A Winning Gift

by Catherine Hapka

  “Hi,” she said, not quite meeting Maddie’s eye. “Sorry about yesterday.”

  “Me too.” Maddie could tell that Bridget felt awkward. Well, she’d had enough of that—it was time to get things back to normal. So she stepped forward and grabbed her in a big hug. For a second Bridget felt tense, but then she relaxed and hugged Maddie back.

  “Happy birthday,” she said into her hair.

  “Thanks.” Maddie pulled away. “I wasn’t sure if you’d come.”

  Bridget shrugged, still keeping her eyes down. “How could I miss such a momentous occasion?”

  Maddie wondered which play she’d picked up that phrase from, though she didn’t bother to ask. “It’s just too bad my boyfriend won’t be here, huh?” she said lightly.

  “What?” Bridget blinked at her. “Oh, you mean Seth?”

  “Yeah.” Maddie ignored the twins, who were trading a slightly perplexed glance behind Bridget’s back. “We found out he’s not going to be working here anymore. He was just trying to earn money to buy his girlfriend something nice.”

  “His girlfriend?” Bridget frowned for a second as she processed that. “Oh. Too bad for you, huh?”

  “Yeah, too bad.” Maddie was tempted to call her on it, make her admit what had really been going on with the whole Seth thing. But maybe it was better to leave it be. Bridget could be funny about things sometimes—sort of like Brooke, who wasn’t always as blunt as the other three Pony Posters. That meant Maddie and the others had to be tactful to get her to open up when something was bugging her. Bridget wasn’t shy like Brooke could be, but she also required a little extra finesse to convince her to talk about certain things.

  But why bother in this case? Tillie and her friends were always joking around about rebound guys—the ones they went out with for a little while after getting dumped by the ones they really liked. Maybe Seth had been sort of the same thing for Bridget.

  Maddie shook her head slightly, getting another twinge of the funny feeling she’d had while thinking about Haley’s life earlier. As if she were looking at someone from a foreign country, one where she didn’t speak the language very well.

  At least I won’t have to worry about that in London, she thought, her mind jumping from one problem to another.

  Meanwhile Bridget stepped over and gave Cloudy a pat. “Oh well. Seth didn’t do a very good job of keeping your poop picked up anyway, did he, Cloudy?”

  “Yeah,” Maddie said, banishing all thoughts of England. “Hey, we have plenty of time before the party’s supposed to start. Want to take a pony ride on Cloudy? It’s the least we could do since you didn’t get to ride yesterday.”

  “Oh.” Bridget moved away from the pony. “Um, that’s okay. Actually, I’m thinking maybe riding isn’t for me, you know?”

  “Really?” Vic said. “Are you sure?”

  Bridget shrugged. “It was fun to learn the basics, though,” she said with a smile. “Now I’ll be ready if I ever have an acting job where I have to ride a horse, right?”

  Vic and Val laughed, but Maddie’s heart sank. So much for her plan to turn Bridget and Cloudy into the perfect new pair. . . .

  She shook off her disappointment as quickly as it came. At least hanging out at the barn had helped Bridget forget her heartbreak. That was the important thing, right? Maddie would just have to get her Cloudy news from Vic and Val and her other friends at the barn.

  “Guess we should start setting up for the party,” she said. “Ms. Emerson said she’d make sure the tractor and stuff were out of the way by the time I got here, but I should go check.”

  “We’ll do it,” Val volunteered, nudging her sister.

  “Yeah,” Vic agreed. “You stay here and hang with Cloudy.”

  “Okay, thanks.” As the twins hurried off, Maddie shot Bridget a sidelong glance.

  Bridget looked over just in time to catch her eye. “What?” she demanded. “You’re not still mad at me, are you?”

  Maddie stepped over to rub Cloudy’s face. “I was never mad at you,” she said. “I was just being selfish about Cloudy and took it out on you.” She hesitated, not sure whether to continue. “Um . . .”

  Bridget narrowed her eyes. “What? There’s something you’re not telling me. Spill it, Martinez. All my acting training makes me excellent at reading human expressions, so you can’t hide from me.”

