Chasing Gold

by Catherine Hapka

  She opened her mouth to tell Tracey that, then thought better of it when Wings tossed his head and pawed. There was no time to get into a long, drawn-out argument with Tracey right now.

  “I’ll see how it’s going next week and decide then, okay?” Haley said hurriedly. “Look, I have to go—my aunt is calling me.”

  “Okay.” Tracey sounded hopeful, and Haley knew she’d be hearing more about that dance, probably much sooner than she wanted to.

  But she wasn’t going to think about that right now.

  “Come on, Wings,” she said, grabbing a brush out of her grooming bucket. “Let’s go do some dressage.”

  By the time she crawled into bed that night, Haley could hardly keep her eyes open. Stifling a yawn, she grabbed her laptop and opened it as she snuggled back against her pillows. Moment later she was logging on to the Pony Post.

  She smiled when she saw Maddie’s latest entry:

  [MADDIE] PAGING HALEY! How’s it going? Did you and the Wingman have a good dressage school today? What are u working on w/him tomorrow?

  Haley was still smiling as she opened a text box to respond. It was nice to have friends who understood what was really important to her. Her smile faded slightly as her mind flashed to Tracey and Emma. Once upon a time, they’d both been that kind of friend too. Okay, so neither of them was super-interested in horses—Tracey occasionally went trail riding with her cousins up in Door County and usually ended up complaining about her sore muscles afterward, while Ems was nervous around any animal larger than a golden retriever. But both of them had come and cheered Haley and Wings on in their very first competition together, along with most of those since. And they’d both loved hearing about Haley’s big plans to move up the levels, maybe even make training and riding and competing her life’s work someday.

  “That was then, this is now,” Haley muttered under her breath.

  Then she turned her attention back to the Pony Post. She typed her response quickly:

  [HALEY] Dressage today was good, mostly. W. was kinda up at first, but I let him canter around the ring about eleventy-billion times to warm up, and he settled down after that. Still have stuff to work on in our dr. lesson next week, tho!

  It was only a few seconds after she hit send that another line popped up beneath hers.

  [NINA] Haley! You’re here! I’m on right now too.

  Haley’s smile returned. Most of the time, the Pony Posters had to wait for responses to their posts to one another. After all, they were spread out across three different time zones. Just about the only times they were all on the site together were birthdays and other special occasions. But once in a while, two or even three of them would happen to be logged on at the same time so they could have a real-time conversation.

  [HALEY] I’m here! Just barely—had a looooong day today!

  [NINA] I bet! The clinic is almost here, huh?

  [HALEY] Tell me about it! I’d be too excited to breathe if I wasn’t too busy to breathe! LOL!

  [NINA] ha-ha! Maybe that’s good—u won’t get so nervous about riding in front of a superstar that way.

  As she read Nina’s message, Haley yawned so widely it felt as if her face might crack in two. Glancing at the clock, she did some quick mental math. Just six and a half hours until her alarm went off. Tomorrow was going to be another long day—even without a trip to the mall in the mix.

  [HALEY] U may be right. Anyway, I’d better go—falling asleep on keyboard! LOL! Sorry I’m not more chatty 2night!

  [NINA] No worries, I get it. Go get some sleep, girl. & keep us posted!

  [HALEY] U know I will! G’night!

  CHAPTER

  4

  “I’M HOME!” HALEY SHOUTED AS she rushed through the front door, barely pausing to toss her jacket in the general direction of the closet. She was already mentally adding up the minutes and seconds it would take to tack up Wings, ride out to the cross-country field and school him over a few jumps, cool him out, do her chores, then get back into the house in time to throw on something clean before Mr. Vandenberg showed up.

  “Haley.” Aunt Veronica appeared in the kitchen doorway when Haley was halfway up the stairs. “Stop.”

  Aunt Veronica was a petite, slightly plump woman with rosy cheeks and an angelic smile. But her softness was backed with steel. When she gave an order, even her tough old farmer husband always obeyed instantly.

  Haley stopped with one foot halfway to the next step. “Yes?”

