I smiled at that. “When did you finally take it down?”
He just stared at me, his brow furrowing. “Sorry—take itdown? I don’t understand….”
For just a second, I thought he was serious, until he gave me a smile—one that lit his whole face up. “I’m just taking the piss,” he said, and then a second later, shook his head. “Britishism. I’m just teasing you. I took it down in sixth form. Geraldine Bewley was coming over to work on a project, and I needed her to see just how cool I was.”
“And how’d that work out?”
“It didn’t,” he said with a laugh. “But not because of the poster.”
“Maybe you should have left it up? Maybe she was a secret fan, too.”
Freddie smiled at that, then leaned forward. “So, help me understand. The loop starts when you go through the doors?”
I nodded. “The ones by the Avengers Campus. As soon as I step over the threshold, I’m back to the moment I first came to the park.”
“Fascinating. So you can reset it whenever you want?”
“It seems like it. I thought at first that there might only be a few of these. But I’ve done it…four times now? I think? So there might not be any limit.”
“You don’t know how many times it’s been?”
I shook my head. “Even if I wrote something down, nothing comes with me. Like, when you spilled orange soda all over my dress…”
“Not me,” Freddie protested, looking alarmed. “I mean, not this me. But sorry on behalf of that me.”
“The next time I went through, my dress was perfectly clean, like nothing had happened to it. Every time I walk through the door, it’s like the first time. I remember everything that’s happened, but I can’t take anything with me.”
“Huh.” He reached into his messenger bag and pulled out a small black notebook, the same kind Oscar used on client meetings—a Moleskine. He took out the pen that had been in the notebook and clicked the top. “Do you mind if I write this down? It just helps me think.”
“Go ahead,” I said as I took a the last bite of my burger.
Freddie nodded at it. “Good, right?”
“Yeah,” I said, shaking my head. “I was really hungry.”
“Well, that’s an interesting point,” he said, scribbling something in his notebook, then looking up at me. “What about physically?”
I could feel my cheeks get hot and took an extra-long drink of my soda, hoping to cool them down. “I—What do you mean?”
“Well, like, inGroundhog Day, things start over when he goes to sleep, right?”
“Or dies,” I pointed out.
“And inPettigrew’sLoop, it resets whenever he takes a nap. But you’ve been doing this for a few hours now, right? Are you tired? Do your feet hurt? That kind of thing.”
I considered the question. I probablyshouldhave been more tired, now that I was thinking about it. If time was going in a straight line, many hours would have passed by now—it would have been close to four or ?five a.m. But I wasn’t tired in any extreme way. My feet didn’t hurt, and I wasn’t exhausted. I did seem to get hungry at the same time every loop—when Bryony and I had gotten snacks from the Cozy Cone, and when my stomach had rumbled this time with Freddie.
“No,” I said. “I think maybe I physically reset, too? Which I guess makes sense—as much as anything makes sense right now.”
“That’s very cool,” he said, underlining something in his notebook and raising an eyebrow at me. “It’s like you’re a superhero or something.”
I laughed. “I don’t know about that. But it is nice to talk to someone about this. It’s been kind of a weird thing to just have in my head as I’ve been walking around.”
“I mean, I do kind of know what it’s like.”
My head snapped up as I stared at him, surprised. Was this adoubletime-loop situation, like inPalm SpringsorRussian Doll? “What do you mean?” I asked slowly. Maybehewas the wise guide who could walk me through this experience! It was high time I got one, after all. “Are you…”
“No, no,” Freddie said quickly. “I can assure you I’m not in a time-loop situation.” He paused. “You ever say a sentence you’repositiveyou’ve never said before?”
