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The Road Home Page 5

by Catherine Hapka


  “I don’t know.” Edie shrugged. “Like I said, I only overheard them—I don’t even know those girls. They looked like they’re probably younger than us.”

  Nina clenched her fists, annoyed. She was used to the way gossip could spread like wildfire through such a small, tight-knit school. But she’d never had such a hateful rumor aimed at her before.

  “It’s not true, obviously,” she told Edie. “I mean, you’re new—I get that you don’t really know me or anyone else yet. But I swear to you, I’ve never stolen anything in my life.” She paused and considered what she’d just said. “Actually, I take that back. When I was like four, I saw this pretty emerald ring I liked in a shop my mom’s friend owns over on Magazine Street. Miss Marie was always so nice to me, I figured she wouldn’t mind if I took it.” She smiled at the memory. “But believe me, as soon as my mom found out what happened, she marched me right back there and made me return it and apologize. Then she and my dad spent the rest of the day explaining to me how stealing is wrong, even from a friend.” She shot Edie a look. “Especially from a friend.”

  Edie nodded, looking relieved. “Okay, okay, I believe you,” she said with a sheepish laugh. “I was kind of dubious to start with, to tell you the truth. I mean, I’ve had to make new friends at enough new schools that I’ve learned how to size people up pretty quickly, and I had such a good feeling about you.” She shook her head. “I just worried for a moment there that I was losing my touch, I guess.”

  “Don’t worry, you aren’t,” Nina assured her, glad that at least one problem in her life had been so easy to solve. “Now come on, let’s finish getting this pony ready. Miss Adaline doesn’t take kindly to tardiness.”

  CHAPTER

  6

  “BREEZY BOY, I’M so glad you’re back!” Nina gave her pony a big hug as soon as she dismounted after her lesson on Tuesday. She’d been worried all day that he’d be tired again after another weirdo secret midnight ride. But she’d examined him carefully while tacking up, and there were no signs of saddle marks. And as soon as she asked him to trot the first time, she could tell she had her old pony back—lazy, but not too lazy.

  Jordan giggled as she hopped down from Freckles’s saddle. “I guess his secret rider must’ve heard you were onto them, huh?”

  “Maybe so,” Miss Adaline said, stepping around to help Jordan by running up her right-side stirrup. “I did some asking around too, but nobody seems to know anything.”

  “Well, I don’t even care who it was or why they did it,” Nina said. “Just as long as they’ve stopped.”

  That wasn’t entirely true. She was still troubled by the thought that someone could just take her pony out for a ride with nobody knowing. What if Breezy had been hurt? Or worse yet, what if his secret rider never brought him back? She couldn’t blame whoever it was for falling in love with such a fantastic pony. . . .

  She was still thinking about that a few minutes later as she and Jordan groomed their ponies. “So, weird about Leah, huh?” Jordan said, breaking into Nina’s thoughts.

  Nina blinked at her, her mind immediately switching from one worrisome situation to the other. “Yeah.”

  Leah hadn’t shown up for the day’s lesson. This time, however, Miss Adaline had already known she wasn’t coming. She’d told Nina and Jordan that Leah’s mother had called that morning and said that Leah had to drop out of lessons for a while.

  “So why would she give up lessons?” Jordan went on. “Do you think it’s what we were talking about before?”

  “You mean about her being sick—really sick?” Nina shuddered. “I hope not.”

  Jordan pulled out her cell phone. “What diseases can kids our age get?” she said. “I’ll do a search.”

  “Don’t do that,” Nina said quickly, but it was too late. Jordan’s eyes went wide as she scanned her phone’s screen. “What?” Nina couldn’t help asking. “Did you find something?”

  “Lots of stuff.” Jordan bit her lip. “Like swine flu, and asthma, and meningitis—yikes, I don’t really even know what that is, but it sounds bad! And of course . . .” She paused and swallowed hard. “Cancer.”

  “I’m sure she doesn’t have cancer.” Nina grabbed the phone and turned off the search. “Anyway, we’re not going to figure out what’s wrong with Leah by trolling the Internet for horrible diseases and stuff. We’ll just have to wait until she feels like sharing.”