  “Mrs. Vandenberg called.” Aunt Veronica wiped her hands on the dishrag she was holding. She almost never stopped moving—if she wasn’t in her home office working as a freelance computer programmer, she was cleaning or cooking or weeding the garden. “One of the kids has a fever, so they’re staying in tonight. They won’t need you after all.”

  Haley just stood there as her mind struggled to take in this turn of events. “Oh,” she said at last. “No babysitting tonight?”

  “No babysitting tonight.” Her aunt shrugged. “She sent her apologies and said they’ll probably reschedule their dinner, and they’ll call you then.”

  “Okay.” Haley wasn’t sure what to do for a moment. She’d been counting on the money from tonight. If the Vandenbergs didn’t call her back before the clinic, she’d have trouble making up the difference.

  But at least there was a silver lining. Now she had some extra time this afternoon. It was tempting to ask Jake and Danny if they wanted her to do their chores today after all. But then she had a better idea.

  “Tracey and Emma wanted me to go shopping with them today,” she told her aunt. “Is that okay?”

  Aunt Veronica looked surprised. “Of course,” she said immediately. “You’ve been working so hard lately, it’ll be good for you to get out and have some fun with your friends.” She stepped over and smoothed down Haley’s hair. “I’m really sorry your uncle and I can’t help you out more with the cost of your clinic. You’ve certainly earned it with your devotion to that rotten little pony of yours.”

  Haley laughed. Ever since she’d sprained her wrist last year hitting the ground after an extra-exuberant buck, Wings had been officially known to her aunt as “that rotten pony.” But Haley knew Aunt Veronica didn’t mean it. For one thing, she always smiled when she said it. For another, talking about Wings often sent her aunt off on endless stories about her own “rotten pony” from her childhood, a mischievous little Appaloosa mare with a habit of scraping off her riders on any available tree or fence post. But that mare had made Aunt Veronica a terrific rider, even if she didn’t have much time for it anymore. And it was Aunt Veronica who’d convinced Uncle Mike that Wings would do the same for Haley.

  “Okay, thanks,” Haley said, pulling out her phone. “I’d better call before they leave without me.”

  “Ta-da!” Tracey leaped out of the dressing-room stall and struck a pose. She’d traded her jeans and T-shirt for a cream-colored lace baby-doll dress. “What do you think? Is it totally me?”

  Haley smiled weakly from her seat on a bench near the three-way mirror. The dress was way too short and tight—there was no way Tracey’s strict father would let her leave the house in it. But she suspected that wasn’t the response Tracey was looking for.

  Meanwhile Emma peeked out of the next stall. “Let me see!” She poked her glasses back up her nose. “Whoa, you look gorgeous, Trace!”

  “Thanks.” Tracey twirled and giggled. “Do you think Nick would agree?”

  Emma giggled too. “He thinks you look gorgeous in gym shorts,” she said. “He’ll die if you show up at the dance in that!”

  “So, what do you think, Hales?” Tracey stepped over in front of Haley. “Is it me?”

  “Um . . .” Haley shrugged. “I don’t know. I think I liked the blue one better.”

  “Which blue one?” Tracey glanced into her dressing room, which was crammed with at least half a dozen dresses. “The one with the sequins, or the one with the full skirt?”

  “Don’t forget the on
e from the last store,” Emma put in. “Remember? With the chiffon? I thought you looked amazing in that one.”

  Haley stifled a yawn as the two of them started chattering about the relative merits of the three blue dresses. So far, this shopping trip hadn’t been much fun. Still, she told herself that keeping her friends happy was worth a few hours of boredom. She’d still have plenty of time to school Wings when she got home, and Aunt Veronica had even offered to set the table for her so she wouldn’t have to cut the ride short.

  Besides, I could tell Tracey was really happy I changed my mind about today, Haley reminded herself. Maybe now she won’t be as mad when I tell her I really can’t make the dance next Friday.

  Because the more she thought about it, the more certain she was that she couldn’t fit in the dance. Not if it might mess up Saturday’s lesson. Her last couple of dressage schoolings had reminded her of several things she wanted to ask Jan to help her with before the clinic, and she needed to be wide awake and ready to focus. After all, this was important. She and Wings definitely didn’t want to embarrass themselves in front of Zina Charles!

