Read Online The Golden Stranger by Karen Wood - Free Book Online Page B

Shara, aghast at the teeny-weeny size of it. Not on her nelly would she be squeezing into that thing.
    â€˜Just try it,’ said Rosie. ‘It has to be seen on .’ Shara took a step backwards and grimaced.
    â€˜Cum maahn !’
    Shara squirmed into the little red thing and stood in front of the mirror, trying to yank it down to a decent level. ‘I feel half naked.’
    â€˜Leave it up!’ said Rosie. ‘You look hot.’
    â€˜I look like a total rodeo floozy.’
    â€˜Exactly. You’ll fit right in. Got any good tops to go with it?’
    After several fittings, Rosie grudgingly approved
    Shara’s white T-shirt with brumbies on it, and cowboy boots.
    â€˜What jewellery are you going to wear?’
    â€˜Huh?’ said Shara. ‘Jewellery? You didn’t tell me I had to wear jewellery!’
    Her self-confidence was rapidly diminishing. In Coach–wood Crossing and at school, she was Shara Wilson – champion camp–drafter, up-and-coming vet, equine geneticist extraordinaire. In Brisbane she’d be some lame wannabe cowgirl who didn’t even own any jewellery.
    Rosie rolled her eyes and pulled a small silk purse from her handbag. It was full of earrings. She brought out a jangly pair with blue crystals and held them against Shara’s ears. ‘Perfect,’ she said, brushing Shara’s hair back. ‘They match your eyes.’
    Shara reluctantly took out her plain old sleepers and hooked the earrings into her earlobes.
    â€˜What about your charm bracelet?’ said Rosie.
    â€˜Oh, yeah.’ Shara opened the drawer in her bedside table.
    The delicate silver chain bore fifteen tiny charms. Every charm marked a new year in her life; a bootie for her first birthday and a teddy bear for her second. By her fifth, it was a horseshoe and for her sixth, after falling off her first pony, a tiny helmet; the little silver horse had been for her twelfth birthday, just after she’d bought Rocko from the saleyards, and for her fourteenth a tiny book had celebrated her scholarship to Canningdale College.
    Shara draped the bracelet over her wrist and held it out for Rosie to clasp. ‘Make sure it’s clipped on properly. I would die if I lost it.’ It was one of her most treasured possessions, so treasured, in fact, that she only ever wore it for Christmas and her birthday. ‘Do I look okay?’ She turned around.
    â€˜What about your hair?’
    â€˜What’s wrong with my hair?’
    Rosie looked at the ponytail clamped to the back of Shara’s head. ‘You look like someone who’s about to either muck out stables or play tennis.’
    â€˜We’re only supposed to be going to the movies,’ Shara argued.
    â€˜But it’s in the city ,’ said Rosie. ‘And it’s that big 3D screen. One of the biggest in the southern hemisphere. I almost wish I was going myself.’
    â€˜Rosie, we’re not really going to the movies, remember?’
    â€˜It doesn’t matter, we still have to convince your parents that you are. Besides, you might snag yourself a cowboy at the show.’
    Shara snorted. She didn’t know what was worse, being coerced into this web of deceit, being forced into a skirt, or having Rosie trying to get her a love-life. ‘I don’t like cowboys.’
    She scruffed her hair. ‘What will I do with my hair, then? It’s so boring.’
    â€˜It’s not, it’s gorgeous,’ said Rosie, running her fingers through it and looking at Shara in the mirror. ‘It’s so thick and blonde . Wish I had hair like that.’ Then she pulled a petulant face. ‘Tom might even notice that I exist!’
    â€˜Oh, Rosie, you two are total besties.’
    Rosie flicked her wispy hair over her shoulder and pouted. ‘I want to be more than just besties.’
    â€˜Maybe he’s just shy.’
    â€˜Maybe.’ Rosie took Shara by the shoulders