Chapter 7

Y/n's POV

- - - - - - - - - 


I walked into the house and grabbed the laundry basket filled to the top with dirty cloths. I walked out the back door and Tom trailed behind me like a lost puppy. I grabbed the soap and the hot water bucket and placed them down, "Okay. So let's get started." I stated.

"Uuuuh.... sorry but... how do I do this exactly?" Tom asked as he raised his eyebrows looking down at the dirty clothes and the soapy water. 

"Like this." I grabbed a hand full of clothes and put them in the soapy water. I picked up a t-shirt out of the soaking bundle and scrubbed it on the grains of the washing pallet. Tom picked up a shirt as well and began his attempt. 

"Am I doing this right?" He asked me. I sighed and shook my head. He huffed and dropped the shirt back into the water. I walked over to his side and picked up the shirt again.

"You just grab it like this, and you run it firmly across the grains. Here give me your hand." Tom gave me his hand and I moved it so that he had a firm grip on the shirt. I held onto the shirt as well as I moved it along the grains slowly. Tom seemed to understand how to do it and he started moving by himself. 

I realised how close we actually were and I stepped back and walked back to my side to start on a pair of pants. Watching Tom do chores was a bit of a funny sight. At first he would approach it slowly and try to do it but it looked so unnatural for him. But then eventually he would get the hang of it and he wouldn't look as awkward.

The key word there being 'as'. He noticed me looking at him with a funny expression, "What?" He whined, "Am I doing it wrong still?"

"No no." I smiled, "You just looked rather uncomfortable doing it that's all. It's quite amusing to watch." I laughed a little and he smiled at me annoyed.

"Well I'm not used to doing chores like this. Usually the servants handle these sorts of things." He explained and I nodded, "Not that servant are bad or anything!" He quickly added as if he thought the comment had offended me. To which I just laughed.

"I wasn't offended or anything. The thought didn't even cross my mind don't worry." I chuckled and his cheeks tinted pink.

"R-right. Sorry." He looked down and continued to focus on the shirt he was washing. There was a silence for a while until he spoke up again, "So uh, what are we going to do after the chores are done?"

"Well we were going to go riding if you wanted to join?" I told him and I saw as he visibly freeze.

"R-riding?" He repeated, "As in on a horse?" 


- - - - - - - - -

Tom's POV ((sorry for all the POV changes...))

- - - - - - - - - 


"No. On a cow." Y/n rolled her eyes and I looked down embarrassed. I had never gone riding before, "I can teach you if you want." Y/n clearly could read my thoughts. I opened my mouth to argue that I could do it perfectly well by myself but closed my mouth instead. Becasue if I was left to ride a horse by myself I would quite possible end up dead... "There's nothing to be ashamed of. It's fine if you need me to teach you. I taught Kay how to ride."

There was a silence until I sighed and nodded my head, "Can you teach me? Please?" I asked. She nodded her head and smiled at me again. I returned the smile gratefully, "I just hope your not a horrible teacher." I joked and y/n gasped in mock offence. She splashed me with a little water and I splashed her back.


- - - - - - - - -

Kay's POV

- - - - - - - - - 


I watched them as Jack and I stood at the window of my room inside, "He clearly fancys y/n." Jack grumbled.

"I know. We have to get rid of him. Y/n deserves way better then him"

"Exactly. He is rude, ignorant and he needs to go." Jack agreed. Y/n laughed at something Tom said and flicked some water at him. He laughed and did the same.

"What are we going to do if y/n ends up liking Tom too?" I asked worried. I could tell y/n certainly didn't mind Tom being around.

"I don't know. We can't let it come down to that...." There was a moment of silence as both of us tried to think of something we could do to get rid of Tom...

"That's it!" I chimed.

"What's 'it'?" Jack asked me.

"If we get y/n to hate Tom he'll be out of here straight away. Plus y/n won't like Tom if she hates him so that's both problems solved!" 

"That's brilliant!" Jack agreed. But then his expression changed, "But there's a problem. Y/n has never hated anyone. She always tries to be positive."

"Incorrect." I smiled, "She told us she hated that boy at her school because he was rude to her all the time. So it is possible..."

"But how do we get her to hate Tom..." another silence... "Oh! I've got it! What are the things y/n loves the most?" 

"Uh, us, the horses and... well she's loves everything here basically." I admitted and Jack sighed.

"Yeah. But. We can start with us and the horses. If Tom hurts us and the horses y/n will hate him! So we have to make him do that." Jack said with an evil smile. I returned it.

"Ok. Well we are going horse riding today... We could undo his girth strap and he'll fall off, the horse will run away and y/n will be furious!" I smiled and Jack nodded.

