English Rider (16 page)

“Wow,” Stevie said from her seat in the pony cart, which was waiting just beyond the gate. “I think her face is even redder than her shirt.”

Carole grinned. “It looks like she refused her piece of straw,” she pointed out. “Miles has two pieces sticking out of his mouth now.”

“Is it my imagination, or is Veronica doing her best to keep her face turned away from the bleachers?” Lisa put in.

“I don’t know about that,” Carole replied. “But if she pulls that straw hat any lower over her forehead, she can start using the fringe for dental floss.”

All the girls laughed. Despite their enjoyment of Veronica’s predicament, they couldn’t help noticing the expert way Miles drove his mule team through the course. He kept them at a steady canter through most of the twists and turns, slowing to a trot only in one or two particularly tricky spots, and breaking into a gallop on the straightaways. When he finished, he was in first place out of the teams that had competed so far.

“Wow,” Carole said. “That was great. Maybe a blue ribbon will help Veronica get over her embarrassment.”

“I certainly hope not,” Stevie said. “It must have taken Tessa lots of effort to set this up. We don’t want Veronica to end up being
happy
about the whole thing.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that.” Lisa was
still watching Veronica’s face. As the crowd leaped to its feet to applaud the mule team’s incredible finish, her cheeks turned from bright red to a deeper tone that could only be described as magenta. A photographer from the local newspaper leaped forward to snap a picture. Before Veronica could react, Miles grabbed her hand and raised their arms together in victory, grinning gleefully and tipping his straw hat to the camera. As the shutter clicked, Veronica’s face was caught in a peevish scowl. Lisa laughed. “No, I think Veronica will remember this moment for a long, long time.”

I
N THE END
, Veronica had to comfort herself with a red ribbon for second place. Mrs. Pennington had come in first with Hodge and Podge. The Saddle Club’s pony cart finished a distant ninth, having knocked over three balls and barely beaten the maximum time. But the girls didn’t mind one bit. The scurry race had been fun, and that was what counted. Well, that and the joy of seeing Veronica put in her place.

“So?” Tessa said expectantly with a grin, catching up to them after the ribbons had been handed out. “What d’you think?”

Stevie flung her arms around Tessa and spun her around in an enthusiastic embrace. “I think you’re the most wonderful person who ever lived!” she cried.

Tessa flushed, laughing as she struggled to free herself. “Thanks, Stevie,” she said, straightening the blue ribbon
pinned to her jacket, which had been knocked askew by Stevie’s hug.

“You really are amazing, you know,” Lisa said, smiling at Tessa. “It would take a lot to make up for all the grief and misunderstandings of the past week. But this did it. It really did.”

And not one member of The Saddle Club could disagree with that.

“S
O WHEN DO
these fireworks start, anyway?” Tessa asked with a yawn.

It was the next day, July Fourth. Tessa, Lisa, Carole, and Stevie were stretched out on a picnic blanket on a hillside at the edge of the country club’s golf course. They had spent the day at Willow Creek’s annual parade, and now, as dusk fell, they were waiting for the fireworks display to begin.

“Be patient,” Stevie told her. “It’s better if it’s completely dark before they start.”

Tessa sat up and grinned at her. “Do my ears deceive me?” she joked. “Is this really Stevie Lake telling me to be patient? The girl who almost badgered me to death trying to find out my master plan?”

All the girls laughed at that. Lisa glanced over her shoulder at the field behind her. Most of the paraphernalia of the point-to-point had been disassembled, but the country club had left up several of the refreshment tents in anticipation of the crowds coming to watch the fireworks. Phil and A.J. had just departed in search of food and drinks for all of them. At the moment, Lisa could see that there were large crowds thronging around the tents. She guessed that the boys wouldn’t be back anytime soon.

Carole was still lying flat on her back with her hands behind her head, gazing upward at the stars blinking on in the darkening sky. “Riding in the parade today was fun, wasn’t it?” she mused. “I’m glad Miles asked us.”

