“Wait.” Bryony stared at me in disbelief. “You’re just leaving? We’re not even going to talk about this?”
“We did talk about it,” I said, even though I knew we hadn’t, not really. But I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to stay there any longer and see the look on her face, letting me know I was making everything worse. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Cass!” I heard her call after me, but I was already hurrying away, not letting myself look back.
That interaction hadnotgone great, but at least I’d apologized. And I just hoped it would be enough to set things right again. And then once things were back on track, and time was moving forward again, Bryony and I could have a longer conversation about things. We’d fix it. But right now, I had to find the other people I needed to talk to. I was hoping I could find them all fast, end this thing within an hour.
I consulted the map in my head, where I kept track of locations for all these various people?—usually, so I could be sure to avoid them. But now, it was very useful for tracking them down. I thought for a moment, then headed off to Cars Land.
The DJ was playing, people were dancing in front of his turntable stand, but I just ignored it all as I made a beeline for the Cozy Cone snack stands. Though as I glanced behind me at my fellow seniors dancing enthusiastically, hands in the air, it occurred to me that for all the time I was spending here at Grad Nite, I hadn’t actually partaken in the most fun parts of it. There had been people to avoid and concerts to try to save—and not, apparently, enough time to dance to a DJ or go on Radiator Springs Racers again. And now, on the verge of leaving Grad Nite forever, that was suddenly seeming like a bit of a waste. But there was nothing to be done about it now—I had to concentrate on the task at hand.
I didn’t have to wait long before I saw Reagan and Zach, standing in the churro line with McKenna, and I headed straight in their direction. “Hey there,” I said as reached them. Reagan’s eyes went wide, and so did Zach’s, but McKenna just gave me a cheerful wave.
“Cass?” Reagan asked, blinking at me. “Cass Issac?”
“It’s me. Look, I just wanted to apologize about the churro thing. I didn’t realize they were so important to your party. But since you’re already here…” I dug in my bag and pulled out my wallet. As I thumbed through my bills, I knew exactly the amount that would be in there—just like everything else, my money reset every time I walked through the door. I held out a twenty. “Here. Now you can buy the churros and we can call it even. Right?”
Reagan just stared at me, and Zach looked from me to Rea?gan, unsure. But McKenna shrugged and plucked the bill from my hand, giving me a smile. “Okay. Free churros! Thanks a lot.”
“That’s really all you have to say?” Reagan asked, sounding shocked.
“I mean, I’m sorry,” I said again, in case that first one hadn’t counted. “So—the churros will make up for everything, right?”
Reagan exchanged a look with Zach, but neither of them said anything. And after waiting a few more moments, I figured I’d done what I came to do. “Great,” I finally said, and turned to go back where I’d come from. I tried to tell myself that it was fine, that things were even now, the scales balanced, but it really didn’t feel that way.
Doubling back to the Ferris wheel, I tried to tell myself that how someone took my apology was not in my purview. All I could do was apologize, and anything else wastheirissue. Right?
As I walked, I realized that I was about to pass the merchandise kiosk—the one staffed by Johnny from Provo, Utah, the one that never seemed to have the Mickey graduation ears I wanted to get for Bryony. I figured by this point in the night, the Emmas would have already been there and Emma R. would have purchased her ears already. But it couldn’t hurt to check.
There were two chaperones ahead of me, buying baseball caps. While I waited for them to finish, I walked around the kiosk, trying to see if I could spot ?the graduation ears—but of course, I didn’t see any. When the chaperones walked away with their bags, I headed over to Johnny, who was leaning back in his chair.
“Are you finding everything you wanted?” Johnny asked, and I just blinked at him. He nodded toward the kiosk. “To buy?”
“Oh right,” I said. “Um, no, actually. You don’t have any of the graduation Mickey ears left do you?”
“Not this time.”
“Wait,” I said, wondering if I’d heard him right. “What?”
“Not at this time,” he said, louder now. “All sold out. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“No,” I said, looking around at all the merch. “Thanks, though.”
“I hope you find what you’re looking for,” Johnny called after me as I turned to go. “Maybe at another kiosk,” he added.
I took a breath to say something—I wasn’t even sure what, it was just that this interaction seemed a bitoff—when a group of three friends ran up to the kiosk and started exclaiming over the merch. Deciding to put it behind me, I picked up my pace as I hurried toward the Ferris wheel, where I knew Greta and Nora would be soon.
I heard two familiar voices and turned to see Amy and Carlos walking toward me, bickering. I took a few steps forward and turned my back, hoping that they would be too caught up in their argument to notice me.
“Because we keep having this same discussion over and over again!” Amy said, sounding exasperated.
“We’re only having this discussion because you keep bringing it up,” Carlos said, sounding equally exasperated.
“Becauseyouwon’t admit you’re wrong!” Amy said, shaking her head.
“But I’mnotwrong, so why would I admit that? Just to end the discussion?”
I didn’t understand what exactly was happening with them—they seemed to be having a fight about something different in all these loops. But maybe, just maybe, they’d figure it out and this would be the one that ended with them together and happy at the end, and not Amy sobbing on the bench a few hours from now.
