our request for accommodation,” she snaps as she drives me to the test. “It’s not right that you’re penalized for working hard to keep up with your class!”
Since my dyslexia means reading can take more time for me than for other people, I applied for extra SAT time. They turned me down, on the grounds that I take tests with everyone else at school, so I should be fine. Mom’s still furious about the injustice, but I’m over it. Plus I’m prepared. I could nail the SAT in
less
than the allotted time.
Okay, turns out that’s a lie.
I end up not finishing, and I walk out of the test with a sore pencil hand and a raging headache, but I think I did really well. In fact, I kinda can’t wait for the next two weeks to zip by so I can find out for sure.
I expect my mom to pick me up afterward, but instead it’s her friend Amanda. She looks really young to me, and I can’t figure out why until I remember the last time I saw her was at my mom’s wedding…three years from now. “Sorry, Autumn,” she says. “Contractor emergency. Your mom had to run out and talk to them at the new place. Wanna come hang with me and the pooches?”
If Mom’s out, I’m sure they’re shorthanded at Catches Falls, and I can always use some puppy therapy, so I say yes, and the minute I see the place I’m thrilled I did. Catches Falls isn’t huge. It’s a single storefront in the middle of a strip mall, but Mom’s a genius and put a puppy play area right by the big front window. People can’t help it. They always stop, check out the pups, and most of the time come in. Even if they don’t take a dog themselves, they volunteer or give a donation, so the place does really well. That’s why she’s working on the new location. It’s not on a popular walking street like this one, but it can hold a lot more dogs, and it’ll have a big outdoor area with a giant yard and a doggie swimming/wading pool shaped like a bone.
The current location isn’t as plush, but it’s still fantastic. It’s clean and open, with separate play corrals for puppies and medium-sized dogs. The new place will be able to handle bigger dogs, too, but right now Mom finds foster homes for those. Between all the corrals is a retail area where Mom sells leashes, treats, and all kinds of other doggie merch that she totally admits is overpriced, but the profits go to the rescue dogs’ care.
The minute Amanda and I get inside, I use the Purell wall dispenser and race into the puppy pen, then plop onto a low chair that would be right at home inside Mr. Winthrop’s office. Immediately I’m inundated with puppies. Four of them jump onto my lap and jockey for space, while one keeps leaping into my face to lick my nose.
“Hi, babies!” I coo. “Yes, I love you too! I do! I love all of you!”
“Cute,” a man’s voice says from the other side of the low puppy pen wall. I figure it’s a potential adopter, so I put on a big smile and turn to him, ready to make the hard sell…but instead I scream.
The man looks alarmed. “Are you okay? Did one of them bite you?”
“No, no, it’s not that,” I say. “It’s…”
But then my mouth kind of hangs there, open, because I’m completely out of words.
I know this guy. I’ve seen his too-long body with its gangly limbs before. I’ve seen his shiny nearly bald head with the thin fringe of yellow fur that seems to cascade down his sideburns into his far-too-bushy blond mustache and beard.
He raises his yellow eyebrows and peers down at me. “Is everything all right?”
No,
I want to say.
No, it’s not all right at all, because you’re the guy my mom’s going to marry in three years, and I’m not okay with it at all!
Then my heart starts thudding against my chest because I suddenly understand what’s happening. This guy is here because
this
is the day he and Mom are supposed to meet! This is the moment I can change her future and make sure the wedding never happens! All I have to do is make sure
Since my dyslexia means reading can take more time for me than for other people, I applied for extra SAT time. They turned me down, on the grounds that I take tests with everyone else at school, so I should be fine. Mom’s still furious about the injustice, but I’m over it. Plus I’m prepared. I could nail the SAT in
less
than the allotted time.
Okay, turns out that’s a lie.
I end up not finishing, and I walk out of the test with a sore pencil hand and a raging headache, but I think I did really well. In fact, I kinda can’t wait for the next two weeks to zip by so I can find out for sure.
I expect my mom to pick me up afterward, but instead it’s her friend Amanda. She looks really young to me, and I can’t figure out why until I remember the last time I saw her was at my mom’s wedding…three years from now. “Sorry, Autumn,” she says. “Contractor emergency. Your mom had to run out and talk to them at the new place. Wanna come hang with me and the pooches?”
If Mom’s out, I’m sure they’re shorthanded at Catches Falls, and I can always use some puppy therapy, so I say yes, and the minute I see the place I’m thrilled I did. Catches Falls isn’t huge. It’s a single storefront in the middle of a strip mall, but Mom’s a genius and put a puppy play area right by the big front window. People can’t help it. They always stop, check out the pups, and most of the time come in. Even if they don’t take a dog themselves, they volunteer or give a donation, so the place does really well. That’s why she’s working on the new location. It’s not on a popular walking street like this one, but it can hold a lot more dogs, and it’ll have a big outdoor area with a giant yard and a doggie swimming/wading pool shaped like a bone.
The current location isn’t as plush, but it’s still fantastic. It’s clean and open, with separate play corrals for puppies and medium-sized dogs. The new place will be able to handle bigger dogs, too, but right now Mom finds foster homes for those. Between all the corrals is a retail area where Mom sells leashes, treats, and all kinds of other doggie merch that she totally admits is overpriced, but the profits go to the rescue dogs’ care.
The minute Amanda and I get inside, I use the Purell wall dispenser and race into the puppy pen, then plop onto a low chair that would be right at home inside Mr. Winthrop’s office. Immediately I’m inundated with puppies. Four of them jump onto my lap and jockey for space, while one keeps leaping into my face to lick my nose.
“Hi, babies!” I coo. “Yes, I love you too! I do! I love all of you!”
“Cute,” a man’s voice says from the other side of the low puppy pen wall. I figure it’s a potential adopter, so I put on a big smile and turn to him, ready to make the hard sell…but instead I scream.
The man looks alarmed. “Are you okay? Did one of them bite you?”
“No, no, it’s not that,” I say. “It’s…”
But then my mouth kind of hangs there, open, because I’m completely out of words.
I know this guy. I’ve seen his too-long body with its gangly limbs before. I’ve seen his shiny nearly bald head with the thin fringe of yellow fur that seems to cascade down his sideburns into his far-too-bushy blond mustache and beard.
He raises his yellow eyebrows and peers down at me. “Is everything all right?”
No,
I want to say.
No, it’s not all right at all, because you’re the guy my mom’s going to marry in three years, and I’m not okay with it at all!
Then my heart starts thudding against my chest because I suddenly understand what’s happening. This guy is here because
this
is the day he and Mom are supposed to meet! This is the moment I can change her future and make sure the wedding never happens! All I have to do is make sure
Similar Books
