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‘Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!’

I hear Kellen saying from the crowd behind me, pretending to slur his words.

‘What did they put in that punch?’

‘Wait … where’s the phone?’

Owen says.

‘What phone?’ Kellen replies as I quietly slip out of the side door.

It’s incredibly tempting to stay and watch the chaos that’s about to unfold – you haven’t seen a woman scorned until you’ve seen Tiffany White separated from Instagram – but I’ve got a job to do.

There’s nobody out here – everyone is inside watching the crowning ceremony.

The phone is still unlocked.

I quickly cancel the live stream before I incriminate myself and go straight into her emails.

It has to be here, it just has to be.

I click into her outgoing mail.

The moment of truth.

But there’s nothing .

I check her deleted folder – because of course she’d cover her tracks – but there’s nothing there either.

What the hell? She can’t be innocent.

She just can’t be.

I think of checking her photos to try to find something else incriminating – it must be full of things we could use against her – but hesitate because that feels like crossing a line.

I’d hate it if someone went through my photos, and if I did that then I really would be no better than what she’s been accusing us of.

I keep tapping on the screen, careful not to let it lock on me, as I walk to the edge of the lake.

There must be something in here, something I’m missing.

‘You got it?’ Kellen calls, appearing through the same side door.

‘Yeah,’ I say, holding up the phone.

‘How did you manage to shake them?’

‘I said I saw her phone slide underneath the stage,’ he says with a cute evil laugh.

‘She’s in there screaming at Harrington, telling him to take the thing apart.

Madzikanda said it can wait till tomorrow, and I swear Tiffany was about to rip out her throat.’

I can’t help but laugh at that.

‘So anything juicy?’ He gestures to the phone.

‘No,’ I say. ‘Nothing.’

‘Have you checked the deleted folder?’ Kellen demands, taking the phone from me.

‘I’ve checked everything,’ I say.

‘It’s clean.’

‘Hmm,’ he says, tapping around for a few moments, the same disappointment on my face reflected on his.

And then … ‘ Aha! ’

‘ Aha? ’ I peer at the screen hopefully.

‘You found something?’

‘She’s got a second account on here!’

‘You’re kidding?’

‘[email protected].’

‘That has to be it!’

He taps around for a few more moments, his eyes lighting up.

And then, suddenly, his face drops.

‘What time does the loop restart?’

‘Eleven fifty-nine a.m.,’ I say.

‘That’s when I wake up anyway.’

‘Same for me. Fuck. We can’t stop her, Zach.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘It was her who leaked the photos,’ he says, showing me the email.

‘It’s all here. But she sent them at eleven fifty-eight a.m. One minute before either of us wakes up …’

‘That can’t be a coincidence,’ I say.

Maybe her sending that email is what set this whole looping day in motion?

Maybe exposing her is the solution.

‘Wait,’ Kellen says, looking at the phone again.

He taps around for a couple of moments before his eyes widen.

‘Zach, there’s another email here.’

‘Another?’

‘Sent a year ago … It’s about Chase.’

‘Oh my God,’ I say.

He doesn’t even need to explain the contents.

I already know exactly what’s in there.

‘So it was her! I fucking knew it!’

I take the phone and read the email.

It’s exactly what we’d suspected: Tiffany pretending to be one of the male students, voicing fake concerns about feeling ‘uncomfortable’ in the bathroom.

It’s clever – that’s the thing that’s most insidious about it.

The language is subtle and manipulative, incredibly well written, designed to sound reasonable enough to make others side with her bigotry.

‘So what do we do with this? We have to expose her …’

‘We will,’ Kellen says, taking the phone back.

‘We just need to –’

‘Hey, guys!’

Josh comes up behind us, followed closely by Owen.

As soon as he sees them, Kellen panics and tosses Tiffany’s phone into the lake.

Oh my God, what did you do that for?

‘What was that?’ Owen says.

‘Um … skimming stone!’ Kellen squawks.

‘Well, that’s the worst technique I’ve ever seen,’ Josh says, crouching down for a flat stone.

He takes one between his fingers and effortlessly sends it bouncing across the lake.

‘See, it’s all in the wrist.’ He does the jerk-off gesture.

‘Tiffany is absolutely losing her mind in there. She’s gonna kill me,’ Owen says.

I see the fear flash across his face, and feel bad for setting him up like this.

‘She’ll have to go through me first,’ Josh says, putting his arm round Owen’s shoulder.

‘Besides, it’s the last day.

What’s the worst she can do?’

‘Are we talking about the same Tiffany?’ Owen groans.

