English Horse (10 page)

Tessa’s face was turning red. “You have to tell me more, Simon,” she said evenly. “I want to know everything I’m supposed to have said. That’s the only way I’ll be able to apologize to everyone.”

Before Simon could respond, a familiar voice interrupted. “Hello, everyone!” Veronica was standing in the doorway with a self-satisfied smirk on her face.

Tessa rushed over to her before her friends could stop her. “Just the person I was hoping to see!” she cried. “How dare you tell all these lies about me!”

Veronica shrugged lazily. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She examined her perfectly manicured fingernails. “I have better things to do than talk about you, believe me.”

“Oh, really?” Tessa spat out. “Then how does everyone at Pine Hollow know about my title?”

“Hey, don’t blame me for your own bragging,” Veronica replied with another shrug.

Tessa was fuming. “And why does everyone think I’ve been making fun of them? It must have taken you hours to come up with all those lies!”

“Well, that just proves it wasn’t me,” Veronica said smoothly. “I’ve spent the last two hours with Miles Pennington, helping him take care of his grandmother’s Cleveland Bays.” She smiled dreamily. “He just
insisted
on my hanging around and keeping him company the whole time he was here.” She patted her smooth, dark hair. “I know he’s a little older than me, but I think we have a lot in common.”

Carole rolled her eyes. The last thing she felt like doing was listening to the details of Veronica’s latest crush—especially since Miles Pennington’s family wealth and prestige probably had a lot more to do with it than his looks or personality.

“We all know you did this because you don’t like me!”

Tessa exclaimed. “You made up those rumors, and you told everyone I thought I was better than them because of my family.”

“Why would I do that?” Veronica said calmly. “As far as I’m concerned, your royal connections are the only interesting thing about you. Why would I make fun of something like that? It’s just not like me.” She smiled an infuriating smile. “Ask anyone.”

Carole gasped. She knew that Veronica was lying. But her argument also made a frightening sort of sense. Everyone knew that Veronica was impressed by socially important things like royal titles. What if she could convince other people—Max, for instance—that that meant she was innocent?

As much as Carole wanted to throttle Veronica, she knew there was only one thing to do. “Never mind, Tessa,” she said wearily. “There’s no point in arguing. Just ignore her.”

“S
O DID EVERYONE
believe her?” Carole asked the next morning.

Stevie nodded. She and Carole were in the student locker room changing into their riding clothes. “I think so,” she said, digging around in her messy cubby in search of her left glove. “But it’s a good thing Tessa is so naturally charming. I’m not sure anyone else could have pulled it off.”

The day before, Tessa had allowed her friends to convince her to forget about getting back at Veronica. But she hadn’t been able to forget about what Veronica had done. She had insisted on tracking down and speaking to every person who had heard the rumors. Carole had left Pine Hollow early for a dentist’s appointment, and then
she and her father had gone to visit some friends of the family, so she hadn’t heard until now how it had turned out.

“I hope Tessa is feeling better about it all today,” Carole said, grabbing her boot off the bench beside her. “I’d hate it if this ruined her visit.”

“Me too,” Stevie agreed. She glanced at her watch. “She and Lisa should be here soon. Listen, before they get here, I was thinking about our vow not to tell her about the probation. Do you think—”

“There you two are!” Lisa’s anxious voice interrupted. She and Tessa came rushing into the room. “Listen, we have some terrible news. Tessa can’t ride in the junior hurdle race!”

Carole and Stevie gasped. “What?” they exclaimed in one voice.

Tessa gulped. “It’s not that bad,” she protested. “I keep telling you, Lisa, I don’t mind. Really.”

“What happened?” Stevie demanded.

Lisa sighed. “It’s my mother’s fault, as usual,” she said. “Well, at least partly. She had lunch with Mrs. diAngelo yesterday, and she blabbed about showing Tessa the map.”

“Oh no!” Carole cried. The Saddle Club knew Mrs. diAngelo. She was just an older version of Veronica—selfish and shallow.

