8

The rest of day was just as confusing.

It was déjà vu to the extreme.

Every class, every person she saw, she’d seen it all before. She was reliving the exact same moments. But she didn’t take part in the events moving around her. She’d become only an observer.

Melicia, Bryant, and Rachel were all also back in school. And they were all talking to her again. The gossip going around was still about Hope and Mr. Barcomb. She was even called down to Principal Kramer’s office where she talked to the principal. The questions were all the same, but Audrey wasn’t taken by surprise by Kramer’s tactics this time. Mostly she just shrugged and said. “No, ma’am.”

After school, they all ended up at Rachel’s again, talking about what to do. Just like before. The same exact talk, except her voice was now out of it. She kept her words to herself. It was strange enough hearing everyone else’s words again.

“Look,” Rachel said again. “I know, I know. We messed up. I messed up. It was a bad idea, and I’m the one who put us in this. So let me help get us out.”

Silence. This was the part where Audrey had insisted that they stick together—that it was all of their plans. But now, she couldn’t help feeling a little bitter about how Rachel was the only one who didn’t get in trouble when she came clean.

Audrey didn’t say anything.

“Let’s just drop it,” Mel chimed in. “Our blogging days are over anyway. At least for a long, long time.”

“Okay. Let’s make a pact to never discuss it again,” Rachel said, nodding and holding out her hand.

“It never happened,” Audrey blurted out.

Melicia laughed. “Exactly.”

Rachel wiggled her outstretched hand. Bryant put his hand in. Then Mel.

Audrey put her hand over all of theirs. “It never happened,” she said again, more to herself than to the others. After all, how else could she explain today?

That night, Audrey retreated to her room after dinner to “do homework” just like she had before, but she just sat for hours curled in her bed, trying to work it all out in her head. She knew she had the power to act differently than the first time she’d lived this same day. But did she fix things enough to avoid ruining her friendships? Audrey had already altered the scene at Rachel’s house. They’d sworn to keep quiet together now. She’d sworn.

She hoped she had done enough this time.

* * *

Monday morning, she didn’t go in to see Principal Kramer.

She kept her promise. She admitted nothing.

No fence to paint. No suspension. She and her friends played old board games all night and talked about all sorts of things but never once brought up the Barcomb stuff.

It never happened.