"Wake up, honey. Time to get up," Adam said as he gently rubbed Lizzie's hip. "Time to get ready for school."

"No" Lizzie said, pulling the covers up over her head.

"I'm afraid so," Adam said with a smile, pulling the covers from her hands. "Up and at 'em."

"It's too early," Lizzie said grumpily, rolling away from his hands and putting her head under the pillows.

"We need to get an early start so that we'll have time to stop at the Phillips' before school." Adam reached out to lift the pillow.

When Lizzie curled into a ball, Adam scooped her up and put her on her feet.

"You are grumpy because you didn't get enough sleep last night, I think maybe an earlier bedtime tonight will put you to rights," Adam said with a slight frown.

"No, I'm up and I got enough sleep," Lizzie said grumpily.

"I'll reconsider it if you get dressed and get rid of the grumpy attitude by the time you come downstairs," Adam said as he walked towards the door. "Don't dawdle, we need to be out the door early today."

Lizzie folded her arms over her chest, but went to her wardrobe to pick out her clothes when Adam raised an eyebrow at her.

"Good girl," he said, walking out and closing the door behind him.

Lizzie joined everyone at the table relatively quickly. "Morning, morning, morning," she said kissing each of her uncles and her grandpa before sitting down next to her father.

"Morning," Adam said, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"Morning, Papa," she said with a smile and then giggled at the pancakes that were sitting at her place. Hop Sing had poured them into animal shapes.

"Thanks, Hop Sing," Lizzie said happily when she saw Hop Sing peeking at her from behind the kitchen door.

"You do good in school today, Missy," he said with a nod.

"I will," Lizzie said, finishing up her pancakes quickly.

"Uncle Joe's going to take care of your chores this morning, Lizzie and your Uncle Hoss will drive us into town in the buggy…"

"But…." Lizzie interrupted.

Adam held up his hand to stop her from interrupting further and said, "Whoever comes to get you after school will bring Blaze so you can ride him home."

Lizzie smiled, "Thanks, Papa."

After breakfast, Lizzie ran upstairs to finish getting ready and she was just about to make her way back downstairs when she saw her grandpa standing in the doorway.

"Hi Grandpa," she said coming over to him.

"Well, hi Lizzie," he said with a smile. "Come over here, I wanted to talk to you a minute before you head off to school," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder and leading her over to the rocking chair.

"About what?" Lizzie asked as she climbed into his lap.

"Well," he said slowly, brushing her bangs out of her eyes, "I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you."

"Thanks, Grandpa. I know you're proud of me," Lizzie said with a blush.

"I'm very proud to have you as my granddaughter, but I was especially proud of how brave you were yesterday," he said and raised his eyebrows.

"Yesterday?"

"Yes, what you did, standing up for Sally yesterday was very brave. Lots of people would have just let Sally fend for herself, but you stood up to a bully and that was brave. Doing the right thing isn't always easy and sometimes it can be down right scary," he said with a chuckle.

"Thanks, Grandpa," Lizzie said hugging him around the neck.

"I agree with your grandpa," Adam said, leaning in the doorway. "I guess you've been listening to the things you've been hearing in church."

"What do you mean?" Lizzie asked, turning to look at him.

"Just that a lot of what you hear in church is about doing the right thing and watching out for the people around you and bravely doing what you should even when it means standing up to people who may be bigger or stronger or more powerful than you and that's what you did for Sally. I hope you'll always do that, Lizzie."

"Me too," Ben said putting Lizzie on her feet, "time to head off for school. Have a good day."

"I will, Grandpa," Lizzie said, hugging his waist as he stood and then heading downstairs with Adam following.

Soon they were on their way into town and the closer they got, the quieter Lizzie got.

"Nervous?" Adam asked putting his arm around her shoulders.

Lizzie nodded.

"Just do your best to apologize, that's all you can do."

"I know, Papa," Lizzie said in a nervous voice.

As they pulled into the Phillips' yard, they saw Brett Phillips feeding the animals; he propped his pitchfork against a nearby corral and walked over to the buggy.

"Adam, Hoss…Lizzie," he said greeting each of them in turn. "What brings you out so early this morning?"

"Good morning, Mr. Phillips," Lizzie said, "I wanted to come apologize for what happened after church yesterday. I shouldn't have jumped on Jimmy or spoken disrespectfully to Mrs. Phillips."

"Indeed you should not have," Mr. Phillips said angrily.

