Chapter 131
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 like Where 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’m stuck in a time loop, and a celebrity told me when exactly she’s going to be betrayed by her friends, so I have to rush there to make sure it doesn’t happen.
I knew I didn’t even have time to give her an excuse or fake a medical issue—I just had to go.
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 acknowledgment. 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, from Cars, 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.
I spotted Tabitha and two people who I assumed were the friends she’d mentioned.
I looked at them closely, wondering which one of them had been the one to leak the picture.
Tabitha had said that only the people in the picture—or taking it—would have had access so that did narrow the suspects down a little bit.
I walked a little closer, pretending to scroll on my phone, hoping that I seemed nonchalant… .
“Cass?”
I froze and whirled around. The Emmas were in front of me, all of them looking surprised to see me. “Uh—hi, guys,” I said, giving them a smile, while also trying to keep an eye on Tabitha’s group. They’d just moved forward to pose for the photo, all three of them smiling wide.
“Hey!” Emma R. said, and Emma J. and Emma Z. waved—they looked much more relaxed than they normally did when I encountered them.
“What’s up?” I asked, as I tried to sidle up a little closer to Tabitha and her friends without looking like I was a stalker. They’d gotten their photo and stepped out of line. They were hunched over Tabitha’s phone, laughing together.
“Where’s Bryony?” Emma R. asked, looking around.
“Yeah, I thought you guys were on the later bus,” Emma Z. said. “I didn’t think you’d get here so fast.”
“We—That’s true,” I said, giving her a nod before looking back over at Tabitha. But I was too far away to see what was happening or hear any of their conversation. “I just…”
“You okay?” Emma R. asked, her brow furrowed.
“Yeah,” Emma Z. said, shaking her head. “You seem…” A second later her phone beeped, and she looked down at it, distracted.
I glanced over and saw that Tabitha and her friends were already walking away.
They were all laughing together—whichever of her friends was going to betray her was giving no indication of it.
Or maybe they hadn’t thought about it yet.
Was I going to need to follow them all night?
I sighed and started to head back toward the entrance.
“Uh. Cass?” Emma R. called after me. “Where are you going?”
“To try again!” I yelled over my shoulder. “Be right back.”