  She just hoped that would happen soon.

  Later, Nina flopped on her bed with her laptop and pulled up the Pony Post. While she waited for the site to load, her mind wandered back to Leah. But she pushed that thought aside, focusing instead on the Expo. Whatever Leah decided, Nina still had that third ticket to give away. Who should she give it to? Her closest friend? That would probably be Trinity, but she was pretty sure Trinity wouldn’t be that interested in spending a whole day looking at horses.

  No, it made much more sense to give it to her horsiest friend. Other than Jordan and Leah, who would that be? One of the other girls from the barn? Jayla from the neighborhood, who sometimes came trail riding in the summer? Cousin Tommy’s six-year-old daughter, Annie, who brought her stuffed unicorn with her everywhere she went? Then Nina thought of another option—what about Edie?

  Thinking about Edie reminded Nina of the rumor the new girl had told her about. She picked at her bedspread, freaked out anew by the memory of what Edie had said. Who could be telling people nasty lies about Nina—and why?

  She shook off those thoughts as she realized the Pony Post was waiting for her. Nina wasn’t the type to waste a lot of time worrying over things she couldn’t fix. Why stress over some dumb thing those younger girls had said about her? Her real friends would know that the stupid rumor wasn’t even close to true. Even Edie had been quick to believe Nina, and they’d only known each other for a few days.

  That thought made Nina feel better. She pulled the laptop closer and scanned the latest entries from her friends.

  [BROOKE] Hi, all! Guess what? The new fly mask I ordered for Foxy finally got here!!! It’s still rainy here so there aren’t rly many flies yet, but I tried it on her and she looks supercute. I’ll post a pic in a sec.

  Right below Brooke’s entry was a photo of Foxy wearing a pink fly mask with silver stars printed on it. Nina smiled, then scanned down to the next post.

  [MADDIE] ADORBS! Sooo glad it finally came, I know u ordered it like a month ago. Foxy looks like a superstar. I keep telling Ms. Emerson I’m going to get Cloudy one of those masks with big googly eyes printed on it, ha ha ha! (She keeps saying if I do, Cloudy might have to go into witness protection to get away from my craziness! Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!! crazy laugh)

  [HALEY] Lol, Mads, u are too much! Brooke, the mask looks awesome. Foxy should totally be a horsey catalog model looking so good! Poor Wings will prolly have to settle for his regular old boring gray fly mask he already has, b/c I’m saving up for a new dressage girth.

  [MADDIE] Cool! So did either of u ride today?

  There were a few more posts after that, but Nina only scanned them. For some reason, she couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed. Sure, Foxy looked awfully cute in her new fly mask. But was it fair that the other Pony Posters were making such a fuss over something like that, when they’d barely commented on her own big news about the Expo?

  Immediately feeling guilty for those sorts of thoughts, Nina told herself she was being petty. Maybe her cousin was right and she’d bragged too much. Or maybe the other girls just hadn’t realized how important the news was to Nina. Either way, maybe she should get over herself and post about it again—maybe ask their advice about who to invite with that third ticket.

  But when she heard her mother calling her name, Nina couldn’t help a flash of relief as she clicked off the site and hurried to see what she wanted.

  “Oh no,” Nina exclaimed aloud as soon as she asked Breezy for a trot on Wednesday afternoon. “Don’t tell me . . .”

  She gave the pony another kic
k. They were out for a trail ride, but had barely made it past the stable gates. At her second request, Breezy shook his head irritably and trotted for a few strides before dropping back to a choppy walk.

  “Seriously?” Nina muttered with a sigh. She’d checked the pony carefully for saddle marks, but hadn’t seen a hair out of place. That had made her hope that those secret midnight rides really were over.

  But now it seemed they might not be. Had someone sneaked in again last night to take her pony for a joyride?

  She sighed again. “Come on, Breezy,” she said, turning him around. “Let’s go back.”

  “So on Wednesday I was pretty sure someone had ridden him,” Nina told Edie. It was Friday, and the two girls were walking to their lockers before lunch period.

  “Did you try riding yesterday?” Edie asked.

