Charlie and Charm Read Free Page B

me off. “The problem is you.”
    I stood there feeling stunned as she marched into the office. Why doesn’t she understand? Can’t she see what Charm is really like?
    So that’s why I’ve been hiding round the back of the feed barn ever since, writing this and trying not to cry.
    I wish I could just go home.
    Oh no, Millie’s calling me. I suppose I’d better get back to the yard.

We’ve just finished on the yard - I’ve found a little space in the tack room to sit and write in here
    Oh dear! This afternoon didn’t go very well either. In fact, everything seems to be going more and more wrong for me!
    I was too embarrassed to look at Sally after what happened at lunchtime, and I was so annoyed with Charm for making me miss out on the cross country that I felt really tense and I couldn’t seem to control him at all.

    He wouldn’t go into canter, so I started see-sawing back and forth to try and make him. Sally called out, “You’re tensing up as you go into the corner and letting his nose poke out, Charlie. He’s not collected, he’s got no impulsion. Shorten up your reins, sit deep into your saddle, relaxyour arms and keep your leg on rather than kicking like that!” She said it in a fed-up way like it was the millionth time she’d told me. I did try, but it just didn’t work. I mean, I know how I should do it – it’s not my fault Charm ignores me!
    Mischief was playing up, too, but after a few times when he cut off the corner, Jemima got him into a lovely canter. I was so busy feeling cross about Charm’s behaviour that by the time I realized everyone was cheering for Jemima they’d stopped. Then Sally made it worse by saying, “Please don’t sulk, Charlie, you can do as well as that if you put your mind to it.” So then everyone thought I hadn’t cheered on purpose! They all looked at me and I got completely red and flustery.

    Then in the Pony Care lecture on feeding it was awful ’cos we had to get into pairs – Ricosha and Tameka went together, and Millieand Yasmin, and Ruby and Molly, and Skye and Jemima, and I was left with no one. Lydia said, “Charlie, just make a three, that’s fine,” but as I looked around no one smiled at me or invited me to join up with them. I went with Millie and Yasmin in the end, but I don’t think Yas exactly wanted me there.
    We had to make up feeds for horses who do different amounts of work, and Yas didn’t seem to have any ideas, even though Millie tried to help her think. Then Jody called Millie in to do her maths practice. Yas still wasn’t saying anything, and in the end we got so behind the others that I just had to fill in the whole sheet myself.
    I’d better go in now, before I get into trouble for not telling anyone where I am.

Still Tuesday
    It’s 11.34pm, but I’m still awake because I’ve been having a whispery chat with Millie. I was crying loads, so she came to sit on my bunk, and we ended up talking for ages. I’m so upset because, well, to explain it properly I’ll have to start from the beginning.

    This evening we all went outside to play games like limbo and stuck in the mud. It was really fun, but when Jemima and Tameka were picking teams for the volleyball I ended up being picked last and just standing there on my own. There were four on each team, and Jemima said, “It’s OK, you lot can have Charlie,” so I went on Tam’s team.
    I thought Jemima only said that to be nice to the other team. But then afterwards, when we were going inside, I went to put thecoloured bands back into the games room, and when I came out I saw Jemima and Skye huddled together in the passageway.

    Jemima whispered, “I so didn’t want Charlie in our team. She’s such a spoilt brat. I can’t believe she wouldn’t even lend me her curry comb, or say well done when I finally got Mischief round that corner. And Yas says she was too