Team Play

  Read all the Saddle Club books!

  Horse Crazy

  Horse Shy

  Horse Sense

  Horse Power

  Trail Mates

  Dude Ranch

  Horse Play

  Horse Show

  Hoof Beat

  Riding Camp

  Horse Wise

  Rodeo Rider

  Starlight Christmas

  Sea Horse

  Team Play

  Horse Games

  Horsenapped

  Pack Trip

  Star Rider

  Snow Ride

  Racehorse

  Fox Hunt

  Horse Trouble

  Ghost Rider

  Copyright © 1991 by Bonnie Bryant Hiller

  Cover art copyright © 1991 by George Tsui.

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  “The Saddle Club” is a registered trademark of Bonnie Bryant Hiller.

  “USPC” and “Pony Club” are registered trademarks of the United States Pony Clubs, Inc., at The Kentucky Horse Park, 4071 Iron Works Pike, Lexington, KY 40511-8462.

  Visit us on the Web! randomhouse.com/kids

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  eISBN: 978-0-307-82496-7

  Originally published by Bantam Skylark in September 1991

  First Delacorte Ebook Edition 2012

  v3.1_r1

  TOO MANY JOBS!

  Stevie stared at the calendar in shock.

  “What’s the problem?” Carole asked.

  “The fourth weekend of the month,” Stevie said. “It’s less than three weeks away.”

  “Right, so—”

  “The end of the month is when the hospital festival takes place,” Lisa explained.

  “Oh, no,” Carole said.

  “And that’s not all,” Stevie said, getting her voice back. “It includes the day of the twenty-eighth.”

  “So what momentous event happens on the twenty-eighth?” Carole’s father asked.

  “Debates for president of the Middle School,” Stevie informed him.

  “My dear,” he said. “If you can handle all of these things at once, you don’t need to worry about becoming president of the Middle School. You’ll be qualified to be president of the United States!”

  “If,” Stevie said ominously.

  For Ginee Seo

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books in This Series

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  About the Author

  “IF YOU’RE GETTING some hay, can you bring me a flake?” Stevie Lake asked her best friend Carole Hanson. They were in the stalls at Pine Hollow Stables, where they rode horses and took lessons. Class was over and it was time to groom and feed their horses.

  “Oh, sure,” Carole said. “There’s a bale right here.” She leaned over, took a handful of hay, and gave it to Stevie.

  Stevie loosened the stalks of hay and put it into Topside’s manger. The horse tugged some strands out with his teeth, worked them into his mouth with his soft lips, and munched contentedly as Stevie continued the grooming. When his coat was shiny, she patted him admiringly. He lifted his head from his manger, glanced at her as if to give her a hurried thanks, and returned his attention to the food in front of him.

  Stevie smiled. Taking care of horses was almost as much fun as riding them.

  “Almost done?” Lisa Atwood asked. Stevie nodded. Lisa was Stevie’s other best friend. Along with Carole, the three of them had formed a group called The Saddle Club. It was a club with only two rules: All the members had to be horse crazy and they had to be willing to help one another. The first rule was easy. The second rule sometimes led to a lot of work, but as long as it had to do with friends and horses, the work usually seemed like fun.

  “Max said he wants to see the whole class in his office after all the chores are done,” Lisa told Stevie. “I’ll go see who needs help.”

  Stevie grinned. “Isn’t it funny how everything Max wants is always ‘after all the chores are done’?”

  Lisa laughed. Max was the owner of Pine Hollow and a firm believer in horse care as well as horse riding. All of his riders spent a lot of time caring for their horses. They knew that horse care was important, and having riders care for their horses kept costs down at the stables. There were a lot of kids whose parents couldn’t have afforded lessons if that meant also paying for extra Pine Hollow stable hands.

  “Well, I’m going to go help Anna,” Lisa said. “She rode Patch today and he got a lot of mud on him. She’s going to hose him down. I’m his shampoo girl. See you later.”

