True Riders by Catherine Hapka Page A

party, okay, Foxy?” he said with a giggle.
    â€œI already told you, she’s not going to your friend’s party,” Brooke snapped, her heart still racing from the close call. “She’s going to a horse show with me.”
    â€œBut I told everyone she was coming!” Ethan protested. “Owen’s expecting her!”
    â€œAll right, that’s enough.” Brooke’s mother grabbed his hand. “I’ll deal with it, Brooke,” she said over her shoulder as she dragged the protesting twins toward the house.
    â€œWow, I wonder what got into Foxy just now,” Adam said when they were gone. “I’ve never seen her like that.”
    â€œI told you, the twins get her too revved up.” Brooke frowned at him. “She’s not used to that sort of thing.”
    He shrugged and grinned. “Well, at least Ethan got a real cowboy moment out of the deal,” he said. “Come on. Let’s get back to work.”

    After dinner the twins grabbed the TV remote, insisting on watching some dumb animated movie before bedtime. Not in the mood for family time, Brooke headed upstairs to check the Pony Post. There were a couple of new messages.
    [MADDIE] Went to the barn today after school. Aaah, it still feels so good not to have to worry about moving away! Cloudy and I had a great ride. What’d you guys do with yr ponies today?
    [HALEY] Wings gets Mondays off, remember? But I gave him a good grooming—he’s a total fuzzball! I’ll try to get pix soon. Hoping we can go out on our XC course tmw if the ground isn’t too hard.
    As usual Brooke loved hearing about what her friends were doing with their ponies. It all sounded so exciting! Thanks to her friends’ descriptions and photos, she could practically feel as if she was riding along with them sometimes—leaping over huge cross-country fences with Haley and Wings, ambling along beneath the Spanish moss in some New Orleans park with Nina and Breezy, or exploring the rolling hills of Northern California with Maddie and Cloudy.
    Did the others feel the same way about her posts? Brooke wasn’t sure. Somehow, riding around the local countryside on Foxy seemed kind of ordinary compared to what the others did. But maybe that was just because she was used to it.
    In any case, she couldn’t resist sharing, even if today’s news wasn’t all that great.
    [BROOKE] I rode Foxy again today, but the twins came along and interrupted just when she was doing super well. Grr! Anyway, I got back on after, but it wasn’t the same. She was all skittish and distracted, looking for monsters everywhere and not paying much attention to me at all. Double grrr! Adam coached me thru it and things got better after a while. We even jumped some higher stuff at the end, and that went pretty well. But it would be nice if I didn’t have to go back to square one every time my little sibs get on and freak her out, u know? Esp. with this show coming up so soon! Triple grrrrrrrrrr!
    She sat back after hitting send, already feeling better for having poured out her day to her friends.
    She was about to log off when a new message popped up right below hers.
    [NINA] B! Hey, you still on?
    Brooke smiled and pulled the laptop closer, typing fast.
    [BROOKE] Hi Nina! I’m still here.
    [NINA] Yay! Just read your post. Bummer about the twins, huh? But it sounds like you’re working thru all Foxy’s reactions & stuff.
    [BROOKE] I guess. Just wish I didn’t have to.
    [NINA] I hear u! But that’s ponies for u, right? U should have seen me one time when some jerk decided to beep his horn right when I was riding Breezy down the trail by the street! He jumped straight into the air and I was lucky to still be on him when he came down, LOL!
    [BROOKE] I can’t even imagine riding in the middle of the city like u do! I can barely manage out here in the boonies, lol.
    [NINA] Ha! I bet u would do just fine.