Like a horse galloping through the forest, the next few days flew by. With the rest of the family busy sorting their belongings out, Charlotte lay on her bed and the fight with Emily playing on her mind. Knowing the chances of fixing their friendship before both of them left the county, made tears flow. They ran down her cheeks and dropped onto the pillow underneath her head.

"Charlotte?" Bethany peered into the lower bunk, "come on, you need to get packing."

The small white shelf attached to the wall was home to the girls' soft toys. Mr Bumbles and Mrs Bunnie, sat, waiting on their own. The large soft white rabbit, and the fluffy coffee-coloured puppy, hadn't been played with in several years. Charlotte was too old for them now.

The sorrowful girl watched as Bethany approached the shelf. Her toys were packed up in several cardboard boxes that stood in the corner of the room ready to go.
"We're moving tomorrow and you haven't even packed yet."

"Yeah!" Charlotte replied. She leaned forward and reached for her headphones that usually sat on the bedside table. Her hand fumbled around to find them, but nothing. She sat up and opened the drawer, again. Nothing. The top drawer was empty and so was the next one. "Beth, where's my stuff?"

Bethany pushed her glasses further up her nose and sighed. She reached across to the shelf that was home to her younger sister's old toys and picked them up. Charlotte's mouth dropped open as Mr Bumbles, plopped into an open cardboard box. Mrs Bunnie quickly followed, and then one by one, the Barbies fell inside. The lid closed. Bethany turned around and grabbed a roll of thick brown parcel tape which she used to seal it shut.

"Right." She said, "take, chuck, or charity shop?"

Charlotte flung her legs off the bed, her heavy footsteps stomping across the floorboards as she moved to save her precious possessions.

"Option four," She snapped, "put them back where you found them and leave my stuff alone!"

"Yeah, I can't do that, sis. Dad said we need to get packed up. So you either do it yourself, or I'll do it. I did my packing last night."

Whether Charlotte liked it or not, there wasn't a hope in hell's chance that she'd be allowed to stay. And what would be the point anyway? With her best friend leaving for the States, it wasn't as if she could stay with her. Knowing what she had to do, Charlotte began to pack.

It took the teenager hours to finally pack her belongings into multiple cardboard boxes. Her clothes took up three large suitcases but everything else had been boxed. She pushed against the heavy box full of books, as inch by inch it moved out of the room and onto the landing. Charlotte turned back to move another when Dad caught her attention.

"Charlotte!" His voice echoed from downstairs, "your friends are here!"

No. It wasn't... was it?

Charlotte, box in hand, nipped down the stairs. She watched as Mum showed two teenage-looking girls into the front room, but as she could only see the back of them, it was difficult to see which of her friends had come. A familiar smell of horse dung drifted through the house. Charlotte's nose twitched and she caught a whiff.

Charlotte loved riding, and every Sunday since she was three years old, she'd always be with the pony club girls, at the stables. Smelling the horse's unique scent of leather and manure, saddened her. It was another thing she knew she'd miss. Her parents now could afford to buy her a pony of her own, but no matter how posh it was, it wouldn't be Apollo.

She hurried down the stairs. Dad entered the house through the front door. More moving boxes were piled up in the hallway and Charlotte watched as he picked up one of the larger ones.
"The girls are in there." He said, looking at the door to the front room, "ten minutes, and then you'll need to get the rest of your belongings from your room and put them in the van."

Charlotte sighed. Maybe her friends had a spare room she could stay in. At that moment she didn't care if all they could offer her was a settee to sleep on or a floor. Just anything so she didn't have to go. She twisted the handle and entered the room where her two friends from the stables were waiting for her.

To Charlotte Greyson, the girls were part of her family, as close to her as her two sisters. Charlotte, Anne, Maria and Emily, and nothing and no one should split them up!

The girls stood in the lounge, talking and reminiscing about the good time they had together.

"Hey, remember when Lucie fell off Primrose." Anne started.

"Yeah, and she fell right in that fresh pile of Peony's poop!" Laughed Maria.

A faint smile appeared on Charlotte's face as she remembered the time when Lucie Andrews', the owner's daughter, fell off her pony and splatted right into a pile of fresh manure. Tears fell down Lucie's face and she looked at her pristine white jodhpurs that was caked in poo. Dung clung to her face and dropped onto her nice pink top. The friends remembered her running to the loo to clean herself up, and the almighty shriek that frightened the horses when she saw herself in the mirror. The memory would stay with Charlotte for years to come, and as for Lucie, the name Lucie-Loo would stick to her forever.

Anne Jones reached into the red cloth bag that hung on her shoulder and carefully pulled out the biggest pink envelope that Charlotte had ever seen.

