Horse Capades (3 page)

Stevie grinned. Being the master of practical jokes sure felt good.

S
TEVIE WASN
’
T FEELING
so good about her pranks the following Monday afternoon. Her moving image teacher, Ms. Vogel, had asked Stevie to stay after school to talk about her version of
Sleeping Beauty
.

“But it was supposed to be clever,” Stevie said helplessly, slumping down in her chair to avoid the stern look her teacher was giving her. It was already clear that Ms. Vogel’s reaction to the film wasn’t the one Stevie had been expecting. “
Sleeping Beauty
. Get it?”

Ms. Vogel leaned back against her desk and crossed her arms. “Stevie, I have to admit I’m disappointed in
you. I would have thought you would know the difference between being clever and being lazy. Not to mention hurtful. I don’t think your brother would appreciate having that film shown in front of the entire school at assembly, do you?”

“I guess not,” Stevie muttered.

“That’s why I’m asking you to redo the project,” Ms. Vogel went on.

Stevie gulped. “Redo it?” she exclaimed. She had spent the last few minutes trying to prepare herself to take a low grade on her film. But she hadn’t imagined the teacher would make her do it over. When would she have time, with the Pony Club competition coming up in less than two weeks? Stevie would have to put in a lot of hard work at the stable between now and the show if she expected to win a ribbon.

“Redo it,” Ms. Vogel repeated firmly. “Your new film is due exactly two weeks from today. And it had better be good this time. I’d hate to see you fail this assignment.”

Not as much as I’d hate it
, Stevie thought grimly. At her teacher’s last words, all thoughts of the hunter event flew out of her mind. She hadn’t even considered the possibility that she might get a failing grade on her film. If that happened, it would mean no riding
at all until she brought the grade up. Suddenly redoing her project didn’t sound quite so bad.

“Don’t worry, Ms. Vogel,” Stevie said quickly. “I’ll do better this time. I promise.”

“I certainly hope so,” the teacher said. “I think you have potential, Stevie. I really do. You have a truly creative mind. But you don’t always use it in the best way. You like to make people laugh. But how often are those laughs at the expense of others? People like your brother?”

Stevie shrugged, not sure what she was supposed to say to that. She didn’t know what Ms. Vogel was getting so worked up about. Alex and Stevie embarrassed each other all the time, and they both always survived. As far as Stevie was concerned, it was just one of the things that made life interesting.

“The truth is, Stevie, you have to be careful,” the teacher went on, standing up and pacing back and forth in front of Stevie’s desk. “Sometimes practical jokes can backfire. And sometimes your audience doesn’t appreciate them as much as you think they will. That can make you unpopular pretty fast.”

Stevie shrugged again. Ms. Vogel was being awfully dramatic about this whole thing. Stevie’s jokes were just harmless fun. Nobody minded them—did they?

“Sometimes something you think is funny can seem
mean or obnoxious to someone else,” Ms. Vogel went on. “Or just plain not funny.”

Stevie didn’t spend a lot of time worrying about what other people thought of her. Usually she liked most people, and most people liked her back. Or so she had always thought. But now, for the first time, she began to wonder. Her jokes
were
funny. Weren’t they? Or—the unwelcome thought floated into Stevie’s mind, along with the angry faces of her brothers, Max, Veronica, and countless others who had been the victims of her wit—did her jokes actually annoy more people than they amused?

Ms. Vogel wasn’t finished. “Creativity should be about doing something bigger or better or more original, Stevie, not just finding a way to get away with something. Because if what you’re doing is trying to get away with something, someday all your so-called creativity is going to catch up with you. And I’d hate to see that happen to you.” The teacher stopped her pacing and perched on the edge of her desk again. She gave Stevie a long, searching look. “Does what I’m saying make any sense to you at all?”