  “Okay. I’ll come help when I’m done,” Stevie said. She picked up a bucket and headed for the supply area where she could get some fresh wood chips for bedding. She filled her bucket and lugged it back to the stall, running through a mental checklist as she walked quickly along the aisle of the stable.

  Let’s see, she thought. Stow the tack, give him water, clean the stall, pick his hooves, curry his coat, brush it, brush his mane and tail—I have to do all that and then—

  “—Oooof!” Stevie exclaimed, tripping over something and landing flat on her stomach. The wood chips flew out of the bucket and scattered all over the floor.

  “Oh, good,” Veronica diAngelo’s sweet, insincere voice said. “The floor here needed some fresh chips. Thank you, Stevie.”

  Veronica was Pine Hollow’s spoiled little rich girl and The Saddle Club’s least favorite person. Unlike the other riders, she never did any work if she could help it.

  Stevie rose slowly, knowing nothing was damaged except her patience, never her strongest trait anyway. She looked to see what had tripped her. It was a pitchfork that Veronica had left on the floor. Pitchforks could be dangerous! Stevie glared at Veronica for her carelessness.

  “Too bad something got in your way,” Veronica said. “You know, the same sort of thing happened to me in class today, when somebody pulled their horse ahead of mine and made her shy.”

  Stevie recalled the incident. Veronica and her horse, Garnet, were in front of her and Topside. As usual, Veronica was having difficulty controlling Garnet. Since they were cantering in circles and there was clearly room to pass, Stevie had simply passed Veronica. But Topside had been pretty irritated with the situation, and in spite of Stevie’s genuine effort to control him, he’d cut right in front of Garnet, kicking dirt in the mare’s face. Not surprisingly, Garnet had shied. It had taken Veronica a few minutes to get her back under control. Stevie had felt a little bad about that. It was bad riding form. But if Veronica had controlled her horse properly in the first place, she never would have had the trouble.

  Stevie started to try to explain to Veronica, but there wasn’t much point in it. Veronica wasn’t the listening type. She wasn’t interested in anybody but herself.

  “Here’s your pitchfork,” Stevie said, finally rising to her feet. She handed it to Veronica.

  “Oh, I guess this is mine,” she said, pretending to look surprised. “I wondered what someone had done with it,” she added vaguely.

  That was when Stevie realized that Veronica had put it on the floor on purpose. The girl was unbelievably mean—or stupid—or
both.

  Stevie promised herself she’d get even, but not right then. Right then, she had a bucket to refill and a horse to care for.

  When she returned with a fresh bucket full of wood chips, she found Max standing by Garnet’s stable, talking to Veronica and a young girl whom she’d never seen before. Stevie ducked into Topside’s stall, spread the wood chips, and listened.

  “Veronica, this is Melanie,” Max said. “She’s going to be taking a lesson in about twenty minutes. I’d like you to show her around and help her saddle up one of the ponies for her first lesson. Let’s put her on Quarter, okay?”

  Veronica glared at Max. Everybody knew that one of the chores Max expected his riders to perform was to show new riders the ropes. Inside her stall, Stevie stifled a snort of disbelief. She’d love to see Veronica do anything, let alone teach a new rider!

  “And Veronica, when you’re done helping Melanie, you can come to the meeting in my office,” Max continued. “It’ll start in about fifteen minutes. Bring Melanie along, will you?”

  “Sure, Max,” Veronica said. As soon as he left, she turned her back on Melanie and began hugging Garnet.

  “That’s a really pretty horse,” Melanie said.

  “Of course she is,” Veronica responded. “She’s a purebred Arabian. She’s mine, you know.”

  “Your very own?” The awe was clear in the younger girl’s voice. “Do you take care of her all by yourself?” Melanie asked.

  “Yes,” Veronica replied. “And it’s a lot of work.”

