Antonia and the Big Competition: The Rosenburg Riding Stables, Volume 2
Sure called Antonia She ran to the breakfast ta ble and gulped her bread and jam under Karen’s disap proving eye Child you have to eat a sensible breakfast not al ways so rushed and on the way to the bus But Antonia didn’t hear her because she was already hurrying along the road to the bus stop The bus was approaching her stop Hello Leona she called and flopped into the empty seat next to her friend Can you quiz me on the vocabulary words And then I’ll quiz you Hey little girl Are you still trying not to fall off your horse rang out a voice from the back of the bus Alina Alina Senger What was she doing on the bus I haven’t seen you at a competition in a long time Have you given up compet ing Alina sneered
But Antonia had won the last summer competition ahead of Alina She probably couldn’t stand it Antonia turned around slowly Alina was sitting there with her friends grinning nastily right in Antonia’s face What’s with that asked Leona
Antonia just rolled her eyes You know Alina Senger She’s such a pain Just because she’s twelve she thinks she can do everything better ride faster and jump farther and higher But I won last time Nah she always has an excuse in store Either her horse had a bad day or she was blinded by the sun But Antonia suspected that now Alina would be making her life at school difficult too 14
Hard Training After eating lunch in the kitchen Antonia and Caroline helped Mr Sonnenfeld then Antonia got Elfin Dance out of the stall and saddled him Hello my beauty Do you think we’ll make it through the hurdles again today she asked Yesterday they hadn’t been bad it was only on the last hurdle that they had needed three approaches The closer the riding lesson got the more excited Antonia became At exactly three o’clock she was standing in the indoor riding arena with Elfin Dance greeting Mr Hegemann warmly It was still something special to get lessons from such a well-known riding instruc tor When Antonia thought back to their first riding lesson she had to smile After all not only did Mr Hegemann have a reputation for being an outstand ing riding instructor but he was also known for his strictness and discipline At the same time he gave all 15
