Love and Muddy Puddles

  Chapter 20

   

   

  We were a week away from Pony Camp and all of us—Josh, Charlie, James, Tessa and me—had been pressed into service, despite the house building. Mud bricks could wait. The horses had to come first for a week and our job was to clean up the building behind the stables on Ness’s property to make sure it was ready for when the campers arrived.

  “It’s where we’ll sleep,” explained Tessa, excitedly. She was finally coming back to her old happy self after the whole Dee incident. She’d gone quiet and miserable for a bit but it all seemed to be okay again now. “Basically, we hang out here when we’re not riding.”

  “Which isn’t much really,” said James. “Most of the day we’re on the horses. It’s only at night and meals and things.”

  “Does everyone sleep in the same room?” asked Josh.

  “No, silly,” said Tessa. She smiled at him. It looked like it was on again between them. “It’s girls on this side and boys over there.” She pointed in the direction of two crowded bunk rooms, each on the end of the long main area. I looked around and wrinkled up my nose.

  “It’s kind of smelly,” I said and I saw a tiny smile creep onto James’ face.

  “I think that’s what the detergent and mops are for,” said Charlie. She emptied her bucket of water on the floor and passed me the mop. “Come on, sunshine.”

  “Tell me you don’t clean on Pony Camp,” I said. “What else happens apart from riding?”

  “If it’s cool, we light a fire in the fireplace and usually Mum has marshmallows—like heaps of them—to toast,” said Tessa.

  “Yes, and then sometimes we play card games,” said James. “Really late. I think last year we stayed up till about 3am.” He grinned at me.

  “Doesn’t Ness make you go to sleep?” Charlie asked.

  “Ha ha, that’s funny,” said James. “If there are cards involved, she’s up later than anyone. But normally she can only do it on the first night. The second night she’s in bed by nine and snoring by 10.” He grinned at me. I raised my eyebrows, amused.

  “And last year, after she went to bed we played this massive game of Truth or Dare,” said Tessa, her eyes shining. “It was so awesome—one guy actually climbed the roof of the stables and howled at the moon at midnight.”

  “That’s cool!” said Josh.

  “Awesome,” said Charlie.

  I was inspired. “Hey, we should play Truth or Dare right now.” I looked at James who was still looking at me. “If we have to mop and clean at least we should do something interesting while we do it. What do you reckon?”

  “Yeah, okay.” James nodded. There was a twinkle in his eyes. “I’m in.”

  “So.” I leant on my mop and tilted my head at him. “Truth or dare?”

  “Hang on a minute,” he said. “Not so fast. What are your rules?”

  “Normal rules,” I said. “Simple. You answer the question with the complete truth, no exceptions. Or else you accept the dare.”

  “What kind of questions are you going to ask?” I couldn’t tell if he was teasing me or being straightforward.

  “What do you mean? The usual kind, of course. Who do you like? Who do you fancy? That kind of stuff.” I looked at him, my eyes big with pretend exasperation. “You’re just trying to stall. What will it be? Truth? Or dare?” I tipped my head on the side, daring him with my voice.

  His blue eyes caught the light and he hesitated for a second, but I couldn’t read his expression.

  “I’ll take a dare,” he said.

  “Alright,” whooped Josh. “It’s on.”

  The four of us had to come up with a dare for James. Which was harder said than done. He was pretty much immune to the smell of horse poo and none of us could have stomached seeing him eat it so we let that idea slide. He could ride anything anywhere so a bareback gallop down the paddock was too easy. I was for suggesting that he climb up the inside of the chimney but Tessa reminded us that we’d be just making more soot and mess for ourselves to clean up. Finally Josh looked up and around at the millions of daddy longlegs spiders on the wall and ceiling.

  “Why don’t we make it that he has to eat a spider?” he said.

  “Three spiders,” said Tessa, jumping up and down.

  “No, five,” I said, giving him a look. “Five squishy, crunchy spiders. Yummy yummy.”

  It took a little while to catch the spiders but pretty soon James had them all in his mouth. “Delicious,” he said, and he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue to show us that they’d gone down. “Ahh.”

  “Ew,” I said, shuddering, but I was giggling too. “I can’t believe you did that.”

  “Just like chicken,” he said, teasing me. “You should try some.”

  Next we dared Josh to climb on the roof, which he did with a few wobbles and a few tiny flashes of fear in his eyes that probably only Charlie and I saw. Tessa seemed appropriately impressed. And then we asked Charlie who she liked for her truth question, but it was a very disappointing answer.

  “No one.” She grinned. “I’m serious. I don’t like anyone. That’s the absolute truth.”

  “That’s not fair,” I said. “No fun. You should do another one.”

  “No way,” she said. “It’s your fault for not asking a better question.”

  It was Tessa’s turn next and, like Charlie, she chose truth.

  “Don’t waste the question,” I said to the others before anyone could speak. “Seriously. We probably already know who she likes.” At this Tessa went red and Josh lowered his eyes. “We should ask a different question. Make it worthwhile.”

  Everyone started to think. Should it be about horses? School? Old crushes? Suddenly I knew what to ask. It was perfect.

  “I’ve got it! Don’t say anything, anyone!” I said quickly. “Tessa, here’s your question. Which is your ugliest feature? Your face, your bust or your dress sense?”

  I told you earlier that I had a tendency to shoot off my mouth without thinking.

  In my brain, it had all sounded so clever. Funny. Ironic, even. But as soon as the words came out of my mouth and met the open air, I saw them turn into tiny pieces of sharp glass and whiz through the room like bullets. I could see Tessa wincing, physically injured by each one as it came at her.

  I stood for a second, aghast at what I’d done. And then the room turned into one of those ads where everyone stops except for the main character and the world is kind of frozen in one moment.

  But then it unfroze. And the repercussions began.

  First Tessa gasped at me. She was open mouthed. She swallowed, went to speak, swallowed and looked at me. “I, um,” she said. And then she couldn’t say anything at all. Instead, she turned and ran.

  The door slammed and Charlie was at me.

  “Coco. I can’t believe you said that. What were you thinking?”

  “Good one, dumb-brain,” came Josh’s voice from behind. “Look what you’ve done. How do you think you’re going to slide out of making the insult of the century?”

  I was waiting for James’s voice, but he had nothing to say. He just turned away, but not before I caught a glimpse of his face. It was disappointed and sad. I dropped my mop on the floor with a splash.

  And then I turned and ran in the opposite direction. All the way back to the farm.