  Maddie kept her gaze on Cloudy’s big, liquid brown eyes, not sure what to do. She hadn’t been planning to say anything about the move until after the party. But was that the best way to be a good friend? She’d never kept something so important from Bridget before. Or from Vic and Val, for that matter. Maddie’s life was usually an open book, and it felt weird to have secrets.

  Cloudy shifted her weight, turning her head to snuffle at Maddie’s arm. Maddie fished a treat out of her pocket and let the pony lip it off her palm. Suddenly the whole idea of leaving Cloudy behind—of leaving everyone and everything behind again, just when her life was going so great—was almost overwhelming.

  “Okay, I wasn’t going to tell you this until after the party, but I can’t stand it anymore,” she blurted out, turning to face Bridget. “See, I found out something kind of crazy the other day. . . .”

  The rest of the story tumbled out of her. As she listened, Bridget’s eyes got wider and wider.

  “Noooo!” she wailed when Maddie finished. “This is some kind of weird birthday prank or something, right? Because you can’t move away! Especially not to a whole new country! I mean, who does that?”

  Maddie sighed. “I wish it was a prank. But it’s not.”

  Bridget grabbed her by the shoulders, sort of hugging her and shaking her at the same time. “Seriously, Mads. Is this for real? Your mom got transferred to England?”

  “Looks that way.”

  Suddenly Bridget pushed her away so forcefully that Maddie stumbled backward and had to catch herself on Cloudy’s warm, solid side. Bridget didn’t seem to notice; she was glaring in the direction of the stable entrance.

  “Your parents will be here soon for the party, right?” she said. “Let me talk to them—I’ll make them see that this is a huge mistake.”

  “No!” Maddie’s heart thumped in alarm. “Listen to me, Bridge. You can’t say anything to anyone right now, okay? I don’t want to ruin my birthday.”

  “Too late.” Bridget stuck out her lower lip in a pout.

  “I mean it,” Maddie warned. “Nobody knows. Well, obviously my parents do, I guess. But they don’t know that I know. And Tillie and the boys have no clue. I haven’t breathed a word to anyone except the Pony Post.”

  “The what?” Bridget blinked. “Oh, the website thing. You mean you told them before you told me?”

  “Sorry.” Maddie shrugged. “You were so depressed about the Tony thing already. I just figured . . .”

  “Yeah, okay, I get it.” Bridget sighed, gazing at her with troubled brown eyes. “This is horrible, Mads.”

  “I know.” Maddie reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “We can talk about it more after the party. Okay?”

  Bridget nodded. “Don’t worry. I won’t say anything.”

  “Good. But you can’t walk around looking like someone died, either, okay?” Maddie said. “Nobody’s going to believe you’re that worked up about dumb old Tony.”

  The ghost of a smile flitted across Bridget’s face. Then she straightened her shoulders. “Don’t worry. I’m an actress, remember?” She pasted on a huge grin. “Your secret is safe with me.”

  ♦ CHAPTER ♦

  11

  MADDIE AND BRIDGET WERE SILENT for a few minutes after that, each of them lost in her own thoughts as they brushed Cloudy’s glossy palomino coat. Then Maddie heard the chatter of the twins coming down the aisle.

  “Remember, they don’t know,” she whispered to Bridget.

  Bridget nodded, then pantomimed zipping her lips. “Hey, guys.” She greeted Vic and Val in a cheerful voice. “Took you long enough. Did you have to
drag that tractor out yourself, or what?”

  Vic giggled. “Nope, everything’s out of the way. We just stopped to say hi to some of the ponies.”

  “Cool.” Bridget dropped the brush she was using back into the grooming bucket. “So that means it’s time to put up the decorations, right?”

  “We’d better hurry.” Maddie checked her watch. “Mom and Dad will be here with the food in like an hour and a half, and everyone else should start getting here pretty soon after that.”

  “Eh, eh, eh!” Bridget waggled a finger in her face. “What’s this ‘we’ business? You can’t set up for your own party. The three of us will take care of it. Right, girls?”

  “Sure,” Val said, and Vic nodded and shot Maddie a thumbs-up.

  Maddie barely saw it. She was gazing at Bridget, feeling kind of impressed. If she hadn’t known better, she’d never have guessed that her friend had a care in the world right now beyond streamers and balloons.

