“Maybe I’ve been making this way more difficult than it needs to be,” she said wonderingly, stroking Prancer’s shoulder absently as the mare continued to graze. She took a deep breath and smiled as a wild, powerful impulse grabbed her. Why shouldn’t she do it? Why shouldn’t she go with her gut for a change? Something was telling her it was the right thing to do. “I’ll do it. I’ll mail in my response on Monday,” she told the mare briskly. “Then everything will be settled, and I can relax.”
That sounded like the best news she’d heard in months. Suddenly she was so excited about her decision that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to wait until Monday. Still clutching the acceptance letter in one hand, she tugged on Prancer’s lead, eager to get back to the stable. Carole would still be there, and Lisa was glad—she couldn’t wait to share her big news with someone.
Carole checked Samson’s water bucket and then gave the big black gelding a pat. “There you go, boy,” she said. “All settled in for the night. See you tomorrow.”
Samson snorted softly and nudged at her, almost as if he were pushing her toward the stall door. Carole laughed.
“Okay, okay,” she said. “I know you need your beauty sleep. I’m going.”
She was latching the stall door from the outside, her eyes still trained on Samson as he moved around his stall, when she heard someone calling her name. Turning, she saw Lisa hurrying toward her, her cheeks flushed and her eyes gleaming.
“Hi,” Carole greeted her, realizing she hadn’t seen her friend in days. “You look excited. Prancer didn’t decide to have her foals eight months early, did she?”
“Nope. But I do have something I’m dying to tell someone.”
Carole hoisted Samson’s saddle off the edge of the stall where she’d set it and slung his bridle over her shoulder. “Come on, then,” she said. “I’ve got some tack to clean, and that always goes faster when there’s someone there entertaining me while I work.”
Lisa nodded and fell into step beside Carole as they headed down the aisle. “Another thrilling Saturday night, huh?” she said cheerfully. “Forget parties and stuff—cleaning tack is what it’s all about.”
Carole smiled, though she wasn’t sure she quite understood why cleaning tack was any funnier just because it was Saturday. She knew that Lisa usually spent Saturday evening on a date with Alex or out with a larger group of friends. But Carole had never really seen what the big deal was about that one particular night. Horses still needed to be fed and exercised and groomed on Saturday, just like any other night of the week.
“So what’s your big announcement?” she asked as she and Lisa crossed the stable entryway and entered the narrow hall leading to the tack room.
“I’ve decided where I’m going to college next year.”
“Really?” Carole felt an all-too-familiar flash of startled confusion—the kind she always got when she had totally lost track of time. But then she frowned, realizing that this time she wasn’t really that far off schedule. “Wait a minute,” she protested. “It’s only October.”
“November,” Lisa corrected with a smile.
“Oops.” Carole smiled back. “I mean November.” They had reached the tack room, and she led the way inside and dumped her saddle on a handy saddle rack. “I thought you didn’t have to make your decision until, like, May or something like that.”
“That’s true,” Lisa said. “But the thing is, I already heard from one of the schools I applied NVU. They accepted me into their honors program and offered me a scholarship.” She shrugged. “So I’ve decided to go there.”
“NVU?” Carole said. “That’s great! You’ll be close enough to come home and visit Alex and Stevie and me a lot, and—oh!” she gasped, suddenly realizing another big advantage of Lisa’s decision. “You’ll be able to keep Prancer at Pine Hollow.”
Lisa smiled. “Right. That was one of the things that made me decide to go there. It will make things a whole lot easier if I don’t have to worry about her, you know?”
“Sure.” Carole was happy that Lisa would stay close the next year, but she couldn’t help feeling surprised as well—surprised and a touch uneasy. It wasn’t like Lisa to look for the easy answers, and she had been talking for almost a year now about how important it was to her to make a careful choice when it came to deciding where she would go to college. So wasn’t this decision a bit impulsive?
