“Baby, I was wrong, I was out of line, and you have every right to hate me, but I love you, so please forgive me, because I love you, and I’ll never do it again, never, and you know I mean it, because I love you, and you know me better than anyone, and I don’t know what I’ll do if you don’t forgive me, so please, Ashley, please, I’ll do anything, because I love you.”

Days and days of pleading and tender, thoughtful romantic gestures, until I became the bobblehead girl. “Yes, Layton.” “I forgive you, Layton.” “I’ll give you another chance, Layton.” Because as much as I hated him in all the other worlds, I loved him here, even though I hated that I loved him.

And he was true to his word. He had never done that again. But he didn’t have to. Because now I knew he was capable of it. Now the threat was implicit.

So day after day I finished my morning ritual and admired my work in the vanity mirror. I hid behind the mask.

But today was the day that it couldn’t protect me anymore.

I moved through the hallway on Monday morning before my first class, trying to avoid eye contact with everyone. Not just because my head ached, but because I didn’t want to have to unscramble the faces around me. Who was who, who was new, and who had changed. But the second Nora saw me at my locker, she made a beeline to me before I could slip away.

“That was one nasty hit you took on Friday,” she said. “I saw it from the stands.”

“It wasn’t as bad as it looked,” I told her. “I’m fine.”

Then Katie was there as well—hand in hand with Josh, who looked a little different, but close enough to his previous self for me to know it was him. He and Katie were a couple here. I was happy for her. Josh was a good guy while he existed.

“I honestly thought you weren’t getting up,” Josh said. “You looked so dazed.”

“Like you got bumped out of this world,” said Katie, with a wink. I didn’t wink back.

“There are worse things,” said Nora with a wry smile. “Personally, I’d have loved a wide receiver on top of me.” Then she took off after some cute guy who looked like a boy-band reject.

Katie rolled her eyes.

“Nora. Gotta love her,” said Josh.

The first bell rang, and he headed off to class, but Katie waited for me.

“You still haven’t told me what changed,” she said.

So I looked around us at the passing faces, pulling a few out. “Georgia changed. And so did Max and Patty, to name a few.”

“Changed how?”