by Cathy Hapka
Stephanie opened her laptop. “Let me see if
it came through.” Her fingers flew over the keys.
“There it is!” She laughed as the clip began to play.
Then, suddenly, she gasped.
“What’s wrong?” Olivia asked.
“Oh, no! No, no, no!” Stephanie started hitting
keys. “I think the video just froze up my laptop. And
the entire manuscript for my book is on here!”
Her friends rushed over. But none of them could
figure out how to fix the problem.
“I think that video crashed the hard drive,” Olivia
said at last.
“I’m so sorry, Stephanie!” Mia exclaimed.
44
Stephanie shook her head. “It’s not your fault,
it’s mine. My dad warned me this computer wasn’t
working very well.”
“This is a disaster!” Andrea exclaimed. “First I
mess up my lyrics, and my film gets ruined. Then
Mia’s program won’t work. And now Stephanie just
lost her book! Nothing is going right today.”
“Yeah. I guess Emma’s the only one of us who can
win now,”Mia said.
Emma winced. “Don’t count on it,” she said. “I
didn’t tell you guys before because I didn’t want to
spoil Andrea’s big night, but my fashion scrapbook
is ruined.” Her green eyes filled with tears. “I glued
all the photos in last night. But something went
wrong. This morning, the glue had seeped through.
The pages are all stuck together and the pictures
are a mess. That scrapbook took me all night to put
together. I can’t make another one in time.”
“Don’t panic, everyone,” Olivia said.“We’ll figure
something out.”
45
“It’s too late,”Andrea told her.“I’m already
panicking.”
“No, listen,”Olivia said.“ We can’t give up now.”
Mia shook her head. “Thanks, Olivia. But there’s
just not enough time to fix all four of our projects
before the deadline. Not even with all of us working
together.”
What Mia said reminded Olivia of her project
idea from last night. And slowly, she started to
realize that not only was it the right project, but it
was the
only
project that could work. “There might
not be enough time to fix
four
projects,” Olivia said
slowly. “But I bet we can finish
one
project in plenty
of time!”
“
One
project?” Andrea echoed.
Olivia nodded. “I think we should put all of our
ideas together and enter as a team, with a project
about
friendship
.”
“A project about friendship?” Stephanie said.
“What do you mean?”
46
“It’s the only thing that makes sense,”Olivia
explained. “We’re supposed to capture the heart of
Heartlake City, right? Well, the heart of Heartlake
City is
us
.” Olivia threw her arms out. “Our
friendship has been the perfect entry all along!”
“Maybe that’s the reason none of our projects
worked out right,” Stephanie said thoughtfully. “I
could have used all of your advice on what to include
in my book.”
“And my video would have been better with
Emma’s artistic eye helping me,”Mia added.
“And if Stephanie was helping me with my
scrapbook, I’m sure I wouldn’t have glued the photos
in wrong,” Emma said.
Andrea put her arm around Olivia. “The only
reason my song turned out so awesome is because
Olivia helped with the lyrics.”
Emma looked confused. “But wait, we can’t enter
together, can we? The contest said only
one
girl
could win.”
47
“I know.”Olivia shrugged.“And maybe that
means we won’t win. But at least we’ll have a chance
to show Cassie what’s most important to
these
Heartlake City girls. Besides, it’ll be fun! What do
you say?”
“Let’s do it!” the girls cheered.
48
Chapter 9:
We Can
Do It!
The next day was very busy for the five friends.
There was a lot to do if they wanted to finish their
combined project before the deadline!
As usual, Stephanie took charge of the planning.
“This is going to be a multimedia project about our
friendship and what we do together in Heartlake
City,”she said.“That means we’ll need photos,
video, music, and more.”
“Cool,”Emma said.“We’re good at all that stuff.”
“I know.”Stephanie smiled.“ We’ll definitely
want to use the fashion photos you have left over
49
that you took of us, to show how you keep us
looking stylish!”
“And Andrea’s song,”Mia put in.
“I can add in lyrics about each of us,”Andrea
piped up.
Olivia nodded. “And we have Mia’s video footage
of the animals. I asked my parents if
I could borrow their new laptop,
and it works great. I’ll be able to
edit it in no time.”
“Perfect,”Stephanie
said.“And I still have some
handwritten notes from my
book. I can record voiceover of
some of what I wrote and add
in parts about each of us to
our presentation.”
“Let’s get started!”
Andrea exclaimed.
The girls got to work.
50
51
Andrea changed into a pretty dress, and
Stephanie helped her record her song. Then Andrea
helped Stephanie tape her voiceover.
Meanwhile, Emma made sure everyone’s outfits
looked perfect. Olivia figured out how to set Emma’s
camera to take pictures with a remote control. That
way, they all got to pose together on the shore of
Lake Heart.
“Now what?” Mia asked.
“We already have lots of videos of horses,”
Stephanie said. “But our best rider isn’t in any of
them.” She pointed at Mia.
“You’re right.”Emma grabbed Mia’s camera.
