Hers by right

[Elizabeth Toman]

Libby stalked into the Blue common room, rubbing her hip and hoping that she hadn't done any serious damage during the stupid photo shoot that day. Yes, she attended a horse boarding school, but that didn't mean she had to stand on hay bales to promote some stupid pair of boots. Her decision to accept the sponsorship from the footwear company could possibly have been a bad one, but since the fiasco right before summer vacation had left her in a bit of a sticky place with her sponsors.

Walking over to the kitchenette, she grabbed the ice-pack out of the fridge/freezer and headed over to the main chair in the room and dropped down into it. She smirked as she made herself comfortable. This chair was centre-point in the room and gave her the feeling of being a throne, and she would happily remain here. After all, her plan this year was to let everyone know that she was the one who ruled the school, not the silly bimbo who led the cheerleaders.

Moving slightly onto her side, she moved the skirt she was wearing up, possibly revealing an indecent amount of thigh, but right now she didn't care as she placed the ice on the bruise that was already forming and she could just imagine the reaction of their gym coach in the morning, or the reaction from her fellow gymnasts. She also wasn't worried about the amount of thigh shown because she was wearing her leotard under the clothes she had on.

She grabbed the remote and turned the television on, flicking through the channels. She hissed in frustration as there was nothing on worth watching and finally settled for the Disney channel and threw the remote away from her.

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

Khalid walked into the common room carrying a bag of dried apricots. He stopped short upon hearing the tv. He was used to common room being fairly empty or only having one or two quiet occupants. He watched the screen for a few moments before grabbing a Coke from the fridge. Disney channel? Really? Though, it did occur to him that he had never watched the Disney channel in English. He opened the foil bag of dried fruit without really caring how much noise he was making.

Curious as to the occupant of the cushioned "throne", Khalid made his way around the side and nearly dropped his drink and snack. Never in his entire life had he seen so much exposed leg on a woman. Even the expatriates in Doha dressed modestly, and the local women wore abayas. He forced himself to not stare and instead focus on enjoying his apricots.

"Disney channel, huh. My eight-year-old sisters watch that."

He wore a brown wool thobe without the agal and gutra. The style was fairly casual without a collar and no cuff links. His Bvlgari watch made of white gold and alligator skin with diamonds was on display for all to see. A black and gold Parker pen stuck out of the breast pocket. For Khalid, this was the equivalent of wearing pajamas or sweatpants and a t-shirt around the house. He forced himself to watch the tv screen and not gawk at how much more skin American girls seemed comfortable showing.

[Elizabeth Toman]

Either there was a chance that Libby didn't hear another person enter the common room, or she didn't care, but she didn't bother to pull the skirt down as she kept the ice on her leg.

She looked up and lifted her perfectly shaped eyebrows at the comment on the channel. "The remote is right there." She said with a nod toward where she had thrown it. "If you are too much of a man to watch it, by all means change the channel and watch a mature doco."

She giggled as she continued to watch him through her lashes. "If you're worried about how I look now, I advise you not to leave your room before lunchtime in the warmer months." After all, she knew she wasn't the only gymnast to not bother about a tracksuit over her leotard when the weather grew warmer. She removed the ice pack and frowned at the bruise that was steadily forming, grounding her teeth as she thought about locating Serenity and asking the other gymnast if she had anything that she cold put on it to make the ugly mark fade faster. Yes, she could put make-up over it, but that would be pointless when in the gym and she was all hot - and she could imagine the reaction from their coach should she get concealer on his precious gym equipment.

She slid off the chair and walked over to the fridge to return the ice pack. Taking a bottle of water from the fridge, she walked back to her chair and sat down again, with one leg tucked under her, she turned her complete attention to the boy. "I'm Libby." She all but purred, holding back any insulting comment she had been tempted to call him.

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

Even though he could see the remote, Khalid didn't make an effort to change the channel. He was curious as to what American Disney was like as much as it would horrify his parents. They were the conservative Muslims who enforced a policy of no drugs, music, dancing, Western fiction, and anything that didn't conform with the Qu'ran or hadith and sunnah. The women had their part of the house while the men had theirs, and common areas were treated almost like public spaces. Some of Khalid's friends had parents who were more relaxed about the legal parts of Islam, but certainly gender mixing was kept under careful control.

"Do girls not know how to dress appropriately in public?"

The question was a genuine inquiry. Even in the scorching heat of the summer days, everyone covered up appropriately. It was not uncommon to see women dressed in a black abaya and niqab walking down the street just after noon prayers. Men wore white cotton thobes with plenty of ventilation. With daytime temperatures regularly in the thirties Celsius, Khalid couldn't imagine how American women weren't able to dress modestly and not die of heat exhaustion.

