She smiled down at the paper on her desk. She was pleased with her new essay. And she’d finished it just in time: tomorrow was the day that everyone had to read their essays out loud in front of the whole class. “What’s it about?” Maria whispered from the desk next to hers. Maria was writing about “Horseback Riding: A Sport for Everyone.” She had been inspired by a program at the stable where she took riding lessons. With the help of trained volunteers, disabled kids who could barely walk were learning how to ride horses. “It’s a surprise,” said Lizzie, wiggling her eyebrows mysteriously. Even though she was pretty sure by now that Bella was going to make it, she still wasn’t ready to tell Maria the secret. She wanted to wait until she was one hundred percent sure that Bella would live. She stretched and yawned. She was so, so tired from taking care of Bella. Fostering a newborn puppy had turned out to be way more work than she had expected. And it might still be weeks until Bella was old enough and strong enough to go to a new home.