  Nina nodded. “We just did a short trail ride,” she said. “It was really hot, so we didn’t do much. But he actually felt more like his normal self again.”

  “So you don’t think anyone took him riding on Wednesday night?” Edie shivered. “It’s so crazy that someone could just borrow your pony without permission like that!”

  “Tell me about it,” Nina said with feeling. “I’m definitely going out this afternoon to check on him. I just hope he’s okay for my lesson tomorrow morning.” She brightened. “By the way, I meant to ask if you maybe wanted to come out to the barn tomorrow? You didn’t really get to meet Breezy when you had your lesson the other day, so I was thinking you could watch me and Jordan ride, and then come for a walk with us on the levee.”

  “That sounds great!” Edie said immediately. “I’m sure my parents will say yes. They love that I’m into riding, since it helps me meet people whenever we move.” She giggled. “My dad also hopes that my interest in horses will keep me away from boys!”

  Nina chuckled, but she was a little distracted. Leah had just stalked into view at the end of the hall, every inch of her expression and body language sending out prickly vibes. She’d been keeping to herself all week, pretty much refusing to talk to Nina or their other friends.

  But that wasn’t the only weird thing going on that week. More rumors about Nina had been going around school lately. Edie, Trinity, and other friends had filled her in on some of them—like the one about how Nina had been born with a tail, or the one that she ate cat food as an after-school snack . . .

  None of the rumors were as bad as that first one. Still, Nina didn’t like being the subject of gossip—especially since most of it was so ridiculous. Who could be spreading such mean stories about her?

  She’d done her best to forget about that by the time she walked into the stable after school. But all it took was one look at Breezy to put her in a bad mood again.

  “No way!” she blurted out, letting herself into his stall and running her fingers over his back, where a saddle mark was clearly visible.

  Breezy nudged her, looking for a treat. Nina pulled a mint out of her pocket and fed it to him, but she barely felt him slobbering on her palm. She was frowning, tempted to storm out of the stall and demand answers about who was borrowing her pony without permission.

  But what good would that do? She’d already asked everyone at the barn. If anyone knew anything about Breezy’s midnight rider, they weren’t saying.

  “It could be anyone,” Nina muttered, running her fingers through Breezy’s tangled forelock. “It’s not like this stable is Fort Knox.” She smiled as the pony nosed at her, clearly hoping for another mint. “And I can’t really blame whoever it is for choosing the cutest pony in the entire state of Louisiana, right?”

  Her smile faded quickly and she sighed, feeling out of sorts. First there was the mysterious situation with Breezy, then one of her best friends had turned into a cranky grump who wouldn’t tell anyone what was wrong, and now there were these stupid rumors. . . . Nina hated feeling frustrated and helpless about so many things in her life all at once.

  “So let’s do something about it,” she muttered, quoting one of her aunt Iris’s favorite comments.

  There didn’t seem to be much she could do about the rumors other than wait for them to pass, so she turned her attention to Leah. Whatever was going on with her, it was clearly making her miserable. And friends didn’t let friends deal with bad stuff on their own, right? Even if she really did have some terrible disease, Nina wanted to help in any way she could. But she could only do that if Leah told her what was wrong.

  “And if she doesn’t want to come to me, I’ll just have to go to her,” Nina told Breezy, fishing another mint out of her pocket. “Whether she likes it or not.”

  As the pony eagerly gobbled the treat, Nina checked her watch. She wouldn’t have enough time to make it over to Leah’s house and still make it home in time for Friday family dinner. But she could go over there right after her lesson tomorrow.

  “It’s a plan,” she told Breezy with a smile. “I’ll just show up at her door and refuse to leave until she tells me what’s wrong. And that’s that.”

  CHAPTER

  7

  NINA FELT A little better as soon as she had a plan to deal with the Leah situation. Now it was time to do something about Breezy’s nighttime visitor.

  “Be right back,” she told the pony as she let herself out of the stall.

  She hurried down the aisle and around the corner to the stable office. Nobody was there, so she poked her head into the feed room. The barn manager, a tall, lean, brisk woman with a deep tan and short brown hair, was scooping feed into buckets for the horses’ dinner.

  “Hi, Nina,” the manager said. “What can I do for you?”

