Foxy: Rivalry at Summer Camp (2 page)

“Rosie, mind the—”

The next second Rosie went flying and landed in a heap on the grass, her bag tumbling beside her.

“…bucket!” Charlie giggled, as she and Alice hauled their friend upright again.

Rosie glared at the off ending bucket.

“Oh, sorry, that’s mine,” Watty said, approaching from behind them. “I wondered where I’d left it…”

“Er, if you want to look super professional,” Mia advised Rosie, “I think it might be better if you wait until we get to the tent to read your mag. Otherwise you’ll be injured before you’ve even had a chance to put Lily’s advice into practise!”

R
OSIE
charged over to their tent first, quickly unzipping the door and whipping back the flap. Inside there was one big space, with six camp beds lined up on the green groundsheet. A rucksack, with lots of badges from different countries stitched onto it, was laid on the camp bed in the far corner. But there was no sign of its owner. The other beds were empty and Rosie quickly flumped onto the nearest one. Alice put Holly’s bag on the bed next to hers as Mia clicked open her pink suitcase and began to unpack her selection of purple jods and T-shirts but the others just dumped their bags.

“Come on, Mia,” Charlie said impatiently. “I want to get back to the stables!”

“But my clothes will get seriously creased if I leave them all squashed on top of each other!” Mia tried to explain.

Rosie raised one eyebrow, questioningly.

“Okay then, I guess it can wait.” Mia grinned, abandoned her unpacking, and followed the others back out into the sunshine.

They raced across the paddock, leaping into the shade of the covered stables to check how their ponies were. Phantom had retreated to the back corner of his stable, with Hettie by his front hooves. His head was high, the whites of his eyes showing slightly. Charlie smiled as she drew back the bolt and let herself in. When she first took Phantom on, she’d been scared of him and wary of his flashing teeth and stomping back hooves. Now she trusted her horse and her horse trusted her, and to Charlie, it was the best feeling in the world. She stepped quietly over to Phantom’s head, and he lowered his muzzle, breathing warmly over her face. She breathed
back into his nostrils and he flared them, taking in her scent, and then relaxed.

She found a treat in her pocket and waited while Phantom softly picked it from her hand. As he crunched it, she let herself out of the stable.

Rosie was trying to get Dancer’s attention, but her mare was focused on one thing – guzzling her haynet. Alice went in to get a hug from Scout. She was still feeling a tiny bit nervous. Normally her reliable pony filled her with confidence, but this time Scout nudged Alice hard with his muzzle when she stroked him, as if he was a bit uncertain of his new surroundings too.

In the stable next to Mia’s part-bred Arab, Wish, stood Holly’s loan pony, Skylark. His large head was leaning over the stable door, nosily interested in everything and everyone who walked past. He gave a soft whicker as the girls gathered to say hello. Holly was in his stable, already grooming him.

“Is this your first camp?” Alice asked.

Holly nodded.

“Ours too.”

Holly glanced down the stables. “I… I think everyone else has brought their own pony,” she said, going pink again as she looked nervously at Alice. “Watty was sure I’d be the only rider here without my own.”

“Well, Skylark’s pretty much yours for the week, isn’t he?” Rosie pointed out, thinking that Watty hadn’t done much to make Holly feel better about the situation. “So that makes you exactly the same as the rest of us in my book.”

“I guess so,” Holly said, breaking into a smile. “I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

“And I don’t actually own Scout,” Alice said, as Holly leaned over the stable door. “He’s on loan from the RSPCA.”

“And I loan my horse, Phantom, too,” Charlie added.

Holly’s shoulders began to relax. “Thanks,”
she said, turning to hug the white pony who was nudging her with his strong muzzle, his large ears pricked. Skylark gave an almost silent whicker, looking hopeful, his nostrils fluttering.

“Have you ridden him before?” Alice asked, thinking of what Watty had said by the arch.

“No, never,” Holly admitted. “I normally ride a pony called Jester on my weekly lesson at Hilltop. Freddie – the one who led Skylark here – his parents run Hilltop. He’s just started teaching there, too. He watched my lesson last week so he could see which pony would be best for me to bring to camp. He thought I’d get along with Skylark.”

