Horse Capades (7 page)

“I know,” Lisa said. “But they’re judging the horse. And right now Prancer won’t even jump.”

“That’s no way to think,” Carole chided as she lifted the highest rail off the jump. She carried it to the side of the ring and pushed it under the fence. “You know you have to try to keep a positive attitude. If you’re worried, Prancer will sense that and it will
make her worried, too. And that can only have a bad effect on her performance.”

“All right, all right,” Lisa said, laughing as she dragged another rail toward the fence. “Thanks, Teach. I’ll try to stay optimistic. Now come on, we’d better hurry if we want to get any practicing in. Phil will be here any minute.”

A few minutes later the course was ready. Carole and Lisa mounted and warmed up their horses by trotting them around the ring. Soon they were ready to start jumping. Carole took Starlight through the course first. The gelding trotted smoothly, clearing each obstacle with plenty of room to spare.

“There, we’ve shown you guys how easy it can be,” Carole said to Lisa, pulling up her horse and giving him a fond pat. “Now you try it.”

“Okay,” Lisa said, taking a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.”

Carole saw the look of determination on her friend’s face as she sent Prancer toward the first jump. The mare pricked her ears forward as they approached it, then laid them back in consternation. She began shaking her head when they were only a few yards away, and did her best to stop short just in front of it. But Lisa urged her on firmly, using her legs, seat, and hands, as well as her voice.

“Come on, Prancer,” she told the mare sternly. “Enough’s enough. You can do this; I know you can.”

Carole held her breath as she watched. Lisa wasn’t giving in this time; she was giving the mare an unmistakable order. Would Prancer obey?

Finally, Prancer’s years of training won out over her nervousness, if only by the narrowest of margins. The mare hopped forward, taking the tiny fence from a halt and barely clearing it. When she landed safely on the other side, she looked surprised. So did Lisa. But she didn’t waste the momentum. Immediately, she urged Prancer forward once again toward the next fence. This time the mare didn’t come to a full stop, though she slowed down quite a bit and jumped jerkily and sloppily. The third fence went much the same way.

Lisa pulled Prancer to a halt after that, looking pleased. “She did it!” she called to Carole.

Carole grinned back. “So I saw,” she replied. “Nice riding!”

“Thanks,” Lisa said. But her smile faded a little when she thought about the competition. It was only one short week away. Prancer had jumped, but hardly in ribbon-winning form. Lisa knew that winning awards wasn’t the most important thing about riding—not even close. But she liked to do things the
best way she could, and she hated to think that she and Prancer would lose their chance to do their best because of Veronica’s mean trick.

She said as much to Carole. Carole looked thoughtful. “I know how you feel,” she said slowly. “But you know what Max would say. You shouldn’t be competing against the other riders. You should be trying to meet your own goal.”

“I know,” Lisa said. “But at this rate I can forget about the goal I wrote down. It was to keep an even pace through the course, remember?”

Before Carole could reply, she heard the sound of a car coming up the stable driveway. “That looks like Phil,” she said, glancing back over her shoulder. “I guess that’s the end of our jumping practice for now.”

Sure enough, Stevie appeared in the stable doorway seconds later. “Finally!” she cried. She put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot impatiently as Phil climbed out of the car and said good-bye to his older sister, who was driving.

“Sorry I’m late,” he called, jogging over to the ring. “Barbara offered to drop me off on her way to the mall, but she took forever getting ready.”

“That’s okay,” Lisa said, smiling. “You gave us just enough time to convince Prancer to try a little jumping, for a change.”

“Really?” Phil said, looking interested. “You got her to jump today?”

Lisa and Carole began telling him about it.

“Ahem!” Stevie interrupted loudly. “If you don’t mind, we have work to do. You can talk about Prancer later.”

Her friends looked surprised, but they stopped talking.

“Okay, director,” Phil said. “What do we do first?”

Stevie nodded in satisfaction. That was more like it. Maybe this rehearsal wouldn’t be a total loss after all. “First, go get Diablo. He’s in his stall—I tacked him up for you.”

