Charlotte and the Starlet Read online

  Charlotte watched Todd Greycroft's round, riveted. She had always refused to believe that any boy could ride better than her but Todd Greycroft was very, very good. He finished his perfect round, doffed his helmet without conceit and moved back to the line. She suddenly felt a lump in her throat. Now it was up to her to make sure Thornton won.

  'Richards,' commanded Strudworth.

  Charlotte led Leila around to approach the low hedge. Both were confident and Leila sailed over it easily. On her return Leila made sure she made eye contact with the stallion. Her look said it all: 'That's right, buster, white girls can jump!' She felt Charlie turn her towards the hurdle and begin the approach.

  All of a sudden things started getting blurry. It felt like she had a beach ball in her stomach. Too late, she realised she should never have had that second Mexicana. She tried to urge her fat, overstuffed body up into the air.

  On the takeoff, Charlotte could feel that all was not right with Leila. Then she heard the dreaded 'clunk' of the hurdle pole rattling off behind. She saw Strudworth's face fall while Lucinda's, Rebecca's and Emma's broke into smiles. It was galling but it would all be forgotten. Thornton was still well in front. The water jump was a cinch. SPLASH!

  Leila's hooves wobbled in the mud. The smiles of The Evil Three grew bigger.

  'What is your problem?' asked Charlotte angrily. They were far enough away not to be overheard.

  'I'm sorry, I think I've got a virus,' said Leila.

  Charlotte felt bad for snapping at her. She was much more worried about Leila than winning some silly event, though it was still uncomfortable to feel the eyes of everybody burning into her. Todd Greycroft would be watching and he'd think she was an absolute dud if she didn't clear the wall. Surely they could do it. She tried to gee herself up but as soon as they faced it she felt Leila sag. Trying to boost Leila's confidence, she said, 'Remember, those bricks are only cardboard.'

  So is a pizza box and look at all the problems that caused, thought Leila.

  Charlotte started her approach. She prayed it was going to be okay. Just one good jump and then she could get Leila back to her box and look after her. But as they got near the takeoff point Leila not only stopped but sank to her belly.

  'Now that's what I call a refusal,' commented an excited Emma to Lucinda and Rebecca. Then, realising that Strudworth was looking their way, she quickly changed her broad grin into a false frown.

  Todd Greycroft recognised the girl and horse he'd met the day before. He felt very sorry for her. He could tell there was something the matter with her horse.

  When it stopped and lay down, the line of Milthorp boys cheered. Todd turned angrily towards them.

  'What are you cheering for? They would have beaten us except for that horse.'

  When she heard the cheering Charlotte felt humiliated. She wished she could turn invisible. No such luck. She would just have to bear it. There were worse things in life than a little humiliation. The most important thing was that Leila got better.

  'It's okay, Leila, don't worry. You did your best. We'll get the vet to look at you.'

  Leila fought to keep down a burp.

  'No, no, I'm sure it's only temporary. In fact, I feel a little better already.' From the corner of her eye she caught the grey mare looking at her with barely concealed contempt. She shot back a look of her own. Big deal, so she didn't make the jump. She'd get over it next time. This was just a friendly. This didn't count.

  Charlotte avoided the other girls on the way back to the stables. She was quite aware they blamed her for losing the jump-off but there was nothing she could do about that. She and Leila had done their best.

  When they were alone in the stables Leila assured Charlotte she was already feeling much better and there was no need for a vet. Charlotte kissed her and told her not to worry about the jumps. The most important thing was to get better. She had wanted to stay but Leila insisted she would be fine with a little rest so Charlotte had reluctantly left her alone.

  As she stepped outside, she got the shock of her life. Todd Greycroft was standing there.

  'Hi. Charlotte, right?'

  Charlotte was completely taken aback. 'Are you allowed to be here?'

  'Probably not,' he shrugged. 'But I wanted to see how your horse was.'

  'I think she's going to be fine.'

  'And you, of course. That was rotten luck.'

  Charlotte felt herself blushing. It was just too awful to think he'd seen that ride. 'I lost us the event,' she said bluntly.

