A Winning Gift (12 page)

Maddie nodded as she read. Haley's life seemed so different from hers sometimes! It was easy to forget that not everyone was the same, living in a regular suburban house, playing soccer after school, and visiting her pony at the boarding barn. That was Maddie's life, but it wasn't anything like Haley's, who lived on her family's farm and did all the daily care for Wings herself. Her chores weren't anything like Maddie's, either—instead of loading the dishwasher and vacuuming the living room, Haley had to help feed animals, load hay into the loft, and who knew what other farm-type activities. And most of it happened every day, all year round, even in the frosty, snowy Wisconsin winters.

I wonder if my new life in London will seem as foreign to me as Haley's life does now,
Maddie thought.

But she quickly shrugged that off, continuing to read.

[HALEY]
Anyway, here's my theory about Bridget. I don't know her, of course, so I could be totally off base. But when you wrote that stuff about her teasing you about the cute boy, it reminded me of my friends Tracey and Emma. Remember? I've told you guys about them—they suddenly went boy crazy last summer and practically turned into different people. At least, it seems that way sometimes! Anyway, they're always acting the way Bridget is now about the cute stall cleaner guy, teasing each other & stuff. It made me wonder if maybe she has a crush on him herself. That could be why she's hanging around the barn so much lately even tho she doesn't seem that interested in riding. (Actually, it kinda sounds like she might be a little bit afraid of horses??) And that could be why she's teasing you about him. She doesn't want to admit SHE is the one w/ the crush! I know that doesn't make much sense, lol, but like I said, I've seen it myself w/ my friends! Anyway, just a theory, u know? But think about it. . . .

This time Maddie was shaking her head as she finished reading. Haley was way off base. Bridget didn't have a crush on Seth—she thought
Maddie
did. Right?

She thought back over the past week. About how Bridget couldn't seem to stop teasing her about Seth—how cute he was, how he was such a good athlete, and all the rest.

But suddenly, that wasn't all she remembered about the way Bridget had been acting. She also remembered how her friend suddenly wanted to be at the barn all the time—ever since that first visit when she'd met Seth. Coincidence? Maybe not. There was also the way Bridget had started noticing and talking about pony poop much more than Maddie might have expected. And also how she'd ignored most of Maddie's grooming and tacking lesson to chitchat with Seth about football.

“Oh wow,” Maddie said aloud as everything suddenly started to make sense. Could Haley be right? Was Bridget really hiding her own interest in Seth by acting like she thought Maddie was crushing on him? Come to think of it, that did sort of sound like something she might do. . . .

Then there was yesterday. Yeah, Maddie had started their fight with her snide comment. But normally something like that wouldn't be enough to send Bridget rushing off in a snit. That hadn't happened until they'd heard from Vic and Val that Seth wouldn't be coming to the barn that day.

“Bingo,” Maddie murmured with a half smile. How had she missed it before?

When Maddie coasted down the driveway to Solano Stables a short while later, Vic and Val were waiting for her outside the main doors.

“Happy birthday!” they sang out in unison as Maddie leaned her bike against the wall.

“Thanks.” Maddie smiled and hugged them both, then peered past them into the barn. “Is Bridget here?”

“Haven't seen her,” Val said.

Vic shoved a small wrapped gift at Maddie. “Here,” she said. “You need to open this now.”

“Are you sure?” Maddie turned the package over in her hands. “Shouldn't I wait until the party?”

“No, now,” Vic said with a grin. “You'll see why.”

Maddie wasn't going to argue any further. She loved opening gifts!

She ripped the tidy bow off first, guessing that Val had tied it—Vic could barely tie the laces of her paddock boots without ending up with tangles. Next came the pretty floral paper. Inside was a small, brightly colored bottle. As she looked at it, Maddie was confused for a second—but then she laughed as she realized what it was.

“Pink Twinkle!” she exclaimed.

Vic grinned. “Not quite—we weren't about to spend that much on nail polish. Not even for your birthday.”

“But it was the closest we could find to the same color,” Val said. “We figured we could touch up Cloudy's hooves before the party.”

“It's perfect! Thank you.” Maddie hugged each of them again. Most of the nail polish had worn off the pony's hooves by then, though there were still a few streaks of sparkly pink. Now she would look party perfect! “But don't tell Tillie, okay?” Maddie added with a grin.

Vic and Val laughed. “Promise!” Val said.

“Now, come on.” Vic grabbed Maddie's hand. “Let's go put it on her so it has time to dry.”

Maddie allowed them to drag her off to Cloudy's stall, though she couldn't help glancing at the entrance over her shoulder. Bridget had been planning to be here by now to help with the party setup. But that was before . . . Was she still going to show?

An hour later, Cloudy had been groomed within an inch of her life and all four hooves painted with sparkly pink polish. Val was braiding matching pink ribbons into her mane when Bridget finally appeared.

“Hi,” she said, not quite meeting Maddie's eye. “Sorry about yesterday.”

“Me too.” Maddie could tell that Bridget felt awkward. Well, she'd had enough of that—it was time to get things back to normal. So she stepped forward and grabbed her in a big hug. For a second Bridget felt tense, but then she relaxed and hugged Maddie back.

“Happy birthday,” she said into her hair.

“Thanks.” Maddie pulled away. “I wasn't sure if you'd come.”

Bridget shrugged, still keeping her eyes down. “How could I miss such a momentous occasion?”

Maddie wondered which play she'd picked up that phrase from, though she didn't bother to ask. “It's just too bad my boyfriend won't be here, huh?” she said lightly.

“What?” Bridget blinked at her. “Oh, you mean Seth?”

“Yeah.” Maddie ignored the twins, who were trading a slightly perplexed glance behind Bridget's back. “We found out he's not going to be working here anymore. He was just trying to earn money to buy his girlfriend something nice.”

