Disconcerting: Day 11

Word Count: 60,062

Summary of Events:

Macaulay woke up earlier than usual and spent some time talking with his Grandmum about his personal life. Caetline and her friends went out for a ride and, somewhat inevitably, got onto the topic of Jada, with Lucie continuing to be passionately upset about the matter . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"We're being bullied by mediocrity," Lucie said. "Jada means to maintain a level of mediocrity even if she has to bully us all to bits in order to achieve it successfully. How many more reasons do I need to give why we need to resist her?"

"We agree with you Lucie," Eva said. "We don't think that Jada should be allowed to get away with all this bullying."

"Then why am I the only one who seems to be intent to fight?" Lucie asked. "Everyone else is more than willing to let Jada get away with this. Why am I alone in this fight?"

"Because we don't know how worthwhile the hill is for dying on," Caetline replied.

Lucie exhaled with tones of disgust and asked Avalon to trot, pulling her away from the group.

"I guess it's a question we all have to ask ourselves," Amélie said. "Do we want to contribute to Jada getting it through her head that it's not all about her now so that people later don't have to endure this frustration, or do we accept how it is and leave later people to fight with her about the issue and show her that reality isn't what she wants to believe it to be? I don't know what my answer is yet."

The three of them rode in silence, watching Lucie ride ahead of them.

"To be honest," Caetline said. "I know my answer, and it's that I want to help Jada realise that it's not all about her now, but I don't know that verbal confrontation is the way that we're going to be successful at it. Based on what I've seen with Jada even in these last couple weeks I don't think verbal confrontation is going to get through to her, and definitely not long-term. She deals with verbal confrontation a lot, she knows that we're not all that pleased with her."

"Yeah," Eva agreed.

"It's kind of easy to get frustrated with her," Caetline said.

"Oh yeah," Eva agreed.

"But I think we need to fight more against our frustration than against her," Caetline said. "We need to be more patient with her than she is with us. We need to show her with kindness and sincerity that we're not against her just to be against her, but we think that it would be better for her, safer for her, to ride a horse that isn't bay. No one's really talked to her calmly and respectfully, we've all been quick to get frustrated with her."

"Understandably so too," Amélie said. "She hasn't given us a real concrete reason why bays are better than other horses other than that she thinks they are, and she can hold a hard line."

"You know," Eva said. "I think I agree with your answer. I don't want other people to necessarily have to deal with the unreasonable behaviour Jada is exhibiting, but I don't think it should necessarily be force versus force. Calmness and kindness are better."