A rather average sized, blonde junior walked slowly into the quiet, familiar stable. She had been here many, many times before, and was eager to get out and ride again. Of course, she had ridden quite a bit when she went home for the summer, yet being back at the school was completely different. It was a different atmosphere, different horses. She couldn't exactly explain it well, but it felt good to be back.

Blair Malcolm moved down the rows of stalls until she found the horse she was looking for. Its name was Gracie, a rather small bay saddlebred. She smiled as she slowly opened the stall door and stepped inside, sliding a blue halter over the mare's head. This horse had gotten her though so much. Her freshman year, before she had made any friends, she would come out here a lot. It reminded her of home, and after a rather difficult day at the academy she was very greatful for this stable.

Blair ran a brush over the horses back slowly, and eventually finished grooming her. She then went and got the tack, placing the saddle pad and saddle on first, tighting up the girth, then slipping on the bridle. She moved her hands slowly while putting the bridle on. The mare was head shy. She had made some progress at the end of Blair's sophomore year, yet she seemed to have gotten worse over the summer. The junior was patient, and eventually got the bridle on successfully.

"Are we going to find some pictures today Grace?" Blair had her camera slung across her sholder. She wouldn't want to find the perfect shot and not have her camera with her. She was majoring in photography, and it showed clearly. She loved taking pictures and hardly ever left her camera at home. She did wish she had someone to ride with today though, it got slightly lonely when she was all alone.

Sky wandered out onto the yard from the tack-room. He had a western saddle over one shoulder, intending to take out Rocky, his own horse. His father had managed to find Rocky locally even though he was or a breed native to America. The horse had been used to the English saddle, but Sky had been training him with the Western for a few weeks now. He was hoping that as soon as Rocky became comfortable with it, he might even be able to perform a few stunts on him.

He noticed a girl on Gracie and smiled, she was obviously a student and a competent rider, as he knew Grace was more than a little head-shy.

'Hey.' He called, his refined Brooklyn accent apparant in the word, 'if you're taking her over the park be careful as the ground is a little soft.'

Blair had jumped up on the small bay mare and smiled ever so slightly. She loved that horse. It was just such a sweet little mare. Blair patted Gracie's neck, then turned her to head out over to the park. She then asked her to whoa when she heard a voice behind her. She turned the horse around to face the source of the voice, which turned out to be a boy whom appeared to be from America, though she couldn't be positive.

"Ohh, okay. Thanks," she said with a warm smile. It was always better to be warned before hand then ending up walking into something you normally wouldn't. The blonde junior noticed that the boy had a western saddle over his arm, and figured he was going to go out for a ride.

"Hey do you want to come on a ride with me? I mean, if your not doing anything else. It gets a bit lonely out there," Blair said. Her gray eyes watched the boy and wondered if he would accept her invitation. She hoped so. Talking to Gracie was fine, but after a while it just helped to get a response.

'Sure. I was going out anyway.' He crossed to where Rocky was stood waiting patiently and fixed the saddle. He was used to tacking up horses and put the saddle on with practiced ease. Bounding up onto the horse's back he moved to join the girl and Grace.

'This is Rocky and I'm Sky.' He smiled. 'Sky Masterson, and yeah, before you ask, I was named after the character in Guys and Dolls. My mom is a big Musical fan, when she married my dad I'm sure it was just for his surname.' He laughed. 'So I guess you go to Finesse?' His eyes settled on the camera for a second. 'Photography? Very cool.'

Blair walked her horse around a little bit while she waited for the boy to join her. She would have let Gracie eat if it had not been for the bridle, so she just stuck to walking around the small yard. She was glad this kid had agreed to go with her. She loved meeting new people and getting new friends. You could never have enough people to hang out with.

Blair listened to the boy talk and smiled to herself. So he was a talker. That wasn't such a bad thing. Blair liked to talk, and always felt bad when she did most of the talking in conversations with other people. She felt like she should let the other person talk, yet they never would. So she liked talkative people.

"Well it's nice to meet you Sky. I'm Blair, and yea, I am a photography student at Finesse. Do you go to the school?" Blair asked. She hadn't seen him around the school at all, and he seemed to old to be a freshman. It could be possible that he was new this year, yet he seemed to know a lot about the school and even about the places around London.

