AN: Okay, guys, five, maybe six chapters left, okay? This wraps up at the end of their school year, one way or another, so no flipping out when it ends 😉

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Somehow, word had gotten out about Elliott's family's apartment in the city, and rumors were rampant that Elliott was going to try to somehow get away from the chaperones so he could "party" there. He tried telling various people that it was tiny, a studio apartment his uncle or someone had bought so he'd have a place to sleep when he was doing research at NYU.

"I'm not even sure we still have it, to be honest," he told Charlene, best friend of Joanne. "I'm not even sure I remember where it is. I have no plans to have a party, please spread the word."

"But if you could somehow shake the chaperones and lame stuff we have to do, you would, right? Maybe with just a few people?" she prodded, smiling. "It would be way more amazing to party in an apartment than go to the Statue of Liberty or the Tenement Museum."

They were in their midtown hotel, and Charlene had come to the room he was sharing with Gordon to do a little reconnaissance.

"No, I wouldn't. I'm looking forward to seeing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and that," he insisted from where he was putting his socks away. "I'm English, all of this is new to me."

Gordon heard his words and smiled as he hung up his coat. He turned and added his words to Elliott's. "Besides, I don't think it will be possible to ditch Ms. Pomerantz, Mr. Brody, or any of the parents. I mean, the more people who tried to do it, the more obvious it would be that people were missing, right? There are only about forty of us on this trip, you know?"

Elliott looked gratefully at the other boy, who grinned back at him.

Even though they'd arrived at night, it was a night filled with activities. They were supposed to walk around Times Square and the theatre district, and walk to Rockefeller Center. Elliott was hoping he'd get to walk with Ruthie, though he'd die before he'd admit that to anyone else. He was determined to be friends with her, to show that they could just talk and be civil.

They assembled in the lobby twenty minutes later, doing a quick head count before heading out. Ruthie's face was alight with excitement, even before they were anywhere near the lights of Times Square.

"Look! Pepsi, look, the billboard for Hamilton! Oh my god!" Ruthie grabbed her friend's arm in her excitement. "It's, like, two stories tall!"

Everyone loved Hamilton, but it was an obsession for Pepsi, who wanted to meet Lin Manuel Miranda more than anything.

Elliott was quiet, just enjoying her pleasure, her animated face reflecting the colors of the crazy lights of 42nd St and Broadway. Some of the kids were almost nonchalant, seemingly too cool to be excited, but not Ruthie. She jumped up and down every time she recognized another billboard.

"Calm down," Gordon laughed. "You're going to fall if you keep spinning around like that, you can barely keep your balance when you're just walking."

Ruthie slapped at his arm. "No, that's not true! I'm perfectly balanced, look." She nearly walked into a lamppost while showing everyone how good her balance was, and Linda laughed and took a picture.

"Elliott, isn't it amazing? Look, the M & M Store! Oh my god, I wonder if we have time to go?" All of the weirdness between the two of them had evaporated, at least for the moment, in the heady giddiness that was New York City at night.

"You can buy M & Ms in Warren," Elliott admonished. "Why would you want to spend more for the same candy here?"

"It's not for the candy, it's for the photo op, for the cute plushies, come on, get with the program!" Pepsi, too, seemed to have set her misgivings about Elliott aside for the moment. "Ooh, look a huge Pepsi sign, quick, take my picture before it changes!"

She handed Gordo her phone, and he snapped a nice photograph of Pepsi, backlit and illuminated by the soft drink billboard.

"Elliott, come get in a picture with us!" Joanna was calling. She was standing with gossipy Charlene and a few other girls. In spite of the brisk April night, she was wearing high heels with an extremely short denim skirt, and a spaghetti strap shirt that bared her midriff to the cold temperature. Apparently the school dress code was being ignored for the duration of the trip.

Ruthie had to fight the urge to just grab Elliott's arm and haul him off in another direction. She even managed a smile as he heeded their call and joined them for some selfies. Joanna somehow managed to get right next to him and pull his arms around her, Ruthie couldn't help notice. She knew that her friends were watching her closely, to see her reactions to all this, and she was very careful to keep her expression neutral.

"Keep your hands off, you slut," was what she wanted to say. "The light was just right, that's going to be a great pic," was what she actually called over to the group before turning back to Pepsi, Linda, and Gordon.