‘It’s fine,’ Kellen says.

‘It’s my fault. Not yours.

If she wants to take it out on someone, she can take it out on me.

She already hates me for breaking it off with Rhys.’

‘Break-ups happen!’ Josh says.

‘She can’t hate you for that.’

Kellen shrugs. ‘I’m sure there’s already a plan in place to drown me in pig’s blood.’

‘But Harrington’s forbidden the prank this year,’ Owen says.

‘Do you really think that’s gonna stop her?’

Kellen replies. ‘Just watch out for buckets over the stairs. Rumour has it she’s already planted one.’

‘Noted,’ says Owen, nodding.

Josh tries to reassure him.

‘Nothing’s gonna happen to you.

Zach will keep you safe, won’t you, Zach?’

‘Me?’ I say, confused.

‘Yeah.’ Josh grins. ‘Me and Kellen have some business to attend to.’

‘What business?’ I say, looking at Kellen, unsure.

‘There’s more to my masterplan,’ he says with a grin.

‘Huh?’ I say. I don’t like the sound of that.

We never talked about any of this.

‘Just trust me,’ he says.

‘You ready, Josh?’

‘You know it,’ he says as the two of them walk away from us.

What are you up to, Kellen?

Doing something without me makes me think it’s something I wouldn’t approve of.

If he’s going to exact revenge on Tiffany, this will end badly …

‘Do you have any idea where they’re going?’

I say to Owen.

‘Not a clue.’ He shrugs.

‘But let’s try to stay out of Tiffany’s way, eh?’

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘Let’s.’

Tiffany is on Ethan’s phone by the time we get back inside.

She’s logged him out of his Instagram and is now using the phone as if it’s hers.

I doubt he had any say in the matter.

‘Everything is going so well,’ I say, finding Miss Madzikanda in the middle of the hall.

‘Kellen has split with his trashy boyfriend, Cameron is actually flirting with me, everyone got a pizza party –’

‘You crashed my car …’

I laugh.

‘Apart from that bit,’ I say.

‘It maybe feels like we’ve solved it?’

‘You’d better not have solved it,’ she says.

‘If you think I can actually afford all those pizzas on a teacher’s salary, then you are deeply mistaken.’

‘I’m sure we can find a way to pay for them!’

‘And for my car?’ she retorts with ample side-eye.

‘I just don’t know what else there is to fix.’

‘Well,’ she says, ‘if there’s one thing I’ve learned from all this, it’s that when it’s the end, you’ll know it’s the end.

Is that how it feels right now?’

‘Maybe?’

‘So that’s a no then.’

‘Ah, come on, it can’t be that cut and dried.’

‘I’m just saying be careful.

There’s still time for everything to go pear-shaped.’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ I say.

I think Madzikanda has got this whole thing wrong.

I’m not really listening any more anyway.

I’ve spotted Cameron over by the punchbowl.

‘You better start figuring out a payment plan for those pizzas!’ I call, slipping away from her.

‘Hey, Zach!’ Cameron lights up as I approach him.

‘I’ve been looking for you.’

‘So you keep saying.’ I smile.

‘I think I know why too. It’s what your friends said earlier …

about your crush , right?’

‘Kinda. How’d you know?’

He’s blushing again.

He looks so cute when he blushes.

‘Well,’ I say, taking a step closer, ‘maybe I can make it a bit easier for you?’

‘Oh yeah?’ he says, perking up a little.

‘Yeah,’ I say, holding eye contact.

‘I’ve wanted to say something for a while, but never built up the courage.

I have now, though.’

Cameron swallows.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean … I like you,’ I say.

‘I really like you.’

‘You do?’

‘Yeah,’ I say.

‘Zach …’

‘It’s OK, you don’t have to say anything.’

‘No, I kinda really do …’

‘Huh?’

‘Zach, I … Fuck , this is awkward.’

I look at him blankly.

‘Why is it awkward?’

‘I think you’re a great guy, I really do,’ he continues.

‘But the crush I was talking about … isn’t on you.’

‘What?’ I say.

Hello, pear-shaped thing Madzikanda tried to warn me about.

I want the ground to actually swallow me up.

‘Then why did you want to talk to me?’

‘I thought you might know if the feeling was mutual. To save me humiliating myself.’

‘Like I just did …’ I groan.

‘So who is it then? Josh? Chase?’

He looks down at his feet like he can’t bring himself to say it.

‘It’s not Owen, is it?’

‘Owen? No, Zach. It’s Bec.’

‘Bec?!’ I splutter.

‘But you’re gay !’

‘I’m not gay, Zach.’

