Chasing Dream Read Online Free Page A

legs, but they move like lightning. It’ll be fun to see what he can do.” I take the last bite of my peanut butter sandwich. That’s what my mom makes for my lunch. If I want something else, I have to buy it.
    Rashawn is leaning on her hand, elbow on the table, and staring at me. “Ellie, what made you decide to have a horse race anyway?”
    I think about how I want to say this.
    Rashawn presses me for an answer. “Couldn’t have anything to do with Dream being in the library yesterday, could it?”
    â€œMaybe.” I get a flashback of Dream and me leaving the school and Larissa and her friends laughing at us.
    Then I get another picture of when I first saw my pinto on school grounds. She wasn’t mine then. She looked scraggly and skinny. She tore around the school yard, dodging the animal control people. The entire school was laughing at her.
    â€œI guess I want to show everybody that my horse isn’t some kind of joke. I want people to see how wonderful Dream—”
    â€œAw, isn’t this cute?” Larissa interrupts sarcastically. She turns to Cassie. “Are you bringing Phony Pony to watch the big race tomorrow?”
    â€œMy pony’s name is Misty,” Cassie answers. “And Misty and I will be racing on Friday.”
    â€œHow cute is that!” Larissa exclaims. She turns to Rashawn. “Don’t tell me you’re bringing Musty too.”
    Rashawn glares at Larissa but keeps her cool. “ Dusty and I will be there. Thanks so much for asking.”
    Larissa turns her red head in my direction. “Wait. Ellie, I thought this was going to be a race . . . not a tractor pull.”
    Every year at the fair, there’s a tractor-pulling event. Giant horses, like Clydesdales, compete to see how far they can pull big farm machinery. Larissa’s crack is a direct slam on Rashawn’s horse. And I won’t stand for it.
    â€œWhat’s up with you, Larissa? Are you so worried about the competition that you have to make fun of everybody else’s horse? Why don’t you save it for the race?”
    â€œOh, don’t worry about that, Ellie,” she says. “I’ll have plenty left for the race.”

6

    Get Set
    After school, Colt and I go riding together. We walk the horses down our road until gravel turns to dirt. Then we trot. I still haven’t gotten a saddle, so I’m riding bareback. At horsemanship practice, Mr. Harper, Ashley’s dad, lets me borrow any of the saddles Ashley’s not using. Sometimes I ride Western, sometimes English. I’m not sure how I’m going to ride in the big race.
    I glance at Bullet. When Colt got his horse, you really had to use your imagination to see the cow horse underneath all that fat. But Bullet’s muscles are taking shape again.
    â€œIf you ask me, Colt, I’d say our horses are looking good. Dream has gained so much weight, I’ll have to start cutting back on her Omolene pretty soon. And Bullet is really slimming down.”
    â€œI can’t wait for Bullet to be in tip-top shape,” Colt admits. He frowns, and he’s quiet for a second. “It was strange—yesterday I found the lid off of the can where I store his oats. I could have sworn he’d broken in and eaten half of the oats in there. But when I looked for him, he was still out in the pasture. There’s no way he could have gotten into the bin from out there.”
    Colt is bouncing a little too much in the saddle. But his riding skills get better every day we take the horses out. “I guess Bullet will lose the rest of the weight in his own time. Until he does, though, I’m afraid to make him gallop hard. I don’t want him having a heart attack.”
    â€œI know. You’re doing the right thing.” We turn left at the Penney farm. J. C. Penney grew up in Hamilton. Dad says my great-great-grandpa went to school with “Jimmy Cash.” But