A/N: I don't speak Russian or Polish so my translations are probably terrible lol, but I write for English-speakers and I'm a dumb American, so give me a break.

The day of Christie's birthday party, the house was buzzing with people and Grannie had all the maids putting up decorations in the big wide sitting room where they had removed the carpets and the couches and furniture to make a dance floor. It seemed like a much bigger room with nothing in it and I skipped through before Laura caught me and made me go back to work on my piano practice. I had slipped away after she left me to use the bathroom and she wasn't surprised I had gone to see how the decorating was going.

I had to beg Grannie to let me invite my friends over since they were saying I wasn't allowed to go to Christie's party because it was for the older kids. I was seven and they thought that was too young to dance with the mostly fifteen and sixteen-year-olds. Grannie finally gave Laura the okay to have Carlos drive me to pick up my friends and Laura had me call them to invite them over. She said it was good practice for me to use the phone and be polite. She gave me the numbers to call and I called Gretchen first. Her foster parents were happy to let her come to have a sleepover with me. Next, I called Hayden and they were at the barn and thought it would be good for Hayden to have fun with her friends. Lastly, I called Sadie and her parents seemed surprised that I called and hesitant to hand the phone to Sadie so that I could ask her to come to my spur-of-the-moment sleepover.

"Dobra robota. Zrobiłeś to." (Good Job! You did it) Laura said, giving me a high five when I hung up the phone and told her all my friends were coming with a grin.

*

Carlos drove me to each of the houses and it was so strange to see the houses they lived in. Hayden and Sadie both lived in the suburbs and at first, I thought Hayden's house was small, but then I saw Sadie's house was even smaller. Their driveways were so short, I wondered how they could have a party with nowhere to park. Sadie's mom seemed surprised when Carlos parked on their driveway behind the little silver Volvo and Laura and I went to the door. Sadie and Hayden were both beaming when they saw me and we went to Gretchen's house last. Gretchen's house was so different from the others. She lived in the city and her tall skinny house was squashed between two others. She didn't even have a driveway! Carlos parked on the street near Gretchen's front door and I popped out excitedly to ring the buzzing doorbell with Laura by my side. Gretchen's foster mom was really friendly and she had met Laura before and gave her a hug when she saw her. She gave me a hug too and then Gretchen appeared behind her with her stuff packed.

*

Christie's birthday was in November before Thanksgiving. She didn't like it because she wanted to be able to use the pool and have an outdoor party, but in New York it was too cold in the late Fall. Christie had worn the sparkly black dress that I liked and I had changed into a black t-shirt that had little sequins on it and I wore a black ballet skirt. Laura thought I was crazy and so did my friends, but I just wanted to feel like a part of Christie's party. I didn't have any dresses like Christie's. All the ones I had were light colors or way too frilly and old-fashioned because Grannie had picked them out.

I led my friends into one of my hiding spots where we could watch the older kids after the party got going and tons of people had arrived along with the DJ. I watched the kids go one after the other to tell Christie how 'great' her 'party' was. I watched a handsome boy I had never seen, go up to Christie and pull her into a hug. She was beaming and I was jealous of how pretty she looked. Her make-up was smokey and dark around her eyes, her teeth were white and straight, and her shiny dark brown hair made her pearly skin look perfect. My light brown hair was so boring compared to her natural, rich dark auburn and I always liked the look of her elf-like features. Her skin was pale compared to mine and I thought it was because I spent too much time outside, but I realized later it was just genes. I often was told I looked like Grannie when she was young and Christie was told she looked like our father.

Christie's friends from the barn had come to the party. Most of them were from rich families like Mia, Anna, and James, who had each arrived in luxury cars wearing nice clothes. Christie's friends from school weren't as flashy and all seemed to have stars in their eyes as they looked up at the tall ceiling where black fabric and LED lights had been hung on the shiny old wood rafters like the night sky. Rainbow lights flashed and the music played loudly while Christie and her friends spun and danced. When I saw Laura looking for us, I took my friends and we dashed onto the dancefloor to hide in amongst the people. My friends got caught first and skittered over to my nanny, but I pushed through the crowd to Christie and she took my hands and let me dance with her. I remember looking up into her sparkling blue eyes with her soft, warm hands in mine as we jumped and danced to the music while I was beaming.

The grandparents had gotten Christie a bright white brand-new BMW sportscar for her birthday and she drove me in it first. We zoomed up the street past all the gates and trees and then she turned it easily around the cul-de-sac at the end and we went speeding back to our gate.