“Come on, let’s go to the stable. It’s time for another
video shoot!”
They all rushed to the Heartlake Stables. The
girls took video of Mia riding while cheering her on,
just like in a real competition!
“This is great!” Olivia exclaimed. “We’ve got
Andrea’s song for music, Emma’s photos of us,
52
Stephanie’s narration, and Mia’s riding video for
sports. What else?”
Stephanie tapped her chin. “I think the last thing
we need,” she said with a smile, “is an ending
recorded by our very own Olivia.”
53
“Me?” Olivia asked surprised.
�
�Yes, you!”Stephanie exclaimed. “Without you,
none of us would have thought of this. It was your
idea how our friendship is the heart of Heartlake
City. I think you should record the ending to the
presentation!”
Olivia couldn’t stop smiling as her friends all
gathered around her. Mia quickly set up the video
camera, and the girls stood side by side as the red
recording light blinked on.
“What is the ‘heart’ of Heartlake City for me?”
Olivia began. “When I first moved here, everyone
told me the town was special. All the buildings were
beautiful. All the people were friendly. And my aunt
Sophie said it was the perfect place to live.
“But there was something missing. That is, until I
met my four best friends. Now, I always know I have
someone I can count on, no matter what. Whether
I’m training puppies in the park, studying for school,
hanging out at the café, or having a sleepover in my
54
tree house, I wouldn’t want to do any of it without
my friends.
“For me, the best part of our town is the friends
I’ve made here. Heartlake City is a special place to
live. But my friends make it home.
“And what more could I ask for than that?”
Chapter 10:
And the
Winners Are ...
55
On Monday, the five friends gathered at
Stephanie’s house again. “The mayor is supposed to
announce the winner of the contest in ten minutes,”
Stephanie said.
Andrea crossed her fingers. “I hope we win!”
“It’s okay even if we don’t,”Olivia reminded the
others. “Remember, the contest was supposed to be
for one girl. We might get disqualified.”
“But that’s okay.”Mia smiled.“It was fun
anyway!”
Just then the phone rang.
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Stephanie ran to answer it.
“Hello?” she said. “This is Stephanie.”
“Well, hello, young lady.”The mayor’s familiar
voice came over the receiver. “I’m glad I caught you.
I have terrific news!”
“Really?” Stephanie clutched the phone tightly.
“You won the contest! Congratulations!”
“We won?” Stephanie repeated in disbelief.
“We won!” her friends all cried at once. They
jumped up and hugged one another.
The mayor continued speaking on the other end
of the line. Stephanie was so excited she could barely
listen to what he was saying.
“Cassie was so impressed that she’d love to meet
you,”the mayor said.“Here’s her address.”
Stephanie quickly wrote it down and thanked the
mayor before hanging up. Then she turned back to
her friends. “I can’t believe it!” she exclaimed, waving
Cassie’s address in the air.“She wants to meet us!”
Her friends all laughed and shouted.
57
Their entry had worked. They’d won!
Suddenly, Mia stopped. “Wait a minute,”she said.
“Cassie knows all of us entered together, right?”
Stephanie grew quiet. “I’m not sure,” she said.
“There was only room on the entry form to write
one name. But I put a little star next to my name and
wrote the rest of your names on the back.”
“Do you think Cassie saw the other names?”
Emma asked.
58
Andrea shrugged. “There’s only one way to find
out. Let’s go meet her!”
“I’m so nervous!” Olivia exclaimed, staring up at
the mansion in front of them.
Stephanie checked the address one more time.
“This is the place.”
The girls walked through the large front gate and
knocked on the heavy wooden door. It swung open
. . . and there was Cassie!
59
“Wow!”Stephanie exclaimed. “It’s really you!”
“You must be Stephanie,”Cassie said with a warm
smile. “Welcome.”
“Thanks,”Stephanie said, sounding almost as
confident as usual. “Um, and these are my friends
Olivia, Andrea, Emma, and Mia. We entered your
contest—all five of us—as a team.”
“Yeah,”Emma added.“We’re best friends.”
“Your contest rules said we were supposed to be
creative,”Mia said.
“And capture the heart of Heartlake City,”
Andrea added.
“Well, we’re the most creative when we work
together, and our friendship is what’s special to us
about Heartlake City,” Olivia finished. She held
her breath as Cassie looked them over, one by one.
Would she disqualify them?
After a long moment, Cassie laughed. “Of course
I know, and it’s wonderful!” she exclaimed. “I
love
seeing girls work together. Please come in!”
60
Soon the friends were seated with Cassie in a
comfortable room. “So, you really liked our
presentation?” Mia asked.
“Absolutely.”Cassie smiled.“Your teamwork is
exactly what I try to promote on my show. I can’t
wait to welcome all of you on
Girl Power
.”
“We can’t wait, either!” Andrea said. “I’m just
glad Olivia came up with the idea to work together.”
“Us, too!” the others cried.
Cassie chuckled. “See what I mean? There’s
nothing as special as friends.”
“You can say that again.”Olivia smiled.“ The best
friends ever.”
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