Legacy

Chapter One Winter break had actually come and gone in a blink, much to Lucy's surprise. She had spent most of it relaxing—thoroughly enjoying the fact that for four and a half weeks, she didn't have to juggle schoolwork and two jobs. And the best part was that she got spend time with Chip. But she now found herself once again in the car, on the way back to her college campus. She'd already received a text from Kendra that said that her roommate had already moved back into their dorm room. And honestly, while Lucy had enjoyed being home and seeing her parents, she found that she missed almost everything about her new (well, not so new anymore) college life, and the people and the horses she'd met within it. It was her second home, it seemed. Her jobs came with the territory, of course...but at least she could say she was looking forward to working at Akiyama Riding Academy again. The horses always brightened her day, as did Elise. Though she really didn't know how she was going to be able to deal with seeing Elise only two days a week. She hadn't talked to the senior at all over break, even though she had her number. The last time they had spoken was the day after the party. And Lucy could only smile remembering that night. It was something that she had been thinking about all winter break. Well, really, it was Elise she couldn't stop thinking about all winter break... They had to drive past the barn on the way to the campus, and Lucy saw the familiar polished sign that read Akiyama Riding Academy in blue lettering. She craned her neck when the car stopped at a red light to see the horses in the front field that were visible from the street. There was Dee, tossing her head and galloping about while Splash attempted to chase her down. And there was Legacy by the gate, where Elise was removing the Arabian's leather halter, giving the mare a final pat before turning Legacy loose. Legacy took off running in the direction of Dee and Splash, giving two small bucks and whinnying to her fellow pasture mates. It's so good to be back, Lucy thought, smiling to herself. And she couldn't wait for her first opportunity to get down to the barn. Lucy's work schedule and riding schedule were still pretty much the same, but the fact that she didn't start again at Starbucks until next week was a pleasant surprise. So maybe I'll go down to the barn after I put everything away and reorganize my room, Lucy figured as her parents' car pulled into the parking lot. With a little help from her parents, the three of them were able to carry all of Lucy's belongings to her dorm room in one trip, and after saying a quick goodbye to both of them, she began unpacking some of the boxes. And in the middle of doing so, she heard the door open, and turned around to see her roommate walk in. Immediately, she dropped everything (or at least she was forced to, anyway), as Kendra attacked her with the largest hug ever. "I never thought I'd say this," Kendra said, "But I totally missed having a roommate all break." Lucy laughed, "I guess I'll take that to be a good thing." Kendra only grinned, but continued on, "I mean, having a room all to myself felt so empty." "No, I know exactly what you mean," Lucy said, shoving one of the boxes aside so that she could sit down on her bed, "How was your break?" "It was nice," Kendra said, "My parents and I went to Corona—it's a beach where we used to live when I was younger. We moved before I started elementary school; not sure if I mentioned that or not before...But anyway, we normally spend our summers there now, but they surprised me by taking me there for a week. How was yours? Did you do anything exciting?" Lucy shrugged, "Not really. I mean, the best thing was that I spent a lot of time with Chip—you know, my old lease horse. I think he was happy to see me. I know I was happy to see him. And I was able to catch up with Harley when he got back from his vacation...which reminds me, have you seen him?" Kendra thought for a moment before saying, "He may have been in the dining hall. I just ran down there to get something to eat." "Maybe I'll stop by and say hi," Lucy mused aloud, "Because I want to head down to the barn in a little bit." Kendra grinned widely, "Oh, yeah. A whole winter break without seeing Elise. I'm surprised you managed." "Why are you so mean to me," Lucy muttered jokingly, but returned the joust by saying, "But I bet you were keeping Flynn hostage with your hour long phone conversations." "We didn't talk for that long," Kendra said. Lucy only rolled her eyes. "Before you go, though, what do you think about me cutting my hair?" "Wait, what!?" It was certainly the most random question in the moment, and also the most perplexing, "Why?" But Kendra only said, "Flynn convinced me to take riding lessons, but I'm pretty sure that it'll be a little difficult to ride a horse if I'm practically sitting on my hair." "Point taken," Lucy said, assessing her roommate's hair in its current state, "I guess I could see it short. But you must really like him if you're going to cut you hair just so you can take riding lessons." Kendra shrugged, "I mean, I've let it grow out for years. And even I have to admit, it really can be a pain sometimes." "And how, may I ask, did he even convince you to take riding lessons in the first place? I thought you weren't a fan of the whole 'barn' thing." "Oh," Kendra said, grinning sheepishly, "You see, we made a bet that if I could guess his middle name, he would have to try out to be the school's mascot next year. But if I couldn't guess his middle name, then I would have to take riding lessons." "And you think I'm strange," Lucy shook her head teasingly, but she let it go without questioning it, instead focusing on something else that she'd much rather know the answer to: "So what's his middle name?" "Well you see," Kendra started, "He was technically cheating the whole time. Because his middle name is Flynn." "What?" Lucy asked. "Yeah," Kendra said, "I know. All this time he's been going by his middle name. His first name is Wilfred—but...just don't tell anyone else that I told you! I assume he doesn't want everyone to know." Lucy only laughed, "I won't." But honestly, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't picture the insane team captain as Wilfred. ––––––––