Best Friends (3 page)

“Tough,” said Stevie.

“You’ll remember when it counts,” said Lisa.

“My turn,” said Veronica. She did not forget to salute the judge. She and Danny did a fine job going over the jumps.

“Nice,” said Max.

Stevie and Belle ticked one of the jumps as they went over. That would be enough to cost her a ribbon in the real competition.

When it was Lisa’s turn, Prancer kept speeding up and
slowing down. In a real competition, that would put her at the bottom of the class.

Things didn’t get better for The Saddle Club when they moved on to dressage. Stevie got totally turned around and did the entire test backward. That earned her the word
disqualified
from Max as well. Carole and Lisa managed to do the test in the proper order and direction, but they didn’t do it very well.

The look on Veronica’s face when she took to the course was one of total triumph. And Max’s word for her performance was, once again,
Nice
. That was high praise, coming from him.

Stevie’s heart sank.

They didn’t do well in the pleasure class, either. For some reason Prancer got it into her mind that she really wanted to take things at her own pace, and Lisa had a hard time getting her to follow directions. Max couldn’t keep from frowning. This, which should have been an easy practice for both Stevie and Carole, turned into a difficult one when Starlight became sluggish and wouldn’t change gaits when Carole told him to. For Belle it was a whole different issue. She changed gaits every time she heard Max give the word. That was all well and good, except that it was clear to Max, as it would have been to a judge, that Stevie hadn’t yet
given the aids for the gait changes. Max frowned at her, just before he told Veronica she’d done a nice job.

At the end of the class, Max spoke to them all.

“Look, sometimes practicing for a show can be difficult,” he began. “And making mistakes is part of it. If you don’t make mistakes when you’re practicing, you don’t know what you should be practicing and you’ll make all your mistakes in the show.”

It was supposed to be a comforting speech, but Carole didn’t find any comfort in it. “He said the same thing to the five-year-old beginner class before the D-level Pony Club schooling show last month,” she told Stevie and Lisa.

“I wonder if there are any openings in that show,” Lisa said. “I’m sure it’s the one I should be entering.”

“Let’s try not to get down on ourselves,” Carole said. “I think all of us need to do some more work. Back in the ring, girls!”

Lisa couldn’t have agreed more, though at the moment the idea of getting back in the ring didn’t hold much charm. Still, she settled resolutely into her saddle. Maybe this time she could do something,
anything
, right.

“Going out to torture your horses some more?” Veronica asked as she handed Danny’s reins to Red. She received three glares for her trouble.

The next half hour did nothing to dispel any of The Saddle Club’s gloom. Things had gone badly during class, but they went worse afterward. Carole fell off Starlight going over an eighteen-inch jump. Stevie was baffled when Belle balked at a lead change as if she were facing a five-foot jump, and Lisa got her diagonals mixed up at the trot.

“Here’s the good news,” Stevie said when they finally gave up for the afternoon. Carole and Lisa looked at her expectantly. It didn’t seem to them that there had been much good news at all that day. “We’re creative,” Stevie informed her friends. “See, we never make the same mistakes twice. We’re so smart, we keep finding new and different ways to mess up!”

“I don’t think there’s a ribbon for that,” Lisa said. She pulled Prancer to a halt outside the stable door and dismounted. It felt like the first thing she’d done right all day.

“Well, as far as I’m concerned, the good news is that I’ve got a science project I have to work on this afternoon,” Carole said. “It has to be finished before school closes for the holidays, and I’m sure to do a better job on that than I have with Starlight today.”

“And I need to get home,” Lisa said. “My mom seemed kind of down, and I want to make her a nice dinner.”

“At least you two have something to look forward to,” Stevie teased. “I have to go to the mall—”

“What’s so bad about that?” Lisa asked.

“—with my brothers,” Stevie said, completing her sentence. “Our Christmas present for our parents is going to be a portrait of the four of us. Going to the mall isn’t hard. Smiling when I’m surrounded by my brothers … well, that’s a challenge!”

Lisa and Carole laughed. Stevie and her brothers had more fun fighting than smiling together, but the girls suspected they’d all manage.

S
TEVIE DIDN
’
T JUST
dislike cold weather, she
hated
it! She pulled her scarf tight around her neck and yanked her hat down over her ears. Walking to school instead of taking the bus didn’t improve her mood.

What did improve her mood was spotting Lisa as she neared her friend’s house. The freezing walk would definitely be improved by some good company.

“Morning!” she greeted her friend.

Lisa pulled the door closed behind her and waved to Stevie, who had stopped to wait for her.

The two of them went to different schools. Stevie and her brothers attended Fenton Hall, a private school, while Lisa, like Carole, went to Willow Creek Junior High. Even
though they weren’t going to the same place, they were at least headed in the same direction.

“You miss the bus again?” Lisa asked.

Stevie shrugged. “But the good news is that my brothers caught it, so at least I don’t have to travel with them!” Neither of their schools was far from where Stevie and Lisa lived, and even though Stevie was walking, she would still probably get to school on time.

“How’d it go last night?” Lisa asked. When Stevie didn’t respond, she continued, “At the mall. With your brothers.”

“I knew what you were asking,” Stevie said. “I was just trying to figure out how to describe it.”

“That bad?”

“No, actually, that good,” Stevie said. “For once, none of my brothers was a total pain. We kind of had fun and the photographer was a riot. I think it’s going to be a great picture. Mom and Dad always love it when we do things that show how much we love one another—you know, like pretending it makes me happy I’ve got these awful brothers—so I know they’re going to love the picture. The best part is that we put a deposit on the picture a long time ago, so none of us had to pay much for it last night, and the fact that I don’t have any more money for Christmas is probably okay.”