“That wouldn’t even have been so bad,” Lisa went on grimly. “Believe it or not, Mrs. diAngelo was willing to let it go. But then Veronica convinced her it would be
better for everyone if Tessa was a judge instead of riding in the race.” She shrugged. “By the time we heard about it last night after the evening committee meeting, it was all settled.”

Carole could hardly believe it. She couldn’t even imagine how disappointed she would be in Tessa’s place. “I’m so sorry, Tessa,” she said. “This is awful.”

“Oh, it’s not so bad,” Tessa replied, obviously trying to sound like her usual chipper self and failing miserably. “Being a judge will be fun, too.”

Suddenly Stevie jumped to her feet. “Enough is enough,” she snapped. Before the others could stop her, she stormed out of the room.

“Uh-oh,” Carole said.

Lisa was already heading after Stevie. “Double uh-oh,” she said. “Let’s go!”

They caught up to Stevie in the tack room. Veronica was there, too, backed up against a wall beside the sink.

“You can’t do this to our friend and get away with it!” Stevie was yelling. She was holding a large bucket full of soapy, dirty water above her head.

“Stevie!” Lisa hissed, glancing anxiously at the door that led from the tack room to Mrs. Reg’s office. “No!”

Stevie didn’t even bother to look at her friends. “I hope you brought a change of clothes, Veronica,” she snapped.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Veronica replied haughtily, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Oh, wouldn’t I?” Stevie lowered the bucket a little and heaved it back, preparing to splatter its contents all over Veronica.

At that very second Max rushed in from the office. “What’s all the shouting in here?” he demanded. He quickly took in the scene, including Stevie and the bucket. “Stevie, what are you doing?”

Stevie shifted her aim just in time. The soapy water splashed harmlessly into the sink. “What do you mean, Max?” she asked innocently. “I was just dumping this out so that I could clean the bucket.”

Veronica scowled. “Yeah, right,” she muttered. She shoved past the other girls and hurried out of the room.

Max looked suspicious. “Well, keep it down,” he said grumpily. Then he left, too.

“Whew,” Carole said a little shakily, leaning against a nearby trunk. “That was a close one. We’re just lucky Veronica didn’t stick around and tattle to Max that—” Suddenly she realized what she had just said. “Oops,” she added, glancing at Tessa.

Carole looked at Lisa, then at Stevie. “Listen,” she began hesitantly. “Um, I know we haven’t talked about this, but …”

Lisa was already nodding, looking relieved. “But maybe we should tell Tessa the truth,” she finished.

“Tell Tessa the truth about what?” Tessa asked.

“Stevie?” Carole said. “What do you think?”

“I think we should have told her days ago,” Stevie
admitted with a sigh. She turned to Tessa. “Something happened right before you got here,” she began. Then, with some help from Carole and Lisa, she explained everything—the school assembly, the water balloon prank, the incident with the Penningtons, Max’s probation, everything.

By the time the whole story was out, Tessa was grinning. “Wow,” she said. “That explains a lot.”

“We know,” Lisa said wryly. “You were probably wondering why we were letting Veronica get away with all that stuff she’s been pulling.”

“I sure was,” Tessa agreed. “I suppose I should have suspected something was up when you kept refusing to play tricks on her or even raise your voices to her. I should’ve known you couldn’t have changed
that
much since you came to England!”

The other girls laughed, relieved that Tessa wasn’t angry with them for keeping secrets.

“So what do we do now?” Carole asked, glancing at the empty water bucket, which Stevie was still holding.

Stevie set the bucket down under the sink. “What can we do?” she said. “Veronica has us just where she wants us. She can do anything she wants, and we can’t stop her, because if we try anything she’ll tell Max.”

“Would Max really revoke your riding privileges?” Tessa asked.

Lisa shrugged. She had been wondering the same thing. After all, she and her friends were normally well-behaved
and helpful around the stable. They took good care of the horses they rode, and they were always willing to pitch in and help with the stable chores. In fact, Lisa would have been willing to bet that she, Carole, and Stevie were among Max’s favorite people.

Still, she knew that Max had gotten genuinely annoyed by some of Stevie’s wilder pranks. He might actually decide to put his foot down to teach them a lesson.

