“Nothing but the best for my sister,” Scott said lightly, leaning on the fence beside Lisa as Callie let herself into the paddock and walked over to examine the beautiful gelding.
Lisa blinked at him in surprise, wondering if he’d read her mind. “I was just thinking how incredible he looks,” she said carefully, nodding toward the horse. The last thing she wanted to do was embarrass Scott by pointing out how lucky his family was to have enough money to afford such a horse.
Scott didn’t embarrass easily, though. He just laughed. “Okay, you know how Callie and I like to complain about having a famous father with a high-profile job? Well, I guess you could say that this is the upside.” He grinned and winked.
Lisa laughed, reminded once again of why everyone liked Scott so much. It was no wonder he’d fit so easily into their little group of friends right from the beginning. Even though he’d only been around for six months or so, Lisa already had a hard time remembering life without him.
The two of them turned to watch as the stable owner led the gelding around the ring a few times so that Callie could see how he moved. “Looks like he has a nice smooth trot, and he seems spirited but eager to please,” Lisa commented, wondering why shopping for a date couldn’t be more like shopping for a horse. At least then she’d have some idea what she was doing.
Scott gave her a searching look. “You still seem kind of down,” he said abruptly. “Are you ever going to tell me what’s wrong?”
Lisa was so startled by the question that she just shrugged in reply. “It’s nothing.”
“It doesn’t look like nothing.”
Biting her lip, Lisa shrugged again. “No, really,” she insisted. “It’s no big deal. I’m just in kind of a weird mood today, that’s all.”
“Come on,” Scott wheedled. “It’s me. Your friend.”
All of a sudden she gave in. Why not tell him what she was thinking about? Maybe it would help to get a guy’s perspective on her situation. “Okay.” She took a deep breath and shot him a quick glance before returning her gaze to the horse in the paddock. “I’m sure you’ve heard that Alex and I—um, well, we’re supposed to see other people. For a while. I, um, I know that Alex is already going ahead with that. And I want to get moving, too. It’s just that it’s been so long since I had to think about this sort of thing. I—I guess I’m having some trouble getting back in the swing of things.” She laughed self-consciously, remembering her earlier “conversation” with Eve. “I can’t even figure out who I might like to go out with.”
“I see.” Scott rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his blue eyes serious as they gazed out toward Callie and the Arabian. “Well, it’s totally understandable that you’d be feeling that way right now. You and Alex were together a long time, and it’s got to be tough to even think about getting to know someone else right now. Especially since you haven’t had all that long to adjust yet.”
“Right,” Lisa said, grateful for his understanding words, which mirrored what she’d been thinking all day.
She was suddenly very glad that she’d decided to confide in Scott. It felt good to talk things out with someone who could actually talk back. Besides, Scott’s amazingly easy to talk to, she thought, turning to look at him appreciatively. His profile as he watched the action in the paddock was strong and handsome. Remembering Stevie’s dilemma, Lisa smiled slightly. You know, if Stevie didn’t already have a great guy like Phil, she could certainly do worse than Scott. A lot worse.
“I’ve got only one thing to suggest.” Scott suddenly turned his head to look at her. “Would you like to go to the CARL party on Friday?”
Lisa was a little flustered that he’d caught her staring at him. “Um, yeah,” she said distractedly, quickly shifting her gaze back to Callie and the horse. “I am going to that.”
“No.” Scott chuckled. “I’m sorry, my bad. What I should have said is, Lisa, would you please do me the honor of coming to the CARL party on Friday with me?”
Lisa’s jaw dropped. Scott was asking her out on a date? She must have sounded even more pathetic than she’d realized. “It’s okay,” she said quickly. “I really don’t mind just hanging out with the group at the CARL thing.” She laughed self-consciously again. “I appreciate the offer, but I wasn’t fishing for a pity date or anything.”
“No need to turn me down on that account.” Scott was gazing at her steadily. “It definitely wouldn’t be a pity date.”
“What do you mean?” Lisa asked cautiously.