Adam stayed quiet, but reaching over, he gave Lizzie's knee a squeeze.

"Yes, sir. I'd like to apologize to Mrs. Phillips and Jimmy too," Lizzie said quietly.

Mr. Phillips stood silently for a long time before growling, "I'll go get them."

"One down, two to go," Hoss whispered and then he whistled in a low tone.

"And that was the easy one," Lizzie said in a nervous voice.

"You did fine, Lizzie. Stay respectful and don't react to what they may say," Adam said in an encouraging voice.

Lizzie nodded and pulling her Apache tear out, she wrapped her hand around it.

Mrs. Phillips came barreling out of the house followed by Jimmy and Mr. Phillips.

"So, you brought the brat to apologize did you?" She said shrilly, frowning and putting her hands on her hips.

"First, Mrs. Phillips, Lizzie is not a brat. She responded badly to you yesterday and decided on her own," he said with emphasis, "that she would like to apologize for her behavior. Hoss and I merely came along with her so that we can see her off to school afterward," Adam squeezed her knee as he spoke in a firm voice. Lizzie found reassurance in the touch and the tone of barely contained anger in his voice.

"Yes, Mrs. Phillips I wanted to apologize for speaking disrespectfully to you yesterday and to you also, Jimmy, for jumping on your feet," Lizzie held her head up and looked each of them in the eye. "I hope you'll forgive me."

"Humph," Mrs. Phillips said.

"Olive," Mr. Phillips said quietly.

"This, this…hellion…beat up our son, I hardly think an apology is near enough to make up for that," Mrs. Phillips said to Mr. Phillips, waving her finger at Lizzie.

"Ma," Jimmy said in embarrassment, "she's just a dumb girl. She didn't beat me up; she didn't even hurt me." Jimmy glared at Lizzie.

"It's all right honey. I know you were a big boy and she didn't hurt you. That girl could do with a trip or two out to the woodshed," Mrs. Phillips continued, placing her arms protectively around a blushing Jimmy.

"Mrs. Phillips, you'd best keep those opinions to yourself and accept the Cartwrights as you find them," Adam said tersely and leveled a steely gaze at her.

Mrs. Phillips visibly trembled before raising her chin defiantly and saying, "If you insist."

"I'm afraid I do," Adam said levelly. "Now, I believe we have accomplished what we came here for and since Lizzie has apologized, we'll wish you a good day," Adam touched the brim of his hat and Hoss turned the buggy towards the schoolhouse.

After they were well away from the barnyard, Adam said, "You did a fine job, Lizzie. I was proud of you for not losing your temper. I suggest you do your best to stay away from Jimmy Phillips, though."

"Yes, Papa, but I didn't get to tell them about not calling Sally a bastard," Lizzie said looking up intently at him.

"No, honey, I don't think that was in the cards today. People need to be ready to listen when you tell them things like that, and I would say based on their reaction to your apologies that they weren't quite ready to listen. Don't worry about it, you did fine and perhaps another opportunity will present itself" Adam draped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze as they pulled up near the school. "Now go have a good first day."

Lizzie hugged both Adam and Hoss and jumping down to the ground, she ran up to Paul Hamilton.

"Hi Paul, are you ready for school to start?" Lizzie asked as she ran up beside him.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Paul said with a smile.

"Hey, you're limping; did your hurt yourself?" Lizzie asked as she slowed her pace to match his.

"Nah," Paul said with a blush, "you saw what happened on Saturday. Can we not talk about it?"

"Sorry," Lizzie said with an answering blush. "It's just when I get in trouble with Papa that way, it's usually all better by the next day."

"Yeah, well be glad you don't have my father for a pa. I don't think he thinks the job is done unless I'm limping for a couple of days."

"I'm sorry, Paul," Lizzie said sympathetically.

"Yeah, like I said, can we not talk about it?" Paul asked quietly as they neared the school. "Come on, maybe we can get in on the game of tag."

"All right," Lizzie said running ahead of him.

They played tag until Mr. Hanson came outside and began ringing the bell. Everyone came inside and found a place to sit. Sections of the room were defined by grade, but Mr. Hanson let them sit with whomever they wanted within a grade as long as they could behave. Lizzie saw that Sally was already sitting in the same grade as hers, so she sat next to Paul and behind Sally. Reaching out, she gave Sally's braid a quick tug, waved and smiled when Sally turned around quickly. Jenny came running in just as Mr. Hanson was walking to the front and sat behind Lizzie since she was a bit older and in the next grade up.

