Chapter Seven: Getting Better
Stevie awoke a few minutes later to Carole and Lisa's worried faces.
"Stevie! Are you alright?" Lisa asked, concerned.
Stevie groaned and tried to sit up. She immediately felt a wave of dizziness overcome her and she laid back down again.
"Stevie?" Lisa repeated.
"What? Yeah, I'm fine." Stevie replied.
Carole looked at her funny. "Are you sure?"
Stevie closed her eyes for a second before answering. "No."
Lisa leaned forward and helped Stevie sit up. She winced at the pain in her neck.
"Thanks Lisa, I don't know what I'd do without you guys." Stevie said. Tears welled in her eyes; from the pain, exhaustion, or the emotions, she didn't know. Probably all three.
"Oh, don't worry. It's okay." Lisa soothed, patting Stevie's leg.
"I know, but seriously. What would I have done if you hadn't been spying on me? Yes, I know that's what you were doing." Stevie smirked.
Lisa and Carole exchanged guilty looks.
"I'm so glad to have you guys as my friends!" Stevie leaned forward and hugged Lisa. Carole sat, watching awkwardly.
Stevie glanced at her. "You too Carole! You're my friend too!" Stevie laughed.
"Really? You'll forgive me?" Carole asked.
"Of course! I forgave you when you came to my aid earlier. I couldn't have a better group of friends!" Stevie said gratefully.
Carole gave a sigh of relief and she joined in the hug, accidentally putting her arm around Stevie's neck.
"Ow!" Stevie pulled back immediately, rubbing her neck.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" Carole cried.
"It's fine, just a little sore." Stevie pulled her hand away and started to wipe it on her pants, but Lisa grabbed it first.
"Stevie! You are not fine!" She yelped.
Stevie's hand was red. Lisa crawled over and sat behind Stevie, pulling her hair away. She gasped as the back of her neck was revealed. It was covered in scrapes and cuts, most of them decently deep. The skin was torn, and blood oozed from every cut. It dripped down her back and onto her shirt.
"Carole, come here!" Lisa motioned to Carole. Carole put a hand over her mouth when she saw.
"Stevie, we need to get you back to Pine Hollow before this gets infected." She had also noticed a few scrapes on Stevie's arms, but they weren't that bad.
Stevie sighed. "Okay. Here, let me get up." Stevie groaned as she heaved herself to her feet. Careful of her right foot, the one that had gotten caught, she stood.
"Come on, let's go." Carole started to walk towards the horses who had crowded together and were munching on the grass.
Stevie took a step forward and her ankle gave way. She collapsed onto the ground. She closed her eyes and winced at the pain that jolted through her leg. Stevie bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain.
"Stevie!" Lisa rushed over. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, fine." Stevie said as she brushed herself off. "Just tripped." She got back up shakily. Lisa was right behind her. She stood there, unsure of what to do.
"Go ahead Stevie, we need to get back." Lisa gave Stevie a gentle nudge.
Stevie gulped nervously, she didn't want anything to be wrong with her ankle. She took another step forward, and fell again. This time though, she couldn't help but cry out as her foot his the ground.
Lisa went to her knew next to Stevie. "Tripped?" She smirked.
Stevie stuck her tongue out at her. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I was just a bit worried." Stevie sat up, cringing at the harsh pain.
By now, Carole had come back over. "What's wrong?" She asked.
"Oh, nothing, it's fine." Stevie replied, much to Lisa's dismay.
"No! It's not fine!" Lisa cried. "Stevie's busted her ankle! She can't walk!"
Carole turned to Stevie. "Is this true?" Stevie nodded sheepishly. Carole sighed. "It's okay, don't be embarrassed. It wasn't your fault! Come here!" Carole grabbed Stevie's hand and helped her up. She stood, leaning on Lisa.
"I'll lead Starlight and Prancer." Carole explained. "Belle will follow you, right Stevie?" Stevie nodded. "Lisa, you help Stevie. We'll walk home." Lisa gave a quick nod and took a few slow steps forward. Stevie leaned on her and followed.
Together, they walked home, Stevie limping, Carole leading two horses, and Belle following with no human guidance. They would have quite a story to tell when they got back.
Later…
About thirty minutes later they arrived at the stables. Red was busy mucking out stalls, but Drew was giving Veronica a private lesson in the arena. He immediately noticed something was wrong when he saw Stevie leaning on Lisa, and Belle leading herself.
