A Winning Gift (6 page)

Bridget giggled a bit breathlessly. “Thanks! I have a good teacher.” She smiled at Seth as they trotted past him. “Isn't Maddie the best?”

He laughed. “Sure! Have fun.” With a wave, he headed back inside.

Bridget made Maddie trot her around the ring one more time before they stopped. “That was cool,” she said, all smiles as she leaned forward to pat Cloudy on the neck. “Now I sort of see why you spend so much time doing this.”

“Yeah.” Maddie smiled back, glad that she'd helped take her friend's mind off her troubles.

Come to think of it, she'd pretty much forgotten about her own problem for a while, too. Now it came rushing back as she looked at Cloudy and imagined moving a whole ocean away from her.

Glancing up at Bridget, she was tempted to spill what she'd seen in that office drawer. But Bridget looked so happy that Maddie didn't want to spoil the nice moment. Telling her about the move would just have to wait.

AS SOON AS SHE OPENED
her eyes on Wednesday morning, Maddie reached for her laptop. Maybe she didn't feel right telling Bridget about her problem yet. But that didn't mean she had to keep it to herself. She'd poured out the whole story to the Pony Post last night right before she went to bed.

None of the other members had been on the site at the time, which wasn't surprising. When it was nine o'clock at Maddie's house in California, it was already eleven p.m. in Wisconsin and New Orleans and midnight in Maryland. But that also meant all her friends woke up before she did, so Maddie guessed she'd have some responses by now.

Sure enough, when she logged on, there were new posts from all three of her friends.

[BROOKE]
Oh wow, M, I'm so sorry! I can't believe this! Are you sure about what u saw? What did your parents say when u asked them about it? Is the move definite, or is there any possibility it might not happen?

[HALEY]
OMG I can't believe this!!! London???? Wow. Exciting in a way—but how can they expect u to leave Cloudy behind??????

[NINA]
Ack! H is right. London is amazing, but making you leave Cloudy behind is cruel and unusual punishment for sure!!

Despite her worries, Maddie smiled at Nina's “cruel and unusual punishment” comment. Nina's dad was a successful attorney, and clearly some of that had rubbed off on her. Maddie wondered if she could hire Mr. Peralt to sue her parents for ruining her life. She was sure no jury in the world could possibly vote against her, especially if she was allowed to bring Cloudy into the courtroom. She let her eyes flutter shut for a moment as she imagined the scene. Cloudy would have to dress properly for court, of course—maybe in a nice pantsuit. . . .

Then Tillie bustled into the room, freshly showered and wrapped in a towel. “Are you ever going to get up?” she griped, shooting Maddie the evil eye. “Because I need to be at school early today, and I won't be happy if I'm late because you're lounging around like a slug all morning.”

Maddie didn't think that was particularly fair, especially since the alarm hadn't even gone off yet. But it didn't seem worth a fight.

“I'm up,” she assured her sister, sitting up a little straighter. Then she scanned Nina's second post.

[NINA]
But you can't just give in, girl! You have to fight this. We'll help in any way we can. Let's all start thinking, OK, girls? Mads, let us know more when you can and we'll be there!

Maddie smiled again at that. She really did have the greatest friends in the world!

And hey, at least when it comes to the Pony Post things won't change between us whether I'm here or way off in England
, she thought.
It'll just mean a bigger time difference, that's all.

That made her feel a tiny bit better. But only until she glanced at the photos on the site, including the latest ones she'd posted of Cloudy a few days earlier. Sure, she could stay in touch with her human friends and make new ones wherever she went. She was good at that. What she wasn't good at? Imagining her life without Cloudy in it.

She bit her lip, trying not to dwell on that. Tillie was over at her dresser, humming as she dabbed perfume on her wrists. Maddie wrinkled her nose at the sickly sweet smell, then bent over her keyboard and started typing a response.

[MADDIE]
Hi guys. Thanks for the sympathy. To answer ur question, B, I haven't talked to my parents about this yet. Like I said yesterday, I saw the news when I was snooping in their office, which is totally forbidden. And as u know, they're already mad at me for the Pink Twinkle thing, so I don't want to push it. Esp. with my b'day only 4 days away now. If it's my last one at Solano Stables, I def. don't want to ruin it!! KWIM? But I'll try to find out more soon and let u know. Tx again. Luv u all!!!

She posted the message and sat back, reading over her friends' messages one more time. Suddenly a rolled-up sock hit her in the head.

“I'm serious,” Tillie snarled. “If you make me late for school today, you're dead meat.”

“Fine, I'm up.” Clicking the Pony Post shut, Maddie sighed and rolled out of bed, knowing that the next thing Tillie threw at her was likely to be a lot heavier. Normally she'd take that sort of thing as a challenge, but today she just wasn't in the mood.

Maddie's mood got even worse when she walked into math class and saw the teacher holding a stack of papers.