“Me too,” Tessa said. “That was Miles’s only condition to helping out with my plan—I had to agree that we’d all ride with him today.” The girls, along with Phil and A.J., had all dressed up as scarecrows and ridden in the mule cart in the parade. “Though I’ll never live it down back home if anyone finds out I actually helped to celebrate a war that England lost,” she added with a laugh.

Stevie sat up, too. “Speaking of your plan,” she said, “you still haven’t given us all the details. How on earth did you work it all out?”

“It wasn’t so hard, really, once I found out about the mules,” Tessa said. “I’d been driving myself mad trying to figure out what to do. But when Mrs. Pennington told me about some of the elaborate costumes people sometimes wear in scurry races—”

“She must have told you this while Veronica was out of the room,” Lisa guessed.

“Oh, yes,” Tessa replied. “Veronica was off somewhere trying to make Miles fall in love with her.” She grinned. “Of course, that made it all the more perfect. And when Mrs. Pennington mentioned the mules, well …”

Stevie nodded. “All the pieces fell into place.” She sighed happily. “I love it when that happens. A perfectly planned scheme is like nothing else in the world.”

“A fat lot you would know about that,” Carole said, shooting Stevie a wry look. “Lately your schemes haven’t exactly been perfect.”

“Are you still thinking about that water balloon thing?” Stevie waved one hand airily. “Forget it, will you? After all, Max finally did.” After the point-to-point the evening before, Max had pulled the girls aside long enough to tell them that their probation was officially over.

“That doesn’t mean you can start goofing off again, of course,” he had said, giving Stevie an especially meaningful look.

Stevie had smiled innocently. “Of course not, Max,” she had replied. “We’ll go right on being our usual serious selves.”

Lisa smiled as she thought about the disgruntled look Max had given them before hurrying off. Then she turned to Tessa curiously. “There’s one thing I’ve been meaning to ask you,” she said. “How did you figure out that making
Veronica look like a fashion victim in front of an audience was the best way to get back at her? Was it all that time you spent with her at the mall?”

“Well, that too,” Tessa said. “But mostly it was Phil’s idea. That’s why I wanted his help. I knew he knew her much better than I did.” She grinned. “Phil even went over to Miles’s place the other night to help put the costumes together.”

Stevie nodded as yet another piece fell into place. “So that’s who he was visiting in Willow Creek,” she murmured.

Carole was thinking about something else. “So in a way, it really was a Saddle Club team effort,” she pointed out. “Even though Stevie and Lisa and I had no idea what was going on.”

Tessa grinned. “Righto,” she affirmed. “Isn’t that what The Saddle Club is all about?”

“Speaking of teamwork,” Stevie said, “I think Max may have been on our team yesterday more than we realized.”

“What do you mean?” Carole asked.

Stevie shrugged. “Well, first of all, there was the way he forced Veronica to ride in the wagon when she was going to refuse.”

“That was the one thing I was worried about,” Tessa admitted. “If Max hadn’t come along, Miles was going to start acting all lovey-dovey and begging her to do it for his sake. But we weren’t sure even Veronica’s crush would carry us that far.”

“It probably wouldn’t have,” Stevie said. “But thanks to Max, it didn’t have to. Besides, I have the funniest feeling that wasn’t the only favor he did us.” She grinned. “After all, he was one of the judges for the whole day, right? Don’t you think he might have had something to do with Veronica’s winning that award for best dressed?”

The others laughed and agreed. At the end of the scurry race, there had been a brief awards ceremony. Ribbons had been handed out in a variety of categories—for the fastest and most beautiful horses, the most lavish tailgate picnic, the cutest baby in attendance, and all sorts of other things. Veronica—with Miles—had won the ribbon for best dressed, forcing her to go onstage in her overalls to accept the prize from the country club president. And once again, the newspaper photographer had been there to record it all.