  Nina told her about the latest saddle mark. “Isn’t there any way to figure out who’s sneaking in and riding him?” she finished. “Otherwise I’m afraid they’ll never stop!”

  The manager sighed and dropped her scoop into the feed bin. “Not without hiring a nighttime guard, and we can’t afford that,” she said. “Sorry, Nina. If someone really is sneaking in at night to ride your pony—”

  “Someone definitely is!” Nina broke in, a little surprised that the manager didn’t seem fully convinced. “You should see Breezy—he’s so tired these days he can hardly move when I try to ride him.”

  “Hmm.” The manager reached for another bucket. “Yes, Adaline did say something about that. . . . Well, maybe I can ask around and see if I can find someone with a motion-activated security camera we could borrow for a few days. Maybe if we set it up near his stall we’ll catch the pony rustler that way.”

  Nina brightened. “That sounds great!” she exclaimed. “How soon do you think you can find a camera like that?”

  The manager shrugged. “I’ll try to remember to send some emails this weekend. I’ll let you know how it goes when I hear back from people.”

  “Oh, okay.” Nina was tempted to urge her to work faster, but she bit her tongue and kept quiet. The manager didn’t seem to think this problem was very urgent. But at least she was willing to do something. Unless Nina came up with a better plan, she would just have to try to be patient. Not that that was going to be easy. . . .

  That night, Uncle Oscar and Aunt Lou were hosting Friday night’s family dinner. They lived in a rambling old camelback Victorian in Bywater, and there was plenty of room for everyone around their big oak dining table. Aunt Toni and Uncle Elijah were away visiting friends in Alabama, and Cousin DeeDee’s boyfriend was off on a fishing trip with his buddies, but everyone else was there, even Nina’s ninety-six-year-old great-aunt Shirley, for a total of twenty adults and ten kids. As usual, Nina was the only one between the ages of seven and thirty, but that was normal for her. She loved being able to go back and forth from playing tag with the younger kids or tickling Cousin Charlotte’s pudgy, cheerful one-year-old daughter, Ella, to discussing interesting topics with the grown-ups.

  Tonight, though, Nina was a little distracted. She barely heard the discussion of local politics as she played with her food.

  Finally Unc
le Oscar leaned over and poked her on the shoulder. “Wake up, Nina Beanie!” he boomed, using his favorite pet name for her. “Are we putting you to sleep?”

  Nina blinked, then smiled. “Sorry, guys,” she said. “I guess I’m just a little distracted.”

  “Ah.” Oscar leaned back and winked broadly at the others. “Boy trouble, eh?”

  “No!” Nina said quickly, which made all the adults laugh. Rolling her eyes, she added, “Pony trouble, actually.”

  “What’s wrong, child?” Aunt Vi helped herself to more Brussels sprouts. “Did you and that little pony of yours forget how to win blue ribbons at your horse shows?”

  “No, it’s not that. . . .” Nina launched into the whole story, telling her relatives about Breezy’s mystery rider. Her parents had already heard all about it, of course, but the others listened with interest.

  “Wow,” Cousin Jeremy’s wife, Becks, said when Nina had finished. “That’s wild. A secret midnight rider, huh?”

  “Sounds like the Wild West, not civilized New Orleans,” Gramma Rose commented, adding a quiet “tut tut” after she said it.

  “I know, it’s crazy,” Nina said, idly pushing a piece of chicken around on her plate. “But the manager says she can’t afford to hire a security guard, so—”

  “So what’s the problem?” her cousin Charlotte said jokingly. “You can just do a stakeout yourself! Isn’t that your dream come true, moving right into that barn with your pony?”

  Several of the others chuckled. But Cousin DeeDee, an outspoken thirty-one-year-old with a sharp chin and a short Afro, looked thoughtful. “You know, that could actually work,” she said. “I mean, whoever’s sneaking rides on Breezy obviously knows there’s nobody there at night, so it should be easy to catch him or her.”

  Aunt Vi looked alarmed. “Our Nina, sleeping over in a dark barn in the middle of Audubon Park?” she exclaimed. “Sounds downright dangerous to me!”

 

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