“His girlfriend?” Bridget frowned for a second as she processed that. “Oh. Too bad for you, huh?”

“Yeah, too bad.” Maddie was tempted to call her on it, make her admit what had really been going on with the whole Seth thing. But maybe it was better to leave it be. Bridget could be funny about things sometimes—sort of like Brooke, who wasn't always as blunt as the other three Pony Posters. That meant Maddie and the others had to be tactful to get her to open up when something was bugging her. Bridget wasn't shy like Brooke could be, but she also required a little extra finesse to convince her to talk about certain things.

But why bother in this case? Tillie and her friends were always joking around about rebound guys—the ones they went out with for a little while after getting dumped by the ones they really liked. Maybe Seth had been sort of the same thing for Bridget.

Maddie shook her head slightly, getting another twinge of the funny feeling she'd had while thinking about Haley's life earlier. As if she were looking at someone from a foreign country, one where she didn't speak the language very well.

At least I won't have to worry about that in London
, she thought, her mind jumping from one problem to another.

Meanwhile Bridget stepped over and gave Cloudy a pat. “Oh well. Seth didn't do a very good job of keeping your poop picked up anyway, did he, Cloudy?”

“Yeah,” Maddie said, banishing all thoughts of England. “Hey, we have plenty of time before the party's supposed to start. Want to take a pony ride on Cloudy? It's the least we could do since you didn't get to ride yesterday.”

“Oh.” Bridget moved away from the pony. “Um, that's okay. Actually, I'm thinking maybe riding isn't for me, you know?”

“Really?” Vic said. “Are you sure?”

Bridget shrugged. “It was fun to learn the basics, though,” she said with a smile. “Now I'll be ready if I ever have an acting job where I have to ride a horse, right?”

Vic and Val laughed, but Maddie's heart sank. So much for her plan to turn Bridget and Cloudy into the perfect new pair. . . .

She shook off her disappointment as quickly as it came. At least hanging out at the barn had helped Bridget forget her heartbreak. That was the important thing, right? Maddie would just have to get her Cloudy news from Vic and Val and her other friends at the barn.

“Guess we should start setting up for the party,” she said. “Ms. Emerson said she'd make sure the tractor and stuff were out of the way by the time I got here, but I should go check.”

“We'll do it,” Val volunteered, nudging her sister.

“Yeah,” Vic agreed. “You stay here and hang with Cloudy.”

“Okay, thanks.” As the twins hurried off, Maddie shot Bridget a sidelong glance.

Bridget looked over just in time to catch her eye. “What?” she demanded. “You're not still mad at me, are you?”

Maddie stepped over to rub Cloudy's face. “I was never mad at you,” she said. “I was just being selfish about Cloudy and took it out on you.” She hesitated, not sure whether to continue. “Um . . .”

Bridget narrowed her eyes. “What? There's something you're not telling me. Spill it, Martinez. All my acting training makes me excellent at reading human expressions, so you can't hide from me.”

Maddie kept her gaze on Cloudy's big, liquid brown eyes, not sure what to do. She hadn't been planning to say anything about the move until after the party. But was that the best way to be a good friend? She'd never kept something so important from Bridget before. Or from Vic and Val, for that matter. Maddie's life was usually an open book, and it felt weird to have secrets.

Cloudy shifted her weight, turning her head to snuffle at Maddie's arm. Maddie fished a treat out of her pocket and let the pony lip it off her palm. Suddenly the whole idea of leaving Cloudy behind—of leaving everyone and everything behind again, just when her life was going so great—was almost overwhelming.

“Okay, I wasn't going to tell you this until after the party, but I can't stand it anymore,” she blurted out, turning to face Bridget. “See, I found out something kind of crazy the other day. . . .”

The rest of the story tumbled out of her. As she listened, Bridget's eyes got wider and wider.

“Noooo!” she wailed when Maddie finished. “This is some kind of weird birthday prank or something, right? Because you can't move away! Especially not to a whole new country! I mean, who does that?”

Maddie sighed. “I wish it was a prank. But it's not.”

Bridget grabbed her by the shoulders, sort of hugging her and shaking her at the same time. “Seriously, Mads. Is this for real? Your mom got transferred to
England
?”

“Looks that way.”

Suddenly Bridget pushed her away so forcefully that Maddie stumbled backward and had to catch herself on Cloudy's warm, solid side. Bridget didn't seem to notice; she was glaring in the direction of the stable entrance.

“Your parents will be here soon for the party, right?” she said. “Let me talk to them—I'll make them see that this is a huge mistake.”

“No!” Maddie's heart thumped in alarm. “Listen to me, Bridge. You can't say anything to anyone right now, okay? I don't want to ruin my birthday.”

“Too late.” Bridget stuck out her lower lip in a pout.

“I mean it,” Maddie warned. “Nobody knows. Well, obviously my parents do, I guess. But they don't know that I know. And Tillie and the boys have no clue. I haven't breathed a word to anyone except the Pony Post.”

“The what?” Bridget blinked. “Oh, the website thing. You mean you told them before you told me?”

“Sorry.” Maddie shrugged. “You were so depressed about the Tony thing already. I just figured . . .”

“Yeah, okay, I get it.” Bridget sighed, gazing at her with troubled brown eyes. “This is horrible, Mads.”

“I know.” Maddie reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “We can talk about it more after the party. Okay?”

Bridget nodded. “Don't worry. I won't say anything.”

“Good. But you can't walk around looking like someone died, either, okay?” Maddie said. “Nobody's going to believe you're that worked up about dumb old Tony.”

The ghost of a smile flitted across Bridget's face. Then she straightened her shoulders. “Don't worry. I'm an actress, remember?” She pasted on a huge grin. “Your secret is safe with me.”