“I don’t know,” Lisa said. “He might not go through with it. Then again, he might.”

“And you can’t take that chance.” Tessa nodded. “I understand.”

Stevie sighed and leaned against the edge of the sink. “I just wish Veronica wasn’t being so obnoxious to you during your visit,” she told Tessa. “That’s the hardest thing to put up with!”

“I know,” Tessa said sympathetically. “But you can’t let her get to you. Don’t worry, I can stand up for myself—especially now that I know the score.” She smiled and winked conspiratorially.

Carole smiled back at her. “We know you can. I guess that’s why it took us so long to tell you the truth. Boy, were we dumb to think we shouldn’t tell you.”

“It’s just too bad Veronica was able to ruin your chances of riding in the point-to-point,” Lisa said sadly.

“Isn’t there any chance of changing the committee’s mind?” Stevie asked.

Lisa and Tessa both shook their heads. “I doubt it,” Lisa
said. “Especially since it sounds as if Mrs. diAngelo is all excited about having Tessa as a judge.” She rolled her eyes. “Naturally, Veronica filled her in on Tessa’s royal connections, too.”

Tessa shrugged, looking resigned. “Really, don’t fret,” she told her friends. “It’s a disappointment, but there’s nothing to be done. Watching you ride will be fun. And we can cheer on the riders in the adult races together, right? I don’t have to judge those.”

“Okay,” Lisa said. “You’re right. Besides, the best revenge of all will be to ignore Veronica and have fun in spite of her.”

Stevie looked doubtful about that, but she nodded. “Maybe you can stick a carrot out in front of Danny’s nose when he goes over your jump, Tessa,” she suggested jokingly. “Then he’ll get distracted and Veronica will lose.”

They were all still laughing about that when Veronica walked back into the tack room. Miles Pennington was right behind her, looking handsome in a spotless white polo shirt.

Veronica wrinkled her nose in distaste when she saw the other girls. “Oh,” she said to Miles. “It’s a little crowded in here. Let’s come back later.” She grabbed his arm and started to pull him away.

But Miles stood his ground. “Hey, aren’t you Tessa?” he said. “I heard you’re going to be a fence judge at the point-to-point. I’m going to be one, too.”

“Brilliant,” Tessa responded. She smiled warmly and stepped forward to offer her hand. “I’m sure it will be lots of fun. By the way, I’ve been wanting to tell you and your grandmother how interesting that talk about carriage driving was. Your team is gorgeous.”

“Thanks. I’ll be sure to tell Grandmother that you said so.” Miles looked pleased.

Veronica definitely did not look pleased. “Come on, Miles,” she whined, still tugging on the teenager’s arm. “I thought you wanted to take a walk.”

“Just a second,” Miles said without glancing around.

Stevie hid a smile. Veronica obviously had a huge crush on Miles Pennington. And he was obviously completely oblivious to that fact. Stevie shot a glance at Carole and Lisa, who looked just as amused as she felt.

Miles didn’t notice that, either. “I know Grandmother had a great time showing off the Bays at your meeting,” he said to all the girls. “She loves to talk about driving. She’s just as enthusiastic about it as she ever was about show jumping.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Carole said, suddenly looking interested in something other than Veronica’s annoyance. “We heard she used to win a lot of ribbons in the show-jumping ring.”

“She did,” Miles confirmed. “But when her arthritis got too bad for her to ride comfortably, she decided she’d rather sit behind a horse than not be anywhere near them.” He smiled, his voice fond. “Now she has two
teams in training, half a dozen vintage carts and buggies, and a mantel full of driving trophies. And the rest is history.”

“Oh, she has a second driving team?” Carole asked. “Are they Cleveland Bays, too? Are they going to stay at Pine Hollow?”

“I don’t know if they’ll come here or not,” Miles replied. “They’re boarding temporarily at a friend’s farm up in Pennsylvania. I guess they’ll probably stay there until our barn is finished, unless Grandmother decides she misses them too much. And no, they’re not Bays. They’re—”