Phil hurried off, and Stevie turned to Carole and Lisa. “You two will need to practice that curtsying scene some more, but we can do that later. First, I want to practice with some of the props I’ve been making.”

“Props?” Carole said, glancing at Lisa with a smile. “Wow, you’re really going all out with this one, Stevie.”

“Of course I am,” Stevie said. “I told you I have to get a good grade, remember?” But suddenly she realized what Carole really meant. She obviously still thought this movie was just a setup for some elaborate practical joke. Stevie frowned but decided to let it
pass. Her friends would surely realize she was serious when they saw the props. She had spent hours the previous night working on them.

Stevie walked over to her backpack, which was leaning against the stable wall. Reaching inside, she pulled out the first item and held it up. It was a U-shaped piece of blue cardboard covered in plastic wrap.

“What in the world is that?” Lisa asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Stevie said in surprise. “It’s the glass horseshoe.”

Carole and Lisa laughed. “And you said you’d given up joking around!” Carole said.

“No, I said I’ve given up practical jokes,” Stevie corrected her. “That doesn’t mean I can’t still have a sense of humor. Besides, what else would you expect in a horseback
Cinderella
?”

“Not a thing,” Lisa said. “It’s perfect. Now what do we do with it?”

As soon as Phil returned with Diablo, Stevie had them practice with the horseshoe for a while. All the two stepsisters had to do was dismount, signal for their horses to raise one foreleg, and then let Phil pretend to try the shoe on each horse for size.

“But Belle’s feet are almost the exact same size as
the other horses’,” Lisa pointed out sensibly. “How are you going to show which horse the shoe fits?”

“Simple,” Stevie said. She hurried over to the backpack again and pulled out another “glass” horseshoe. This one was larger than the other. “It’s the magic of the movies. When it’s Belle’s turn to try on the shoe, I’ll switch the too-small shoe with this one, which I traced around Belle’s foot.” She asked Belle to lift her leg, and demonstrated. “See? Perfect fit.”

Phil laughed. “That’s great, Stevie,” he said with admiration. “Really clever.”

“Thanks,” Stevie said, smiling back at him. She was really starting to feel better about this rehearsal. Finally, everything was falling into place. And now that Prancer had started jumping again, maybe Carole and Lisa would be able to concentrate better.

But as the rehearsal continued, Stevie felt her optimistic mood slipping away. After practicing a little more with the fake horseshoes, Stevie had pulled out her next prop—a frilly pink parasol, left over from a couple of Halloweens before, when Mrs. Lake had gone to a costume party as Scarlett O’Hara.

“What’s that for?” Lisa asked suspiciously as soon as she saw it. “You don’t expect me to carry that hideous thing, do you?”

“Well, there’s only one,” Stevie said, “so only one of you can carry it.” She reached into the bag again and held up a large Spanish-style fan, decorated with butterflies and flowers. “The other one gets to carry this.”

Carole was shaking her head. “No way,” she said. “I agreed to be in your movie. I didn’t agree to look like an idiot on film.”

“What do you mean?” Stevie asked. “These are just your props for the ball scene. You have to look like you’re dressed up, you know. And we need to start practicing with them now so the horses won’t be spooked when it’s time to start filming.”

“Are you kidding?” Lisa said. “I’m already spooked by them.”

Stevie turned to Phil in exasperation, hoping he could help her explain to her friends how important it was for them to look the part. But Phil was glancing at his watch. He didn’t even seem to be paying attention.

“Are we keeping you?” Stevie asked him sarcastically.

Phil looked up quickly. “What? Oh, um, no,” he said. “Sorry. What were we talking about?”

Stevie explained the problem. But as she talked, she noticed that Phil kept shooting looks at the stable.

“Do you have to use the bathroom or something?” she finally snapped at him.

Phil blushed a little. “No, no,” he said. “I’m listening. Really.”

Stevie turned back to Carole and Lisa. “Come on, guys,” she said. “I don’t even have the camcorder here today. Can’t you just try riding with the props—please?”

