Read Riding Star for Free Online Page A

school again.”
    Conrad shook his head. “Not good enough. I’m confiscating it.”
    He stepped forward to take the coat out of Georgie’s hands. For a moment she tightened her grip, but then realised that this was going to end badly for her, no matter what.
    Conrad smiled as he snatched it from her and then left her with four spiteful little words. “Parker – you’re on Fatigues.”

Chapter Four
    I t wasn’t the fact that Conrad Miller had given her Fatigues that upset Georgie. The war between Georgie and Burghley House’s head prefect meant that it was almost a Blainford tradition for Conrad to dish out punishment to her at any opportunity.
    What really irked her was the jacket.
    â€œHe only confiscated my Barbour so he could give it to Kennedy,” Georgie told Alice. “She’s probably wearing it right now.”
    â€œI always wondered what Kennedy saw in Conrad,” Alice said. “Now I realise she’s in it for the power trip. He has the ability to seize Barbour.”
    The two girls were on their way to the stables to saddle up for their afternoon lessons and Georgie had some big news.
    â€œI’ve dropped out of dressage.”
    Alice was wide-eyed. “But, Georgie, you’ve only had one lesson!”
    Georgie shrugged. “There’s no point in kidding myself. I knew straight away that I didn’t fit in. It was all so uptight. No one seemed to know how to have fun.”
    Georgie knew that she needed to find another sport that got her adrenalin surging in the way cross-country did. And when she looked through her list of options, one leapt out at her. She was taking her first Rodeo lesson today.
    â€œGeorgie Parker?”
    â€œYes, Mr Shepard!”
    â€œCall me Shep,” the head of the Western department said affably, pushing back the brim of his ten-gallon hat to reveal a weather-beaten face.
    â€œGeorgie, it says here that you’ve transferred out of dressage class?”
    â€œYes, Mr Shepard,” Georgie said. “Well, kind of. I was only in it for a day. Before that I was in Tara Kelly’s cross-country class.”
    â€œHave you ever done any rodeo riding before?”
    â€œNo, sir, I mean Shep,” Georgie corrected herself. “Apart from cattle roping in your Western class in the first term.”
    Shep raised a grey bushy eyebrow. “We’ll give you a try in the bronc chute and see how you go,” he said in his languid drawl.
    Georgie followed Shep over to the round pen where his first-year Rodeo class were perched on the railings waiting for their teacher. In the bucking chute beside the round pen an unbroken stallion thrashed like a great white shark.
    Shep paid no mind to the stallion crashing and banging alongside him as he addressed the class.
    â€œWe’ve got a new girl joining us today from dressage.” He drew the last word out as he said it – ‘drey-ssage’.
    â€œThis is Georgie Parker.”
    Georgie waved to the other riders sitting up on the railings. She recognised a few faces from her other classes. She knew Bunny Redpath and Blair Danner, and the two boys that they always hung out with – Tyler McGuane and Jenner Philips.
    â€œGeorgie, why don’t you take the first ride today,” Shep said. “You step on up here next to me on the platform.”
    Georgie sidled along the railings to the platform above the bucking chute. From here she could see the black stallion right below her. He quivered with barely suppressed terror as he stood trapped inside the railings of the tiny space. All his instincts were screaming at him to run, to escape. But instead he was forced to stand there, with the surcingle round his belly irritating him, and the girl hovered above him on the platform, making him even more nervous.
    â€œCrouch down low,” Shep told her, “and swing one leg out over to the other side of the chute like you’re