  Stevie could hardly believe what she was hearing. Veronica’s idea of a lot of work was putting the pitchfork where somebody was going to trip on it!

  “How did you learn it all?” Melanie asked.

  Stevie wanted to hear the answer to that one, too, because as nearly as she could tell, Veronica hadn’t learned any of it yet!

  “Oh, you’ll see,” Veronica said.

  Melanie probably will, Stevie thought. She’ll see what a lazy, spoiled, good-for-nothing, bratty—

  “Oh, Re–ed!” Veronica called out sweetly. Red was Red O’Malley, Pine Hollow’s chief stable hand and occasional instructor. Veronica tended to view him as her personal groom.

  “Yes, Veronica,” he said, sighing as he spoke. He knew he was about to be given a job Veronica was supposed to do herself.

  “Would you please saddle up Quarter for this girl, uh, Melodie?”

  “Melanie,” Stevie called out over her stall, surprising Veronica. Veronica had apparently forgotten how close Topside’s stall was and that Stevie could overhear everything.

  “Whatever,” Veronica said airily, undisturbed by her own rudeness.

  Stevie stuck her head out of Topside’s stall and gestured to the little girl. “Come on, Melanie. I’ll introduce you to Quarter and show you how to tack him up.”

  “Thanks, Stevie,” Red said gratefully.

  Veronica said nothing.

  It only took Stevie a few minutes to put a saddle and bridle on Quarter. The look of delighted anticipation on Melanie’s face was worth every bit of the work.

  “Will I really be able to do that myself?” she asked.

  Stevie smiled as she nodded. Melanie reminded her of herself when she first began riding at about the same age. Everything had seemed so wonderfully mysterious. She thought Veronica was really missing something by not doing her own work and not helping others. As far as Veronica was concerned, though, it was clear that “work” was something you got somebody else to do.

  “Time for the meeting in Max’s office. Then you’ll be able to ride,” Stevie said. The two girls left Quarter’s stall, closed the door, latched it tightly, and headed for Max’s spacious office, where all the young riders were gathered.

  A puzzled look crossed Max’s face when he saw Stevie come in with Melanie. Veronica was already seated comfortably in the one soft chair in his office. Then Stevie saw him nod to himself and she knew that he realized exactly what had happened. No matter how many times Max asked Veronica to do something, she always seemed to find a way to get somebody else to do it.

  Stevie and Melanie sat on the floor next to Carole and Lisa, where they had saved a space for her. Carole glanced at Melanie and gave Stevie a questioning look. “Veronica,” Stevie whispered. It was all the explanation that was needed. Carole nodded and whispered to Lisa.

  Max cleared his throat. “This is just a quick announcement,” he began. “But I think it’s a rather exciting one. Pine Hollow has just become involved with an international exchange program, and as our first part of that program, we will be welcoming some guests here in three weeks. An Italian equestrian team will be staying with me for a few days. During that time, they will perform for all of our riders and will give instruction in certain techniques that they have been working on. I know we’ll enjoy having them here and I know we’ll learn a lot from them. I also know that you will all welcome them and give them help whenever needed. Let me say right now that this is not a small job. This team is going to need a lot of help during their stay.”

  Stevie looked over at Veronica. “And you know, for some of us, ‘help’ is our middle name,” she blurted out. There was silence for a few seconds. Then almost everybody began laughing. Everybody knew exactly who Stevie meant. Even Max seemed to be stifling a grin. Veronica just glared at Stevie.

  “What I really want to do today is to find a volunteer,” Max continued. “I need one person who will be able to spend time with these four boys.”

  Stevie could have sworn that Veronica sat up straighter when Max said the word “boys.”

  “My volunteer will show them around the stable, show them around the town and generally act as a host for them when they are not with me. Any volunteers?”

  Veronica’s hand shot up.

  Stevie’s heart sank. She could just imagine the kind of tour Veronica would give to four Italian boys and the kind of help they’d get. But Veronica was eager as could be, waving her hand in Max’s face.

