After her first day of her new chore, Hazel sat down contentedly. She had brushed and fed the animals, cleaned out stalls, and set the horses out to pasture, with Dan helping her along the way. She had learned all about each individual Plumfield horse, their likes and dislikes, where they liked to be petted, and so on. Dan threw the brush down into the tack box and sat next to Hazel on the hay bale. "So, Hazel," Dan said, clearing his throat nervously. "Why'd you come to Plumfield?"
Hazel chewed on her lip worriedly. This was the question that she had been dreading the most once she had found out what everyone was like here. "Well, um, ah, um..." She trailed off as she saw Dan looking at her intently. "Well, it may seem... stupid.... but I got kicked out of the last two schools I was at." She looked down.

Dan was taken aback when he heard this. A girl getting kicked out of school? "What did you do?"
"I, well, um, sort of disrupted everyones way of life there..... I just didn't fit in. They wanted me to be too perfect," Hazel said, coughing to try and cover her embarrassment.
Dan smiled, and, feeling bold, reached over to pat her arm, sensing her embarrassment. "Its OK. Nobody's going to kick you out of Plumfield, not if Mrs. Jo has anything to do with it!"
Hazel smiled. "That's a relief!" she replied, laughing, as she pulled Dan along with her to go in and wash up for supper. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~