"If everyone's found a seat," he said pointedly, as he turned to face the class, "we'll get started."

"Sorry, Mr. Hanson. I wanted to make summer last as long as possible," Jenny said with a smile.

"I can't blame you for that, Jenny, but I hope you'll be a bit more prompt from now on," he said with a wink.

"Yes, Sir," Jenny said smiling and settling back into her seat.

"All right, let's get started and share what happened over the summer, but first I'd like to introduce our newest students. Sally, Abby will you come up here, please?" The girls rose and stood on either side of him and placing a hand on each one's shoulders, he said,

"This is Abby Davis she's David's sister and she's starting the first grade today and this is Sally Fellows, her father is the new doctor in town and she'll be in the third grade. I expect all of you to make them welcome and include them in your activities at lunch and recess."

The class applauded and he indicated that they could return to their seats. Mr. Hanson began assigning tasks to each grade and the morning quickly passed. At lunch, Lizzie grabbed Sally's hand and led her out to the tree where Jenny had staked out a log to sit on.

"We always eat lunch here," Lizzie said, digging into her lunch pail. "You can eat with us anytime you want."

"Thanks, Lizzie," Sally said, reaching into her pail for a sandwich.

Just as they began eating, Jimmy Phillips and a couple of his friends came up.

"I see you're still spending time with the bastard."

"You leave us alone, Jimmy Phillips," Lizzie said vehemently, "I beat you up once and I can do it again."

"You didn't beat me up!" Jimmy protested.

"That's not how I remember it," Jenny said smiling and taking a bite from her sandwich. "I seem to remember you lying on the ground calling for your mama."

"You take that back, or I swear…"

"You swear what, Jimmy?" Lizzie asked with a matching smile. "Are you going to try to beat up a couple of girls? Go ahead. I'm sure Mr. Hanson would like to see that, right Mr. Hanson?"

Jimmy wheeled around to see Mr. Hanson standing behind him with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. He looked around quickly and saw that his two friends had fled and left him to face their angry teacher alone.

"Mr. Hanson…" Jimmy started.

"Mr. Phillips, I don't want to hear it," Mr. Hanson said holding up a hand to silence him. "I would strongly suggest that you find other pursuits to occupy your time at lunch rather than trying to stir up fights. If you find yourself incapable of that, I promise I will find something to keep you occupied. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Sir," Jimmy said quickly running to the other side of the schoolyard.

"Ladies," he said after Jimmy was out of earshot, "I expect you three to conduct yourselves properly. I expect there will be no need to beat up the poor boy again, will there?"

"No, Mr. Hanson," the three girls chorused.

"Glad to hear it," he said nodding with the slightest grin as he turned and walked back to the schoolhouse.

"Thanks," Sally said shyly, "do you think he'll be back?"

"You're our friend now, right Sally?" Jenny asked. "That's what friends do for each other, besides, Jimmy Phillips is a bully but he's also a coward. There's no way he'll try anything now that Mr. Hanson knows what he's doing."

"Thanks for yesterday too, Lizzie, I've never had a friend do that before. I'm sorry you got punished for standing up for me," Sally said earnestly.

"Ah, I didn't get punished for that, Sally. Papa was glad I stood up to Jimmy Phillips, he just didn't think I should have jumped on his feet like I did," she rolled his eyes and took a bite of her sandwich. "I guess I'm not really sorry I did though, since he's scared of us now. Did you see how he brought two of his friends with him?" She giggled.

"Yes," Jenny giggled, "he didn't dare take on a Cartwright by himself. It's just as well he's scared of us, cause, Pa'd tan me sure if I got into a fistfight with him now, especially since Mr. Hanson's warned us."

"Yeah, my Papa'd spank me too if I got into a fight with Mr. Phillips," Lizzie giggled. "Did you see how red he got when he realized Mr. Hanson was standing behind him?"

The three girls laughed and finished their lunches before joining in a game of Uncle John.


At the end of the day, Lizzie, Jenny and Sally came down the steps to find Hoss and Ruth deep in conversation.

"Hi, Uncle Hoss," Lizzie said running up to them.

"Well, hi there, how was your day?"

"Not too boring," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes and smiling. "Hi, Mrs. Fellows."

"Lizzie," Ruth said, nodding her head and smiling.

"Well, I guess that's good enough for the first day. How about you Sally, did you like school?" Hoss asked as Sally came up to join them.

