Read Online Horse Blues by Bonnie Bryant - Free Book Online

post around Willow Creek. More than anything, Stevie was dying to tack up Belle and go for a quick ride. But if she rode now, she’d have to leave Pine Hollow early to go home and study her French vocabulary. Her father would expect her to know at least some of it by dinnertime. So Stevie did the only sensible thing. She got her book fromher backpack, found an out-of-the-way bale of hay, sat down, and started to study. Every so often she looked over her shoulder. If she saw anyone coming she would slam her book shut and hide it. It would never do to have people saying that Stevie Lake was becoming a bookworm. She’d lost enough credibility already by being nice to Veronica!
    The bale of hay Stevie had chosen was opposite Patch’s stall. The old pinto stuck his nose out to greet her. “Don’t bother me, boy,” Stevie said, her eyes on the page.
    Patch pricked up his ears.
    “I know,” Stevie muttered. “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever done. Studying on my own initiative. I must be sick or something.”
    At the sound of Stevie’s voice, Patch’s neighbor poked his head out, too. Out of the corner of her eye, Stevie saw a pretty chestnut face with a long, broad blaze. Forgetting her
français
for a second, Stevie looked up. “Hey, boy. Wow, you
are
pretty. Mrs. Reg was right.” Stevie studied the gelding’s face. It was hard to believe the horse had been a gangly yearling colt with a head that looked too big for his body. Now he was an attractive, bright chestnut gelding, well on the way to maturity.
    “What did I tell you? Pretty, huh?”
    Stevie started. “Oh, it’s only you, Mrs. Reg,” she said, relieved, as the older woman came around the corner.
    “Only me?” said Mrs. Reg.
    “I mean, I’m
glad
it’s you,” Stevie corrected herself. “I don’t want anyone else to catch me studying. They’ll think I’ve become a nerd!”
    “Nerds are people, too,” Mrs. Reg chided her. “You know, Stevie, some of the best people I know started out as nerds.”
    “Sure, Mrs. Reg. I agree,” Stevie said, hoping to stop Max’s mother before she got going.
    Luckily Mrs. Reg seemed distracted. “Have you seen Veronica?” she asked.
    Stevie nodded. “I think she went riding with a friend.”
    “Well, if you see her, tell her I’m looking for her. I want to thank her.”
    “Thank her for what?” Stevie asked suspiciously.
    “You’re not going to believe this,” Mrs. Reg said, leaning in confidentially, “but I think Veronica has turned over a new leaf for the new year. The tack room was a mess this morning, a real mess, and she—”
    “She cleaned it up?” Stevie gasped, her face white with anger.
    “Yes, how did you know?” Mrs. Reg asked.
    “If you don’t mind my asking, how did
you
know, Mrs. Reg?” Stevie inquired, her voice shaking.
    “Veronica let it slip herself. But she’s being very modest about it. She doesn’t want anyone to know,” Mrs. Reg whispered. “So let’s keep it between us, okay?”
    Stevie nodded as Mrs. Reg disappeared down the aisle. She was so boiling mad she didn’t trust herself to speak. How could she have let down her guard around Veronica for one minute? It never failed! The minute Veronica did even one little thing that seemed halfway decent, like saying she would talk to her father about making a donation for Horse Wise, she went and did some huge, awful thing that reversed everything—like lying to Mrs. Reg about cleaning the tack room!
    Stevie was burning to tell Mrs. Reg the truth, but she hated tattletales almost as much as she hated Veronica. Anyway, it might just look as if she was sour at Veronica. Normally Stevie would have found a way to get back at the girl and make her fess up, but, thanks to her stupid resolution, her hands were tied.
    For a few minutes, Stevie tried to concentrate on her studying. Instead of French nouns and adjectivesthough, she kept seeing pictures of Veronica—pictures she felt like throwing darts at or ripping into