Wild Horse

by Bonnie Bryant

  Veronica was there, too, waiting for her ride home. She seemed to have regained her composure after her earlier outburst. She came over to them, smiling brightly. “Did you have a nice ride?” she asked.

  “We sure did,” Stevie said. “How about you? Did you take Danny out or were you too busy mucking stalls?” She couldn’t keep from snickering at the thought of Veronica mucking out.

  “I was too busy with the stalls,” Veronica said sweetly. “Didn’t you notice how nice Belle’s looked?”

  Stevie thought for a minute. She had noticed that it was less messy than usual when they got back, but she’d figured that Red O’Malley, Pine Hollow’s stable hand, had been in there while they were gone. It was too hard to believe that Veronica had cleaned Belle’s stall. “So you actually cleaned it?” Stevie said.

  “Oh, it’s nothing, really,” Veronica said, seeming to take Stevie’s comment as a thank-you. She turned suddenly to Lisa. “Did you get your hair cut, Lisa? It looks really good.”

  “Thanks, Veronica,” Lisa said stiffly.

  “No, I mean it,” Veronica went on. “What salon do you go to?”

  “I got it done at Cosmo Cuts,” Lisa said.

  Veronica looked momentarily taken aback, but she quickly recovered. “Great choice. I love that salon, and so does my mother. She and I get our hair done there every week.”

  “Speak of the devil …,” Stevie murmured, seeing Mrs. diAngelo’s large white Mercedes turn onto the driveway.

  “What did you say, Stevie?” Veronica asked.

  “Nothing, nothing. I just said, keep up the good work—in the barn, I mean,” Stevie said. She couldn’t resist adding under her breath, “I’m sure I can find a lot more for you to do tomorrow.”

  Before hopping into her mother’s car, Veronica complimented Lisa on her hair again. Then she waved good-bye to the group. “Ta-ta! See you all soon!”

  The three of them watched the car disappear down the driveway. “Boy, I love it when Veronica’s running scared,” Stevie murmured.

  “She really wants that dance job, doesn’t she?” Carole asked as they headed toward the pasture where the horses were turned out.

  “Sure,” said Stevie. “She thinks it will boost her popularity. And now that she thinks Lisa is going to go to Wentworth Manor, she wants to get on her good side, too.”

  “You think so?” Lisa asked skeptically. She couldn’t imagine being nice to someone just because of the school she went to.

  “Definitely. She probably thinks you’ll make lots of socialite friends there and look down on her,” Stevie said. “Or else bad-mouth her to the other girls.”

  “Gee, maybe Lisa should pretend she is going to Wentworth,” Carole suggested playfully. “Then she’ll have Veronica under her thumb, too.”

  “Do you realize what this means?” Stevie said, looking eagerly from Carole to Lisa. “Veronica has to be nice to two of us—and for no reason at all! Because wild horses couldn’t make me choose her for the dance committee.”

  “And wild horses couldn’t drag me back to that school!” Lisa said.

  “BYE, MRS. DOLAN!” Lisa called to her bus driver, hopping off at her stop. She swung her book bag happily as she walked toward her house. It had been a great day at school. Sometimes, Lisa realized, it took leaving a place to make you realize how much you liked it. Having spent an afternoon at Wentworth Manor, Lisa had looked at her old school with new eyes. She’d noticed all kinds of things during the day that she was normally oblivious to—like how nice Mrs. Dolan was to the kids on her bus. Even things like the beat-up lockers at Willow Creek seemed homey.

  Lisa had always liked her teachers, but today she’d appreciated them even more. As for the other kids, there were some Lisa couldn’t stand, but she had lots of friends, too. The simple fact was that she belonged at Willow Creek, in a way she could never belong at Wentworth. In a sense, her mother was right: Interviewing at Wentworth had been a privilege—it had made her realize how privileged she already was.

  Before going into the house, Lisa stopped to get the mail, as she always did. She flipped quickly through the pile of letters but didn’t see anything interesting—no foreign stamps meaning a card from the Italian boys The Saddle Club knew; no Los Angeles postmark indicating a letter from Skye Ransom, their movie star friend, who lived out in Beverly Hills.