‘What?!’ I protest. ‘There’s a rainbow flag in your bio!

You’ve always been the queer twin!

That’s literally your USP.’

‘Yeah, exactly,’ he says.

‘ Queer. I’m bisexual, Zach.

I thought you knew that …

I thought everyone knew that.’

How the hell did I not know that?

!

‘Well, now I feel like an idiot.’

‘It’s fine.

It’s not your fault.

Everyone always forgets the B in LGBT.

You come out as bisexual and everyone just refers to you as the gay kid .’

‘So you like girls then?’

‘And guys,’ he says with a laugh.

‘That’s kinda how the whole “bisexual” thing works.’

He meets my eyes. ‘For what it’s worth, I did use to like you too, you know?’

‘Use to?’ What does he mean use to ?

‘Back when you first got here. I thought you were ultra cute. I wanted to make a move, but then I got shy. Then you and Josh started dating and –’

‘We were never dating!’ I exclaim.

‘We hooked up one time !’

‘Well, whatever.’ He laughs.

‘Josh was my friend. I wasn’t gonna try and steal you away from him, so I kind of ruled you out after that.

I still think you’re cute, but …’

‘Your heart is elsewhere.’ I follow his gaze over to Bec.

She’s by the yearbook, no doubt furiously scribbling down the immortal words of Ms Swift.

His eyes light up as he looks at her.

How did none of us see this sooner?

I feel like this should bother me more – my crush liking my friend more than me – but I don’t know: it weirdly feels like a silver lining.

Maybe my heart is elsewhere too.

‘Do you think she might feel the same?’ he asks hopefully.

‘I honestly couldn’t say,’ I answer.

Bec has never openly expressed an interest in Cameron, but then maybe she also thought he was gay?

‘I could go over and play Cupid if you like?’

‘No,’ Cameron says, taking a deep breath.

‘I’ve done enough pussyfooting around.

I’m a big boy. I can talk to her …’

But, just as he says it, the lights go out.

The music stops too.

And now all that’s left is the sound of alarmed voices and candles flickering in the darkness.

This can’t be good …

‘All right, settle down!’ Mr Harrington shouts from somewhere in the hall.

‘It’s just a power cut.

I’m sure it’ll be fine in a minute.’

But there’s never been a power cut before …

this is brand-new territory.

I try to find Kellen in the darkness.

He must be responsible.

What have you done, Kellen?

‘Look!’ Cameron says, pointing to the top of the stairs.

I half expect to see someone drenched in pig’s blood, but instead there’s something that actually makes me smile.

It’s Kellen, holding a birthday cake, as he slowly starts to sing.

People usually rush through the lyrics of ‘Happy Birthday’, but he holds them, slowly and tenderly, his voice like sweet caramel as it cuts through the silence and reverberates round the hall.

‘ Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday, dear Zachary … ’

Cameron turns to look at me.

‘It’s your birthday?’

I’d completely forgotten about it in all the chaos, but Kellen’s right.

If time had continued to move along as normal, today would, in fact, be my eighteenth birthday.

I can’t believe I almost missed it.

‘Sort of,’ I reply as Kellen approaches.

‘ Happy birthday to you! ’

Kellen holds the cake up for me to blow out the candles.

‘Happy birthday, Zach. You didn’t think I’d forget, did you?

What do you think the pizza party was about?’

‘That was for my benefit?’

‘Why do you think I asked Madzikanda for it?’

‘So that’s what you were whispering!’

I say, trying to find her in the crowd.

‘This is very cute,’ Chase says, finding us.

‘But, um, it’s not Zach’s birthday.’

‘It wouldn’t be a surprise if we celebrated on the exact day!’

Kellen replies.

Chase opens his mouth, and I can see he wants to tell Kellen that’s the stupidest thing he’s ever heard.

But he doesn’t. I guess he doesn’t want to take this moment away from me.

‘Come on,’ Kellen says.

‘Make a wish. I haven’t got all day.’

‘That’s all you’ve got,’ I joke.

You’d think I’d want to wish for this day to finally come to an end – and maybe that’s what I should wish for – but seeing Kellen standing there in front of me, doing all this for me even when so much in his own world has spiralled out of control, reminds me that he deserves better than the half-hearted relationship Rhys has given him.

He deserves to find so much happiness, and so I close my eyes and, with one swift breath, I wish for exactly that.

‘Well, as lovely as all this is,’ Miss Madzikanda says, appearing from the darkness, ‘did you actually switch off the power just to pull this little stunt?’

‘Oh, er … maybe …’ Kellen says.

‘But it doesn’t matter, right?

