“I know you’re excited, Nova,” whispered Miss Chambers, tugging her arm, “and I love that excitement! But you need a quiet voice and happy hands, or we’ll have to leave the room.”

Nova flopped back down, clenched her fists, and had a quiet voice as Mr. O’Reilly explained to the class all the stuff she already knew, all the information Bridget had copied from library books and brought home to her over the years. Her favorites were about the planets and stars.

“You know, Nova,” Bridget had said once, reading from her notes, “some of the stars we see twinkling in the sky probably burned out a long time ago. It takes their light at least four years to reach our eyes on Earth, so you and me have no way of knowing when they’ve already gone dark. That’s why, when you wish on one, you should wish on two more too, just to be sure. You don’t want to waste a wish on a star that’s already dead.”

Nova closed her eyes and set her forehead down on the desk while Mr. O’Reilly continued to ask and answer questions about space travel. She knew all the answers.

But nobody asked her.

“Check out what I got!” Bridget opened her Trapper Keeper, a gift from their latest foster mother. They were sitting on the floor of their bedroom, wearing their warmest pajamas and drinking hot cocoa. It was noon on a Tuesday, but an early-December snowstorm had canceled school. Nova was ten and Bridget was a high school sophomore, and they were with a brand-new foster family. Again.

“I would have showed you yesterday, but with Mrs. Steele here all afternoon, I totally forgot!”

“Bidge!” Nova slapped her forehead, like the people in the commercial who could have had a V8. Bridget laughed. She didn’t mind being teased about her forgetfulness.

“I know, I’m sorry!” Bridget placed the Trapper Keeper in Nova’s lap. “This is Sally Ride. She’s my hero.” There was a glossy magazine photo on the inside front cover, featuring a woman with short, curly dark hair wearing a black shirt with the NASA logo on the front, just like on NASA Bear’s suit. She was floating inside a space shuttle, wearing a headset. Smiling.