I saw Tabitha wince as she looked at herself in the mirror. “God,” she said, shaking her head. She splashed some cold water on her face, then blotted it with a paper towel. “I look pretty bad, huh?”
“No,” I lied, hoping I pulled it off this time. “Just like you’ve been crying, maybe.”
“Well, that’s true,” she said with a sigh as she shook her hair back from her face.
“Are you okay?” I asked, taking a step closer to her. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Not unless you can turn back time.” She ran a hand over her eyes. “Could tonightgetany worse?”
“Is this because of the DitesMoi thing?”
Tabitha whipped around to stare at me, her blue eyes wide. “You know about that? It’s already out there?”
“Oh,” I said, trying to backtrack, willing my brain to go faster. “Maybe? I kind of heard something….”
She dug through her designer bag until she pulled out her phone. “I just can’t believe this,” she said. “I really thought I could trust my friends, you know? I didn’t think they’d sell a picture of me to a gossip site.”
“And you’re sure that’s who did it?”
Tabitha sighed. “Yeah. The picture that got sold was one with me and my friends. Nobody else would have had it. Just me and Em and River. There’s no other explanation. I just…” Her voice cracked. “I just wanted one night, you know? One night when I get to be a regular person? and nobody treats me different or stares at me?…”
“When did this happen?” I asked, wishing once again that I had the ability to write any of this down and take it with me. “Like, what time?”
“I mean—we took the pictures pretty soon after we got to the park? By the Mater in the graduation cap by Cars Land, did you see him? It’s—”
“So what timeexactly?”
“Uh—nine forty? I don’t know,” she said, sounding taken aback. “And then I got a call about thirty minutes ago—telling me this was about to break. So something must have happened in between, I guess.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding. “I’ll try to help if I can. No promises?, though!”
“What?” She stared at me and folded her arms across her chest. “What do you mean—help? It’s already happened.”
“I know. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed.”
“But—” Tabitha started. Just as she ?spoke, I heard the crackle of a speaker.
“Make your way over to the stage,” the voice on the loudspeaker said. “Eton Mess will be going on in just a few minutes!”
“I should go,” I said, heading for the door. The last thing I wanted to do was to see Eton Mess crash and burn once again. Unless…
All at once, I realized that I might be able to do something about that, too. Not right now, of course. Or even in the next loop. But a plan was starting to form in my head, threads coming together in unexpected ways.
“Wait,” Tabitha said, sounding thoroughly baffled now. “I don’t even know who you are.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I called behind me as I pulled the door open. “You won’t remember this!”
Who’s ready to have the best night ever?” Sheridan yelled.
I pulled Bryony out of the way preemptively, and then just started sprinting full-out, my bag banging against my hip as I ran. I could hear her yelling behind me, no doubt asking pertinent questions likeWhere are you going?But if I was going to get all ?the way over to Cars Land in time to see what was happening with Tabitha, I couldn’t stop and explain. Not that any explanation would have made sense to Bryony. What could I say?I’mstuck in a time loop, and a celebrity told me when exactlyshe’sgoing to be betrayed by her friends, so I have to rush there to make sure itdoesn’thappen.I knew I didn’t even have time to give her an excuse or fake a medical issue—I just had togo.
Judging by the yells and people saying “Hey!” as I pushed past them, it was clear that nobody really appreciated someone running at top-speed through Disneyland on Grad Nite.
“Slow down there!” I heard a sharp voice yell. It sounded like an adult—probably a chaperone—and I raised my hand in acknowledg?ment. The last thing I needed right now was to be delayed even further by someone deciding I should get a lecture about this.
I skidded to a stop when I reached the entrance to Cars Land and looked around frantically, breathing hard. I needed to find Tabitha…. I needed to see what happened here if I was going to make it right….
I turned in a circle, and that’s when I saw it. Mater, fromCars, was parked by the entrance to Cars Land. And sure enough, he was in a robe and graduation cap. There was a long line of people queued up to get their pictures taken with him, and cast members keeping the line moving.
