Free City Secrets by Jessica Burkhart Page A

definitely the right decision to put space between you guys for a little while at least. She needs to apologize.”
    I took a gulp of milkshake.
Ow—brain freeze!
    â€œYeah,” I said, rubbing my temples. “We’ve had fights before, but never anything like that. I know she’s sorry, but I’m not sure if she’s sorry she blurted it out and meant to keep it to herself, or sorry she said that when she really didn’t believe it at all.”
    Heather swirled a fry in ketchup. “I don’t know. That’s a serious thing to say to your best friend, especially after you did tell her the truth about your party. She has to know you’d never be jealous that she has a boyfriend or be worried that you’d try to steal Ryan from her. That’s ridiculous.”
    â€œI know. Deep down I think Paige knows that too. But I keep seeing her face and hearing her say those words.”
    â€œIs Ryan her first boyfriend?” Heather asked.
    â€œYeah. She crushed on a guy back home, but she came to Canterwood before they ever had a chance at anything. Ryan is her first boyfriend, so I could get over it if she was worried about other girls, but not
me
. You know?”
    â€œTotally,” Heather said. “You guys have been disgustingly close since you came to Canterwood, and just because she gets a boyfriend, she can’t suddenly be paranoid that her BFF is going to steal him or that if you’re acting upset or weird it’s because you’re miserable without a guy in your life.”
    Even though Paige and I were fighting, I still didn’t want Heather dissing Paige. But I didn’t want to let Heather know that what she’d said had bothered me.
    â€œAnd that’s the thing—I’m not even looking! I have . . . feelings for Jacob, but I want to be single. I reallydo. Every time I’ve been with a guy, things got all messed up. I’m going back to putting riding and school as my top priorities.”
    Heather raised her milkshake in a toast. “I second you putting riding first. My team isn’t going to have any loser riders on it.” She said it with a smile, though, and I laughed. I tapped my shake to hers and we finished our lunch in the warm New York air.
    A half hour later Heather and I met Paul by the curb. We got into the car and he smiled at us from the rearview mirror.
    â€œHow was lunch?” he asked.
    â€œAmazing,” I said. “I wish we had a Shake Shack in Connecticut!”
    Paul nodded. “Their burgers and hot dogs can’t be beat. Where to, girls?”
    Heather paused. “I guess we should go home.” Her face had lost its earlier perkiness and she didn’t sound at all excited about the idea of going to the penthouse.
    â€œWe can watch movies or something,” I said.
    â€œYeah,” Heather said. She looked a little happier at that suggestion.
    Paul nodded and pulled away from the curb.
    â€œAnyway, by the time we get back, we won’t havemany hours to kill,” Heather said. “We’ll be out all day tomorrow, so that’ll be something to look forward to.”
    â€œWhat’re we doing tomorrow?” I asked.
    â€œGoing riding since we really do need to practice, and then . . .” Heather leaned closer to me. “We’ll get Paul to take us on a secret mani/pedi trip. We’ll just let my dad think we’ve been riding that whole time.”
    I leaned back in my seat, nodding. “That sounds awesome.” I’d had a manicure only once, for a girl’s birthday party back when I went to Union Middle School. It really
did
sound awesome—I just didn’t want to get caught by Mr. Fox.

 8 
LIMITLESS
    ON MONDAY MORNING MY ALARM WENT OFF at six. I grabbed my clothes, toothbrush, shampoo, body wash, and moisturizer and headed for the bathroom. I locked the door behind me and took a second to figure out how to turn on the shower faucet.