The Painted Horse by Bonnie Bryant Page B

her. “I’m so glad to be back. I’ve got a million things to tell you.”
    “That’s good,” said Carole in a flat voice.
    “Tell me everything you’ve been doing,” Stevie said. “Don’t leave out a single thing.”
    “Er,” said Carole.
    Lisa was right behind Carole. Stevie threw her arms around her and said, “It’s been a million years.” She stood back. “I want to hear it all.”
    Lisa and Carole exchanged looks. The looks meant something, but Stevie couldn’t tell what.
    “We’d better do this in private,” Carole said.
    “Right,” said Lisa.
    “Let’s find an empty stall,” Carole said. “We can talk in there.”
    Carole and Lisa sounded so gloomy that Stevie was worried. “Did the sky fall in?” she asked when they’d found a stall.
    “If only the sky
had
fallen in,” Carole said. She flopped down onto the clean straw and looked at Lisa. “I guess I’d better tell her.”
    “I’ll tell her,” Lisa said.
    Stevie could tell that each of them was trying to save the other one from breaking some horrible news. She put her hand on her stomach. “I’m getting nervous.”
    Lisa opened her mouth, put her head back, took a deep breath, and said, “It’s like this.” Then she stopped.
    “It can’t be that bad,” said Stevie, trying to make a joke out of it.
    Lisa and Carole didn’t even smile.
    “WCTV is running a special feature called ‘Genius Kids,’ ” said Lisa. “And they’ve been shooting here.”
    “This is a problem?” said Stevie. “So they picked Carole and she’s going to be famous.”
    “Not exactly,” said Lisa. “They picked Veronica.”
    Stevie gasped. “Why?”
    “Her father knows the man who owns the station,” Lisa explained.
    “Figures,” Stevie said. “The rat. But what can you do?Those things happen.” She grinned. “I bet she made a total fool of herself.”
    “Not exactly,” said Lisa.
    “But she always does,” Stevie said.
    “Not this time,” Carole said. “Lisa and I covered for her and made her look good.”
    “You made
Veronica
look good?” Stevie said.
    “We had to for Pine Hollow,” Lisa explained. “We didn’t want Max to look bad.”
    Stevie thought about it. “That makes sense. It must have been tough. But I bet Max was proud of you. I’m proud of you, too.”
    “That’s not what’s bothering us,” said Carole.
    “We made Veronica look so good that someone sent a tape of ‘Genius Kids’ to a fancy Hollywood talent agency,” Lisa said. “Take a deep breath.”
    Stevie took a deep breath.
    “Skye Ransom is going to make another horse movie,” Carole said.
    “I know that,” Stevie said. “I heard it in New York.”
    “And Veronica may be in it,” said Lisa.
    “No way,” Stevie said.
    “There’s going to be a talent scout at the Spring Tune-Up,” Lisa said.
    Stevie got a devilish look. “So then we make Veronica look like an idiot. That shouldn’t be hard.” But thenshe thought of Ms. Dodge and all the things she’d learned on the trip. “No,” she said. “We’re going to help Veronica do her best.”
    “What?” said Lisa. “Is this Stevie Lake I’m talking to?”
    “I learned a lot on my trip to New York. I realized that I need to be more generous,” Stevie said.
    Lisa and Carole exchanged worried looks. This wasn’t the Stevie they knew and loved.
    “Are you sure you’re okay?” Lisa said.
    “I’m the best I’ve ever been in my life,” Stevie said.
    Carole thought about it for a minute and then sighed. “You’re right. If we make Veronica look bad, then Pine Hollow will look bad.”
    “Absolutely,” Stevie said. “And if the talent scout thinks Veronica should be in Skye’s movie, then she should be in Skye’s movie.”
    Lisa and Carole exchanged amazed looks. These were admirable sentiments, but they didn’t sound much like Stevie.
    “Let’s go help Red rake the ring,” Stevie said. She jumped up and headed outside.
    Lisa and Carole followed. “That must have