*

"Are you ready?" Christie asked me before my first horse show. I was in a hotel bed and I looked over at the alarm clock. It read 5:20 AM. I hit Gretchen, who had shared my double bed, and she moaned.

"Wake up time!" I chimed, giving her a shake to wake her up.

"I don't wanna." She groaned sitting up with her eyes still closed and her short brown hair sticking up in every direction. I laughed and Christie went to the other bed in the room to wake up Hayden and Sadie. Hayden woke up as quickly as I did and Sadie was like a dead body. I had to threaten her with a cold cup of water, before she got herself out of bed. Our bags were all over the room in different piles and like almost all of our stuff, they were color-coded. It saved us the trouble of picking between colors and we could find our bags right away.

"I love these little outfits." Sadie said, after she had finally woken up to her usual self and was slipping the black belt around her tan breeches.

"Ugh! I don't." the three of us countered her.

"I look like an old person." Hayden said hunching her shoulders and making a face as she hobbled around. She had her shirt tucked in and her bright red windbreaker over a navy blazer. I had the same blue blazer, but I had avoided tucking in my shirt because it made me uncomfortable. Christie kept trying to do it for me and I kept avoiding her. She put my hair into an evil bun and scraped sharp bobby-pins through my dark hair to keep it extremely tight. She was working on Gretchen after but couldn't get her hair in much of a bun because it was too short and there were too many layers. I laughed as I joined them in the hotel mirror.

"I should cut my hair." I laughed with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll kill you." Christie joked pointing a bobby pin at me threateningly. She ended up getting Gretchen's hair into a choppy ponytail and then used pins to secure her bangs like she had done with mine. Gretchen's white button-up was half tucked in the front and the tails were hanging out the back below her butt. She and Hayden had gotten taller in the last year, while Sadie and I were still sort of short. I was a little jealous because it allowed her to ride a bigger horse and I always got horse envy because I secretly and irrationally wanted the largest horse. "Tuck in your shirts!" Christie commanded as we got down to the lobby in our blazers and our shiny boots and still hadn't tucked in our shirts, or had untucked our shirts a few times after Christie caught us and tucked it...

Sadie's parents carried Sadie's bags down to the lobby and Hayden's dad and brothers took their family's stuff and packed it into their truck.

Hayden had four brothers, the oldest was seventeen-year-old Jensen, and the youngest was six year-old Justin. The other two were ten year-old twins, named Anthony and Cory. The twins didn't spend very much time at the barn, but Jensen and Justin were almost always there when Hayden and her dad were. Her whole family had shared a room across from the one we had slept in and Sadie's parents had stayed in the room beside ours. When we left the room with our bags, I saw that the whole floor was full of people who were all going to the horse show and when we got down to the lobby there were still more people dressed for a horse show. Addison made a face at us as we passed her where she stood with Sarah, Cerry, Chelsea, and their four pairs of parents.

When we got to Grenwich Riding Academy (often called 'GRA'), where the show was going to be, there were tons of rings set up with jumps and dressage arenas. It was teaming with people in the Trailer park that had sprung up overnight. Horses were everywhere too and I felt like I was in heaven, until I noticed all the people wearing the ugly blazers had their shirts tucked in and their hair pulled into evil tight buns.

We tied the horses to a few loops on the side of the trailers and then hung hay for them to eat as we groomed them. We had already tied braids in their manes and braided and wrapped the upper parts of their tails so that they wouldn't get dirty. Sadie was riding Chance because Shari was needed by a higher-level rider. Thunder was going to be ridden by Gretchen and Naomi, but there was a problem because they were almost the same level so Gretchen would have to get off really quick to hand him off to Naomi so she could get to her event. Naomi was hanging around between the two trailers that Silver Willow Stables had taken. They were both six-horse trailers and there were mostly boarder horses with their individual riders and then three school horses, Keenan, Chance, and Thunder and a bunch of leased horses like Mehmet, Cherokee, and Raven.

Coach Colton had driven our trailer and then Becca had driven the other one and they were parked next to each other on the grass in a long line of trailers that formed aisles and intersections that all led to the rings. The age-range for the meet was from five to eighteen, which just barely included Christie and Jensen.

"This was the first show I went to when I was your age." Christie told me. "You didn't even exist yet." She laughed.

"That's so weird. You are so OLD." I accused her as I finished saddling Raven and fought to get his bit in. Christie pulled his head lower for me and I slipped his bridle over his flexible ears.

"Yeah, you're both wicked old." Hayden agreed with me as she accused her brother, who was leaning against the trailer next to Cherokee.

"So do you know the order of when we're going?" Sadie asked as she finished tacking Chance.

