This was going to be an awesome day, thought Heidi Shipton as she grabbed her back pack and rushed out the door. She gave her big Great Dane, Casper, a hug and poured him some water and dog food. "Don’t forget your lunch" Heidi’s mom, Mrs. Shipton, called out to her. Heidi rushed back in and grabbed the yellow sack. She gave her mom a peck on the cheek and ran out the front door.

As Heidi was walking to the bus stop she made a mental list of all the things she had to look forward to: There was the student council meeting at lunch today, where they would be able to discuss where the 7th grade class would go on their end-of-the-year trip; today was also the day she got to skip her least favorite class, Geography, to have her volleyball party with her teammates; after school she had volleyball practice, and later her older adopted brother Nathan was bringing his girlfriend, Summer, to give Heidi and her adopted sister Josefina horseback lessons. Yes, today would be an awesome day.

As soon as she got to the battered old yellow sign that had long since passed its good days, Heidi saw her blonde friend, Alyssa. Alyssa saw her at the same time and trotted up to her and gave a wacky-but-very-Alyssa "hello". "Hi," Heidi replied, with a huge smile. "Why the long face?", Alyssa chided. They both enjoyed a good laugh for a few minutes, then Heidi related her "Celebration List" to her. "Wow, you sure do have a good day to look forward to, but me, on the other hand---well, I have a Geography test to make up, a P.E. exam, and I have to clean the tables at lunch!!!!" Once again (like always), the friends enjoyed another laugh! They both looked up when they heard the big "sssssccccrrrrrreeeeeeccccchhhhh" of the big yellow bus coming up the hill. They straightened their hair and stood up tall, hoping to impress the eighth grade boys on the bus. The bus slammed to a stop, the door opened and the two girls climbed on and found a seat together. Once they got to school they rushed to the locker that they shared and pulled out the books they would need for their first class, English.

The day went very well, as Heidi expected, and it also went very fast. Before she knew it she was running into the smelly old locker room; putting on her knee pads, blue volleyball jersey, gym shorts; pulling her long brown hair in a ponytail, grabbing her water bottle, and running out the door to the court. After volleyball practice was over, the undefeated team wearily trudged into the locker room, showered, and changed.

"Mom, I’m home," Heidi yelled as she opened the squeaky screen door. Casper greeted her with a slobbery hello and a bark. "Hey, boy!" she said back to him. On her way to her room she grabbed two freshly made chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk for a snack. "Heidi, come into my room," her older sister, Josefina, called out to her. She reluctantly put her cookies and milk down on her desk and walked briskly into her sister’s room. Her only slightly-older sister looked up from her Algebra book and said to her, "Summer called and said she would be an hour late, so that means you can wash Skipper". Heidi told her thanks and went into her room.

She smiled as she thought of Skipper, her four-year-old buckskin Quarter horse. She had gotten him when he was a tiny foal, an it seemed like only yesterday when she had to spend an hour or two every day training him to be agreeable. Now, four years later, he was becoming a fine horse, with strong muscles and a beautiful head that was made for halter classes. He loved to run, and that was half the reason that they were State Champions for Breakaway Roping. She was currently working on Barrel Racing with him, and Summer was helping them.

She quickly finished her snack and homework, and pulled on her paddock boots and baseball cap. Casper followed her on her way to the barn. As she was taking the buckskin gelding out of his stall and leading him into the wash pit, he raised his fine head and gave a trumpeting whinny. She gently hooked his halter to the cross-ties and grabbed the hose. The bath went well; she only got partly soaked!