"Excellent. We will wait until neither of them are looking and we will sabotage Tom's horse- wait. Who is Tom going to ride? You ride cupcake, I ride cinnamon and y/n rides Missy." Jack gasped, "He can't ride Nightingale! That's fathers horse! Surely y/n won't let him ride father horse! Will she?" 

"No. Surely she wouldn't... there's no way she would trust Tom enough to do that. Right?" We both exchanged a look of concern.

"But there's no other way. That's the only horse he could ride... unless y/n let's him ride missy instead.... But she loves missy too..." 

"We'll just have to wait and see." I concluded and Jack nodded. Tom had to go.


- - - - - - - - -

Tom's POV

- - - - - - - - -


Y/n and I were hanging up the wet washed clothes together. Y/n cracked a funny joke about my hanging skills and I nudged her side. I loved this side of y/n. It was less of a responsible parent side and more of a normal teenager side. It seemed like she didn't show it that much.

"Okay that should be it." Y/n concluded as we finally finished, "Is there anything left?" She asked me with her back facing me. 

"Oh yeah." A cheeky smile grew on my face, "Just... here." I clipped a peg on y/n's back. She immediately realsied and turned to face me with a shocked expression. She reached back over her back and unclipped the peg.

"You little-" she clipped the peg in my hair.

"Hey!" I tried to get it out but it got stuck, "Y/n! It's stuck!" I whined. She just laughed at me before she brought my own hands away from my tangled hair and she fiddled with my hair to get the peg out.

"Well this will teach you to not peg me in the future Thomas." She quipped. I poked my tongue out at her and she laughed, "Stop wriggling. I can't get it if you don't stop moving genius." I stopped moving with a huff. I tired to ignore the bubbling feeling in my stomach as y/n played with my hair. 

She got the peg out and held it out in front of my face. Our faces were inches apart and I felt some heat prickle my cheeks. I stared into y/n's bright sparkling eyes as she stared into mine. I subconsciously began to lean forward. 

"Y/N!! IM HUNGRY CAN YOU MAKE ME SOME LUNCH!?" May yelled out suddenly making us both jump away from each other. 

"Sure Kay! Uh, j-just grab Jack and go into the kitchen!" Y/n called back. Kay didn't move at first until y/n raised her eyebrow at her because Kay was glaring at me intensely. Oh. She was watching us... I gulped nervously as Kay turned and ran off, "I bet your hungry too after all this." Y/n broke the silence.

"Oh uh yeah." I replied.

"Well how does toasted sourdough sandwiches sound?" Y/n asked and my stomach grumbled, "I'll take that as a yes for that then?" Y/n laughed. I nodded, still flustered from what happened before, "Great! Then after lunch we can sort out those riding lessons." Y/n smiled and we walked off back to the house.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked.

"Uh yeah sure. Can you cut slices of sourdough for the sandwiches?" Y/n asked me and I nodded, "Jack! Kay! Can you go out and pick some tomatoes?" Y/n called out.

"On it!" They both chimed. They passed y/n and I but not before giving me a very dirty look. Jack even shoved me with his shoulder a little as he walked passed.


- - - - - - - - -

Time skip to after lunch brought to you by those moments when you have to be nice to a person who you really would much rather throw a brick at... 🧱 👍🏻

- - - - - - - - -


Y/n collected the plates and left the table. I silently begged her not to leave me alone with Jack and Kay but unfortunately I am not psychic. So she walked back to the kitchen. The moment she was out of the room I turned to see Kay and Jack giving me death looks.

"What is your problem with me?" I finally asked.

"What is our problem with you!?" Jack burst, "Gee I wonder, maybe it's because you are arrogant, rude and horrible to y/n!" 

"Okay. I made a huge mistake last night. It wasn't fair to y/n. And I really am sorry for it. It won't happen again." I admitted.

"What do you want? A medal saying 'I'm great at apologies'?" Jack growled.

"No. I don't. I just want you to forgive me." I sighed.

"Fat chance." Kay spoke up, "And don't think we can't see the way you look at y/n either."

"What?" I tried to cover it up.

"Don't actual dumb with us." Jack grumbled, "We aren't stupid." 

"There is no 'way' I am looking at her." I lied...

"Yeah right." Jack snapped, "You better stay away from her or else." I got a sudden burst of confidence.

"Or else what?" I replied to which Jack retracted a little. He quickly regained his confidence.

"I'll tell you what we'll do-" At that y/n came back in to the dining room. She picked up the cutlery.

"Is there anything I can do?" I asked. Y/n smiled at me.

"No. It's fine thank though." She turned around, "Oh by the way if I were the three of you I would talk louder. I don't think China can hear you." At that, we all lost colour in our face and fell silent. Not a moment later y/n came back out, "Alright Tom, let's get you on a horse." She stated. She walked out beconing me to follow and I obeyed.

We walked out the door and down the steps out to the stable, "Uh, who am I riding?" I asked. Y/n stopped for a moment before turning to face me.

