A Winning Gift

by Catherine Hapka

  Maddie held back a sigh. Bridget was only a year ahead of her in school, which made her almost thirteen. How could she think she’d already found “the one”? It just didn’t compute.

  Still, Bridget was her friend, and Maddie hated to see her hurting. “Come on,” she said, gently disentangling Bridget’s arms from around her neck and grabbing her by the hand. “Vic and Val are here. They’re good listeners, so you can tell us all about it and we’ll try to help, okay?”

  “Okay.” Bridget sniffled and followed Maddie down the aisle to the grooming area.

  When they got there, Val was touching up Cloudy’s hooves with what was left of the Pink Twinkle, while Vic leaned against the wall and watched. They both looked up when Maddie and Bridget appeared.

  “Hey, guys,” Maddie said. “You remember Bridget, right? Bridge, it’s Vic and Val.”

  “Right, hi,” Bridget said vaguely. All four girls attended the same enormous public middle school, but Bridget was a grade ahead of Maddie and the twins. Bridget probably wouldn’t have known Vic and Val at all if Maddie hadn’t introduced them a few times at the barn. Bridget lived less than a quarter of a mile away from Solano Stables, and even though she’d never shown much interest in horses, she sometimes came to hang out with Maddie or watch her ride. Likewise, Maddie tried to attend most of Bridget’s plays and art shows.

  Sometimes Bridget joked that Maddie had tricked her into becoming friends by pretending to be an artsy type instead of the jock she really was. The two of them had met soon after Maddie had moved to the area three summers earlier. Her mother was career Air Force, which meant the family moved around a lot. Maddie was used to making friends fast and had immediately signed up for summer day camp as a way to meet other kids. The soccer and rock-climbing camps had been full already, so she’d ended up in a session sponsored by a local theater group. The campers had put on a production of Alice in Wonderland, and Bridget and Maddie had been cast as Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Ever since, they’d been the best of friends despite their differences.

  “So what’s wrong?” Vic asked Bridget in her straightforward way. “You look kind of upset.”

  “That’s an understatement!” Bridget flopped down dramatically onto a hay bale, earning a surprised snort from Cloudy. “My boyfriend just dumped me.”

  “They’ve been a couple since the summer,” Maddie told the twins.

  Val’s eyes widened. “Wow! That’s a long time.”

  “Four months, three weeks, and five days,” Bridget announced. “But who’s counting?” She sighed loudly. “I can’t believe he did this to me! I thought everything was fine.”

  “So what did he say?” Maddie asked. “Maybe you misunderstood him or something.”

  “No way.” Bridget sat up straighter and glared at her. “He said the long-distance thing was just too hard, and so he decided to go to the school dance next weekend with some stupid girl from his math class. Can you believe that?”

  “Wow,” Vic said. “That’s harsh.”

  “I know, right?” Bridget’s big brown eyes welled up. She gazed forlornly at Cloudy, who was still eyeing her curiously. “Maybe I should give up on boys, dedicate my life to my art. Or to saving animals, or something. You know—something worthwhile. That’ll show Tony he made a mistake!”

  Maddie traded an uncertain look with the twins. None of them had much experience with boys yet. Not in the romantic sense, anyway. Maddie had tons of guy friends, but nobody she’d ever even slightly considered might become a boyfriend.

  “Look, Bridge,” she said. “You’re amazing, and if Tony didn’t appreciate you, maybe it’s better that he set you free, you know?”

  “Are you crazy?” Bridget sniffled and glared at her again. “Tony is am-am-amazing!” A single tear leaked out and trailed its way down her face.

  Maddie hurried over and sat down on the hay bale beside Bridget, giving her a hug. “Don’t cry,” she exclaimed. “Seriously, he’s not worth it.”

  “No boy is worth crying over,” Vic added with a decisive nod.

  “Yeah,” Val added, though she didn’t sound too sure. “Anyway, he lives pretty far away, right?”

  “Utah,” Bridget sobbed. “I was already trying to convince my parents to let me go visit him there over winter break. It was going to be totally romantic.”

  “Look.” Maddie gave her one more squeeze, then grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet. “Whenever I’m feeling down, I just come here and hug Cloudy, and that always makes me feel better. Why don’t you give it a try?”

