Chapter One

Matt was standing in the tack room at Pine Hollow cleaning his Saddle. He had put in pretty much a full day there at the stables, He, Evie, and Risa and teamed up for the team show jumping event at the upcoming county tournament. As he polished his saddle, he was going over the order of the event and what he had practiced in his mind.

Suddenly, his concentration was broken by the sound of wild giggling outside in the hallway. Then he heard Vanessa DiAngelo's voice. She was talking to her two friends Valerie Thomas, Val for short and Kelly Jaye "K.J." Preston.

Ordinarily Matt wasn't one to eavesdrop on people, not even the DiAngelo brat but when caught the name Evie, his ears perked up.

"Evie would freak if she knew that I had this!" giggled Vanessa gleefully

"Vanessa, this is wrong, that's Evie's!" said Val

"Oh, stop being such a wet blanket." Retorted Vanessa rolling her eyes

"Yeah," said Kelly, "you're being Miss No-fun again."

Matt put down the rag he was using to polish his saddle. He decided to go see just what exactly the girls had that Evie would freak out about!"

As soon as he stepped out the door and caught sight of the three girls, he knew what was going on. The girls were gathered around Vanessa who was holding a Fuchsia-colored leather-bound book with a lock on it that Vanessa had somehow opened.

Matt scowled.

"Oh no," he thought, "I've warned Evie about going off and leaving her diary in her tack room cubby hole, especially with Vanessa and her friends running around."

Matt strolled toward Vanessa. She saw him coming and jammed the book behind her back. Matt wasn't fooled. He held out his hand.

"Vanessa, hand it over!"

"Hand what over?" Vanessa asked innocently

"Evie's diary, as if you didn't have it hidden behind your back," Snapped Matt, "You know you're not supposed have it anyway!"

"You can't tell me what to do?" snapped Vanessa defiantly

"Hand over the diary or I'm going to tell Maxine." growled Matt warningly

That did it, Vanessa handed over the diary without any further defiance, because, she knew that if the Regnerys found out what she was doing she'd get suspended again!

Matt took the diary back to the tack room and stuck it down in his backpack. he lifted his saddle back on to the rack and then headed out to find Evie.

When he got to the lounge, he found out from Max that Evie had gone home early.

After thanking Max for the info, he pulled out his cellphone and dialed Evie's number, but was surprised when it was Lisa who answered.

"Hi Mrs. Atwood," he said, "I was trying to get ahold of Evie."

"Hi Matt," replied Lisa, "Evie isn't here, she left about 20 minutes ago on her date, and apparently left her phone here."

At that moment, Matt heard Risa in the background.

"She was especially excited, Mom," said Risa. "Jason was taking her on a special romantic outing."

"Yeah," said Lisa with a sigh, "You're right, she was extra excited."

Then Lisa turned her attention back to Matt

"What did you need, Matt?" she asked

"I just called to tell Evie that she Left her diary in her cubby hole at Pine Hollow again, and that Vanessa got ahold of it and somehow picked the lock." Replied Matt

"Oh, that'll make her day!" groaned Risa

"I'm on speaker phone, aren't I?" said Matt

"Yeah," chuckled Lisa, "Sorry I should've told you."

"It's fine." Said Matt, "I'll bring Evie's diary over later, the camp is on my way home anyway."

"Thanks." Said Lisa, "We'll be expecting you."

A little while later, Matt arrived at the Atwood family trailer and knocked on the door. Lisa answered it.

"Come in, Matt," she smiled

Matt wiped his feet and stepped inside. Risa was sitting at the table in her and Evie's corner of trailer texting someone. Probably Brian, Matt guessed. Rafael smiled, shook hands with Matt, and greeted him warmly.

Matt put his backpack on the kitchen dinette and started to dig out the book when suddenly, the trailer door opened. It was Evie followed by an apologizing Jason and they were both soaking wet!

Everybody in the room looked bewildered at this turn of events.

"What happen to you two?!" asked Risa forgetting her phone for the moment.

"Ask him." said Evie shivering a little and going to the back room to change out of her wet clothes.

Everybody looked at Jason expectantly.

"We went out on the paddle boats down at the lake." Said Jason, "We were going to paddle out a short way, then watch the sunset."

"That sounds pretty romantic!" said Risa nodding

Evie's voice came from behind the door.

"It was until Jason tried to swat a fly with one of the emergency oars."

Matt face palmed.

"You used an oar as a flyswatter?!" he said looking at Jason.

"Yeah, he did." said Evie, as she emerged from behind the door in dry clothes but still drying her hair with a towel. "And in one swing, he missed the fly, but knocked one of the pontoons off the boat which promptly capsized the whole thing, and dumped us both in the drink."

"How stupid can you get?!" said Rafael glaring at Jason.

"Now you hold it right there." said Lisa, giving her husband a knowing look, before he could give Jason any kind of angry lecture, "Rafa, darling, are you forgetting 'the rowboat incident'?"
Rafael's eyes widened and he immediately blushed as red as his shirt.

"What exactly is 'the rowboat incident'?" asked Risa instantly curious

Lisa was starting to laugh at the recollection and Rafael was desperately trying to wave her off the subject.

Lisa was undeterred.

"When your father and I were dating, he took me out in a rowboat on that very lake," Lisa recounted, "right in the middle of the ride your father spotted a spider in the bottom of the boat, and you know that your father doesn't like spiders. Well, your father panicked and tried to kill the spider with the oar handle. Before I could stop him, he had knocked three holes in the bottom of the boat and sank us right in the middle of the lake!"

By now everyone was laughing.

"All of this means that one, it's a good thing I can swim and two, your father doesn't have any room to talk and he knows it!" grinned Lisa

"Now Jason," she continued, "You'd better get home and change before you drip on my floor anymore or catch cold."

"As warm is it is out there tonight, I doubt he'll get sick." Said Risa

After Jason left, Evie turned to Matt.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you, Matt, but what brings you out here?" she asked

"Oh, yeah!" said Matt, remembering his errand, he reached into his backpack and pulled out the diary. "This is why I stopped by."

Evie face palmed.

"Did I leave that at Pine Hollow again?!" she said

Matt nodded as he handed it to her.

"And you'd better change the lock on it too," he said

"Why?" asked Evie

"Because Vanessa and her friends got ahold of it and Vanessa somehow managed to pick the lock!" Replied Matt

"She what?!" snapped Evie

"Yeah," said Matt, "She had it open when I caught her with it, and I don't know how much she managed to read before I got it away from her."

Evie rubbed her face with her free hand.

"That girl." She grumbled

Lisa shivered a little as this reminded her of her own similar run in with Vanessa's cousin Veronica when she was a kid.

"Thanks Matt." Evie was saying, "I'll deal with Vanessa, later."

TO BE CONTINUED…PLEASE REVIEW