"Here, we all signed it for you." She said as she handed the card over.

"Even Em?"

Anne looked across at Marie, as the girls exchanged concerned expressions.

Charlotte flung her arms around them and the three lingered in a warm embrace. Tears welled in her eyes, and as she blinked, they dropped down her face.

"I don't want to go!" She cried into the arms of her friends.

Marie's phone bleeped. She pulled it out of her jacket pocket. Her mouth fell open, and her eyes widened as she read the message.

"They're selling Apollo!"

With a quarter of her friendship group already leaving the country, Charlotte's heart fell at the thought of leaving behind her favourite white gelding, Apollo.

"No!" She said, "no they can't. They can't sell Apollo."

Charlotte moved her arms away from her friends and disbanded the tight hug. She tore the phone from Marie's phone. Her pale blue eyes scanned the message, but with each word she read, the anger inside her grew.

"You bitch!"

The phone slipped from her grasp. There wasn't a hope in hell's chance that Charlotte would let the sale go ahead. Knowing how much Apollo meant to the stables, part of her didn't believe it, she couldn't. He was their prize horse, both born and bred at Sunnycroft. So why would they possibly want to sell him? It just didn't make sense. But something did, and Charlotte was determined to get to the bottom of it.

With a face like thunder, she grabbed her coat and headed for the front door. The sound of her father's deep voice calling her name just sounded like white noise. Her bike waited in the driveway, leaning against the wall. She flung her leg over the side and cycled as quickly as she could.

Puddles of a previous storm lingered on the pavement, the water splashed Charlotte's face as she rode through the streets. Part of her couldn't believe what was happening. With no logical reason why the stables would need to sell Apollo, made Charlotte question whether or not it was some sort of sick joke, and if so, who would do such a thing!

Lucie Andrews, who else? That bitter sod who could give it but like most arrogant people, certainly could not take it. Charlotte began to wonder if the awful nickname, Lucie-Loo, had upset her more than the girls thought. Even so, to pretend her parents, who owned the business, were planning to sell such a stunning gelding like Apollo, just didn't make a shred of sense, not to Charlotte, anyway.

Like modern art, the colours of the town blurred into one, the grey of the pavement, the emerald and brown trees that had stood for hundreds of years, and the mixtures of pastels and headed out of the town. Charlotte paused for a moment to take a breath. She wasn't far away now, another few minutes she'd be there, and finally be able to answer the questions that burdened her mind.

She pushed on, cycling down the narrow lanes until she saw a place that felt like home. A large farm-like barn came into view, surrounded by endless rolling hills and flat farmland. The familiar smell of the countryside drifted up her nose, and for the first time since the move was announced, she finally felt a sense of calm. She breathed in the clean country air, and the smell of horses greeted her. For a moment she paused, and waited outside the bright yellow sign for Sunnycroft Riding and Livery stables.

Being back there for the final time brought a slight tear to her eye. She dismounted and lent her bike up against the metal fence where she locked it in place with a bike chain. Right. Time to go.

A large white horsebox stood in the yard. Charlotte watched as one of the pony club staff headed from the house towards the stables. A head collar and lead rope flung over the older woman's shoulder. The girl's eyes narrowed as she observed exactly which stable the woman walked towards. She stopped for a moment to take a call. Charlotte, more determined than ever to stop Apollo from leaving, ran towards his stable.

The stables were located in the yard with ten on right, and ten on the left, each large enough to comfortably accommodate horses from both the riding school and the livery stables. Apollo's home was on the left, near his neighbours, his sister Polly, who belonged to Becky Rogers, and Binkie, owned by Lucie Andrews.

For as long as Charlotte couldn't remember, Lucie had been moaning about the size of Binkie's stable for a long time. It was too small for her large purebred Friesian. According to Lucie, Apollo's was much bigger. Charlotte couldn't see the difference in the size of the stables, but as always, what Lucie wanted, Lucie usually got. Talking about Lucie...

Charlotte turned to see the sight of Lucie Jo Andrews heading towards her, a riding helmet under her arm and a whip tied around her left wrist. Her platinum blonde hair was styled in a high fishtail and her pale skin was brightened by a light addition of makeup.

"Oh dear, little Lottie. Pretty pony is going bye-bye."

Charlotte walked closer to the stable and leaned against Binkie's. She shook her head, "why? Just why? Apollo was born here, in that stable, he was raised here, and now what? Do you want to sell him, just so Binkie can have his stable? They're the same size, Lucie. The same size."

Lucie stopped in her tracks. She turned to face Charlotte.