I don’t really know that it is, Carole reminded herself, hiding her perplexed expression from her friend by leaning over to fish a sponge out of a bucket near the door. Lisa and I haven’t spent that much time together lately. For all I know, she could have been mulling this over for the past month.
“I’m pretty psyched about it.” Lisa reached past Carole to grab a sponge and set to work on Samson’s saddle. It was an old habit, automatically helping each other whenever they saw the opportunity, but that didn’t stop Carole from shooting her friend a grateful smile as she tackled Samson’s bridle.
“I’m really happy for you,” Carole said sincerely. “That’s a big decision. It’s nice that you got it out of the way early.”
Still, it wasn’t what she would have expected from Lisa. An image of Ben telling her about his past flashed through her mind, and Carole realized that quite a few people hadn’t been acting like themselves these days. In fact, she was discovering more and more that people weren’t always as predictable as she used to think they were. Sometimes it was simply impossible to guess what was going on inside their heads.
But if that whole mess at the party last week taught me anything, she thought ruefully, it’s that sometimes being a good friend means just being supportive and keeping my mouth shut. Besides, I shouldn’t complain—this means Lisa won’t be going off to California or someplace next year. I’ll still get to see her all the time right here at Pine Hollow.
“Thanks,” Lisa said. “So what’s new with you?”
Carole hesitated, her mind jumping once again to Ben. This time she was thinking about the topic that had started their conversation. “Well, I’ve mostly just been getting ready for the Colesford show,” she said. “But I had kind of a weird chat with Ben yesterday.”
Lisa raised one eyebrow curiously. “Oh?”
“It was about Samson,” Carole said hastily, not wanting Lisa to jump to any wrong conclusions. She knew her friends got some crazy ideas in their heads sometimes about her friendship with Ben. “And—and Starlight.”
“What about them?” Lisa suddenly looked a lot less curious, turning her attention to a stubborn bit of dried mud on the saddle flap.
“I guess he’s been noticing how much time I’ve been spending with Samson lately,” Carole said slowly. “Um, he was worried about that.”
“Why?” Lisa glanced up again, her brow slightly furrowed. “I mean, Max asked you to ride Samson in the show, right? So naturally you’re going to spend a lot of time with him. Duh.”
Carole bit her lip. “I know,” she said. “But it’s not just getting ready for the show. Actually I—I think Ben might have noticed something that I wasn’t even noticing myself, not until he pointed it out.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think …” Carole paused and took a deep breath, not sure she was ready to say the words aloud. “I think I may already be more involved with Samson than I realized. And after talking with Ben, I’m starting to wonder if that’s fair to Starlight. I—I think I have to decide between them. Soon.”
Lisa gasped, dropping her sponge on the saddle and staring at Carole. “What?” she said. “I think I may be losing it. Because I would have sworn I just heard you say you’re considering giving up Starlight.”
“Not necessarily.” Carole gulped, feeling her stomach churn at the very idea of saying good-bye to her beloved horse. “I mean, well, maybe. I guess.”
Lisa didn’t speak for a moment. “Wow,” she said at last. “I always knew you were crazy about Samson, but, well …”
“He’s an amazing horse,” Carol
e said quietly. She had given up all pretense of cleaning her bridle and simply gazed at Lisa. “We could really learn a lot from each other. Of course, Starlight’s pretty great, too.”
Lisa’s eyes were sympathetic. “I won’t say I’m not surprised,” she said. “But I guess this is one of those times when you just have to trust what your heart is telling you.”
“But what if my heart’s telling me two things at the same time?” Carole asked plaintively. “What if it’s telling me I love Starlight and Samson, and it just won’t listen when my head tries to tell it I don’t have enough time to give them both the attention they deserve?”
“I don’t know.” Lisa looked thoughtful. “The only thing I can tell you is that sometimes you really have to pay attention before you can figure out the most honest thing that you feel. It’s like when my parents were getting divorced. Remember? I was totally miserable—totally hating life.”
