Page 15 of The Do-Over

So I hadn’t already had a terrible Valentine’s Day; it had all been just a bad and slightly psychic dream.

I let out a big breath and smiled.

I floored it, because I couldn’t wait to see Josh. I wished I’dopted for better than a baggy sweatshirt, but that didn’t seem important anymore because I still hadhim. I could already picture him, looking all cute in one of his plaid button-downs, hanging out in the commons, and I couldn’t wait to be by his side and shake off the wildly bad dream.

My phone buzzed on the passenger seat and I glanced over.Josh.

Happy VD, baby. Are you here yet?

Ha! That’s exactly what he’d typed in my dr—

I looked up and the truck in front of me had stopped.Noooooo!I slammed my foot on the brake, but it didn’t help.

I hit Nick’s ugly truck—again.

Just like in my dream.

I got out.

“You were texting, weren’t you?”

“Please, not again.”

“You were texting. Admit it.”

“Nick Stark, so help me God, I might throat-punch you if you say that again.”

This time he raised his eyebrows. “Come again?”

My brain tried to wrap around what was happening. I pointed at myself and said, “Emilie Hornby, your lab partner. And I wasn’t texting.”

He actually grinned when I said that, the corners of his mouth turning up as his eyes moved over my face. “You doing okay here?”

“Wonderful.” I rolled my eyes and went through the motions, everything eerily the same as the day before. It was obvious he didn’t think he’d ever met me before, and I felt cloudy as Istruggled to figure it out. My hand shook as I handed over my insurance card. Was this déjà vu? Had I dreamed about Valentine’s Day?

Was I actually psychic?

I didn’t even attempt to call my parents when the cops and the tow truck arrived. I silently accepted his proffered coat and rode to school with Nick, who must’ve sensed my inner turmoil because he didn’t say a word. I listened to Metallica barking out the lyrics to “Blackened,” and this time the music seemed a bit more fitting. It perfectly accentuated my WTF morning.

As Nick drove, I studied his profile. His dark hair, prominent Adam’s apple, hard jawline, tall body—all the same as in my dream.

Just for fun, I looked out the window and said, “I love Metallica so much.”

His eyebrows went straight up. “Seriously?”

Not at all seriously. But I had to test the upside-down, repetitive-day universe, didn’t I? “Sure. I like their rage—it’s almost like you canfeelit, y’know?”

His mouth turned all the way up and he looked at me like we were soul mates. “Well said, Hornby.”

I looked back at him and wondered how I would ever get out of the dream sequence. Was it my fate to crash into him every morning for all of eternity? I knew that couldn’t be right and there had to besomeexplanation, but I was really starting to get freaked out.I’ll pretend that I’m all right and everything will be fine—it’d always worked for me in the past. When we got to school, I stood on shaky legs after getting out of his truck. I don’t know why, butas I handed back his coat, I asked him, “Everything is going to be okay, right?”

He looked down at the coat for a minute, like he was trying to interpret my question. “Sure. Why wouldn’t it?”

CONFESSION #7

I failed swimming lessons seven times before my mom finally gave up on me.

Everything at school was the same as the day before. I got called to the office and lost the summer program. Then I went outside and saw Josh and Macy. Honestly, I don’t know why I even went to his car—maybe I somehow thought I’d seen it wrong the first time. Maybe I thought I’d see something that would explain it all away. I don’t know what I was hoping for, but all I ended up with was an even greater sense of rejection.

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