“Yes,” Stevie replied. And she meant it. She’d been trying to get away with things—especially her schoolwork—for too long. And now that she thought about it, the practical jokes really had been flying fast and
furious lately. It
had
almost caught up with her—it had almost cost her her riding privileges. She had had a lot of close calls in the past, but this one was too close for comfort. She didn’t intend to risk any more close calls anytime soon.

S
TEVIE WALKED TO
Pine Hollow slowly, hardly noticing the light rain that was beginning to fall. She was still thinking about her conversation with her teacher. The day before, she had agreed to meet Carole and Lisa right after school to practice for the competition, and she was already late. But they could wait a few more minutes.

Normally Stevie didn’t pay much attention to the lectures she was always getting from adults—teachers, parents, Max, and the rest. She wasn’t sure why this one was different. It could be because Ms. Vogel had made her wonder, for the first time, how her constant practical jokes were really received by their victims and onlookers.

She thought about her latest masterpiece. The whole riding class had laughed at the sign on Danny’s flank. But now that she thought about it, Stevie realized that Carole and Lisa had seemed less impressed with the whole thing than she herself had been. Now
that she thought about it, she wasn’t entirely sure that Max had been amused by it after all. She suspected he didn’t like Veronica any more than anyone else, but another thing he didn’t like was having his riding classes disrupted. In fact, he hated it. And she realized she was lucky he hadn’t revoked her riding privileges on the spot.

The more Stevie thought about it, the more she realized she’d been riding on borrowed time for a while now. She could hardly count all the close calls she’d had because of her practical jokes. Max had threatened on more than one occasion to ban her from Pine Hollow. Usually she was pretty sure he was kidding, but still … Then there were all the times Stevie’s teachers had kept her after school because of some harmless little joke, cutting into her valuable riding time. And once her parents had grounded her because of a prank she had pulled on one of her brothers. That time, Stevie hadn’t been allowed anywhere near Pine Hollow—or Belle—for almost a week.

By the time she walked up Pine Hollow’s long driveway, Stevie had reached an important decision. The rewards just weren’t worth the risks anymore. She was through with practical jokes. Forever.

* * *

S
TEVIE FOUND HER
friends practicing in the indoor ring to escape the rain, which was falling harder now, drumming steadily on the stable roof. She paused in the doorway and watched as Lisa took Prancer through a small course of fences. Prancer took each jump perfectly, tucking her hind feet up neatly behind her to avoid nicking any of the rails.

Stevie smiled, impressed. Her friend had worked hard with Prancer, a high-strung, spirited mare who had begun life as a racehorse. Prancer hadn’t been jumping for long, and it was partly thanks to Lisa’s dedication that she was doing so well at such a young age. When Lisa did something, she liked to do it right. That was one of the things Stevie admired most about her friend.

“There she is,” Lisa called, spotting Stevie walking into the ring.

Carole turned and waved. “Sorry we didn’t wait for you,” she said. “Hurry up and get Belle ready. We’re working on jump position.”

“In a minute,” Stevie called back. “I wanted to tell you guys something first. And ask you a favor.”

Carole and Lisa dismounted and led their horses over to where Stevie was standing.

“What’s up?” Carole asked.

Stevie took a deep breath. “Favor first, I guess,” she said. “I wanted to ask if you would help me make a film for my moving image class.”

“Another one?” Lisa asked. She patted Prancer soothingly when the mare stamped her feet restlessly, as if eager to get back to work.

“The same one,” Stevie corrected. “Um, my teacher didn’t like
Sleeping Beauty
very much. I have to do the project over. And I only have two weeks to do it.”

Lisa glanced at Carole and grinned. “Well, I won’t say I told you so, but I told you so.”

But Carole was frowning. “You have two weeks to do another film? That won’t leave you much time to get ready for the Pony Club competition.”

“I know,” Stevie said. “That’s why I need your help. Especially since this film has got to be really good.”

Lisa nodded. “Of course we’ll help,” she said. “What fairy tale are you going to do this time?
Sleeping Beauty
again?”

“Ugh. I don’t think so,” Stevie said with a shudder. “I’ll have to come up with another one. I’ll start thinking about it tonight.”