“Well,” Carole said slowly, “since you asked so nicely, I guess we could try it. Since we’re not filming today, I don’t know what harm it can do.”

“Thanks,” Stevie said, relieved. “Lisa? What about you?”

Lisa shrugged. “All right,” she agreed. “But if all the cute guys from my school suddenly show up to watch, you’re dead meat. Oh, and I call the fan.”

Carole stuck out her tongue. “Fine. I prefer the parasol anyway.”

Carole, Lisa, and Phil laughed, but Stevie sighed. Directing a movie was turning out to be like pulling teeth—especially when she had to be director, scriptwriter, special effects specialist, choreographer,
and
props person all rolled into one.

Carole and Lisa were cantering around the ring with their new props a few minutes later when Red
O’Malley came out of the stable. He waved and called to Stevie.

“Cut!” she yelled to her actors. “Take five.” Then she turned Belle and trotted over to see what Red wanted.

“There’s a phone call for you, Stevie,” Red explained. “I told the guy you were busy, but he said it was important.”

“He?” Stevie said with a frown. “Who is it?”

Red shrugged. “He says his name’s Starr. He’s calling long distance.”

“Okay, I’ll be right there,” Stevie said, puzzled. Could it be her brothers playing a practical joke? She didn’t think so. She knew Chad had soccer practice that day, and Alex and Michael were fishing with their father.

She dismounted and handed the reins to Carole. “Hold Belle for a second, okay? I’ll be right back.” She followed Red inside and down the hall to Mrs. Reg’s office. The woman was nowhere to be seen, but the receiver of her phone was off the hook.

“There you go,” Red said. “See you later.” He hurried away as Stevie picked up the phone.

“Hello?” she said tentatively.

“Is this Miss Lake?” asked a deep male voice. “Miss Stephanie Lake?”

“Yes, this is Stevie Lake,” she replied.

“My name’s Starr. Rex Starr,” the other voice went on. “I’m calling from Hollywood. That’s the movie capital of the world you know, young lady.”

“I know,” Stevie said. There was something slightly familiar about the voice, but she couldn’t quite place it. “What do you want? Is this a joke or something?”

“No joke, young lady,” Rex Starr said. “No joke at all. I’m calling to make your dreams come true. You see, I represent several major movie studios. And the buzz out here in Hollywood right now is that you’re the hottest young director in the East. We want to buy the rights to your latest project,
Sleeping Beauty
. We hear it’s a masterpiece. Absolute box office gold.”

Suddenly Stevie figured out who the voice belonged to. “A.J.!” she shrieked. “Is that you?” A.J. was Phil’s best friend and an out-of-town member of The Saddle Club.

“No, I told you, this is R-Rex S-S-S-Starr,” the voice said, then collapsed into very familiar-sounding laughter.

It was soon echoed by laughter from behind her. She whirled around and saw that Phil was doubled over in the doorway. Lisa and Carole were grinning behind him.

“Gotcha!” Phil cried, before bursting out laughing once again.

Stevie wasn’t sure how to react. Normally she would have thought Phil’s prank was funny, even if she was the victim of it. But today the last thing she wanted to waste time on was practical jokes. Finally she slammed down the receiver and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Very funny,” she said grumpily. “Now can we get back to the rehearsal, please?” She brushed past her friends and stomped back out to the ring, where Red was watching the horses.

Carole, Lisa, and Phil gave each other surprised looks. Was Stevie angry because they had pulled their practical joke before her own was ready—whatever it was? That wasn’t like her.

“She can dish it out, but she can’t take it,” Phil muttered, staring after Stevie.

Carole just shrugged and sighed. “Come on,” she said, heading in the direction Stevie had just gone. “We’d better get back out there.”

“No! B
OW
, I
SAID
! B
OW
!” Stevie cried.

Carole looked over her shoulder. “Put down that camera, and maybe I’ll think about it,” she said. “I feel stupid enough doing this stuff with people walking by and looking at us every five minutes.”