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Veronica was only a few feet away, talking animatedly with Betsy Cavanaugh. She seemed to have forgotten Amelia already.
    “Carole and I tried to sit next to her,” Stevie whispered to Lisa. “As soon as we sat down, she moved.”
    Lisa looked at Amelia’s pinched, stubborn expression and sighed. She watched May settle herself between her friends.She went up to her cousin and knelt down. “Why don’t you come sit with us?” she asked.
    Amelia shrugged. “Your friends aren’t very nice. Stevie laughed when I said I wanted to ride Prancer.”
    “I don’t think Stevie meant to laugh. Give them another chance.”
    “I don’t want to. I like sitting here by Veronica.”
    “Why don’t you go sit by the Pony Tails? They’re really nice, once you get to know them.”
    “Oh, them.” Amelia raised her voice so that the entire room could hear. “May’s parents must not know much about horses if they let her run around in awful clothes like that.”
    The entire room went suddenly silent. All of Horse Wise had heard Amelia’s ridiculous pronouncement. Lisa blushed with shame.
    “Oh boy,” Stevie said to Carole, under her breath. “I bet May slugs Amelia for that.”
    Nearly everyone liked May, but she was not known for keeping her temper. Everyone in the room seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for May to respond.
    For a moment, May looked stunned. Then she looked furious. She opened her mouth, then looked at Lisa, Carole, and Stevie, swallowed hard, and shut it. She turned slightly so that she was no longer facing Amelia and kept her eyes on the front of the room.
    “Good for her!” Carole whispered.
    Jasmine and Corey looked plenty angry, too. “You don’t know anything!” Jasmine said to Amelia, in a voice of disbelief. “May’s dad is a horse trainer!”
    “So what?” Amelia asked rudely.
    Jasmine’s eyes grew wide. May reached out, still without looking at Amelia, and tapped Jasmine on the shoulder. Reluctantly Jasmine turned around, too.
    Amelia’s face was slightly pink, but she looked more triumphant than anything else, as if she had somehow won a victory against the other girls. She smiled at Veronica, who smiled back in a condescending way. Lisa was hot with shame.
    Max came in and shut the door behind him. His pleasant greeting dispelled some of the tension that Amelia’s rudeness had generated. All the kids turned their attention to Max, and Lisa felt herself relaxing a little.
    “Before we begin, I want to introduce a visitor to all of you,” Max started out. Lisa felt herself go tense again. “Lisa’s cousin is here for the week,” Max continued. “She’ll be joining us in Horse Wise today and at camp all week. Lisa, care to introduce us?”
    If Lisa had had a choice, she would never even have admitted that Amelia was her cousin. But she didn’t have a choice. She stood up and grabbed Amelia by the arm.Amelia stood, too, with a picture-perfect smile on her face. “This is Amelia,” Lisa said, and sat back down.
    Max looked surprised at her abruptness. “Uh … Amelia, maybe you’d like to tell us something about yourself.”
    The little girl beamed. “Well, I’m really glad I get to come to your camp. I’m still learning how to ride, but I love horses and love learning everything I can about them.”
    “Unbelievable,” Lisa muttered.
    Max smiled at Amelia. “We’re very glad to have you here,” he said. “Why don’t you come up to the front, where you can see? Polly’s going to be giving us a demonstration on bits. May, do you mind scooting over?”
    May slid half an inch to the left, increasing the space between herself and the wall. Amelia cooed, “Oh, thank you, Max.” She went to May’s right, cramming herself between May and Corey. May and Corey had no choice but to give her room, but neither of them looked at her.
    Carole shook her head in amazement. “It’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” she said softly to Stevie and Carole. At the front of the