Riding Camp (5 page)

“Okay, I’ve killed enough mosquitoes for the night too. Your wish is granted, Stevie—we can go inside,” Carole said, pronouncing the meeting over.

“Not a minute too soon,” Stevie said. She and Lisa stood up to go. The sun had completely set and it took them a minute to get used to the darkness of the woods. “I think it’s this way.” She squinted.

Then the girls heard the sound of someone rustling through the leaves. They paused, unsure of what to do.

“Hello?” a boy’s voice called. “Stevie, is that you?” It was Phil.

“Oh, yes, I’m here with Carole and Lisa,” she said. Lisa could hear the excitement rise in Stevie’s voice.

Phil came close enough so they could all see him. “It’s such a nice clear night out, I thought maybe you’d like to go for a walk?” he suggested. He was looking at
all three of them, but Lisa knew he was really speaking only to Stevie.

Carole didn’t seem to realize it, though. “Oh, the mosquitoes are just terrible. We’re heading back to our cabin. Some other time, okay?”

“What mosquitoes?” Stevie asked.

Before Lisa and Carole knew what was happening, Stevie and Phil were off for a walk around the pond.

“Is that what love is like?” Carole asked Lisa as they returned to the cabin. “You have absolutely no sense left?”

“I don’t know,” Lisa said. She scratched her arm. “But I’m glad I’m not in love. Stevie’s going to be awfully itchy tomorrow!”

I
F
,
TWENTY-FOUR
hours earlier, someone had told Stevie Lake that she would be stumbling over bushes and roots in a mosquito-infested forest on a dark night without a flashlight, she never would have believed him. Now, she was doing all those things and she wasn’t even questioning her sanity. She was having too much fun.

“Here’s a place we can sit,” Phil said, motioning to a grassy hill that overlooked the darkened pond. They sat down facing the water and continued talking.

Stevie had never had such an easy time talking to a boy. Phil seemed to understand everything she said and it made her talk even more.

She told him about The Saddle Club and some of the things they’d done together. He loved hearing
about their trip to Kate Devine’s dude ranch, The Bar None. He’d been to a dude ranch once, too, and had had a great time.

“Some people who ride English are really snobby about Western riding,” Stevie said. “Not me. I like riding, period. Any kind of riding. I do English riding because that’s what we have in Virginia, but I’ll ride any way I can because I love horses.”

“Yeah, me too,” Phil agreed. “But I do really enjoy the competitions in English riding, don’t you?”

“I haven’t been in too many shows, so maybe I’m not the best person to judge—but if the competitive mood around here is anything to go by, I don’t
want
to be in a lot of shows.”

Phil looked at her in surprise. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, how about Elsa and Debbie, for starters?” she said. “You were here last year, right? From what I heard from Nora and a couple of other people, we’re talking killer competition. No nice stuff about doing the best you can and learning from others. Elsa won’t talk to anybody in the cabin because she’s afraid we’re all part of some spy ring to learn her secrets for success and Debbie is just convinced that she’s better than we are—you know, like we’re not good enough to share the air in her cabin?”

Phil laughed. “It doesn’t take you long to figure people
out, does it?” he asked. “I mean you got those two right away.”

“They don’t exactly keep their obnoxious personalities hidden,” Stevie said. “I wonder why Barry put them in the same cabin with one another—and with
us
. I mean things are not looking good for the next two weeks.”

“You aren’t thinking of leaving, are you?” Phil asked quickly. “I mean, I’d hate—”

Stevie had a nice warm tingly feeling when she realized that Phil was really worried that she might go away. “No, I’m not leaving,” Stevie assured him. “And neither are my friends. We’ve got something else in mind.”

“Oh yeah?” he asked, obviously curious. “What’s that?”

For a moment Stevie faltered. The Saddle Club had never talked about secrecy. Still, she wasn’t sure if she should tell Phil about something the club was doing. She could definitely trust him, but would it be right to tell him without consulting her friends?

“It’s sort of a Saddle Club project,” she began uncertainly. “We’re working on a way to give Elsa and Debbie—and anyone like them—a taste of their own medicine. It’s still in the planning stages.”

“Oh,” Phil said. Stevie thought he sounded a little hurt not to be in on the plan.

“It’s really too bad you’ve got those two in your cabin,” Phil continued. “It gives you the wrong impression of this place. Nobody else is like that—at least not that bad. Moose Hill is a wonderful place and Barry is a great camp director and instructor. I had a neat time here last year, and I’m beginning to get the feeling that I’m going to have an even better time this year.”

Stevie knew better than to ask him what he meant by that. “Tell me about Teddy,” she said, changing the subject.

Phil had owned Teddy for three years. He’d had a pony before that and Teddy was his first horse. Teddy boarded at the stable where Phil rode. The Marstons didn’t have room for a horse at their house.

“I offered to share my bedroom with Teddy, but Mom pointed out that the stairs could be kind of tricky.”

“Boy, I’d do anything to have a horse of my own,” Stevie told him. “I’d even trade one of my brothers.”

“What a sacrifice!” Phil grinned. “I thought you said you’d trade one of them for a pack of bubble gum!”

“That too,” Stevie agreed. “Any day. And I don’t like bubble gum.”

“So if Topside isn’t your horse, whose is he?” Phil asked.

Stevie explained how Max had bought him from Dorothy DeSoto when she’d injured her back and had to give up competitive riding.

“That’s Dorothy DeSoto’s horse? You mean
the
Dorothy DeSoto?” Stevie nodded. “I’m impressed,” Phil said. “With a horse like that under you, you’ll probably take
all
the ribbons in the show.”

