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she'd burst
into tears. She quickly kissed her dad, hooked on
her backpack and walked towards the big building.
She counted to one hundred before she turned back
to see the rusty old car covered in thick red earth
just turning away and back onto the main road.
This was it.
    She had almost reached the door when a voice
boomed out.
    'Where do you think you're going?'
    It sounded like a man's voice. Charlotte looked
around but could see nobody.
    'Up here.'
    A severe looking woman was hanging out the
window.
    'Isn't this where you are supposed to come?'
    The woman frowned. 'It is if you're on time. But
you're late.'
    'We hit a ...'
    But before Charlotte could explain the woman
thrust a long arm out the window and pointed to
some large sheds about half a kilometre away.
    'To the stables. Now. Get your horse. The other
girls are already there.'
    Charlotte didn't dare argue. She dropped her
backpack and ran as fast as she could.

    The stables were very large. Eight horse stalls down
each side with two tack rooms, one in the middle of
each side. There was also a small open office where
Bevans and the vet had a desk to work from.
    The other girls had selected their horses and
were already grooming them, oiling up their tack
and gossiping. Lucinda Hayes-Warrington had long,
lustrous black hair and had been riding since she was
six. Emma Cross wore a blonde bob, which was also
lustrous, and she'd won many pony club events.
Rebecca Portofino had thick curls of red hair but
otherwise her life was pretty much the same as the
other two. Like them she lived in a house so big she
could go days without bumping into her parents. And
their beach house was even bigger. Not quite as big as
Emma's father's beach house located in the next bay.
That had been so big that locals had taken up a
petition saying it blocked the sun on the beach. What
with skin cancer and everything, Emma said they
should have been grateful to have some shade.
    Emma was showing Rebecca and Lucinda a brand
new mobile phone no bigger than a snack pack of
sultanas. It was her going away present from her
parents.
    Lucinda groaned. 'Honestly, a mobile phone.
Haven't they any imagination?'
    Emma waved off her concern.
    'No, this is actually pretty cool. Rhinestone touchpad,
waterproof of course, world-wide coverage,
global positioning beacon, digital camera with, natch,
storage for one hundred and ten snaps, seven-language
diary, calorie counter and karaoke function.
Plus...' She pointed to tiny microphone holes at one
end. '... the eavesdropper. So sensitive you can hear
conversations a kilometre away.'
    Rebecca said she had wanted that model but her
father had said she would have to earn it. 'I said, no
way am I doing the dishes.'
    Emma shook her head in sympathy.
    'Pathetic, isn't it? My dad tried that too, once.
I said, "Daddy, you're not the only one trying to
buy my affection. I can easily get that from my
step-father."'
    Rebecca noticed a shabby looking girl enter and
look around. Obviously the stablehand. As she
passed, Rebecca spoke up.
    'Could you oil my gate, please? It's got this
annoying creak.'
    The girl looked at her blankly.
    'Can't you do it?' she replied.
    The three friends swapped a look. Talk about
attitude. Rebecca was not to be cowed.
    'That's what stablehands are for, isn't it?'
    The girl shrugged. 'I'm not a stablehand.' As her
father had always taught her to do, Charlotte
extended her hand. 'Charlie.'
    The three girls looked at her as if she was an alien
life form. No-one made a move to take her hand and
Charlotte pulled it back, feeling embarrassed.
    'Emma, Lucinda, Rebecca,' said the one with the
blonde bob and the three of them turned back to their
horses.
    Charlotte didn't know what to do next. She felt
foolish standing there and had no choice but to push
on. She walked to the end of the stable, looking for a
free horse. There wasn't one. A man she took to be the
stable foreman was placing tack on one of the hooks
on the wall.
    'Excuse me, I don't seem