“Oh,” I said, looking from the speaker and then back to her. “I actually…”
“It’s fine,” she said, waving this off and giving me a smile that didn’t meet her eyes. “I’m okay. Thanks for checking on me, though. It was really nice.”
She gave me a nod and turned to her reflection, pulling a makeup bag out of her purse. I was half tempted to ask if she had any of her own line with her—and if she did, if I could try her new blush—but realized that was very not appropriate. And besides, I had to get to the show.
“Take care, okay?” I said as I headed for the door. She gave me a nod, and I gave her one back before I pushed my way out of the bathroom.
There was nobody on stage yet, but it looked like the crew had finished their work—there were two mic stands, a drum kit in the back, and speakers placed all around the stage. The whole thing looked soprofessional, I was grateful that I’d met Freddie before I’d seen him perform. If I’d seen him taking the stage in front of this huge crowd, would I have been able to see him as the nice guy I’d had dinner and ice cream with? Would I have been able to open up in the same way? I had a feeling the answer was no.
I pulled out my phone and texted Bryony that I was waiting by the stage. She texted me back that she’d be right there—along with a thumbs-up and three roller coaster emojis.
I looked around for anyone else I knew and spotted the well-dressed woman in black, the one that I now knew was the manager coming to see Freddie. Smiling as I remembered his request, I edged my way over to her. I also wanted to make sure that I wasn’t in the same spot where I’d run into Bruce during the first loop. We’d just had an awkward conversation, and I wasn’t sure we really needed another one. I pulled out my phone, about to have a pretend conversation about how good I’d heard the bassist of this band was, when someone tapped me on the shoulder.
I turned around to see Greta and Nora, both looking shocked. “Cass?” Nora asked, her eyes wide behind her glasses. “Cass Issac?”
I silently groaned. “Hey, Greta. Hey, Nora,” I said, waving, hoping we wouldn’t have to go into the whole thing again. I really wasn’t sure I wanted asecondlecture this loop about how I was a terrible person.
They just blinked at me, and I realized a moment later, that I should be more surprised to see them. “I mean—hi! What a shock. That we’re all here at Grad Nite!”
“I just think it’s shocking that you’re here at all,” Nora said. “We thought you fell off the face of the earth.”
“Seriously,” Greta agreed. “You just vanished, Cass. We were worried.”
“You were?” I asked. This hit me somewhere deep in my chest, and I blinked, trying to shake it off. “Well—I was fine. I just moved.”
“But you didn’t tell us. You just disappeared. Like Amelia Earhart in—”
“1937,” we all finished at the same time. I smiled. For just a second, it felt like we were back on the quiz bowl stage together.
“It wasn’t cool,” Greta said, shaking her head. “It was really hurtful.”
I opened my mouth, trying to think what to say to this. “I…”
“There you are!” Bryony hurried up to me and gave me a quick hug. “Sorry that took so long, we kept switching roller coasters, thinking we could beat the line. We should have done the Incredicoaster first, then Guardians. We definitely went in the wrong order.” I glanced behind her and saw the Emmas. Emma R. was holding a cookie shaped like Jack-Jack and looking worriedly at the other Emmas, who were sniping at each other. “Oh sorry,” Bryony said, noticing Greta and Nora. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“You weren’t,” I said, more than ready to end this interaction. “I was just leaving.”
“You’re good at that,” Nora said, the hurt clear in her tone.
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I just turned around and walked toward the Emmas, feeling my heart pound in my chest.
“What was that about?” Bryony asked me, keeping her voice low.
“I went to school with them in Arizona,” I said, speaking quickly, trying to move on from this. “They were mad that I moved.”
“But it wasn’t your fault,” Bryony said, looking outraged on my behalf.
“I know, right?” I was well aware that I was skipping over lots of pertinent facts here but was choosing to ignore that for the moment. We’d reached the Emmas, and I turned to Emma R. “Hey, how were the roller coasters?”
“Really fun,” she said, giving me a smile that immediately faded as she looked at the other two Emmas. “Cookie?”
I broke off a piece, then handed it back. “What’s going on with Emma and Emma?” I asked, lowering my voice.
“We don’t know,” Bryony said, matching my volume. “But they’ve been like this all night.”
“What did you get up to, Cass?” Emma R. asked me.
“I spent most of my time with Freddie!” I said excitedly. Emma and Bryony just stared at me blankly. “Oh, right, you don’t know who that is. Well, he’s super cute, he’s a musician, he’s British….”