"I'm afraid we'll have to take a short break Veronica. If things are too bad, we might have to reschedule this lesson for tomorrow." Drew said to Veronica. patting Garnet on the shoulder.
"What? We've had this lesson planned for weeks! You can't reschedule it now! Not when we're halfway through a lesson!" Veronica shrieked. Drew glared at her.
"I'm sorry, but I have much more important matters to attend to right now." Drew motioned to the Saddle Club girls and Veronica growled.
"Fine." She dismounted Garnet and left him in the arena, untied. "But since it is my lesson, I get to come with you." She smirked.
Drew sighed but didn't argue. "Fine. Hurry up." He ran out the arena and towards the Saddle Club.
"GIRLS!" He called as he approached them. "Girls, what happened?" He looked between the three of them. Finally, it was Stevie who told the story.
"Well…me and Red had a disagreement earlier and I ended up running off to be alone. I just went to that large pasture, the one we aren't using." Stevie started. Drew nodded, clearly knowing the place. Veronica sighed impatiently.
"I was just riding around, jumping over obstacles. You know the rock formation in the middle of the pasture?" Stevie asked.
"Yes, I do." Drew replied.
"Well, I was leading Belle towards it when she started rearing up. I screamed and Carole and Lisa, who were spying on me, came into the pasture too. We were going to jump the course when Belle started rearing again. I ended up deciding to let Lisa go first, but Belle wouldn't turn away when I asked her to." Stevie gave a cough as Veronica made a face at them. Drew glared at her and she stopped.
"Anyways, then a lone wild dog ran out from under the rock. I wasn't prepared, and so when Belle reared I fell off and-"
"Is that how you apparently 'hurt' your foot?" Veronica interrupted, sarcasm oozing from her voice.
"Hah, I wish!" Stevie smiled. "But no. Carole told me to stand still, and so I did. The dog was only five feet away. Then a bird flew up from the grass, and I got scared and jumped backwards."
"The dog chased after me. I was running away when my foot got caught in a crevice, and I tripped. That was how I hurt my foot." Stevie said, throwing a look towards Veronica. Drew saw it, but did nothing to stop it.
"Go on," He said patiently.
"Then…..then the…then the dog….." Stevie stuttered. She clearly didn't want to relive the moment.
"The dog attacked her while she was on her back. It bit and clawed her neck hoping to….you know…." Carole said.
"Yeah. Then Belle ran over and saved Stevie by kicking the dog away. She chased it out of the pasture, but I don't know if it's truly gone for good." Lisa finished.
Drew looked at Belle amazed. She clearly loved Stevie a lot.
"Hah, you expect us to believe that story?" Veronica spat. "It's pathetic!"
Drew started to say something but Stevie turned around and pulled her hair off her neck, showing it to Veronica.
"Do you believe that?" Stevie said angrily. Veronica put a hand over her mouth in disgust and horror.
"Umm…well…" Veronica turned away.
Drew gave a small gasp of surprise. He hadn't been expecting that.
"What about your leg? Is it really broken?" She said quickly, wanting to prove the girls wrong.
"Oh I hope not!" Stevie laughed. "If anything it's just sprained." Stevie, with a lot of help from Lisa, sat down on the ground. Drew and Veronica bent over as she rolled up her pant leg to show them her ankle. It was red, but turning slightly purple, and was clearly swollen. Stevie winced as Drew gingerly felt it for any sign of broken bones.
"Sorry Stevie, brace yourself, "Drew said calmly. Stevie frowned, unsure of what to brace for. Drew put his hand around the width of her ankle and gave a tight squeeze. Stevie cried out in pain and Lisa rested a hand on her shoulder.
"What was that for?" Stevie asked, grinding her teeth together. It hurt a lot.
"I had to check for broken bones, sorry." Drew replied. "Luckily there's no sign of anything serious."
Lisa and Carole let out sighs of relief, but Stevie was in too much pain to care.
Lisa and Carole helped her up and towards the office as Drew called the doctor. Veronica gave an angry grunt. She was clearly going to have to cancel her lesson for today. Why did the Saddle Club girls always have to mess things up for her? She thought.
Stevie sat on the couch next to Lisa and Carole as Drew walked in.
