Riding Camp Read Online Free PDF Page B

nature-loving phase. Stevie had the good sense not to answer.
    “So how are we going to change everything?” Lisa asked, resuming their discussion.
    “Oh, yes,” Carole said, brightening. “The obvious way. These girls think they’re going to win all the ribbons, right?”
    Lisa and Stevie nodded.
    “So, we don’t let them.
We
win them all instead. That’ll show them!”
    Her friends grinned wickedly. Carole continued, “The trick is going to be letting Elsa and Debbie get overconfident—not that they’re not already. Anyway, what we’ve got to do is to
look
like we’re bumbling beginners. You know, we’ll make dumb mistakes so they can feel superior. Then, when the time comes—whammo! We’ll take all the blues!”
    “What a fabulous idea!” Lisa laughed. “Only it’s mostly going to be you two, you know—partly because you know so much and partly because Stevie will be riding Topside. I think I feel a Saddle Club project coming on. We just have to work like crazy, right? And knock their boots off!”
    “Yes!” Stevie said enthusiastically, suddenly drawn into the conversation. “We can do it. I know we can!” She slapped another mosquito. “Now can we please go inside?”
    “Not quite,” Lisa said. “There’s another problem, in case you didn’t know, and his name is Fred. I heardBetty complaining. It seems he’s new and he thinks he knows a lot, but he doesn’t. If you care about your horses, you’ll do all the work yourself.”
    Carole stood up and stretched. “He’s trouble all right. I guess we were all thinking we could have a vacation from hard stable work here, but it’s no vacation when your horse is in danger.”
    “Yeah, yeah,” Stevie said, obviously anxious to conclude the conversation. She slapped another mosquito vigorously. “I think I’m being eaten alive!”
    “Okay, I’ve killed enough mosquitoes for the night too. Your wish is granted, Stevie—we can go inside,” Carole said, pronouncing the meeting over.
    “Not a minute too soon,” Stevie said. She and Lisa stood up to go. The sun had completely set and it took them a minute to get used to the darkness of the woods. “I think it’s this way.” She squinted.
    Then the girls heard the sound of someone rustling through the leaves. They paused, unsure of what to do.
    “Hello?” a boy’s voice called. “Stevie, is that you?” It was Phil.
    “Oh, yes, I’m here with Carole and Lisa,” she said. Lisa could hear the excitement rise in Stevie’s voice.
    Phil came close enough so they could all see him. “It’s such a nice clear night out, I thought maybe you’d like to go for a walk?” he suggested. He was looking atall three of them, but Lisa knew he was really speaking only to Stevie.
    Carole didn’t seem to realize it, though. “Oh, the mosquitoes are just terrible. We’re heading back to our cabin. Some other time, okay?”
    “What mosquitoes?” Stevie asked.
    Before Lisa and Carole knew what was happening, Stevie and Phil were off for a walk around the pond.
    “Is that what love is like?” Carole asked Lisa as they returned to the cabin. “You have absolutely no sense left?”
    “I don’t know,” Lisa said. She scratched her arm. “But I’m glad I’m not in love. Stevie’s going to be awfully itchy tomorrow!”

I F , TWENTY-FOUR hours earlier, someone had told Stevie Lake that she would be stumbling over bushes and roots in a mosquito-infested forest on a dark night without a flashlight, she never would have believed him. Now, she was doing all those things and she wasn’t even questioning her sanity. She was having too much fun.
    “Here’s a place we can sit,” Phil said, motioning to a grassy hill that overlooked the darkened pond. They sat down facing the water and continued talking.
    Stevie had never had such an easy time talking to a boy. Phil seemed to understand everything she said and it made her talk even more.
    She told him about The Saddle Club and some of the things