Horse Blues (2 page)

The three girls had been friends for a long time. Originally they had shared only a common love for horses, but now they also shared many past experiences and adventures. They were the core members of The Saddle Club, a group that they had started when they had first become friends. Members had to be two things: horse-crazy and willing to help each other out whenever possible.

As they snacked, Lisa tried to figure out a way she could make this boring New Year’s Eve more fun.

As if she’d read Lisa’s thoughts, Stevie said, “I have to admit, there’s one person who I’ll bet is having more fun than we are.”

Judging by the annoyed tone in her voice, Lisa and Carole knew that Stevie could be referring to only one person: Veronica diAngelo. Veronica was a snobby girl who took lessons with The Saddle Club at Pine Hollow. She was also a member of Horse Wise, though she usually managed to avoid any work members had to do. None of The Saddle Club really liked Veronica, but she was Stevie’s archenemy. Stevie and Veronica had so many ongoing feuds that nobody could keep track of them.

“So what’s Miss diAngelo doing tonight?” Lisa inquired.

“Yeah, it must be something great if she was able
to tear herself away from all of the Christmas presents she’s been bragging about,” Carole added.

For the past week, every time the girls had seen Veronica at Pine Hollow, she had mentioned yet another expensive gift her parents had given her.

“Tonight
was
one of her Christmas presents,” Stevie said enviously. “Her parents are taking her and a friend on a helicopter ride over the city.”

The girls lived outside Washington, D.C., in a suburb called Willow Creek, Virginia. They had all taken field trips to museums or cultural events in D.C., but it was just like the diAngelos to give their daughter an extravagant gift like a private helicopter ride there on New Year’s Eve.

“I wonder what ‘friend’ she bribed to go with her,” Stevie muttered.

“Now, now,” Lisa chided Stevie, putting on her best schoolmarm voice. “Thinking about Veronica isn’t going to make our New Year’s any more fun.”

“You’re right about that,” Stevie agreed. “I was in a great mood till I remembered she existed.”

“Hey, it’s almost midnight!” Carole interrupted. “Ten minutes to go.”

Lisa followed Carole’s glance to the VCR clock above the television.
Ten more minutes, ten more minutes
 … Suddenly she had an idea. “I’ve got
it!” she exclaimed. “Let’s make New Year’s resolutions! We can write them on scraps of paper and throw them into the—well, we don’t exactly have a fire to throw them into, but we can at least write them down.”

“That’s a great idea!” said Carole.

Now it was Stevie’s turn to look doubtful. “Resolutions? You mean, like, vowing we’re going to change? That doesn’t sound like much fun.”

“Sure it is! Making resolutions is the perfect thing to usher in the New Year. I can’t believe we didn’t think of them before,” said Lisa.

“I can,” said Stevie under her breath.

Carole sat up on the couch, fully awake at last. “What do you think we should resolve?” she asked, cracking open another soda.

Lisa smiled. “I can think up a resolution for you, Carole.”

Carole paused, the can halfway to her lips. “Yeah? What?”

“No more junk food,” said Lisa.

Carole winced. She put the can back down. “No more junk food,” she repeated.

“You said yourself you eat too much of it,” Lisa pointed out. “This is a great opportunity to stop.”

Carole thought hard for a minute. Why not? Why not stop talking about quitting junk food and do something about it? “You know, you’re right. I’ll do it. I’ll make it my New Year’s resolution: I resolve to quit eating junk food.”
There
, Carole thought,
that was easy
.

“You have to write it down,” Lisa reminded her.

“Oh, right,” Carole said. She chewed her lip. She didn’t really feel like writing it down. It made it seem so much more real. But she’d come this far. Lisa was watching her expectantly. “Okay,” she said. She reached over and grabbed some notepaper and a pen from the table beside the couch. It was only a resolution, after all. It wasn’t written in stone.

“Okay, I’m done,” Carole pronounced, after spelling out her vow. “Who’s next? How about you, Stevie?”

“Yeah, Stevie, come on. What do you want to resolve?” Lisa prompted.

Stevie smiled wanly. “To tell you the truth, I’m happy with myself just the way I am,” she said. “I don’t think I need to change a thing.”

