Chapter 23
Ella was still grounded when her parents returned home the next week, but at least they said that she would be able to go to the ranch to complete her test that would be done instead of her usual Monday afternoon lesson.
Ella was a little worried about the test, but Josh had told her that he found out it was a general knowledge test on horses. Ella had a whole brain full of general knowledge on horses, so she knew that the test was going to be a piece of cake.
But at least her grounding wasn't going to last much longer, and her parents seemed to have forgiven her. Ella knew that was the case when she and Mia brought Billy home. Adam and Tasha let the girls keep him despite the fact that Ella was grounded. That was how Ella knew that her grounding was coming to an end and it felt so good.
Actually, it felt great, and Ella couldn't wait to be relieved of her punishment.
It was also nice to walk hand in hand around school with Josh. Ella wanted the whole world to know that Josh was her boyfriend and the occasional scowl from Ada, who now nursed a broken arm after last Saturday's riding adventure, wasn't enough to deter Ella from her blissful happiness.
Nothing would stop her from feeling so happy.
Even maths in the morning wasn't going to stop Ella from being happy. Even though she should have been doing math instead of looking out the window dreamily, she was happy.
But, Ella was disturbed from her thoughts when she felt Kayla tap her on the arm.
Ella looked at Kayla, "what's going on?"
"Mrs Holden is kind of asking you a question," Kayla whispered.
Ella looked at Mrs Holden.
Now she was embarrassed.
"Now that you are back with us, Miss Little," said Mrs Holden, "come and show us how you came up with the answer of question four on the test."
Ella reluctantly stood up and went to the whiteboard to write her answer down. At least she remembered what she did for the question, but maybe it was because it was the easiest question on the test. Ella quickly wrote her method down that she used to get the answer, and then she sat back down in her seat.
Then Mrs Holden droned on for a bit longer about the test and she told the class what she wanted them to do next. Ella pulled out her textbook, glad that she was actually listening now, and started on her work.
But her thoughts returned to something else.
The test at the ranch.
"I hope I do well on the test at the ranch tonight," said Ella.
"So do I," replied Kayla, "did you get much study done over the rest of the weekend?"
"I crammed for the rest of it. What about you?"
"Same here."
"And guess what?"
"What?"
"We got a puppy!"
"Wow! What's its name? And breed?"
"His name is Billy and he is a bernese mountain dog."
"I would love to see him," said Kayla.
"Well, when I am ungrounded, you can come over for a sleepover," replied Ella.
"Great. And how are things with you and Josh?"
"Really good. It is great."
"I am happy you are happy, Ella," said Kayla.
Ella smiled because she was glad as well. It was great to be happy and it was great to have a boyfriend.
