MY RIVAL

BY AMANDA

This never happened. I made it up from people I know.

I love to ride ponies, my favorite is Dancer. She's stabled at the Shamrock Hills Corral. It's a beautiful place. Rolling hills and a patch of woods close by. There's a stream too where we can water the horses. We have a club there called the "Wild Star Riders" we do little riding shows and compete from time to time. We ride English style which is very proper and elegant. I love it. The only thing I don't like there is this girl named Victoria. She's very mean and snotty to everyone, especially me and Sarah. Her dad is rich and she thinks that makes her better than everyone.

One time I was walking by her and she stuck her foot out and tripped me so I fell in the mud. My clothes were all dirty now.

"You did that on purpose !" I shouted.

"No I didn't." she said, acting snobby as usual," You're just clumsy and fell all by yourself."

Since no one had seen her do it, I couldn't prove a thing so I had to let it go. I told Dad I fell off a horse, but I told Sarah what had really happened.

"What a creep !" she said stomping her foot,"We should get her for this."

"Yeah I'd like too. but what can we do ?"

"The big riding competition is tomorrow right ?"

"Yes."

"So why don't we get her so she can't compete in it. We can lock her up in the stables or something."

"Someone will find her and let her out." "Not if we put her in the back where no one keeps their ponies anymore. We can tie her hands up and her feet too, so she can't get out and gag her so she can't scream."

"I like that idea. I'd love to get her good." I said.

We talked about it some more but decided not to do it. If we got caught, there would be BIG trouble for us. We'd probably get thrown out of the riding club or worse. We wentr home that night and thought nothing more about it.

The next day came and I dressed in my best riding clothes for the show. We dress in full english style for our shows, unlike the jeans and t-shirts we wear for rehearsing and just riding around. Dand and i picked up Sarah on the way and we arrived at the Corral about an hour before the competition.

I was in the stable getting Dancer ready when Victoria showed up, looking mean as usual. I decided to ignore her.

"Nice horse. " she snapped," I should be riding her, not you !" I didn't listen to her, so she hit me in the leg with a stick.

"Hey !! Stop bugging me Vickie!!"

"My name is Victoria and I heard every word you said to that little nerd Sarah."

I looked at her, scared now. If she told anyone what we said, there could be as much trouble as if we had done it.

"I only said that because you've been so mean to me. I didn't mean it." "That doesn't matter. My Dad owns this Corral, and he'll throw you out if I tell him what you said."

"Please don't, Victoria. I'll do anything ."

"Then let me ride Dancer."

"Never ! She's my horse."

"Okay,' she said quietly and turned away. I was so relieved by her reply I turned my back to her. That's when she hit me over the head with her stick and I passed out.

I woke up later inside the dark empty part of the stables where no one kept their horses anymore. I was tied up too. Hands and feet, arms and legs so I couldn't move or get out of the stable. A big piece of white cloth was tied over my mouth so I couldn't yell for help. I was kinda surprised to find myself here since vickie's no bigger than me. Vickie had done to me what Sarah and I had intended to do to her.

I struggled and pulled on the ropes, but there was too many tying me. Vickie had made the knots real strong too so I'd never get free. I tried to call out but all I could make were little baby noises. With all the commotion and noise going one in and outside of the stables, no one would hear my tiny sounds. I sat in the dirty hay trying to think of what to do.

After a while, Vickie came back and looked in on me. I tried to talk to her, but the gag made my words disappear. She laughed at me all tied up and captured.

"You're going to miss the competition Amanda. No one will ever find you in here. Even if they do, no one will believe you. My dad owns the Corral and he'll throw them out if they do. Everyone will think you chickened out or went off riding in the woods and forgot. I'll win and I'll get to ride Dancer !

After she said that, she left me alone again. I tried about a dozen times to wriggle loose but I couldn't get untied. I heard someone calling my name. Someone was coming ! I pressed my head against the bars of the stable and yelled as hard as I could. Sarah came running up, looking real scared to see me like this.

"Amanda ? I followed Victoria around after you went missing. she must have put you in here. I'll get you out. "

Before she could move, a huge shadow fell over her. A big hand closed over her mouth and she was picked up off the floor. I don't know who it was, but it definitely wasn't Vickie ! The stable opened and a big man carried Sarah inside. She was so scared at getting captured, she had passed out too.

A light revealed the man's face. It was Vickie's dad ! That explained why I was tied up so good and how I had gotten into the stable. After Vickie had knocked me out, he carried me down here and tied me up. Now he was doing the same to Sarah. He tied her hands up behind her and then her feet together. He tied more rope around her arms and body then her knees too. She was almost a mummy of rope when he got done. He took out a huge handkerchief and tied it over Sarah's mouth for a gag. Now we were both prisoners.

After he made sure we were tied up tight, he stepped back out of the stable and locked it.

"You two have been nothing but trouble for my daughter and me." he said, " She's not as good a rider as you two but I'm tired of paying out cash. Now if she wins, I get to keep the money. After she wins the competition, I'll show you two what happens to girls who give me problems."

He walked away. Sarah woke up later and found herself a prisoner in the stable. We tried to get loose once more but we were just wasting time. He knew his knots pretty good and we were caught.

I looked around the stable and saw a piece of metal sticking out of the hay. I looked closer and saw it was a hand blade like farmers used. A sickle. It was very rusty and dented but it might help us cut the ropes off.

I crawled across the hay over to it, turned around and tried to saw the ropes off my hands. I had to do it several times before i felt the stuff begin to loosen. The ropes popped loose after the fifth try and I carefully began untying myself. I untied Sarah and took off her gag. I tried to crawl between the bars on the stable but they were too close together.

"Let me try it." Sarah said. She held her breath and pushed herself through the bars. The gate was locked by a peg so she pulled that open and swung the gate free. I looked at my watch and saw we had fifteen minutes before the competition. We ran off. I got Dancer out of her stable and rode him out into the yard. Vickie saw me and turned bright red, she was so mad. Her plans had failed and I was riding Dancer.

Sarah came out right after me on her pony Daisy and we stayed together on our horses in plain sight of people. We'd never let Vickie or her father capture us again. Time for the competition came and we did our routines. Vickie came riding out on a fat runty little pony named Glitz, she looked totally humiliated. We would beat her easy.

Sarah took the top award this time, a thousand dollars and I came in second. Vickie came in sixth place because even with a good horse, her riding stinks. Being rich doesn't make you a better person, its being good at what you do. We told my Dad what had happened to us, but the evidence was cleaned up and he thought we were just playing our cops and robbers games again. We didn't get Vickie in trouble but it felt good to beat her fairly and square.