"You and Ruthie are for sure just friends, right?" Joanna asked, not releasing his hand, even after the pictures had been taken. They were walking east on 50th Street, heading toward Rockefeller Center. "You're a free agent?"

"Well, Ruthie and I are definitely just friends at this point," Elliott began, unable to keep from adding the last prepositional phrase to his statement. "I don't know about being a free agent, though. I think I'm more of a red shirt, kind of having a gap year? Do you guys use those terms in America?"

Joanna looked at him, eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, I know what those terms are," she assured him. "All they really mean is that you're available, though, right? Ruthie has no claim on you anymore?" She pressed herself into his arm as she continued to grasp his hand. Elliott was uncomfortably aware of how they must look to Ruthie.

"Look, you should know that Ruthie and I only agreed to be friends so I could pursue things with Gordo," Elliott joked, trying to get out of the conversation.

Joanna laughed, as did the girls around them who heard his words.

"Gordo, are you and Elliott dating?" one of them called back.

"Yeah, stop messing with my guy," Gordo responded.

Elliott hung back at a light, and managed to separate from icky, grabby, Joanna.

He took a deep breath as he rejoined Pepsi, Linda, Gordon and Ruthie. He reached for Ruthie's hand, but caught himself and hoped no one had noticed.

Something was going on up front. Ms. Pomerantz was saying something in a loud voice, trying to address the entire group, though it was hard to hear her. Then she and the chaperones gestured back toward the hotel, and got everyone going in the other direction.

What?

"We're going back, I didn't exactly hear why," someone told Elliott's group.

Ruthie and the others didn't care, and continued chattering as they walked back toward 46th, where their hotel was. Elliott, however, had seen Ms. Pomerantz' kind face, and how worried she was. He made his way back to where the English teacher was walking, next to Mr. Brody and a couple of parents.

"What's going on, Ms. P?" Elliott asked, gesturing toward her phone, which was lit up with incoming texts.

"I'd rather tell everyone at once," she responded, her voice abstracted. "Let's just get back to the hotel, and we'll talk there, okay?" Her blue eyes were concerned as they met Elliott's.

He nodded, and rejoined the group. When they got back to the hotel, everyone sat in the chairs in the middle of the lobby, still talking in loud, fast voices because they'd been outside.

"Kids? Please, give me your attention," Ms. Pomerantz called. "I need to talk to all of you, right now, okay?"

She looked sufficiently worried that the group settled down.

"I could try to kind of gloss things over, and just give you nebulous reasons for what's going on, but Warren is a small town, and we're a small school, and you're all going to find out everything anyway," she began. "So I'm just going to tell you the truth:

"I just got a text from our principal, Dr. Alvarez, saying that Brett Carmichael got on a plane for New York City this afternoon." The teacher's eyes scanned the group, and settled on Ruthie. "We all know what's been going on with him recently, and that he's no longer enrolled, and that the police are looking for him.

"Now I don't want one hooligan to ruin our trip," she continued as Ruthie reached for Elliott's hand. "But I want to make sure that no one in our group is communicating with Mr. Carmichael and telling him where we are." Now her eyes were on Joanna and her group. "Is that clear? Please raise your hand if you've been texting with him, telling him where we're staying, anything like that?"

Everyone shook their heads, and Ms. Pomerantz sighed. "Okay, we won't be changing hotels, then, all right, kids?"

They were going to change hotels? Because of Brett Carmichael?

"According to Dr. A, he's pretty upset, and looking for our group, looking for Ms. Grimaldi," their teacher went on. "I just want you all to be aware that he's not part of this trip, and shouldn't be anywhere near us, or Ruthie. If you see him, you're to let me or another chaperone know immediately. If he contacts any of you, you need to let us know immediately. Is that clear?" She looked around, as all the students nodded.

She looked again at Ruthie, this time including Elliott in her words. "You need to be a little extra vigilant, that's all," she said, trying to lower the tension, which had ratcheted up as she spoke. "The lobby staff here at the hotel know not to let him up, and I can't believe he'd do anything in a huge city full of people. I just wanted to make you all aware of the situation, okay?

"You're excused, please just go to your rooms so we can do a head count."

Everyone rose and headed for the elevators, talking in low voices.

Ruthie could hear her name, and Elliott's, among the murmured words. Everyone knew about the incidents in the parking lots, and knew that Brett had been expelled over it.

Ruthie was shaken.

Why was Brett on his way to New York City? What could he possibly want?