  “Cloudy?” Bridget eyed the mare dubiously. “What do you mean, hug her? How do you hug a horse?”

  “Like this.” Maddie demonstrated, throwing her arms around Cloudy’s neck and burying her face in her mane. She breathed in deeply, enjoying the familiar scent of the warm pony. Then she stepped back and waved Bridget forward. “Go ahead—give it a try.”

  “I don’t know.” Bridget took half a step forward. “Will she bite me?”

  Vic laughed. “Not unless you smell like hay.”

  “Don’t worry,” Val added. “Cloudy’s really sweet. She doesn’t bite.”

  Bridget took a deep breath and stepped even closer. “This is weird. . . .” She gingerly snaked her arms around the pony’s neck, imitating what Maddie had just done. Cloudy turned her head and snuffled at the girl’s hair, and Bridget leaped back with a shriek. Cloudy threw her head in the air, rolling her eyes in surprise.

  “It’s okay,” Maddie said, trying not to laugh. “She was just saying hello.”

  “If you say so.” Bridget smoothed down her hair, surveying the pony from a safe distance. Then she let out a long sigh. “Anyway, hugging a pony isn’t like hugging your boyfriend.”

  “If you say so,” Maddie echoed.

  “It’s kind of hard to hug someone who lives in Utah, isn’t it?” Vic added.

  Val poked her sister. “You’re not helping.”

  But Bridget barely seemed to have heard Vic’s comment. She was staring sadly into space. “Now I’ll never get to hug him again.” Her eyes filled with tears again. “I can’t believe he did this to me!”

  As she tried to figure out what to say to make her friend feel better, Maddie heard the sound of the wheelbarrow rattling toward them again. Seth was returning from his latest trip to the manure pile.

  He rounded the corner, whistling. “Hi, guys,” he called when he saw them. “How’s the pony manicure going?”

  Bridget glanced at him and blinked rapidly several times. Then she turned away, quickly dabbing at her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. Maddie guessed she was embarrassed to be caught crying by someone she didn’t know.

  “It’s going great,” she told Seth as he approached, trying to distract him. “Check it out. Is she ready for the Paris fashion runways or what?”

  Seth laughed, stopping the wheelbarrow in front of Cloudy and reaching out to give the pony a pat on the face. “I wouldn’t know about that,” he said, flipping his hair out of his eyes with a toss of his head. “But she looks pretty spiffy.”

  “Thanks.” Sneaking a look at Bridget, Maddie could see that she’d composed herself. “By the way, Seth, this is my friend Bridget. She just, uh, stopped by to say hello. Bridget, this is Seth.”

  “Hi, Seth.” Bridget smiled at him. “Do you work here?”

  Seth waved a hand at his wheelbarrow and pitchfork. “It’s not glamorous, but it pays pretty well. And Ms. Emerson lets me come whenever I have time between school and football practice.”

  “Oh, you’re on the football team?” Bridget asked. “What position do you play?”

  “Quarterback,” Seth replied.

  Bridget’s eyes widened. “Really, quarterback? Wow, that’s cool!”

  “Thanks.” Seth smiled proudly. “I’m only JV this year, but I’m hoping to make varsity as a sophomore.”

  “Cool,” Maddie said. “I didn’t even know you played football.”

  “There’s a lot you don’t k
now about me.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Like, you probably don’t know I have a secret double life as an international spy.”

  Maddie laughed. “Really? What a coincidence—me too! What’s the last international crisis you stopped?”

  “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.” Seth grinned and checked his watch. “Speaking of getting killed, I’d better go finish up. My mom will strangle me if I’m late for dinner again.”

  “Okay. Later.” Maddie gave a quick wave as he hurried off.

  When she turned back to her friends, Bridget was smirking at her. “Where’ve you been hiding him, Mads?” she demanded.

  “Huh?” Maddie glanced over her shoulder. “You mean Seth? He’s just the new stall guy.”

  “Just the new stall guy, hmm?” Bridget said. “You two seemed awfully friendly. Is there something you want to tell me?”

  “Tell you?” Maddie echoed, still not catching on.

  “Yeah. Just because I don’t have a boyfriend anymore doesn’t mean you have to hide yours from me.”

