CHAPTER 1
Molly Burke stopped walking and stared at the new flyer on the school bulletin board. “Pinch me, Kari,” she said.
“Why?” her best friend asked.
“So I know I’m not dreaming,” Molly said. She rubbed her eyes and looked again.
She wasn’t dreaming. The flyer said, “North Star Stable: Horseback Riding Lessons, Low Prices.”
Kari looked at the flyer and sighed. “Oh,” she said. “Horseback riding lessons. I was hoping it was going to be something exciting.”
“It is exciting!” Molly said.
Molly had loved horses since the first time she saw one on TV. She cut horse pictures out of magazines and saved them in a scrapbook. She had read all the horse books in the library, twice!
She collected glass horses and horse toys. The bouncy-horse she had when she was little was still stored in the attic. But she’d never ridden on a real horse.
“This could totally change my life,” Molly said.
“I thought your dad wouldn’t let you take lessons,” Kari said.
“He won’t let me take lessons at Bay Meadow,” Molly said. “Too expensive. But this says low prices!”
Kari leaned closer to read the small print on the flyer. “The trainer is a fifth-grade teacher,” she told Molly. “Her name is Ms. North.”
Molly smiled. “That will make it even easier to convince my parents to let me take lessons,” she said. “Where is this new stable?”
Gabrielle and Lily walked up behind them. Molly spun around.
“What new stable?” Gabrielle asked, crossing her arms.
Molly looked at the flyer and read the address. “It says it’s on Skylark Road,” she said.
“I know that place. It’s next to Bay Meadow,” Lily said. “It’s not a new stable. It’s an old farm.” She and Gabrielle looked at each other and laughed.
Molly frowned. She knew that Gabrielle and Lily kept their horses at Bay Meadow. They wore riding clothes to school when they had horse shows, which Molly thought was really cool.
Molly had always wanted to be friends with Gabrielle and Lily, since they loved horses as much as she did. But Gabrielle and Lily didn’t want to be friends with her. They only hung out with kids who took lessons at Bay Meadow and owned horses of their own.
“I can’t believe somebody bought that rundown place,” Gabrielle added.
“Maybe Ms. North fixed it up,” Kari said.
“Maybe, but I bet the horses are old and boring,” Gabrielle said. “Lesson horses usually are. That’s why Lily and I own our own horses. Taking lessons at some old farm really isn’t the same thing at all.” She stuck her nose in the air. Then Gabrielle and Lily walked away.
Molly frowned. But she didn’t care if it wasn’t the same. She just wanted to learn how to ride a horse. As long as it had four legs, a mane, and a tail, any horse would be perfect.
Molly looked at the flyer. Then she wrote down the phone number in her notebook.