“Ugh. I hardly had time to study for this stupid quiz,” mumbled one of her classmates, a guy named Brick, who was on Maddie's summer community soccer team.

Maddie grimaced. “If you studied at all, you're in better shape than me. I totally forgot.”

The teacher had announced the quiz yesterday. Maddie remembered that now. At the time, she hadn't paid much attention—she'd been more focused on fretting over the London thing. Then, in the afternoon, she and Bridget had been having so much fun at the barn that they'd stayed until dinnertime, and well . . .

“Bummer.” Brick shot her a look. “But you're smart, Martinez—you'll do fine.”

Maddie crossed her fingers as the teacher handed out the papers, hoping Brick was right. But as soon as she scanned the first few questions, she knew she was in trouble.

“Hey!” Bridget hurried up to Maddie's locker. “You going to the barn today?”

Maddie looked up from trying to shove her science book into her already-crowded locker. Pushing a strand of dark hair out of her face, she nodded.

“I'm going,” she said. “And believe me, I really need some pony time today.”

Bridget peered at her. “Is something wrong? You look cranky.”

“I
am
cranky.” Maddie finally got the book in. Slamming the door shut before the other books could decide to stage an escape, she turned to face her friend. “I'm pretty sure I blew my math quiz today.”

“Really?” Bridget didn't sound very interested. “Well, it's just one quiz, right?”

“Tell that to my parents.” Maddie rolled her eyes. “Every quiz is like the SATs to them.”

Bridget laughed. “And people call
me
dramatic? Seriously, Mads, your grades are great. Especially in math, right? Your parents aren't going to freak out over one bad quiz.”

Maddie just shrugged, not bothering to argue. Besides, maybe Bridget was right. Oh, not about Maddie's parents—they were complete and utter freaks when it came to grades.

But maybe this time it didn't matter so much. After all, she'd be leaving this school very soon. And who knew what her classes in England would be like. Did they even have the same kind of math over there? Probably not, since they did everything in pounds instead of dollars and meters instead of yards.

“What?” Bridget leaned closer, peering into her face again. “Are you sure it's just a quiz that's bothering you? You look really weird.”

Maddie opened her mouth, tempted once more to tell her friend what was going on. Then she shut her mouth again and shook her head.

“I'm fine,” she said. “Like I said, I'm just craving some Cloudy time.”

“Cool. So can I tag along again?” Bridget fell into step beside Maddie as she headed down the hall.

“Sure, I guess.” Maddie glanced at her. “Today's my group lesson with Vic and Val, though. So there might not be time for a pony ride.”

“A group lesson?” Bridget looked intrigued. “Do you have to be, you know, pretty experienced to be in that?”

“Not really,” Maddie said. “Ms. Emerson believes in mixing different levels together in group lessons whenever she can. That way the less experienced riders can watch the better ones and—wait a minute. Why are you asking?”

Bridget grinned and shrugged. “My ride on Cloudy was fun yesterday. I was thinking maybe I should learn more about riding.” She poked Maddie in the arm. “Not that you're not a fabulous teacher. But a real lesson could be cool.”

“No, it's okay.” Maddie's foul mood drifted away, and she started grinning, hardly daring to believe what she was hearing. “Ms. Emerson is a way better teacher than me. So wait, are you serious? You want to join our lesson?”

“If you don't mind.”

“Mind? Are you crazy?” Maddie laughed. “I've only been telling you for a year and a half how much fun riding is! Of course I'm psyched that you're finally catching on!”

“Cool.” Bridget looked pleased. “And check it out—I even wore boots today.”

She stopped and waggled one foot, which was encased in a stylish suede calf-high boot. Maddie smiled, though now that the surprise was wearing off, she was starting to feel slightly queasy. It was super-amazing that one of her best friends had discovered the joy of riding—thanks to the most wonderful pony in the world, of course. It would be fun having Bridget around the barn, showing her the ropes and watching her bond with Cloudy and the other ponies.

At least for the next couple of months. Because according to what Maddie had seen in that desk drawer, they'd have only until January to ride together. After that, who knew if they'd ever see each other again. At least not more than once a year or so when Maddie flew back for a visit . . .

But Maddie shook her head, suddenly fed up with feeling gloomy all the time. That wasn't her. If she had only a couple of months to watch Bridget fall for horses and riding, then she wanted to enjoy every second of it while she could.

She linked her arm through Bridget's. “Let's go,” she said with a grin. “This is going to be fun.”

Ms. Emerson seemed a little surprised to see Bridget again. But after a quick phone call to Bridget's mother, she agreed that she could ride in the lesson as long as Vic and Val didn't object.

“That's totally fine,” Vic said when Maddie and Bridget found her in the grooming area and asked. “It'll be fun having someone new in the group.”

Val nodded, glancing up from brushing her pony's fetlocks. “Me too,” she said. “It's fine. Who are you going to ride today, Bridget?”