Moonlight Mile (7 page)

No,
she told herself firmly, glancing at Jordan's pale, worried face.
I love Jordan, but I'm not going to let myself turn into her—or into Uncle Oscar or Gramma Rose, either
.

“You know, you're right,” she told Trinity, dropping the brush into Breezy's grooming bucket. “I worked way too hard on that costume to back out now. No way am I missing that costume class.” She patted Breezy's round rump. “I mean, I managed to mess us up enough so we only came in fifth in our division instead of getting the championship ribbon Breezy deserves. I've got to make it up to him somehow, right?”

“That's my girl!” Trinity cheered.

Jordan still looked dubious. “Are you sure?” she said. “I mean, if Serena really is out to get you . . .”

Hearing her say it out loud only reminded Nina how silly it was to believe in ghosts, even for a second. “I'm positive,” she said firmly. “Now who wants to help me turn this adorable Chincoteague pony into a super-spooky steed?”

“Next, we have Nina Peralt on Bay Breeze,” the ­announcer's voice rang out over the stable's PA system. “They're dressed as the ghost of Nina's many-times-great-aunt ­Serena, a native New Orleanian with a tragic past who lived during the Civil War, and her ghostly horse.”

The audience applauded, and Nina heard a few whoops from her friends and relatives as she and Breezy cantered into the ring. Nina knew they looked great—Jordan and Trinity had helped her get ready, dusting Breezy's coat with talcum powder to make him look ghostly and weaving the ribbons and scraps of gray, white, and silver fabric Nina had brought into his mane and tail. Nina herself looked suitably spooky in her long, tattered gray tunic, pale gray gloves, and dark breeches. A wig she'd found at a junk shop was glued to her spare riding helmet, its lank gray locks streaming out behind her as she rode.

Nina circled the ring at a canter, enjoying the cheers of the crowd. Now that she was out here, she was glad she hadn't let what had happened earlier keep her from entering the costume class. This was fun!

Later, after all the riders had taken care of their mounts and returned to the ring on foot, the stable owner finally announced the winners of the costume prizes. Nina and Jordan ended up tied for first place in the local-interest category, while Nina also won second prize for spookiest, behind a pretty convincing Headless Horseman costume.

“Well done, baby,” Aunt Toni said, touching the colorful ribbons fluttering on Nina's backpack. “You did good today.”

“Thanks.” Nina smiled, accepting congratulations from the rest of her family as well.

But she couldn't help feeling a little distracted. The day hadn't turned out quite as she'd been expecting. Normally that wouldn't bother her—Nina loved surprises. But today she couldn't seem to stop thinking about the things that had gone wrong. Like Breezy stopping at that fence in their first jumping class. Or the cat-and-mouse spook that had caused chaos for the entire ring. Or especially that horrible ripping sound as her breeches split down the middle . . .

Realizing that her mother was talking to her, she
blinked. “Uh, sorry,” she said. “Spaced out there for a sec. What?”

“I said, are any of your friends coming to your dad's gig tonight?” her mother said.

Nina blinked again. She'd forgotten all about her father's show. Right then, the thought of spending that evening crammed into a dark, smoky jazz club didn't seem as appealing as it should have.

“No, I don't think so,” she said, suddenly glad she'd forgotten to mention the gig to Jordan and Trin and the others. She glanced at her father. “Actually, would you be mad if I didn't make it? I kind of want to hang out with Breezy a little longer—you know, thank him for being such an awesome pony today.”

Her father looked surprised, but he shrugged. “No worries, I get it,” he said. “You go pamper that good pony of yours.”

“Maybe you can come join up with us later,” DeeDee suggested. “I'll leave my phone on vibrate so I'll catch it if you call or text, okay?”

“Sure, sounds good.” But Nina had hardly taken in her
cousin's words. She'd just spotted Brett wandering in their direction. “Listen, break a leg, Dad, okay? Catch you guys at home.” She sprinted off in the opposite direction from Brett before anyone else could say another word.

A couple of hours later, Cypress Trail Stables was quiet as Nina led Breezy out of the barn and down a gravel path lined with live oaks. It was after sunset, but between the city lights and the full moon rising over the skyline, Nina had no trouble seeing where she was going.