"The doctor said he'd be here in fifteen minutes. Can you wait here? I have to make some phone calls to parents, and to the local sharpshooter. We need to be rid of that dog, and soon." Drew shut the door, not waiting for an answer.
The doctor said it was just a bad sprain, and would be fine after a couple of days. All Stevie had to do was keep it bandaged and apply ice on it every few hours. The doctor also applied some sort of cream to the back of Stevie's neck, as Stevie was going to have to do for the next few weeks. Apparently, it lowered the risk of infection, and helped the skin close up and heal faster.
Later, Stevie's mom came to pick her up. She offered to take the girls home and they agreed. The next day they wouldn't be able to see each other at all because Lisa had clarinet lessons, and a little bit of winter-break homework. Carole had to go shopping with her dad for some car parts and for a new bridle for Starlight, (His old was over three years old and wearing down.) Stevie was just going to stay home and rest. Her mom was a little frantic after everything that had happened that day, and didn't want to take any more chances for a little while.
After dropping off the girls, Stevie sat and stared out the window. She leaned back on the seat, closing her eyes. It wasn't long before she drifted off to sleep.
The next Monday, two days after the wild dog incident, Stevie, Lisa and Carole sat in the lounge playing checkers. Well, Stevie and Carole were playing and Lisa was watching. She was going to play the winner.
That's when Phil walked in. He hadn't been to Pine Hollow for the last few days, but had heard about the dog incident from his parents. Apparently, Drew had called every rider's parents informing them that the dog had been taken care of (killed) and everything was safe.
He walked in, not expecting to see Stevie. He was a little surprised, but also glad. He wanted to talk more about their trail ride the next day. He walked over to the table and sat down next to Stevie. She didn't acknowledge he was there. Phil got a little worried, until he saw that she was playing checkers. Stevie, as usual, was WAY over-competitive when it came to this game.
"Hah! I beat you!" She said, as she jumped over the last of Carole's pieces. Carole gave a sigh of defeat.
"Okay, Lisa, your turn." She said.
"Hey Phil." Stevie said, turning to him. "Sorry I didn't say hi, I was busy…" She turned to Lisa. "Prepare to get terminated!" She said with a laugh. Lisa raised an eyebrow.
"Uh huh." She said sarcastically.
Stevie smiled and turned back to Phil. "So how are you?" She asked.
"Fine. But I really should be asking you that!" He glanced at her foot. "Is it okay?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah it's fine. But I won't be able to ride again till' Thursday." She said disappointed. Phil's smile fell.
"Oh." He said quietly.
"Oh? Oh what?" Stevie asked. "What's wrong-"She paused. "Oh my gosh! I completely forgot! I'm so sorry Phil!" She cried.
"It's fine Stevie. We'll just do it Thursday!" He said cheerfully, glad they would still get to go.
"Do what?" Lisa asked from across the table. Stevie frowned.
"None of your business!" She said jokingly. "It's just a trail ride."
"Ooooh!" Lisa and Carole cooed.
Stevie blushed. "Oh, stop it! Lisa, it's your turn!" She said.
Lisa took her turn quietly.
"Are you sure?" She turned back to Phil. "I know it meant a lot to you!"
"It's okay, really! You couldn't help it!" He said lightening up.
Stevie gave him a suspicious glare before taking her turn. Phil watched with interest as Stevie ended up the winner, again.
"My turn!" He called, taking Lisa's place. Carole and Lisa whispered amongst themselves.
Stevie glared at Phil from across the table. "Are we going to place bets?" She asked. Phil nodded.
"If I win, you have to kiss me." He said tapping his lips. Stevie smiled evilly and Lisa grinned from down the table.
"Fine." She smirked. "And if I win, you have to offer to Veronica to do all her dirty work. She was looking for someone to do it earlier."
Phil squinted his eyes and nodded. They shook on it.
"Okay, you can go first." Stevie said.
The game lasted about thirty minutes, with Phil ending victoriously. He smiled at Stevie who was clearly upset at being beaten. He felt himself go numb when he remembered their deal. Carole and Lisa had walked off to check on their horses, leaving just them. Stevie slowly walked over to Phil.
He stood, waiting.
Stevie slowly leaned forward and planted a kiss in the center of his lips. He felt himself blush as she pulled back.
"Not much of a punishment," Stevie whispered as she walked off to find Carole and Lisa.