"He's not all that bad," Keanu says.

"You're his sister, of course you think that. And why can't you teach him to ride?"

"We've gone over this plenty of times," she says as Leo starts walking towards us from the house. We're out in the stables. He refused to wear any of the proper clothing except an old pair of my riding boots.

"Can you go put Poppy on the cross ties-- y'know what, I'll do it. You can speak to your brother," I say walking past Keanu. I push the block into the pen where he'll mount the horse.

This is not going to be fun.

I take Poppy out of the stable and clip him to the cross ties.

"Keanu, you want to muck the stalls or teach Leo to groom Poppy?"

"I'll muck. You have fun with Leo," she smiles as she walks into the stables.

"This is pathetic," Leo says.

I'm not entirely sure how they convinced him to do this. From what Keanu has described, he does what he wants, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't want this.

"I'm not exactly stoked about this either," I mutter. "Whatever. Today just watch me groom and tack Poppy and you can try next time."

He rolls his eyes when I say next time but I pretend to not of noticed. I start walking to where Poppy is and he follows.

"This," I say picking up a grey comb. "Is a curry comb. You use it in circular motion on the horse to loosen dirt and things from the horses fur." I finish brushing Poppy and pick up the hard-bristled brush. "This brush you just follow the direction of their fur."

Once I've finished doing all the grooming necessary I pick up the hoof pick to clean Poppy's hooves. "Don't stand directly behind the horse and if you are do not catch them by surprise."

"I'm not an idiot," he groans. His arms are crossed and he's leaning on a wooden beam, making it quite obvious he's not enjoying this. Well, at least he's listening.

"Sure, whatever just going over the basics."

Keanu walks past me with the wheel barrow full of horse poop.

Next I go and collect all the tack and work on tacking Poppy, making sure to explain all the steps to Leo.

Finally I grab the reigns from over Poppy's head and lead Poppy to the mounting block. I toss him my helmet before he gets onto the mounting block.

"You're going to grab both reigns with one hand. Putting your left foot in the stirrup you're going to swing your right leg over."

He looks at me like I'm crazy as he stands on the block holding the reigns.

"You won't fall, I'll make sure."

He sighs.

"What am I doing again?"

"With your left hand hold the reigns and a bit of the mane. Grab up high so you don't have slack in the reigns." I move towards him and adjust the reigns in his hands. "Now left foot in the stirrup."

He does so.

"Then grab the cantle-- uh just grab this part of the saddle." I point to the cantle of the saddle. Keanu joins us in the pen. "Now lean in and swing your right leg over the horse and into the stirrup into the other side."

He does as I say without falling and surprisingly, gracefully.

"The stirrups are so high up."

"Yes I know, you're on my saddle and I'm shorter then you," I mutter as I walk around to adjust the stirrups. "And your knees are supposed to be bent."

"Aw Leo look at you!" Keanu says as she walks up to us.

"Shut up Kea."

"Isn't he just the sweetest?" Keanu groans.

"Yes very fun to mentor," I smile to Keanu but the tone says it all.

"You two can continue to passive aggressively chat about me later but right now I'm sitting on an animal and I don't know what the fuck to do."

"I've got to practice with my tennis girls." Keanu ignores her brothers comment before kissing me. "See you around?"

She spins around, almost whipping me in the face with her ponytail.

"Idiot, stop watching her walk away and pay attention to me."

Needy twit.

When I turn around he looks so awkwardly sat. He's still clenching the reigns in his left hand and his feet aren't in the stirrups right. I sigh knowing that Keanu is off to tennis practice and I'm stuck with this brat.

"Let the reigns loose," I say as I walk back towards him. "Your thumbs will be pointed up, angled inward when you're holding them." I adjust the reigns in his hands then push his feet forward in the stirrups. "Keep the ball of your feet on the stirrup otherwise you'll lose them. Your heels should be towards the horse and your toes pointing out."

"Why does that matter?"

"Everything will matter. You squeeze your legs based on the speed you want the horse to go and things. You'll learn."

I grab the slack of the reigns and lead the horse away from the block.

"What are we going to do?"

"Not sure," I say. "Maybe we should start with you learning how to get the horse to move and stop."

The next hour and a half I spend teaching him basics. For a bit he doesn't seem to mind it but then he starts to get tired and crabby so we go through all the steps of dismounting the horse. All he does is complain about how sore his legs are.

"Keanu drove me here," he says once he's off and I begin to walk Poppy back to the cross ties. "Which means I'm stuck here till she's done tennis."

"That won't be till eight," I mumble under my breath. "I'll just drop you off. Go change I'll deal with Poppy."

He nods his head before walking away and complaining that his legs hurt the entire way. I take my time untacking Poppy.

"Glad that you're doing this son." I spin around to see my father in the doorway. He's all dressed to ride.

"I'm not," I say as I un clip the cross ties from Poppy's halter and turning him around by the lead and taking him to his stall.

"Yes but he seemed to actually pay attention and take an interest."

I turn around. "You were watching?"

"For a bit I came up to the fence and you didn't see me. You're a good teacher."

I nod my head and turn to grab Nano.

"You're riding Nano right?"

"Yes."

"You going on a trail ride?"

"Yeah."

"I'd join but I'm going to take Leo to Keanu's tennis practice because he has no ride and I'm not listening to him till eight."

"You going to practice with her?"

"No she won't let me because they're preparing for an important tournament. Plus she's with the girls."

"Hook up Nano to the cross ties," my dad says before disappearing into the tack room. I do as he says before shouting a goodbye and walking back to the house.

Leo sits on the stairs texting when I grab my keys.

"Ooh fancy, we get to go in the Porsche," he jokes.

"I might hit you with it if you don't shut up."

"No need, I think the god damn horse already killed me," he says as he stands up.

I roll my eyes before turning around and heading out to the car. Funny how I could love his sister but hate him so unbelievably much.

We both get in the car and I play Post Malone, in which he makes a snarky comment on my 'trashy music taste.'

"Why don't you go to Whitewater?" I ask out of curiosity.

"Because I don't like all you rich snobs," he says not even looking up from his phone.

"Funny how most people pretend to be rich yet you like to hide from it."

"I don't hide from it," he mutters. "I just don't bathe in diamonds and drive a Porsche."

I heavily contemplate breaking and watching him lunge forward into the dashboard, but I don't. Instead he puts in his air pods and ignores me. The rest of the ride is silent.

Finally we reach where Keanu likes to practice tennis. The two of us head out back to the court surrounded by trees and nature. Keanu loves it.

I watch for a bit but eventually get tired of Leo making snarky comments on things.