  'Nonsense. Your horse got sick. Could happen to any of us.'

  It was nice of him to say so, even if she still felt guilty about it. 'You rode brilliantly,' she said. 'Bad ankle and all.'

  He smiled. 'Thanks. When my ankle's better and your horse is well, we might have to race one another, don't you think? Loser can give the winner a Mars Bar.'

  Charlotte grinned. 'That's an excellent idea.'

  Todd looked around him to make sure he hadn't been spied. 'I had better be off. See you again, Charlotte.'

  And before she could find the words to reply he was hopping off on one leg. He looked funny. But not silly. Boys like Todd never really looked silly.

  Charlotte suddenly felt a whole lot better. Now she had two friends out here. She was almost floating as she made her way to the dining room but she came back down to earth when The Evil Three sidled up beside her.

  'Nice jumping,' said Emma and the other two laughed. Charlotte fought the urge to pop somebody on the nose. She ate quickly by herself then returned to the boiler room, where she began writing a letter to her dad. This was the second time she had written and, like last time, she didn't come anywhere near telling him the truth. She wrote about the wonderful view from her room, the terrific food, and the great friend she had made, Leila. She didn't mention that Leila was a horse. There was a knock on her door and a girl named Caitlin poked her head in to tell her she was wanted in Strudworth's office immediately. Charlotte's first thought was that Strudworth was going to blast her for losing the jump-off. Then she panicked that something bad had happened with Leila's virus. She raced there as quickly as possible and knocked on the door.

  'Come in, Richards, and close the door behind you.'

  Charlotte did. She could tell that Miss Strudworth was upset about something.

  'Is Leila all right?'

  'Leila's fine. Can you explain what this was doing in her stall?'

  Strudworth flashed a tin on which was written 'petty cash'.

  Charlotte shook her head.

  'You didn't take it from the downstairs office?'

  'No.'

  'Bevans found it in Leila's stall, hidden at the back. He also found a number of empty pizza cartons outside Leila's window. I made some enquiries with the pizza restaurant. They told me that Charlotte Richards ordered the pizzas and said that there would be cash left for them in the stall.'

  Charlotte was angry. She knew exactly what had happened.

  'Do you think I would be that stupid? It's quite obvious that Emma Cross and her friends are trying to set me up.'

  Strudworth studied the girl in front of her. What she said was not beyond the realms of possibility.

  'That's a very serious accusation,' she said.

  'So is being told you're a thief.' Charlotte folded her arms defiantly.

  Chapter 11

  A short time later The Evil Three stood before Strudworth in her office. Charlotte had been told to stand at the back. Strudworth wasted no time. She asked outright if they'd ordered pizzas in Charlotte's name. Rebecca was outraged.

  'No way would I do that. Do you know how many calories there are in pizza?'

  Strudworth looked to Emma and Lucinda. Lucinda acidly reminded Strudworth that her father was a successful defamation lawyer and wondered what Strudworth would do without the academy, the horses or the clothes on her back.

  'What time did the call come through?' asked Emma.

  Strudworth checked her notes.

>   'Six-twenty.'

  Emma smiled smugly. 'Then it couldn't have been us because we were in the common room in front of a dozen students performing our Best Of Charmed routine.'

  The others joined in the triumph.

  'In fact,' added Lucinda, 'the only person who wasn't there was her.'

  She nodded at Charlotte, who again felt the pressure had shifted back onto her. 'I was in my room, alone,' said Charlotte, and hated the fact that it sounded like an admission.

  Strudworth sighed deeply. 'Very well. I'll need to think on this. Return to your rooms, please.'

  As Charlotte left she felt Miss Strudworth's eyes on her back.

  'She thinks I did it!' Charlotte paced in the stable, explaining to Leila. 'I was so sure it was them. Did you see anybody near your stall?'

  Leila hadn't foreseen this complication.

  'Me? No, um, can't say I did.'

  Charlotte started to work out the logic.

  'Which means it must have been done while we were out, but then the order was taken at six-twenty.'

