6.

Melanie Atwood and Jess sat in the hayloft at Pine Hollow dividing up the stack of bills they had been paid by that reporter for the picture she and Jess had taken.

"Can you believe it?!" said Jess excitedly, "$500 dollars for one picture!"

Just then a newspaper was slapped down on the hay bale between them.

"Would either one of you care to explain this!" snapped Lisa. Melanie and Jess jumped and looked up. Their eyes widened at what they saw.

There, glaring down at them, was an angry Lisa flanked by Jacen and the rest of the Saddle club and behind them were an angry Max and Deborah.

"What's everyone so upset about?" asked Melanie innocently, "All we did was sell some pictures to the town newspaper."

"Look at the paper." Said Lisa

Melanie and Jess looked at the paper and their faces paled.

"We didn't know that he was going to do this!" said Melanie

"Be that as it may," said Deborah, "If I can't convince my editor to kill this story, Pine Hollow could very well get some negative publicity that it doesn't need!"

"And I thought that it was understood that whenever we have guests at Pine Hollow their privacy was to be respected." Added Max

Melanie and Jess hung their heads

"Effective Immediately you two are on mucking duty until further notice." Max continued

"Well, this couldn't get much worse," sighed Jess

Melanie nodded in agreement.

"You're forgetting mother, and Jess's folks." Lisa said

Now Melanie looked really scared.

"Please, Lisa you can't tell mother, she'll flip!" Melanie pleaded

"Or my folks either!" Jess begged.

Lisa stepped forward and took the money out their hands.

"Hey!" snapped Melanie, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"If you want my silence," said Lisa, "then, this money goes to Max as a donation to Pine Hollow, agreed?"

Melanie and Jess's shoulders sagged in defeat.

"Okay," they nodded

"Good," said Lisa, "Now you two have work to do."

Melanie and Jess's shoulders slumped and they headed off to mucking duty. Deborah headed off to call her editor in private.

When they got down out of the hayloft. Jacen sat down on a bench and sighed.

"Man," he said, "I didn't have this many problems at the last rock concert I worked undercover security at. My dad may pull me off this assignment when he sees that article. I'm supposed to keep a low profile."

"Don't freak out," said Stevie, "Deborah may still be able to get the story killed before the afternoon paper comes out. That copy of the paper was a preview remember."

An hour later they were back in the staging area of the arena for the second round of the preliminaries. Lisa was working with Pegasus.

"I can't believe this," she said nervously, "I'm actually going to have to compete."

Lisa had been asked to be the alternate for the rider that was supposed to represent Willow Creek in the tournament. Lisa had agreed when the representative from the local equestrian association told her that she wouldn't have to compete.

Turns out that assumption was wrong. Cassidy 'Keke" Walker who was supposed to compete had gone out with her boyfriend a couple nights before the tournament. They had been riding around after dark in his go-kart when he dumped them both in a ditch spraining her ankle so bad that she couldn't even walk. She couldn't ride either because her foot was so swollen that she couldn't even put her boot on it.

"Don't worry Lise," said Stevie, "You'll do fine."

Lisa mounted up and prayed she wouldn't mess up. Lisa and Pegasus trotted out into the arena. Lisa's breath caught in her throat as she looked around at all the people that were packed into the stands.

She saw Kayla sitting there at the rail. Kayla smiled reassuringly and gave her a thumbs up.

Lisa saluted the judges, then began to work her way through the gates in the proper order. Lisa and Pegasus worked together like they had been doing it all of their lives. Almost before she knew it, she was at the last gate.

Her friends all held their breath. Lisa rode forward and she and Pegasus leapt over the final gate effortlessly.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," said the Announcer excitedly after Lisa had saluted the judges again and her score came in, "Willow Creek's own Lisa Atwood has made it into the quarterfinals!"

The audience erupted into thunderous applause. Back in the staging area, a black-haired young man was texting on his phone.

The text read:

Lisa Atwood better than expected, if she continues to perform like this, she could knock me out of a qualifying spot. Make plans to deal with her too.

Lisa was just untacking Pegasus when the others finally made their way down from the stands to congratulate her. Stevie and Carole hugged her excitedly. Then Rafael came forward.

"Um-That is -I wanted to," he stammered until Carmen stomped his foot.

"Ow!" hollered Rafael hopping on one foot.

"Get it together," snapped Carmen, "You've been officially dating for three weeks now! This is no time to get tongue tied!"

When Raphael finally quit hopping on his uninjured foot, he kissed Lisa's hand.

Lisa blushed.

"Congratulations my beautiful star," he said

The girls awed, but Something else, caught Carmen's eye.

Jacen was carrying Lisa's saddle back to the truck, but the interesting part was that Kayla was subtly watching him under the guise of grooming her horse Magic.

Carmen smiled.

"My next matchmaking job has presented itself." She said to herself with an eager smile. She started to walk toward them, but Rafael heard her and caught her by the belt leaving her walking in place.

"Hold it, sis," he said, "Destroying my instep is bad enough, so leave them alone!"

TO BE CONTINUED…