"Uh, I was thinking maybe you would like to ride... Nightingale?" 

"Wha- Nightingale? Seriously?" I asked shocked. Nightingale was her father's horse. Is she seriously just letting me ride him!?

"Well yeah. I mean he seems to like you by what I could tell. And he is a very good horse. He's easy to control and would be really good for you to ride if you want to?" She checked and she seemed a little nervous and I could see a little bit of uncertainty on her face.

"That would be great. But are you sure?" I asked, "I mean she was...." I didn't want to finish the sentence in case y/n might get offended. Y/n nodded slowly as she guessed what I was going to say.

"It would also be good for her. Because if you ride her then I don't have to balance riding her and missy at once so you'd me helping me out too." She added and I smiled.

"Ok then uh sure." I nodded and she got out some kind of tied rope thing and put it over Nightingales face. To which I ended up looking like a bridle. She brought her out and tied one end of the rope on a loop of another rope that was attracted to a post. She got out some brushes which confused me, "Umm I thought we were riding?" I was confused.

"Yeah. We are. But the horses love it when we give them a brush first. Get some hair and dust off them. She began to brush Nightingale's neck and I saw the dust coming off, "Do you want to try?" I didn't answer because I was sort of looking at y/n the whole time and not paying attention, "Come on. It's pretty easy." 

I walked up to her and she gave me the brush. She grabbed my hand with hers and showed me how to do it. She moved my hand to bush Nightingale's neck. The contact making heat rush to my cheeks and I felt really nervous. Y/n let go of my hand and let me brush the rest of Nightingale. Y/n in the meantime, grabbed a weird looking hook sort of thing and clicked her tongue when she was sliding her hand down to the horses leg to her hoof.

In response, Nightingale shifted her weight and brought up her hoof. Y/n held it and supported it's weight on her knee as she used the weird hook to clean out a 'V' in the horse hoof. I hadn't realised but while I was watching y/n I had stopped brushing. She looked up at me.

"If you're finished with that side you can start on the other." She told me a little suspicious. I sheepishly nodded and paused for a moment. I walked all the way to the other wall to go around the horse, "What are you doing?" 

"I'm going to start on the other side." I answered.

"I meant why are you all the way over there?" She gestured to he being as far away from the horse as possible. She sighed and placed Nightingale's hoof down gently, "Come here." She instructed and I walked to her side, "If you are going around a horse and you don't want them to kick you, you place your hand on their hindquater like this and you slide your hand around still on it as you walk very closely to the horse."

She demonstrated, "But won't it kick you from there?" I asked.

"First off Nightingale wouldn't kick you if you threw a ball at her. Second, this way is actually better then walking like you were before. It makes sure that she knows you are there so you can't startle her or anything." She told me. She came back around and gestured for me to try. I gulped nervously and hesitantly but retracted when Nightingale moved suddenly and scared me. Y/n huffed and just grabbed my hand, "Don't be scared. She won't hurt you."

She placed my hand on the horses side and I stiffened, still waiting for the horse to do something but nothing happened. I let out a dry chuckle and y/n took her hand off mine. She walked around the horse from the back, sliding her hand around as she did, "So she won't kick or anything?" I double checked.

"No." Y/n rolled her eyes, "Come on. Nothing will happen." She urged me to go and I slowly followed her movements. I closed my eyes as I was right behind the horse and silently begged I wouldn't get kicked. I opened my eyes when nothing happened and stood next to y/n, "See. Nothing to be scared about." 

A few minutes later, Nightingale was fully saddled and ready to ride. Y/n grabbed the reigns and walked Nightingale out of the stable into a round ring sort of thing with had a wooden fence bording it. I stayed outside the fence and climbed up to look over the top, "Hey what is this thing?" I asked.

"It's called a round yard." Y/n replied to me as she swiftly raised a foot and put it into a metal thing and kicked off the ground with the other, swinging her leg over as she did so and landing on the horse saddle. I smiled as I heard her click her tongue and the horse slowly began to move to a fast paced walk, "Okay. So first order of business. You need to hold the reigns firmly in your hands but not pull it on them unless you need to stop of reverse. You need to keep them slack."

I listened as she continued, "These horses are very well trained and are quiet when needed so you don't have to kick them horribly to get them going. You can just click your tongue or just squeeze your legs to apply pressure like this..." She clicked her tongue and nightingale picked up her pace to a trot. Y/n rose and sat in the saddle continuously as she matched the horses strides.

"What are you doing?" I asked, referring to her movements.

"Its called a rising trot. You don't need to know exactly how to do it at first but other wise trotting is rather uncomfortable if you don't. Other wise you can just sit in the saddle. Now. If you need to stop you sit in the saddle and softly pull on the reigns. While saying 'whoo'." She said it calmly and Nightingale slowed to a walk and then a stop, "Ok come on in." 

