Dreams Come True

next day at lunchtime.
    ‘Still planning on going to the meeting on Saturday, are you, Mel?’ Jade asked, coming over to them as they put their trays away. ‘I don’t know why you’re bothering. It’s not like Shadow will jump. Can’t your parents afford to buy you a better pony?’
    ‘Mel doesn’t want another pony,’ Lauren said, unable to bear their teasing a second longer. ‘Shadow’s fine.’
    Jade laughed. ‘Yeah, right,’ she said, walking off laughing.
    Lauren looked at her friend. Mel was biting her lip in frustration. ‘I hate her!’

    she burst out. ‘I think I’m just going to tell Dad that I don’t want to go on Saturday.’
    ‘You can’t,’ Lauren said. ‘You’ve got to come, Mel. If you don’t, Jade and Monica will tease you again next week.’ Mel looked even more miserable. ‘Shadow will be good,’ Lauren went on. ‘In fact, when you ride him today I’m sure he’s going to jump.’
    Mel looked at her doubtfully. ‘You think so?’
    ‘I know so,’ Lauren said confidently.
    As soon as Lauren got home after school, she gave Twilight a quick brush over and rode him round to Mel’s. ‘I can’t wait to see her face when Shadow jumps,’ Lauren said to him, as they trotted along the road.
    Mel was just putting Shadow’s saddle on when they arrived. When they rode into the paddock, Lauren set up the jump exactly as she had done the night before. Then she got back on Twilight. ‘Try Shadow now!’ she called to Mel.
    ‘OK,’ Mel said. She turned Shadow towards the jump. His ears pricked up and he quickened his stride.
    ‘He’s going to jump it!’ Lauren whispered to Twilight in delight.
    Shadow got nearer and nearer, his hooves thudding on the grass.
    Then, a metre in front of the jump, he suddenly stopped.

Seven
    L auren gasped in disappointment. After last night, she’d been sure that Shadow was going to jump the fence.
    Twilight snorted and Lauren knew he was just as surprised as she was that Shadow had stopped.
    Mel turned the dapple-grey pony away from the jump. ‘I’ll try him again,’ she called. ‘It almost felt like he was going to jump it then.’ But when she tried again, Shadow wouldn’t go anywhere near the fence.
    Mel rode back to Lauren looking bitterly disappointed. ‘I guess I should have known better than to think he would jump it,’ she said. Shadow hung his head sadly. Mel hugged him. ‘Don’t worry, boy. I still love you.’
    Despite her words, Shadow looked very upset. He didn’t prick his ears up once, not even when they played catch.
    ‘I think I’ll take him in,’ Mel said at last. ‘He doesn’t seem very happy.’
    Lauren nodded. ‘I’m sorry, Mel,’ she said, as they dismounted.
    ‘It’s not your fault,’ Mel said with a sigh.
    Lauren didn’t hang around for long. She had a feeling that Mel wanted to be on her own and so, after a bit, she got back on to Twilight and rode him home.
    ‘What went wrong?’ she said to him. ‘Why didn’t Shadow jump?’
    Twilight shook his head and snorted.
    ‘I’ll come down to your paddock tonight,’ Lauren told him. ‘We’ve got to sort this out.’
    She was grooming Twilight back at Granger’s Farm when Buddy came running down the path towards them. He skidded to a stop and began to sniff around Twilight’s hooves.
    ‘Buddy, go away!’ Lauren said.
    Buddy sat down and, cocking his head on one side, he whined at Twilight.
    Just then, Max came running down the path. ‘There you are, Buddy!’ he said, as the puppy trotted over to meet him. Buddy licked his hand and then turned back to Twilight and woofed.
    Max frowned. ‘Why does Buddy act so weird around Twilight, Lauren?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ Lauren said. ‘Look, I’m trying to groom him. Why don’t you take Buddy for a walk, Max?’
    But Max didn’t seem to be listening. Suddenly his eyes widened as he looked at Twilight. ‘Maybe Twilight’s an alien, Lauren!’ he gasped.
    ‘An alien!’ Lauren stared at him.
    ‘Yeah, maybe Twilight’s an alien from another planet. He’s in disguise so that he can spy on us and Buddy knows it.’
    ‘Don’t be dumb, Max. Twilight’s just a pony,’ Lauren said, desperately trying to act as if Max was totally crazy.

    ‘So why does Buddy act so weird around him, then?’ Max said.
    ‘Because… because he’s not used to horses,’ Lauren said quickly.
    But Max didn’t look convinced. ‘I’m going to tell Mum,’ he said and, turning, he ran back up the