“You mean you don’t think I have the skill to do it by myself? I have to have a championship horse?” Stevie was a little annoyed at his tone. It made her wonder just how right he was when he’d said that Elsa and Debbie were the only two obnoxious competitors in camp.

“That’s not what I meant at all,” Phil reassured her. “I just meant that a rider as good as you on a horse as experienced at Topside … well, you may be unbeatable.”

“That’s the idea,” Stevie said. He smiled at her.

There was a long silence then. All Stevie heard was the gentle lapping of the pond water on the shore and the occasional hum of hungry mosquitoes. She bent her legs and wrapped her arms around them, hugging them close.

“You cold?” Phil asked. “You could have my sweater.”

“I’m okay.”

“Well, you
look
cold,” Phil remarked, removing his sweater. He put it across her shoulders and left his own arm there as well—for extra warmth, of course.

“Thanks,” she said. “I guess I
was
a little chilly. I just didn’t know it.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. Then he took his other hand and reached for Stevie’s chin, turning her face toward his.

Stevie couldn’t believe this was happening to her. Her mind was a jumble of confused thoughts and her heart was galloping like mad.
Phil was about to kiss her!
And she’d never been kissed by a boy before in her life! She didn’t know what to do. Should she close her eyes? Open them? Look away? Look up? Or just plain run?

In the faint evening light, she could see Phil smiling at her. Was he as confused as she was? He didn’t seem to be. Maybe he could read all of her thoughts and was laughing at her. What an awful idea.

“It’s going to be fun riding with you,” Phil said, breaking the silence. “I think I’ll even enjoy beating you in the horse show!” he teased.

Then he hesitated. Stevie gulped … and in that moment’s hesitation, there came a sound. It was the sound of taps on the camp PA system. That meant
they were already supposed to be in their cabins—with the lights out.

“Boy, we’ve got to go!” Phil said, standing up suddenly. “Barry can be pretty strict about lights out. We’ll have to run.”

Stevie stood up, and Phil took her hand to lead her through the woods as they hurried back to the cabin area. He seemed to know his way very well, in spite of the darkness. Within a few minutes, he’d brought her to her front door.

“See you in the morning,” he whispered, waving to her.

“Yeah,” she whispered back and waved.

As soon as Stevie turned to the cabin, she saw Lisa and Carole waiting for her by the screen door.

“Get in here fast!” Lisa hissed. “Nora says there’s going to be a bed check in about two minutes!”

Stevie dashed up the stairs. As fast as she could, she took off her sneakers. There wasn’t time to change into her pajamas before the bed check. She just climbed into the bed and pulled the sheets and blanket up high to hide her clothes.

A moment later, the cabin door opened and Betty stepped in. Stevie peeked through one squinted eye. Betty glanced around the cabin and, assured there was a camper in each of the beds, turned to leave.

“Good night, girls. Sweet dreams,” Betty said.

Sweet dreams?
Stevie thought.
You bet!
She was still wearing Phil’s warm sweater, and she pulled it around her shoulders and snuggled down in the bed. She touched her chin where Phil had touched it.
Sweet dreams, indeed!

T
HE HARDEST TIME
of the day at camp was in the first class after lunch. It was the only class The Saddle Club had with both Debbie and Elsa. It was the class in which they had to give Debbie and Elsa the impression that they were complete idiots.

“Stevie, what’s the matter with you?” Barry said in an irritated tone. “You know your diagonals as well as you know your own name!”

“Oh, but could you review it for me one more time?” Stevie whined convincingly.

Debbie and Elsa smirked.

Lisa and Carole smirked, too, but for a different reason. Stevie was doing a wonderful job convincing Debbie and Elsa that she was a dolt.

The whole class listened patiently while Barry explained
diagonals to Stevie. Diagonals are related to a horse’s trot. At the trot, the horse’s diagonal front and back feet move together, making a two-beat gait. The rider is supposed to post, or rise and sit, with the two beats. When the horse changes directions—or reins, as it is called—the rider changes diagonals. That means that the rider sits for two beats and then begins posting again. New riders always found it a little complicated. Experienced riders did it properly, without thinking. Stevie was an experienced rider, but she was acting like the newest rider there ever was.

Elsa and Debbie gloated. The Saddle Club girls knew that the more inexperienced they appeared, the more certain Elsa and Debbie would be of victory in the horse show. Their plan was working.

Mornings were easier on them than afternoons. The girls had two classes every morning, and both were without Elsa and Debbie, so they could be as good as they wanted to be.

The first real class of the day was a jump class. Stevie and Carole had been jumping for a while and were quite good at it. Lisa had never jumped a horse intentionally. One she’d had to make a very speedy getaway from a bull in a pasture and had taken her horse over a four-foot fence. Max would have blown his stack at all three girls for being in the pasture with the bull in the first place and would have totally lost it if
he’d learned how they’d gotten
out
, so they’d never told him about it and had sworn one another to secrecy. Also, having stayed on her horse on one jump didn’t make Lisa an expert—just lucky.

While Stevie and Carole worked on perfecting style over jumps at all levels, Lisa worked with cavalettis.

Cavalettis, Lisa learned, were really just poles laid on the ground at intervals that would allow her and Major to get used to obstacles and to keep his strides even. Lisa strongly suspected that Major had a lot more experience in jumping over obstacles than she did. That was okay. Lisa was learning so quickly that she was sure she’d be jumping soon.