and Issie was beginning to think that the students at the Blainford All-Stars Academy were right. Tara Kelly, aka She Who Must Not Be Named, was going to be a tough taskmaster.
After her early-morning interrogation, all Issie wanted to do was go back to her room and hide under her duvet. She never got the chance, however, because when she opened the bedroom door, there was already a girl in her bed. Or at least on her bed, sitting there nonchalantly ferreting her way through the contents of Issie’s duffel bag.
“Oh, hi!” The girl dropped the bag like a hot potato and gave Issie a smile. “You must be Isadora. It’s so great to meet you! I’m Dee Dee. I’m going to be your roomie!”
“Er, Dee Dee? What are you doing?” Issie asked. “Were you looking through my bag?”
“Oh!” Dee Dee was taken aback. “Oh—no!” She shook her head vigorously. “I wasn’t looking. I was just packing it for you.” She smiled sweetly at Issie. “You see, I like to sleep next to an open window, but when I got here, I noticed that you’d taken the bed right next to the window and the other bed is all the way over by the wall, and so I thought to myself, Dee Dee, I’m sure your roomie won’t mind if you swap beds with her. And so then, since you weren’t here, I decided to move your stuff over for you, so that you’d be all settled into your new bed by the time you came back.”
Issie screwed up her face. “But, Dee Dee, I don’t want to swap beds. I like being by the window too.”
Dee Dee didn’t seem to know what to do with this new information. She had large, owlish features with cropped, curly black hair, enormous dark brown eyes and a beakish mouth. When she realised that Issie was going to be stubborn about swapping beds, the beakish mouth pushed out into a sulky pout.
“How about if we move both the beds?” Dee Dee suggested, refusing to give up. “We can shove them sideways and arrange them so that we both have our heads near the window…”
“Dee Dee, I don’t think we’re supposed to be moving the furniture around,” Issie countered. She sighed with resignation. “Listen, if it really matters to you that much, you can take the window bed. It’s no big deal.”
“Really?” Dee Dee squeaked. “Oh, you’re the best roomie! This is going to be so neato, sharing a room for two whole weeks!”
Elated, Dee Dee went back to her task, gleefully throwing Issie’s clothes into her duffel bag.
“It’s OK, Dee Dee,” said Issie, moving forward hastily. “That’s my stuff. I’ll do it…” But it was too late.
“Oops!” Dee Dee squeaked. “I think I just put your nail polish in there without a lid on!”
“Ohmygod!” Issie scrabbled through her bag and retrieved the polish. Sure enough, Dee Dee had left the bottle open and it had promptly spilt all over Issie’s favourite grey marl T-shirt.
“Dee Dee!”
“My bad!” Dee Dee said with a giggle.
“How did the lid get off my nail polish anyway?” Issie asked, holding up the bottle of dark purple polish so she could see how much was left. Then she looked across at Dee Dee and realised she had the same shade on her fingernails.
“You’re wearing my nail polish?!”
“I thought you wouldn’t mind,” Dee Dee shrugged. “Since we’re roomies and all…”
Issie was so stunned she didn’t know what to say. Barely able to control her anger, she put down the bottle of polish on the dressing table, grabbed her bag and began stuffing in the contents that Dee Dee had been rummaging through a moment earlier.
“Here! Let me help!” Dee Dee lunged forward over the dressing table and somehow managed to bump a leftover cup of tea so that it splashed all over Issie’s bag.
“Dee Dee!” There was tea in Issie’s bag now, as well as nail polish!
“I’ll clean it up!” said Dee Dee brightly.
“Don’t!” Issie snapped. “It’s fine! I’ll do it later.” She flung the bag on to her new bed, out of the reach of Dee Dee, the walking disaster.
“Whatever you say, roomie.” Dee Dee put her suitcase down on Issie’s old bed and gave her a grin. “Ready for breakfast?”
The others were already at the table when Issie and Dee Dee arrived. Tara Kelly was with them.
“Good morning,” Avery said. “Issie, I see you’ve met Dee Dee—and Tara tells me that the two of you have already met as well. I was just doing introductions and explaining the training itinerary. Why don’t you girls sit down and we can get started?”
Issie made a beeline for the chair between Stella and Kate, but Dee Dee cut her off and got there first. She flung herself into the spare seat and Issie was forced to go all the way down to the far end of the table, to sit between two riders that she didn’t know. Grudgingly, she took a piece of toast off the plate in front of her and began to butter it as Avery ran through the schedule.
“I’ve put aside the rest of today for you to select your mounts under Tara’s guidance and get to know the horses,” Avery said. “The Australian team and Minka will arrive tomorrow and we can kick off the dressage training. On Tuesday you’ll be finessing your dressage tests and we’ll have showjumping training when Araminta arrives on Wednesday and Thursday. Then Tara will be taking you for your cross-country training at the end of the week.”
Tara stood up from the table. “Right. Finish up your breakfasts and grab your helmets and boots. We’ll meet at the stables in ten minutes to sort out which horse each of you gets, OK?”
As the girls gathered on the verandah of the classic old Queenslander villa to pull on their riding boots, Issie told Stella all about Dee Dee, her new roomie.
“She’s a nightmare! I came back from the stables this morning and she’d moved all my stuff and spilt nail polish on my favourite T-shirt, and then, when I tried to get my stuff out of her way, she managed to knock a cup of tea over—”
“Wait a minute!” Stella said. “Back it up! You’ve been down to the stables already this morning?”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Issie impatiently. “I woke up early and went to see the horses. So anyway, when I got back, Dee Dee