“Good,” Carole said. “Then let’s get to work.” She turned and prepared to remount Starlight.

“Wait,” Stevie said quickly. “There’s something else
I want to tell you.” She paused until she was sure she had both her friends’ full attention. This was important, and she didn’t want them to miss it.

“What is it now, Stevie?” Lisa asked.

Stevie cleared her throat. “I’ve made a very important decision,” she said solemnly. “You guys were right. My joking around has gotten out of hand lately. And it’s got to stop. That’s why I’ve decided I’m not going to play any more practical jokes ever again.”

Carole and Lisa exchanged glances. Then they burst out laughing, startling Prancer and Starlight a little. The horses snorted and tossed their heads, which just made Carole and Lisa laugh even harder.

“E-even Prancer and Starlight don’t believe you,” Lisa choked out, hardly able to speak because she was laughing so hard.

Stevie frowned. This wasn’t the reaction she had expected. “What’s so funny?” she demanded.

“Good one, Stevie,” Carole said through her giggles. “You almost had me believing you really had some important announcement to make.”

“Me too,” Lisa agreed with a grin. “But come on, how gullible do you think we are? As if you’d ever give up practical jokes!”

“But I mean it,” Stevie protested. She couldn’t believe her best friends were laughing at her resolution.
Couldn’t they tell she was serious about it? “The thing with my film project convinced me. It’s not worth it. So I’m giving up jokes—cold turkey.”

“The film project, hmm?” Lisa said thoughtfully, still smiling. “I wonder about that, don’t you, Carole?”

Carole nodded, her eyes twinkling. “You mean, does she really have to redo the project? Or is all this just part of some elaborate Stevie Lake scheme?”

Stevie felt a little hurt. “Fine. Believe me or don’t believe me,” she snapped. “I’m going to go get Belle ready.”

“Okay,” Carole said, not even seeming to notice how annoyed Stevie was. She turned to Lisa. “Come on, we’ll keep practicing until she gets back. I’m sure Max will be paying attention to our jump positions in the competition.…”

Stevie hurried out of the ring, her friends’ laughter still ringing in her ears. But once she calmed down, she decided they had a right to be a little suspicious. She fetched Belle’s tack and hurried to her stall.

“I guess I’ve tried to trick them pretty often in the past, haven’t I?” she said to the friendly mare, sliding the bit into her mouth and the bridle over her head. “Still, they’re my best friends. You’d think they’d be able to tell when I’m being sincere.”

She finished tacking up her horse, then led Belle
down the aisle. On the way, she passed Veronica, who was heading for Danny’s stall. Veronica gave her a dirty look. Stevie guessed she was still angry about the pranks she had pulled during Saturday’s Horse Wise meeting.

“Be careful,” Stevie said sourly. “Your face might freeze that way.”

Veronica tossed her head. “You think you’re so funny, Stevie Lake,” she said. “But we’ll see how hard you’re laughing when I win the blue ribbon at the hunter competition.” With that, she continued on her way with a confident swagger.

Stevie watched her go with a little frown. Ever since Veronica had gotten Danny, her bragging about winning had really been something to worry about. Despite her poorer-than-average attitude, Veronica was a better-than-average rider. And Danny was a spectacularly well-trained horse. He never seemed to put a hoof wrong, whether his rider was paying attention or not. There was nothing Stevie hated more than losing to Veronica. Nothing. But how could she expect Belle to beat Danny the wonder horse—especially when Stevie would be spending all her valuable practice time making another film?

Finally, Stevie turned back to Belle with a sigh. “Come on, girl,” she said, clucking to the horse to get
her moving again. “We’ve got bigger problems than Veronica diAngelo today.” She sighed again, realizing just how true that was. Stevie led the horse toward the spot near the entrance to the indoor ring where a battered horseshoe was nailed to the wall. It was Pine Hollow’s official lucky horseshoe, and no rider who touched it before going out had ever been seriously hurt.