"Huh?" I raised my eyebrows.

"I said come on in." I climbed down the fence and walked through the gate into he round yard. Y/n lent forward and swiftly brought her leg over from the other side and landed gracefully on the ground, "Come on." She waved me over and I walked over to her, "Okay so you just lift up your foot and put it in the stirrup here. Then you just grab the reigns. Do not pull on them or anything. It's just to stop the horse from walking forward or something when you try to get on. Then you push off the ground firmly and pull yourself up onto the saddle and swing your leg to the other side." She said simply.

"Seems easy enough." I muttered as y/n stepped away for me to get on.

"Just another thing. Don't push off the ground so hard that you fall over the other side." She added, and I nodded, "I will hold Nightingale too to stop her from walking." Y/n added as she stood in front of Nightingale and stroked her face. I tried bringing my foot up but I couldn't get it high enough. I kept trying and trying until I was just able to put it in the metal stirrup. I grabbed the reigns and went to jump up. I ended up failing miserably as my foot slipped out of the stirrup so I collided with the saddle, "Uh would you like any help?".

"No. No." I declined, "I can do this." I said mainly to myself as a pep talk. I raised my foot again with difficulty and put it in the metal loop. I bounced on the ground a couple of times before hoisting myself up... and straight over the other side...

"Tom!" Y/n gasped and ran to me. Nightingale didn't move an inch. She just stood there like nothing happened, "Are you alright!?" I groaned in response. The sand in the round yard really didn't help to soften the blow, "Tom are you hurt or anything?" She asked me worriedly.

"No. No. I'm fine." I groaned again as I sat up,  "That hurt quite a lot."  I smiled sarcastically and y/n laughed.

"Yeah for the first couple of times, it is defenetally a little difficult." Y/n agreed. She suddenly creased her eyebrows together and looked at my chin worriedly.

"What?" I asked her.

"Your chin is bleeding." She bit her lip and chewed it. She raised her hand and placed it on the bottom of my check near my chin and gently tilted my face up to examine the scrape, "We should probably go inside and clean it up." She went to stand but I stopped her.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine it's just a scratch. I'm not giving up here until I get on that horse." I said stubbornly and y/n hesitated until she nodded. She stood up and I followed. I walked back over to the horse and put my leg in the stirrup. After two more failed attempts I finally made it onto the saddle, "Yes!" I cheered and y/n laughed.

"Awesome. So now all you need to do, is just put your other foot into the other stirrup on that side too." She told me and I slipped my foot in the metal. Y/n grabbed a long rope from the side of the round yard and clipped one end onto Nightingale's bridle, "This is just so that I can control how far you go and keep you under control. Okay?" She informed me and I nodded. She handed me a helmet and I clipped it on.

"Okay. Let's do this." I breathed in and out as I suddenly felt very high off the ground from on top the large horse. Y/n clicked her tongue and Nightingale moved forwards. The sudden action making me yelp a little and I gripped onto the reigns.

"Careful there. Do not pull on those unless you need to stop other wise all sorts of things can happen." Y/n said firmly. I relaxed my grip in the reigns as I continued around in a circle. I began to feel fairly comfortable in the saddle after a couple of minutes, "Do you think you are ready to trot?" Y/n's voice voice brought me out of my peaceful mind set.

"W-what? Trot?" I asked a little alarmed.

"Don't worry it's not as scary as you think. Just pick up a little of the slack in the reigns, sit firmly in the saddle and squeeze your legs into the saddle and click your tongue." y/n told me. I gulped before sitting down firmly and applying pressure inwards on the saddle while I clicked my tongue. Immediately Nightingale's ears perked a little and she quickened her pace to a bumpy trot. I stiffened and gripped onto the reigns firmly while still being careful not to pull on them.

"Is it meant to be this bumpy?" My voice went up and down to the horses strides.

"Yeah. You're doing great." Y/n complimented and I felt a little more confident, "I'll teach you the rising trot after this. That way you don't feel like your brain is getting knocked around in your skull." She laughed and I returned it.

After what must have been at least another hour of riding, Y/n said that I should be ready for the ride this afternoon. She called Jack and Kay to come and saddle up their horses as y/n saddled Missy. I stood there and talked to y/n the whole time and patted Nightingale.


A/N: ooooo I wonder what's gonna happen when Kay and Jack go forth with their plan hey? 😈 Anyway. Thank you so much for all the views this book is getting! I was sorta working on this instead of my other book..... oops. Anyway sorry I haven't updated in ages I was just trying to come up with a good story line while also writing five other fanfics and doing school work and homework AND archery so imma busy girl. Soz.

Let me know what you guys think of the story so far!

Ok byeeeee.

#1robinhood out!

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top