Emma and the Cutting Horse Read Free Page A

to ride, but
Ditto seemed to know what she wanted before she did. His soft,
floating trot covered the ground, and soon they came to the trail
that led to Emma’s hideout, a place she had discovered years
earlier on one of her first solo rides. It wasn’t a secret, just a
grove of oak trees with a big rock to sit on in the middle of a
clearing in the oaks. Harley, her Sheltie, was buried next to the
rock. It was a quiet place to sit and think. Emma sometimes brought
her diary and wrote in it here, but today she was content to sit on
Ditto soaking up the silence. Tomorrow was Monday and there
wouldn’t be many more peaceful moments once she got back to
school.
    * * *
    Scanning the crowd of kids in the bleachers
for a glimpse of Hannah and Katie, Emma couldn’t wait to tell them
about the odd little mare her parents bought at the horse sale on
Saturday. Spotting Katie’s curly blonde ponytail near the top of
the 9th grade section, she climbed through the sea of students to
the empty space they had saved for her.
    “Was the horse sale as cool as you thought it
was going to be?” Hannah asked.
    “Better,” Emma said. “The people at the sale
dripped money. We stood out like a bunch of country singers at the
opera. You should have seen all those brand-new trucks and horse
trailers, and the horses were selling for a fortune.”
    “I guess your dad didn’t buy one, then,”
Katie observed.
    “Actually, he did, but not for a fortune. I
was so surprised I think my mouth hung open. He bought a plain
little mare with crooked knees. Well, they’re just a little bit
crooked. She sold really cheap right near the end of the sale even
though she has a fancy pedigree.”
    The bell rang to go to first period and Emma
stood up and swung her backpack to her shoulder. It bumped against
the knees of the girl sitting in the row behind her.
    “Oh, sorry,” Emma said.
    “Watch it, Cowgirl!” the girl snapped
angrily, brushing off her knee as if Emma’s backpack had soiled it.
She turned away from Emma and spoke loudly to the boy who sat
beside her on the bleachers.
    “She never talks about anything but horses.
What a hayseed.” Her voice dripped with disdain.
    A small shock wave twitched up Emma’s spine.
She stood with her backpack hanging from one shoulder as the girl
and her boyfriend got up and tramped noisily down the
bleachers.
    “Man...I just barely bumped her. It was an
accident,” Emma protested, staring after them.
    “I know,” Hannah said. “She must already have
a bee in her bonnet about something.”
    Emma walked down the hall to her locker and
then on to Algebra, her first class. A niggling little worry stayed
with her through most of the morning, eating away at her excitement
about the new horse. At lunch she got in the snack bar line with
Hannah and Katie, bought a burrito and some fruit punch, and tried
to stop thinking about the incident. Winding their way through the
tables toward the corner where they usually sat, Emma saw Katie
scanning the room in an effort to spot Joe, a boy whose charms had
recently captured her attention. Joe sat behind Katie in science,
and her grades plummeted when she decided she adored him. She told
Emma and Hannah that he had only spoken to her twice, but she
remembered every word of the two short conversations.
    “Uh, oh,” Katie said softly, nudging Emma
with her elbow. “Someone’s glaring at you. So are her friends at
the snobby table. She may be putting the word out that you attacked
her with your backpack this morning.”
    “That’s not fair,” Emma said, glancing in the
direction that Katie indicated. “I barely touched her. She can’t be
that desperate for someone to bad mouth.”
    “Hope you’re right,” Hannah said, “but I’ve
heard that most kids are careful not to cross her. Her name is
Candi Haynes, in case you’re interested.”
    Just then Joe came into the cafeteria, and
Emma’s possible problem took a backseat while Katie recounted every
word Joe