Soon they reached one of the small fenced paddocks where the stable's residents took turns stretching their legs and getting some fresh air. There was only a little bit of grass in there, but Breezy dove for it eagerly as soon as Nina let him.

“Eat up, babycakes,” she said softly, smiling as his flexible lips wiggled around looking for the most succulent blades of grass. “You earned it today.”

She perched on a rocky outcropping and watched her pony graze. Miss Adaline would have had a fit if she'd seen her—she was all about safety, and always warned
her riders that sitting down near a horse was never a good idea—but Nina knew that the instructor had left half an hour ago. Besides, Nina was exhausted after the long day and wasn't sure she could stay on her feet any longer.

Staring at Breezy, she felt overwhelmed by pride tinged with regret. If only they'd done better in the show today! Nina knew he was the best pony ever, and she wished he'd had a chance to prove that in front of everyone.

Good thing ponies don't care about blue ribbons,
she thought.
Or about super-embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions either.

Once again she felt her cheeks go hot as she remembered that ripping sound as her breeches split. How was she ever going to live that down? It was bad enough that it had happened at all—why had it happened in front of Brett, of all people?

What difference should that make?
she asked herself.

But there in the moonlight, with nobody else around, she had to admit that it
did
make a difference. She'd been looking at Brett in a new way lately, whether she wanted
to accept it or not, and that was why she couldn't laugh off the incident like she normally would.

She grimaced, not sure she liked what that meant.
Okay, whatever,
she thought.
If this is romance, I should probably just stick to ponies!

CHAPTER

7

NINA SPENT SUNDAY MORNING HELPING
her mother pack up some photos and other stuff for her art-gallery show. After that she and her father made a big pot of gumbo for lunch, and then Nina played with the cats for a while.

Finally, though, she knew she couldn't put it off any longer—it was time to check in with the Pony Post and let them know what had happened.

When she signed on, there were a few messages from each of the other members asking how the show had gone. But none of the girls were live on the site at the moment.

Nina was glad. It would be easier to get the story out all at once, without having to stop and explain things along the way. She opened a text box and typed fast, pouring out the whole sordid tale—stops, spooks, splits, and all. Well,
almost
all. She didn't mention Brett, but she figured that was okay. She'd tell her friends about him whenever she figured out whether there was anything to tell.

Once she'd hit send, she actually felt a little better. Her Pony Post friends would understand how she was feeling, if anyone would.

After dinner, Nina checked in again and found responses from all three of the other Pony Posters.

[HALEY]
O Nina! Sorry you had a rough time at yr show. But don't feel bad—u were prolly still miles better than me and Wings at our first event. We did rly well at the jumping stuff, but totally blew the dressage phase. I think we got the lowest score of the day other than the
horse that jumped out of the ring and bucked off his rider on top of the judges' table! LOL!

[BROOKE]
Yah, I was super nervous when Foxy and I did our camp show over the summer. Remember? All the other girls were super experienced at showing, and I was sure I'd make a fool of myself . . . I bet u did way better than u think! You won some ribbons, right?

[HALEY]
Brooke's right—and u won two prizes for yr costume! That's awesome!!!!

[MADDIE]
Sorry, late checking in—long soccer practice, ugh! But speaking of soccer: Nina, u could never possibly embarrass yrself as much as I do on a regular basis. I mean, did I tell you about the time I was so psyched up for a soccer championship game that I ran out of the locker room w/o remembering to put on my shorts??? talk about an embarrassing underwear moment!!

Nina found herself smiling as she read through her friends' comments, and she burst out laughing at Maddie's story. Was it true? She had no clue—with Maddie, it could go either way. But it didn't matter. It had made her laugh, which made her feel better.

“Thanks, guys,” she murmured, scanning the rest of the Pony Posters' encouraging words. “You're the best!”

She typed a quick response and then signed off, feeling a little better—at least until she thought about Brett, and the expression on his face as he'd stared at her lucky underwear.

Oh well,
she thought as she flopped onto her bed, too tired to bother pulling her bead drapes closed to dampen the moonlight shining in her window.
Silver lining? I won't have to face him first thing tomorrow morning, since he goes to a different school. I'll just have to do my best to avoid him until he forgets about what happened.
She grimaced.
That should only take, oh, about a million years. . . .