  What do you know? she thought. I guess she really is a good actress—even when she has to make up her own lines.

  “Okay. That’s nice of you guys to offer,” she told all three of her friends. “But what do you expect me to do while you’re working—sit here and twiddle my thumbs?”

  “Duh.” Vic gestured toward the pony standing behind Maddie. “You’ve got just enough time for a nice, relaxing birthday ride on Cloudy.”

  “Don’t worry,” Val added. “Ms. Emerson already said it was okay. Just don’t leave the regular trails.”

  “Really?” Maddie couldn’t help a little flash of happiness. Finally she would have her favorite pony all to herself for a while—guilt free. “Okay. In that case, thanks, you guys!”

  A few minutes later she was riding out past the ring, heading for the public multi-use trails that wound through the local fields, forests, and vineyard-dotted foothills. Cloudy’s ears were pricked, and she felt eager to go.

  “You love exploring, don’t you, girl?” Maddie leaned forward and patted Cloudy on the neck. “Maybe it reminds you of being on Assateague Island when you were a foal.”

  She smiled at the image of baby Cloudy trotting and cantering around the sandy dunes of Assateague, stopping only long enough to nibble on the salty cordgrass growing in the local marshes before galloping off through the surf. Thanks to reading and rereading Misty of Chincoteague and its sequels, Maddie could picture it perfectly, even though she’d never been there.

  Then the images faded and she glanced around at the familiar trails she’d ridden on so often over the past couple of years. How many more times would she get to see them?

  Probably not many, she thought, stopping herself from adding up the days. So I’d better make sure to enjoy it while I can.

  “Don’t worry, Cloudy,” she said as the mare ambled along the sun-dappled path beneath a line of tall valley oaks that separated the trail from a road. “I’ll come back and visit you. I promise. As often as I can.”

  She bit her lip, once again trying not to think too much about the details. England was a long way away, and plane tickets were expensive—that was what her parents were always saying whenever the kids pestered them to visit their relatives in other states or take vacations in various far-flung spots. Tyler wanted to see New York City, Ryan was dying to go to Cape Canaveral in Florida, and Tillie had been agitating for a trip to Paris for as long as Maddie could remember.

  Maybe she’ll finally get to go there, she thought. Paris is a lot closer to London than to California.

  Cloudy stepped out into a sunny clearing, and Maddie squinted, glad that the weather was so nice—bright, a little breezy, low sixties. Not bad for November, especially compared to the stuff Haley had been writing lately about the snow and cold in Wisconsin. Maddie was pretty sure it didn’t snow much in England, though she’d heard it was kind of rainy and gloomy a lot of the time.

  “Forget about that,” she told herself out loud. “It’s time to live in the moment.”

  That was a phrase she’d heard a lot from her dad and various other people. Maddie had never thought about it much before, and now she realized why. Normally she had no trouble living in the moment. Why do anything else?

  But now it was much harder, knowing that this moment was part of a countdown to something very different. And for once she couldn’t just look forward to the adventure. She had to deal with the sadness of leaving something very important behind, knowing that things would never be the same.

  “But I don’t have to deal with it right this second, do I?” she murmured, nudging the pony into a trot. “Right now I just want to enjoy this moment.”

  And for the rest of the ride, she did her very best to do just that.

  “Thanks for inviting me, Maddie.” Coach Wu, Maddie’s soccer coach, came toward Maddie, clutching a cup of punch in one hand and a cookie in the other. “This is fun. Now I understand why you always rush off to this place right after practice.”

  “I’m glad you could come.” Maddie smiled at the coach, though it felt a little forced.

  Her party had been in full swing for more than an hour. By the time Maddie had returned from her trail ride, her friends had the barn decorated to the hilt. Soon after that, Maddie’s family had arrived, bearing boxes and coolers full of food and drink. Ms. Emerson had helped them set up three large folding tables along the wall. Sergeant Martinez’s best punch bowl went on one, with Ryan and Tyler proudly pouring in the bright purple concoction they’d helped mix at home. Another table was laid out with platters of cookies, chips and dips, her father’s spicy homemade empanadas, and various other finger foods, while the third table was intended to hold gifts.