Watty, who was eavesdropping as she walked past with a bucket of water for her pony, Ace, stopped for a second.

“Do you know why Freddie started teaching at Hilltop?” she asked, looking like she was bursting with gossip that she just had to share.

“Er, no…” Holly frowned.

Watty put down her bucket, looking at the four friends and Holly with an excited face. “He
used
to be in the British Junior Eventing team – he was awesomely talented, just like
Lily Simpson
!”

The girls gasped.

“So, he was tipped for the top and he’d just got his first proper horse who he was going to take to Burghley this year, where he’d have competed against Lily. But then he had a nasty fall over a fence and cracked some vertebrae in his spine! He was told if he fell off again he could be paralysed. He hasn’t got on a horse since. His dreams of making it to the top were
shattered
.”

“That’s terrible!” Charlie grimaced.

Watty nodded. “His mum made him start teaching now that he can’t compete any more. This is his first ever camp as an instructor. His mum knows Melissa, who’s running the camp, really well. But I don’t want Freddie as
my team’s instructor – I reckon he’ll be super moody about being stuck here this week. And not just because of his accident.”

“Why’s that?” Mia asked.

“Because his girlfriend only happens to be Georgie Belle, Lily Simpson’s biggest rival!” Watty revealed with a flourish. “Freddie’s desperate for Georgie to do well at Burghley – she was being hailed as The Next Big Thing until Lily appeared on the scene and stole her thunder. But instead of going to support Georgie, Freddie has stay behind to teach us lot at camp!”

“How come you know so much about it?” Charlie asked.

“Because my sister’s a weekend helper at Hilltop, that’s how,” Watty said smugly. “I get
all
the gossip!”

At the far end of the stables, a pony squealed indignantly as a bay cob was led past his door.

“I bet that’s Ace being grumpy,” Watty giggled. “I’d better go and check on him.”

The stables grew steadily noisier as other ponies arrived and riders rushed back and forth between them and the tents. Alice smiled at a few other campers, who grinned back, saying “Hi”.

A girl who introduced herself as Destiny wandered through the stables, checking everyone’s badges. “Is anyone here in the red team?” she asked. “I can only find four of us – there should be two more!”

A couple of riders bobbed out from the middle stables and called over to Destiny. Then an eye-catching chestnut pony appeared at the far end of the walkway and grabbed everyone’s attention, especially Skylark, who raised his head and whickered loudly, his big eyes bright and alert as he looked down to the end of the stables. The rider on top was as smart as her pony, dressed in a lime green T-shirt and beige jods. She had a heart-shaped, freckled face, pale green eyes and long auburn hair. She slid out
of the expensive-looking saddle and gave her pony a pat.

Melissa, who was still busy meeting and greeting new campers, walked over to the girl. “Ah, our last-minute booking.” She smiled. “You must be Amber. Amber Simpson? And I think your mum said over the phone that your pony’s called Copper, is that right?”

As everyone – even the boys – began to nudge each other and a murmur rose in the stables, Amber nodded.

“Have you got your form? Your aunt said earlier when she dropped your stuff off that you’d be bringing it.”

“Oh, yes, I’ve got it here,” Amber said, in a strong New Zealand accent. She pulled out the Pony Camp form from her jodhpur pocket and handed it over to Melissa.

Charlie nudged her three friends. “Do you think that’s Lily Simpson’s sister?” she whispered. Rosie’s eyes widened.

“You’re in the purple team,” Melissa said to Amber, and handed her a sticky label to put on her T-shirt. Rosie’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.

Alice and Mia only just managed to not squeal out loud. Holly was still in with Skylark, but Alice knew she would be jumping up and down in excitement, as one of Lily Simpson’s biggest fans. So, Alice got a big surprise when she saw Holly peek across at Amber, then quickly duck back inside Skylark’s stable.

“Charlie and Rosie, could you show Amber where her stable is, and where your team’s tent is? Thanks. Now, quiet everyone.” Melissa tried to get everyone’s attention amidst the excited whispering. “We’ve got an introductory talk in the dining hall this afternoon at one o’clock, where you’ll get to meet the other instructors and find out more about the week ahead. Then there’ll be lunch, followed by our welcome hack. Make sure you’re ready in good time, please!”