We can do whatever we like, totally free of consequences!

That’s what you said, right?’

‘Why would she say that?’ Chase asks, bewildered.

‘I don’t know how you took that from what I said.

Don’t start getting reckless now.’

And, just as she says it, everything suddenly goes wrong.

‘Fuck!’ a voice exclaims from the stairs as someone trips, staggering into one of the flickering candelabras.

From there, it all seems to happen in slow motion – the candelabra topples, and in a flash one of the trailing Hawthorn banners goes up in a fiery blaze.

‘Stay calm! Stay calm!’ Miss Madzikanda yells as everyone immediately descends into panic, practically climbing over each other to get out of the way as the fire begins to spread.

The flames curl and twist, and black smoke starts to billow.

Another banner catches, and then another.

It’s happening at such an alarmingly rapid pace, it’s almost as if somebody has doused the whole room in petrol.

This all happened before, but it was just a dream.

I close my eyes and open them, expecting everything to be fine, but it’s not fine.

I’m not dreaming; this is actually happening for real.

In no more than thirty seconds, the whole room is consumed by flames, along with everyone’s ability to stay calm !

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck,’ Kellen says, still holding the cake.

‘It’s OK, right? The day is just gonna start over.’

I look at my watch.

‘Not for another ten minutes …’

‘Now is not the time!’ Madzikanda says.

‘Everyone out! Now!’

‘Fuck,’ I say, reality dawning on me.

What if this is real?

What if this sticks?

The rope suspending the pig’s blood must have caught fire because it comes swinging down, spattering half the student body.

Now it really is like we’re in a Stephen King movie.

While everyone scrambles for a way out, Madzikanda is checking corners and alcoves, making sure that absolutely nobody is left behind.

The other teachers are too – and they have no idea that this day may potentially loop.

It’s impressive, really.

Harrington is the only one to go for the exit – which says it all.

Everyone else stays.

‘I think that’s all of them!’

one of the teachers calls.

The hall is really fucking hot now, the smoke is getting thicker, and it’s getting harder and harder to breathe.

‘Boys, out!’ Madzikanda yells as she sees the two of us lingering.

‘Come on, move!’

By the time we get outside, people are coughing and spluttering, and flames have burst through the upstairs windows, licking the night sky.

At least everyone is out safely.

‘Josh?!’ Owen yells suddenly.

‘Huh?’ I say, scanning the crowd Madzikanda is trying to headcount.

‘Where is he?’

‘Oh my God,’ Kellen breathes, the horror dawning on him.

‘He was in the basement. He’s the one who tripped the power.’

‘Oh no,’ I say.

‘We need to get him!’ Kellen cries.

‘Don’t you dare!’ Madzikanda snaps, but it’s too late because Owen is already sprinting towards the building, disappearing into the thick black smoke that’s billowing through the doorway.

A deep red firework explodes above the school, as the timed pyrotechnics kick off.

‘Owen!’ she booms, going after him.

Some of the students actually scream as the two of them disappear inside.

Kellen and I look at each other helplessly.

I feel like we should go after them, but what good would that do?

We’re standing there, paralysed by fear and confusion – and that’s when I spot him.

Josh. Coming round the side of the building, coughing.

‘He’s already out!’ I yell after Owen and Madzikanda, but I know they can’t hear me over the sound of the blaze.

‘He’s already out!’ I try again, louder now.

‘Josh is here!’

I look back at the crowd of students, all of them stunned with fear.

I have to go in after them, but Kellen realizes this before I do, and he’s already running towards the building, one with the flames as his fiery outfit disappears between the doors.

‘Kellen! Wait!’ I yell.

‘Kellen!’

‘Don’t!’ Cameron says, grabbing me and dragging me backwards.

‘Zach, don’t!’

‘Get off me!’ I scream, trying to push him away, but he holds me down.

‘Get off me!’

‘You’re gonna get yourself killed!’

he shouts, pinning my arms down.

I try to fight him, but he’s too strong.

‘Get the fuck off me!’

‘Zach, stop!’ he yells.

‘Just stop!’

‘Kellen!’ I scream again, and that’s when I see him and Madzikanda reappear, Owen unconscious between them.

People actually start cheering.

They did it! They’re out!

And that’s when it happens.

Above them, weakened by the fire, the ornamental door frame shudders and creaks.

Repetitio Est Mater Studiorum.

Repetition is the Mother of Learning.

With a final groan, it collapses and all three of them disappear in a cloud of fire and smoke.

‘Kellen!’ I scream, my vision blurring.

And then everything is suddenly black.