  By the time everything was ready, Maddie’s friends had started to arrive. Vic switched on the music, Bridget started to dance, and the party was on. Everyone seemed to be having a good time—even Tillie was smiling as she led her boyfriend around by the hand.

  Maddie was trying to have fun—to live in the moment—but she wasn’t quite feeling it. How could she enjoy herself when she knew she’d probably never see most of these people again after January?

  Snap out of it, girl, she chided herself as Coach Wu wandered off to talk to some of Maddie’s teammates. Someone’s going to notice you’re acting all emo.

  She pasted on a bright smile as she heard footsteps behind her. When she turned and saw that it was Bridget, she relaxed.

  “Oh, it’s you,” she said.

  “Are you okay?” Bridget peered at her. “Because I’m totally not. This is all such a huge farce! How can your parents act so carefree when they know they’re about to rip you away from everything good and wonderful in your life?”

  Okay, that was a little dramatic even for Bridget. “Chill,” Maddie told her, glancing around to make sure nobody was close enough to hear them. “We just have to deal with it, okay? At least until the party’s over.”

  “Whatever,” Bridget muttered, looking sulky. “I’m just saying.”

  At that moment Maddie’s father whistled for attention. “Thanks for coming, everyone,” he said. “I think it’s time to get to Maddie’s favorite part of the day.”

  “Presents!” Tyler shouted.

  Everyone laughed and applauded. “Yes, come open your gifts, Maddie,” her mother said. “Is there a chair?”

  Ms. Emerson appeared, pushing her wheeled office chair toward the gift table. “Here you go, Maddie.” She patted the seat. “Make yourself comfortable.”

  “Thanks.” Maddie made her way forward. “Thanks, everyone.”

  She took her seat and looked around at her party guests. Vic and Val were smiling at her from the front of the crowd. Nearby, a couple of her soccer teammates were petting one of the barn cats. Several school friends were hanging out near the refreshments, and Coach Wu was chatting with one of Maddie’s neighbors over by the punch bowl.

  Everyone Maddie cared about from this place was here, and for a second she felt as if she might start crying. How could she leave all this behind?


  “Maddie.” Her mother leaned closer. “Are you okay? You look odd.”

  “I’m fine.” Maddie tried to channel Bridget’s acting skills as she grinned at her mother. “Uh, it’s just kind of weird being so old, you know?”

  Her mother laughed. “Did you hear that?” she joked to Ms. Emerson with a wink. “Talk about making someone feel old . . .”

  “Here, open this one first.” Vic darted forward and tossed a large but lightweight wrapped gift into Maddie’s lap. “It’s from us.”

  “Okay.” Maddie ripped into the package and held up a blue saddle pad. “Cool! I love it.”

  “We thought that color would look nice on Cloudy,” Val called out. “But you can exchange it for a different color if you want.”

  “No she can’t,” Vic said. “That color’s perfect!”

  Everyone laughed, including Maddie, though she couldn’t help feeling a little sad. The blue pad would look nice against Cloudy’s pale palomino spots. Too bad Maddie would probably get to see it on her only a few times before she moved.

  “Open mine next!” One of Maddie’s school friends pushed forward and handed over another package.

  Maddie set the saddle pad aside to unwrap the new gift. She oohed and aahed over the book the girl had given her, then moved on to the next package.

  As she unwrapped gift after gift, Maddie did her best to be grateful. Everyone had gone out of their way to get her things she’d like, and she really did appreciate that. How could they know that the only gift she really wanted was to be able to stay here with Cloudy and all her friends?

  By the time she neared the end of the pile of gifts, her face was starting to hurt from smiling so hard. Then Tyler grabbed one of the last wrapped packages.

  “This one’s from all of us,” he said, dropping it in Maddie’s lap. “Me and Ry and Tillie, I mean.”

  “It was mostly Tillie’s idea,” Ryan spoke up.

  Maddie glanced at her sister, who was leaning against her boyfriend over by the stalls. Tillie smiled and waggled her fingers at Maddie. Did that mean she’d finally gotten over the nail polish thing? Maddie hoped so. For one thing, she didn’t relish the thought of a long plane ride to London with Tillie mad at her in the next seat. . . .