  “Maddie and Seth?” Vic exclaimed. “No way.”

  “Yeah, what she said.” Maddie rolled her eyes and patted Cloudy, who was nosing at her sleeve. “He’s not my boyfriend! I barely know him.”

  “So you’re still in the love-at-first-sight stage, huh?” Bridget grinned. “Because seriously, Maddie. It’s so obvious you’re crushing on him.”

  “It is?” Maddie was so confused that she wasn’t sure how to respond. “Um . . .”

  “I mean, you were just flirting your head off!” Bridget stepped closer and poked her on the shoulder. “Ooh, Seth, I didn’t know you played football,” she cooed in a high voice that sounded absolutely nothing like Maddie. “What a coincidence. We have soooo much in common! Giggle, giggle!”

  “I do not giggle,” Maddie told her. “Anyway, your heartbreak has obviously gone to your head and made you insane. Because if you think that was flirting, you’re nuts.”

  “Yeah, Maddie jokes around with everyone,” Val put in. “She wasn’t flirting.” She glanced uncertainly at Maddie. “Were you?”

  “Of course not!” Maddie said. “Seth is nice and all, but I definitely don’t have a crush on him.”

  Bridget looked at the twins. “No wonder Maddie spends so much time here,” she said. “And all this time I thought the only one she had a crush on was Cloudy! Is Seth here a lot?”

  “Almost every day after school,” Val replied. “There are like twenty stalls, so it usually takes him a while if he’s the only one working.”

  “And does Maddie follow him around looking all moony?” Bridget asked.

  “No,” Maddie said before the twins could respond. “Give it up, Bridge. Seth’s only been working here for about five minutes—I barely even know him! Besides, he’s way too old for me.”

  The smirk was back. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” Bridget said.

  Maddie blinked at her. “Say what now?”

  “It’s a quote from Hamlet,” Bridget explained. “I played Ophelia when we did a session on famous scenes from Shakespeare at camp.” Her smirk faded, and her lower lip started to quiver. “Tony played Hamlet.”

  Uh-oh. Maddie wondered if she should have played along with the crush-on-Seth thing. At least it had distracted Bridget from her heartbreak for a few minutes.

  “Um, want to go somewhere and talk about it?” she offered. “We could ride our bikes over to the diner and get sodas or something.”

  “Thanks. But that’s okay.” Bridget looked around. “I’d rather stay here.”

  “Are you sure?” Maddie was surprised. While Bridget didn’t seem to mind visiting the barn now and then, she’d never acted as if she liked it all that much, either. Usually she ended up complaining about the smells and the way bits of hay got stuck to her clothes and hair.

  “Yeah.” Bridget gave her a slightly shaky smile. “It’s nice here. And Cloudy is awfully cute with her sparkly hooves. Can I, you know, brush her off or something?”

  “Sure!” Now Maddie was more surprised than ever. As far as she could remember, Bridget had never showed the slightest interest in interacting with Cloudy beyond a quick pat now and then. “Here—use this one.” She grabbed a soft body brush and handed it over.

  “Thanks.” Bridget flipped her hair back over her shoulder, then cautiously touched the brush to Cloudy’s shoulder.

  Vic giggled. “You can press harder than that. She won’t mind.”

  “Just act like you’re brushing your own hair,” Val suggested.

  “Here, I’ll show you.” Maddie grabbed another brush and demonstrated, running it over Cloudy’s side in long, sweeping motions.

  She was still surprised that Bridget wanted to stay at the barn instead of drowning her sorrows over a soda or an ice cream sundae or something. But she wasn’t going to complain about it. Why sit in some boring diner when you could hang out with the coolest pony in the world instead? Being with Cloudy always made Maddie feel better when she was down. Maybe her magic was working on Bridget, too.

  ♦ CHAPTER ♦

  3

  MADDIE’S STOMACH WAS RUMBLING when she walked into her kitchen on Monday afternoon. She’d had soccer practice after school, and Coach Wu had kept them hustling the whole time. Maddie hadn’t even had a spare moment to eat the granola bar she’d brought as a snack. She hadn’t eaten it on the way home, either, since she’d caught a ride with one of the other players’ mothers, and the woman’s car was so spotless that Maddie was afraid to move, let alone eat.

