Free The Auditions by Stacy Gregg

Brampton.
    “Really?” Lily had been surprised when Georgie mentioned this. “Name one thing that you’ll miss.”
    “The pies at Thelma’s bakery,” Georgie told her, “and the cream buns they sell in the school caff. Oh, and baked beans and Marmite–they don’t have them in America.”
    “Have you noticed,” Lily said tartly, “thateverything you’ve listed so far is food?”
    The news that Georgie was leaving to go to boarding school in America was the talk of Little Brampton High School. Suddenly everyone was paying her attention. Lily just about hit the roof when she saw that Julie Jenkins, who sat beside Georgie in maths, had actually written the letters BFF inside a giant pink heart on Georgie’s maths book!
    “Best friends forever?” Lily boggled. “It should say VVA–Very Vague Acquaintance!”
    It was weird. Girls that had never bothered to speak to Georgie before were stopping her in the hallways and telling her how much they’d miss her and imploring Georgie to write them emails and keep in touch. How could they miss her, she wondered, when they had barely noticed she was there in the first place?
    Georgie was beginning to realise that, apart from Lily and Lucinda and her dad, she wouldn’t really miss anyone much in Little Brampton. She had spent her whole life in this village, and yet somehow she had never really felt like she belonged here. It was as if herreal life was somewhere else, waiting for her to arrive so that it could finally begin.
    For the past week she had stuck her head in the sand about what she was going to do with Tyro. But she knew Lucinda was right. He would be bored at the riding school. And yet she couldn’t bear the thought of selling him. Who could possibly understand and love him as much as she did?
    She had said her goodbyes to Lily at the crossroads and was walking alone down the lane when the realisation hit her. She raced straight to the phone when she got in. She checked the list of phone numbers in her diary and then dialled, holding her breath and waiting anxiously until someone picked up at the other end. “Hello?” Georgie said. “It’s Georgie. I’m phoning because I’ve made a decision. I’m selling Tyro.” she hesitated, “and I want you to buy him.”
    Two days later, Georgie stood in Tyro’s stall and watched as the sleek grey Range Rover pulled up outside Lucinda’s stables. At the sight of the emptyhorse trailer being towed behind it her hands subconsciously clasped tighter around Tyro’s halter. When Olivia and Mrs Prescott stepped out of the Range Rover, Georgie stayed in the stall with Tyro. In the end, Lucinda had to come and get her.
    “There you are!” Lucinda gave Georgie a gentle smile. “Have you got him ready?”
    Georgie nodded. She’d been at the stables since seven that morning. She’d groomed the black pony for a solid hour, oiling his hooves and pulling his mane. Then she’d dressed him in his best travelling blanket, a lightweight tartan rug, and Velcroed on his padded floating boots so that he was all ready to be loaded on to the trailer.
    Tyro had been to so many horse shows he knew what this routine meant. He was dressed to go somewhere and now he had an air of anticipation about him. What he didn’t know was that this time there was no show. He would be taking this trip without Georgie and he would not be returning.
    “You’d probably hate it in Lexington, anyway,” Georgie told the black pony as she brushed his prettyface, smoothing down his long forelock. “All the horses will have American accents!”
    Tyro nickered as if he had got the joke and nudged Georgie with his muzzle, looking for carrots in her pockets. They had their own ways of communicating, she and Tyro. In three years, their bond had become so strong.
    “Come on,” Lucinda said gently, “leave him here for a moment and say hi to Olivia and her mum.”
    When Georgie had phoned Olivia two days ago and offered to sell her the black Connemara,