Read Hayride for Free Online Page B

afraid you couldn’t?”
    Abruptly Phil changed the subject back to the guest list.
    Stevie almost always loved talking with Phil. They were both good riders, and they had a lot in common. Sometimes, though, the two of them could be very competitive, and their joking could get out of hand. They both knew that when that happened, it was time to talk about something else.
    They went over who was coming, couple by couple.
    “What about Lisa?” Phil asked.
    Eagerly Stevie told him about their encounter with Bob Harris in the mall the day before. Phil was glad to hear that Lisa liked someone, especially when Stevie explained that, one, Bob was a great guy, and two, she was almost positive that Bob liked Lisa as well.
    “So it should be a wonderful night for the entire Saddle Club,” Stevie predicted.
    “I hope the weather’s nice,” Phil said.
    Stevie agreed. “I know. If the stars are out, it’ll be perfect.” They both fell silent for a moment, envisioning the late-night ride.
    All too soon Mrs. Lake interrupted Stevie’s thoughts a second time, this time not so magically. She knocked on the door. “Better say good-bye, dear. You don’t want to be up too late finishing your lab report.”
    Privately, Stevie wouldn’t have minded at all staying up all night, if it meant talking to Phil, but she knew her mother wouldn’t see the situation quite the same way. Mrs. Lake was a lawyer, and, unlike some mothers, was not of the opinion that rules were made to be broken.
    “Just a minute, Mom!” Stevie called.
    Phil, who had overheard Mrs. Lake’s warning, said that he should probably go, too. “My mother’s called me twice already,” he confessed. Stevie was glad to hear that he’d been stalling for time to talk to her. Reluctantly but happily they said their good-byes and hung up.
    Stevie looked at the unappealing lab notebook that lay open on her desk. Tables and graphs and figures. Yuck. She closed her eyes and lay back on her bed. All at once it was a crisp, starry night. The bells on theharness were jingling. She breathed in the familiar smell of timothy and alfalfa.…
    “Stevie?”
    “Yes, Mom.” Stevie sighed resignedly, opened her notebook, and began to write.
“By steadily raising the temperature of the liquid, we discovered …”
    C AROLE EASED HER left foot up onto the couch. Her ankle was still throbbing, but now that she’d convinced her father that it was only a minor bruise, she wasn’t about to let it bother her. Besides, she was finding that having a birthday party to plan was the best distraction.
    Carole looked down at her guest list and made another neat check mark. She’d been calling people for almost two hours. And so far, she noted with satisfaction, it had been a total success. Everyone she had called could come to the party. After the first few calls, it had seemed that everybody already knew about it and was just waiting for an invitation.
    There were only two names left to check off. Carole smiled to herself at the circles, doodles, and scrawls around Cam’s name. She had saved him for last so she could talk to him the longest. The other name remaining was Veronica diAngelo’s. She had tried her several times with no luck. The line had been busy for over an hour. Stevie had probably already asked her in school, but Carole wanted to be sure.
    Eagerly Carole dialed Cam’s number. A few months ago she’d met Cam while they’d both been competing in a horse show. Before that they had communicated several times on a computer bulletin board. What a surprise it had been to see him in person and discover that Cam was very nice—and very cute. Since then they’d gotten together several times, and she hoped he’d be able to make it to her party.
    “Hello?”
    “Cam!”
    “Carole! How are you?”
    “Fine. Cam, I have to tell you—” Unable to contain her excitement any longer, Carole plunged right in and told Cam all about the party.
    “That’s the most original idea for a