Summary: Everyone goes on a camping trip, but Veronica isn't so happy in doing so. Veronica turns up missing for a while. Will The Saddle Club find her in time?
It was a nice day. Everybody at Pine Hollow was going camping. Well, all except Red, Kristi, and Melanie.
"You sure you have everything?" asked Stevie to Lisa.
"Yeah. I'm sure."
Lisa's mom walked up to her daughter.
"Honey, here. You forgot this."
She handed her a rescue whistle.
"Mom," she argued.
"It's better to be safe than sorry, Lisa. Have fun."
Lisa put the whistle around her neck.
"That's a stupid whistle. What do you need that for?" Veronica said.
"Give it a rest, Veronica," replied Carole.
Everybody was getting loaded in the vans.
Veronica went to Kristi.
"Come on, Kristi. Let's go."
"I'm not going."
"What?" Veronica replied.
"Red isn't going. If Red stays, I stay."
"Ugh!"
As Veronica strolled to the van, Max yelled for her to hurry up and get in.
She climbed in the van and looked out at Pine Hollow, as it drove to camp. There wasn't anything to look at, and she was stuck sitting next to The Saddle Club.
Once at camp, Veronica asked to nobody in particular where the cabins were.
"We're not sleeping in cabins. There aren't any. We're sleeping in tents, so you better make yourself useful," Lisa told her.
"We're sleeping in tents!?"
Veronica stomped off.
The girls started talking about Veronica.
Stevie then said, "Don't worry. Veronica won't be staying long."
From her backpack, she pulled out a rubber spider, then put it on Veronica's water bottle.
Veronica came back and went to drink some of her water, and then saw the rubber spider. It landed on her. She screamed, "Get it off!" a few times. After it fell off, Stevie announced to Veronica, "There's my rubber spider."
"Aargh!" Veronica said angrily and then left.
A guy around their age came to the girls when they were by the stream.
"Hi, I'm Phil."
"Hi," Veronica replied. She then lightly pushed Stevie, who then landed in the river a few inches down.
Carole yelled, "Veronica!"
Veronica and Phil laughed at Stevie.
After Veronica left, Phil helped Stevie out of the stream by hand. They walked off.
Back at camp, Veronica told Phil to go somewhere with her. He told her, "Hold on, Veronica. I have to do something first."
When she saw him walk up to Stevie, she left without him.
"Look who's coming," announced Carole.
Stevie saw him.
"Don't leave me alone with him," protested Stevie, but Carole and Lisa did anyway.
"Hey, Stevie."
She didn't say a word. She just continued to groom Comanche.
"I'm sorry about earlier. I ddin't mean to laugh, but you've got to admit. It was funny with you wading around like that."
"It wasn't funny and I wasn't wading!" Stevie shot back at him and then walked off.
Later, it was time to eat. Lisa, Stevie, and Carole were sitting on a log having a bowl of soup each.
Carole announced, "It's quiet. Too quiet. Okay, where's Veronica?"
Stevie said to them, "I'm expecting Veronica to walk into camp any time and start bugging me."
Just then, Amanda came up to them.
"Veronica is missing."
She looked at Phil now.
"Veronica told me to tell you, if she didn't come back in half an hour."
Carole announced, "She's probably sitting on a rock looking at her fingernails."
"Carole, this is serious," announced Phil.
"One other thing. Veronica left with Cobalt," Amanda added.
"Who's gone?" asked Max.
"Veronica," Carole answered.
"How long has she been gone?"
"Half an hour," answered Amanda.
"I'm going to look for her."
Max left.
Phil, Stevie, Carole, and Lisa soon left to go help him find her.
They stopped on one of the main trails, unsure which trail to go on next, Stevie on Comanche, Carole on Starlight, Lisa on Patch, and Phil on his thoroughbred horse. Stevie wanted to go off the main trail, but the others didn't want to. Carole tried to compromise with Stevie. Stevie wouldn't go with them on the main trail. Carole said that they could all go on the main trail, and if they didn't find her, they could come back and take Stevie's idea. Instead, she told her horse as she went off the main trail, "Come on, Comanche. Looks like it's just you and me."
"Stevie, come back!" Lisa called to her.
Her friend ignored her and kept going.
"Stevie, it's not safe," Carole added.
She ignored her as well and still kept going.
Carole said outloud to nobody in particular, "She shouldn't be alone."
Phil said, "I'll go get her."
He and Comet galloped off to catch up with her.
"We need to turn around," he told her.
"No!" Stevie snapped. "If Veronica wanted to be lost, and if she didn't want anybody to find her, she wouldn't have gone off the main trail," she added more calmly.
He soon gave up trying, and cantered Comet in step with Starlight.
An hour later he told her," We can't go back."
"Why not?"
"We're lost."
Meanwhile on the main trail, Lisa and Carole weren't doing so well in finding Veronica, either.
"I hope Stevie and Phil are having better luck than we are," Carole said wishfully.
"Me, too," agreed Lisa.
Back on the lost trail, they were trying to find their way back, but stopped. They heard a noise nearby.
Phil and Stevie found Veronica first, wild dogs inching towards her slowly.
Lisa and Carole arrived next.
Lisa used her whistle and the dogs ran off.
The Saddle Club had a group hug and they dismounted their horses.
Max soon found her as well.
Veronica told Max, "I'm hurt and they won't help me."
"I'm sure it's just a sprain," Carole told her.
Everybody soon arrived at Pine Hollow.
The girls talked to Red about the trip. Carole told him that Stevie has a new boyfriend.
Just then, Red described Phil.
"How do you know?" asked Stevie.
"Because he's right behind you," he answered.
They turned around to see him.
Lisa and Carole walked off to leave Stevie and Phil alone, and Red went back to mucking out a stall.
Her two best friends watched from a distance.
They saw Phil and Stevie laughing and talking.
Carole commented, "I think it's love. Yep. It's definitely love." They then walked away and their two friends did the same.
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