"It's different from San Francisco, but I like Mr. Hanson," Sally said, as Ruth put her arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah, I expect it is, but it always helps to like the teacher. Hey, Lizzie, I brought Blaze, so I thought we could have a riding lesson on our way home. You want to?"

"Yes!" Lizzie said, excitedly. "See you tomorrow, Sally. Bye Mrs. Fellows."

"Bye, Lizzie. Bye Hoss," Ruth and Sally said as they walked away.

Hoss raised his hand and waved as they left, before turning to Lizzie.

"Now you remember," Hoss said as he helped her mount, "I'm gonna point out all the things you're doing wrong so that you'll be a better rider. Hear?"

"Yes, Uncle Hoss, I know," Lizzie said.

"I just don't want you gettin' your feelings hurt," Hoss said looking seriously at her.

"I won't. I promise."

"Good, then let's head home," Hoss said as he mounted his own horse.

They walked and cantered and even tried a few short gallops until they arrived back at The Ponderosa.

"Look at how well you're riding, Lizzie. You have really improved," Adam called from the porch as he watched them ride in. "You're sitting so much more confidently and Blaze seems to respond really well to your rein commands."

"Thanks! We even tried galloping!" Lizzie said excitedly as she slid down from Blaze's back. "I'm going to put him in his stall and brush him."

"Good girl," Adam praised, "then I want to hear all about your first day back."

Lizzie skipped off, leading Blaze behind her.

"Galloping?" Adam asked raising an eyebrow.

"She was ready, Adam. I think everything's finally sinking in with her."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, Hoss, but take it easy, huh? I don't know how much my heart can take."

"She's born to it, Adam, you're just going to have let her do what she can," Hoss said, pushing his hat back.

"I intend to Hoss, I don't want to hold her back, but I don't want her to get hurt either," Adam said seriously.

"No worries there big brother, I've got my eye on her."

"Thanks, Hoss," Adam said as he made his way back to the porch to sit next to his father.

"She's not a little girl anymore," Ben said softly.

"No, Pa, and I don't want to be overprotective, I just need to remind myself that she's old enough to be galloping and that everybody is going to watch out for her," Adam sighed as he put his foot up on knee and looked out over the yard.

"You'll get through it, son, I did…three times," Ben said, slapping Adam on the shoulder.

Adam grimaced, but didn't say anything until Lizzie came running across the yard.

"So, tell me what you learned today, Lizzie," Adam said, pulling her up next to him on the settee.

"Nothing, Papa," Lizzie said ducking her head.

"Nothing, not…one….thing?"

"Nope, maybe I've learned everything and I should stop going to school," she said, trying hard not to smile.

"Well, maybe," Adam said seriously, "or maybe you've just learned everything you can in Virginia City. What do you think, Pa," Adam said, turning towards his father with a wink, "do you think maybe we should think about a college back east?"

"Well, Adam, this has day has come much sooner than I thought it would, but that is the next step once a child has learned all they can at a local school," Ben said thoughtfully.

"Yes, I guess we'll need to have Lizzie take the admissions tests at Vassar and Oberlin. What do you think about that Lizzie, would you like to move to New York or perhaps Ohio would be better?"

Lizzie looked at him with a bit of panic until she saw him wink at her.

"Or do you think maybe we should give the Virginia City school a few more days to see if maybe they might teach you a few more things?"

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said with a giggle, "I'm sure I can learn a few more things from Mr. Hanson."

"Well, your grandpa and I are ready to send you off to college when you think you're ready," he said as he kissed the top of her head.

"Do I have to go to college? Uncle Joe and Uncle Hoss didn't go," Lizzie said with a frown.

"I went to college, Lizzie and I think you'd like it. So, yes, I think you should plan on going to college. When you finish you can always come back here if you think this is where you want to settle, just like I did."

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said sadly.

"It's a long way off, Lizzie," Ben said. "I think as you get older the idea of traveling and going away to school will be more appealing."

"Yes, Grandpa," Lizzie said even more sadly. "Can I go play now?"

"Yes, honey, go play," Adam said patting her shoulder.

Ben and Adam watched her run off and Ben chuckled. "She may be galloping, but she's still eight."

Adam laughed and said, "I think I'm all right with that for a little bit longer."

"Yes, son, enjoy it while you can, they grow up so fast and she'll be off to Vassar or Oberlin in the blink of an eye."

"I intend to, Pa, I definitely intend to enjoy every moment with her," Adam said with a smile.