16 
16 I’D WOKEN UP EARLY, EXCITED ABOUT THE day. Heather hadn’t told me anything, of course, about what we were doing today. She liked playing tour guide more than she let on, and she was proud of her city. I slid my feet into my platform sandals and glanced at my outfit in the mirror. Black skinny jeans with one of my new shirts—the scoop-neck seashell-colored one. I grabbed my purse off the bed and walked to the foyer. At least we didn’t have to worry about a run-in with one of her parents this morning. Mr. Fox had left for work hours ago, and Mrs. Fox had gone a while ago to a spin class.
Heather was waiting, arms across her chest. “When I said we were going at ten, I didn’t say it just because.”
I turned and looked at one of the wall clocks. “It’s not even ten-oh-two,” I said. “Barely.”
Heather pulled open the door, muttering something under her breath.
We got in the car and Paul greeted us with a smile. I was going to miss him when we went back to school. I’d gotten used to seeing him every day, even though I hadn’t been here all that long.
“Where to this morning, ladies?” he asked.
“Central Park, please,” Heather said.
I turned, grinning. “Central Park. Omigod, I can’t wait! I went there with Paige, and we ended up having to leave early. I was so sad that there wasn’t more time to explore.”
“Jeez, calm down,” Heather said. “You’re going to be tired before we even start walking around. Did you see any of the Great Lawn?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “What’s there?”
Heather checked her phone. “Like, a zillion things. Since we’re taking drama, I thought it would be cool to go because there’s tons of theater and Shakespeare stuff in that area.”
“I’ve read about that,” I said. “It’s supposed to be amazing.” I knew I sounded like one of those dorks who read an NYC guide book from cover to cover, but I couldn’t help it.
As Paul drove down the crowded streets, I stopped myself from pressing my nose against the window like a kid. It didn’t take too long to reach the park, and Heather told Paul she’d text him when we were ready.
We got out of the car on Fifth Avenue and started toward the park. We walked down the sidewalk and I stared at a gorgeous sculpture.
“Alice in Wonderland characters,” I said. “Wow. I love that book.”
Alice sat on top of a huge mushroom, with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare nearby. I loved the Cheshire Cat over her shoulder. We kept walking, and it was as if I had lost track of time. There was so much to see, and with every step we wound our way deeper into the park. Heather and I walked up to a grassy hill, passing a beautiful stone archway. On the hill, people were sprawled out on the grass. Some were on blankets having a late breakfast, others were walking dogs, and some were reading.
I loved the busyness of NYC, but it felt good to get away from the noise, crowds, and concrete. It was hard to comprehend that a giant park, with so much grass and so many trees, was in a place as metropolitan as NYC.
We kept walking, not in any particular direction. We just walked, and I took in the quietness around us.
“Omigod!” I yelped. I jumped sideways and crashed into Heather.
“What?! Omigod! Sasha!” Heather grabbed my upper arm and righted herself before she fell over.
My heart pounded as if I’d just run through the entire park. “I’m so sorry,” I said. “But that scared me!” I pointed up.
Crouched on a rock was a statue of a panther. It looked ready to pounce, and the life-size cat had caught me by surprise. It looked so real. I wondered if the artist had spent time watching and studying panthers before making the sculpture.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Heather said, glaring at me. “You were just scared by a statue. That’s ridic even for you, Silver.” She glanced around. “I really hope no one saw that.”
I held back a giggle. Now that my heartbeat was returning to normal, the whole thing was actually kind of funny.
“If anyone asks you why your friend freaked out, you can totally say you don’t know me at all,” I said. “There.”
Heather rolled her eyes and we started walking again. A few minutes later I stopped midstep.
“Is that . . .” I started, but couldn’t finish my sentence.
“Yep,” Heather finished. “It’s a mini-castle. In Central Park.”
“Whoa,” I whispered.
Heather, amused by my staring, smirked. “It’s called Belvedere Castle. They do tours and stuff, but we don’t have time today.”
“It’s gorgeous,” I said. I’d never seen anything like it in real life. The Gothic-style castle made me feel transported to another time. I half-expected women in ball gowns and jewels to step out of the castle and wait for carriages to whisk them off to a fancy dance.
“It is beautiful,” Heather said, twisting her hair into a low ponytail. “Whenever I’ve walked by it, I’ve always envisioned a stable behind it and girls our age riding their horses sidesaddle.”
I could see what she was talking about. “They’d have cute stable boys rushing to their every need.”
Heather laughed. “That sounds like a line from a romance novel.”
We grinned at each other and kept walking. The September sun was directly overhead now, and I enjoyed the gentle breeze that blew through the park. With every step we took deeper into the park, the more birds and squirrels I noticed. And the squirrels didn’t seem to be afraid of anything or anyone. They perched on benches and took their time crossing in front of people on the sidewalk. And for the next few hours Heather and I wandered around the park, seeing where we’d end up.
“I’m starving,” Heather said much later. “You ready to go?”
“Agreed. Lunch sounds awesome.”
Heather texted Paul, and I couldn’t wait to see where we were going next. Heather hadn’t picked one thing all week that hadn’t been awesome.
“After lunch we’ll go back to my place, and then tonight I know exactly where I want to go for dinner,” Heather said.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” I asked.
“Hmm . . .” Heather shrugged. “Why not? We’re going to a place I know you’ve heard of.”
“Really? Where?”
Heather grinned. “Oh, just a little place called Butter.”
“No. Way. Nooo, seriously?! Butter?” I tried not to freak out in Central Park. Butter was the hottest restaurant that morphed into a celeb-packed club at night. It was only mentioned at least two or three times in every issue of gossip mags.
“We could go somewhere else if that sounds, like, boring to you,” Heather teased.
We both started laughing and were still giggling a couple of minutes later when Paul pulled up.