As Melissa walked away into the sunshine, everyone suddenly broke into wild chatter and crowded round Amber, firing loads of questions at her.

“We were just talking about Lily earlier!” Emily, from the blue team, said. “We’re all huge fans – and she’s your sister! That’s crazy! I’m so jealous!”

“Is she coming here this week?” Watty piped up. “Please say she is!”

Amber shook her head. “She left with Firestorm last night,” she explained. “She headed to Burghley early to do some television stuff with Georgie Belle.”

“That’s Freddie’s girlfriend,” Watty butted in.

“Oh, right.” Amber half smiled. “Well, the TV crew are doing a piece about their rivalry leading up to the big event.”

“How come you haven’t gone with Lily?” Watty demanded. “I’d have stowed away in the horsebox!”

“I guess Mum didn’t want any distractions for Lily.” Amber replied, and Alice noticed a slight edge to her voice. “My aunt’s
animal-sitting
for us – Lily’s been busy building her string of horses since we got over here, so we’ve got a bunch of youngsters, and a couple of our old favourites that we brought with us from New Zealand, as well as the dogs. Aunt Becca’s lovely and everything, but she’s a bit dippy, so Mum decided last-minute that it’d be better to pack me off here.”

Everyone bunched up to watch her lead her pony into his stable. Copper’s coat gleamed as it moved over his muscles, even in the shade. He arched his neck and his perfect mane hung neatly and evenly. He looked every inch a top competition pony. Scout leaned forward, reaching his nose round to sniff the new arrival, wondering what the fuss was about. Alice moved over to him and stroked his whiskery muzzle in case he was getting jealous. He lifted
his nose and she kissed the end of it.

“I bet you’re the most amazing rider,” Watty gushed. “The rest of us might as well give up now. You’ll ace the competition this week!”

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” Amber said breezily as she slid the saddle off , revealing a security identification freeze mark on Copper’s back. A combination of letters and numbers stood out in white hairs from his bright chestnut coat.

“Let me take that saddle for you,” Emily offered, rushing forward. She carried it carefully out to the tack room, like it was made of gold, then rushed back to get the bridle. Another girl from the blue team, whose label showed her name was Cat, grabbed the upturned green water bucket from the corner of the stable. She quickly filled it from the tap just outside the feed room. She walked as fast as she could back into the stable, like she didn’t want to miss a second.

“He’s a bit like a small Firestorm, isn’t he?”
Watty asked, swinging on the open door. “They’re the same colour chestnut.”

“Chestnuts are all we have on the yard,” Amber explained with a smile. “Lily’s retired pony, Foxy, is chestnut and he took her to the top in Junior eventing. After that she said we should always stick to that colour for luck. It’s kind of become our trademark now.”

“Is that why you moved to Chestnut Grove?” Rosie asked.

Amber nodded. “Yup – how crazy’s that?”

“Ooh, can I have your autograph?” one of the blue team girls asked, suddenly rummaging around in her pocket to find a piece of paper.

“Me?” Amber asked with a frown as she came out of Copper’s stable and slid the bolt across.

“Well, you are kind of famous,” Emily said. “Your sister’s on the cover of this month’s
Pony Mad
. Rosie’s got a copy – I so wish I had one too!”

“Is that out already?” Amber asked, looking surprised.

Rosie nodded. “I haven’t had a chance to read it yet though. It’s stashed away in my tent, ready for bedtime!”

“Ooh, if I get a copy from the village, will you sign it?” Watty pleaded.

Suddenly there was a chorus of riders who wanted to rush out and buy
Pony Mad
to get them signed.

“Well, I’m not sure,” Amber said, looking slightly awkward as she began to make her way with the crowd of campers towards Dovecote Hall.

Rosie looked behind just as they were leaving, and noticed that Holly was still in Skylark’s stable. “Are you coming?” Rosie asked brightly. “It’s almost time to meet in the dining hall.”

“Um, I’ll just finish this,” Holly said, polishing Skylark’s white coat with a stable
rubber. “I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”

“Okay, see you in a bit,” Rosie replied, with a smile. She jogged to catch up with her friends.

“I thought Holly was a huge Lily Simpson fan,” Alice frowned. “But it’s like she’s barely noticed Amber’s here.”