"Khalid. I'm a transfer student from Qatar."

He held his drink and snack in one hand, placed his right over his heart and bowed slightly. It always took a conscious reminder that Westerners expected to be greeted in return. Khalid thought she was incredibly pretty and extremely tempting. In Qatar, he would have said nothing f he so much as thought her beauty would tempt him to sin. So long as there was no physical contact (and shaking hands with women felt like some violation of personal space anyway), he could keep his thoughts under control.

[Elizabeth Toman]

Libby couldn't help the giggle that escaped at his question. "My advice, never go to California." She advised with a grin. "I'm the captain for the women's gymnastics team, and I'm not the only gymnast in this House. In the summer when it's warm enough to not have to wear a tracksuit, it's just sometimes easier to run to the gym without, makes one less thing the shuck when we get to the studio." She shrugged as though it was nothing, and to her it wasn't. There again though, she knew that there was no chance of him seeing any skin on at least one of the other two girls on her floor on the squad, and she didn't know Gavriila well enough to know if she always wore her tracksuit too and from the gym or not... basically she didn't care enough to notice. "I don't normally dress like this, I had a photo thing going on."

She bowed her head in return as he introduced himself. "You are a long way away from home." She commented, her tone still a purr, as she adjusted the way she was sitting so that both legs were tucked up on the chair, though it brought a hiss from her lips as she moved her sore hip to a point that it hurt, but she quickly shook it off. It was no more than a warning that she would need to do some serious work before she headed to the studio. Though she once again silently cursed the stupid photographer. "What brings you to my school?"

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

Khalid forced back a grimace. What was with Westerners and gymnastics? Not to mention, this was a riding academy where people rode horses and trained to compete at the highest level and win. It seemed odd to him that people whose passions weren't horses bothered with attending the school. He also realized that if he hadn't met Liana first, he would likely be sending a very annoyed email to his father asking to go home. After all, how was he expected to become the best and practice against his future competition if no one took riding seriously?

He could only offer a sympathetic smile at the comment about a photo shoot. It was oddly nice to know that they were just as unbearable in America as they were in Qatar. Khalid shifted a bit so that there would be no danger of accidentally having feet pointed in his direction. An American expatriate once told him that Westerns tended to not be as conscious of where they put their feet. Rather than expecting everyone to conform to Islam, sometimes it was just better to take precautions against accidental faux pas. He could only offer a raised eyebrow when she mentioned the academy as her school.

"My father. I'm going to represent my country on the world stage, insha'Allah, so I should get used to riding against Americans. And what, exactly, makes this school yours?"

Khalid kept eating his apricots being careful to not let anything get on his thobe. He couldn't imagine finding a dry cleaner around here was easy.

[Elizabeth Toman]

Libby bit back another giggle at his reaction to the news of her being a gymnast. "I'm going out on a limb here and thinking you have already met one of my team-mates. Male or female?" If female, she knew who it wouldn't have been. "We have an Olympian for our coach, so attending this school allowed me to push my riding to reach the same caliber as gymnastics, while allowing me to keep my elite status as a gymnast. And as long as I keep my grades up, my sponsors are happy, and if they're happy, so am I."

She shivered slightly as she wished that she'd had enough sense to at least go and grab her tracksuit before coming in here, but hindsight was a wonderful thing. Untucking her legs, she jumped to her feet and walked over to grab a fleece blanket from the back of one of the sofas and walked back to her chair, tucking her legs under her again and placing the blanket over her legs - and yes, he had made her feel a little self-conscious about how much leg she was showing, which was funny with how much leg she showed in the gym.

"Ah, a daddy's boy." She replied. "You came here to learn how to beat us? Nice. Good thing I'll make the gymnastics team before I'd make the equestrian one."

She smiled and arched her eyebrows at his question. "The school is mine because I refuse to allow some strutting peahen and her ostentation (yes, that is what a group of peafowl is called) to rule it." She replied.

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

"Finn."

He expected she knew her own teammates. And even if the school could afford a top gymnastics coach on the payroll, Khalid didn't care. He was here to improve his riding beyond what his coach in Qatar could teach and earn high enough marks to be accepted into Qatar University like the rest of his siblings. At least, that was the expectation. He didn't care about getting the highest marks in all his classes or going on to be the CEO of some company or sitting on the Qatari National Bank board. Even the Al-Kuwari International Group didn't do anything Khalid thought was remotely interesting.

"She must be above the proletariat to get you worried. Though, I prefer to stay out of politics."

