Hayride by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online Page B

sitting together in the back of a restaurant, laughing a lot. They seemed to know each other
quite
well. If I were you, I’d do something … 
fast.
”
    “Who is this?” Phil demanded. The line went dead. He listened to the dial tone for a minute, frowning.
    “I’ LL GET IT !” Cam grabbed the Nelsons’ cordless phone off the wall. “Hello?”
    “Carole Hanson has been hanging out at Pine Hollow with a guy from Willow Creek Junior High,” a female voice said. Cam had no idea who it was. Confused, he stayed silent. “His name is Simon Atherton,” the voice went on. “He’s in the class above Carole. They’ve been spending
a lot
of time together. If I were you, I’d be worried.” Cam heard a click, then the line went dead.
    The Lakes’ phone rang for a third time. Before her mother could complain, Stevie answered it.
    “Hi, Stevie.”
    “Phil?”
    “Yeah, it’s me again. Listen, Veronica diAngelo just called me, and she’s up to no good.…”

S TEVIE FLUNG HER book bag down with a vengeance. She was so steaming mad that she could hardly believe she had made it to lunch period. Her first four classes had passed in an angry blur. After Phil had called her the night before, she’d been
burning
to call Carole and Lisa. Mrs. Lake, however, had had other ideas. She told Stevie that she had already spent way too much time on the phone, and that she’d just have to wait to talk to her friends when she saw them the next day. Homework came first—or at least, Mrs. Lake added sarcastically, fourth. No amount of begging and pleading had changed her mind.
    After thinking about Veronica’s wicked plans all evening and all morning, Stevie was ready to explode. TheSaddle Club had made a big effort to include her in Carole’s party, and Veronica’s way of saying thank you was to try to break up Stevie and Phil.
    Stevie scanned the lunchroom furiously. She quickly spotted her prey. Veronica was lounging at a table with some of her underlings—the younger girls who tended to flock around her in awe. Stevie strode toward them, her jaw set and her hands clenched.
    “Stevie! Wait up!” Stevie spun on her heel so violently that she almost collided with Bob Harris. He had been hurrying to catch up with her.
    “Whoa! Where are you going in such a rush?” he asked.
    Stevie thought quickly. She could hardly explain last night’s events to him. “I could ask you the same thing,” she said lightly.
    “Fair enough,” Bob admitted. “So,” he began casually, “that was fun running into you at the mall the other day.”
    Stevie grinned. Bob Harris did not normally come chasing after her at lunch. She wondered how long it would take him to get around to mentioning Lisa. “Yeah,” she said noncommittally. “It’s always nice to run into people you know.”
    “Looked like you and your friend were having a good time,” he said.
    “We were,” Stevie answered.
    “It’s—it’s Lisa, right?” Bob asked. Stevie smiled again. Bob Harris, starting soccer player, did not usually stutter.
    “That’s right,” Stevie said.
    “I guess she doesn’t go to Fenton Hall, huh?”
    “No, she doesn’t,” Stevie said. She felt the tiniest bit guilty about not volunteering more information about Lisa to Bob, but she knew she had to protect Lisa. If Bob knew that Lisa adored him, he might get scared and back off. Besides, it was fun keeping him at bay!
    “She goes to Willow Creek Junior High,” Stevie informed him. “It doesn’t much matter, though,” she added as an afterthought. “She’d be a straight-A student wherever she went.”
    “Straight A’s, huh?”
    Stevie nodded. She didn’t want to make Lisa sound like a total brain or a geek like Simon Atherton, but she knew that Bob also did very well in school and would probably respect a girl for having good grades.
    “So does she have time to go out?” Bob asked.
    “Go out?” Stevie asked innocently. This was better than she’d expected: Bob was hinting