1.
Matthias "Matt" Ellison was walking down the hallway in Willow Creek High School. He was on his way to the meeting of the Archery club. He had just come outside and was walking toward the field behind the gym, his bow case in hand, when he heard someone familiar calling his name.
Turning he saw his friend Evie Atwood, daughter of original Saddle Club member Lisa Atwood coming toward him. With her was a very pretty blonde girl their own age. She had grey eyes and a button nose.
"Matt," said Evie, when she reached where he had stopped to wait for them, "I wanted to ask you kind of a big favor."
"Name it." replied Matt
Evie turned and motion toward the girl with her.
"This is Bridget O'Madden," she said, "Back before I found out about my birth family and was still living in over in Bridgetown, I had two best friends, Jenny Taylor you know about, Bridget was the other one."
Matt smiled and shook hands with the girl.
"A pleasure to meet you miss O'Madden." He said with a slight nod of his head, "I'm Matthias Ellison but everyone just calls me Matt."
The girl smiled back blushing a little.
"Nice to meet you, too, Matt." She said in a sweet voice that had a soft Irish accent in it.
"Matt, Bridget has just moved here to Willow Creek, and she'll be going to school here. The favor I wanted to ask of you is to just simply be around for her if necessary." Said Evie, "Like my sister I'm homeschooled because I travel with the clan. Eventually the clan circus will move on to the next stop on our circuit."
"Sure thing," said Matt, "If Bridget needs anything she can come to me."
"Thanks Matt," said Evie giving him a hug, "I wanted to do right by my friend, and I knew I could count on you."
"No problem." smiled Matt
Evie smiled again and turned to Bridget.
"Matt here is a great guy, and one of my best friends," she said, "so like he said, when I'm not here you can go to him if you need anything. Now come on, let's get you registered."
"Thanks, Matt," said Bridget waving shyly before she and Evie headed toward the front steps of the building.
Sometime Later, Matt was out at Pine Hollow. He and his horse Wisteria were practicing jumps.
He and Wisteria had just cleared a gate when Wisteria suddenly sensed something. Matt turned and looked in the direction she was looking and saw Evie and Bridget emerging from the trees. Evie was riding Gustdance and Bridget was riding a beautiful silver white horse with a jet black mane and tail.
Matt met them at the fence.
"Hey Matt," said Evie
"Hey Evie," said Matt, "You didn't tell me your friend rode."
"That's because I didn't know it myself until I told her I was going for a ride on Gustdance." Chuckled Evie
Bridget chuckled herself.
"I didn't know that you rode, either for that matter." She said, she motioned to her horse, "This is Shimmer."
Matt introduced himself to Shimmer and so did Wisteria, who seemed to have knack for getting along with anyone.
Just then, Vanessa DiAngelo came riding up on her pony Adagio. She was flanked by her pals Molly Parkington and Cassandra Moon.
"Hurry up," said Molly, "It's our turn to use the ring!"
"Yeah," said Cassandra
"Alright, Alright," said Matt, "Keep your shirts on I'm done." He dismounted and led Wisteria out of the ring. Snooty Vanessa and her friends rode their ponies into the ring and lined up.
"Hey," said Cassandra, "Looking around where's Max, she's supposed to be here to give us our lesson!"
"Great," snorted Vanessa, arrogantly, "the instructor's late, what kind of stables is this?"
"Uh Vanessa," said Evie rolling her eyes, "Maxine's not late, you are."
"What are you talking about," snapped Vanessa indignant, "A DiAngelo is never late!"
"Vanessa, this is the jumping ring," said Evie, "Today is your dressage lesson!" Evie pointed toward the dressage ring a few yards away. When the girls looked, they saw Maxine standing there with her arms folded across her chest. She was looking at them and shaking her head.
Vanessa blanched, then her face turned red at the realization of her mistake. Matt was rubbing Wisteria's muzzle and trying not to laugh.
"Oh, you think you're so smart!" she snorted trying to save her dignity. Then her eyes widened, and she turned even redder when Bridget, who had been sitting in the saddle with her head slightly bowed to hide her struggle not to laugh, looked up."
"Bridget O'Madden the International Junior Champion!?"
To Be Continued…Please Review