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think about right then was Gabriel, and the whole idea of him made her mad.
How could someone so obnoxious and annoying grab so much of my attention?
she asked herself. Maybe it was because they’d lived so close together these past few days.
Maybe whoever you live close to could just take over your brain, and I just had the bad luck to get stuck with Gabriel
. She pulled a knot out of Tumbleweed’s mane and frowned.
But if obnoxious Gabriel’s taken over my mind, then who’s taken over Phil’s? What if there’s a girl he’s living close to who’s smart and funny and likes the outdoors? Somebody like that could really take over someone’s brain!
Stevie shook her head. She couldn’t allow herself to think about that right then. She had twenty-four hours to get ready for five different rodeo events.
    “Come on, Tumbleweed,” she said. She clucked to the horse and headed toward the spot where Sal had given her demonstration. “We need to bend some imaginary poles, and we need to bend them fast!”

B Y THE TIME Shelly Bean clanged the triangle for lunch, Stevie had finished her first practice with Tumbleweed. She cooled him down and returned him to his stall, then hurried back to the wagon train to eat with her friends. She found Lisa and Carole sitting under a tree, just finishing their lunch of stewed apples and potato pancakes.
    “Grab a plate, Stevie, and join us,” Lisa called, looking up from the notebook she was writing in.
    Stevie hurried through the chow line and sat down just as her friends were filling in some details of the journal they were keeping for Deborah.
    “You and Tumbleweed must have had quite a practice,” said Carole, noticing Stevie’s sweaty face.
    “We did,” replied Stevie as she took her first bite of pancake. “He’s a great little horse.” She grinned. “And I just know he’s a whole lot faster than Napoleon.”
    Carole and Lisa glanced at each other. They were growing tired of Stevie’s obsession with Gabriel, and neither wanted to spoil their lunch break by discussing it. “You know, we need to write some things about San Antonio Sal in here,” Lisa said. “She’s the first rodeo clown I’ve ever met.”
    “Me too,” said Carole. “Write down all that stuff she told us about clowning—about how each clown has her own clown personality and each of them can do special tricks.”
    Lisa nodded as she made notes. “And all of them have to entertain the audience as well as help the riders get out of the ring safely. It must be hard work.
    “San Antonio Sal’s so funny,” Lisa continued. “I can’t wait to meet the Texarkana Twins. They must really be a hoot.”
    “I know.” Carole giggled. “Remember all those jokes she told us about rodeo cowboys?”
    Lisa nodded with a grin. Both girls waited for Stevie, who loved jokes above all else, to ask to hear one, but she remained silent, just picking at her lunch and gazing over at the rodeo arena.
    “Hello?” Carole reached over and tapped Stevie on her knee. “Carole to Stevie. Joke alert! You’re about to miss some good ones!”
    “Huh?” Stevie looked up as if she hadn’t heard a word they’d said.
    “Stevie, you’ve got to get a grip on this!” Lisa cried. “Gabriel is just one know-it-all, arrogant guy. You’re letting this competition with him take over your life!”
    Stevie blinked. “Gabriel?”
    “Yes. Gabriel,” said Carole. “He’s all you’ve thought about since you two made that silly bet.”
    “No, he’s not.” Stevie shook her head. “I wasn’t thinking about him at all just then.”
    “All right, then what were you thinking about?” asked Lisa. “What has got you so deep in thought that you didn’t even hear someone talking about some terrific jokes they just heard?”
    “Oh, it’s not important.” Embarrassed, Stevie looked down at her plate.
    Carole frowned again. “Of course it’s important, Stevie, if it’s zoning you out to Mars. Just tell us what it is.