  “Mom, I’m home!” Lisa called, stopping in the kitchen to drop off the mail and grab an apple. She glanced at the clock above the kitchen table. She had just enough time to grab her riding clothes and walk to Pine Hollow. She didn’t want to miss watching Veronica do any of the tasks Stevie was going to think up for her. It was too funny to see Veronica doing actual work.

  Lisa dashed upstairs to her room and was pulling her hair into a ponytail when she heard her mother cry out from the kitchen. She ran to the head of the stairs. “Are you okay, Mom?” she called.

  “I’m—I’m fine!” Mrs. Atwood called back. “I’m just shaken up. I can’t believe it! Oh, honey, it’s too good to be true!”

  “What? What is it, Mom?” Lisa cried, running downstairs.

  Her mother was sitting at the kitchen table, an open Express Mail letter in her hand. She looked completely overcome with happiness, as if she might cry. “Mom?” Lisa asked gently.

  Mrs. Atwood looked up at her. “It’s everything we’ve ever hoped for, darling,” she said, her voice trembling. “You got a full scholarship, Lisa. You’re going to Wentworth!”

  “NO, I’M SORRY, Veronica,” Stevie said. “I just haven’t made my decision yet.”

  “But—” Veronica began.

  Stevie held up a hand. “You can understand how I feel. A lot of people are begging me for the job, and I have to be fair,” she said in her best teacherly manner.

  “But shouldn’t you decide soon? The dance is less than two weeks away,” Veronica said anxiously.

  “Hmmm … Yes, I guess you’re right. I’ll tell you what: I’ll definitely make the announcement by Friday, okay?”

  “Friday?” Veronica said, her face falling.

  “Now, now. Chin up, Veronica. Look on the bright side: You’ve got a whole week to impress me. Listen, why don’t you make a list of possible themes for the dance, and submit it to me in school tomorrow,” Stevie said. She watched Veronica to see how she would react, sure that Veronica would tell her to shove it.

  A look of annoyance flickered over Veronica’s face, but she said nothing, just nodded, turned on her heel, and headed off toward Danny’s stall.

  Stevie grinned wickedly. “You don’t have to type it—handwritten is fine, as long as it’s neat,” she called after Veronica.

  Emerging from the tack room, Carole noticed the look of devilish delight on Stevie’s face. “All right. What have you got her doing now?” she asked.

  “Carole, please. I don’t have her doing anything. It’s all strictly voluntary. Veronica wanted to show me some sample decorations made out of hay and corn. And is it my fault that she insisted on coming here right after school and grooming Belle for me? Can I help it if she’s trying to be my friend?” Stevie asked innocently.

  Carole shook her head, laughing. If Stevie had been tormenting anyone else this way, she would have warned the person immediately. But Veronica deserved it. Besides, it was good for Veronica to do some barn work for a change. Normally she was waited on hand and foot.

  “If Belle’s all groomed, how about helping me with Starlight?” Carole said.

  Stevie was happy to comply. The two girls brushed the gelding’s bay coat till it gleamed. “Maybe we should start on Prancer, too. Lisa must be running late today,” Stevie said when Carole was going over Starlight with a rub rag.

  Carole glanced at her watch. “That’s funny. I saw her outside after school, and she said she was just going home to change and then coming right over.”

  “Mrs. Atwood probably signed her up for Monday-afternoon embroidery lessons,” Stevie joked.

  “It would hardly surprise me
,” Carole said ruefully. “She sure has some strange ideas.”

  “I know,” Stevie agreed. “Can you imagine Lisa at Wentworth Manor? The girls aren’t smart at all. They’d have to let her skip about three grades.”

  “If they’re not smart, how do they get in?” Carole asked. The boarding-school concept still mystified her.

  “Probably family connections. They know the ‘right’ people or else their parents donate a lot of money,” Stevie said. “Doesn’t it make you sick?”

  “If Lisa cared about getting in, it would,” Carole said, picking a few shavings out of Starlight’s tail. “But since she’d never want to go there, maybe it’s good that her parents aren’t well-connected—whatever that means.”

  “Good point,” Stevie said. “Then Mrs. Atwood would really be out of control.”

  Carole nodded. “You’re right about that. I’m just glad for Lisa’s sake that her trip to Wentworth is over. I think it was worrying her more than she admitted.”

