Horse Guest (13 page)

“I don’t think it would matter which lap she rode,” Lisa pointed out logically. “She still would have slowed us down and made us lose. Just like she did in the last three games.”

Despite her own anger at Veronica, Carole giggled. “I
guess we should consider ourselves lucky,” she said. “It’s a miracle we got Veronica to put that necktie on Danny at all After all, it’s not a designer original.”

Lisa laughed at Carole’s joke, but Stevie’s face remained grim and angry. “She’d better shape up,” she muttered. “I knew it wasn’t going to be a pleasure having her on our team, but I thought we might at least have a chance of winning. Now, thanks to her stupid new hairdo and nail polish, we’re practically in last place.” Veronica had been to the beauty salon that morning with her mother and was afraid of messing up the results with too much hard riding. However, she hadn’t mentioned that until
after
The Saddle Club had asked her to join their team.

“We never should have asked her,” Stevie added, watching as Veronica rode slowly toward them. Max, Red, and Mrs. Reg were already busy removing the props from the costume race and setting up the ones for the next event.

Lisa shrugged. “We had to,” she said. “Once Max found out we were short a team member and Veronica was short a team, he would have made us take her anyway.”

Stevie knew that Lisa was right, but it didn’t make her feel much better. “What’s the big idea?” she demanded angrily when Veronica reached them. “We were in second place when I finished my lap. Thanks to you, we came in last.”

Veronica raised one hand and examined her perfectly
rounded, bright red fingernails. “I thought I might have chipped a nail getting that hideous tie on Danny,” she commented casually. “But it looks like I was lucky this time.”

Stevie clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. She was trying to find the right words to tell Veronica exactly what she thought of her when Britt rode over to them.

“Hi,” Britt said breathlessly. “That last race was fun, wasn’t it?”

Veronica gave her a dismissive glance and snorted. Then she turned away, pulled a small compact mirror out of her pocket, and started checking the hair showing beneath her riding hat.

Britt gulped at Veronica’s rudeness, then smiled bravely and continued. “I thought I’d never get those tube socks on over Coconut’s hooves,” she said to the other girls.

Stevie did her best to smile back despite her fury at Veronica. She and her friends wanted to be extra nice to Britt to prove to her that they really did like her, even though they hadn’t asked her to be on their team until too late. Just because they weren’t riding with Britt that day didn’t mean she wasn’t still an ideal Saddle Club member. “The tube socks were tough,” she agreed.

“But they didn’t seem to slow you down too much,” Lisa added admiringly. She had ridden the same leg of the race as Britt and had been very impressed with her performance.
Just imagine if she were on our team
, Lisa thought wistfully.
Like she should be
.

“I know,” Britt said, blushing but looking pleased. “I can hardly believe we won!” She glanced toward the small set of bleachers near the door, where two or three dozen spectators were watching the action. “Excuse me, I want to go say hi to my mom during the break,” she said. “But I wanted to tell you that our snowball race is next.”

Stevie grinned. “I know,” she said. “It should be fun. Good luck.”

“Good luck to you guys, too!” Britt called as she rode off toward the bleachers.

“So who’s my partner for this stupid snowball thing?” Veronica asked, finally looking up from her nails.

Stevie sighed. Carole and Lisa had each already taken a turn paired with Veronica in previous events. “I guess that would be me,” she muttered reluctantly.

The snowball race started well for The Saddle Club’s team. According to the rules Stevie had devised, two members of each team had to ride across the ring keeping side by side but at least three feet apart. As they rode, the partners had to continually toss a snowball back and forth. If either partner dropped the snowball or held it for more than three seconds, he or she had to return to the beginning for a fresh snowball. When the first pair finished, the second pair from the team took their turn.

Carole and Lisa went in the first group. They managed to keep Starlight and Prancer trotting in perfect sync. Both were good enough riders to control their mounts
without reins, which meant they could use both hands to catch the snowball. Neither of them dropped it, and they were in first place as they crossed the finish line and watched Stevie and Veronica move off.

For the first few strides, everything seemed to go well. Belle’s and Danny’s strides were well matched and even. Stevie tossed the snowball to Veronica. Veronica caught it easily and immediately lobbed it back. Stevie caught it. Back and forth, back and forth, the snowball sailed from one girl to the other.

Then, halfway across the ring, Stevie tossed the snowball once again. This time Veronica misjudged the throw, and her hand moved forward too quickly to meet it. The snowball bounced off the tips of her fingers and flew high into the air.

Carole clutched Starlight’s mane anxiously as she watched. “Catch it!” she screamed. “You can still catch it!” Beside her, she was vaguely aware of Lisa screaming similar words.

Indeed, the snowball seemed to float lazily in the air as it arced above Danny’s neck. All Veronica had to do was lean forward in the saddle and grab for it and all would be well. But she wasn’t leaning forward. She wasn’t even looking at the snowball any longer. She was staring at her own hand and frowning.

“My nail!” she wailed in dismay. “That stupid snowball bent it right back!”

The snowball seemed to fall in slow motion as Stevie watched in horror. Finally it landed in the dust of the ring floor with a splat. Meanwhile, people were cheering as Britt and Polly battled one other team for the lead. Veronica continued to peer at her broken nail, seemingly oblivious to anything else.

Stevie turned Belle and cantered back toward the cooler full of snowballs.

“Forget it, Stevie,” Lisa called, riding over to meet her. “You’ll never catch up now.”

“I know,” Stevie said as she dismounted and tossed Belle’s reins to Carole, who had followed Lisa over. Then she started pulling all the leftover snowballs out of the cooler. “I’m not trying to win the race. I’ve got something else in mind for these.”

Stevie smiled grimly as she stacked the last of the snowballs in the crook of her arm. She had had enough. It was time to teach Veronica a lesson.