Nina wasn't sure what time it was when she woke out of a restless sleep with her sheets tangled around her legs.
She sat up and pushed a sweaty strand of hair off her forehead, glancing out the window at the almost-full moon. For a second the window frame and the darkened shapes of her furniture looked odd and unfamiliar, as if she were expecting to be somewhere else entirely. . . .

She'd been dreaming; she knew that much. Dredging a few wisps of memory out of her fuzzy mind, she recalled running and running, crashing through sheets of Spanish moss and cobwebs but not daring to stop. Who or what had been chasing her?

Serena,
she realized with a shiver.

Yes, she was pretty sure that was right—she'd known it was her ghostly ancestor, even though she'd never actually seen her. She hadn't
wanted
to see her, because she knew that if she did . . . something . . . what? What was she expecting to happen?

A yawn split her face, and more of the details of her dream slipped away. Still, Nina wasn't quite ready to lie down and close her eyes again. She stared at the moon, her tired mind producing an uneasy thought:
What if the stories are true?

By the time she pushed through the school's heavy front door on Monday morning, Nina had nearly forgotten about her dream and the midnight musings it had produced. She was focused on that day's math quiz, which she'd barely studied for over the weekend.

“Nina! You're here! I thought you'd be too embarrassed to show your face after what happened.”

Nina glanced up. Her friend Keisha was standing in a doorway nearby, grinning at her, her brown eyes twinkling with mischief.

“Huh?” Nina said, still mostly thinking about the quiz.

“You know—
rrrip
?” Keisha's grin widened. “I mean, I thought it was bad when I put my shirt on backward after gym class and didn't notice for like half the day. But this takes the prize!”

Nina forced a smile in return. Keisha was a good friend, and Nina knew she was only teasing. Why shouldn't she? Normally Nina was first in line to make fun of herself when she did something embarrassing or boneheaded.

“Yeah, totally embarrassing.” Nina wondered how
Keisha had heard about the incident, since she hadn't attended the show.

Then again, maybe she didn't need to wonder. Plenty of people had been there, including her friend Livi, an inveterate gossip. The news was probably all over school by now.

She forced a grin as Keisha ducked past her, obviously staring at her backside. “Don't worry—all clear,” Keisha said. “Your pants are still in one piece.” She grinned at Nina, clearly expecting a joking response in return.

“Thanks for checking,” Nina said as lightly as she could. “But it's cool—I wore an extra pair of pants under these just in case.”

Keisha laughed and raised her hand for a high five. “Wish I'd been at that show,” she said. “It must've been hilarious. Too bad nobody got video!”

“Yeah.” Nina swallowed a sigh, hoping this would blow over soon. “Too bad.”

“. . . so I spent all day yesterday dealing with everyone at school wanting to know if I was wearing my lucky underwear again,” Nina said, jiggling Breezy's lead rope to stop
him from eating a moldy-looking sandwich someone had left on the grass. It was Tuesday afternoon, and she and Jordan were grazing their ponies on the levee after their ride. Nina had been a little late arriving at the barn, since the streetcar she'd taken home from school had broken down and she'd had to walk an extra ten blocks. So this was her first chance to talk to Jordan aside from a few quick texts earlier in the day.

Jordan shot her a sympathetic look. “Totally embarrassing.”

“I guess.” Nina wiped her forehead, which was beaded with sweat. It was a hot, sticky afternoon, and the park was crowded with people trying to escape the sweltering city streets. “I mean, I can deal with being the butt of a joke for a day or two. The trouble is, it didn't end there.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, things were settling down by lunchtime yesterday,” Nina said. “Then I went to the bathroom and had toilet paper stuck to my shoe when I came out.” She grimaced at the memory. “I didn't notice for like an hour, until someone finally told me.”

Jordan winced. “Oh, wow. That stinks.” She giggled. “Um, no pun intended?”

“Ha-ha,” Nina said heavily. She stared at Breezy, who hadn't lifted his head from the grass since they'd arrived. “So then yesterday after school I was really feeling the need for some relaxing Breezy time to take my mind off it all. But when I got to the barn, he'd managed to cut his nose in the stall somehow.”

“Really? Where?” Jordan dragged her horse closer, peering at Nina's pony's nose. “Oh yeah, I see it! Did he need stitches?”