  “Heck, I’d be stressed if I had to go within ten miles of that place for any reason other than riding. Those Worth-a-lot girls are horrible.”

  “I guess they’re Went-worthless,” Carole said, and giggled.

  Leaving Starlight cross-tied, the two of them took Prancer out of her stall and gave her a quick once-over. Twenty minutes later, when they had tacked up their own horses, Lisa still hadn’t arrived.

  “Boy, this is getting to be a habit,” Stevie said.

  “What is?” Carole asked.

  “Grooming a horse for one of us who’s absent, and then the person never coming.”

  Carole nodded thoughtfully. Today she couldn’t imagine what had gotten into Lisa. “Oh well. I guess we can ride by ourselves.”

  “Sure, but her excuse had better be good,” Stevie said with mock severity.

  They put Prancer back in her stall and mounted near the good-luck horseshoe. The horseshoe was a tradition at Pine Hollow. All the riders touched it before setting off on a ride. No rider had ever been seriously injured at the stables. “Remind me to tell Veronica to give the horseshoe a polish,” Stevie said once she was aboard Belle. “It’s looking a little tarnished, wouldn’t you say?”

  Carole grinned. “Just a touch, yes.” Feeling Starlight begin to dance, she sat deeply in the saddle to steady him. Like many well-bred horses, Starlight could be high-strung at times. It took a confident rider to keep him in line. “Why don’t we work in the indoor ring?” Carole suggested. “Starlight’s feeling his oats today, and that way, when Lisa comes, she’ll be able to find us right away.”

  Stevie agreed. On their way in, she said jokingly to Carole, “Maybe she’s not coming, though. Maybe she decided to go to Wentworth after all.”

  Carole gave her a withering glance. “Yeah, right,” she said. “In a wagon pulled by wild horses.”

  LISA LAY ON her bed, staring at the ceiling. You got a full scholarship.… You’re going to Wentworth.… You got a full scholarship.… It’s everything we’ve ever hoped for.… It’s everything we’ve ever hoped for.… You’re going to Wentworth.… Like a bad song on the radio, her mother’s words had been repeating in her head all afternoon. She still couldn’t quite believe them, though. Was she really going to leave home and go to that school with those awful girls?

  “Lisa! Your father’s home! Time for dinner!” Mrs. Atwood called.

  Lisa sat up with a start. She’d been lying there for almost three hours. She’d forgotten all about going to Pine Hollow. After telling her the news, Lisa’s mother had decided to run out to the grocery store and buy food for a celebratory dinner. Lisa had come up to her room and had hardly moved for the rest of the afternoon. The only thing that gave her a spark of hope was the time of year. Since the semesters were under way at both Wentworth and Willow Creek, she probably wouldn’t be switching schools until at least January. Maybe somehow by then she could figure something out …

  “Did you have a good nap, honey?” her mother asked as Lisa sat down at the table. “I hated to wake you, but I figured you’d be hungry. And I made fried chicken and mashed potatoes, your favorite—even though I’m breaking my diet.”

  Lisa did her best to smile, but it was difficult. “I wasn’t taking a nap, Mom.”

  “Really? Just letting the news sink in, hmm? Isn’t it exciting?” her mother asked.

  Lisa nodded wordlessly.

  Lisa’s father came in, freshly changed out of his suit. Mr. Atwood tended to be a quiet, serious person. Rather than exclaim excitedly, as her mother had done, he said somberly, “Congratulations, Lisa. We’re so proud of you.” But Lisa could tell that the news had made him very happy.

  “It’s nothing, Dad,” she responded. “I didn’t do anything. I didn’t even know I was being considered for a scholarship.”

  “That’s right, honey,” said Mrs. Atwood, joining them at the table. “I didn’t want to get your hopes up in case you didn’t get it. I also didn’t want to interfere if you didn’t like the school. But then when you said how nice you thought Wentworth was, I started to hope like crazy.”

  Lisa frowned, not quite understanding. Why did her mother think she liked Wentworth?

  “Imagine the opportunities you’ll have,” Mrs. Atwood continued. “You’ll meet girls from everywhere—diplomats’ children, Washington socialites, probably even movie stars’ daughters, for all I know. Now, eat up, dear, don’t let it get cold.”

