Horse Capades

Stevie shrugged again. Ms. Vogel was being awfully dramatic about this whole thing. Stevie’s jokes were just harmless fun. Nobody minded them—did they?

“Sometimes something you think is funny can seem mean or obnoxious to someone else,” Ms. Vogel went on. “Or just plain not funny.”

Stevie didn’t spend a lot of time worrying about what other people thought of her. Usually she liked most people, and most people liked her back. Or so she had always thought. But now, for the first time, she began to wonder. Her jokes
were
funny. Weren’t they? Or—the unwelcome thought floated into Stevie’s mind, along with the angry faces of her brothers, Max, Veronica, and countless others who had been the victims of her wit—did her jokes actually annoy more people than they amused?

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“H
ERE SHE COMES
,” Stevie Lake whispered eagerly, poking her head over the half door of the stall where Carole Hanson was grooming her horse, Starlight.

Carole looked up. “Who?” she asked.

Stevie rolled her eyes. When Carole was busy fussing over Starlight—or any other horse, for that matter—she tended to forget about everything else. “Veronica, of course,” Stevie said impatiently. “Her limo just pulled up. And my greatest practical joke ever is ready—just in time.”

Now it was Carole’s turn to roll her eyes. Stevie was one of her two best friends, and one of the things Carole and their other best friend, Lisa Atwood, loved
about her was her wacky sense of humor. But sometimes even Stevie’s best friends got a little tired of her practical jokes.

“Are you sure you want to pull something like this on Veronica right now?” Carole said, picking at a knot in Starlight’s mane. “She’s still pretty annoyed with you for putting her on that mailing list for Shoppers Anonymous. And if Max catches you, he might not be too cool about it considering that time last month when you put all the grain in the tool shed and all the tools in the grain shed.” Max Regnery was the owner and manager of Pine Hollow Stables, where Stevie and her friends rode.

Stevie just grinned. “That was a good one, wasn’t it?” she said. “A lot of work, but well worth it. And to answer your question, sure, I’m sure. There’s no such thing as playing too many jokes on Veronica diAngelo.”

Veronica was a spoiled, snobby rich girl who cared more about the color of her riding breeches than the condition of her horse. She owned a gorgeous Thoroughbred named Danny; he was perfectly trained and had a show record as long as her arm. But the thing that mattered most to Veronica was that Danny had been outrageously expensive.

“Normally I’d agree with you,” Carole said, dropping her mane comb into Starlight’s grooming bucket. “But just now I wonder if you ought to slow down before someone gets hurt. Like you, for instance.” She was remembering all the times Stevie’s practical jokes had gotten her—and sometimes her friends—in hot water.

Stevie just shrugged. “I know what I’m doing, okay?” she said. She sounded a little annoyed, so Carole decided not to say anything else. When Stevie was involved in one of her schemes, there was usually no stopping her.

At that moment a familiar voice floated down the aisle. “Oh, Re-e-ed!” Veronica called.

Red O’Malley was Pine Hollow’s head stable hand, but Veronica treated him more like her own personal groom. Max believed that riding shouldn’t begin when a person climbed into the saddle and end when they climbed out. He insisted that all the riders at Pine Hollow take care of the horses they rode, as well as help out with the stable chores. Stevie, Carole, and Lisa didn’t mind Max’s rules one bit. They loved horses so much that they wanted to learn absolutely everything about them. That was why the three girls had formed The Saddle Club. The group had only two
rules: Members had to be horse-crazy, and they had to be willing to help one another with any problem, great or small.

Veronica, on the other hand, was never willing to help anyone with anything, unless it was herself. And that meant she ignored Max’s rules whenever she thought she could get away with it. When her parents had first bought Danny for her, Veronica had spent a lot of time grooming him and looking after his every need. But once the novelty had worn off—in about an hour—she had returned to her usual habit of demanding that Red do most of the work for her. Lately she had grown even lazier than usual. Instead of arriving at Pine Hollow and then telling Red to get Danny ready for her, Veronica had actually started calling ahead so she wouldn’t have to get to the stable any sooner than necessary.

Stevie grinned when she heard Veronica coming. “This is going to be great,” she said. “I’m going to go get a front-row seat. Want to come?”

“Go ahead without me,” Carole said. “I have some work to do here first, and I don’t want to be late for the Horse Wise meeting.” Horse Wise was Pine Hollow’s branch of the United States Pony Club. Stevie, Carole, and Lisa were all members. At the moment, Veronica was a member, too, although she had been
kicked out more than once in the past for her unsportsmanlike behavior.

Stevie said good-bye to Carole and hurried down the aisle toward the locker room. On the way, she passed Lisa.

“Where are you going?” Lisa asked. She was busy fastening her shoulder-length light-brown hair into a ponytail. “It’s almost time for Horse Wise to start.”

“Belle’s all ready,” Stevie said hurriedly. “She’s waiting in her stall. Come with me if you don’t want to miss the fun.”

Looking a little confused, Lisa followed her friend into the locker room. When the two girls arrived, Veronica had just pulled something out of her cubby and was staring at it with a mixture of surprise, annoyance, and disgust. She whirled around and immediately trained her eyes on Stevie.

“Stevie Lake!” she cried. “I know you’re responsible for this stupid trick. What have you done with my gloves?” She held up a pair of fuzzy woolen mittens. They were hot pink with yellow stripes and bright green thumbs. Lisa bit her lip to keep from laughing.

Stevie gazed at Veronica with a wide-eyed, innocent expression. “You mean those aren’t yours?” she asked. “But they’re so elegant. So stylish. So … well … 
you
.”

Veronica gritted her teeth. “Very funny,” she said. “But I think it would be even funnier if I told Max about that history test we took last week, don’t you? What was your grade again, Stevie?”

Stevie frowned. Max insisted that all his young riders maintain good grades at school. If a rider’s average in any subject slipped below a C, that meant no riding until the grade came up again. Right now Stevie’s history grade was dangerously near that line, and Veronica knew it. “Well, it wasn’t my best effort,” she admitted slowly.

Lisa glanced at her friend with a worried expression. She and Carole went to a different school from the one Stevie and Veronica attended, so she hadn’t had any idea Stevie’s grades were in trouble.

Veronica smiled in triumph. “I thought so,” she said. “Now, I’m just going to ask you once more. Where are my riding gloves?”

“All right,” Stevie said reluctantly. “Wait here.” She disappeared for a moment. When she returned, she was carrying a pair of soft black leather gloves. “Here you go,” she said, handing them over to Veronica. “I guess you win this time.”

Veronica gave her a small, satisfied smile as she took the gloves and yanked them on. “I guess I do,” she
agreed. Then she whirled on her boot heel and left the room without another word.

Lisa turned to Stevie and raised one eyebrow. “That was it?” she asked. “That was the great prank you’ve been talking about all week?”

Stevie grinned, looking mysterious. “What do you think?”

Lisa sighed. She knew that expression, and it usually meant trouble. “I think we’d better go get our horses, or we’ll be late for the meeting.”

T
EN MINUTES LATER
Stevie, Lisa, and Carole rode into the outdoor ring. Most of the other students were there already, waiting for Max. Only Veronica was still missing.

But not for long. “Hurry up, Red,” her voice came drifting out of the barn. “You’re going to make me late.”

Veronica emerged and bent down to tug at her boots. Lisa noticed that she was wobbling a little. She also noticed that the boots looked brand new.