Qibli finished the couple chords, the tune fading out as he looked up with surprise, finally noticing Abby when she spoke. "Oh- uh- din't see you there!" He exclaimed, scrambling upright. Qibli hated being easily startled... but he had been so caught up in the song he didn't really pay attention to his surroundings. "Thanks... I'm not the best- I just like to.. play in my free time." Qibli answered, his voice quiet once again. Even in his exclamation he was still quieter than most people speaking.

Abby felt bad for interrupting Qibli, but it was too late to take it back now. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you..." Abby apologized, looking around at the empty grounds. "You might not be the best, but you're better than me. You do not want to hear me sing." Abby almost laughed. What was wrong with her?! "Yeah. hey, isn't it practice time? Why aren't you practicing?" She asked, trying not to be rude.

Oliver walked into the barn with a huff and if she could have it a storm would be brewing above her head. She lead Ace over to the crossties, unbridling the mare and tieing her up to them. She could just not for the life of her get over what happened in the arena. Yes, she was made at the instructor about the whip but know she was more mad at herself for using it and getting Ace stressed along with startled over a simple thing. As Oliver started to untack the mare, she slowly started to calm down -Well... Ace is fine now so stop being so hotheaded and breathe for a moment- She scolded herself in thought, grabbing Ace's groom box she gave the mare I quick brush down before clipping the lead rope on and taking her off the crossties. "Well it's practice time girl... How about we just go 'practice' our liberty work in the arena, what do you say?" She asked Ace with a small smile before leading the mare out of the barn and over to one of the empty arenas. Oliver closed the gate, locking it then unclipped the leadrope from the mare. Who surprisingly stayed right by herside "Huh... I guess you did remember our liberty work" She said with a small pleased tone and a laugh to match. Oliver walekd around the arena with Ace following her for a few moments before she spotted a few jump blocks and poles in the corner, making her way over she grabbed two jump standards then took them to the middle of the arena. She then went back over grabbed two poles and dragged them back over. With the stuff she grabbed she put the two jump standards on the lowest level and then set the poles up as a crossrail. Oliver looked over at Ace who had wandered off by then before turning back to the jump and getting some distance away from it. She then took off running and with ease jumping over it then she raised the jumps moving over to verticals and repeated the process until the jump was up to her chest. Oliver did the same thing once more, getting distance between the jump then taking off again, as she went to sail over the jump her back foot had not gone high so it got caught on the pole, knocking it over and causing her to stumble her landing before face planting into the dirt. Her confidence face planted right with her as she laid for a second before rolling over and sitting up in the sand rubbing her nose which had started to bleed a tiny bit. Oliver looked around for a moment seeing if anyone had seen her do that, beside Ace who was just giving her a wide stare as if she was the stupidest human in the world.

Jade woke up. It's was early in the morning but she still felt as if it had been a good sleep. With a yawn, Jade got out of bed and brushed her teeth and combed her long black hair, tying it into a ponytail.

She thought about Tornado. She would check on him. If he was awake then maybe they could go for a ride?

Slowly walking into the stables, being careful not to wake any still sleeping horses, Jade reached Tornado's. The brown stallion was awake and a little skittish. Jade decided it was because he had too much energy. After letting him eat and drink, Jade put on his tack and led him out.

"Ok, ready T? It's just a little ride." Jade jumped up onto his back and Tornado began at a walk. Slowly he began to speed up untill he was running fast. Jade lowered herself in her seat. "Okay boy, slow down now. Slow down"

At first, Tornado carried on galloping. Then he slowed down to a stop. He neighed and tossed his mane. Jade got off and Tornado bit off a few stalks of grass and began chewing. Jade laughed quietly and patted his neck, pulling out a carrot with her empty left hand. "So have you made any friends yet, Tornado? I haven't so I suppose I wish I had some of your luck." With a tiny sigh, Jade crouched down and fiddled with her laces.

Qibli visibly relaxed as Abby spoke, now just a little embarrassed. His singing was bad, and his playing skills were just as bad- and those paired together? Egh. "Oh it's fine, I need to pay closer attention to my surroundings. I was zoned out." He answered with a small smile. "Oh phsaw, I'm sure you have a beautiful voice compared to whatever I call singing." He snorted slightly, tilting his head a little with a cringe at her question. "We-eell..." Qibli trailed off before letting out a breath. "I'm not practicing because my ribs are killing me. I know I shouldn't have been riding, but I couldn't stay away from my horse for that long. I'm feeling the consequences now, and decided I'd better skip practice before I can't breath." He explained with a slight downcast look, his grey eyes falling to he ground. "Not to be rude, but why are you not riding? Are your injuries bugging you as well?" He asked tenatively.

"It's fine." Abby said, "I do that too." Abby couldn't believe what Qibli was saying. He had a great voice! At least, it was better than hers. "No, I keep telling you, I'm horrible - H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E - at singing. You've got to listen to me." Abby paused as Qibli said why he wasn't riding. "Yeah. I don't know, I've been feeling out of sorts recently. After I left Rose tied to the post... I never do that!" She still was confused about why she had not thought about Rose when she had left her outside in the sun. then something hit her. Abby's cheeks burned. Now she knew why she was feeling weird. It wasn't her injury... It was Qibli. Abby looked at the ground. She felt a tear roll down her cheek. She had never wanted her mother this much in her entire life. Abby wiped the tear from her cheek. "I have to go..." She sniffled, not looking at Qibli. Abby stumbled off, hoping Qibli wouldn't follow her.

Qibli nodded slightly, then chuckled a little. "I think we are both underestimating ourselves." He pointed out, then sighed a little. "Agreed... it is difficult." He commented, then his eyebrows furrowed slightly as Abby went from normal to... well... hostile and obviously sad. He opened his mouth to say something when she ran away. "Abby-" Qibli started to say, but she was too far away. "What did I do this time? Good night, why can't I get anything right-" He growled to himself, grabbing his guitar and stalking inside. Going into his dorm, Qibli wiped off the instrument and carefully placed it in its case, clicking the clasps shut and tucking it away. With a groan and sat on the bed and buried his head in his hands, wincing as pain throbbed through his chest. "First I was too kind and I spent too much time outside reading books, so my parents sent me to a therapist. Then I was too weird and irregular in school so I got bullied. Now I don't even know what I'm doing wrong, and all I seem to do is hurt people and fail to make friends. Does nothing ever work? Maybe I just need to become like most other people- rude, selfish, loud, and annoying!" He mumbled to himself.

(Sorry I haven't replied in so long)

-

Abby tropmed to the stable to get Rose ready for her third class, Cross-Country 3. As she trudged along the cement path, she thought about what had just happened. She felt so bad for leaving Qibli like that, but the feeling that had come over her was one she had never felt before, and she couldn't explain it. Abby got to the stable and found Rose sticking her head over the door and looking to the stall at her right, the stall where West, Qibli's horse, was.

-

Rose was talking to West when Abby came in. 'What's your next class? Oh, look, here comes Abby. I wonder what she's been up to, she looks a little strange...' Rose said to West, trailing off at the end of her sentence.