“The only thing that would have made it a teeny bit better is if I could have arranged for her to get that hideous tie instead of her ribbon,” Stevie said, referring to the prank that had started this whole thing back on the last day of school. “Maybe I’ll mail it to her.” She leaned back on the blanket again, a contented smile on her face. “Anyway,” she went on lazily, “my point is, Max came through for us as usual.”

The others thought about that for a second. “I guess you’re right,” Lisa said at last. “Does that mean he wasn’t as mad at us as we thought?”

“Who knows?” Carole said. “Max can be hard to figure
out sometimes.” She sighed. “I’m just glad we’re not on probation anymore. What a relief!”

The others agreed wholeheartedly. “That was really the problem all along, wasn’t it?” Tessa pointed out. “If you hadn’t been, we could have fought back from the beginning.” She shrugged. “I mean, you wouldn’t believe how awful I felt when Veronica kept baiting me last week. Not just because of what she said and did, but because I knew it was driving you crazy on my behalf. And because I was afraid you’d end up getting your riding privileges suspended because of it.”

“I know,” Lisa said. “Was that really why you were nice to Veronica at first?”

“At first,” Tessa confirmed, nodding. “When Veronica first started being nice to me last weekend, I just wanted to keep things calm. Then when she seemed so eager to be best buddies, and tried to come between the four of us, I realized that she was up to her old tricks. So then …”

“The rest was history,” Carole finished with a grin. “I still can’t believe Veronica didn’t figure out what really happened.”

Tessa shrugged. “It was a foolproof plan,” she declared. “Miles took full public credit for inventing those costumes and springing them on Veronica like that. He was a real sport about the whole thing—actually, I think he enjoyed it just as much as we did. And I believe Veronica thinks she was responsible for wheedling her way into riding with him in the scurry race.” She grinned. “And
she and I were together so much this week that as far as she knows, there’s no way I could have known about those mules any more than she did. Let alone any of you.”

Stevie sighed. “That’s really the only bad thing about all this,” she mused. “Veronica will never know how brilliant The Saddle Club really is.”

“Stevie …,” Lisa began.

Stevie grinned. “Don’t worry. My lips are sealed.” She shrugged. “Anyway, it worked out perfectly, like I said. Veronica’s interest in Tessa stopped just as quickly as her crush on Miles did. So now we can all enjoy the last couple of days of Tessa’s visit.”

“I think what you’re trying to say,” Lisa said, leaning on her elbow to look at Stevie, “is ‘All’s well that ends well.’ ”

“Something like that.” Stevie stretched her arms above her head and then turned to smile at Tessa. “I’m just sorry that you have to leave in two days.”

“Me too,” Tessa agreed. “But don’t fret. That still gives us almost forty-eight more hours for visiting—”

“And riding,” Carole put in quickly.

Lisa nodded. “And planning more visits.”

“Right,” Tessa said. “Next time, it’s your turn to come back to England. But for now, we still have time for at least one more sleepover …”

“And more riding,” Carole supplied with a laugh.

“And going to TD’s,” Stevie suggested.

“And talking,” Lisa said.

“And watching fireworks!” a new voice put in.

The girls looked up. Phil had just returned with an armful of food. A.J. was right behind him with a cardboard carton filled with soda cups.

The girls glanced around. Sure enough, the sky was completely dark, except for the stars twinkling high above. “They’ll be starting any second now,” A.J. predicted.

The end of his sentence was almost drowned out—first by the patriotic music that started pouring out of the loudspeakers set up behind the field, and then by the booming sound of a Roman candle shooting high into the night sky. It exploded into shards of color, and almost before the watchers could gasp in amazement, a bright flower-shaped cloud of red, white, and blue sparks burst just above it.

“This is perfect,” Tessa declared.

Her friends weren’t exactly sure whether she was referring to the warm summer night, the old-fashioned, all-American excitement of the Fourth of July fireworks display, her visit to the United States, or simply The Saddle Club itself. But any way they looked at it, Carole, Stevie, and Lisa had to agree that their good friend Tessa was absolutely right.