Free Rein P.H

* 10 *

Zoe, Becky, Jade and I were all prancing around in the tack room. The barn dance was that evening and so I informed Becky and Jade of my decision to invite Pin to the dance. Zoe smiled proudly at me and I blushed lightly.
"It's... We're just... Friends." I shrugged.
"Sure...!" Zoe laughed and I sighed, throwing a pink dress at her which fell to the floor in front of her feet.
"Hey, don't hurt it's feelings!" Becky cried, picking it up and dusting it off. I laughed and followed Zoe out of the door. She wanted to tell Marcus her good news before we went out. I was standing in the stall with Marcus and Zoe when I saw Sam. I gasped and ducked out of the stall, hiding behind a wall so she wouldn't see me.
"Phoebe." I looked up and saw Pin glaring down at me.
"Oh, hey Pin." I smiled brightly. 

"I'm not a charity case, alright!" He snapped.

I frowned as he raced off.
"What? Pin!" As I rushed after him, Zoe followed me.
"Mia told me why you asked me to the dance. You feel sorry for me."
"What? Since when do you believe anything Mia says?"
"Susie heard Becky, Jade and Zoe talking about it. Apparently I need to lighten up."
"No, Pin that's not fair - "
"I don't need you to look down on me."
"I don't look down on you."
"I'm not coming to the dance with you."
"But - " I sighed frustratedly as he walked off. I turned around sadly to look at Zoe.
"Phoebe..." She began but I shook my head.
"I don't want to know. Just forget about it okay." I slowly trudged after her, back into the tack room where Becky and Jade were arguing.
"What if Ghost pony comes back tonight?" Becky said.
"And what if it's not real?" Jade argued.
"What if we're in a spook-opalypse? No one is safe!" She cried, dropping the tablet. We all looked down at the smashed tablet.
"G.P made me do it." She protested.
"So the ghost pony made you clumsy did it?" Jade argued.
"You guys." Zoe butted in. "We can fix it."
"It might be haunted!" Becky warned.
"Can you just drop it?" Jade said exasperatedly.
"I already did." Becky replied.
"You owe me a new one." Warned Jade.
"If we don't deal with this now, you're going to owe me a new soul."
"Zoe tell her!" They both shouted in unison. I stepped back with my hands raised as Zoe looked back to me.
"Um. Well... You girls are both right in your own way."
"Seriously?" Jade asked. "I thought I could rely on you for a sensible answer."
"I thought you believed in Ghost Pony." Becky said sadly as she and Jade both left the tack room.
"Okay, wait, what?"
"This sucks." I sighed. "Look, I gotta go. Have fun with Raven, yeah? Stay safe. I waved over my shoulder and Zoe called after me,
"Come to mine before the dance and we'll get ready." she smiled encouragingly.
"Sure." I answered.

*         *          *

"Phoebe?!" I looked up as the front door slammed shut.
"In the kitchen, dad." I smiled at him as I took the pie out of the oven.
"Thank you, Phoebe but I'm afraid I'm going out tonight. You'll be good by yourself, yeah?"
"Oh right, of course. What's it for?"
"Just a couple of drinks with  friends from work. Nothing for you to worry about. I'll be back by 10." I nodded as he went upstairs. At least I wouldn't have to worry about sneaking out. Whenever he went out drinking he never gets back until gone midnight.
After eating my slice of pie I sat in the front room, staring at the tv screen blankly until dad got up to get changed. Half an hour later he came downstairs, waved goodbye and left, slamming the door behind him. Once I was sure he was gone and wouldn't come back I looked at my phone to find 5 messages from Zoe and Jade asking where I was and where Becky was. I frowned and raced upstairs, grabbing my bag and then racing out the front door, into the back field and down the road to Zoe's. 

*          *         *

"Hey Jade!" I said as she opened the door to let me in Zoe's house.
"Come on upstairs, we need to get you ready." She said, pushing me into Zoe's room.
"Phoebe!" Zoe cried happily.
"Wow, you guys look amazing." I said as Jade entered the room and shut the door. Jade was wearing a gorgeous deep blue dress while Zoe chose silver and a sort of retro fashion.
"Here is your dress." Zoe said, handing me a folded pile of red fabric.
"And here are the shoes." Jaded added, handing me a pair of shiny black heels. I raised an eyebrow as I took them but didn't say anything.
"Hurry, hurry!" Zoe said, flapping her arms. "We still need to do your makeup."
I managed to wriggle my way into the dress and I couldn't help but admire it as I slipped on the heels too.
When I walked out the girls were busy trying to contact Becky.
"Pick up the phone, pick up the phone." Zoe muttered as she paced. "Voicemail again. It's kind of hard to apologise to someone when they won't pick up the phone, huh?"
"I'm worried, Zoe. Becky's so excited about the dance she would never miss it. Unless..."
"Something's happened." I finished. 

The two girls looked up surprised and their eyes widened when they saw me. I smiled shyly as they both complimented me.

"We need to find Becky." I said and they nodded determinedly.
"Check her blog." I suggested and Jade whipped out her phone.
"She posted a live video and hour ago. It's about ghost pony." She laughed.
"At least we know she's okay." Zoe shrugged. Suddenly on the blog Becky freaked out and the video cut out.

 "We have to go find her."

*          *          *
"What if the ghost pony zapped her?" Jade asked as we followed Zoe through the woods on horse back.
"This is the worst possible outfit to be riding in." I said, shuffling around on Joey's saddle in my tight dress.
"Are you trying to freak us out?" Zoe asked, referring to jade's statement.
Suddenly Zoe gasped,
"Bob!" I looked to my left and saw Becky's horse.
"Where"s Becky?' I asked.
"Guys!" We looked to the right to see Becky racing towards us.
"Becky!"
"I half thought the ghost pony caught you." Jade said as she dismounted.
"Why weren't you answering your phone?" Zoe asked.
"I've been staking out the old barn, look." She marched away causing us to hurry after her. I was very grateful that I had grabbed my riding boots.
"I heard a noise and I thought it might be ghost pony. So I snuck out the back. But it wasn't a horse. It was a person. They didn't stay long but they left the light on so I thought they might come back."
I heard a van revving just as Zoe was about to step on the path so I pulled her back behind the bushes. A guy got out and Zoe exclaimed,
"That's the fake photographer!"
"He's wearing one of our hoodies." I observed.
"How very dare he?!" Becky cried and stood up but we all grabbed her arm, dragging her down and shushing her.
"It all makes sense now. I saw someone at the beach in a stables hoodie. Sam must've given him one when he came to the yard."
"What's he doing?" Becky asked as the guy unloaded a large bag, hauling it over his shoulder.
"That's horse feed." Jade answered.
"He's going to chain up a horse." Zoe said. Suddenly the guys phone started ringing.
"Yes, everything's ready at my end." He said as he answered it. 

"This is crazy!" I hissed as we snuck forward.
"He's definitely going to keep a horse in there." Zoe said as we hid behind the van.
"We need to call Derek." Becky said.
"What if he leaves before Derek gets here." Jade said.
"Do you still have that video of Bob, when Becky thought he was singing?" Zoe asked and I turned to her confusedly.
"Yes." Jade said, taking out her phone.
"He was singing." Becky protested.
"Something was irritating his nose."
"Which was making him sing."
"Guys!" I hissed.
Jade handed Zoe the phone and she started playing it.
"Who's there?" The photogtapher asked, climbing into the van.
When he got in we lifted up the door.
"We did it!" We cried, high fiving.
"Come on, we don't want to be late!"