Horse Magic by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online Page A

different from Stevie, and Stevie’s completely different from me, and I’m completely different from you,” Carole reminded her. “That’s part of what makes The Saddle Club so great, remember? Not just what we have in common, but what we don’t.”
    “I know,” Lisa said. “You’re right.” She shrugged. “I don’t know what it is with Dinah. I was all ready to love her, especially after everything you guys said. But she just rubs me the wrong way or something.”
    “Well, if you can’t get over it, maybe you should just try to stay out of her way while she’s here,” Carole advised. “She’s only visiting for a few days, and we’re all going to be pretty busy.”
    “I guess so,” Lisa said. But she wasn’t completely satisfied with that solution. Even when Dinah was back in Vermont, she would still be Stevie’s friend, and Carole’s, too. And Lisa would still be the odd one out. Even if the others didn’t think of it that way, she knew in her own mind she always would. And what would that mean for The Saddle Club?

W HEN S TEVIE AND Dinah arrived at Pine Hollow after school the following afternoon, they found Carole and Lisa already hard at work. There were no more riding lessons scheduled for that day, so they had taken over the room where the students’ lockers were, turning it into an impromptu arts-and-crafts room.
    “Look at this,” Carole exclaimed when Stevie and Dinah walked in. She held up a neatly lettered sign proclaiming COSTUMES . “Lisa did it—doesn’t it look nice? We’re going to put it on the costume box.”
    “It looks great,” Stevie agreed. “What are you working on now?” She peered over Lisa’s shoulder at the notebook she was busy writing in.
    “First we made up a schedule for the day,” Lisa said.“That way we knew how much time to allow for each activity.” She flipped back a page in the notebook and pointed at the chart she’d made. “Now we’re starting to plan what we’ll need for the treasure hunt.”
    “Aha!” Stevie exclaimed, grabbing a pen from the floor. “Pass the notebook. This is my specialty. Come on, Dinah, I’m sure we can come up with some fun stuff for the kids to find.”
    Lisa handed her the notebook. “I started a list on this page,” she explained. “I put down the name of the object, how many we’d need, and where we can get them.”
    “Uh-huh,” Stevie said, glancing at the list.
    “Let’s start our list on a new page,” Dinah suggested. “We’ll just list all the fun and crazy things we can think of, and worry about those other details later.”
    “Okay,” Stevie said agreeably, flipping to a clean page. “I’ve got one. Monster masks. My brothers have a million of them, and they’ll be perfect for Halloween. We can plant them all through the woods on branches and stuff.”
    Lisa bit her lip. She couldn’t believe Stevie and Dinah were just starting over, ignoring the careful system she and Carole had worked out. She glanced at Carole to see how she was taking it.
    “How about stirrups?” Carole suggested. “I’m sure Max would let us use some—and we should have at least a few horsey objects. And since they’re silver-colored, they’ll really seem like treasure.”
    “Great idea!” Dinah said, scribbling it down. “And weought to have something the kids will really want to find, like candy. Maybe lollipops.”
    Lisa sighed. Obviously she was the only one bothered by Stevie and Dinah’s disorganization. “I’ll be right back,” she said quickly, escaping from the room and heading for the bathroom. She wanted to let off some steam, and she wanted to do it in private. It was clear that she was the only one who had a problem with Dinah, and she had resolved to follow Carole’s advice and keep it hidden from her friends. There was no sense in spoiling their visit just because she was unhappy.
    A few minutes later Lisa felt calmer. She returned to the locker room to find that Phil had arrived. She