Hayride (7 page)

Stevie was about to answer when she caught a glimpse of Veronica out of the corner of her eye. Veronica had gotten up from her table and come over toward them. Now she was loitering at the trash can, throwing her garbage out, piece by piece—obviously hoping to overhear something.

Stevie thought fast. “Oh, a guy!” she exclaimed, as if she had just figured out what Bob was asking. “You mean is Lisa interested in a certain
guy.
Let’s see.…” Bob raised his eyebrows in anticipation. Stevie chose her words carefully. If Veronica thought that Lisa liked Bob, she’d do everything she could to wreck things before they even got started. And just because Bob had laid all his cards on the table, by practically announcing that he
liked Lisa, didn’t mean that Stevie had to. That would be up to Lisa on Saturday night.

“There is someone—a boy, I mean—who Lisa’s been talking about recently,” Stevie remarked casually. What she said was true: Lisa
had
been mentioning someone. Bob didn’t have to know that the someone was Simon Atherton and that Lisa mentioned him only to say what an annoying pest he was!

For Veronica’s benefit, however, Stevie added, “He’s a new rider who’s just started taking lessons at Pine Hollow. He goes to school with Lisa.”

As soon as Veronica heard the description of Simon, she threw her lunch bag into the trash and hurried back to her table. Stevie watched her retreat with satisfaction. Then she turned back to Bob. His face was a mixture of jealousy and disappointment.

To soften the blow, Stevie hastened to add, “It’s probably not that serious. I don’t think they’ve been dating or anything.”

Bob brightened a bit. “Will he be at the party?” he inquired.

“Oh, yes, he’ll be there. He’ll definitely be there,” Stevie said in as grave a tone as she could muster.

“Well, then so will I,” Bob said firmly. He had evidently decided to steel himself against the competition—that is, who he
thought
was the competition. If he only knew! Stevie thought, happy that he
didn’t
know, at
least for the time being. And she was even happier that Veronica didn’t know: Now, if she did try to get in the way, she’d end up helping Lisa instead of hurting her—by taking Simon off her hands.

Thinking of Veronica’s meddling made Stevie remember the goal she’d originally planned to accomplish during lunch period: murdering Veronica. She checked the time on the lunchroom clock. “I’ve got to run an errand before class, Bob,” she said.

“But you haven’t even eaten lunch,” Bob pointed out.

“Some things are more important than my stomach,” Stevie said, her eyes narrowing as she glanced over at the table where Veronica and her followers had been sitting. They were now gathering up their books to go.

Bob followed her stare. He gave her an inquiring look. “Like what, specifically?” he asked.

Stevie looked to her right and left. “Revenge,” she whispered conspiratorially.

Bob eyed her quizzically. “Revenge. Hmm … what kind of revenge?” Stevie was beginning to like Bob more and more. Unlike her brothers, who would’ve made fun of her, he actually sounded interested in her scheme.

A noisy crowd of students brushed by them. One of them jostled Stevie rudely. Indignant, Stevie turned to see who had pushed her. She met Veronica’s icy stare.

“Oh, hello, you two,” Veronica said, pretending she had just noticed them.

“Hi, Veronica,” Bob said shortly.

Stevie barely managed a nod. Being civil to Veronica wasn’t in her plan for the day.

“My, you’re spending a lot of time together these days, aren’t you?” Veronica asked. Without waiting for an answer, she joined the snickering girls who were waiting for her at the door.

Stevie’s hazel eyes flashed with anger. Still, she didn’t think she could have given Veronica the tongue-lashing she deserved in front of Bob. She didn’t want to embarrass him by dragging him into the middle of it. Luckily, from his expression of disgust, she could tell that he would definitely be on her side.

“I think I’d better leave you to your revenge—whatever it is,” Bob said. “I’ve got a class in about three minutes.” He paused. “Hey, tell Lisa I said hi,” he added.

“Will do,” Stevie said happily.

