She cleared her throat. “Please get out your raffle tickets!” she said.
People in the crowd reached into their pockets or wallets and pulled out the red ticket stubs they had bought to enter the raffle. Dr. Arroyo held the bowl while Mrs. Wallace reached inside and drew out a ticket.
“Number one-three-five-eight!” she called into the microphone.
A girl near the front screamed, “That’s me!” and climbed onto the stage, where she received movie tickets and a tub of popcorn. Mrs. Wallace called another number and someone won tickets to a baseball game.
When Mrs. Wallace called the final number, the winner was someone Jasmine knew—Sofia’s mom!
Sofia’s mom looked a bit sheepish as she accepted the prize from a local pet store—a dog bed, a water and food dish, a shiny dog collar, a bag of food, and a brush.
“We don’t even have a dog,” she whispered to Mrs. Wallace as she stepped off the stage.
“It’s a sign!” Jasmine shouted.
“It’s a coincidence,” Keiko countered dryly.
“It’s perfect,” Sofia said, rubbing her hands together happily. “One more reason for them to get me a dog someday.”
Once all the fanfare from the raffle died down, Mrs. Wallace continued. “I want to thank you all so much for coming today to support Rosa’s Refuge!”
Everyone clapped politely.
“Thanks to this wonderful community, we have raised the money we need to expand the shelter!”
This time the crowd whooped and cheered, especially Jasmine and her friends.
“We couldn’t have pulled this off without every one of you pitching in,” Mrs. Wallace said. “I’d like to thank my friend Justin Wheeler for providing the animals in the petting zoo, and El Coquí Café for donating the delicious food. And of course I’d like to thank all my volunteers. But right now I’d like to thank four of our most dedicated volunteers. They had the idea to make the fantastic posters you’ve seen around the park featuring our shelter animals in need of homes. Thanks to Keiko Hayashi, Sofia Davis, Madison Rosen, and Jasmine Arroyo, we may have found many of our furry friends forever homes! Come on up here, girls, and take a bow.”
Jasmine and her friends made their way to the stage. The entire crowd was clapping and cheering for them. It felt amazing. But knowing that they’d helped the animals felt even better.
The next weekend, Jasmine, Sofia, Keiko, and Madison were at the shelter bright and early Saturday morning.
At the end of their shift, Jasmine had a surprise for Madison.
“Sofia, Keiko, and I wanted to get you a real welcome present so you’ll always feel at home here in your new town,” Jasmine explained.
She handed Madison a small box wrapped in glossy paper decorated with cats.
“Open it! Open it!” Keiko cried, barely able to contain her excitement.
Madison tore away the paper and opened the box. Inside was a simple silver chain with a kitten charm engraved with her name. It was the same type of charm as the ones Jasmine, Sofia, and Keiko had.
Madison squealed. “I love it!”
“Good,” Jasmine said with a smile. “Because we’re all best friends furever now.”
“Yeah, good luck getting rid of us,” Sofia added.
As Jasmine watched Madison slip her new necklace over her head, she felt like the luckiest girl in town. Not only had she helped the animal shelter, but she had found a new friend as well—one who loved animals as much as she did.
Turn the page for a sneak peek at Forever Friends #2, MADISON’S NEW BUDDY!
Madison Rosen twirled in front of the mirror in her room, her copper-colored hair fanning out around her. Bright yellow baby chicks dotted her skirt, there was a Labrador retriever puppy on her T-shirt, and she was wearing the kitten charm necklace from her new friends Jasmine Arroyo, Keiko Hayashi, and Sofia Davis. No doubt about it, she had on the very best outfit for the ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand reopening of Rosa’s Refuge Animal Shelter.
“Honey, hurry up!” her mother called. “We don’t want to be late.”
“Coming, Mom,” Madison shouted as she ran down the stairs.
She walked into the kitchen to find her two cats, Leo and Pepper, rubbing themselves against her mom’s ankles and meowing with all their might.
Her mother laughed softly. “Lunch will be ready in a second,” she told the cats. “Hold your horses.”
“They’re always hungry,” Madison said with a giggle. Whenever she opened a can of cat food, the kittens came running as if they hadn’t eaten in weeks. That was probably why they’d grown so much since Madison brought them home. They almost didn’t look like kittens anymore. Soon they would be full-grown cats! Leo and Pepper had made it easier for Madison to move to a new house, and Madison was glad her mother had agreed to adopt them.
Her mom put the bowls of food and water on the floor, then stood back as the cats attacked their lunch, dipping their furry heads into their dishes, “That ought to hold them for a while,” she said. “Ready, Maddie?”
Madison flew to the door, holding it open and bouncing up and down.
“Yes!” she cried excitedly. “Let’s go!”
