Pony Tails 02- May's Riding Lesson

by Bonnie Bryant

  Two teachers ran over to Wil. Both of them had tissues. They also seemed to have a lot of sympathy.

  “Oh, Wil! What happened?” asked Ms. Elder.

  Wil looked at Ms. Elder. Then he looked at May. She swallowed hard. She knew she could be in a lot of trouble. She knew she deserved to be in trouble, too.

  “Wil, are you all right?” the teacher asked when Wil didn’t answer.

  “Yeah, I’m okay,” he said finally in a shaky voice. “It’s nothing.”

  “Who hit you?” Ms. Steinberg asked.

  Instead of answering, Wil looked around the room.

  Why doesn’t he just blurt out my name? thought May.

  “Nobody hit me,” Wil mumbled.

  “Nobody?” Ms. Elder sounded surprised. “But then how did you get the bloody nose?”

  “It was a book,” said Wil. “I hit myself with it by mistake.”

  Ms. Steinberg raised her eyebrows. “Some mistake.”

  Everybody, even the teachers, knew that Wil was lying. Nobody said anything, though.

  Ms. Elder took him off to the nurse’s office.

  May watched him go. Was she actually going to get away with punching Wil McNally—the biggest bully in school—right in the nose?

  Why didn’t he tell on me? she wondered again. There was only one answer. Wil McNally couldn’t admit that a girl had punched him!

  Maybe punching Wil hadn’t been such a bad idea after all, May thought. She’d taught him a lesson and she’d stood up for her friend. And the best part was she wasn’t even going to get in trouble for it. Wait till Jasmine heard about this!

  “Wow!” May turned to Corey. “Wasn’t that great?”

  “I don’t know, May,” Corey said uncertainly. “Do you really think hitting him—”

  “Wil can’t admit that a girl hit him,” May quickly assured her friend. “He’ll never tell the teachers. It’s the perfect revenge!”

  “Maybe …” Corey turned away from May and started looking at the books again.

  May hurried back toward the table where she’d seen the book of photos. But before she reached it, Ms. Steinberg announced it was time to go back to their classroom.

  “Oh, no,” May wailed. She hadn’t even chosen her books yet.

  May was almost out of the door to the auditorium when she saw Jasmine coming in from feeding the gerbils.

  “Guess what, Jasmine!” May cried. “I got even with Wil McNally for you!”

  “What did you do?” Jasmine demanded.

  “I gave him what he deserved: a punch in the nose,” May said, beaming proudly.

  “May!” Jasmine’s face turned red, and she looked as if she might start crying.

  “Don’t worry,” May told her friend. “Wil won’t tell. He’ll never admit that he was hit by a girl! It’s the perfect way to get back at him. Now can you do me a favor?” She told Jasmine about the book with the picture of the pony that looked like Macaroni. Then she held her money out so Jasmine could buy the book for her.

  But Jasmine didn’t take the money. Instead she stared at May for a minute with tears in her eyes, then walked off.

  “She doesn’t have to cry,” May said to Corey. “I’m not going to get into trouble. I’m really not.”

  “I don’t think that’s what she’s crying about, May,” said Corey softly.

  But May didn’t hear her. She was looking around the room to find someone else to buy the book for her.

  9 Samurai’s Homework

  “Now keep Samurai close to Macaroni, and he’ll go,” said May. She and Macaroni were walking ahead of Corey and Samurai in the Grovers’ schooling ring. Corey wanted to catch up with May so Samurai would be next to Macaroni. She had to make him walk faster.

  Corey tightened up on her reins. It was a way of telling Samurai he was about to get an instruction. His ears flicked back toward Corey. That was a good sign. It meant he remembered she was there. She nudged him with her heels. He stayed at a walk, but his strides got longer and that made him move faster. They caught right up with Macaroni and May. Corey eased up on the reins. Samurai then slowed his pace to match Macaroni’s.

  “Perfect!” said May.

  May was right, and Corey was pleased. Samurai was behaving much better.

  “I wasn’t sure it would work without Jasmine and Outlaw here,” said Corey. “But she had that dentist appointment.”

