Chapter 2
Who’s ready to have the best night ever?” Sheridan yelled.
I blinked, trying to understand what was happening. I was standing just inside the entrance to California Adventure, right by the door I had just walked through. But I was back, somehow. And Sheridan was, too—and yelling the same thing he said as when we first arrived?
I glanced to my right—and saw Bryony standing next to me.
“Oh my god!” I gasped, as shocked to see her as I would have been to see a ghost. How had she gotten here so fast? I would have seen her, surely? And—why didn’t I remember coming back into the park?
“Me! I am!” Manny yelled, just like he had earlier in the night. He stopped to take a selfie right in the middle of the entrance—also just like before, causing the same bottleneck.
I saw that same group that had been running around him and instinctively took a step to the side, grabbing Bryony’s arm and yanking her out of the way just in time, so she didn’t get knocked over like before.
“Wow, that was close,” Bryony said, shaking her head. Then she leaned forward to look at me, her brow furrowing. “Cass, are you okay?”
“Bryony,” I said, my voice catching in my throat. Did the fact that she’d found me here mean that we could move past everything somehow? “I’m so sorry about our fight, and I know I shouldn’t have left things like that—”
“Fight?” Bryony’s eyebrows flew up, disappearing behind her bangs. “What are you talking about?”
“You know…” My voice faltered as I searched her expression, trying to figure out what was currently happening. Was Bryony trying to say she just wanted to forget about our argument, all the things we’d said, and pretend it had never happened? As far as I was concerned, that would be amazing.
Bryony shook her head. “We didn’t have a fight. I’m pretty sure I would have remembered.”
“But…we did,” I said, even though I was tempted to just go along with what she was saying. I took a deep breath—which was when I noticed my dress.
It was perfect.
Fresh and unwrinkled, and totally free from orange soda stains. “What?” I gasped. I pulled the fabric away to get a closer look. “What the heck?”
“Cass,” Bryony said, her eyes wide as she looked at me. “I’m getting a little worried.”
“Me too,” I admitted. I saw a bench nearby—the same one that Bryony had sat on after getting knocked over.
The same one Amy had been sitting on when she told me she and Carlos had broken up…
My thoughts were swimming. Feeling like my legs might not be up to the job of keeping me standing for much longer, I made my way over to the bench and sank down on it.
“You look really pale,” Bryony said, frowning. “Are you sick?”
“I…” I took a shaky breath, trying to get my spiraling thoughts under control. “Maybe? I’m not sure….”
“I’m going to get you some water, okay?” Bryony asked, already backing away. “Don’t move!”
I nodded, and she hustled off, leaving me alone. I looked around, trying to understand what I was seeing. Crowds of people were pouring through the door, talking and yelling and laughing with their friends. It didn’t look at all like this when I’d left, when the area was practically deserted.
Instead, it was exactly the way things had looked when we’d first arrived. Exactly.
It was almost like…
“No,” I said out loud, shaking my head at the absurdity of it, trying to banish the very thought.
“It’s not possible.” I knew that sitting alone, talking to myself on a bench wasn’t the best look, but it felt like I had to work this out.
And if I just kept in my head, I’d keep going in circles.
I pulled out my phone, reasoning that maybe I could get my thoughts down in my Notes app, or something.
The lock screen lit up, showing the picture of me and my dads at a roadside In-N-Out.
But I couldn’t even take in the photo right now, because my eyes were fixed on the time.
9:29 p.m.
I locked the screen for a moment, thinking maybe it just needed to reboot or something.
Because I’d just looked at the time before I’d headed out, and it was 12:20 a.m. Which meant that now, it should be closer to 12:30 a.m. I waited another moment, then tapped the screen again—9:30 p.m., the numbers clear as anything.
Had I…traveled back in time? But only by two and a half hours? No—of course I hadn’t. My phone was malfunctioning, that was all. Maybe when the orange soda hit me? My phone must have gotten wet and short-circuited.
I looked back down at my dress, which had clearly never encountered an orange soda in its life. But there was some explanation. There just had to be.
“Hey, Cass!”
I looked over to see Amy and Carlos, arms around each other, walking toward me.
I felt my heart lift a little at the sight.
They were AmyandCarlos again! This was proof that at least part of the world was still making sense.
“Hi,” I said, smiling at them, and hearing the relief in my voice.