"Uhm, yeah." Christie said searching her pockets and pulling out a pamphlet. "Sadie, you're second, Wren is third, Gretchen...sixth, Hayden is...twelfth, and Addison is fourteenth. Wow there's seventeen kids in your event." She said with surprise.

"How many are there in yours?" I asked, as she put my number on my back.

"Only five." She told me.

It turned out Cerry was in our event too, going first on her leased horse Mehmet. We had to complete a long jump course and then the top ten would move on to do a flat test and finally the top five from that would do another jump course and the winner would be chosen. They were judging us on how we handled our horses and for style: whatever that meant...

Cerry was a chubby dirty-blond-haired girl with sort of a sour face and an ego. Her horse matched her perfectly. Mehmet had a barrel-shape to him and always seemed to be in a bad mood. Regardless, they did a clean course and her coach, Alice, congratulated her as she left the ring. She had gone through using a mix of trotting and cantering.

Sadie was next and did a clean, but sort of slow course. She did keep a very nice trot, but pulled Chance back to a trot when she could've continued at a canter.

I was next and I was starting to feel my nerves. As soon as I remembered that nerves affected the horse too, I tried to remember that I only rode for fun, and could care less about competing. I smiled, entering the ring at a trot and then doing a circle, before pushing Raven into a controlled canter that sped up as we went straight for the first short jump. When I finished the course, I felt like it had taken me two seconds and I had wished that the course was longer and the jumps were higher. I cantered the whole time, with only a few tight turns where Raven broke into a trot to maneuver.

"You did great!" Christie said when I stopped in front of her.

"Thanks. I wish I could go again." I told her, making her laugh.

"I think you will, if you're in the top ten." Christie told me.

"I'm sorta nervous." Gretchen said with her forehead wrinkling.

"You'll do fine! Just remember why you ride." Jensen told her.

"What? Why...?" Gretchen asked in confusion.

"Fun!" Christie, Jensen, and I shouted at the same time.

"Oh, yeah!" Gretchen laughed, sounding a little less nervous.

"Oh yeah." Hayden imitated her making her voice low and adding a giggle.

When it was Gretchen's turn, she trotted up to the first jump and then Thunderbird sped away from it at a canter. Gretchen tried to keep him at a pace as she went for the other jumps and I watched Thunder's reddish brown tail flip up as he landed and then drift down as he continued to canter. Gretchen did well, except for one jump that Thunder nicked with his lazy front legs. I thought it looked like Thunder's fault, but Christie said that Gretchen didn't give him enough room and should've pushed him more into the corner before approaching the jump.

When she finished, her face was still blank because she was concentrating on her hands and legs. She always made that face when she rode and I thought it was a funny quirk.

When it was Hayden's turn, she had a similar ride to mine. She let Cherokee canter at his fast pace but kept him controlled enough that he didn't knock over any jumps. The person after her, Ashley something knocked down a bar and was the third one within our group who did. Christie stood in the middle of us and explained why it had happened. Addison was the last to go in our group and she seemed nervous.

"Don't be nervous. You've done harder courses than this at home." Christie told her, referring to the Silver Willow Stables. I smiled as I thought about how much time the bunch of us spent at the barn. I really liked how she called it 'Home'.

Addison walked into the ring and then did a few trot strides into a slow canter. Windsor was fat and it was surprising to me how pretty her canter was despite that. I thought her canter would've been more like Cherokee's, sort of choppy, with short little bouncy strides, but instead it was smooth and she had large strides. Her body seemed to float while her thin little legs sped under her. She cantered around and then went for the first jump, but almost stopped before she jumped it. This scared me. I thought Windsor was going to refuse and Christie looked worried too. Even though I didn't like Addison, I still really wanted her to do well. It was almost as if the other riders from other barns were our common enemy. Luckily, Addison made it through, only tapping two jumps. I decided that our barn had done the best. A lot of the riders were nervous and it looked like a few of them didn't know how to ride very well.

"Good. You all made it!" Christie said an hour later after we had gone and watched Jensen jump his new horse Bane, a 16.2 black blanket-Appaloosa Warmblood. He looked amazing in the long cross-country course. His canter was huge and so were the jumps. This made me want to do cross-country because it looked fast and fun.

"Christie," I said urgently, "I have to do that!" She laughed at my wide serious eyes and at the time I was mad that she did because I never felt such a need in my life. "Stop! I really wanna do that!" I told her in frustration.

"Yeah, that looks way more fun than this silly hunter/jumper thingee." Gretchen agreed.

"Okay, okay. Maybe we'll do a cross-country lesson next week. It's not my specialty though." She compromised.

