Free Horse Capades by Bonnie Bryant

a favorite site for Saddle Club meetings, and that’s what Stevie had in mind right now.
    “Sounds perfect,” Lisa said, and Carole agreed.
    T WENTY MINUTES LATER the girls were seated in their favorite booth at TD’s. They had placed their orders—Lisa for a hot fudge sundae, Carole for a scoop of butter pecan, and Stevie for marshmallow and pineapplesauce on pistachio—and were sipping their glasses of water while they waited for the waitress to return.
    So far the conversation had revolved around Prancer. Now that they had started making a little progress, Lisa and Carole wondered if there was any way Lisa could still compete the following Saturday.
    Stevie wasn’t taking part in this conversation. She was playing with her spoon and trying to think of a way to convince her friends that she really needed their help, and that she wasn’t trying to trick them in any way.
    Finally she had an idea. “Hey, you guys,” she said. “Why don’t we make Prancer’s jumping trouble an official Saddle Club project? That way we’re sure to figure it out.”
    Carole looked a little surprised. So far Stevie hadn’t seemed very interested in Prancer’s problem at all. But maybe she had just realized how serious it was. “That’s a great idea, Stevie,” she agreed.
    Lisa nodded. “If we put our heads together, maybe we’ll come up with something brilliant.”
    “Good.” Stevie smiled. “Now, I have another good idea.” She paused and took a sip of water.
    “What?” Lisa asked expectantly. “Is it something to help Prancer? Or is it a way to get revenge on Veronica for what she did?”
    Stevie shook her head. “None of the above,” she said. “It’s an idea for another great Saddle Club project.”
    “What is it?” Carole asked.
    Stevie tried to think of a dramatic way to explain, but she couldn’t. Finally she decided to just come out and say it. “It’s my film project,” she said. “I really need your help if I want to get a good grade on it.”
    Carole and Lisa laughed. “We should have known,” Carole said. “You’re not going to trick us that way, Stevie Lake.”
    “Trying to get us to think the whole thing is a Saddle Club project,” Lisa said, shaking her head and smiling. “How dumb do you think we are?”
    “Why won’t you believe me?” Stevie cried, dropping her spoon and waving her hands in dismay. “The assignment is for real. I told you I’ve given up practical jokes, and it’s true.”
    Lisa moved her water glass out of range of Stevie’s wildly waving hands. “ ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks,’ ” she quoted. When Carole gave her a puzzled look, she added, “Shakespeare. It’s from
Hamlet
. It means the more Stevie claims she’s given up practical jokes, the less I believe her.”
    “Oh yeah?” Stevie demanded. “I haven’t played one all week, have I?”
    “Not that we know of, no,” Carole said warily.
    Lisa nodded. “But all that proves is that the next one will be a real doozy,” she said. “We know you too well, Stevie Lake. You’ll never stop joking. Especially since we just helped Phil play such a good one on you.”
    Carole started laughing again. “Right,” she said. “Good old Rex Starr, Hollywood agent. That was great!”
    Just then the waitress arrived with their orders. Stevie started eating hers immediately, but she hardly tasted it. Carole and Lisa had already returned to their conversation about Prancer. Stevie’s plan had failed. Her friends still didn’t believe
Cinderella
should be a real Saddle Club project. But if she didn’t convince them, they’d believe it soon enough—when she was banned from Pine Hollow for failing her moving image class.

S TEVIE STOOD UP and stretched. Her back was aching and her hands were tired, but she had finally finished gluing multicolored sequins onto every inch of an old Pine Hollow pitchfork. She had managed to sneak it out of the stable that day after her Tuesday riding lesson