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reach up and touch the top platform. The slide was attached to yellow climbing cubes, which led to the blue-and-green monkey bars.
    Over to the side, across a sandy patch, two thick black rubber swings hung from chains attached to a purple-painted metal rod. A toddler’s swing, one of those seats with leg holes, was in the third space, nearest the slide.
    Nora went down the slide a few times before camping out on a swing. She opened the book she had brought with her, but she had trouble concentrating on the words.
    It didn’t take long to realize that the park would be way more fun with friends.
    By the end of the first hour, Nora sort of even wished that Lucas would show up. Sort of.
    Dragging her feet in the sand, Nora raised her chin up to feel the afternoon sun on her face. It was warm, but the air was crisp. A typical autumn day. It had been a long time since she’d been in the sun at all. Maybe she should have put on sunscreen. She was surprised her mother hadn’t insisted.
    Nora was daydreaming, thinking of how she was going survive the next two hours, clever ways to greet her friends,and what excuses she’d give her mom when she got back to the apartment after three o’clock, when she heard voices around the corner. Raising her head, Nora tipped her ear to be sure. Yep! Nora recognized those voices!
    With everything that had happened, she’d forgotten that today was an early dismissal from school. School let out at one fifteen on Halloween!
    This was awesome. Nora was going to see her friends without getting in any trouble when she returned home.
    Fast as lightning, Nora jumped off the swing and dashed behind some nearby bushes.
    It was going to be an amazing surprise. She was going to jump out and hug Hallie first, since she’d known her longer. Nora had met Hallie the first day of kindergarten. They hadn’t met Lindsay until the second day.
    Then she considered that since she talked more often at night to Lindsay, maybe she should hug her first.
    Or should it be a group hug?
    Nora still hadn’t decided whom she was going to hug first when the two girls approached the bush where she was hiding. She held her breath until they passed. Nora sucked her cheeks together and tried not to make even a single little peeping sound.
    â€œSo what time should we meet for trick-or-treating?” Hallie asked Lindsay.
    â€œSeven,” Lindsay replied.
    â€œI’m sad to go without Nora,” Hallie said.
    Nora knew it. They hadn’t forgotten her!
    â€œFreaky, what happened this morning,” Lindsay said.
    Hallie pulled her pop-star jacket tightly around herself and shook her head.
    Lindsay put her arm around Hallie. “I think we should agree not to mention it ever again.”
    Of course. Now Nora understood what had happened. Popping up and down in the window frame as she fought with Lucas had made them uncertain if they’d really seen her or not. She wished she’d planned it on purpose. It fit in with the theme of the day!
    Well then, how about another fright?
    It would be the perfect way to surprise her friends. Forget the hugs. They loved being scared. All those movies they’d watched together while sleeping at Hallie’s on Halloween night. All those pranks they’d pulled on one another. This was going to be the ultimate. Hallie and Lindsay would be frightened for a moment, and then they’d laugh when they realized itwas her. It would be just like old times.
    Nora grinned.
    As Hallie and Lindsay passed by the bushes, Nora tiptoed out of her hiding place. She crept up slowly, careful not to let them see her before she was ready.
    The girls slowed down at the edge of the park. Nora wasn’t allowed to go any farther, and she knew her mother was watching, so she had to act now. An inch at a time, she reached her hand out to touch Hallie on the shoulder.
    â€œBoo!” she shouted as Hallie turned.
    â€œAhhhh!” Hallie screamed in