Pleasure Horse Read Online Free PDF Page A

friends, did I tell you who was going to be at the party?” Angie asked, slowing Sparkles so that Stevie could ride next to her on Birdie.
    “Yes, you did,” Stevie lied. She knew she sounded annoyed, but she couldn’t help it. The subject of the party was beginning to make her feel nauseated. “But you never told me why you didn’t take Sparkles to a lot of shows last season.”
    “Look, I just like riding him for fun now, okay?” Angie said defensively.
    “Yeah, sure—definitely,” Stevie said, biting her tongue so she wouldn’t say anything else. The way her cousin sounded, she knew better than to press the subject any further. But it did seem too bad that a talented jumper like Sparkles would never again meet the challenge of showing. Pleasure riding was great, but it didn’t seem enough for Sparkles. Not knowing what else to say, Stevie gave up. It seemed like the best thing to do would be to settle back, enjoy the ride, and resign herself to listening to Angie describe the guest list, as she had just begun to do.
    “Let’s just say it’s all the coolest kids from school. The guys in Voyager—”
    “What’s Voyager?”
    “That’s the name of the band!” Angie half-cried. “Gosh, Stevie, you’re getting forgetful. Anyway, there are four of them, and they’re all
juniors.
You should see Ted Capuano—he’s one of the best hockey players in the school, not to mention one of the best-looking. He plays bass. And then there’s Jeff on drums and Kevin and Mike on guitars—Mike is Val’s boyfriend. Of course Val is coming too because she’s on the cheerleading squad and
they’re
all coming—”
    Stevie couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “Why would you invite the cheerleading squad?” she asked. She remembered a discussion she’d once had with Angie about how lame they thought it was to cheer for other teams when you could play something yourself—or better yet, ride.
    Angie gave Stevie an odd look. “We spend a lot of time together, what with practice every afternoon and the games. The other cheerleaders are my best friends. Naturally, I’d want to invite them to my party.”
    Stevie did a double take. It was one thing for her fun, down-to-earth cousin to start dressing up and wearing makeup. But now she was a cheerleader? Stevie could hardly believe it. She stared wordlessly at Angie as the older girl began to name all the football players who might show up.
Football players?
Stevie thought.
What on earth has gotten into Angie?
    Suddenly Stevie had a sneaking suspicion. There was a phrase that adults used all the time about girls who rode. Stevie hated it, and if anyone ever said it to her, she got so angry she wanted to clobber them. It was: “She may like horses now, but wait until she discovers boys.” Stevie, Carole, and Lisa all agreed that it was a completely dumb thing to say. They had all “discovered” boys, and it hadn’t made them like horses one bit less. In fact, one of the reasons Stevie liked her boyfriend, Phil Marsten, so much was that he was as crazy about horses as she was. Carole had felt the same way about her almost-boyfriend Cam. Before Cam moved, he and Carole had shared some wonderful times together—many of them around horses. And the same went for Lisa and any boy she’d ever liked.
    And yet the awful saying seemed to apply to Angie. Now that she had cool friends at school and knew the football players and the guys in a band, she didn’t seem to care the slightest bit about riding. The way she was sitting on Sparkles summed up her whole attitude toward horses. She was slouching in the saddle, letting Sparkles dog along on a loose rein. She still had a basically good position—heels down, hands light on the reins—but it was obvious that she didn’t care how she looked. At least, not on a horse. Her dress for the party was another story.
    Party, party, party! The more Stevie heard about the party, the more boring it sounded. Angie didn’t even have any