When Madison and her mother reached the animal shelter, there was already a large crowd out front. Among their neighbors, Madison spotted the school principal, Mr. Brady, and her friends Jasmine, Keiko, and Sofia. While her mother went to say hello to Jasmine’s mother, who was a vet at the animal shelter, Madison joined her friends near the front of the crowd.
“Hi, guys!” she greeted them. “Did I miss anything?”
“Not yet,” Jasmine said. “You’re just in time.”
Mrs. Wallace, the director of the shelter, appeared under the arch of colorful balloons and the blue banner that said GRAND REOPENING! Beside them a red ribbon stretched in front of the wide double doors.
“Thank you so much for coming!” Mrs. Wallace greeted the crowd warmly.
Everyone cheered.
“Because of you, the shelter is bigger and better than ever, and we can help a lot more animals in need,” Mrs. Wallace said. She picked up a giant pair of scissors and snipped the ribbon. “Rosa’s Refuge Animal Shelter is open … again!”
The shelter was now twice the size it had been, thanks to the money Madison and her friends had helped raise a few months ago. Now that Madison and her mom had officially moved to town, she could spend a lot more time volunteering there.
Madison and her friends clapped and cheered. Then they followed the small crowd inside to celebrate with cookies and lemonade. The new shelter was even more beautiful than Madison had imagined. The walls were a soft baby blue, there was a play area in the back, and there were rows of brand-new cages right in front, most of them filled with dogs.
The girls ran to the nearest cages. A scruffy-looking terrier pawed at the thin metal bars. Next to him, a border collie and a beagle puppy were yipping and whining as they paced back and forth in their cages. At the end of the row, a golden retriever puppy sat in the middle of his cage with his nose nuzzled between his paws and his eyes droopy and sad. As Madison watched, the school principal tried to greet him.
“Hey, little guy,” Mr. Brady said, reaching one finger between the bars to try to stroke the puppy’s fur. But the dog crept away from him. He moved to the back of the cage and shivered in fear, his tail tucked between his legs.
“Aw, he looks scared,” Madison said to Jasmine. “I wonder what’s wrong with him.”
“I don’t know,” Jasmine replied, concerned. “Let’s ask Mrs. Wallace.”
The girls waved Mrs. Wallace over. She peered sadly at the nervous pup. “Buddy was rescued from a home where he was being neglected. I think he’s still nervous around people. A lot of the new arrivals are skittish and need time to become used to being handled so that they can be adopted.”
“Is there anything we can do for him?” Madison asked.
Mrs. Wallace looked thoughtful. “I’m not sure,” she replied. “But animals are a
lot like people. They’re social creatures, and just being around volunteers like you girls will help. Most dogs relax as they become more comfortable in their new environment.”
“It’s a little like starting at a new school,” Mr. Brady added with a kind smile at Madison.
Madison peered into the golden retriever’s cage again, heartbroken at how sad he looked. “Don’t worry,” she whispered. “You’re safe here. And I’m going to do whatever I can to help you.”
“We all will,” Jasmine agreed, throwing her arm around Madison’s shoulder and giving her friend a big smile. “Maybe we can come up with ways to help the dogs relax. When I’m sad or upset, I know I like to sit in a bubble bath and read a favorite book.”
“Drawing or painting makes me feel better when I’m down,” Keiko added.
“Music helps me relax,” Sofia said thoughtfully.
“So we just have to figure out a way to teach these dogs to read, paint, or play an instrument,” Madison joked playfully.
“Actually, that’s a great idea, Madison!” Jasmine replied. “We could read to the dogs! Our teachers want us to practice reading, right, Mr. Brady? We’re always doing partner reading in school. We could do partner reading here, but with dogs! Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“That’s a great idea!” Keiko said.
“Yeah, I love it,” Sofia agreed.
Madison’s heart sank. Partner reading was her least favorite thing to do at school.
The truth was, she had trouble reading. It seemed to be so easy for everyone else, but not for her. She had been seeing a reading specialist, Ms. Patel, ever since she transferred into the school, and she’d made some progress. But it still took her a long time to read even one page.
“Um, yeah,” Madison said quietly. “Great idea.”
Now Buddy wasn’t the only one who was anxious and uncomfortable. Madison knew exactly how he felt.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Crystal Velasquez was born in the Bronx, New York. She studied English and creative writing at Pennsylvania State University and is a graduate of NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute. She lives in Flushing, New York, and hopes to adopt a new puppy very soon.
Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Book design by Baily Crawford
Cover art by Cathi Mingus, © 2017 American Girl
Cover design by Yaffa Jaskoll
© 2017 American Girl. All rights reserved. All American Girl marks are trademarks of American Girl. Used under license by Scholastic Inc.
First printing 2017
e-ISBN 978-1-338-11492-8
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