Bryony frowned, her forehead creasing in worry. “Cass, you’re scaring me. Did you? hit your head or something? Do you smell burning toast? How many fingers?”
She held up three, and I pushed them away, smiling at her. “I swear I’m fine. I’mbetterthan fine. I just thought you should know.”
“That you’re…in a time loop.”
“Exactly!” Bryony just stared at me, so I added, “You know, likeGroundhog Day.”
“I know what a time loop is,” she said faintly. “I just don’t know why you think you’re in one.”
“Because I am,” I said patiently. “It’s okay if you don’t believe me.”
“I think you need some water or something,” Bryony said, backing away. “I’m going to get Ms. Mulaney. Just stay there!”
“Not going anywhere!” I called after her cheerfully. I walked over to the bench that had become so familiar to me and sat, giving it a fond pat. To my left, I could see Amy and Carlos arguing. I let out a small sigh as I looked at them. I was going to have to talk to Amy later.
After a few moments—like I knew they would—Ms. Mulaney and Bryony came running up, Bryony carrying a bottle of water, both looking worried. I waved at them. “Hi, Ms. Mulaney!”
“Hi,” she said, coming to a stop in front of me. “What’s going on? Bryony said you’re experiencing a break with reality?” She shook her head. “Tonight’s instructionsreallydidn’t cover that.”
“I promise I’m fine,” I said. Bryony handed me the water and I took a long drink. “You didn’t need to rush over here. But! I did have some thoughts about your novel.”
“Your what?” Bryony asked, turning to look at Ms. Mulaney, who was staring at me, open-mouthed.
“How—?How did you know about my novel?” she asked, a faint blush creeping into her cheeks.
“Because I’ve read it,” I explained. “Hurricane Madison. It’s so good, but there’s an issue with the ending.”
“When did you read Ms. Mulaney’s novel?” Bryony asked, sounding baffled. “How did you even know she was writing a novel?”
“Yeah,” Ms. Mulaney said, pulling her bag a little closer. “Did you go into my computer? or…”
“Of course not,” I said. “Look, I know you have that call with the agent later. I’m sorry to tell you it’s not going to go well.”
“I…What?” she asked faintly, looking gobsmacked.
“I mean, if they can’t see you’re talented based on this, you don’t want to sign with them anyway, right? But my suggestion is to tell the story in aloop. Right now it just kind of ends. But if you start with the hurricane, and then we come back around to it at the end…”
“I…just…” Ms. Mulaney looked like she was having trouble keeping up. “I mean—I could see how that would work. I guess I never thought about?…” Her voice trailed off, and she shook her head, like she was trying to get herself to focus. “But I don’t understandhow—”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, even though I knew this was probably easier for me to say than for her to do. “Because it would work, right? Don’t you think?”
“It would,” she said, blinking fast. “I think it would?…” She dug in her canvas bag and took out a pen, the one that I usually stole from her. She took the manuscript out of her bag and started scribbling notes on it.
“Cass,” Bryony said, pulling me a few feet away from our teacher. “What is happening?”
“Itoldyou what’s happening,” I said, keeping my voice patient. I remembered how hard it had been for me come to terms with it, after all. Freddie had been on board faster—but then, I’d essentially had a cheat code for Freddie. I felt some nervous butterflies start to swoop in my stomach as I thought about Freddie and what was—hopefully—going to happen later. If I pulled this off.
“A…time loop.” I noticed that Bryony didn’t sound quite as dismissive as she had before. Now it sounded more like she was trying to get her head around the concept of it.
I smiled at her. “Exactly. Now, I have to go take care of some things, but the Emmas are going to be here any moment.”
“The Emmas?”
“There they are!” I pointed as they came closer, Emma R. waving cheerfully, Emma J. and Emma Z. looking much more preoccupied.
“Hi, guys!” Emma R. said, joining us. She glanced over at Ms. Mulaney, who was still scribbling down notes and muttering under her breath?. “Uh?—hi, Ms. Mulaney.”
I pointed to Emma’s bag. “Can I see the ears you got?”