Khalid didn't think Libby was quite at his level of influence. Few people in this country were. And after all, how many could claim to have a princess for a mother or a cousin for a king. If his name was Al-Thani, Khalid would have been a prince, too. He tucked his bag of apricots into his pocket to open the bottle of Coke. Holding it away from both of them, Khalid unscrewed the cap slowly letting the built up carbon dioxide diffuse some.

"And you're only partially right. My father is paying for my education, but I'm not bound to his every desire. And even if you do have the biggest feathers, don't try to pick a fight with falcons or eagles."

[Elizabeth Toman]

She nodded and rolled her eyes when Finn's name was mentioned. "You have my condolences." She replied. She'd known Finn long before either of them started here, not that either of them made that known, but the gymnastics world wasn't that big especially if you were in the same country.

She curled her nose. "No, she was a student here before I arrived, though she has only gained captaincy, which I have had since I joined, so I have the slight upper-hand on her." She had been thrilled when Coach Hoefflin had named her the captain of the women's team, especially when it topped her over the little British nymph. Though being captain didn't make her the first gymnast to compete, as Cara had still managed to do routines that scored higher than her, that had changed now though that the wee girl had been kicked off the team. "Politics might be a bit of a strong word." She told him. "More like playground battles." And quite personally, she didn't care what his opinion was on school politics, as long as he didn't rub shoulders with Blythe, she would be blissfully happy.

"I assume that my parents are the ones paying my tuition." She replied. "At least daddy bought my horse." She shrugged at the half truth, the man just hadn't knowingly bought the horse. She smiled at the mention of birds of prey. She had referred to the cheerleaders as peahens, but she was indeed a falcon. At least she could fly without having to be thrown into the air by another person, and didn't need to worry about landing on her own feet at the end of her flight. 

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

Even though the boy knew it was taboo, he had a hard time banishing all thoughts about how nice Libby looked. Even injured, he thought she was elegant and sophisticated. It wasn't like there ever could be anything between them besides being classmates and housemates considering she wasn't Muslim or Qatari. His mother certainly wouldn't approve of any son of hers dating a girl much less a non-Arab. But there was something about the strength and independence of American women Khalid could appreciate.

"So, who is this rival of yours? And insha'Allah, peahens will learn their place."

Khalid let his mind wander some to the homework he had left to complete. It was slow going even at the best of times. Even though he could converse well in English having gotten plenty of practice chatting with expats around Doha, a lot of the jargon was still new. His homework and notes were littered with small Arabic translations. He hated his English class in particular with its use of idiomatic phrases and expressions Khalid had never heard. And even though he didn't speak with a noticeable accent most of the time, it felt like everyone could tell he was a non-native English speaker who learned British English and not American English growing up.

"Which barn? My horse is stabled in the White Oak Barn; his name is Nasr. He's the best jumper around imported from Germany."

[Elizabeth Toman]

Libby still found herself shivering, even with the blanket over her legs, though she refused to wrap herself in the blanket, so she just ignored the cold - as best she could - and made a note to speak with Ms Simone about adjusting the heat in the common room.

"She would be Adonya van Rutherford, the captain of the cheer squad." She replied as her nose curled in distaste, and again she wished that she had changed before coming in here, as she could only imagine the reaction she would have got, in her short skirt, had it been Blythe had had happened upon her rather than Khalid. "I sadly doubt that they will ever learn their place. There's an unwritten rule somewhere that states that their team gets the top spot at high school, I plan to rewrite that rule here."

She thought about excusing herself and returning to her room to stretch out her hamstrings before heading to training. Sure, she could do it in here, but the boy had seemed put out enough with how much leg she was showing that she could imagine that he would have an aneurysm if she dropped into the splits. A smile played on her lips at the thought of just doing it to see his reaction.

She sobered up as the talk turned the direction of their horses, her eyebrow arching at how he spoke of Nasr. "Storm is in the same barn as your horse." She told him. "I think Storm and I could give you a run for your money as far as jumping is concerned." Yes, the gelding was trained as a hunter, but she was slowly turning him into an eventer, though he wasn't keen on cross country, but there wasn't a lot of difference between hunter jumping and show jumping.

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

Khalid filed away Blythe's name and position for future reference if necessary. Since he wasn't really involved much with sports outside of horseback riding and had even less interest in cheerleading than gymnastics, he doubted they would ever cross paths. What girls did for fun really wasn't a topic the boy devoted much time to.

"Best of luck to you."

Sure, he didn't even know this other girl, but she sounded like some commoner trying to be a big shot someplace far out of her league. The people on top deserved to be on top and trying to topple the status quo was a threat to the natural order of things. Besides, being lower down on the totem pole wasn't a bad thing. Those people could dream about being the best and work hard even if their efforts were in vain. It was almost cute to watch them try to scramble to the first position without a helping hand from above.