  “The lucky girl,” said May.

  “Lucky?” Corey looked at May. “What’s so lucky about going to the dentist?”

  “The dentist is Dr. Dutton,” said May. “He’s really nice. He and his son, Joey, used to live in your house.”

  “Oh, right,” said Corey. “And Joey used to be in Horse Wise, too, right?”

  May nodded. “We still miss him.”

  “I can understand that,” said Corey. “I miss some of the kids from my old neighborhood, too.”

  Just talking about her old house made Corey feel a little sad. She loved her new friends, but she’d moved because her mother and father had gotten a divorce. A lot of things in her life had changed in the last few months.

  She smiled at May. “Maybe Joey’s made some nice new friends the way I have.”

  “Probably,” May agreed. “I just hope he doesn’t teach them all our riding secrets. His new Pony Club, Cross County, is our biggest rival.”

  “Let’s trot!” Corey said suddenly. The girls each signaled their ponies to trot. The ponies obeyed right away.

  Corey felt very happy about Samurai. Now her pony was doing just what she wanted when she told him. She felt as if she was in charge again.

  Corey leaned forward and patted Samurai on the neck. He lifted his head and trotted on proudly. He liked praise the same way people did. It made him feel good.

  A little while later the girls finished exercising their ponies and started grooming them.

  “May, you’re a genius,” said Corey. “Samurai is like a whole different pony. Do you think it’s because we let him sniff everything?”

  “I’m not sure,” said May. “But the reason I thought of it is because Dad usually lets the new horses have a good sniff of our barn when they first arrive.” May shrugged. “I guess we’ll never know if Samurai was in a bad mood about something else. It might have been a problem he solved all by himself.”

  “Well, I think that you were the one who solved the problem,” Corey told her friend. “So, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” May replied. “I think I’ve solved Jasmine’s problem with Wil McNally, too.”

  “I’m not sure about that,” Corey said. “I don’t think punching people solves anything—”

  “Wil didn’t tease Jasmine or us again, did he?” May interrupted. She knew she’d gotten Wil off Jasmine’s back. It would be a long time before he started picking on her—or any of the Pony Tails—again.

  “No …,” Corey began. Then Samurai tugged at his lead. He seemed to want to go somewhere, and Corey was glad to let the subject drop. Somehow she didn’t think May would change her mind about Wil McNally.

  “You know, I think Sam misses Outlaw. Let’s go visit him,” Corey said.

  “Good idea,” said May. “Macaroni would like that, too, wouldn’t you, boy?” she asked her horse. He blinked and nodded. May knew that meant yes.

  The girls led their ponies over to the James’s barn. They opened the door and walked in. Outlaw peered over the top of his door. He nodded a welcome and shuffled his feet.

  May and Corey each gave him a carrot.

  “Jasmine would do this for you if she weren’t at the dentist,” May told him.

  Outlaw just munched happily.

  They patted him and said good-bye, leading their ponies back out the door of the barn.

  May glanced at Jasmine’s house. Riding was always fun, but riding with Jasmine was always more fun. She missed her.

  Then May noticed there was a light on in Jasmine’s bedroom.

  That’s funny, thought May. Jasmine
was as good at turning out lights as she was at knowing what time it was. Maybe she was home from the dentist.

  May looked again to be sure she had the right room. The light was out now. May decided she must have made a mistake. There was no way Jasmine could be home and not want to ride with her two best friends. No way at all.

  Upstairs in her room Jasmine let the curtain drop back into place. She didn’t want May to know she was home from the dentist already. She didn’t want to see May at all. She was too angry and upset to talk to her.

  Wil McNally had been her problem, not May’s. Jasmine had wanted to solve it her way, not May’s. She’d been sure that if she ignored Wil, he’d get tired of teasing her and he’d stop. Now with one punch May had made everything worse. Wil would think Jasmine couldn’t solve her own problems.

  Jasmine watched May and Corey ride into Corey’s barn. She closed her eyes and imagined that May had never punched Wil. She’d be outside riding with her friends now, not sitting here alone in her room.