“Really?” Lisa challenged her. “Because I can think of a great resolution for you, too.”

“Oh? Can you?” Stevie replied. Somehow she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like Lisa’s suggestion. But Carole was watching Lisa, and Lisa was looking eagerly at Stevie. Stevie sighed. “All right. Let’s hear it.”

Lisa smiled approvingly. “Resolve to be nice to Veronica.”

“What?” Stevie nearly yelled. “Why would I want to do a thing like that?” Being nice meant not being mean, and not being mean to Veronica was like … like not breathing!

“Well, for one, it’s a waste of time. Think of all the things you could be doing that you don’t do because you’re scheming of ways to get back at Veronica,” said Lisa.

Stevie thought for a minute. She couldn’t think of anything. “I’m not as tightly scheduled as you, Lisa. I have plenty of time in my day for getting back at Veronica,” she joked.

“Okay, okay—but what about Max?” Lisa said. “He’d be really happy if you two stopped feuding.”

Stevie nodded. “I guess so …” She knew Lisa was right. In the past, her fights with Veronica had sometimes made life difficult for Max and everyone at Pine Hollow. But could she quit being mean to
Veronica just like that? Cold turkey? “But what if
Veronica
tries to fight with
me?
”

“Stevie,” Carole spoke up. She thought she had a better way than Lisa’s to convince Stevie. “I know something that might make you want that for a resolution.”

“What’s that?” Stevie asked suspiciously. She didn’t like the feeling that Carole and Lisa were ganging up on her.

“You want to win your fights with Veronica, right? You want to come out on top? Well, my dad says that sometimes the only way to win is not to fight. You know, not to respond at all. If Veronica can’t provoke you, that might make her really mad.”

Lisa nodded in agreement. “She’s right, Stevie. Imagine how annoyed Veronica will be when she insults you and all you do is smile at her.”

“Imagine how annoyed
I’ll
be!” Stevie wailed. But Carole and Lisa did have a point. Where Veronica was concerned, Stevie had hardly ever tried the method of killing with kindness. “Okay,” she said finally, “you talked me into it. I hereby resolve to quit being mean to Veronica diAngelo.” Stevie took the paper and pen and wrote her resolution underneath Carole’s.

“Two minutes to midnight!” Lisa exclaimed.

“Better make your resolution fast, Lisa,” Stevie said pointedly.

Lisa looked surprised at Stevie’s sharp tone. “All right, all right—let me think of something.”

“No, why don’t you let Carole and me think of something, since you thought of ours?” Stevie suggested.

“But—” Lisa began.

“Good idea, Stevie,” Carole agreed. “After all, it’s only fair. Let’s see …”

“I know,” Stevie said, an impish light in her eyes. “Lisa, why don’t you resolve to learn embroidery, since your mother wants you to so much?”

“But I—well—” Lisa stopped. The idea of learning embroidery was utterly repulsive to her. She had been planning to put it off for as long as she could.

It was 11:59. Stevie and Carole were waiting. It wouldn’t be fair to back down now. “Fine!” Lisa said defensively. “Embroidery it is. Give me the pen.”

Carole and Stevie watched over Lisa’s shoulder as she wrote down her resolution.

“Twenty seconds to midnight!” Carole pointed to the TV, where the ball was dropping in New York City’s Times Square. Together the girls counted
down the last seconds. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! Yea!” they yelled.

“Let’s toast the New Year!” Stevie urged. All three of them picked up their sodas and prepared to drink.

“Uh, Carole?” Lisa murmured, pointing at the can in Carole’s hand.

Carole frowned. “Oh, right. Hold on. I’ll, um … get some water.”

“Can’t she even have one sip of soda?” Stevie asked, annoyed.

Lisa shrugged. “Don’t look at me.
I
don’t care. But a resolution is a resolution.”

T
HE AIR AT
Pine Hollow the next morning was buzzing with something, though it wasn’t exactly excitement. Max Regnery had assembled the active members of Horse Wise and their parents. Stevie’s parents couldn’t make the meeting because they were visiting out-of-town friends for the day. Mrs. Atwood had come as promised, however. And Colonel Hanson had arrived with a very sleepy Lisa, Stevie, and Carole. The tack room was packed with riders and parents waiting for Max to bring the meeting to order.

