Team Challenge by Janet Rising

day having gone so badly, I wasn’t in the mood to show myself off as the model daughter.
    “This is Pia,” said Mom. “Pia, I’d like you to meet Greg.”
    “Good evening, Pia.”
    “Umm, hello,” I mumbled. Greg was pretty tall. He had sandy-colored hair, the sort of hair that looks like cotton balls, sort of undefined strands, just stuck on his head in a blob, like doll hair. His beard was gray and short and trimmed. His left earlobe sported a silver stud, which he was, like, decades too old for. What was that about?
    “Pia’s been looking forward to meeting you,” Mom lied. I smiled. Well, it seemed expected.
    “I understand you have a pony,” said Greg. “I used to ride when I was younger, but I gave it up when I discovered girls.” He looked across at Mom and grinned at her. She giggled back, blushing. I didn’t really think I could handle all this after the day I’d had. I thought furiously for something to say. What do grown-ups say when they meet?
    “What do you do for a living, Greg?”
    “I’m a teacher. English. Do you enjoy English at school, Pia?”
    OK, you can think I’m negative if you want (some of Drummer’s attitude rubs off), but don’t you think that teachers just never give it a rest? I mean, they just have to be right all the time, don’t they? I prayed that Greg wasn’t a typical teacher, because I could see trouble coming. It wasn’t long before it started.
    “Greg and I went to a fabulous restaurant by the river— I must take you there, Pia, you’d love it. Such a pretty place,” Mom told me.
    “Can you remember the name of the river, Sue?” Greg asked with a smarmy smile. “I did tell you.”
    See what I mean? “My mom’s a grown-up!” I wanted to scream. “She wasn’t on a field trip—it was a date, for goodness sake!”
    “Oh, no, I can’t. Sorry!” Mom giggled.
    “It’s detention for you, young lady!” joked Greg.
    Pass the barf bag, I thought. Luckily, they left soon after for dinner at some restaurant Mom has always liked the look of. As soon as they’d gone, I called Bean.
    “Look,” I said as soon as she answered, “we have to have a powwow tomorrow at the yard and discuss where the team goes from here. I think I need to have a word with the ponies. See you there at nine?”
    “OK, sounds like a plan,” Bean said. “What are you doing now? There’s a great movie on in ten minutes.”
    “My mom’s just gone on a date,” I told her. “You wouldn’t believe the geek she’s seeing now. Can you call Katy and tell her about tomorrow? I’ll call James.”
    James wasn’t answering his cell, so I sent him a text message. Then I cooked myself a baked potato with cheese and beans, watched the movie Bean had recommended, which made me laugh despite our disastrous day, and took myself off to bed before Greg brought Mom home. I couldn’t face another dose of him.
    The next morning, Mom insisted on asking my opinion of Greg. I so hate the postmortem of the first meeting. Remembering I had promised to support her in her dating, I put on my ever-so-sincere-if-you-don’t-look-too-close face that I’ve had rather a lot of practice at recently.
    “What’s important, Mom, is that you like him.”
    “I do, he’s very attentive.”
    I didn’t want to think about Greg being attentive to my mom. I biked to the yard with Epona in my pocket, trying to put all unbidden images out of my mind. Katy and Bean were already there so we pulled all the ponies in from the field, including Moth.
    “Are you going to read them the riot act?” asked Bean.
    “That’s the plan!” I told her grimly. Towing the ponies in behind us, we found James had arrived.
    “Come on,” I said, “let’s take this bunch somewhere where we won’t be disturbed.”
    “What are we going to do?” he joked. “Give them a good thrashing?”
    “Don’t say that!” cried Katy, hugging Bluey protectively. As if we would!
    “Oh, come on, Katy, it was a joke,” said James. “I