Carole nodded. She remembered vividly how unhappy Lisa had been in those days. She had seemed almost like a different person—distracted, irritable, irresponsible, ready to burst into tears at the drop of a hat.
“Well,” Lisa went on, “the main thing that helped me get over that was falling in love with Alex. It was like a tiny, sane voice calling to me through the craziness. Once I started listening to it, it kept getting louder, and it kept getting easier for me to go back to being myself.”
“Um, okay,” Carole said uncertainly, not really sure how that applied to her own situation.
Lisa seemed to realize that she wasn’t being clear enough. “I know in my heart that Alex is the guy for me,” she explained. “It’s the truest thing I know. That’s why I could set aside the bad feelings after the divorce and move on, fall in love with him.” She shrugged. “It’s the same way I feel about Prancer, I guess. She’s the most wonderful, special horse I’ve ever known, and it’s not because she’s a Thoroughbred or because she’s so pretty or anything like that, things I used to think were important, but now I know better. It’s just because she’s her. It’s not a logical thing, but it’s still true. That’s one of the reasons I’m sure my decision about college is the right one.”
Carole nodded slowly, thinking about that. I guess a lot of decisions are harder and more complicated than they look to people from the outside, she thought. I would probably never be able to understand all the considerations Lisa took into account when she was trying to figure out what to do about college. Just like I could probably never really explain why it’s so important for me to figure out what to do about Samson and Starlight.
“You just have to look into your heart,” Lisa said quietly after a moment. “Sometimes that’s the only place you can find the truth.”
“Thanks,” Carole said. “I guess you’re right about that.”
She realized belatedly that Ben had been trying to tell her something like that the evening before. He’d been a lot less comfortable expressing it than Lisa was, but in his own way he’d pointed out that the logical choice wasn’t necessarily the right one. Because the logical choice would have been for him to live in Philadelphia with his aunt and uncle, Carole thought. But he followed his heart and his true calling instead, even though he knew his life might not be as easy or safe.
“I see what you mean,” she said. “Being logical or doing the easy thing can seem safer, but it can’t take the place of figuring out how you really feel.”
“Exactly.” Lisa smiled sympathetically. “So what’s your heart telling you to do?”
“I’m not sure.” Carole shook her head. Her thoughts were so jumbled that she was starting to wonder if she would ever be able to untangle them. “I need to think about it some more, I guess. Try to figure things out.”
Lisa nodded. “If you want to be alone, I could finish up here,” she offered.
“Really?” Carole shot her a grateful look. “Do you mean it?”
“Of course.” Lisa waved a hand at her. “What are friends for? Go on.”
Carole simply nodded her thanks, suddenly not trusting her voice. Without another word, she hurried out of the tack room and headed toward Samson’s stall.
NINE
Callie leaned over the row of sinks in the girls’ bathroom and peered into the mirror. She uncapped her tinted lip gloss and ran it over her lips, smacking them together and then grinning widely to make sure she hadn’t accidentally turned her teeth Spicy Plum. She hadn’t, and she blinked at her own reflection, wondering how much longer she could stay in the bathroom before George started to get suspicious.
She immediately felt guilty about the thought, but she couldn’t help it. George had been glued to her side ever since she’d finished her slow dance with Kenny Lamb half an hour earlier, and his attention was becoming almost painful. He seemed pathetically eager to prove to everyone—perhaps most of all to Callie—that they were on a special romantic date.
I only wish I could believe it, Callie thought, still gazing fixedly at herself in the mirror. I wish I could return his interest. But it’s just not happening for me. And I have to figure out what to do about it.
She jumped slightly as the bathroom door swung open, then quickly turned away from the mirror and recapped her lip gloss. Glancing at the door, she saw that Lorraine Olsen had entered. Lorraine rode occasionally at Pine Hollow, and she and Callie were in the same history class.
“Hi,” Callie said.
“Oh!” Lorraine smiled uncertainly. “Um, hey, Callie. How’s it going?”
