The next morning, I stayed in bed until Dad called out, “Honey, are you coming down? Your smoothie is ready!”

I lay still under my covers.

I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and then Dad knocked on my door and opened it.

“Honey, we’re only going to be two minutes early at this rate. Did you oversleep?” he said.

“I can’t go,” I said, trying to sound congested.

“What? It’s the big day!”

“I’m sick. Really sick.” I fake coughed. “I’ve been coughing all night. And I have a terrible headache. And I’m dizzy! I might throw up!”

“Oh no,” Dad said, sitting down beside me. “But you’ve been looking forward to today for so long.”

“I know. I can’t believe it, either. But it would be very irresponsible of me to go to school and spread germs to everyone on the bus and at the museum, right?”

“Do you have a fever?” he asked. I pulled the covers down and let him feel my forehead. “I suppose you feel a little warm.”

I fake coughed again. “I’m a lot warm, I can tell.”

I knew Dad would believe me since I’d never asked to miss a day of school in my entire life, never mind asking on my most anticipated day of the year.

He frowned. “Okay, I guess you can stay home. But I have to go in because they’re counting on me to do the Hall of Gems demo.”

I had thought about trying to get Dad to stay home with me, but I knew he wouldn’t. He had even more perfect attendance than I did.

“Give your mom and Ben a call, and I’m sure you can go over there if you keep your distance from the twins. I’ll ask Ms. Muñoz from across the street to be backup until you go.” He started toward the door, then turned back to me. “I’m sorry you won’t be there to help me, Lulu. You’re still my best girl, you know that, right?”

My stomach twisted into tangles, and not just because of my tarnished attendance record. My dad was being so sweet. If only I could freeze time right now instead of having it barrel on toward a future I didn’t want.

“Thanks, Dad,” I said. “I’ll be fine. And I’ll text you when I get to Mom and Ben’s.”

I waited until I heard his car pull out of the driveway and then I grabbed my iPad to text Becca and Addie. I hoped that they hadn’t left their houses for school yet.

Since our chain was gone, I started a new one. Luckily, by now I knew their info by heart.

Of course I knew they wouldn’t remember me, so I had to do the introductions all over again.

Me: Hi! It’s Lucy! I got your package and my wish was to do the day over and now I’m stuck in this day!

Becca: Lucy? Who are you?

Me: Addie Asante sent me the package. It had your contact info in it.

Addie: It’s me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Addie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That didn’t sound like Addie.

Becca: That isn’t Addie.

Addie: It’s Camille! I’m in Addie’s body! I get her messages! And I’m so tall!

Oh no. It was Friday morning. Which meant Addie’s magic was still working. Which meant her little sister was answering her texts.

It was so confusing. My head started to hurt.

Me: Sorry, I didn’t mean to confuse you! Addie sent me the bracelet.

Camille/Addie: Addie has on the bracelet! She can’t get it off!

Becca: I have to leave for school. I’ll check in with you both later!

Camille/Addie: I am going to big girl school too! It’s the talent show and I am going to be amazing! BYYYYYYYEEEEEE.

And then they were gone.

I stared at my iPad. I would have to wait for Addie to solve her own wish problem, and then I could try texting her and Becca again later this evening.

I spent the morning reading every book I could find on time travel in my room: A Wrinkle in Time, the Magic Tree House books. But none of them dealt with being stuck in a forever-repeating day.

At noon, I texted Mom and Ben. Mom was at a Mommy-and-Me class with the twins. Ben offered to come pick me up, but I told him I felt fine to walk over. He and Mom live only two blocks away. Ben had a fried-egg sandwich on raisin toast waiting for me because even though my stepdad is a little all over the place about his set designs, he is on point when it comes to lunch.

For the rest of the afternoon, I tried to stay busy and make the time go by. I knew that if a proposal happened, I’d hear about it immediately.

Two p.m. and no text from Dad.

Three p.m. and no text from Dad.