  If they actually made it to the clinic, that was. There was still a ton to do before then, including figuring out how to make up for today’s lost babysitting money. Haley also wanted to find time to polish her tall boots, and oil her jumping saddle, and clip Wings’s muzzle and fetlocks, and . . .

  She blinked as she realized Tracey was waving a hand in her face. “Wake up!” Tracey said. “You’re totally spacing out!”

  “Sorry.” Haley blinked and straightened up. “Um, what were you saying?”

  Emma popped out of her dressing room, wearing a cute pale-pink dress with a full skirt. “She was saying you need to try on some dresses already. How do I look?”

  “Adorable!” Tracey exclaimed, hurrying over and tweaking the sleeve of Emma’s dress. “That color is perfect on you.”

  Emma grimaced. “Thank goodness. I looked like a ghost in that red one!”

  “No, you didn’t,” Tracey said loyally. “But this one’s definitely better. Don’t you think so, Hales?”

  “Sure,” Haley agreed. “I like it.”

  “Good. It’s definitely on the list.” Emma surveyed herself in the mirror, turning this way and that to check out all the angles. “Anyway, that red dress might look better on one of you. Why don’t you try it, Haley?”

  “Um, I don’t know.” Haley shrugged. “I really don’t want to spend any money on a new dress.”

  Tracey poked her on the shoulder. “So what? That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun trying some on.”

  Wiggling into one scratchy, uncomfortable, too-girly dress after another wasn’t Haley’s idea of fun, but she didn’t bother to say so. Shouldn’t her best friends already know that? After all, until recently they hadn’t liked that kind of thing either.

  “Okay,” she said. “But I don’t think the dresses at this store are really my style. I’ll wait for the next one.”

  Tracey and Emma traded a look. “That’s what you said at the last store,” Tracey said. “But whatever, we’re going to Finders Keepers next. I bet we can find you something cute there.”

  “True. That place really is more Haley’s style,” Emma said, heading for her dressing room. “Come on, let’s get changed and head over there.”

  Ten minutes later, Haley trailed behind her friends as they hurried down the mall aisle. She sneaked a peek at her watch and was surprised to discover that they’d only been shopping for a little over an hour. It felt more like a day and a half!

  She immediately felt guilty for thinking that. Okay, so maybe Tracey and Emma were acting as if they’d been abducted by aliens and replaced with shopping-obsessed pod people. They were still her best friends. Maybe Haley just needed to relax and stop worrying about all the other things she could be doing right now. She should at least try to have fun, right? Especially since she might not have another chance to hang out with her friends outside of school until after the clinic.

  “Is anyone else getting hungry?” she asked, hoping to distract the others from their dress-seeking mission. “I was in such a rush to meet you guys that I didn’t get an after-school snack.”

  “Me!” Emma rubbed her stomach. “Let’s go to the Mexican place—I love their milk shakes.”

  The mall’s food court was crowded, as it almost always was on Friday afternoons. Haley spotted Jake goofing off with some of his high school friends over by the ice cream place, and she recognized several other kids from around town as well.

  Wow, I guess Tracey and Ems aren’t the only ones who like to come here, Haley thought with a flicker of surprise. She hadn’t really imagined that everyone she knew rushed home to clean stalls and ride horses after school. But somehow, she hadn’t thought much about what they might be doing instead, either.

  She and her friends wound their way through the crowd to the taco stand and got in line. As they waited, Haley studied the menu.

  “I think I’ll just have an iced tea,” she said, digging into her pocket for the leftover change from lunch.

  “What? I thought you were hungry,” Emma said.

  “I was,” Haley said. “I mean I am, sort of. But I don’t want to ruin my appetite so close to dinner.”

  Emma blinked behind her thick glasses, her pale eyes confused. “But I thought you said you were going riding after this,” she said.

  Tracey shrugged. “Actually, I was thinking about ordering the large nacho platter, but I’m not sure I can eat it all,” she said. “Want to share, Hales? My treat.”

