Foxy: Rivalry at Summer Camp Read Online Free PDF Page A

but Copper got competitive, matching himstride for stride and fighting against Amber for his head. Charlie noticed that Amber’s face was stony and her knuckles were white as she gripped the reins. It seemed like Copper had picked up on Amber’s anxious mood.
    After an hour and a half of searching they’d drawn a blank and Melissa decided to call it a day. With hope failing, they began to head back to camp. They bumped into the green team as they turned onto a wide, rutted track, which ran through a sea of shimmering barley heads, swaying gently in the summer breeze.
    “Did you see anything?” Mia asked the green team.
    They shook their heads. “Nothing,” one of them said. “You?”
    “Not a single, roughed-off chestnut pony in sight,” Rosie sighed.
    “Well, at least we tried,” Destiny from the red team said, leaning forward to pat her bay pony, Topaz.
    At the end of the barley field they turned back onto a lane, and in another minute the estate walls came back into view.
    As everyone gathered in the lorry park, Melissa thanked them all for looking, and asked them to get their ponies untacked, groomed and settled.
    “Then it’ll be time for their evening feed,” she called out. “And while your dinner’s cooking, feel free to have a dip in the pool.”
    The stables were bustling with everyone heading out to the tack room, grabbing skips to pick up droppings, grooming their ponies and refilling water buckets. Alice worked slowly, constantly distracted by Scout’s little nudges or his big eyes following her round the stable. Scout lowered his head, blinking softly, and she kissed his eyebrow. By the time she’d sorted him out, the noise level from the stables had dropped in the stables and risen from the pool, and she could hear distant shrieks and splashes.
    “Sounds like everyone’s forgotten about Foxy already,” Rosie said quietly, as she joined Alice, Mia and Charlie in Scout’s stable.
    “Not quite everyone,” Mia pointed out, nodding further up the stables. Amber was leaning against Copper’s half door, looking dejected as she fiddled with her phone. Suddenly a text message came through with a loud neigh, making the others jump. Amber quickly checked it and let out a long breath, as if she was relieved.
    “Any news on Foxy?” Mia asked.
    “No, but that was Lily,” Amber explained. “She says she’s really touched by everyone going out to look today. She’s decided to stay and compete after all, rather than come back. She said that she’s doing everything she can from where she is to find Foxy. She told me to at least try to relax and enjoy camp.”
    “Maybe a dip in the pool would help,” Rosie suggested. Her hair was damp and stuck toher head after being squished into her hot hat. She couldn’t wait to dive into the cool water.
    “I guess it wouldn’t hurt,” Amber smiled.
    “Are you coming, too?” Alice called over to Holly, who was fiddling about with Skylark’s haynet.
    “I’ve just got to get this up,” Holly said, looking pink and frustrated as Skylark kept yanking great mouthfuls as she tried to tie the knot. As the others got to the stable, Holly finally managed it.
    “Does that look okay?” she asked, avoiding Amber’s eye.
    Charlie popped in and checked it. “It just needs to be pulled up a bit higher, that’s all,” she explained, showing Holly how to adjust it.
    “Thanks.” She smiled sheepishly. “The ponies at Hilltop have their hay tipped into a hay rack, rather than tied up in a net. I’ve only seen it done in my pony care book.”
    Rosie heard another shriek from the pooland felt even hotter and stickier. She hurried everyone back to the tent, then peeled off her jods and wriggled into her swimming costume under her sleeping bag. Finally she emerged, her towel wrapped round her. Amber started to sort through the stuff on her bed, and pulled her costume out of her bag. When they’d all changed, Holly grabbed her pony book, then they walked to the