Free Starlight Christmas by Bonnie Bryant Page B

headed for Pepper’s stall while Lisa went to get Chippewa. It only took aminute. The horses gave them no trouble. They willingly accepted the lead ropes and obediently swapped stalls. In fact, Chippewa looked quite natural in Pepper’s stall. Pepper seemed a little confused, but Lisa gave him a carrot to appease him. He munched contentedly.
    Topside and Bluegrass seemed to nod greetings as they passed each other in the hallway. Bluegrass sniffed at the hay Topside had been munching. Then, satisfied that it was all right, he began munching himself.
    It had taken them a while to figure out what to do about Barq. He didn’t look like Garnet, so they couldn’t make a switch. In the end, they decided to swap Barq with a pregnant mare of similar coloring. She was far enough along that Max didn’t want her ridden anymore, but she wasn’t so gigantic that Elaine and Diana would notice her size. An evening in the paddock wouldn’t do her any harm. Lisa and Stevie swapped their stalls and the job was complete.
    The girls met in the hallway outside the locker room and stopped to exchange high and low fives before they entered. It gave them time to hear a little of what was going on.
    “Oh, I bet you’re a really good rider,” A.J. was saying. Stevie thought there was enough sugar in his voice to turn somebody’s stomach, but Elaine didn’t seem to mind.
    “Oh, no,” she cooed. “I’m just trying to learn. I’m not very good at all yet.”
    “But you will be. I just know it,” Phil gushed. “You, too, Diana.”
    “Me?” Diana said as if she wanted him to reassure her.
    He did. “Oh, yes. You’ve got a wonderful build for riding. Strong arms, long legs …”
    Stevie rolled her eyes. This was more than she had counted on. She had to put a stop to this before it made her sick!
    “Oh, hi, girls!” Stevie said, entering the locker room. “Merry Christmas to you!” Lisa thought Stevie sounded even more insincere than the boys had, but Elaine and Diana didn’t appear to notice. “I’m glad you all have met because we’ll be together on the Starlight Ride. Isn’t it going to be the most exciting thing?”
    Elaine and Diana agreed that it was going to be. Lisa sensed that they were a little uncomfortable, which didn’t surprise her. They were about to play a horrible trick on her and Stevie and Carole, and here they were pretending to be nice and friendly. Since she and Stevie were right there, it also meant the trick was going to have to be played under their noses. Lisa decided to make it easier on the girls.
    “Why don’t we go check on your horses, guys?” Lisa suggested. “It’s going to take us about fifteen minutes to off-load them from the trailer, isn’t it? Maybe we should do that
now.
”
    Stevie and the boys immediately understood what shewas up to. “Great idea,” Stevie said. “The trailer’s out in front of the stable, isn’t it? It’s probably not a good idea to leave the horses so far away and completely out of sight of most of the stable. Let’s go get them now. We can turn them out in the little paddock off the riding ring that’s on the side of the stable.”
    Lisa almost laughed. Stevie was being anything but subtle. She was doing everything she could to assure Elaine and Diana that they were going to be far away when the girls pulled their little prank.
    “See you later!” Stevie said, waving to Elaine and Diana. The boys waved, too. The four of them left Elaine and Diana to their tricks.
    Teddy and Crystal were accustomed to trailers. They were off and safely turned out in the little paddock in less than three minutes. That gave the foursome time to stand on tiptoe and spy on Elaine and Diana through the windows of the stable.
    “There goes Chip!” Stevie said as Diana led her own mount through the stable to the large paddock on the far side. The four of them could hear the horse’s playful canter on the hard ground of the paddock as he frolicked to the far side of the