  Lisa stared at the chicken and mashed potatoes. For some reason her favorite meal looked distinctly unappetizing. Of course, she wouldn’t say anything to her mother about it. She wouldn’t want to—All of a sudden, Lisa felt a chill run through her. She looked up at her mother, barely hearing what she was saying. She knew why her mother thought she liked Wentworth. She had told her she did! She had said she thought it was “really nice” and had kept her true feelings to herself! She hadn’t wanted to disappoint her mother, who had worked so hard to get her the interview, who cared so much about being socially correct. Of course, Lisa had never dreamed that there was even the slightest risk in not telling her mother the truth. But she hadn’t counted on a full scholarship.

  It all made sense, too, based on what Stevie had said about the girls at Wentworth. Stevie had said they weren’t smart—only rich. So the school probably loved to find girls like Lisa who could boost its academic ranking. Lisa wasn’t stuck-up, but she knew she was smarter than Ashley Briggs and Sally Whitmore.

  “Honey? Lisa?”

  Lisa snapped to attention. “What did you say, Mom?”

  “I was just asking if you had told Carole and Stevie the good news. I’m sure they’ll be very proud to have a good friend at a school like Wentworth. And going to Wentworth will do wonders for your riding. Did you already tell them how nice the stables were?”

  “No, Mom, not yet,” Lisa said quietly, a new wave of dread washing over her. How could she tell Carole and Stevie? They would never understand. If she went to boarding school, what would become of The Saddle Club? Would the two of them keep on having it without her?

  “Lisa, are you all right?” Mr. Atwood asked gently. “You look a bit pale.”

  “I’m fine, Dad. I guess it’s just the shock of the news. I can’t seem to take it all in.…” Lisa let her voice trail off. Both of her parents were looking anxiously at her. She didn’t know what to say.

  “I’m sure it’s quite overwhelming,” her mother finally said. “Think of all of the prominent people in Willow Creek who will sit up and take notice when they hear that Lisa Atwood is going to Wentworth Manor.”

  Mr. Atwood leaned over and patted Lisa reassuringly on the shoulder. “But the most important thing is that you’re happy, sweetheart,” he reminded her.

  “Well, of course!” Mrs. Atwood said emphatically. “And we’ll miss you very, very much. You do know that, don’t you, Lisa?”

  Lisa nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She had hardly even thought about the part of boarding school that meant leaving her pare
nts, she’d been so caught up in how horrible the Wentworth girls had been. Now Wentworth looked bad in yet another way.

  Somehow Lisa managed to eat a few bites of her dinner and help clear the table. As she and her father were bringing the dishes to the sink, Lisa asked, “So, when will I be starting, Mom?”

  Mrs. Atwood paused, turning from the fridge. “Why, right away. Didn’t I tell you?”

  “Right away?” Lisa cried. “What do you mean? Tomorrow?”

  “Oh no. We’ve got too much to do for you to leave tomorrow. I spoke with Mrs. Cushing on the phone today, and I arranged for you to start in two weeks. It’s a little unusual for them to accept a new student after classes have started, but she was so impressed with your school record that they’re making an exception. And she knew your father and I didn’t find out about the scholarship application until late in the summer. So we’ll have to run errands all week to get you ready. You’d better tell your teachers tomorrow.”

  After “two weeks,” Lisa hardly heard anything her mother said. In two weeks she was going to be going to school at Wentworth Manor? And living there? “Mom, do you mind if I go up to my room?” Lisa said. She felt suddenly weak.

  “No, of course not, dear. You’re sure you’re okay?” Mrs. Atwood asked. She put a hand on Lisa’s forehead. “You don’t feel hot. It must be all the excitement. Why don’t you go to bed early?”

  UP IN HER ROOM, Lisa sat on her pink bed and stared at the phone. She had to call Carole and Stevie and tell them. But how could she begin? Slowly she dialed Stevie’s number, then waited while Stevie, who had three-way calling, dialed Carole. Once they were all on the line, Lisa somehow found her voice and started to talk. “I called because I have to tell you guys something,” she began.

  “Good, because we have to update you on Veronica’s attempts to be made cochair of the dance committee,” Stevie said eagerly, settling back in her chair for a long conversation. When a Saddle Club member missed even one day at Pine Hollow, it always seemed as if there was a lot of catching up to do. “So, what’s your news?” she prompted Lisa.