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.