just because [pin hawthorne] 𝐢

chapter sixteen

"Becky's phone is definitely here somewhere," Jade said. They'd gone out to find Becky. Olivia was riding on Major with Zoe, since the two girls insisted she couldn't ride yet.

"But what if her phone is here, but she isn't?" Zoe said.

"Bob!" Exclaimed Olivia, pointing towards the horse she'd just spotted.

"But where's Becky?" Jade said. As soon as those words were out, they found Becky running towards them.

"Guys!" She exclaimed.

"Becky!" Zoe answered.

"I half thought the Ghost Pony caught you," Jade said, dismounting her horse.

"Why weren't you answering your phone?" Zoe asked, dismounting Major and helping Olivia down.

"I've been stalking out the old barn, look," she said, motioning the girls to follow. "I heard something coming, so I figured it was maybe Ghost Pony. So I snuck out the back," Becky explained. "But it wasn't a horse, it was a person. They didn't stay long, but they left the lights on, so I thought that maybe they'd—" she added.

"Come back?" Asked Zoe. Becky nodded. Right then, they heard a truck roll in. The four girls crouched down to observe the situation. The skirt of Olivia's dress brushed the ground, the dry earth dying the bottom light brown. Olivi tried bunching up the skirt so it wouldn't trail in the dirt, but to no avail. So much for the perfect dress, she thought.

"Look! I know that guy, that's the fake photographer!" Zoe said when a man came out of the truck.

"He's wearing one of our hoodies," observed Jade.

"How dare he!" Becky exclaimed, and Jade had to hold her back before she did something stupid.

"It all makes sense, I saw somebody at the beach with a Stables' hoodie that day," Zoe said.

"Sam must've given him one when he came to the yard," Jade thought out loud. The man took out a bag of horse feed and a large clanking chain.

"What's he doing?" Becky wondered.

"He's gonna chain up a horse," Zoe said in alarm.

"That's disgusting," Olivia sneered. The man's phone rang, and he answered, saying something about everything being ready.

"It's him," Zoe said, connecting the dots. "George is the horse thief," she concluded.

"What do we do?" Olivia asked.

"We catch him," Zoe answered daringly.

Once the thief had entered the barn, the four girls quickly snuck behind the truck.

"We need to call Derek," Becky said once they'd observed from closer by.

"What if he leaves before Derek gets here?" Jade said.

"We'll just have to keep him here somehow," Olivia said.

"I have an idea," Zoe said. "Olivia, go back, put to the treeline, and call Derek." Olivia nodded once. Silent and transparent as a wraith, Olivia snuck back to the woods where they'd left their horses, and dialed the emergency number. The phone rang twice before somebody picked up.

"Nine nine nine, what's your emergency?" The voice asked.

"Hello, uh, I'm at the old barn close by Bright Fields stables, there's a man here, I think he's going to steal a horse, I heard him on the phone," Olivia said, making herself sound more distressed than she truly was.

"Alright, we'll send someone in," the voice answered. Olivia moved back towards the treeline to observe as her friends tricked the man into his truck hull, and locked him in. Olivia ran back towards her friends, almost tripping.