“You guys made up! I’m so happy to see it. ”
They shot a glance at each other, then looked back at me. “Made up?” Amy echoed. “Why would we need to make up?”
“Because…you broke up. We had a whole conversation about it. Right here.”
“Is that a joke?” Carlos asked. “It’s not funny, Cass.”
“Not at all,” Amy said, looking at me with wide, hurt eyes. “Why would you say that? Like why even bring that idea into the universe?”
“Seriously. Knock wood!” Carlos said, knocking on his own head. I could have sworn I saw a flicker of irritation cross Amy’s face, but then it was gone a second later like it had never been there.
“Sorry,” I said, rubbing my hand across my eyes, trying to understand this.
What happened after I left through the door might have been fuzzy, but I could recall my conversation with Amy perfectly—probably because it had just happened.
She had been crying on the bench, she’d told me about the breakup…
I looked up at them, arms around each other, so clearly a unit, and felt my confidence weaken a little. “Um, what time do you guys have?”
Amy pulled out her phone. “Nine thirty-four.”
Carlos glanced at his watch and shook his head. “Nine thirty-five. I set it by the Naval Observatory Master Clock, so it’s more accurate.”
“More accurate than a satellite?” Amy asked, a tiny ribbon of irritation threading through her voice.
“Well, yes, actually—”
“Thanks so much,” I said quickly, wanting to head this off at the pass.
“I just thought my phone was off. But I must have been mistaken.” They were still looking at me a little skeptically, and I plastered a big smile on my face that I hoped seemed somewhat natural.
“But you guys have a great time! I’ll catch you later! ”
They headed off, though I could hear them still bickering about time accuracy. I slumped back on the bench again and raked my hand through my hair, trying to bring my thoughts into some kind of order.
I closed my eyes for a long moment, hoping that when I opened them again, I would find myself back in a world that made sense.
I’d be walking out the door, on my way to get an Uber, go home, and finish packing for Oregon.
This was just…an anomaly. It was a very specific kind of déjà vu, that was all.
I opened my eyes and looked around. Everything was just the same as it had been a moment ago. The crowds of laughing seniors, the cast members checking wristbands, the clock on my phone reading 9:37 p.m.
I looked at the groups of happy people running off to start their nights, and felt frustration start to build in my chest. Because this had happened already.
I’d lived through it once before! That was what I just couldn’t get my head around.
Why was it happening again? Things like this just didn’t occur outside of movies and books. It wasn’t…
The words time loop floated across my mind for just a second, before I immediately dismissed them.
There was no such thing as a time loop. Which meant there had to be a rational explanation.
There had to be. I put my head in my hands, trying to block out any distractions, needing to concentrate.
What exactly had happened as I’d left? Maybe the answer was somewhere in there. I tried to mentally retrace my steps.
I’d been having the worst night ever. Freddie the cute musician had dumped orange soda on me.
I’d run into Reagan, Greta and Nora, and worst of all, Bruce.
Bryony had discovered I’d been lying about the Mermaid Café, and that I was leaving, and we had a friendship-cratering fight.
Amy told me she and Carlos had broken up, and I’d headed for the exit, wishing—
My head flew up, and I drew in a shocked breath.
I’d made a wish. I’d wished that I could have a chance to do things over and make things right. I’d wished that I could do this again.
My jaw dropped open, and I immediately closed it. I was remembering now, just after I’d done this, how the streetlight had flickered. At the time, I hadn’t thought much of it—just assumed it was the Cars Land DJ. But…
Could it be?
It wasn’t rational—I knew that. But I was at Disneyland. If something like this was going to happen, if a wish was going to come true, it was going to be here, wasn’t it? All at once, I regretted not wishing for millions of dollars, or Timothée Chalamet’s phone number, or a puppy.
Accepting this went against all my instincts and everything I’d been led to understand about how things worked. But I honestly wasn’t sure there could be any other explanation. So maybe the best thing to do was to accept that this seemed to be happening, and just…go with it?
“Hi!” I looked up to see Bryony hurrying toward me, carrying a sweating bottle of Dasani in one hand. Ms. Mulaney was hustling alongside her, her expression concerned.
“Are you okay?” Ms. Mulaney asked, pushing her long dark hair behind her ears. She leaned closer to look at me. “Bryony said you were sick.”