“I’m just glad it’s not cold down here,” Riley said, coming out of her turtle shell by letting her coat collar fall. “But ew, what’s that smell?”

“It’s not as bad as it would be if we came in the summertime,” Vanessa said. She seemed pretty skilled at buying us each MetroCards from the vending machine. She pressed buttons rapid-fire, even as she kept talking. “There’s a stronger scent when it’s hot out, for sure.”

“Watch where you step,” said Megan’s mom as she and Riley’s mom helped Vanessa buy and hand out the Metro-Cards.

“What do you mean by that?” Megan asked, clearly spooked. She looked at the floor around her, wincing.

“Only that there probably can be anything from creepy crawlers to gross garbage where you step,” said Trina matter-of-factly. “My aunt had a rat run across her foot once. That’s not even the grossest story she told.”

“Oooh, really?” asked Riley, totally interested. “Tell us the grossest story she’s told you.”

“Um, no, thanks!” Megan holds up her hand to stop Trina from saying any more. “I’ve heard enough.”

“So have I.” Megan’s mom wrinkled her nose. “Can we reconsider the car service?”

“No,” Vanessa said sternly.

MetroCards in hand, we were ready to swipe, walk through the turnstyle, and start our journey.

There were a lot of people standing on the platform heading downtown. Lily, Trina, and Riley decided to study the subway map posted on an information board. Vanessa started chatting to the moms about the summer she’d spent interning and taking dance classes in New York.

I was surprised to see Megan walk up to me. “Did you catch the subway a lot when you lived up here?”

“Not that much,” I said. “My parents would sometimes drive in and we’d walk from there. But when we did ride the subway, it was cool.”

“I don’t see what’s so cool about it.” Megan shrugged, aiming to look bored and unimpressed, but not one hundred percent convincingly.

“Don’t you think it’s something you can’t miss seeing when you visit New York?”

“I could do without it, “ she said as coolly as she could. “I don’t like to be with, uh, the masses. Underground seems beneath it all. You know?”

A blast of hot air entered the tunnel with a force, which startled Megan and obliterated her cool.

“What—? What’s happening?” she asked, looking around her. She watched the train arrive like it would run out of space to stop in time. Nothing in her face seemed to scream, Fun!

Ah, I thought. I recognized this side of Megan from our flight here. She’s scared.

“Let’s go, girls!” Vanessa called, leading us onto the train. She held the doors just in case they attempted to close before we were all on.