Scott cleared his throat. “I mean, I’ve been thinking about asking you out ever since I heard that you and Alex had broken up.” He had been leaning on the paddock fence as they talked, but now he stood up straight as he turned to her. “I’ve thought you were one of the most beautiful girls I’d ever met since the first time I laid eyes on you. And once I got to know you better, I realized you’re one of the smartest, nicest, and most special people I’ve ever met, too.”
Lisa was having a hard time taking in what was happening. Gripping the top rail of the fence with one hand, she stared up at his earnest face in total amazement. “You—You really, um …” She trailed off, not even sure how to respond to what he was saying.
Scott smiled. “I realize this must be coming as kind of a surprise,” he said matter-of-factly. “I mean, I’ve had a major crush on you for a while now. But I’ve been doing my best to keep it to myself.” He shrugged and shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “Alex is a friend. And I respected your relationship with him too much to want to mess with it. But now that you’re thinking about dating again, and the field seems to be wide open … well, I guess it seemed like the moment to take a shot. So how about it? Will you let me take you out on Friday and try to show you a good time?”
Lisa was completely blown away. Scott Forester had a crush on her? But he’s, like, Mr. Popular, she thought in stunned disbelief. Practically every girl that meets him wants to jump his bones. Even Veronica diAngelo, the man magnet, just about threw herself at him.
Realizing that Scott was waiting for an answer, Lisa gulped. What should she do? Scott was her friend. She didn’t want to risk that friendship just to have a date for Friday night. Not to mention that it seemed kind of weird to go out with someone who knew Alex so well …
“Okay,” she blurted out before she quite realized what she was doing. “I’d love to go. It’s a date.”
“Great!” Scott looked genuinely happy. “If you don’t have your ticket yet, I’ll pick up a pair for us tomorrow.”
Lisa nodded in agreement, trying to look as pleased about their plans as he did, but inside she wasn’t sure she was doing the right thing. She was relieved when Scott turned the conversation back to Callie, who was helping the stable owner put a saddle on the gray horse. Watching his sister carefully, Scott started chatting about her reactions to the other horses she’d seen so far.
Lisa did her best to nod and smile in all the right places as Scott talked, but her mind was still trying to wrap itself around the concept that he wanted to date her. I never in a million years would have suspected that he was interested in me, she thought. I never would have guessed that I was the reason he was hanging around Pine Hollow so much. That I was the one he—Yikes!
She’d just realized something. If what Scott had just told her was true, that meant that Lisa really was the only girl at Pine Hollow who’d been occupying his thoughts lately.
Lisa gulped. Okay, I know Stevie is in love with Phil—she definitely doesn’t want to go out with Scott, she thought. But that doesn’t mean it won’t sting a little when she finds out he doesn’t have some mad crush on her like she thought he did. Stevie’s ego is pretty healthy, but still … Lisa sighed softly, leaning forward on the paddock fence as she imagined her friend’s reaction. I guess I’ll just have to break it to her gently.
As Stevie walked into her English lit classroom the next day, she was still thinking about her dilemma. How could she tell Scott they were never going to be a couple withou
t totally blowing him away and ruining their friendship?
Ignoring the chaos around her as her classmates laughed and chattered and goofed off, Stevie sat down at her desk and pulled out her textbook. Staring into space, she tried to figure out what to say.
Okay. Maybe I should just be straight and matter-of-fact about it, she thought. I can just march right up to him and say, “Listen here, Scott. I know you want me, but you’ve got to get over it. My heart belongs to Phil and that’s that. “And then he’d say, “Thank you for your honesty, my darling Stevie. But I just can’t live without having you all to myself. So if you’ll excuse me, I’d better go kill myself now.”
Stevie shook her head and wrinkled her nose. That wasn’t likely to happen. But she still wasn’t sure the blunt and up-front approach was the way to go. She wanted to let him down easy, not blow him away.
I’ve got to be careful. If he’s too hurt and embarrassed, it could totally ruin our friendship, she reminded herself as her teacher rapped her wooden pointer on the blackboard for attention. No, I’d better be more tactful. Find the right words to soften the blow. Something kind and maybe poetic.