When he’d dashed off to class, Stevie finally sat down and took out her sandwich. She chewed thoughtfully. Even if she hadn’t gotten to tell Veronica exactly what she thought of her and her outrageous phone call, she was glad she had talked with Bob. It looked like Project Party-Date for Lisa was quickly becoming Project Boyfriend for Lisa. Lisa would be beyond thrilled to hear the news. Stevie could wait till after school to talk to Veronica at Pine Hollow.

Actually, Stevie thought, Veronica deserved a lot
worse than a tongue-lashing. If only there truly were some way to give her a taste of her own medicine. Then Stevie began to get an idea. It was a very Stevie-like idea. It was perfect! The groundwork had already been laid, thanks to Veronica’s eavesdropping. Excitedly, Stevie gobbled up her sandwich. She couldn’t wait to finish lunch and start planning her
new
project: Project Revenge!

C
AROLE LIMPED AS
quickly as she could into the locker area at Pine Hollow. She wanted plenty of time to get dressed. She was afraid that it might take a while to get her boot on over her swollen ankle. She pulled off her khaki school pants and yanked her breeches on. Sitting down on the bench, she inserted a boot-pull on either side of her boot and began working her foot slowly down the boot leg.

After a couple of minutes—with no luck getting the boot on—she heard Stevie and Lisa chattering loudly. They burst around the corner, all smiles.

“And
then
he wanted to know if you ever went to the dances!” Stevie cried jubilantly. “And
then
he asked if you went with anyone special!”

“I take it you saw Bob Harris at school?” Carole guessed.

“Saw him, talked to him, and made him jealous!” Stevie giggled. “He now thinks Simon Atherton is his competition for Lisa! And
Veronica
thinks Lisa’s after Simon, too.”

Lisa shook her head, smiling. “Stevie, you shouldn’t have,” she said. Then she added, with an impish, Stevie-like grin, “But since you did, I won’t complain.”

“Exactly,” Stevie said. “Hey, how about TD’s after the lesson for final party plans?”

“Good idea,” Lisa said.

Carole paused, thinking about her ankle. Then she said determinedly, “Count me in.”

While they were talking, Lisa and Stevie had begun changing. Carole, meanwhile, tugged at her boot, hoping she didn’t look too conspicuous. She had gotten it about halfway on, but now it was stuck at the ankle. She gave the boot-pulls a hard yank. “Ow!” In spite of herself, Carole cried out in pain. Stevie and Lisa turned to see tears welling up in their friend’s eyes.

“Your ankle’s too swollen to get your boot on, isn’t it?” Lisa guessed.

Carole nodded. All of a sudden her ankle hurt too much not to tell the truth. She picked her left foot up and placed it gingerly on the bench in front of her. Lisa went to her side and helped her pull the boot off. Carole’s
sock slid off with it. Lisa gasped when she saw how black-and-blue the ankle had become.

“That’s it,” Stevie said decisively. “You aren’t going to force a boot on over
that
ankle.”

“But what about our lesson?” Carole said. “I really have to ride Starlight—he needs schooling this week after acting up so much on Sunday. And what about my birthday party?”

Lisa put a motherly arm around Carole’s shoulder. She knew how hard it was for her friend to face not riding—even for a few days or a week. “Look, if you can’t get a boot on, there’s no way you can ride. A tiny vacation isn’t going to affect Starlight’s training in the long run.”

“That’s right,” Stevie agreed. “He’ll be just as eager to learn next week as he is today. And next week you’ll be able to train him. You can’t do anything with that foot but rest.”

“And we won’t go to TD’s without you,” Lisa added generously. “We’ll finish planning for the party over the phone.”

Reluctantly, Carole gave in to her friends. She knew they were right. If only she could have managed to keep going till after the party, she thought dejectedly. Now there might not be any party planning to finish. What would her father say about her injury?

As if she’d been following her thoughts, Lisa said, “I’ll
go call your dad and have him pick you up.” As she turned to go, Max’s voice came over the PA system.

“Riders in the afternoon lesson, assemble by the mounting block in twenty minutes.”

Stevie and Lisa looked at each other. Twenty minutes was barely enough time to get themselves and their horses ready.

