of girls breaking into shrieks.
Without thinking, I picked up my purse and grabbed my overnight bag from Madison. Sure enough, within thirty seconds, the table of girls had gotten up and others were coming over, talking excitedly over each other in words I couldn’t make out.
Blake slipped the hood back over his head and backed up, inching toward the door while still making an attempt at smiling. The flash from a camera went off, and then another. I looked around the room, confused, and felt someone grab my arm.
Jerking away, I realized it was a girl, a few years younger than me, trying to pull me in the opposite direction. I snapped my wrist out of her grasp and turned to follow Madison, whose blonde head was heading for the door.
I couldn’t believe a crowd had gathered so quickly. It was probably only twenty people around us, but it felt like a horde, screeching girls voices drowning out the music in the bookstore.
We walked outside, the girls behind us still close by. Blake, a few feet in front of me, got to the end of the block first, raising his hand to stop a cab on the crowded avenue.
A yellow taxi stopped in the next instant, and I wondered, awkwardly, how to say goodbye. I glanced at Madison for guidance, but she seemed as bewildered as I was, looking back and forth from the taxi to the bookstore.
I raised my hand to wave as Sophie got into the car. She looked at me, her face twisting in confusion. Hurry up, she called to Madison and me, and barked something to the driver that I couldn’t hear.
That was all the encouragement I needed. I bolted forward, throwing my bag into the back of the cab and then climbing in after it, sandwiching Sophie between myself and Blake. When I looked forward again, Madison had climbed into the front passenger seat. I caught her eye and grinned quickly, wiping it off my face in the next instant so no one would notice. The cab pulled away, the screaming fans slowly fading into a distant blur in the window behind us.
Chapter Seven
Where are we going? Madison asked, once we’d safely left the bookstore behind. We were headed downtown on Seventh Avenue, passing from Chelsea into the West Village.
Sophie looked at Blake as if she wasn’t sure. I told him our hotel, she said, but we can go somewhere else if you want. She sighed. Those stupid girls, she rolled her eyes at Blake. We can’t take you anywhere.
I wondered again if we should mention that we’d been at the concert and bit my tongue, staring out at the buildings we passed.
Don’t remind me, Blake shook his head, still looking out the window. Back to the hotel is okay. We have this awesome suite, you guys will love it. It has, like, six rooms -- it’s almost the whole floor.
I sighed with relief. Madison and I had fake IDs, but they weren’t great ones, and we’d never tried them at real bars in New York, just at the corner liquor stores near Prospect, where all the high school students went. We were way better off going back to their hotel.
I think April was going to invite some friends, too, Sophie said to Blake in a tone I couldn’t read. Her voice brightened as she continued, smiling mischievously. So it’ll be a little party.
I thought about those pictures of April and Blake in the tabloids, and was suddenly more curious than I’d ever been about what their story was.
Blake pulled his hood down and took the sweatshirt off, revealing a printed t-shirt and lean, strong arms. My stomach fluttered, and I looked back out the window, watching as we drove south to pass Washington Square Park, the brightly lit arch in stark contrast against the twinkling buildings that surrounded it.
The cab driver said something loudly, and we all turned to him, totally confused, until he spoke again. I giggled, realizing that he was talking into a headset, and Sophie laughed beside me. It had sounded like he was yelling at us.
We pulled up to a hotel in SoHo, the kind where the doormen look like unemployed actors a few
Without thinking, I picked up my purse and grabbed my overnight bag from Madison. Sure enough, within thirty seconds, the table of girls had gotten up and others were coming over, talking excitedly over each other in words I couldn’t make out.
Blake slipped the hood back over his head and backed up, inching toward the door while still making an attempt at smiling. The flash from a camera went off, and then another. I looked around the room, confused, and felt someone grab my arm.
Jerking away, I realized it was a girl, a few years younger than me, trying to pull me in the opposite direction. I snapped my wrist out of her grasp and turned to follow Madison, whose blonde head was heading for the door.
I couldn’t believe a crowd had gathered so quickly. It was probably only twenty people around us, but it felt like a horde, screeching girls voices drowning out the music in the bookstore.
We walked outside, the girls behind us still close by. Blake, a few feet in front of me, got to the end of the block first, raising his hand to stop a cab on the crowded avenue.
A yellow taxi stopped in the next instant, and I wondered, awkwardly, how to say goodbye. I glanced at Madison for guidance, but she seemed as bewildered as I was, looking back and forth from the taxi to the bookstore.
I raised my hand to wave as Sophie got into the car. She looked at me, her face twisting in confusion. Hurry up, she called to Madison and me, and barked something to the driver that I couldn’t hear.
That was all the encouragement I needed. I bolted forward, throwing my bag into the back of the cab and then climbing in after it, sandwiching Sophie between myself and Blake. When I looked forward again, Madison had climbed into the front passenger seat. I caught her eye and grinned quickly, wiping it off my face in the next instant so no one would notice. The cab pulled away, the screaming fans slowly fading into a distant blur in the window behind us.
Chapter Seven
Where are we going? Madison asked, once we’d safely left the bookstore behind. We were headed downtown on Seventh Avenue, passing from Chelsea into the West Village.
Sophie looked at Blake as if she wasn’t sure. I told him our hotel, she said, but we can go somewhere else if you want. She sighed. Those stupid girls, she rolled her eyes at Blake. We can’t take you anywhere.
I wondered again if we should mention that we’d been at the concert and bit my tongue, staring out at the buildings we passed.
Don’t remind me, Blake shook his head, still looking out the window. Back to the hotel is okay. We have this awesome suite, you guys will love it. It has, like, six rooms -- it’s almost the whole floor.
I sighed with relief. Madison and I had fake IDs, but they weren’t great ones, and we’d never tried them at real bars in New York, just at the corner liquor stores near Prospect, where all the high school students went. We were way better off going back to their hotel.
I think April was going to invite some friends, too, Sophie said to Blake in a tone I couldn’t read. Her voice brightened as she continued, smiling mischievously. So it’ll be a little party.
I thought about those pictures of April and Blake in the tabloids, and was suddenly more curious than I’d ever been about what their story was.
Blake pulled his hood down and took the sweatshirt off, revealing a printed t-shirt and lean, strong arms. My stomach fluttered, and I looked back out the window, watching as we drove south to pass Washington Square Park, the brightly lit arch in stark contrast against the twinkling buildings that surrounded it.
The cab driver said something loudly, and we all turned to him, totally confused, until he spoke again. I giggled, realizing that he was talking into a headset, and Sophie laughed beside me. It had sounded like he was yelling at us.
We pulled up to a hotel in SoHo, the kind where the doormen look like unemployed actors a few
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