Free Nightmare by Bonnie Bryant

Okay?”
    Delilah didn’t answer. Carole took that for an okay.She gave the horse a final hug and headed out of the feed shed to dole out the rest of the apple.
    The first person she saw when she got back to the stable was Stevie, who was busily picking out Belle’s hooves and chattering to the mare as she worked.
    Carole picked up a mane comb from Stevie’s grooming bucket and went to work next to Stevie.
    “Trying out that new knock-knock joke?” she asked.
    “I did,” Stevie said. “She didn’t like it, though. She said she’d already heard it from Barq.”
    “Figures,” Carole said, smiling to herself. Stevie was truly irrepressible, and it was one of her most endearing qualities.
    “So, how was today?” Stevie asked. “Any more word from your dad?”
    “Not yet,” Carole said. “Though I haven’t been back to the Atwoods’, so who knows? But I had lunch with Lisa, and I’ve got to tell you, she’s getting more and more obsessive about her history class and her history paper. She was envious of this girl, Fiona Jamieson, because the teacher had said, ‘Very good, Fiona,’ to her in class but he’d only said, ‘Good question’ to Lisa.”
    “Oh, boy,” said Stevie. “I think if a teacher told me I’d asked a good question, I’d leap up and down for joy. Oh, no, that’s not right. One of my teachers did say that to me one time because I’d asked if the wailing sound outside the room was the fire alarm going off.”
    “Stevie, it’s a good story, but I don’t think it’s going to do Lisa much good. I think we’ve got to stop keeping an eye on her and start a Saddle Club project that’ll save her from going overboard with this competitive student thing.”
    “I know, I know. You’re right,” Stevie said. “But what on earth can we do to help her?”
    “That’s it!” said Carole.
    “What’s it?” Stevie asked.
    “We have to help her. If we do some of the work on her paper, it’ll take some pressure off her,” Carole said.
    “We can’t do that. It’s called plagiarism or something like that. It has to be her own work, and besides, there isn’t a history teacher in the world who wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a paper I wrote and one Lisa wrote.”
    “No, I don’t mean that we write it for her. Of course we can’t do that. But we can do some of the background work, you know, like Chad did just by giving her a book she can use. Maybe if we point out to her where she can find some good information, that would be helpful. Since your family has had a computer longer than anyone else’s, you’re the best typist in The Saddle Club. You could do some of the typing for her. See what I mean?” Carole asked.
    “I guess I do,” Stevie said. “But you know, sometimes it scares me when I look at my friends and begin to seemyself. You guys are getting more and more like me every day.”
    “Does that mean I’m going to have to put licorice chips on peppermint ice cream?” Carole asked in mock horror.
    “Hmmm. Sounds delicious,” Stevie said. “But I don’t think we have time for a trip to TD’s tonight.” TD’s was the ice cream parlor where The Saddle Club often treated themselves while they had club meetings. “No, we’ve got to finish up here and then get to my house for a trip on the Internet.”
    They redoubled their efforts to make Belle’s coat gleam, because after that was done, they had to groom Starlight and visit Nero and give out the rest of the apple. There was a lot of horsework to be done before they could attempt progress on Lisa’s homework.

“U H - OH ,” S TEVIE SAID , looking at the computer screen in front of her.
    “What’s the matter?” Carole asked, looking up from the newspaper that had held her interest while Stevie clicked away at the keyboard. “Didn’t you get anything with the search?”
    They were using the Lakes’ on-line service to try to find material for Lisa’s paper. It had taken a long time to get the