True Riders (2 page)

Last spring all that had started to change, though. Brooke had noticed that Adam didn't always sit with her at lunch anymore, and he didn't come by after school as often either. That summer things had gotten even stranger. Instead of turning up at the screen door every morning, Adam had practically disappeared, spending most of his time with his swim team buddies or other boys Brooke barely knew. Sure, he still came to hang out sometimes. But not like before.

Brooke had discussed Adam's odd behavior with her Pony Post friends. Nina, who seemed to know the most about boys, had advised her to wait and see what happened. She said boys their age “went all weird sometimes” and that he'd probably go back to normal eventually. In the meantime it wouldn't do any good to worry about it. Maddie had agreed, pointing out that you couldn't really change other people—something Maddie's parents apparently liked to remind her of every time she complained about her prissy older sister or her rambunctious younger brothers.

Brooke was trying to follow her friends' advice. But it wasn't easy, and she sighed as she watched Adam disappear around the corner of the school hallway.

Oh well,
she thought.
It's a good thing I have other friends.

Suddenly remembering that Adam and his goony buddies had cut her and Kiersten off practically midsentence, she turned back to where the other girl had been standing. But Kiersten was gone.

Brooke bit her lip, feeling bad about spacing out on the new girl, and making a silent vow to try to talk to her again sometime. Brooke had discovered at camp that she wasn't very confident about making new friends—she'd never had to be, since most of the kids at her school had been going there since kindergarten, just like her and Adam. But maybe Kiersten would turn out to be worth a little extra effort. None of Brooke's other local friends had any interest in horses at all, aside from Adam, who sometimes helped her with Foxy's training or asked to hop on bareback for a quick ride.

Maybe I'll ask Maddie for tips on getting to know Kiersten better,
Brooke thought. Maddie's mother was a sergeant in the US Air Force, which meant the family moved a lot. Brooke couldn't imagine having to get used to a new home and a new school every few years, though Maddie didn't seem to mind it too much.

Joining the stream of students pouring toward the exit, Brooke headed for her locker. After that she found herself swept out into a bitterly cold but sunny afternoon. The wind tickled her neck and she shivered. She hunched farther into the collar of her coat as she hurried toward the buses idling at the curb. As she climbed aboard hers she glanced around for Adam, but he was nowhere in sight.

That was no surprise. Ever since basketball tryouts had started a few days earlier, Adam had been staying after school almost every day.

Oh well,
Brooke thought.
I'll have to call him later to talk about building some jumps.

She found a seat near the front of the bus, already looking forward to spending the rest of the afternoon with Foxy.

CHAPTER

“BRR!” BROOKE EXCLAIMED
as she rushed into her house, chased by a stray gust of wind. It was cold out there—a lot colder than it had been that morning.

The house was quiet and dim. When she headed into the kitchen, Brooke found a note from her mother on the fridge saying she was at the grocery store.

Good. That means she can't make me vacuum the living room or something instead of going out to ride,
Brooke thought, stepping to the back door and peering out. She couldn't see Foxy from there, but she could see the wind setting the trees dancing, and she shivered.

No need to rush right back outside, she figured. Her mother probably had the twins with her, which meant she wasn't likely to be home for a while, since grocery shopping with two five-and-a-half-year-olds always seemed to take twice as long as it should. And if Brooke didn't let her fingers thaw before she headed out to the barn, she wouldn't even be able to groom her pony, let alone buckle the girth on her English saddle or hold the reins. . . .

She decided to have a snack while she was warming up. The twins had eaten all the cookies, and the peanut butter jar was empty, but Brooke found a slightly overripe banana in the bottom of the fruit basket. She wolfed it down, along with a glass of milk, then headed upstairs.

The door to her room was ajar, and there were a few pieces of Legos scattered just inside. Great. That meant Ethan and Emma had been there. Brooke tried to keep them out of her room, but her mom and stepdad refused to let her put a lock on her door, and the twins often “forgot” that they weren't supposed to go in there when they weren't invited.

Everything seemed to be where she'd left it, though, so she just kicked the Legos out into the hall and wandered over to the window. From there she could see Foxy standing near her water trough nibbling at the remnants of the hay pile Brooke had set out for her that morning before school. The pony had the three-acre pasture to herself, but just across the fence at the back of the property was the neighbors' much larger field, where several retired draft horses lived. Luckily the drafts' favorite spot to snooze was under the big oak tree along the fence line. Brooke was glad, since that meant Foxy usually had company while she grazed nearby.

Brooke smiled at the sight of her pony. She touched the window lightly with her fingertips, and then pulled them away quickly due to the chill on the glass. If she was going to ride today, she'd better put on a few more layers.

She headed over to her dresser and dug out an old wool hunting sweater of her stepfather's that had shrunk in the wash. The dark green color had faded, and it had a hole in one elbow, but it was the warmest item of clothing Brooke owned. She tossed the sweater onto her bed, along with a pair of thick socks and a fleece headband.

There. That should keep her warm enough to get a good ride in despite the weather. She glanced at the window, still not quite ready to dive back out into the cold just yet.