“Okay.” Callie smiled at Lorraine, glad for any distraction from her endlessly circling thoughts about George—and any excuse to postpone going back to the dance, where he was waiting for her. “Are you having fun?”
“Sure.” Lorraine pulled a brush out of the small handbag she was carrying and set to work on her hair. “I never realized how many cute guys go to Willow Creek High.” She giggled and shot Callie a slightly nervous glance in the mirror. “Um, are you having fun?”
Callie wondered if her feelings about George were more transparent than she’d hoped. Had even a casual acquaintance like Lorraine noticed how miserable she was? “Of course,” she said cautiously. “Don’t I look like I’m having fun?”
“Sorry.” Lorraine smiled weakly. “Um, look Callie. I know we’re not that close or anything. But I feel like I should say something, especially if you don’t even know …” Her voice trailed off.
Callie turned to gaze at her, mystified. “What is it?” she demanded.
Lorraine lowered her brush and looked at Callie directly. “It’s none of my business.” She cleared her throat. “But I think you should know that a lot of people are talking about your family tonight. And most of what they’re saying isn’t very nice.”
“What?” Callie swallowed hard, recalling all the curious glances aimed at her, the whispers and stares. “What are they saying?”
Lorraine shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “Stuff about Scott, mostly. About how it wasn’t even his idea to get Fenton Hall invited to homecoming, but now he’s taking all the credit for it. And, um, about how he was drinking at that party last weekend. And, well, I think I heard someone talking about your parents, too.”
Callie gasped, wondering if her brother had any inkling about any of this. “What are they saying about my parents?”
“I don’t really know.” Lorraine seemed more uncomfortable than ever. As she spoke, she kept shooting little glances at the door. “Listen, I’d better get back to my date before he thinks I fell in.” She smiled apologetically at Callie. “Anyway, I just thought you should know.”
“I appreciate it,” Callie said, not bothering to try to stop Lorraine as she scurried out of the bathroom.
She turned to face the mirror again, but this time she hardly saw her own reflection. Why did this sort of thing have to happen to her family so often? It seemed that there were far too many people out there who couldn’t wait to chew over some juicy tidbit about the Foresters, whether or not it had any basis in truth. But wh
y now? Why tonight?
Obviously, this must have something to do with the election, Callie told herself. But who …?
Suddenly she gasped. She had begun her thought by considering Valerie Watkins and the other candidates running against Scott, but none of them seemed capable of a low trick like spreading rumors about their opposition. Then it occurred to her that there was another person with an ax to grind—a person who, according to all reports, was more than nasty enough to—
“Well, well,” Veronica diAngelo commented, pushing open the bathroom door and strolling inside. “Look who’s here. The great politician’s sister.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm as she gazed at Callie through narrowed eyes.
Callie gritted her teeth. The last thing she felt like doing was confronting Veronica about this, at least before she spoke to Scott. He mentioned that she was annoyed he wasn’t taking her to this dance, she thought. I suppose I should have guessed that was the understatement of the year.
“Hi, Veronica,” she said as mildly as she could. “If you’ll excuse me, I was just leaving.”
“Whatever.” Veronica stepped aside to let her pass, but she didn’t take her eyes off Callie’s face. “By the way, if you talk to your brother anytime soon, you might mention to him that the science club is always looking for new members. Because I suspect he may be looking around for a new extracurricular activity sometime around, oh, say, Tuesday.”
Callie didn’t bother to answer. She hurried past Veronica, her heart pounding. She had to find Scott and let him know what was happening right away. Maybe he could still talk to Veronica, appease her somehow before this went any further.
“There you are, Callie,” George said, eagerly stepping forward as she emerged from the bathroom. “I was hoping you’d come out before this song ended. It’s one of my—”
“Sorry, George,” Callie interrupted. She had almost forgotten about him, and at the moment she didn’t have the patience to coddle him very much. “I’ve got to find Scott right away. I’ll explain later, okay?”
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