  She loved being friends with May, but why couldn’t May learn to mind her own business sometimes?

  10 Saturday Morning

  On Saturday morning May was the first one ready for the scavenger hunt. She quickly loaded Macaroni onto her family’s van, then waited impatiently outside the van for Corey and Jasmine. A few minutes later Corey and Samurai arrived, followed by Jasmine and Outlaw.

  “Come on, guys!” May called. “I don’t want to be late!”

  “We’re coming, we’re coming,” Corey replied.

  Jasmine looked down and didn’t say anything.

  Mr. Grover quickly helped the two girls load their ponies. Then the three riders climbed into the Grovers’ station wagon for the ride to Pine Hollow.

  “What do you think Max is going to have us find?” May asked. She hoped he asked for a 1958 penny. She’d found one in her father’s penny jar the night before. It was in her pocket. Just in case.

  “I read about a scavenger hunt where some kids had to find an Alaska license plate,” said Corey.

  “The Zieglers, who live at the end of the street, went to Alaska last summer,” May said. “Maybe they brought a license plate back with them.”

  Jasmine didn’t think so, but she stayed quiet and looked out the window. May and Corey kept talking about what might be on the list for the scavenger hunt.

  “I almost don’t care what it is we have to find, as long as Samurai behaves,” said Corey.

  “Don’t worry. He will,” said May. “He’s been perfect for the past two days.”

  Corey nodded. “He was very good when we put him on the van.”

  “That’s a good sign,” said Mr. Grover. “Some horses—even well-behaved ones—hate vans. But Samurai just walked right up the ramp without fussing at all. He was a perfect gentleman.”

  Corey and May beamed. Corey was pleased about that because it meant Samurai was still behaving well. May was pleased because she was sure it was her scheme that made him behave.

  As soon as Mr. Grover pulled into the driveway at Pine Hollow, the Pony Tails were greeted by three older riders.

  “We’re on the same team!” Stevie Lake called to Jasmine.

  “You’re my partner,” Carole Hanson told Corey.

  “Max has paired us up!” Lisa Atwood said to May.

  Stevie, Lisa, and Carole were the members of The Saddle Club. They were teenagers and the best riders at Pine Hollow. Max liked to have his experienced riders teach the less experienced ones. It didn’t surprise May that the Pony Tails and The Saddle Club would be together on the hunt.

  “Have you been practicing all your skills all week?” Lisa asked May.

  May nodded.

  “It’s not the only thing she’s done this week,” Jasmine muttered.

  Everyone looked at her with surprise. It was practically the first thing Jasmine had said all morning, and it didn’t sound especially friendly.

  “Oh, really?” Lisa remarked. “What else happened?”

  “I punched Wil McNally at the book fair and gave him a bloody nose,” May mumbled.

  “What?” Lisa looked shocked.

  “You punched someone?” Stevie added.

  “He deserved it,” May explained quickly. Stevie was famous for her get-even schemes, but May knew Stevie would never punch someone. “He wouldn’t stop teasing Jasmine about her model horse. She needed my help.”

  That was all Jasmine could stand. Ever since the book fair she’d been holding in her hurt and her anger. She couldn’t do it anymore. She had to get it out.

  Jasmine stopped still right in the middle of the Pine Hollow driveway. She and Outlaw turned to face May and Macaroni.

  “I didn’t need your help,” Jasmine told May furiously. “Don’t you understand? You hurt my feelings when you punched Wil.”

  May was bewildered. “You mean I hurt Wil’s feelings, don’t you?”

  “No, I mean, you hurt mine,” Jasmine insisted.

  “I just wanted to make him stop teasing you,” said May. “I know that fighting’s wrong. I shouldn’t have punched him. But I couldn’t let him make fun of you. And it did make him stop, didn’t it?”

  “Well, that isn’t the only thing that happened,” Jasmine said.

  “What else happened?” May asked.

  “Mark asked me if I’d paid you to punch Wil,” replied Jasmine. “Then Erik and Josh wanted to know why I couldn’t stand up for myself.” She swallowed hard. “Don’t you see? I don’t need you to stand up for me! I can stand up for myself.”

