Chasing Gold by Catherine Hapka Page B

leaned closer. “I can’t hear you!”
    â€œI said, where’s Tracey?” Haley shouted into her ear.
    Emma shrugged and glanced around. “I don’t know—wait, there she is!”
    Now Haley saw her too. Tracey was winding her way through the crowd, pulling Owen along by one wrist.
    â€œThere you are!” Tracey exclaimed when she reached Haley and Emma. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Hales!”
    Haley doubted that. For one thing, she’d seen Tracey giggling and leaning against Nick Jankowski just a short while earlier. For another, Haley herself had been standing right there in the arched doorway leading to the kitchen hallway for at least the past fifteen minutes.
    But she just smiled weakly. “Here I am.”
    Tracey dragged Owen forward. “So I was just telling Owen about your clinic thingy,” she said. “Ooh! I love this song!”
    The music had just changed to an up-tempo number with a pounding beat, though Haley noticed that Ashleyand Phil were still swaying to their own tune. Tracey started dancing in place as she poked Owen on the arm.
    â€œSo anyway,” she said loudly, “I figured he’d be totally impressed, since you guys both spend all your time riding horses and stuff.”
    â€œWell, sort of.” Owen smirked. “ I ride horses. Haley prances around on a runt of a pony.”
    Haley rolled her eyes. “My runt of a pony could outrun and outjump your lazy horse any day of the week,” she said.
    It was a familiar exchange. But tonight, Haley’s heart wasn’t really in it. Why was she here? She had too much on her plate right now to spend hours standing around doing nothing.
    â€œYo, Vance!” Owen whistled as one of his friends wandered past. “Get over here. Did you hear Haley’s doing a clinic with some fancy member of the tight pants club?”
    â€œHuh?” Vance was a large, slow-moving boy who always looked sleepy. Despite that, he was one of the best under-fourteen ropers in the county. “What’re you talking about?”
    â€œHaley’s taking a lesson with an Olympic rider next week!” Tracey told him, still swaying to the music.
    â€œShe hasn’t been to the Olympics yet,” Haley corrected. “Probably someday, though.”
    Vance blinked. “The Olympics? So you’re doing reining now?”
    â€œReining? No way.” Owen grinned. “That’d be way too cool for Haley. She’s into the goofy English stuff, remember?”
    â€œOh, right.” A slow grin spread across Vance’s face. “Jumping over flowers and stuff, right?”
    Tracey giggled. “Oh, you guys!” she exclaimed, giving Vance a playful shove.
    Haley stared at her. Where had this weird, giggly, boy-crazy girl come from? And what had she done with her best friend?
    â€œActually, that reminds me,” Haley said loudly. “I have to get up early to get a ride in before church. So I should probably go.”
    â€œWhat? No!” Tracey’s eyes widened in alarm. “You can’t go now—the party’s barely getting started!”
    â€œYeah,” Emma put in. “We haven’t even had a chance to tell you about the dance yet either! Besides, you can’t leave—you rode here with me, remember? And Mom’s not coming to pick us up until ten.”
    Haley was already reaching for her cell phone. “I’m sure Uncle Mike will come get me.”
    Tracey frowned. “Whatever.”
    â€œYeah, whatever,” Owen put in with a smirk. “Hope I didn’t scare you off. If you were a real Western rider, you could take a little joke.”
    â€œIf you were any kind of real rider at all, you wouldn’t care what kind of saddle I rode in,” Haley shot back. “But that’s not why I’m leaving, so don’t flatter yourself.”
    Vance chuckled and punched Haley on the arm.