She glanced at the textbook on the desk in front of her. Flipping idly through its pages as the teacher began to lecture, Stevie hoped for inspiration. But all she seemed to find were lovey-dovey passages from poets mooning over lost loves.
Stevie sighed and turned back to the chapter her teacher was discussing. I’m supposed to be a writer now, right? she told herself, thinking of the nice things Theresa had said about her first article. I should be able to come up with something to say to him.
But by the time the class ended forty minutes later, she still hadn’t come up with a thing. Gathering up her books and shoving them back into her pack, she left the room and headed toward her locker. Lunch period was next. That would give her the perfect opportunity to get some advice from Callie.
Stevie was digging in the bottom of her locker for her lunch, which had somehow become wedged beneath her spare pair of riding boots and the plastic bag containing her dirty towel from phys ed, when she heard a shrill scream of laughter from somewhere nearby. Familiar laughter.
Stevie frowned and glanced over her shoulder. Sure enough, Veronica was walking down the hall in her direction, a small notebook in her hand and a pencil tucked into the sleek dark hair behind one ear. She was using another pencil to scribble busily in the notebook. Stevie’s gaze shifted to Nicole Adams, who was walking along beside Veronica, chatting rapidly and waving her hands around. For some reason, the scene made Stevie feel uneasy. Were the two of them just trading makeup tips or debating which member of the basketball team was the best kisser, as usual? Stevie certainly hoped so. Because if Veronica was serious about that gossip-column thing …
Just then Veronica glanced her way. When she saw that Stevie was watching her, she smirked very unsettlingly before turning back to Nicole.
Stevie shook her head. She had more important things to worry about than what was going on inside Veronica’s devious little mind. It wasn’t like Theresa was going to allow Veronica to print all sorts of horrible lies about Stevie in her column.
As soon as that thought occurred to her, Stevie felt better. I know exactly what’s going to happen, she thought, finally extricating her lunch and slamming her locker door shut. Veronica will turn in some poisonous, totally slanderous piece of garbage for her first column. Then Theresa will realize what kind of non-journalist loser she’s dealing with, and she’ll tell Veronica to take a hike and stay away from her paper. So why worry about it?
Callie was saving her a seat at a table at the far end of the cafeteria. Sliding into it, Stevie plopped her lunch bag down and glanced at the magazine that was lying open on the table beside Callie’s tuna sandwich. The spread in view showed a compact chestnut gelding climbing a steep incline, every muscle gleaming in the hot sun as his rider leaned forward over his sweaty neck.
“Wow,” Stevie commented. “Nice-looking horse.”
“Tell me about it.” Callie sighed and flipped the magazine shut. “He and his owner won the Tevis Cup last year. He’s awesome. I just wish I could snap my fingers and clone him so I’d have a decent horse to ride.”
“Does that mean your farm visit yesterday didn’t go well?” Stevie asked.
Callie shrugged and picked up her sandwich, gazing at it blankly. “No, actually I finally saw some good ones yesterday,” she admitted. “Three Arabs. One of them had some dicey hooves, but the other two seemed promising.” She bit her lip and lowered her sandwich to the table without taking a bite. “I just wish it was easier to know what kind of horse would be best for me—and to recognize it when I see it.”
Stevie raised one eyebrow in surprise. “Do mine ears deceive me?” she commented. “Since when is the famous Callie Forester scared of a challenge?”
Callie smiled weakly. “I know, I know,” she said. “This should be the fun part. It’s just that the stakes are so high—I don’t want to make a mistake.”
“I hear that.” Stevie cleared her throat as she opened her bag and pulled out an orange, a cold chicken leg, and one of her favorite treats, a SuperCrunch granola bar. Meanwhile her mind was already returning to her own problem. “Speaking of mistakes …”
Her voice trailed off as she happened to notice a certain well-dressed would-be gossip columnist heading their way. With a slight frown, she watched Veronica approach. What does she want now? she thought irritably. If she doesn’t stop getting in my face, I’m never going to have time to figure out how to deal with Scott.
