9

Leanna took a deep breath as she approached Jenny, who was standing in front of her locker and staring down at her phone. She had no idea what she wanted to say, but she also didn’t know what she wanted to hear. If Jenny acted like nothing had happened and asked about the movie, it would mean that somehow Leanna had traveled back in time to the week before tryouts. But it also wouldn’t be good if Jenny was still mad at her. Fighting with her friend was bad enough, but that would also mean something was seriously wrong with her mom, who seemed to think it was last week.

“Hey,” Jenny said, glancing up as Leanna reached her. Before Leanna could respond, she said, “Are you excited to hit the town tonight?”

So time travel it is, then. Leanna tried not to panic as a million questions raced through her mind: Am I dreaming? How did this happen? Will I be stuck in this reality forever?

Realizing she wasn’t going to get answers anytime soon—if ever—she decided to just go with it. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself. “Uh, um, yeah!” she stammered. “Sorry I was just thinking about . . . math class.” Leanna felt stupid for using the same lie with both her mother and her best friend.

“Sure you were,” Jenny said, cracking a small smile. “Come on, Leanna, you know you don’t have to lie to me.”

Leanna felt the color drain for her cheeks. Does Jenny somehow know?

“I’m not lying, Jen,” she said. “I’ve been having trouble with the proofs we’re working on. Geometry is hard enough, and Mr. Kurr is so boring I can hardly stay awake during class so my notes are awful.”

“Oh please, Leanna, I’ve seen your notes—they’re perfect. I know what’s really bothering you,” Jenny said.

Leanna’s mind raced as she tried to come up with a response that wouldn’t make her sound crazy. She knew that she had somehow traveled through time, and it was definitely bothering her, but how on earth could Jenny know?

“What?” That was all Leanna managed to come up with.

“It’s the whole reason we’re going to the mall instead of Tetterman’s tonight—you told me what your mom said, remember? I know she puts a lot of pressure on you about the tennis thing because of her being a big deal on the college team, but you can’t let it get to you,” Jenny said.

Relief washed over her and she let out a forced laugh. “Yeah, you’re right, Jenny. This whole tennis thing with my mom really has been bothering me. But we can talk about it later,” Leanna said, before adding hurriedly, “or not. Totally up to you. If you just want to hang out at the mall and not even think about tennis, we can do that too.” It’s not like it won’t come up anyway, she thought.

Jenny frowned for just a moment before she managed a tight smile. “Yeah, I don’t know. I’ll see how I’m feeling when we get there. In the meantime, try and think about what movie you want to see.”

“Sure thing!” Leanna said, rushing off to math class. “I’ll see you later!”

Well, she thought, at least I have one thing going for me—I did all of today’s lessons last week, so I can devote my full attention to figuring out how to stop Jenny from trying out. And how to make her think it’s her idea.