Jessica and Jewel (8 page)

Then as it got properly dark we somehow got on to telling ghost stories. Dannii could be an actress, she was so brilliant at it! She told this really  
one about a car breaking down late at night in the middle of this deep, dark wood. She went, “And the girl suddenly hears a noise on the roof of the car, like BANG! BANG! BANG!” That made the younger ones shriek and Tegan gripped my arm tight.

Sally then went, “Right everyone, I think it's time for bed!”

Even though I groaned along with the older ones I was secretly very relieved!

Tegan wanted to sleep in with us, and of course I said she could after what had happened. I hardly even
thought
about how I was missing out on a girly sleepover with just the older ones, because it didn't seem important any more. So we all snuggled down and chatted about things that Tegan could join
in with, and after about an hour Sally came in and said no more talking and goodnight. We were waiting until she'd gone to sleep to start whispering again, but then we actually all fell asleep ourselves.

The next thing I remember was Tegan shaking me awake. “What is it? What's wrong?” I whispered, all confused because it was pitch dark and I had no idea where I was at first.

“I need a wee,” she said.

I sighed and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep, but she kept shaking my shoulder until I had to sit up. I didn't fancy leaving my nice warm sleeping bag and wandering out into the dark (especially with Dannii's scary story still on my mind!). But Tegan was desperate and she refused to go on her own, so I pulled on my hoodie, climbed over Bailey and crawled out.

Tegan wouldn't go on the grass right by the tent. So, even though it was spooky, I had to
take her into the bushes a bit. I stood nearby and sang quietly to let her know I was still there. “I'm not listening, I'm not listening, I'm not listening,” I went, to a silly tune I'd made up. That made us both giggle. Also, our eyes were getting used to the moonlight by then, so being out in the dark seemed a lot less scary after that.

Back in the tent, we snuggled down next to each other and whispered together in the darkness. After a while of talking about how fab Jewel and Twinkle are, I asked Tegan why she wanted to be with me all the time.

“I don't
want
to be with you all the time,” she said, “but, well, what if I did suddenly need you and you weren't there? It's best if I stick with you.”

That really surprised me – so
she
didn't enjoy being clingy either! That's when I realized – she wasn't doing it to be annoying, she just didn't quite have the confidence to go off and do her own thing. And I saw that the way to give her confidence wasn't to push her away – in fact, it was exactly the opposite.

“I bet you'd have more fun hanging out with Lola, Alisha and Summer on the yard, brushing down your ponies together after your lesson and chatting about the things you did,” I whispered.

“Yeah, I would,” said Tegan, “then I could borrow Alisha's cool grooming kit.”

I hugged her, sleeping bag and all, and she cuddled into me. “You know it's fine to go and do things without me, T,” I told her. “And I'll make a deal with you. I promise that I'll be there whenever you need me. Just say and I'll stop whatever I'm doing. Or if you want to come and join in with me you can do that too, any time, and I won't get annoyed, OK?”

Tegan squeezed me tight. “Really?” she whispered. “Thanks, Jess.”

We fell asleep soon after that, and even if Tegan did wriggle around in the night, I didn't notice. In fact, I was so tired it would have taken a herd of stampeding elephants to keep me awake!

Oh, hang on, I'm just going down to get my hot chocolate – don't want to miss that!

OK, I'm back!

When we woke up Sally went to check on the ponies, so we had a bit of time to hang out in the tent. And guess what? Tegan went back into the other tent to play French camping with Lola, Summer and Alisha. (I don't get how that was any different to the English camping they were actually
doing
, but never mind!) It was so cool because Alisha had poked her head into our tent and asked Tegan to go and play with them. T looked to me uncertainly for a moment, but then she seemed to remember what we'd talked about last night and crawled out, saying, “I'll call you if I need you, Jess.”

“OK. I'll be here,” I replied, and I couldn't help grinning.

After a quick breakfast of leftover sausages in bread rolls and orange juice, we took the tents down and packed them away in the Land
Rover, along with our sleeping bags, night stuff and fleeces.

Then we caught our ponies, led them on to the little driveway bit and gave them a good brush down. As I tacked Jewel up, I said a big thank you to her for finding Tegan, and told her how good things were between us now. It didn't matter if she didn't understand my exact words – she could see for herself that I was happier and more chilled out.

We waved Johnny and James off, then prepared to set off ourselves. As we gave each other leg-ups and adjusted our stirrups there
was lots of moaning and groaning because we were super-stiff from all that riding yesterday.

We took a different route home, and us Group B girls had a few razzy canters, which completely took my breath away. And yes, Tegan did behave herself and stay in trot with Jody this time!

Then Sally surprised us all by telling the younger ones that they could do the final canter with us. Tegan looked nervous and excited all at once, but it went fine because she kept Twinkle tucked in behind Prince, as she'd been told to. At the top of the hill we gave all the younger ones a big clap and cheer. Tegan looked so proud of herself and I felt really proud of her, too.

Just when we were nearly home the sky suddenly got very dark and it absolutely bucketed down with rain. We were all soaked to the skin and squealing and laughing. When we got back to the yard, we put the ponies in the barn, untacked them and checked they had enough fresh water. Then we headed straight into the farmhouse to dry off and get changed, and we had a (very!) late lunch of lovely hot tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches.

After that, we gave our ponies a really good groom down in the barn and when the rain eased off we turned them out into the field. I gave Jewel an extra big pat and hug, and I really didn't want to leave her and go back to the house. She's so gorgeous and lovely, I'll miss her so much when Pony Camp is over.

Oh, that's the others coming up to bed now. Wow – I can't believe how much I've written!