Greener Pastures - Alyssa Brugman [46]
'You won't believe what happened this morning!' she gasped. 'I was at the newsagent and you'll never guess who was there.'
'Umm . . . could it be Ethan Agnew?' Shelby joked. She thought Erin might be cross about Shelby revealing her crush to Lydia, but Erin didn't seem to care. All of the trail riders could hear her too.
'Yes!' Erin squealed. 'And he said, "Hey, Erin". He bought a book of sudoku puzzles, and a snowboarding magazine.'
'So what did you say?' Lydia asked.
Bandit fell into step between Siete and Blue. Erin dropped the reins as she tightened the chinstrap of her helmet. 'I've thought of all the things I could have said, like, "Sudoku, eh?" or, "Do you go to the snow much?", but I didn't want him to think I was looking at the magazines he was buying, because what if he was buying Identify that Wart Magazine, or Lose Your Back Hair in 10 Days? So I pretended that I wasn't looking.'
'What magazine were you buying?' Lindsey called out from the front of the group.
'Oh, a stupid doll book for my little sister and one for my mum about flower arranging. I know!' she moaned. 'I held them behind my back, but then I thought he might think I had some really bizarre body piercing magazine, so I just laid them on the counter, but after that I was worried he might think I was proud of them, and trying to send him some kind of message, so then I picked them up again. I looked like a lunatic.'
'What did you end up saying?' Shelby asked.
'Nothing! I just threw these two magazines around like I was trying to juggle them or do some crazy card trick. But when I got in the car and told my mum she pointed out that I am a lunatic, so if Ethan is going to like me he is going to like the lunatic.'
'That's a healthy attitude,' said one of the trail riders.
Erin seemed to notice the other riders for the first time. 'It is, isn't it?' she said.
'I know Ethan Agnew,' said one of the little girls. 'He's on my brother's soccer team. He's at our place all the time.'
Erin's face turned beetroot. She stared at Shelby.
'Don't worry, you haven't said anything bad,' Shelby whispered to her.
Lydia added, 'You could find out stuff about him.'
Erin looked horrified. 'I don't want to know stuff! Then I would find out what he is actually like instead of how I imagine him being.'
'Good point,' said Shelby.
After the ride the four girls hosed down all of the riding school horses and turned them out. Lindsey said to Lydia, 'You know, we could use another pair of hands here. Since your dad is going to be coming up anyway, maybe I could talk to my mum about giving you a job here. What do you think?'
Lydia's mouth dropped open. 'Really? That would be so amazing. I'm not that good, though – I have heaps to learn.'
'I'm moving away,' Shelby told Lydia. 'So you can have my job.'
'Oh. But . . . we're only just starting to be friends,' Lydia said.
'I'm coming back,' Shelby assured her. 'But it will be a while.'
They all headed back to the car park. Shelby's dad was waiting for her. He was talking with Lee. Shelby had always hoped her parents might become friendly with some of the other parents at the stables, but they never had.
'You girls seem to have lifted Lydia's spirits,' her dad said as they headed home.
Shelby didn't answer.
'Hypothetically, if Erin was to organise a surprise party for you tomorrow afternoon at the stables would you want to know about it beforehand?'
Shelby stared at him.
'It is Erin we're talking about, so God knows what she's going to do to you.'
'Yes, I would probably want to know.'
'Lucky,' he replied.
26 Baby's Got Blue Eyes
Whenever Aunty Jenny stayed Shelby had to sleep on the lounge. Usually she didn't mind, but on this morning she felt stiff and sore. An early night had done her a lot of good, but she still felt wrung out like an old mop.
Clint had arranged to pick Blue up in the afternoon, after her surprise party. Clint had told her about it too. It seemed her dad wasn't the only