“It looks like most of the members showed up,”
Carole observed, glancing around the crowded room.

“Most—but not all,” Stevie noted dryly. “Veronica’s probably too tired from her helicopter tour of the city to come to something as boring as an unmounted Horse Wise meeting.”

“Stevie …,” Lisa said warningly.

Stevie shot Lisa an annoyed look. “Look, I resolved not to be mean to Veronica,” she snapped. “That doesn’t mean I can’t talk about her behind her back.”

Lisa was about to respond when her mother appeared in front of them. “Hi, honey. Hi, girls. Happy New Year,” said Mrs. Atwood. “How was the slumber party?”

“It was fun, Mom. We—”

“It was great!” Stevie said, jumping in. “Lisa told us that she almost stayed home because she wanted to work on her embroidery, but you’re glad you came, aren’t you, Lis’?” Stevie’s hazel eyes glinted tauntingly.

“Did you say that, honey?” asked Mrs. Atwood, obviously pleased.

Lisa glared at Stevie before recovering herself. “Yes, Mom. I can’t wait to start,” she said through clenched teeth.

“Wonderful! I wasn’t sure if you liked your Christmas present, but I’m so glad you do! Thank you for telling me, Stevie. Perhaps you and Carole would like to join Lisa. All girls should know how to embroider, you know.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Atwood, but …” Stevie paused, trying to think up an excuse.

“Yes, thank you, but I’m going to be busy learning how to cook,” Carole cut in.

“Are you, dear? That’s wonderful, too. What are you going to make?” Mrs. Atwood inquired.

Lisa and Stevie looked at Carole curiously. They had no idea what she was getting at. Carole grinned. “Oh, I’ll be making nutritious meals—vegetable casseroles, salads, sugar-free desserts …”

Lisa and Stevie laughed, both relieved that Carole had changed the subject from embroidery to her own resolution.

“That’s nice, Carole,” Mrs. Atwood said vaguely. “It’s always good to eat healthy food.”

“Healthy food?” Colonel Hanson asked, coming over to greet Lisa’s mother. “Yuck! I say, keep your alfalfa sprouts for the rabbits and give me a burger, fries, and a Coke any day of the week. Happy New Year, Eleanor.”

As Mrs. Atwood and Colonel Hanson shook
hands and began to chat, Stevie, Lisa, and Carole drifted away. It was bad enough having their parents present at a Horse Wise meeting: They didn’t want to talk to them, too!

“Am I crazy, or is Max actually late?” Stevie asked when the three of them were settled on the floor in a corner. The talking had reached a higher pitch as the group waited for the meeting to start.

“You
are
crazy, as we all know, Stevie,” Carole kidded, “but you’re right, too. Max is fifteen minutes late.” She pointed to the tack room clock. “The meeting was supposed to start at nine.”

Lisa’s eyes grew big. “This might be the first time in Pine Hollow history that Max has been late,” she murmured.

“I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it,” Stevie breathed, awestruck. For as long as she could remember, Stevie had been getting into trouble with Max for showing up late to meetings. Now it seemed that the tables had finally turned.

“Do you think something happened?” Carole asked, worried.

“Yeah, maybe his alarm clock didn’t work, or the dog ate his homework,” Stevie suggested, laughing at the idea of Max using two of her favorite excuses.

Carole gave her a withering glance. “No, seriously—it’s
strange for him to be late,” she said. “I hope he’s not sick.”

Before the girls could wonder any longer, the tack room door flew open and Max entered. Strangely enough, he didn’t seem at all perturbed or apologetic about being late. Nor did he seem in a big hurry to start the meeting. He sauntered toward the front of the room, pausing to chat with different students and parents on the way.

Astonished, Stevie stared at the owner of Pine Hollow Stables. She’d been sure that he would hurry in and call the meeting to order immediately. Maybe, she thought suddenly, his watch had stopped, and he had no idea how late he was! How embarrassing! “Max,” she said in a stage whisper. “Max, over here!”

Max turned and waved hello. “Hi, Stevie! Happy New Year.”