Maybe the wind will die down if I give it a few more minutes,
she thought.
Otherwise it might be too cold to ride today after all.

She chewed her lower lip, wandering over to the window again to look out at Foxy. Her Pony Post friends wouldn't let a little cold weather stop them from their riding plans, would they? Especially Haley, who lived in Wisconsin and had already mentioned snow flurries in her latest posts.

Thinking about the other Pony Posters, Brooke grabbed her laptop. She might as well check the site while she was deciding what to do.

Soon she was cross-legged on her bed with her laptop open in front of her. She clicked the bookmark for the Pony Post, and within seconds the site's familiar logo popped up. It showed four Chincoteague ponies galloping through the surf. Nina had designed the image with help from her mother, who was an artist. But Brooke was the one who'd uploaded it onto the site, placed it, and resized it to fit perfectly at the top of the page. She had the most experience with computers out of the four of them, which was why they'd made her the webmaster of the Pony Post, even though the whole thing had been Maddie's idea in the first place.

Brooke scrolled down, but nobody had posted anything new since she'd checked in that morning. So she opened a new text box and started to type.

[BROOKE]
Hi all! Happy Monday! Anyone here?

She sat back and waited, not really expecting a response. All four girls spent enough time on the site that it wasn't too unusual to log on and find one or more of the others there at the same time. On the other hand, they all had busy lives in different time zones. Brooke guessed that Maddie was definitely still at school, while the other two might still be on their way home—or on their way to see their own ponies.

But after just a few seconds, another post appeared:

[HALEY]
I'm here! Hi, B. Did u ride today?

Brooke smiled, just the sight of her friend's name on the screen lifting her mood. She typed her response quickly.

[BROOKE]
Not yet. I just got home from school a little while ago. I was thinking about skipping riding today b/c it's soooo cold out! But I think I'll have some hot cocoa and then at least hop on bareback for a few min. What about u?

[HALEY]
Nope. Wings has the day off today. We don't usually ride on Mondays. But tomorrow if it doesn't snow too hard, we'll be back to work.

[BROOKE]
Snow? Brr! And I thought it was cold here!!!

[HALEY]
LOL, it'll prolly just be flurries. If it's not too windy I'll ride anyway. B/c guess what? I decided I want to be ready to enter a real recognized event in the spring.

[BROOKE]
Rly? Cool! I'm sure you'll be ready by spring. U have been learning a lot lately, right? Esp. in that clinic u did last month.

As she hit enter, Brooke heard high, chattering voices downstairs. Stepping over to the window, she saw her mother's SUV parked out front. The twins were chasing each other in and out of the house, while their mom was pulling a bag of groceries out of the back.

The computer pinged, and Brooke hurried back over to see what Haley had posted.

[HALEY]
Def! That's what gave me the idea. I've been thinking about it ever since then. But after our great rides this weekend, I decided for sure. I even know which event I want to enter. It's the first one of the spring around here, and it's at the same farm where I did the clinic.

Brooke glanced toward the door, feeling a little distracted. So much for getting her ride in before everyone got home. . . . Leaning over the keyboard, she typed quickly and posted.

[BROOKE]
That's good. U and Wings will already know yr way around. Oops! Mom just got home and has a car full of groceries to unload, so gtg—will check in later if I can. . . .

After closing the laptop, she hurried downstairs. Her mother was just coming in the front door with an overflowing grocery bag in each arm. The twins were in the entryway, yanking at their mittens and hats and boots, their cheeks pink from the cold.

“Oh, Brooke, good,” Mrs. Rhodes said. “There's one more bag in the car. Can you grab it?” Without waiting for an answer, she hurried toward the kitchen, her heels click-clacking on the hardwood floor. She was a real estate agent and wore heels, makeup, and nice clothes everywhere she went, in case she ran into a client or got called in for an important showing.

“Brooke, Brooke!” Ethan was half in and half out of his puffy down jacket, and he almost tripped over his loose sleeve as he jumped up and down and smacked Brooke on the arm. “Guess what?”

“What?” Brooke dodged his hand and headed for the door.

“I'll tell her!” Emma yelled.

“No, me! It was my idea!” Ethan argued back.

Brooke ignored them, darting outside and pushing the door shut behind her. She hadn't bothered to put her coat on, and the cold wrapped itself around her immediately as she rushed over and grabbed a heavy bag of groceries out of the SUV.

When she got back inside, the twins were waiting. “I rode a horse!” Ethan announced loudly.

“He-e-e-ey!” Emma wailed, clenching her fists. “I was gonna tell her!”

“Too bad, so sad,” Ethan sing-songed.

Brooke rolled her eyes. “Too bad, so sad” was one of her stepfather's favorite phrases, though she suspected her mother wouldn't be thrilled to discover that the twins had picked up on it.

Then she realized what her little brother had said. “Wait, what do you mean?” she asked. “What horse?”

“The one at the grocery store,” Ethan told her proudly. “I rode it twice!”

Now Brooke realized what they were talking about. There was a mechanical pony in front of the grocery store that rocked back and forth when you put a quarter into the slot. It had been there forever, and Brooke had loved riding it when she was the twins' age.