  “Then why weren’t you doing it?” May demanded. If Jasmine had punched Wil herself, she thought, it would have saved me a lot of trouble!

  “I was standing up for myself.” Jasmine was yelling now. “In my own way—and that way did not include punching! So from now on let me fight my own battles. When I want your help, I’ll ask for it!”

  With that final word Jasmine tugged on Outlaw’s lead line and marched right past May and Corey, and right past Lisa, Stevie, and Carole. She held her head high. She looked straight ahead.

  Corey, Lisa, Stevie, and Carole all looked at May. May just shrugged.

  “She’ll get over it,” May mumbled.

  But inside she wasn’t so sure about that. She’d never seen Jasmine look so angry.

  “Horse Wise, come to order!” Max barked at all the riders.

  May swallowed around the lump that was gathering in her throat. It was time for the scavenger hunt. She would have to think about this later.

  She put her hand in her pocket and felt the 1958 penny there. Would it bring her luck? She needed it, but not just for the scavenger hunt.

  11 The Scavenger Hunt

  “What’s this?” May asked fifteen minutes later when all the horses and ponies had been tacked up. She was looking at a list. Lisa was holding an instant camera and two packs of film. Those were the things Max had given all the teams: a list and a camera with film.

  “This is great!” said Lisa.

  “What’s so great about it?” asked May. She knew she sounded grumpy, but she couldn’t help it. After her argument with Jasmine, she barely cared about the scavenger hunt anymore.

  “Look at the list,” said Lisa.

  May looked at it. Then she looked again. There were no eagle feathers, 1958 pennies, or even Alaska license plates. She was about to ask Lisa again what she meant when Max clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

  “Okay now, is it clear what I want?” he asked the riders.

  “Not exactly,” Corey answered. “This doesn’t look like a scavenger hunt to me.”

  “It’s not a scavenger hunt in the usual sense,” he said.

  “You can say that again,” May grumbled.

  Max gave her a look, but didn’t say anything.

  “What you’re hunting for is riding skills,” he explained. “The lists all show pairs of skills.”

  May looked at the list one more time. The first thing was “Poor sitting position/Good
sitting position.”

  “You’ll be working in teams,” Max went on. “The less experienced rider will be the model. The more experienced rider will be the photographer. Your job is to take pictures of the riding skills and bring the pictures back to me. There will be a prize for the best set of photographs, but we’ll all be winners because we can all learn from the pictures.”

  This doesn’t sound fun, May thought. It sounds boring and stupid. She knew there were lots of mistakes a rider could make, but it seemed silly to take pictures of them. Couldn’t Max think of anything better?

  Max directed each pair of riders to a different place around Pine Hollow. They had an hour to photograph all the mistakes.

  “We’d better get started,” Lisa told May.

  “All right,” May agreed. She yanked impatiently on Macaroni’s reins to get him going. Macaroni yanked back. He wasn’t used to yanks. And he didn’t like them one bit.

  May gave him a mean look. “Come on. We’ve got a job to do.”

  Macaroni gave her a mean look back.

  “Okay, May, this is where we do our work,” said Lisa when they arrived at the paddock on the side of the stable.

  “What do I do first?” asked May.

  “Get up into the saddle,” Lisa suggested.

  May grabbed the saddle and some of Macaroni’s mane in her left hand, along with the reins. She pulled at her pony and lifted her left foot to put it in the stirrup.

  Macaroni didn’t like being pulled around like that. He stepped away just as May’s toe reached the stirrup. May lost her balance. The saddle slid halfway around the pony’s belly. May was left hanging in midair, her bottom just inches above the ground.

  Click. Flash. Whir.

  “Perfect!” Lisa declared. “We’ve got a picture of number six: ‘poor mounting.’” She put a checkmark on the list. “Now let’s get a picture of good mounting.”

  May unhitched herself from the stirrup. She removed the saddle and put it back on again. This time she remembered to tighten the girth. She went to remount Macaroni, but he was nervous and took two steps. Lisa couldn’t take a picture because there was no “good mounting” to take a picture of.