Losing Francesca Read Online Free PDF Page B

finally conclude as I take my place back on the picnic table to watch the lesson. I mean, they don't bother me. They don't ask me any questions, and Frank stays as far away from me as he can.
    I'm pretty good actually. I really do sorta feel like I'm just a guest here. Just hanging out for the summer, like camp or something. Yeah, like a horse camp. I'm at a horse camp.
    It's not so bad.
    And when Fiona's birthday rolls around on the fifteenth of August, I'll be a free girl. My birthday was back in May, so in my mind I'm already eighteen. But here in America they say that doesn't count. That I'm Fiona, so I have to use Fiona's birthday.
    It's weird how a government can suddenly declare you're someone else and no one, not even your own father who is a very important man in other places, can make it stop.
    Thinking of him makes me feel very sad. I can only imagine how he felt last night, knowing I was staying at the Sullivan home for the first time.
    I drag my attention back to the lessons going on in front of me.
    The ponies are cantering around the arena now. The girls who were trailered in are fair riders, but Aimee has a very nice seat and her leg position, regardless of her sloppy foot, is also excellent. Either that or her pony has a very smooth gait and her legs are glued to the pony's belly. Aimee blows those rich kids out of the water with her skills.
    The oldest rich girl is just rounding the far corner of the arena when the dirt bikes come racing down the back road. Her pony shies, not bad, but she's just a little girl, and she falls sideways in slow motion until she plunks on the ground and starts to cry.
    I have to hold down my laugh.
    Angela is waving her fist and screaming at the troublemakers, but they are long gone.
    I wonder if that was dirt bike boy? I couldn't see them, there are too many trees and shrubs in the way from this angle.
    The fallen girl refuses to get back on the pony and suddenly the lesson is over. Angela walks with the girl's parents apologizing while Aimee just sits on her pony in the middle of the arena, a very sad look on her face.
    " Cosa succede ?" I call out to her.
    "I wanted to ride! And that stupid girl…"
    I look back over my shoulder to see if the parents are listening, but Angela has them all the way across the parking lot where they are trying to load the unhappy pony in a trailer.
    "Shhh!" I say. Then motion for her to take her pony back out to the perimeter and continue. She smiles at me and breaks into a smooth canter.
    I watch her do this for several minutes and it's like she never gets tired. I wonder how long she'll keeping going round and round before she stops?
    There is a small cross jump in the middle of this arena. It's a very low obstacle and most horses would step over it instead of waste the effort and energy it takes to jump. So when Aimee comes around the next time I point at it and she squeals.
    I don't need to tell her twice, she aims straight for it and her pony lifts his feet like a pro. Aimee bobbles a little, yanking on the reins, but she stays on. I clap for her and call her over.
    Her face is flushed with happiness and she's all out of breath and sweating like crazy from the cantering. She stops her pony and leans down over the fence at me. "I think I love you, Francesca. I hope you never leave."
    I smile at her and nod so I don't break her happy moment, but inside I hope she's wrong.
    August fifteenth cannot come soon enough for me.

Chapter Six - Francesca

    I spend the rest of the afternoon helping Aimee gush about her pony, who is called Heavenly, even though he is a boy and that's kind of a girly name. We wash him, towel him down, brush him out, we even pretty up his hooves with oil and make them sparkle. There is a show here at the farm this weekend, she tells me, and that's why it's so busy. She's not allowed to participate because she's Frank's daughter, but she and Lindsey ride in shows almost every weekend all summer long.
    Sean and the other