This starts where "Olympic Dreams" ends....DJ is grounded because she had tried to run away, and Amy Yamamoto, her best friend, had chicken pox. DJ went to bed & thought maybe it was a good thing that school was starting soon.

Although she was 14, she had just become a "latch-key kid" and was on her way to the Academy the next morning. She missed Diablo, but he and his owners, the Ortegas, had moved to Texas. She interacted with each of the horses in her care. James had been accepted at the West Virginia Military Academy, but he didn't know when her would be leaving. Gray Bar, James' filly, was looking for treats. When she got home, the house smelled lonely, but she started getting dinner ready anyway.

After chores, drawing, & making dinner, she was hoping that the phone would ring. Until now Gran had made the house a home, but at least the smell of the tacos got rid of the empty smell. She decided to think about Major, Joe's horse that would soon be hers, then went back to drawing. When Lindy, her mom, got home, all she saw was that the kitchen was a mess, which upset DJ. She was raging at her mom's accusations. When she cut her hand on a piece of broken glass, it dripped all over the kitchen, and she wondered how long it took to bleed to death!

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http://www.networkedblogs.com/p/MaPeJ?ref=panorama ( )