Showjumpers

PONY CLUB

RIVALS

Showjumpers

STACY GREGG

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2010

HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers

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Text copyright © Stacy Gregg 2010

Stacy Gregg asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007333448

Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2010 ISBN: 9780007412372

Version: 2018-11-27

The Pony Club Rivals series:

1. The Auditions

2. Showjumpers

3. Riding Star

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

About The Author

About the Publisher

This book is dedicated with grateful thanks to Stan Govender, John Harman, Keith Barclay, Beverley Sweeten-Smith, Melissa, Lisa and the wonderful team at St Marks

As Georgie Parker stepped aboard the plane, she felt like a total imposter. She was about to enter a world that was far too glamorous for a girl from Little Brampton – a tiny horsey village in the middle of rural Gloucestershire. Up until a couple of months ago when she had first arrived at the Blainford Academy, the closest she’d ever come to being taken anywhere by a boy was when Adrian Baxter had given her a double to the shops on the handlebars of his bike. Now, here she was, being whisked away on a private jet, about to spend the mid-term break with the impossibly gorgeous James Kirkwood.

Try to act casual, Georgie told herself. Pretend you spend all your time on board private jets.

“Sorry we got stuck with the little plane today,” James apologised as he threw their luggage into one of the overhead lockers. “Dad and The Stepmom are using the big one. I guess we’ll have to make do!”

Georgie took in the sleek interior of the jet and couldn’t keep up her act any longer. “Ohmygod, James,” she said as she sat down on one of the enormous white leather seats. “This is totally amazing!”

“Do you want a drink?” James said as he walked to the back of the plane and opened a wall cabinet to reveal a fridge. “There’s lemonade, Coke or juice.”

“Juice, please,” Georgie said. She peered out the window of the plane. The airstrip was located at the back of the school grounds, so from here she had a rear view of the red brick Georgian buildings of the academy. To the right, she could make out the roofline of the stable blocks in the distance, where earlier that morning she’d said a tearful goodbye to Belladonna.

She wouldn’t see her horse again until after the mid-term break. “You don’t know what it’s like,” Georgie had complained to her best friend Alice as she locked the loose-box door for the last time. “You’re so lucky – getting to take Will home with you for the holidays.”

“Oh, please!” Alice had laughed. “You cannot seriously tell me that you would rather stay here with Belle than go away with James for five days?”

No one had been more surprised than Georgie when James Kirkwood had asked her to spend mid-term break with him at his family’s mansion in Maryland. James was a whole year ahead of Georgie and even amongst the world-class riders at this exclusive equestrian boarding school he stood out. He was a gifted showjumper, handsome and talented, the shining star of the Burghley House polo team, and heir to the Kirkwood millions.

The only downside of spending the holidays with James was his sister. Kennedy Kirkwood was a first year at the school, just like Georgie. From the moment that Kennedy discovered Georgie had topped the UK auditions for Blainford she had been desperately competitive with her. And after losing dramatically to Georgie on the cross-country course during mid-term exams, Kennedy’s dislike of her rival had reached epic proportions. Georgie had spent the last week of school virtually in hiding so that she could avoid Kennedy and her gang – the showjumperettes. But so far James hadn’t mentioned his sister. There was still no sign of her and Georgie was beginning to hope that maybe Kennedy wasn’t coming.

“Here you go, an OJ cocktail before take-off.” James passed Georgie her juice and threw himself down in the seat next to her, sighing as he looked at his watch.

“Hey, Lance!” he called out.

In the cockpit, the pilot put down the newspaper he was reading.