Oh my gosh, had it worked?

At four p.m., I got a text from Olive.

Olive: I can’t believe you missed today!!! Did you know that was going to happen with your dad and Ms. Brock?

My stomach dropped. I felt like crying. It hadn’t worked at all.

Me: Yeah, I knew it was coming.

Olive: If you feel better this weekend, come over and we can work on the science fair project. I have a really good idea!

Poor, sweet, innocent Olive, who actually believed the weekend would arrive.

At least she wasn’t mad at me.

All of a sudden, my screen started lighting up with texts from Addie and Becca. For a minute, I was confused, but then I realized that they were responding to my texts from this morning.

Addie: Oh! Lucy! I’m back in my own body, and your name is on my package! But how do you have the bracelet already? I haven’t sent it yet!

Becca: Her name is on the package? But how does she have the bracelet and not the package? I’m so confused!

Me: Long story. Wait. You haven’t sent it yet?

Addie: No! I wanted to check in with you first …

I suddenly got sweaty. Oh no. What if because I texted this morning, Addie didn’t send the package on time? And then I never got it? Even though I was wearing the bracelet already, what if not getting the package stuck me in this time loop forever and ever, with no hope of ever getting out?

If there was one thing I knew about time travel, it was that one tiny change in the past could mess up the future big-time.

Me: You need to send it to me now! Right now!

Addie: But I thought you had the bracelet already?

Me: I do! But still! And send me the notebook too! Did you write the story yet?

Addie: What story?

Me: Your story! In the notebook! You’re supposed to send me the notebook and the bracelet and the poem! So I understand why you’re sending it me!

Addie: But you already know why I’m sending it to you!

Me: I know but let’s keep everything the same! It’s long so you better start now!

Addie: The post office is going to close really soon … at six.

I looked at the clock. It was already almost five. Which meant it was almost six in Ohio, because of the one-hour time difference. What would happen if Addie didn’t get there in time? I did not want to find out.

Me: Don’t worry about writing anything! Put the bracelet and the mysterious poem and the notebook Becca sent you inside and go go go!

Becca: This is so confusing.

Addie: OK, I’m going. Bye! I hope I make it!

I paced my room nervously for the next twenty minutes until I got another text from Addie.

Addie: Made it!

I waited an extra ninety seconds and then I ran to my front door. The package was outside. Phew.

Me: That was close! I’m never texting you all before five ever again!

I sat on my bed and caught my breath. Then I opened the package. Instead of Addie’s notebook, there was a red notebook, the pages filled with Becca’s loopy handwriting. I opened it to the first page and started reading.

I read Becca’s whole story that night.

And wow, Georgette was the worst. I was glad Becca had Willow—and us!—now.

Before I got into bed, I had a text come in from Dad.

Dad: Hey Lucy, can you call me back? I have something important I need to talk to you about. It’s about me and Ms. Brock.

I turned the iPad off. Thanks a lot, Dad. Well, at least now I knew that sitting at home doing nothing wasn’t an acceptable solution to my proposal problem.

A problem I didn’t know how to fix.

That night, I tossed and turned and tossed and turned until I heard the scratching outside my window.

Eloise.

I grabbed my water bottle off my desk. I leaned out my window. I poured.

“Go away, Eloise!” I called out. “You are evil!”

She yelped. “I’m not evil! Sure, I have some flaws, who doesn’t, no one’s perfect—but I’m not evil, I swear!”

I shut the window and lay down in bed.

Then I sat up. Wait a second.

Perfect.

I had spent so much energy trying to have the perfect day, but perfect was the problem. The way that Dad looked at Ms. Brock each Friday was as if she were perfect. He was never going to not propose to her as long as he felt that way about her.

I had to get him to see that Ms. Brock was flawed, messy, and totally wrong for him.

The Never-Ending Friday challenge had just gotten a new name:

Operation Mess Up Ms. Brock.