  Slowly out of the fog of conjecture a solid picture began to emerge, one she kicked herself for not seeing right off.

  'Wait a second ...' The image that had solidified in her mind was Leila the pizza-freak eating herself sick. 'Oh, how stupid have I been? It was you!'

  Leila put on her most contrite voice.

  'The tin said petty cash so I thought, who cares? If they call it petty it means it's insignificant, right? I just got a wicked taste for pizza.'

  Charlotte was as angry as she had ever been. And deeply hurt. The only thing that had made Thornton Downs bearable had been her one good friend, Leila. But that friendship was worth nothing. Leila had just been using her.

  'Sorry, kid. I didn't mean to cause trouble.'

  Charlotte turned on Leila, fighting back tears.

  'No, that's just it, you're not sorry at all. You don't care what happens to anybody but yourself.' She was seeing it all so clearly now. 'And that's why you were so poor over the jumps, wasn't it? You ate yourself sick. You're a truly selfish beast.'

  'Hey, if I was that selfish I wouldn't have kept two slices of the Three Cheeses for you. I waited a whole extra hour, almost, before I ate them.'

  'You aren't a real friend. You just wanted me to make the JOES so I would call your producer. Well, you can find some other bozo. I'm fed up with selfish, mean people – and horses. If this is what the JOES is all about then I don't want to be part of it.'

  Oh, oh. Leila could see the palms of Hollywood receding fast. She tried to remember a script where she'd had to talk Sarah-Jane around.

  'Charlie, Charlie, this is an overreaction.'

  But Charlotte had made up her mind. She pulled her saddle from the stall.

  'I hope you make it back to Hollywood, I really do. Then at least you'll be twenty thousand kilometres away.'

  Leila watched her stomp up towards the stable exit. She couldn't let Charlotte have the last say.

  'You've got a lot to learn, Charlie. You have a look at how actors react when they miss out on an Oscar. They don't storm out, they act dignified. It's only later they throw tantrums.'

  But by now she was speaking to herself.

  Leila snorted. The kid was bluffing. Where was she going to go?

  Nobody saw the small figure making its way through the grounds in the direction of the highway lugging the saddle. Charlotte fought the urge to cry. The JOES had been everything she had aspired to. She had wanted to make her dad proud. She had wanted to be graceful and beautiful like her mum. But it wasn't going to happen and the sooner she faced that the better.

  She'd been kidding herself. To make the JOES you needed rich parents and lots of skills on how to be sneaky and bitchy that she'd never learned and had no intention of learning. She would go back to Snake Hills and be a stockman like her father. Next year she would win the Golden Buckle. She felt guilty about the people at Snake Hills who had put in money for her but she resolved to work hard and pay them back every cent. Better they put the money to good use than waste it. Strudworth was going to boot her out anyway. She figured she had just enough money for a bus fare to the city and a train fare from there to Snake Hills. She had never been to a big city before but she reckoned she could handle that. Nothing could be more unfriendly than here.

  Leila did not sleep at all. She felt really bad. It wasn't just her tummy, either. In fact her tummy was nothing compared to how she felt in her heart.

  'You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' the grey mare had whinnied after the kid had stormed off. Leila didn't need to be told. The shame she felt was a whole new emotion. She couldn't think of one other time in her whole life when she'd actually felt bad about making somebody else's life a misery. She'd never once worried about Sarah-Jane. With good reason – Sarah-Jane was a little witch who dug the heels of her riding boots into her. But maybe, Leila speculated, if she had been nicer to Sarah-Jane instead of competing with her, things might have been different?

  And look at Tommy Tempest. He'd always treated Leila well but plenty of times Leila had made Tommy's life a misery just for the sport of it. And her mom, well, okay, maybe there was something in what Charlotte had said about her having to be a mom and a dad. Hopefully when Charlotte came around in the morning she wouldn't be quite so mad. Leila would promise not to even think about pizza until the end of the trials, and she would keep that promise. Leila looked out of her stall at the black night and prayed for dawn to hurry up.