"Not everything is about you, Lottie," she said, as she poked her finger in the girl's direction, "not everything is about." She flicked her hair back over her right shoulder, "did you not live through the pandemic? Have you not heard about the cost of living? Selling that horse will put me through Cambridge, and even give me some spending money as well."

"You're even going to Uni for two years. Why do you need it now? Why can't Apollo stay?"

"Oh dear Lottie, has no one told you life doesn't work like that?" Lucie paused for a second, "look, Mummy and Daddy want the money, who and I to question them? And who are you to question me? It goes, today."

Charlotte's heart broke, "at least tell me who's brought him?"

"No! Now please excuse me, I must prepare Binkie for my Dressage exam. The examiner should be here soon."

Apollo rested his head on the top of the stable door, his forelock almost touching his eyes. Charlotte placed her hand upon his head and ran her fingers over his velvety soft fur. Tears welled in her eyes. How could they sell him? How could they let him go? His big blue eyes flickered as if he knew he had to go. He whinnied softly in Charlotte's ear as she placed a kiss on his nose.

The woman tasked with loading Apollo into the horse box, walked closer. The head collar and lead rope were ready in her hand. This was it. Apollo had been sold and there was nothing Charlotte could do about it. She stood in front of the door to Apollo's stable. Her arms were folded tightly. Her feet were like stone. No way was she going to move.

The woman collecting him smiled in her direction. "Excuse me," she said, as she waited for the girl to move. "Excuse me. I need to get Apple ready to go to his new home."

"His. Name. Is. Apollo." Charlotte replied through gritted teeth.

The woman peered over her shoulder and looked towards the stable owner, Mrs Andrews, who stood, watching.

"I'm sorry, but this horse has been sold. As I said, he needs to be loaded into the box ready to go."

"Go where?! Tell me where he's going. Who brought him? Please, I need to know."

Footsteps quickly headed towards the stables. Charlotte watched as the owner approached, her daughter Lucie, by her side like a mini-me.

"Charlotte, I'd move if I were you." She said, her thick blonde curls bouncing with every step. She placed her hand on the girl's shoulder and tried to force her to move. "Come on Charlotte, there's a good girl. Move along, please."

Charlotte stood firm.

"Right, that's it." And with that Mrs Andrews turned and headed back into the office which was in a small barn nearby.

A few minutes later, the sound of car wheels driving across the cobbled courtyard echoed through the stables. Both girls stopped and turned to see who it was.

The driver, nearly viable, sat on the driver's side and appeared to be on the phone. From where the girls stood, it was difficult for either of them to see who it was.

"Oh dear, I think that's the owner. I wonder if Apollo will be dog food by the end of the day?"

The anger inside Charlotte bubbled, and with every nasty thing, Lucie said about Apollo and with every time she called her Lottie, the more the fury grew. Her rage spewed through her clenched jaw, directly at Lucie, whom some would say had it coming!

"Seriously Lucie-loo, get stuffed. You spiteful, bitchy bastard. You don't give a fuck about Apollo, or Binkie or any of these horses. You're an evil spoiled Daddy's girl."

Lucie reached into the small front pocket of her white jodhpurs and pulled out a slip of paper which she handed to Charlotte.

"Here,'' she said, "the name and address of Apollo's new home. Take it."

Charlotte took the paper from her enemy's grasp. Carefully she began to unfold it. As she read the name of Apollo's new owner, the fury stirred within. Her heartbeat became louder and stronger. And with one single push, Lucie Andrews fell to the floor.

"Mr B Onio, 123 Pedigree Lane, Isle of Dogs!" Charlotte shouted as she tossed the paper back at Lucie, "you're sick! Sick! That's what you are. A sick thick bitch. You're nothing more than a poisonous c..."

A car door slammed shut. Heavy footsteps headed towards them.

"Charlotte Olivia Greyson!" A man shouted, "come here at once."

Charlotte peered over her shoulder. The look on her father's face said it all. She turned and walked towards him. Tears began to run from her eyes, and down her face. Mr Greyson waited, leaning against the BMW.

"Don't. Just don't. I don't ever want to hear you use that word again!" He shouted, "now just get in the car. We're going."

Charlotte walked with her head down, as she headed towards her father. He popped up the boot and placed her bike inside, before opening the back passenger side for his younger daughter. The car door opened, and both her sisters sat in the back, and her Mum sat next to her Dad in the front. As her father returned to the driver's seat, the door slammed shut.

On the drive out of the county of Cambridgeshire, the family sat in silence. Charlotte sighed and gazed out of the window as the countryside gradually gave way to the endless motorway of the A1, as they drove through several small towns as they headed towards the M1 which would take them to Scotland and on to their fresh start.