“That’s what Bryonyliterallyjust said,” Amy snapped.
I tried to block all of this ?out. I pushed my way through the crowd, feeling like a salmon swimming upstream as I tried to reach the door.
“Did you forget something in the tent?” the cast member by the door, the one checking wristbands asked.
“Uh, sure,” I said. “I’ll just…” I pointed toward something just beyond ?her and dodged around an incoming group to step forward, through the doorway.
Who’s ready to have the best night ever?” Sheridan yelled.
“Okay,” I said, nodding, as I oriented myself. Everything was just like before—my classmates streaming in, everyone happy and excited to begin the night. Bryony next to me, smiling, still firmly my best friend, not looking at me with hurt in her eyes.
I saw Manny take a deep breath to respond like he always did, but this time I preempted him. “Manny is!” I called. He stopped and looked over at me, surprised. I pulled Bryony out of the way before she even knew she was in any danger?, and steered us over to the bench that I already felt like I was getting to know well.
“You okay?” Bryony asked me, her brow furrowing.
I nodded. “Just needed a second.” I sat down, took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly, the way Oscar’s meditation app was always telling him to do. I wasn’t sure if it helped, but it gave me a moment to just sit and try and assess the situation.
Because it seemed like I could keep walking through the door, but I was fairly certain I’d keep getting the same result. There was truly no other explanation that I could seem to get my head around. The facts, unbelievable as they were, were also undeniable.
I was in a time loop.
On Grad Nite.
My only experience with time loops had been movies and books, so I wasn’t sure how it normally worked, but I was relieved that unlike the ones inGroundhog DayorPalm Springs, I didn’t have to either go to sleep or die in order to reset things. And though I had no way of telling for sure, it didn’t seem like I had a limited number of these.
But then, I was still waiting for the wise guide to show up and explain all of this to me. It didn’t seem very fair that I was in a time loop with absolutelynoinstructions. Where was my handbook? Or at least someone giving me the dos and don’ts? Nobody seemed to be putting themselves forward, so I figured I’d just have to sort this out on my own. I honestly didn’t see any other solution here.
Butwhywas I in a time loop? That’s what I couldn’t get my head around…why this was happening. I’d seen enough of these movies to know there was always areasonsomeone found themselves in a time loop—something they had to learn or fix.
I’d first wished to do this over because of how disastrously the night had gone—running into everyone from my past, and this eventually leading to the fight with Bryony. But now, none of that needed to happen. Therewasno fight with Bryony, no running into Reagan and Zach, or Greta and Nora, or Bruce. I knew they were all here, somewhere else in the park, but I could avoid them—or start things over if I saw them.
So that meant the reason for this loop had to be something else…and in a flash of inspiration, I suddenly had an idea.
Emma had even pointed it out to me, I just hadn’t clocked it at the time—the meet-cute. Freddie the British musician. All at once, it seemed so obvious. I never just ran into cute guys—literally or otherwise. His soda had spilled on me, we’d had a conversation…I remembered the way I’d felt drawn to talk to him in my second loop. It was like we had a connection that went past just soda-spilling. It had to be that, right? That maybe something was supposed to happen with us? I decided to find out.
“Hey!” I looked over and saw, right on time, the Emmas coming toward us, Emma R. with her blue plastic Disneyland bag, the other two Emmas looking preoccupied as usual.
“Hey, guys,” Bryony said.
“So, what’s your plan?” I asked, hoping to skip the graduation ears conversation since it seemed clear that, no matter how many times I tried, we really weren’t going to get them.
“We were just debating what to do,” Emma J. said, glancing at her phone. “Either the Incredicoaster or heading to Soarin’. There’s,? like,? no line right now.”
“You should do the Incredicoaster!” I said immediately.
Bryony blinked at me in surprise. “Cass, you don’t like roller coasters.”
“No, I know,” I said, nodding. “And so that’s why you should go on it with the Emmas. Along with all the other ones I can’t do. Like maybe the Guardians ride, too, and the Ferris wheel with the swinging cars…” I flashed back to our disastrous ride and wasn’t able to stop myself from shuddering.
“But you wouldn’t be able to go with us.”
“I know,” I said, trying to sound sad, and not like this was all part of a plan. “But then we can meet up afterward and you’ll tell me about how I could have handled them, and I won’t believe you.”
Bryony frowned. “But we’re supposed to hang out together.”
“And we will! It’s just that this way you’ll get the full Grad Nite experience.” My heart clenched a little as I flashed back to Bryony, on the verge of tears, confronting me about lying to her. That version of her night had been totally wrecked. And even though she didn’t remember it, I did. I needed to erase that entirely, make sure she had the best time. “We can do my wimpy rides once you’ve done all the daredevil ones.”
“Are yousure?” Bryony asked, her brow furrowed.