“That’s good,” Lisa said.

Stevie cringed. How could she be so insensitive? There she was, yammering about her brothers and her parents, and Lisa’s parents had just split up and she was going to have to cope with a difficult Christmas.

“I’m sorry, Lisa,” Stevie said. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. It’s just …”

“Oh, no,” Lisa said. “You didn’t.”

“But with your parents splitting and all, I should have … well, you know.”

“I know, but don’t worry about it. That’s my family. You’ve got yours. Doesn’t mean I don’t envy you sometimes.”

“You mean you want my brothers? I could have them packed up by this afternoon!” Stevie teased, trying to lighten the mood.

“No, it’s not that,” Lisa said. “I am upset about my parents splitting up, but that doesn’t have anything to do with your family. Don’t sweat it, okay? I don’t want you or Carole to treat me any differently than you ever have just because everything else in my life is changing. At least
that
should stay the same!”

“Deal,” said Stevie, and she resumed her chatter about the photographer. “So Michael kept doing this thing where he would grimace instead of smile and the photographer
would ask him what was wrong and he told the guy that I was pinching him. I wasn’t! I wasn’t even close enough. So then they all started arguing. It turned out that Chad and Alex were pinching him, not me. Are you sure you don’t want at least one of them?”

Lisa laughed. “No thanks, you can keep them!” she said.

“While I was at the mall, I left the boys at the video store long enough to get to the tack shop. They had these beautiful boots—”

“Stevie!”

“They’re a creamy dark brown, not black, with a rich, deep shine.”

“You sound like Veronica,” Lisa teased.

“And I’m about to sound more like her,” Stevie said. “Because I bought them.”

“Really?”

“I had to have new boots,” Stevie told her. “My other ones are way too small. The last time we had a schooling show, I could barely walk for a week afterward.”

“I remember,” said Lisa.

“And these were on sale. They’re even a little big for me, which means I can wear them now with extra socks and they’ll still fit when my feet grow another size.”

“So how beautiful are they?” Lisa asked.

“The most,” Stevie assured her. “In fact, I’m thinking I should get a new helmet—one of those sort of dusky brown ones—to coordinate with my boots.”

“Now you
really
sound like Veronica,” said Lisa, laughing.

Stevie paused and glanced at her watch. They were approaching Fenton Hall, but she still had a few minutes and she knew Lisa would be on time. Lisa was always on time for everything, even when she seemed to be running late. Stevie tugged her scarf back up around her neck. Something was bothering her and she’d withstand a bit more of the cold to get to the bottom of it.

“Listen, there’s something I want to ask you,” Stevie said.

“Sure,” Lisa responded.

“Carole seemed a little upset yesterday, more than she should have been about messing up at the practice. Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

Lisa sighed. “I’m so glad you asked,” she said.

“Why?”

“She didn’t want me to tell you, but you’ve asked and that’s not the same thing as just telling, is it?”

“Not at all. What is it?”

“You know Starlight’s bridle?”

“The one that’s all shiny with duct tape or the brand-new gorgeous one?”

“Both, I guess,” Lisa said. “Anyway, Carole told me
that she spent every penny she had on the new bridle. There isn’t anything left, like for the registration fee for the CI.”

“You can’t mean she’s thinking about skipping the show!” Stevie said.

“She’s thinking she doesn’t have any choice,” said Lisa.

Stevie hefted her book bag off her shoulder and dropped it on the ground with a groan of frustration.

“I told her something would work out,” Lisa said hastily, and Stevie knew she was trying to comfort her as well.

“Something,” Stevie said. “Look, I’ve got to go.”

“Me too,” said Lisa. “See you later.” She hurried off to the junior high school two blocks away.

Stevie picked up her book bag and slung it onto her shoulder. Carole not compete? At the CI? In jumping? She almost couldn’t imagine it. Carole and Starlight were a great jumping team.

There must be
something
she could do.

T
HAT
’
S ODD
,
THOUGHT
Lisa, glancing around the cafeteria. Carole was sitting at a table in the corner. Because they were in different grades, she and Carole had lunch at different times, but there was her friend, munching on a carrot.

Lisa bought a salad, a container of juice, and a cup of yogurt and went over to her friend.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” she asked, sliding into the seat across the table from Carole.

“Eating lunch,” Carole said. “I had to spend last period with my science teacher working on my project.”

“Oh, right. Well, this is my day to run into friends,” she said, opening the yogurt container. “I walked to school with Stevie.”

“She missed the bus again?”

“Yep,” said Lisa. “But she got there on time anyway. I think.”

“After yesterday’s practice, it’s a wonder that any of us can do anything right,” Carole quipped.

Lisa suspected that meant all had not gone well with the science project.

“Stevie was full of stories about how much fun she’d had with her brothers at the mall last night. She’s sure her parents are going to love the picture.”

“Anytime she has fun—or can admit she’s having fun—with her brothers, it’s got to be a special occasion,” Carole said, smiling.

Lisa told Carole about the pinching incident and Carole laughed, easily imagining the event.

“That poor photographer!”

“The best thing is that she found a gorgeous pair of boots.
She sounded like Veronica when she was describing them, using words like
creamy
and
sheen
.”

Carole’s eyes lit up. Anytime one of her friends found something good for riding, it was enough to make her happy, too.

“Oh, Stevie really needed those,” she said. “Her old ones were hopeless.”

“I remember,” Lisa said. “And she said they were on sale.”

“You mean she
bought
them?” Carole asked.

“That’s what I said, didn’t I?”

“No. You said she’d found them. I didn’t realize she’d paid for them. Is that what she did?”