Free Chocolate Box Girls: Coco Caramel by Cathy Cassidy Page B

tons of times over the summer and never seen another soul. Walkers usually
stick to the pathways and the house is pretty much a wreck – dangerous too, most of it.
The garden’s secure and the wall is too high for anyone to notice the ponies from
a distance, so I reckon they should be safe enough for now.’
    ‘Won’t Seddon search?’ I
frown. ‘The police too?’
    ‘They might,’ Lawrie says.
‘I just don’t think they’d look here. They’ll assume whoever
stole the horses is planning to sell them on, profit from them somehow … not
hide them out on the moors. Moving them both now would be a big risk, but if we sit
tight and keep them here, they should be safe. Trust me.’
    ‘Do I have a choice?’
    Lawrie rolls his eyes. ‘If you have a
better plan, goahead and tell me,’ he says. ‘As long as
it doesn’t involve petitions or cupcakes iced with panda faces. And be careful
what you tell your friends about this – one careless word could endanger these
horses.’
    ‘As if!’ I protest.
‘I’d never do anything to put them in danger.’
    ‘If you do say anything about it,
leave me out,’ he adds. ‘I don’t want to be part of the gossip. This
isn’t a game, Coco … it’s serious, or haven’t you
noticed?’
    ‘Of course I’ve noticed,’
I scowl. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t exactly be spreading the word that
you’re involved. I did tell my stepsister Cherry, but she won’t tell anyone
– she promised.’
    Lawrie curls his lip, as if he doesn’t
believe in promises, or in me for that matter.
    ‘So, do we make a rota for coming up
to feed and check on them?’ I ask. ‘Only it’s getting dark quite early
now that the clock’s gone back, and school doesn’t finish till half three,
so …’
    ‘Scared of the dark, are you?’
Lawrie shakes his head. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll bring up lanterns and
candles, and you should carry a torch, obviously. How long did it take youto cycle to the hazel copse? We can meet down there most days at
maybe half four, if you’re too chicken to come on your own. I’ll come up on
my own on Tuesdays and Fridays, after work. Those can be your days off, and maybe you
can do Saturdays for me in return? I have to take my little sister to dance class in
Minehead on Saturday mornings.’
    ‘No problem,’ I say. ‘I
can do Sundays too, obviously, to keep it fair.’
    ‘We can take turns,’ he shrugs.
‘Whatever.’
    I bite my lip, glad to know I don’t
have to hike across the moors in the dark, alone – even if my companion happens to be
the scratchiest, spikiest boy in Somerset.
    ‘I didn’t know you had a little
sister,’ I say, wondering how she puts up with him.
    ‘There’s a lot you don’t
know about me,’ he replies. ‘She’s eight. I buy your cakes for her
sometimes. She likes them, even the ridiculous panda-face ones.’
    ‘You say the sweetest things,’ I
huff. ‘There was me thinking you cared about the plight of the giant panda.
Another illusion shattered.’
    Lawrie gets to his feet, gazing into the
dusk at the twoponies grazing the knee-high grass. ‘It’s
these two I’m bothered about right now,’ he tells me. ‘We may have got
them away from Seddon, but we have to keep them safe and work out what to do with them.
I don’t suppose your plan goes that far?’
    ‘Not yet,’ I admit.
‘I’m working on it.’
    ‘Work fast then,’ he says.
‘These two ponies are trouble. One of them is unpredictable, unrideable; the other
run-down, neglected, terrified of humans and in foal. They don’t stand much chance
of finding a happy-ever-after home if you ask me. That’s the trouble with bullies
like Seddon – the damage they do goes on and on.’
    I raise an eyebrow. ‘Not keen on
bullies, all of a sudden?’ I ask.
    ‘Not keen on them, ever,’ he
says. ‘I know you think I am one, but you couldn’t be more wrong. That day
you found me scrapping with Darren Holmes from Year Six … well, I’d just
stopped him nicking