“They don’t have any,” I said, cutting her off.
“They don’t? How do you know?”
“I…just do.” I turned to the Emmas. Emma J. and Emma Z. were huddled together, looking at something on their Emma Z.’s phone, talking in low voices. “Emma,” I said.
“Yes?” all three Emmas replied.
“Oh sorry—Emma R.,” I said, and the other two turned back to the phone.
“Because it’s going to be worth it,” I heard Emma Z. say under her breath.
“What?” Emma R. asked, bringing me back to the task at hand.
“How long after coming into the park did you get to this kiosk? Like, did you come here right away?”
“I mean, maybe five minutes?” Emma R. said with a one-shouldered shrug. “We got here, and I saw these right away, and knew I wanted them, so it wasn’t like I spent a ton of time looking at other stuff, you know?”
“Cool,” I said with a nod. “Got it.” And then I turned and headed for the doors, walking fast.
“Cass?” I heard Bryony yell after me. “Where are you going?”
“I’ll be right back!” I yelled behind me. If this was a time loop, when I came back, I’d have enough time to get Bryony her ears. And if it wasn’t—if this was just the world’s weirdest version of déjà vu—then that question would be answered, too.
I walked faster, and as I got closer to the Avengers Campus, I saw Amy sitting on a bench, and Ms. Mulaney sitting next to her. I slowed when I saw that Amy was sobbing, crying into her hands. “What’s wrong?” I asked, as I walked over to them—even though I had a sinking feeling that I knew.
“Amy and Carlos broke up,” Ms. Mulaney said, mouthing the last two words to me, like even saying them out loud might be too much for Amy right now.
“Again?”
Amy looked up, tear?stained and confused. “What do you mean,again?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “I just mean, why?”
Amy took a shaky breath. “It started small and stupid, you know? We were arguing about who had the more accurate time—just so silly, you know? But then that turned into a bigger fight, and before I knew it, things were over.”
I swallowed hard. Once again, I’d inadvertently been the cause of their breakup. How had this happenedtwice? If I got another shot, I resolved to just not talk to them the whole night. That way, if anything happened, there was no way it could be my fault. “Oh no,” I said, trying to sound surprised. “I’m shocked to hear it! For the very first time. I’m so sorry, Amy.” She gave me a quavery smile, then it turned into a frown and she started sobbing again.
I looked at Ms. Mulaney—should I even bother telling her that I was leaving? On closer inspection, it didn’t look like Ms. Mulaney was doing great either—her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. Was she just really feeling Amy’s pain? Or was something else going on? Whatever it was, I figured the last thing she needed at the moment was more student stress. So I just gave her what I hoped was a sympathetic nod, which she returned with a wan smile.
Then I started toward the exit, my eyes fixed on the big wooden door. Before I reached it, though, I took out my phone and opened my notes app.TEST, I wrote, all in caps. I made sure it saved, then I locked my phone and dropped it into my bag.
Picking up my pace, I reached the exit—and stepped through.
Who’s ready to have the best night ever?” Sheridan yelled.
I blinked, looking around. Just like last time, I hadn’t been able to get past the door. I pulled out my phone to check the time, but it was as I’d suspected—it was 9:19 p.m., even though seconds ago it had been much later. Once again, I’d gone back to the beginning of the night.
“Me!” Manny yelled. He stopped to take a selfie right in the middle of the entrance, and almost too late, I remembered what came next. I yanked Bryony out of the way of the girl who otherwise was going to crash into her, just in time.
“Wow, that was close,” Bryony said, looking at the girl and her friends?, who were running off and laughing, with no idea of what almost happened. Though I remembered a second later that this was also pretty much the way they’d reacted when they’d knocked Bryony over. “Thanks.”
“Of course,” I said. I opened my Notes app, my breath half-held in my throat as I looked at them. But sure enough, theTESTnote was gone. So if this was a time loop situation—which it certainly seemed to be—it seemed everything re?set for me each time, full stop. I could remember what had happened, but I couldn’t take anything with me, not even an electronic note.
I glanced toward the door, the barrier that I was suddenly unable to pass through?, and figured it couldn’t hurt to make sure, just in case this was a three-time-only wish kind of situation. “Be back in a second,” I said to Bryony. I started to head back toward the door just as Amy and Carlos walked over.
“Wait, where are you going?” Bryony called.
“Where is Cass going?” I heard Carlos ask.
