Hayride by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online Page A

I mean, Stevie’s the one who asked him,” Lisa said.
    “Well, he’s certainly not
my
date. And I don’t think he’s Carole’s either, Lisa,” Stevie teased. “So I guess you’ll just have to take pity on him and
pretend
he’s your date—so he doesn’t feel left out.”
    Lisa laughed. “Okay, it’s a deal,” she said.
    Carole told them that she would call Bob to invite him herself and give him directions to her house. “So,”she said, “have I mentioned that I think it’s going to be a great party?”
    “Only about a thousand times,” commented Stevie. “Even if it does include Veronica and Simon Atherton.”
    “Better the two of them than one of them,” Lisa pointed out logically. “Who knows? Maybe they’ll entertain each other.”
    When she could control her giggles, Carole mentioned that she hadn’t been able to reach Veronica. “You talked to her at school, though, right, Stevie?” she asked.
    Stevie thought for a minute. “I know I mentioned the party to Helen Sanderson at lunch today, and I told
her
that Veronica’s invited, so I’m sure she knows by now.”
    Despite Veronica’s snooty behavior yesterday, Carole didn’t want to hurt her feelings. She tried to think of a surefire way to reach Veronica. “If I can’t get through tonight and I don’t see her at Pine Hollow tomorrow, I’ll leave a note on Garnet’s stall door,” she decided.
    “Good idea,” Lisa said.
    Stevie wasn’t convinced. “If you want to be sure of reaching her, you’d be better off leaving a note at the Ralph Lauren shop at the mall,” she joked. “You wouldn’t want to leave it someplace where Veronica might have to do some work.”
    “Now, now,” Lisa said. “You’re going to have to be nice to her at the party.”
    “Don’t worry—I’ll be in such a good mood, I’d be nice to my worst enemy.” Stevie paused. “Hey, come to think of it, that’s who she is.”
    They all laughed. For a few minutes Carole forgot about her ankle entirely, she was having so much fun talking about the party. After a while, though, it began to throb insistently. She couldn’t even concentrate on what Stevie and Lisa were saying. All she could think of was how much she wanted to get off the phone and go soak it. “I think my dad’s waiting to use the phone,” she said finally.
    “Then Lisa and I will have to matchmake without you,” Stevie said.
    “You can fill me in at class tomorrow.” The three of them had their regular lesson with Max on Tuesday afternoons.
    “Deal,” Stevie said.
    Carole said good-bye and hung up. She felt a little bit bad about fibbing to her best friends, but she didn’t want them to worry. Gingerly, she peeled off her left sock. The ankle was swollen and black-and-blue—about twice as large as her right one.
    At the back of her mind, Carole knew that she was hurt much worse than she had first thought. But she had too many wonderful things happening to give in to a stupid injury. She refused to let it wreck her birthday. If she told anyone, she might end up with no party at all.Her father might cancel the hayride, and then she would have to call all her friends and explain. There would be plenty of time to have it examined after the weekend, if it still hurt.
    For now, she had wrapped it up in an Ace bandage she had found in the medicine cabinet. Before going to soak it, she decided to make one more call. She looked up Veronica’s parents’ number—Veronica had her own phone line—and dialed the diAngelo residence. The maid answered.
    “I just wanted to make sure Veronica knew she was invited to my party on Saturday night,” Carole said. The maid took down the details and promised to leave Veronica a message. There, that was done.
    T HE PHONE RANG at the Marsten household. Phil answered it, hoping to hear Stevie’s voice again. Instead, a female voice he didn’t recognize right away spoke to him. “Stevie Lake was at the mall with Bob Harris yesterday. They were