“Arcade!” Zoe’s voice echoed in the distance. “I found the ball! I win!” I turned to see Zoe standing by a window in the corner of the observation room. She had her phone out, taking pictures, no doubt to record the moment and have proof that she won.

“No! I hate losing to my sister!”

When I turned back toward the old woman, she was gone.

Chapter 2
#GOALZ

“Arcade! I beat you! I know it looks tiny, but that’s it. The Times Square ball. I win!”

I stood there, gazing out the window, down, down, down at a little glowing ball.

“Arcade?”

Yep, that’s the ball alright.

“Arcade?”

What did she mean, things were going to heat up?

“ARCADE!”

“That is seriously a long way down. Good thing Doug isn’t here.”

Zoe put a hand on her hip. “Aren’t you going to acknowledge that I beat you?”

“Were we in a race? The thin air up here must be messing with your mind.”

Zoe sighed and threw her head back. “You’re impossible.” She took a step back from the window and shielded her eyes from the sun. “It really is a good thing Doug isn’t here.”

Doug Baker is my best friend in New York City. He lives three doors down from our brownstone in Upper West Side Manhattan. Doug lives in a brownstone, too, but it’s painted green. And he’s deathly afraid of heights.

I scanned the northern view of Manhattan. “Wow. Central Park is huge! I can almost see the whole thing.” I squinted and tried to zero in on the area where my new middle school, MS 230, was located, somewhere around W 93rd Street.

“Check it out, there’s the Thanksgiving parade route!” Zoe pointed straight down. I followed her finger to a narrow street that bent sharply next to Macy’s Department Store.

“They carry the big balloons down that street? Amazing.” As I leaned into the window for a closer look, a hand rested on my shoulder.

“Have you ever seen a more spectacular view?” It was Dad, and he had his arm linked with Mom’s.

If only I could tell you about the time on top of that Egyptian pyramid . . .

Mom moved in between Zoe and me and peered out the window. “I’m so proud that you made it here all by yourselves. You’re so grown up! We thought this would be a great place to discuss your goals for the year.”

Gulp.

Dad squeezed in between Mom and me. “But we’re going simple this time. It’s been a stressful year for all of us, and since we know you’ll both do fine in your studies, we’re focusing on two other things: building character and having fun.” Dad glanced at me and raised an eyebrow.