Carole knew from experience exactly what the look meant. “You two go on,” she said. “I’m not going to let you stay here and be late for no good reason. I’m perfectly capable of calling my father.”

Lisa and Stevie made her promise that she would go straight home. They each gave her a hug and dashed off to get their horses. Carole was glad to see them go. She didn’t want them to miss their lesson because they were making up for her mistake: She should have called home the first time they had told her to.

Slowly Carole walked to the phone in Mrs. Reg’s office, which riders could use in an emergency. This qualified, Carole guessed. She dialed her home number. It rang several times. Her father finally picked up, confessing to having fallen asleep over some desk work. Carole sheepishly explained that her ankle—which she had said was completely fine—actually hurt a lot. Full of concern, Colonel Hanson told her to stay right where she was. He would be over as soon as possible and would take her to the doctor’s. With a sigh of relief that everything was
out in the open, Carole settled down on the tack-room couch to wait. Then she caught sight of a bar of saddle soap.…

A
S
S
TEVIE HURRIEDLY
groomed Topside and tacked him up for class, she realized she hadn’t even told Carole about Veronica’s call to Phil. There was no time to do it now. Max hated lateness almost as much as he hated riders talking in class. Luckily she and Lisa arrived at the ring just as he was beginning to explain the focus of the day’s lesson.

“Does Topside look okay?” Stevie whispered to Lisa as they approached the group.

“Just don’t pat him anymore! Every time you touch him, a huge cloud of dust flies up!”

Stevie bit her lip to keep from giggling. She tried to concentrate on what Max was saying.

“… so when something’s not working, don’t keep doing it the same way. Figure out what’s wrong. You’ve got to be able to tell when something’s your fault for not giving the correct aids, or on the other hand, when your horse is simply ignoring you because it’s easier for him.”

Veronica put her brown-gloved hand in the air and waved it to get Max’s attention. “What about when both of you are doing everything right?” she asked sweetly.

Max sighed. “It’s so rare for a horse and rider to be
doing everything right that I don’t think any of us have to worry about it.”

“But, Lisa,” Stevie whispered to Lisa, imitating Veronica’s whine, “if my father spends enough money, doesn’t that automatically mean that I’ll be perfect?”

“What was that you were saying, Stephanie?” a voice behind them asked.

Stevie and Lisa whirled around. “Gosh, Lisa, Stephanie, I didn’t mean to scare you,” a blushing Simon Atherton said. “Boy, am I excited to be in class with you two. I guess that means we’ll ride together all the time, huh?”

Now it was Lisa’s turn to sigh. “I guess we will, Simon,” she said, turning to mount Barq.

“Here, let me pull down your other stirrup for you,” Simon said. He grabbed for the outside stirrup, but Barq laid his ears back and sidled away.

Stevie laughed. Lisa and Barq were obviously in agreement.

“That’s okay, Simon, I’ve got it,” Lisa said. Before he could object, she had swung neatly up into the saddle and ridden away.

Simon stared after her, mouth open.

“Pretty impressive, huh?” Stevie said, her eyes dancing merrily.

“That was the best mounting job I’ve ever seen,” he
said breathlessly. He turned to Patch and began sorting out his reins, half-dazed.

Wanting to catch up with Lisa, Stevie mounted quickly and urged Topside after Barq. Before she could reach her, however, Max began the class for real. “No need to hurry, Stevie,” he said. “Remember to always walk your horse quietly for several minutes to relax him and yourself.”

Stevie stiffened her shoulders grimly. Of course she knew that you should always start riding at a walk—any two-year-old knew that much!
And
she knew that Max knew that she knew—which meant that he also knew that she’d been trying to catch up with Lisa. And they
both
knew that talking was forbidden in class. So Stevie’s only option was to ask Topside to walk. Resignedly, she tightened the reins and sat deeply in the saddle. A glance in Max’s direction confirmed her suspicions: He was grinning.

Simon had more luck. By the time he got on, Lisa had completed one circle of the ring. “Hey, wait up, Lisa,” Simon called. Nudging Patch over toward Barq, he began to chat animatedly. “So here I am with you, Stephanie, Veronica—all the good riders—”