Maybe a dozen snowballs down her back will convince her to try a little harder
, Stevie thought. She ran back toward the center of the ring, where Veronica had dismounted and was picking at her jagged nail.

“Yoo-hoo!” Stevie said. “Veronica! I have something that might help.” Before Veronica realized what was going on, Stevie had grabbed her by the shoulder.

But before she could start shoving snowballs down Veronica’s shirt, Stevie happened to glance at the bleachers.
She paused in midmotion, hardly believing her eyes. Two people had just entered the ring and were taking seats in the front row.

One of them was Stevie’s mother.

The other was Grandma Lake!

S
TEVIE DROPPED
V
ERONICA
’
S
shoulder immediately, gasping in horror.

“What’s the big idea?” Veronica whined, rubbing her shoulder.

Stevie ignored her. She dropped the snowballs on the ground and raced back to her friends. “Look!” she whispered. “My grandma’s here!”

Carole and Lisa turned to look at the bleachers. Stevie turned, too. When Grandma Lake saw them looking, she waved, smiling cheerfully. Stevie’s mother waved, too.

Stevie returned their smile weakly and gave a quick wave. Then she turned back to her friends, biting her lip anxiously. “I’ve got to do something about this,” she muttered.

“But what—” Lisa began. Then she stopped. Stevie had already raced away.

“What do you think she’s going to do?” Carole asked.

Lisa shrugged and sighed. “Who knows?” she replied, gathering up Prancer’s reins. Belle had turned to gaze after her mistress, and Lisa reached over to pat the mare. “But I can’t really blame her for being worried.”

Carole’s glance strayed back to Stevie’s grandmother. “Me neither,” she said. “The gymkhana so far has been wild and crazy and exciting, just like always. That’s good for us—well, most of us, anyway,” she added as Veronica hurried past, filing busily at her fingernail with the emery board she had just pulled out of her jacket pocket.

“But bad for Grandma Lake,” Lisa finished her friend’s sentence.

Stevie was thinking the exact same thing as she grabbed Max by the arm. “Max!” she exclaimed breathlessly. “Which event is next?”

Max glanced down at the clipboard he was holding. “The shopping race,” he said. He gestured to the far end of the ring, where Red was setting up the large signs Lisa had made. One read
BLOOMINGDALE
’
S BRIDLES
, another
SAKS FIFTH AVENUE STIRRUPS
, and so on. Nearby, Mrs. Reg was setting out the shopping bags at one station and the “merchandise” at another. According to the rules that veronica had devised, each team would draw a receipt listing the names of items and stores. The riders would then have to locate their assigned items in the pile of
merchandise, find the shopping bags with the correct store names, and drop them off at the corresponding store signs. Whoever delivered his or her items correctly and made it back over the finish line first was the winner.

Stevie thought fast. The shopping game was sure to be a wild scramble, with lots of excitement and thrills as the riders mounted and dismounted, scrabbled through the pile of items, grabbed at the shopping bags, and so on. She had to give Veronica at least a little bit of credit: Despite herself, the snobby girl had actually come up with a fun and wacky game. It was too bad that Stevie had to put a stop to it.

She tugged on Max’s sleeve as he started to turn away. “Max,” she said urgently. “Um, I think Veronica wanted to change the rules to the shopping game a little.”

Max rolled his eyes. “It’s a bit late for that,” he said. “What does she want to do?”

“Well, first of all, she’s worried about safety,” Stevie said, “so she wants the riders to keep to a slow walk during the game.”

For a moment Max seemed to be staring at something over Stevie’s left shoulder. But then he returned his attention to her. “Oh, really?” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “A walk, hmm? Anything else?”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Stevie said. She thought it was a good sign that Max was listening. Maybe she could still salvage this situation. “I think we should—um, I
mean,
Veronica
thinks we should make the whole race less competitive. You know, concentrate more on cooperation.” She smiled brightly. “Teamwork. Just like you’re always teaching us in class. So instead of racing each other to return the stuff to the right store, the players should all help each other match things up. That way everybody wins.”

Suddenly a loud, peevish voice came from just behind Stevie. “Hey, what’s going on? You can’t change the rules of my game, Stevie!”

Stevie whirled around to find Veronica standing there with her hands on her hips. She shot a desperate glance past Veronica toward the bleachers. How could she make Veronica—and more importantly, Max—understand how important it was to keep things calm from now on?

Veronica didn’t give her a chance to come up with an argument. “My game stays exactly how I planned it,” she said firmly, glaring at Max and then at Stevie. “Got it?”

“Okay, Veronica,” Max said. “Calm down. Your game will go on as planned, don’t worry. I’m sure Stevie’s ideas were just suggestions.”

Veronica tossed her head. “Well, they were stupid suggestions,” she snapped. She turned on her heel and started to stomp away.

Unfortunately, Britt had chosen that moment to approach. She tried to jump aside, but Veronica was moving too fast. The two girls slammed into each other—hard.
Veronica had momentum on her side and managed to keep her feet. Britt went flying, ending up on her backside in the dirt.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. She was blinking hard, obviously trying to hold back tears. “I’m sorry, I—”

Veronica didn’t let her finish. “I thought I told you to watch where you’re going!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. A hush fell over the ring as everyone turned to see what the commotion was about. Veronica glared down at Britt, who was still on the ground. “You’re always getting in my way! Someone as clumsy as you are shouldn’t even be allowed near horses!”

Britt was blinking faster, but she didn’t say anything. She just sat still where she had fallen, her face turning red.

Stevie didn’t say anything, either. But she didn’t stay still. She couldn’t. Britt might not be a full-fledged member of The Saddle Club yet, but that didn’t matter. Even if she had been a total stranger, Stevie couldn’t have let this pass. Especially not after the way Veronica had been acting all during the gymkhana.