"Maybe, Jensennnn can teach us." Addison said hopefully, with her weird lispy voice.

"That's a great idea!" Sadie said with her hands pressed to her face.

"Eh, I'd rather be taught by Christie." Hayden said.

"Yeah, me too." Gretchen agreed, adamantly

"I don't care." I shrugged. "What about both of you?" I asked Christie.

"We might just do that." Christie nodded. "I have to ask him, though."

We all made it through to the flat part in the top ten and it was boring. My legs got tired as the judges had us going around and around doing different trots and then cantering in tight circles. Hayden and Addison did the best and then Sadie, Gretchen, and I did okay. It was funny that our strengths and weaknesses seemed to be the opposite of each other's.

"Wren, you have to slow him down and keep him more controlled." Christie explained. "You got a lot of points off because they thought you couldn't control him."

"I can! I just didn't want to. I like to go fast." I argued.

"Well, that's not the point of Dressage." She sighed. "Hayden, you need to keep your legs on him to keep him at the same pace canter because he kept slowing down and he almost broke back into a trot in the corner."

"I kept telling him." She said in confusion.

"If you just squeeze, he'll respond better, I think. Use your whole calf and your ankle." She explained.

"OK, I'll try." She nodded.

"Gretchen, I think you need to do the same as Wren, and just keep him slow and controlled. I noticed he was hard to keep in a circle because you were letting him go too fast. He's sort of a stiff horse so we should work more on bending and over-bending on Monday." Christie told Gretchen, who nodded. The top five were announced and Gretchen, Sadie, and Addison didn't make it. It was just me and Hayden and three other riders who didn't make any mistakes in the jumping and were okay on the flat.

"Wow, I'm surprised two of you made it. I didn't win my first show." Christie said when we were called. "You guys were all in the top ten so none of you should be discouraged. Cheer for your barn-mates." Christie told the others holding up a finger. Sadie and Addison seemed upset, but Gretchen just shrugged.

"Good luck!" she said to Hayden and me. The last round was a little scarier and I had to focus on the fact that I rode for fun. A bigger crowd gathered around us as different events finished and only the finals were going on. Christie had to go do her dressage thing right after watching our flat thing and then she got back just in time to hear us being called. She was supposed to do her finals after watching us go, so she was all dressed up and had her helmet and her horse as she watched Hayden be the first to go.

The jumps were larger and I was worried because Hayden looked worried. She took her time and trotted up to the first jump. Cherokee took it awkwardly, but Christie was just glad that he took it. Hayden had him pick up a canter and then I saw her focus on the jump with determination, rather than nerves and she finished the course, tapping one of the higher verticals towards the end.

I was next and I focused on how jumping higher jumps would be more fun than the small jumps. I cantered up to the first jump and felt Raven lift me into the air. He lifted me more than I thought he would and my heart skipped a beat by the time we landed. When we got up to the second jump, I was ready for it, but he didn't jump as high. I was confused by the third jump and was ready for anything as we jumped the third and fourth in a row. I wasn't sure if I had jumped all of them cleanly, but then I realized that I didn't really care.

"He over-jumped the first one!" Christie told me when I rejoined the group after.

"Yeah, by a lot!" Hayden exclaimed.

"I'm surprised you didn't fall off." Christie stated with relief. "It's actually a good thing that he did that because in this event the judges only judge the riders and how they deal with their horses, so the fact that you didn't fall off will give you major points." She said with a hopeful smile. We watched the last three go, one of them being Cerry on Mehmet, and then ran over to see Christie do her dressage thingee.

"Wow, your sister's good." Hayden said in awe as Christie and Bezah floated over the dark sand. She did a strange trot where her front legs stretched out in front of her, became straight and then hit the ground without bending her knees. It was a stepping action and it looked really cool.

"Yeah," Sadie agreed.

"I used to think it was the horse, but Bezah doesn't look like that when anybody else rides her." Addison stated as she came over with Cerry, Sarah, and Chelsea.

Christie finished and saluted the judges with a smile. She had done amazing and all the people watching clapped and some even whistled. It was weird because a lot of them didn't know her, yet they still acknowledged her. I hoped that someday, I'd have people I didn't know cheering for me.

Jensen joined us as we sat and waited for them to announce the winner of our tri-event jump-off thing. He was all sweaty, but it didn't stop Sadie and Addison from sitting next to him on the bleachers. He had a dark green jumping vest over his zip up and he was just wearing riding pants and a long shirt that covered his privates. I was jealous that he didn't have to be done up like a librarian to go ride and was definite that his event was what I wanted to be doing.