  Haley shot her a look. She suspected that Tracey had guessed the real reason Haley didn’t want to order any food. Namely, she didn’t want to spend any of her hard-earned money. The cost of those nachos could make the difference between making it to the clinic and coming up a few dollars short.

  Normally Haley wouldn’t have accepted Tracey’s offer without insisting on paying for her half. She didn’t need charity from anyone, even her best friend. But her stomach was grumbling, and she still had a lot to do before dinner.

  “Sure, thanks,” she said. “I’ll get it next time, okay?”

  “Whatever.” Tracey flashed her a smile, then hurried forward to order, waving away the money Haley tried to hand her for the iced tea.

  Soon they had their food. Haley glanced around as they stepped away from the counter.

  “It’s pretty packed in here,” she said. “I don’t even see a free table. Maybe we should go down the aisle and find a bench instead.”

  “No, let’s stay here,” Tracey said quickly. “I think I see a table over there.”

  She hurried toward a tiny table shoved up against the back of a waste bin. Haley shrugged and followed. Soon the three of them were crowded around the rickety table.

  Emma slurped her milk shake. “So Haley,” she said as she licked off her chocolate mustache. “When’s that horse clinic thing of yours again?”

  “Two weeks from tomorrow,” Haley replied. “I can’t wait!”

  Tracey reached for a nacho. “Okay, so after that you’ll be back to normal, right?” She giggled. “I mean, as normal as you ever get. As in, not always having to rush off to ride or do extra chores every second of the day.”

  “I guess so.” Haley hadn’t really thought about how her friends might see her behavior over the past couple of months. Had she really been that busy? “I mean, I’ll definitely want to give Wings some time off,” she added. “He’s been working really hard too, and . . .”

  She let her words trail off. Tracey obviously wasn’t listening anymore. She was staring at something over Haley’s right shoulder.

  Glancing that way, Haley saw that a group of rowdy boys their age had just entered the food court. There were four of them, all dressed in matching soccer shirts. They were shoving and laughing their way toward the burger place.

  “Look, it’s Nick!” Emma hissed, her eyes bright with interest as she glanced at Tracey.

  Tr
acey ran a hand over her hair. “Duh, I see him,” she hissed back. “Do I look okay? Anything in my teeth?”

  Haley didn’t know why Tracey was so worried about it. Nick Jankowski wasn’t even looking in their direction.

  “Are you going to go talk to him?” she asked.

  “What?” Tracey let out a short, breathless yelp of laughter. “No way! But maybe he’ll come over here.”

  “Do you think he’ll ask you to the dance?” Emma asked.

  Tracey shrugged, her eyes never leaving Nick and his friends. “Probably not,” she said. “He’s super-shy. But he might ask me to dance once we’re there.”

  “Or you could ask him,” Haley said. “You’re not exactly shy.”

  Tracey giggled. “What do you mean? I’m totally shy!”

  “Yeah, right!” Emma let out a snort.

  “Well, this is different.” Tracey shot Nick another look, then leaned across the table. “But listen, that reminds me. My mom said she’d talk to my dad about maybe letting me have a boy-girl party soon! Isn’t that cool?”

  Emma gasped. “Really? That would be so cool!” She elbowed Haley so hard she almost spit out a mouthful of half-chewed nacho. “Did you hear that, Hales?”

  “I heard.” Haley didn’t know what the big deal was. Back in elementary school, boys and girls had invited one another to their birthday parties all the time. She wasn’t quite sure when that had changed. Come to think of it, nobody really had birthday parties much anymore. Haley hadn’t really missed them, since she was usually busy with Wings on the weekend anyway.

  “So when is it going to be?” Emma asked. “Your birthday?”

  Tracey waved a hand. “I don’t want to wait that long! I don’t know, though. It depends what my dad says. But I’m thinking it’ll be on a Saturday, so we’ll have plenty of time to get ready. If it’s not too cold yet, we can have it out on the deck and hook up my sister’s speakers so we can dance, and . . .”