  It was more than Stevie could take. “Oh Re–ed,” she mimicked. “Saddle up these boys’ horses, will you? After you’ve cleaned Garnet’s stall?”

  The laughter was louder this time.

  “So you’re volunteering, Stevie?” Max asked.

  “I am?”

  “That’s great. I know you’ll do a wonderful job. Thank you, Stevie,” Max said. “Okay, class as usual on Tuesday.”

  That was a dismissal.

  “Saddle Club meeting at TD’s in ten minutes,” Lisa said.

  “Five,” Carole said pointedly.

  “Let’s go,” Stevie agreed, patting her pocket to see if she had any money for a sundae. “Uh-oh, I’m out of money,” she complained.

  “And that’s not all you’re out of!” Carole said.

  Lisa put her arm across Stevie’s shoulder. “Yeah, pal. You’re out of your head, too.”

  “I didn’t volunteer!” Stevie protested. “Max roped me into it.”

  “That’s not what’s going to get you in the worst trouble,” Carole began, walking on Stevie’s other side. “Making fun of Veronica in front of practically the whole world can be a really bad mistake.”

  “Oh, who cares about spoiled brat Veronica diAngelo?” Stevie asked with disgust.

  Carole and Lisa looked at one another. Stevie had a lot to learn!

  THE THREE GIRLS walked together toward Willow Creek’s little shopping center, the home of their favorite hangout, Tastee Delight. It was an ice-cream shop better known to them as TD’s, and the site of a lot of their Saddle Club meetings. One of the advantages of having a club with almost no rules was that they could have meetings any place they wanted, whenever they wanted.

  Lisa found a booth in the back where at least one of them could watch the door in case Veronica arrived, seeking revenge.

  “Now, down to business,” Lisa began, taking the seat which faced the door.

  Just then a waitress approached the trio. “Oh, no. It’s you,” she said, looking at
Stevie. Stevie was famous for ordering ridiculous combinations of ice cream. Her friends suspected she did it so nobody would want tastes of her order.

  “Don’t worry,” Stevie assured the waitress. “I’m out of money. I’ll just have a glass of water.”

  The waitress sighed with relief.

  “Oh, I’ll pay for you,” Lisa said. “Have whatever you want.”

  “Really?” Stevie asked. Lisa nodded. “Okay, then, in honor of my new Italian connection, I’ll have some spumoni—”

  The waitress wrote that down and turned to Lisa. But Stevie wasn’t finished yet.

  “—with some pineapple topping,” Stevie continued. The woman wrote it down quickly. “And have you got some walnuts—you know, the syrupy ones?” The woman nodded weakly. “And coconut sprinkles. With a cherry, of course.”

  The woman dashed away.

  “Did you guys want something?” Stevie asked, pretending she had no idea about why the woman ran away.

  “She’ll bring us the usual normal sundaes,” Carole said. “At this table, those stand out, you know.”

  “Now, down to business,” Lisa said pointedly. “What made you get into a fight with Veronica?”

  “Everything always makes me get into a fight with Veronica,” Stevie said. “She’s the most awful girl I know. She thinks that just because she’s got pots of money, she should have everything else, too. But life isn’t like that and sometimes I just feel I have to point it out to her. Know what I mean?”

  “Well, sure,” Lisa said. “We all feel that way. The only difference is that we try not to act on those feelings. Do you have any idea how vindictive Veronica is?”

  “Vindictive?” Stevie echoed. She was a little irritated that Lisa used a word she didn’t know, but Lisa was a straight-A student and straight-A students sometimes did things like that.

  “Vindictive means she’s going to get revenge,” Carole explained. Carole shrugged at Stevie’s look of surprise. “Revenge is a big Marine Corps subject,” she explained, smiling wryly. Her father was a colonel in the Marine Corps and Carole had been raised on Marine bases around the country. Lisa and Stevie both smiled at the remark.