Amy and Amber (5 page)

“No way,” snapped Kayla. “I am not having
her
make me look like an idiot!” She gave me a very moody glare then, and Sally stepped in,
saying, “Kayla, calm down.” Then she turned to the Group B girls. “Right, on that note I think we'll get back to the yard. Well done, everyone, I'm sure there'll be some excellent footage for the video.”

So they walked their ponies back in and us Group A girls followed along, chatting as usual, but the way Kayla was acting had taken the shine off things, to be honest. I mean, she only fell in a bit of poo. Once I stepped backwards into a whole wheelbarrow of it at the stables where we ride and we both laughed so much our cheeks hurt! I don't know why she had to take it so seriously today. Or why she said “
her
” in that horrible way, to mean me.

She didn't speak to me in the barn while we were mucking out the pens, so I just ignored her back and filmed Jas and Lexy instead. They were pretending to nearly faint because of the smell as they loaded the old straw into the wheelbarrow.

It was funny, but at the same time it made me feel even sadder because me and Kayla should have been messing about like that, too. We've been looking forward to this holiday for so long and now we're here I don't understand why she's spoiling it.

Anyway, Amber looked so cute tied up outside the pen munching hay that I set the camera up on a couple of straw bales to film her. Then I got on with mucking out. Oh, I've just realized, I must have left it behind when we got called in for lunch. We're going out to the yard in about half an hour, when the clearing up's all done, but I'll ask Jody if I can quickly pop out and get it now.

Well, I hurried back out to the barn and…

My camera wasn’t there!

It wasn’t on the bales where I’d left it, and I looked and looked but I couldn’t see it anywhere. I just stood there, not knowing what to do, with my heart banging and my stomach churning.

Where on earth was it?

All my footage for the video was gone! And what would Dad say about me losing the camera?

I ran back to the farmhouse and blurted out to everyone that it was missing. I felt really panicky, and the others just looked shocked.

“All your hard work!” Jas cried.

“What are we going to do about the video?” Lexy asked.

Jody gave me a big hug. “Now, let’s not panic,” she said calmly. “It has to be around here somewhere. Are you sure you left it in the barn? You didn’t bring it in here with you and put it down?”

I shook my head. “I put it on the straw bales to film Amber while we were mucking out the pens,” I told her.

That’s when I felt a shiver run down my spine. I looked at Jody. She was thinking the same thing. “Could it have fallen into the straw and been taken out to the muck heap?” she asked.

“Maybe,” I murmured.

“OK, who wants to help Amy look for it?” she said. It was so nice that all the girls volunteered, even Kayla. “Right, Millie, Kayla and Shanika, you go with Amy and check the muck heap. Sarah and Genevieve, you go and look in
the barn again. Jas, Lexy and Ava, you’re on the rota for clearing up so you can help search as soon as you’ve finished, OK? Although I’m sure you’ll have found it by then, Amy,” she added, giving me a smile.

Everyone went out into the porch bit and started pulling their boots on. I did too, but then I suddenly needed the loo, and when I came out, Kayla was there alone, waiting for me.

“Amy, I need to say something…” she began, looking sheepish. She blushed. “Well, it’s, I…”

Just then, Shanika and Millie poked their heads back in. They looked at me looking at Kayla. “What is it?” I asked her, impatient to get outside.

“I’m really sorry for being horrible to you this morning,” she gabbled. “I was just being silly. Can you forgive me?”

Maybe in another situation I would have asked her why she’d acted like that. But I was just glad she was back to her usual self, and I wanted to get on with finding the camera, so I said, “Yeah, course, come on, let’s go.”

She linked arms with me. “Don’t worry, we’ll find it and everything will be OK,” she said.

“That’s right,” added Millie. Shanika linked arms with me on the other side and out we went.

Well, we searched the muck heap for what felt like ages, turning over the straw with forks. We had to stand right ON the pile and it really smelled. There was no sign of the camera and I got that heart-hammering feeling again, especially when Sarah and Genevieve came back and said there was no sign in the barn either. Then Jas,
Lexy and Ava came out and asked what they could do to help. “I don’t know,” I gasped, feeling my eyes prickle with tears. “It’s not anywhere here!”

Sally came over to us then, looking very serious. “Sorry to hear about your camera, Amy,” she said, frowning. “It hasn’t been handed in to the office and I’ve asked all the staff – no one’s picked it up. And Jody’s double-checked the farmhouse. I’m afraid we have to consider the possibility that it’s been stolen, and if so then this is a very serious matter indeed.”

We all gasped.
Stolen?
No one had even
thought
of that. I mean, who would do something so terrible?!

“Anyway, I’m sure that’s not the case, and it’ll turn up soon,” Sally said then, seeing the startled look on my face. “Right, we really must get ready for the lesson now, girls.”

“What about our riding display for the video?” I asked.

“Yeah, we’ve planned it all out and everything,” added Jas.

This morning in our lesson we’d come up with this whole flatwork routine to film. Seeing how disappointed everyone was just made me feel even more awful and that was the final straw. I couldn’t hold the tears back any more and I burst into loud sobs.

Kayla hugged me, and then Shanika and Millie did too. “Hey, don’t worry,” said Kayla, “Like Sally says, it’ll turn up.”

We started to walk back towards the yard to get our tack. On our way down the lane Kayla stopped by the grass verge. “Oh, I think I’ve got a stone in my boot,” she said, frowning. “You all go on,
I’ll just stop here and sort it out.”

Usually, I would have waited for her, but Sally was calling us to hurry up, so I carried on with the others. But we’d only gone a few paces when…

“Hey!” called Kayla. “Look, it’s here!”

She was crouching in a patch of long grass by the side of the lane. Then she held up my camera! I ran back and gave her a big hug. “Oh, Kayla, well done! You star!” I cried. It was such a relief to have the camera there, in my hand. I kept looking down at it and grinning.

“It was just here, it must have fallen out of a barrow on the way to the muck heap,” Kayla said. “When I took my boot off, I thought I saw a flash of silver in the grass. I went over to have a look and there it was!”

“We’ve found it!” Millie yelled across the lane. The others all clapped and cheered.

“Well done!” cried Sarah, as we caught them up. “We should have thought to look all along the route as well!”