Chapter One Abby jumped down from the school bus steps and raced up the long driveway to the farmhouse on the hill Bye Thanks Ms Bea she remembered to call back to the bus driver Her backpack seemed to feel lighter with every step she took Abby didn’t dislike school exactly but it made her feel tired The day was long and filled with one challenge after another Loud bells sudden changes from one subject to the next and waiting in line So much waiting in line And then there were the other kids If only they were as easy to understand as the word problems in math class For those you just had to figure out what the question was really asking write it down as an equation and solve it No problem But there was no equation for working out people problems and it seemed like the rules were always changing
For example why did her maybe-friends Cora Cat and Savannah invite her to ride bikes with them yesterday and act like they barely knew her today Why did her definitely-friend Miriam get so grumpy when Abby said Miriam’s new glasses made her look like John Lennon Miriam loved the classic rock group the Beatles Why wouldn’t she want to look like one of their lead singers Most of all why did Abby’s usually annoying classmate Jamal help her pick up the stack of library books she’d dropped on the stairs Sure she’d only dropped them in the first place because he’d bumped into her but usually he would have just raced off without even apologizing Abby left all these questions behind as she entered the spacious ranch house She dropped off her backpack at her unloading dock near the mudroom door and left her shoes there too She always kept her stuff in the same place so she wouldn’t lose track of it
in the rush to get ready for school With three sisters close to her own age mornings in the Ramirez household could be pretty chaotic She knew she was going to be home alone this afternoon for a few hours Her dad had taken Emily and Grace to their dentist appointments her mom was still at work and Natalie’s school didn’t get out until later Amigo I’m home she called out But it wasn’t necessary Amigo was already hurrying in from his favorite spot in the living room well as much as he hurried these days Like Abby Amigo was ten years old For dogs this was pretty old around the age of Abby’s grandparents Not long ago Abby had come home to find Amigo missing from the house It turned out there was a problem with his heart and he had to be taken to the animal hospital where her mom worked as a veterinarian Mrs Ramirez had prescribed Amigo medicine for
his heart condition It was Abby’s job to give him the pills with his breakfast every morning She did everything for Amigo Until recently Amigo had gone to school with her as her service dog for autism He was trained to help her in several different ways if she started to get stressed out or overwhelmed But he was mostly retired now and he only went to school with Abby if she was having a really bad day Amigo came over and licked Abby’s hands his fringed golden-brown tail waving in the air He was a golden retriever a breed known for its friendly temperament and trainability Amigo had originally been trained as a service dog for another child Unfortunately that boy had been very sick and had died from his illness Amigo had gone back to the Helping Paws Center where he had originally been trained Abby had picked him out right away when her family had gone there to find her a service dog That had been four years ago Since then Abby