  Somebody else who had slept fitfully that night was Miss Strudworth. Normally her hair net would be undisturbed when she awoke but this wretched business with the Richards girl had quite undone her. What was she to do? The evidence against her was compelling but not definitive. Expulsion was drastic. Thornton had never had a student expelled in its history. But on the other hand, theft was a most heinous crime that showed total lack of character. And the Richards girl had accused those others. No angels – certainly not, little witches in fact – but to smear somebody's character ...

  Oh dear, it was all so difficult. Strudworth really identified with the poor Queen and what it must be like to head that particular family. Strudworth had been in such a state that she had not even time for her toast and marmalade. She'd skipped breakfast and now sat on her horse, watching the girls fall into line.

  Robotically, she reminded them that this was their last day of practice. 'Tomorrow we start your finals with dressage. Tuesday will be show-jumping and Wednesday we'll be finishing with the point-to-point.'

  Something was not right and now she realised what it was. The face she most needed to see was not there.

  'Has anybody seen Richards?'

  Lucinda piped up.

  'She wasn't at breakfast.'

  Strudworth tried to keep the lid on her exasperation. 'Why didn't you tell me?'

  Rebecca explained she had been listening to her iPod.

  'And it's not like she's that noticeable,' added Emma, to general agreement.

  Lucinda felt the need to elaborate. 'Her wardrobe is the pits.'

  A short time later a concerned Strudworth stood in the stables with Hatcher. They had checked the boiler room and found it cleaned out.

  'Looks like Charlotte has run away.'

  Leila listened to this development with dread building in her heart.

  Hatcher sighed wearily, 'I guess she couldn't handle being caught. She's probably got a bus to the city and from there she'll get a coach or train back home.'

  The idea of a thirteen-year-old country girl alone in the city troubled Strudworth greatly. There were too many dangers. She announced she would phone the police. She and Hatcher left.

  Leila looked over at the condemnatory face of the grey mare.

  'I know. I know,' she blurted.

  A big city was tough enough for anybody to handle, but Charlie there! That would be like a little woolly lamb being led to the slaughter. The kid had no survival skills. There were bad people in the city, and Le
ila wasn't just thinking of agents and reviewers. She couldn't rely on police to find Charlotte. After all, Leila had been nag-napped, taken to the other side of the world, and no police had any idea where she'd gone. No, she was going to have to do it herself.

  A few minutes later, Leila had snuck out of the barn, jumped four fences and made it through the bush and onto the highway. Inside the bus shelter she smelled baby powder. Odds on Charlie had been there as recently as this morning. Probably the buses didn't run in the evening and she'd had to spend the night on the bench here. Leila had no idea where the city was but given the air here was smogfree she guessed it wasn't anywhere close by. Oh well, looks like it was shanks's pony for now. She trotted off down the road.

  About half an hour later she caught a break. Parked at a service station was a large truck carrying an empty swimming pool. Fortunately, with her recent practice, it was easy for Leila to jump up into the pool.

  After about five minutes the driver came out of the shop carrying a hamburger. He didn't notice Leila as he bent to open his door.

  'You heading for the city?' she called out, then ducked her head.

  'Yeah,' the driver answered. He looked around to see who'd asked. There was no sign of anybody. He shook his head, mumbled that he'd have to stop doing these long hauls because they were making him nuts, then he climbed into his cab and turned on the engine.

  Sleeping in the bus shelter didn't present any real hardship to Charlotte. She'd slept on much rougher ground with fire ants nipping at her feet. The city, on the other hand, was so much noisier, smellier and scarier than she'd ever imagined. The buildings were so tall. She stepped onto the road to get a better look and a car-horn blared so loudly she nearly jumped out of her skin. With her heart pounding, she dived back onto the footpath. The driver of a van shouted at her as he roared past.

  It was really strange here. There were so many people but nobody looked at anyone else, they all seemed to be too busy. Charlotte realised that Strudworth might have told the police about her so she kept out of the way of any policemen she saw. The bus driver had pointed out the train station, which she was relieved to see was only a few blocks from where she had been dropped. But it took a long time getting through the traffic.