"Oh? Nasr has both Contender and Landgraf as his grandsires. He was bred and born to jump the moon. Though, I wouldn't turn down a jump-off. Just nothing over one-point-two meters."

He knew Nasr would love the bit of competition. Besides, they would win without question. Khalid thought the snack break and chance to talk to another student was a nice reprieve from studying. Sure, he could have gone to the barn to visit Nasr, but he wasn't in the mood for it. Visiting his horse was just asking for distraction, and he still had his Algebra homework left to complete.

"So, where are you from?"

It was an innocent enough question. He mostly knew his American geography even if the average American had never heard of Qatar and couldn't point to Doha on a map.

[Elizabeth Toman]

Libby smiled at his words. "I'm sure you'll meet her soon enough. We have the privilege of sharing a House with her." Blythe was a good reason to change House, but she couldn't think of which of the other Houses she would rather live in. Though there were no gymnasts in Red, but if she moved, then she'd no longer be in the same building as Khalid, and eye-candy was always good to have around - and there would be none in Red House.

She giggled as he spoke of his horse's parents. "You do like to talk yourself up." She said. "I hope you can put your money where your mouth is, so-to-speak of course, as I'm sure gambling here would no only get me kicked off the gym team, but would probably also give me a visit to Ms Hart, and I'd rather not." It wasn't that she was scared to get in trouble, but she couldn't lose her coveted spot on the team, otherwise she could kiss her sponsors goodbye and she'd rather walk across hot coals then do that.

She sipped from the bottle of water she was holding and raised her eyebrows when asked where she was from. "I'm from Marble Hill, Manhattan." She replied. She liked living there, as it was part of Manhattan, but wasn't part of Manhattan Island. "What part of Qatar are you from?" She felt that the question in return was only fair.

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

Life around the Blue House would certainly not be lacking for entertainment if two arch rivals shared a floor. If he was feeling less polite, Khalid might have actually groaned. He really hoped he didn't have classes with Blythe as living under the same roof sounded bothersome enough.

"He's a grand prix caliber horse. Besides, he has a proven show record. Next show, we'll know for sure who comes out on top."

The sale videos of Nasr showed him competing over 1.4m fences. There was nothing that could even be considered close to a rub, and he was good about picking his knees up. Nasr was trained in the European style, but that suited Khalid just fine. He was used to looking for slightly longer distances and expecting a powerful jump.

Khalid only had a vague idea as to where Marble Hill was. He could locate Manhattan, but any more specific and he was lost. Still, he nodded like he knew the geography. Then again, hardly anyone knew that Al Wakra existed much less point to it on a map.

"Doha."

The majority of the population lived in the capital, and the other cities really only came to prominence because of oil. Though, the country was truly tiny. Even Connecticut was larger in area than Qatar. The total population was just over two million, but only a little more than a quarter of a million of those people were Qatari nationals. Less than half the population was Arab. Doha was roughly on the same latitude as Havana, Cuba.

"I grew up in a desert. Even in the winter, I don't think I've ever seen temperatures get much below twelve degrees, but in the summer, it's more like forty degrees. But I've never seen snow except in pictures or videos. Even a really rainy month is only a couple centimeters. I heard that New York only gets five hours of sunlight in the winter. Seriously, how do you people live without sunlight?"

[Elizabeth Toman]

Libby laughed as he continued to talk his horse up, the one horse she wanted to see his supposedly amazing jumper against would be Ms Carr's competition horse that she had recently sold, Fly was one of those horses that you just wanted to watch being worked. "I look forward to competing against you, if the next competition doesn't coincide with a meet." That was the hardest thing about wanting to follow two dreams, gymnastics always took precedence when competitions were on.

"If you're trying to picture it on a map, Marble Hill isn't part of Manhattan Island." She quickly added. She nodded to the fact that he came from Doha, which wasn't surprising since it was the capital city.

She sat forward at the idea of growing up in a desert. "I don't know if being that warm all the time would be a blessing or a curse." She commented. She chuckled as he spoke about snow. "I'm an athlete." She replied. "Before coming here, I spent all of my day in a gym, and when I wasn't in the gym, I was at home with my tutor or in a dance studio working on my turnout and different styles of dance. The only time I really got to see sunlight was when I discovered horses and wanted to learn how to ride, which made me so thankful I had followed gymnastics and ballet." Some kids she'd met seemed to think that being homeschooled meant that she could do anything she liked, but she knew that it was nothing like that, and if she went to public school, she wouldn't have been able to sped so much time working on her tricks.