"Were any of you in the top five?" he asked.

"Yeah!" Christie said as she ran over to us, toting Cherokee and Raven. "You two have to get in the ring so you can do a victory lap." She said, urgently because the other three horses and riders were already down there. I cursed myself for not noticing Cerry disappear to get her horse and then cursed Cerry for not telling us when she knew we were in the top five. I hoped that I'd get higher than her.

Jensen got up and gave me a leg up to get on Raven while Christie helped Hayden up.

"Come on!" I shouted to Hayden as I kicked Raven into a canter towards the ring. Hayden cantered with me and we shared a smile as we both came to a sliding halt before trotting into the ring and joining the three others in the center. I scowled as I noticed I had to stand next to stupid Cerry.

The judges looked surprised at us for entering so late and I smiled awkwardly to them. They announced fifth place first and I was glad that none of the Silver Willow riders were fifth. Then they announced fourth. It was the other person we didn't know. Hayden looked bright as they announced that she was third. I was wishing that I had controlled Raven in the flat because I had a feeling Cerry was going to beat me. Just as I had suspected, I was announced as second and Cerry got first. She smiled and I noticed her parents in the crowd, who were also chubby and short, waving at her and cheering. They put the red ribbon on Raven's bridle and then I followed Cerry as she had Mehmet canter around the ring. It was uncomfortable because Mehmet didn't canter very fast so I spent the whole time trying to get Raven to a slow canter and my arms ached from holding him back when I joined the huge group that had amassed. It was made up of almost all the riders from our barn and all their parents except mine and Christie's. Even Addison's showed up and they had brought a few other weird people with them in a richly dressed entourage. A large amount of the group broke off to watch Christie's award ceremony and I held my breath as they announced the top five. Christie was one of the last two when they announced her as the winner and put the huge blue ribbon on Bezah's bridle. Bezah had her head set with her neck rounded beautifully. The one who got second place had a pretty palomino saddlebred and when they all followed Christie, they all maintained the perfect amount of space between the horses as they all cantered at the same speed.

"We both won ribbons today!" Christie said as we got home after putting the horses and tack away at the barn. It was about 8 pm and our grandparents were just finishing dinner.

"Oh, that's nice." Grannie said.

"You're late for dinner." Vati said gruffly.

"Yup." I said as I sat down at my place and looked around for the food.

"We weren't sure if you'd be here so I didn't have Lena stay to make you anything. Do you want me to have her make you a quick meal before bed?" Grandma asked.

"Yes. Please." I said. I had had such a hard day and was exhausted and starving. Christie had gotten me a snack when we had a break but that was it.

"No don't bother." Christie said with fire in her disappointed eyes. "I'll make us both something." She said striding into the kitchen and taking out some ingredients. Grannie was confused and I didn't really have any energy left to understand, but Vati seemed to know why she was upset and had a grim look on his face.

I thanked her with relief as she put a huge dish of macaroni and cheese in front of me after about 20 minutes of waiting. It was probably the best thing I had ever eaten in my life and I ate alone with Christie because my grandparents had left the table. Vati had gotten in his car and drove away with a bunch of black SUV's following him and Grannie had disappeared somewhere in the house maybe to watch TV or something. Christie was upset that night and she stormed off to bed after having an argument with Vati when he returned from wherever he had gone. They would have arguments every once in a while, and they had only gotten worse.

*

I woke up in the middle of the night. I thought I had heard something, but it was quiet in my room. I spent a long time trying to decide if I should go back to sleep or get up and go to the kitchen or something. When I finally made up my mind to sneak out of my room, I crept out of the big black door and went quietly down the hallway. I stopped when I heard Christie crying.

"Christie?" I asked in a barely audible whisper when I creaked open her tall door. "Christie." I gasped, when I saw her sitting on her bed shaking with her hair tangled, her covers pulled up to her chest, and tears all down her face as she sobbed.

"Wren, don't come in." she told me in a weak voice.

"What happened?" I asked with deep concern as I tried not to cry at the sight of my older sister.

"It's nothing, Wren. I just... had a... fight with grandpa." She said with her voice thick with sobs as she turned her face away from me. I could see she had a bruise on her neck and my eyebrows pushed down at the sight of it.

"Do you want a hug?" I asked in a small voice when I couldn't think of anything else I could do.

"No, Wren, just go back to bed..." she said in a pained whisper.

"Okay. I'm sorry, Christie." I answered, before closing her door as tears came to my eyes. I'd never seen my sister so upset before and I wondered what they had fought about and why so late at night.