  Her father looked up from loading the dishwasher when Maddie walked in. “There you are,” he said, not quite smiling. “I was just starting to wonder if you’d run away from home to escape the wrath of Tillie.”

  Maddie grimaced. “Is she here?”

  “Yes, she’s up in your room. And still not happy.”

  Maddie could tell her father wasn’t particularly thrilled with her, either. By the time she’d arrived home from the barn the previous afternoon, she’d been in some serious hot water. It was hard to say how much of her parents’ annoyance came from the fact that Maddie had taken something that didn’t belong to her without asking—always a cardinal sin in their house—and how much was from having to listen to Tillie gripe at them about it for more than an hour before Maddie turned up. Either way, it had ended in a long lecture and lots of dirty looks from Tillie for the rest of the evening.

  Not eager to face her older sister now, Maddie wandered to the fridge and looked inside. Suddenly there was a sound like a herd of thundering elephants, and her two younger brothers raced into the kitchen.

  “Hey, it’s Maddie!” nine-year-old Tyler exclaimed. “You’re still alive! We thought for sure Tillie would have put out a hit on you by now.”

  Ryan didn’t say anything, though he pushed his glasses up his nose and stared at Maddie curiously. He was a year older than Tyler, but much quieter. Then again, as Maddie liked to say, the average tornado was quieter than Ty and usually caused less of a commotion.

  “Whatever,” Maddie muttered. She couldn’t believe everyone was getting so worked up over a stupid bottle of nail polish. She’d even offered to replace it with her own money—at least until she’d heard it cost almost thirty dollars.

  “Thirty bucks for nail polish?” she’d exclaimed. “Who would pay that much for something you can get at the drugstore for ninety-nine cents?”

  That definitely hadn’t been the right thing to say, logical though it might have seemed. It had brought a howl of outrage from Tillie and more stern words from her parents.

  Maddie’s father set one last coffee mug in the top rack and turned to look at her. “So I hope it was worth it,” he commented without quite meeting Maddie’s eye. “I mean, I hope Pink Twinkle turned out to be a good look on Cloudy, at least.”

  Tyler snorted with laughter. “Good one, Dad!”

  Ryan just rolled his eyes behind his glasses. Maddie smiled.

  “Yeah, it looked g
reat on her,” she said. Much better than it would have on Tillie, she was tempted to add, but didn’t quite dare. Her father might not be as strict as her military mom, but he didn’t have much sympathy for any kid who did something he or she knew was wrong.

  “You could finish up the leftover chicken if you’re hungry,” he told Maddie. “Don’t spoil your appetite, though—we’re eating in less than an hour.”

  “Okay,” Maddie said meekly. “Thanks, Dad.”

  “Wait! Can I have some of that chicken?” Tyler asked.

  His father raised his eyebrows. “Didn’t you have a sandwich half an hour ago?”

  “Yeah. So?”

  “No chicken for you.” Maddie’s father hurried out of the room. He rarely stopped moving for long, whether at his part-time job as a nurse at the local hospital or while running the household while his wife was working full-time at the base. A moment later Maddie heard the basement door open and guessed he was doing laundry.

  She grabbed the plate of foil-covered chicken out of the refrigerator. When she turned around, Ryan and Tyler were staring at her.

  “So are you grounded?” Ryan asked. “Because Tillie says you should be locked up for the good of society.”

  “Tillie says a lot of things.” Maddie popped a piece of chicken into her mouth. “Anyway, it’s none of your business.”

  “Maybe you should give Tillie all your birthday presents to make it up to her,” Ryan suggested.

  “Yeah.” Tyler grinned. “If you can find them. I can’t believe you haven’t found any yet!”

  Maddie felt a spark of interest at that. In their family, it could be hard to keep a secret, and birthday gifts were no exception. Maddie’s parents always hid the kids’ gifts around the house, and the kids always did their very best to find them before their birthdays.

  “Have you even looked?” Tyler asked.

  “Sure.” Maddie chewed and swallowed, then snagged another piece of chicken. “A little. I haven’t had much time, what with school and soccer practice and riding. . . .”

  “And stealing Tillie’s valuable designer nail polish,” Tyler added.