Blair looked at Sky's horse and smiled slightly. She had never seen this horse be ridden before, yet knew him all the same. She knew just about all the horses at the stables, saying she had spent so much time there, just to get away and such. She loved to see the horses under saddle though. They were usually completely different animals, either for the better or worse.

Sky smiled as Blair listened to him ramble on. He'd never really known when to say a little and when to say a lot. But the name thing always had to be said up front. It saved a lot of time for the other person trying to remember where they'd heard it before.

'Oh, I'm not a student. I just know a few of you guys come down here and use the stables. I work here, but haven't for long, flew back in from Brooklyn a couple of months ago.'

Sky fell silent as he guided Rocky down a familiar track across the park. The horse knew where they were going as well as he did, so he needed little encouragement. The western saddle was proving to be a hit too, seeming to allow the animal more movement. He really did think that withing the next week or so Rocky would be ready for a few stunts.

'So I take it you ride quite often. Do many of your friends go riding too?'

Blair nodded slightly as she allowed Gracie to simply stay in step with the other horse. She hardly had to guide, saying her little saddlebred not only knew where they were going, but also would probably just follow the other horse if she could. Horses were herd animals, and most liked to stay near their own kind. Gracie was no exception.

But that was probably the reason that she had never seen Sky around before. He did not go to the school, and he had not been working at the stables for long. It made sense.

"Yea, I do ride a lot," Blair said with a smile. "But no, hardly any of my friends actually ride, and those who do only come when I force them." Blair sighed slightly. She had figured out long ago that most people who go to a performing arts school wouldn't be that interested in walking through animal crap or getting covered with mud. Blair, on the other hand, loved it. She didn't mind getting dirty, and she loved animals too. Plus, they were the perfect companions when going out (and not wanting to walk) for hours for a nice little photoshoot.

"How about you? Do you have many friends around here that ride with you?"

Sky bit his lower lip as he thought for a moment. If truth be known Blair was the first person other than Archie that had shown any kind of interest in him. He hadn't thought about it before, but he really didn't know anybody here, aside from the horses of course. Back home he had a large circle of friends, but they were the other side of the Atlantic now. His brother Jet had found it easy to be on his own, to up-sticks and move on. For Sky it was a little more difficult.

'I don't really have any friends here yet. I keep myself busy with the horses. Then I go home. Doesn't really leave much time for socialising.' He laughed. 'There's a teacher that comes down quite often. Archie Newton, he takes Writing and Drama I think. You know the tall dark bay warmblood at the yard? Anduril, he belongs to him. Me and Rocky go out with them occasionally.'

Blair nodded as she listened to the boy speak. She knew of the teacher, though didn't know the man had a horse. A warmblood at that, Anduril. Yes, she had seen that horse many times, and warmbloods were usually hard to forget, saying they are pretty large animals. Blair laughed to herself when she imagined Anduril next to Gracie, the small little saddlebred. Gracie wasn't quite classified as a pony, though she was smaller than most of the other horses at the stables. The warmblood would tower over her.

"Yea, I understand," Blair said when he had finished. "These horses don't tend to leave a lot of party time." The junior laughed a bit as she patted the mare's neck. "I have never had Mr. Newton for a teacher, though I have seen him around the school. He seems like a pretty nice man." Blair wasn't exactly sure about what classes he taught. She, of course, took the photography classes and a few acting classes, as that was her minor. He probably taught some other major, though she might have just never had him. That was possible. There were many teachers at Finesse.

'He's not like any teacher I've ever known.' Sky smiled slightly, remembering his slightly uptight teachers at High School. 'Then again I suppose its a different environment at Finesse. Its no ordinary High School is it?'

Sky concentrated on where they were going for a moment, the ground seemed to be getting softer and he wanted their path to be as easy as possible. He couldn't think of anything else to say really, feeling certain that the girl wouldn't want his life history or anything like that. He frowned slightly, wishing he was a little more like Jet. His twin never seemed to find conversations difficult.

'So were you going to take some pictures while you were out today? I don't want to hold you up if that's what you wanted to do.'