His strong arms absorb my shudders.
The Owen that I’ve known for nearly half my life—my best friend—absorbs a little piece of my heartbreak.
“Maybe this is it?” he whispers into my ear as he gently strokes my back. “Maybe you’ll wake up tomorrow and it’ll be Tuesday.”
“It won’t,” I say miserably. “I’m stuck in this day forever.”
I can feel his chest rising and falling in short breaths. I can feel his heart pounding under my cheek.
“Maybe,” he begins again, “we should go to the last night of the carnival. You know, just in case you’re wrong.”
I sniffle and lift my head. Our eyes lock together in a way they’ve never done before. It’s the kind of look that changes things. Things you never thought you wanted to change.
Owen reaches down and brushes the wetness from my cheeks. His face is only inches from mine. I can feel his breath on my lips.
“If I’m wrong,” I say softly, “I’m going to have a lot of explaining to do tomorrow.”
Then we both break into uncontrollable laughter.
It’s Been a Hard Day’s Night
8:05 p.m.
“We have a winner!”
Owen leaps into the air and pumps his fist. “Oh yeah! Who’s the man? That’s right, it’s ME!”
I laugh and once again stare incredulously at the five rings resting on the five bottle necks. A group of spectators have gathered once again, and it suddenly dawns on me that this was the crowd I had to push my way through that first night, when Tristan broke up with me and I ran away in tears. Owen seemed to appear out of nowhere to ask me what was wrong. But it wasn’t out of nowhere. He was playing this game.
“Someone’s been practicing,” the employee comments.
Owen stops dancing and shoves his hands in his pockets. “Nah, I think it was just beginner’s luck.” He turns to me and points at the prizes. “Which one do you want?”
“I think you know which one I want.”
We share a knowing smile before he turns back to the booth. “We’ll take the poodle.”
The employee hands me the stuffed dog and we push our way through the onlookers. I lead Owen to the horse race game and take a seat at number four this time. Owen tries his luck at number five. “Let’s see if your skills transfer,” I challenge.
We feed our dollars into the machine and the buzzer rings. As soon as the little red ball is released, I grab it and send it rolling upward with a subtle flick of my wrist. It sinks right into hole number three. My horse moves three paces forward.
“Aha!” I cry out.
Owen looks up at the horses. “Did you win already?”
“No. I just finally managed to get the stupid ball into the stupid hole. It’s all in the wrist.”
I sink three more balls into holes two and three over the course of the race, but I still don’t win. At least I’m not in last place this time when the buzzer rings. I consider that an improvement.
“I don’t like this game,” Owen complains, getting up to leave. I glance at the scoreboard. Horse number five is still at the starting line.
I laugh. “I guess your skills don’t transfer.”
“Let’s go do something else.”
As we make our way through the aisle of carnival games, I catch sight of a slender raven-haired girl standing alone near a concession stand. I immediately recognize her as the new girl who just moved from L.A.
“Sophia!” I call out and she turns around, but there’s absolutely no recognition on her face.
“It’s me. Ellie. We met at lunch, remember?”
It’s clear she doesn’t remember, and then it dawns on me. That wasn’t today. That was yesterday, when Tristan and I were practically entangled in the cafeteria. I stopped her from getting tripped by Cole Simpson and she came and sat with us.
“Sorry,” she says, “are you in one of my classes?”
I’m about to mumble “Never mind” and get out of there, when a guy in dark jeans and a black sweater appears holding a cotton candy and a soft pretzel. It’s the same guy I saw her holding hands with during Tristan’s show a few nights ago. He gives Owen and me a once-over as he hands Sophia the cotton candy.
“Thanks,” she says, and when she looks at him, I see the same doting expression I saw the other night. Not last night—last night she was alone—but two nights ago.
Then a startling realization hits me.
This is the guy she spilled food all over in the cafeteria. She