Summary: Lisa first comes to Pinehollow stables and wants to make friends. Veronica makes friends with her, but soon puts something on a horse's saddle to frighten the horse. Can Lisa get Carole to help her, or will the rider get hurt?
It was a sunny, bright day. As some would say, "Not a cloud in the sky." Carole and Stevie were riding their horses.
"Hey, let's race to the driveway," Carole said.
"I don't know. Maybe we shouldn't. We'll be going on the trail in a week or two."
"Stevie, it's only to the driveway."
"Well, if you insist," Stevie agreed finally.
They raced to the driveway on their horses.
Carole rode Starlight, a pretty brown horse that could probably be in a race and get in second or third place, because of how fast he could gallop if he was allowed to. Stevie rode Comanche, a pretty brown horse until it got to the middle of his back, which looked black.
Meanwhile on the road, Lisa's mom was driving her to Pinehollow.
"I don't know about this. I'm so nervous. What if the other girls don't like me?"
"Lisa, honey, just work on giving them a first good impression."
"Okay. I'll give it a try."
"Good, because I think you'll love it."
Just then on her side, Lisa saw Carole and Stevie riding their horses behind some signs. Stevie had a bay horse. Carole had a dark bay horse. Lisa was amazed by how beautiful and graceful the horses were, and the skills of the riders. She absolutely loved horses.
Suddenly, they rode right in front of the car.
"Mom, watch out!" Lisa yelled.
"What?"
When her mom saw them, she slammed on the breaks heard, and the breaks squealed and the car stopped. They got out and went over to them.
"Whoa, easy boy. It's okay," Stevie said while stroking Comanche's neck.
The girls dismounted.
"What were you doing!? You almost ran us over! Look at Starlight! He almost had a heart attack!" yelled Carole at Lisa's mother.
"I'm sorry. I really am," Lisa said softly.
"You shouldn't have been riding over here in the first place! What were you thinking!?" Yelled Mrs. Atwood to Carole.
"Come on, Stevie. We have to go calm the horses down," said Carole in a nasty, mad voice, softly.
They took their horse's lead ropes and left without another word to them.
When they left, Lisa told her mother softly, "You could've at least said sorry. So much for a good impression."
"What?" her mother asked.
"Nothing, mom."
They got in their car and started driving again.
"Lisa, I want you to stay away from those girls."
A few minutes later, they were in Max's office. Max came out of a small office that was practically inside his big office, and introduced himself to them.
Her mother spoke.
"I'd like her to be with some girls her own age. And I'd like to stay and watch."
Max spoke again.
"I'm sorry, but we like to test the girls' abilities to be independent and to be responsible."
When they were by the car, her mother gave her a cell phone. Then she told her, "I want you to call me after your lesson, okay?"
"Okay."
Lisa watched her mother drive away.
"Come, Lisa. I have the right girls for you," Max said when he walked up. "Carole, Stevie!" he called to them.
They walked up.
"Let me introduce you to Lisa. She's going to be a new student here. Lisa, these are my best students here. This is Carole and Stevie. I'll leave you girls alone to be acquainted. I'll see you at the lesson," Max said.
He left.
They gave each other a look and walked away in separate directions.
Once inside, she went over to them.
"Hey, sorry about what happened earlier."
"Whatever," Carole said.
She slowly walked away.
Suddenly, a girl came up to her. She had blond hair, wore a blue uniform for horse riding, and a pair of black boots.
"Don't worry about them. They get mad a lot. I'm sorry. I didn't introduce myself. I'm Veronica."
"I'm Lisa."
"Nice to meet you, Lisa. Let me show you to my horse."
She followed Veronica inside Cobolt's stall. Veronica gave her his saddle and had her put it on him.
"A little more up his shoulders," she instructed.
When it was just right, Veronice said, "There."
A few minutes later, Max came up to the girls to tell Lisa, "Let me show you to your horse."
They walked to a Palomino's stall.
"This is Patch. He's gentle, but fast. I'll leave you to Patch."
When Max disappeared into his office, Veronica said, "You get Patch?"
At the lesson, they had to jump over a brick wall. Carole went first and made it. Then Stevie tried it. Just when she and her horse were ready to jump, Lisa's phone went off. Stevie fell off her horse, but was okay and got back on her horse. She trotted her horse over to the others.
Max came up to Lisa. He told her that phones aren't allowed in the arena.
After the lesson and the horses were all settled, Veronica told her, "I'll take you to luncheon. That's where everybody goes after riding the horses."
When they got there, Lisa looked over at the two in the corner.
Veronica saw that she was looking at them and told her, "They'll never make friends with you. I'll be back. Grab me a soda, will ya?"
When she came back, she was still looking at them.
"Where's my soda?"
"Sorry," she apologized.
Veronica grabbed it for herself.
Lisa walked over to the girls just after they finished talking.
"Sorry about what happened. I thought I turned my phone off."
"It's okay," Stevie said.
"It's like she had to call me every five minutes. Moms, huh?"
She saw Carole's look.
"What's wrong?" Lisa asked.
"Her mom died," Stevie said.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." Lisa said, trying to make up for what she had just said.
"Forget it," Stevie said. "Like she wants to hear about your lame mother."
She walked away and then left after hearing that.
Later, Veronica and Lisa were outside by Cobalt. She started talking. She finished saying, "You saw how scared he was when your phone went off. Imagine what would happen if a pager went off on his saddle."
"You can't do that!" she exclaimed. "It's too dangerous!"
"I can and I will. All I have to do is make one phone call to my pager. If you breathe one word of this, I'll make sure you don't go on the trail ride. Got that?"
Veronica didn't wait for her answer. She just took off, galloping on her horse.
When Lisa spotted Carole cantering on her horse, she yelled, "Carole!" and ran up to her frantically.
Carole stopped him.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Where's Stevie? We have to find her! Veronica has done something terribly wrong!" Then she lowered her voice. "Please. You have to trust me."
Carole helped Lisa up on her horse, hand in hand. Lisa put her arms around Carole as she started.
"Hold on," Carole said.
They jumped over a slope in the ground.
Meanwhile on the trail, Veronica had called her pager and Stevie's horse was rearing up on his hind quarters, frightened.
They got there just in time. Lisa threw the pager off his saddle, which fell to the ground and went silent. The horse then calmed down.
Later, when everything was all said and done, and when they were all in the luncheon, Lisa said, "Hey," to the two girls who were now her friends.
"Thank you," Stevie said.
"You're welcome. Where's Carole?"
"She's exercising Prancer. She loves doing it. It's her favorite job."
Veronica came up to them.
Lisa turned around to face her.
"What was that!?" Veronica said.
"Veronica, friends are more important than a trail ride," Lisa replied.
"Aargh!" Veronica said angrily, stomping off and leaving.
They watched her go.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