Veronica stopped at the next table over, and Stevie sighed in relief. She turned her attention back to Callie, who was flipping through her magazine. “Anyway,” she began again, “I wanted to ask your advice about something.”
“Sure,” Callie said, picking up her carton of orange juice. “Just as long as it’s not about what to wear to the CARL thing on Friday. I already spent half an hour discussing that particular topic with Scott this morning.” She shrugged and smiled knowingly as she glanced at Stevie. “I think he’s a little nervous about his big date with Lisa.”
“No, it’s not that. I—” Stevie froze. “What did you just say?”
Callie lowered her juice and wiped her mouth with her napkin. “Which part?” she asked. “You mean about what to wear?”
“No, no.” Stevie waved her hands frantically. “The part about Scott.”
“You mean his date with Lisa?” Callie shrugged. “What about it? Didn’t she fill you in?” Her expression suddenly cleared. “Oh! Don’t tell me you didn’t know?”
Stevie grinned weakly. “Okay. I won’t tell you.” She shook her head, trying to loosen the confusion that was reigning inside her brain. “So let me get this straight. Scott—your brother—is going to the CARL party with Lisa? As in Lisa Atwood?”
“Uh-huh. He asked her yesterday afternoon.” Callie pursed her lips, watching Stevie carefully. “As it turns out, he’s had, um, a little crush on her for a while now. He just never let on until yesterday.”
“Oh.” Stevie sat there for a moment, trying to take it all in. She wasn’t sure whether to feel surprised, relieved, skeptical, or humiliated. At the moment all those emotions were mixed up at once, fighting for prominence. “So all this time that I thought—”
“Yep.” Callie smiled sympathetically. “But don’t feel bad. You practically had me convinced that he was into you, too.”
Stevie grimaced. That didn’t make her feel much better. How could I have been so wrong? she thought. And more importantly, how could I have told everybody I know all about it?
Before she could think much more about that, she noticed that Veronica was on the move once again. This time, she sauntered straight up to Stevie and Callie and stopped, staring at them with her arms crossed over the front of her expensive cashmere twinset and a wicked smile on her face. “Hello, girls,” she drawled. “What’s going on? What’s the gossip here at the loser end of the caf?”
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br /> Callie just rolled her eyes and returned her attention to her magazine. But Stevie was already off balance from Callie’s news, and she was in no mood to put up with anything from Veronica. “If you want to know what’s going on with losers, just go take a look in the mirror,” she snapped. “That’s your favorite way to pass the time anyway, isn’t it?”
Veronica snorted. “Very mature, Stevie,” she said coolly. “But never mind. I already have all the info I need—you’ll see that for yourself when the paper comes out on Friday.”
Stevie gritted her teeth, willing herself to just let it drop. Veronica was only trying to get a rise out of her. Why give her the satisfaction?
The two of them glared at each other silently. The tense moment was shattered a few seconds later when George Wheeler bustled up to the table.
“Hi!” George said cheerfully, his gaze focused on Callie and a broad smile on his face. Scooting past Veronica, who was staring at him as if he were a particularly ripe bit of manure smeared on the toe of her custom-made boot, he plopped down in the empty seat beside Callie. “What are you eating there, Callie? It looks good.”
Veronica rolled her eyes and walked away, muttering about losers. Stevie let out a long breath, grateful for once for George’s general cluelessness. As he started chattering eagerly about some Web site he’d just found about endurance riding, Stevie quickly stuffed her lunch back in the bag. Now that she didn’t have to worry about talking to Scott anymore, she figured it wouldn’t hurt to hit the library and get a jump on her next round of boring research. While she was at it, maybe she could get a grip on the news about Scott and Lisa—at the moment she was still reeling from the idea that she’d been totally wrong about his feelings toward her. But in the back of her mind, she was already starting to wonder what this turn of events might mean for Lisa and Alex.
High Stakes Page 13
