You've Found Oliver (You've Reached Sam, #2)(32)

“Oh my god, this isn’t my room,” I gasp.

Ben’s eyes widen. “What?”

There’s a loud bang on the door. Followed by the girl shouting from the other side. “I’m calling campus police!”

“We should go—” I throw open the door again and pull Ben into the hallway. The girl continues shouting as we hurry out of the building. I’m so embarrassed, I take us all the way down the length of block until we’re completely out of view. Thankfully, I don’t think she followed us outside.

“So that was her room?” Ben asks.

“No, that should be my room! I mean, it’s supposed to be.”

“Are you sure it was the right building—”

“Ben. I’ve lived there for months. I was literally sleeping there this morning!”

I’m not sure how to make sense of this. All my things were missing. Did they move us out while I was gone? Maybe Ethan knows what’s going on. I take out my phone to text him, but I can’t find his number in my contacts.

Then I notice something else. There’s something off about the trees. It takes me a second to realize…“What happened to the cherry blossoms?” I glance all around us. The ground was covered with petals this morning.

Ben blinks at me. “Why would there be cherry blossoms in the fall?”

“What do you mean fall? It’s April.”

“You think it’s April?”

“What do you think it is?”

“November,” he says.

“November? Ben, what are you talking about?”

He’s obviously messing with me. Then I take another look at the trees. The leaves are curling at the edges as if they’re about to fall. Everyone’s walking around in boots and jackets. I turn abruptly and say, “I have to check something.”

I make my way back to the quad. But there are no cherry blossoms here, either. As if someone swept them up with a magic wand. “Am I losing my mind? Where did all the petals go?”

Ben looks around. “Do you mean these trees?”

“Yes. You didn’t see them earlier?”

“They don’t bloom this time of year…”

“I know they peak in May. But there were still some this morning.”

Ben raises his brow. “Wait, so you think we’re in April?”

I’m not sure what calendar he’s looking at. But this has to be a prank. I take out my phone to show him myself. Then I see the date on the screen. Something is definitely wrong here. “Why does it say November?”

I open up the calendar app. But it shows me the same thing. My heart pounds as I search through my phone. My photos and messages from the last few months are missing. The storage on my phone must not have updated. There has to be another way to check this. The bulletin board outside the student center. The date is always written above the list of activities. So I race over there immediately, pulling Ben along with me. When I see the Fall Festival flyers, my stomach drops. This has to be a dream or something. Those were taken down months ago.

My head is starting to spin. I nearly trip over as I turn around. Thankfully, Ben is there to catch my fall. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he says.

“Is it really November?”

“Why do you keep asking that?”

“Because it was April when I woke up.”

Ben doesn’t say anything. He just looks back at me with confusion. I take in the trees around us again. Is that why the cherry blossoms are gone? But I swear I saw some this morning. I’m trying my best not to lose it in front of Ben. I feel his hand on my shoulder as I clench my eyes shut, hoping everything goes back to normal. His voice is calming when he says, “Oliver…are you alright?”

“I think I’m going crazy.”

“Maybe you should lie down.”

My mind goes back to November. I was still living in my old dorm room. Is that why someone else is in my new one? I don’t understand how any of this is happening. If it’s really six months ago, does that mean Julie is still here?

A thought occurs to me. I pull up her location on my phone.

It’s showing her on campus. What is she doing here?





Chapter

Eleven



Julie is supposed to be thousands of miles away. So there’s no way she should be here right now. I think about restarting my phone. I should just call her instead. The phone rings, but she doesn’t answer me. I zoom in on her exact location. Apparently, she’s right next to the library. I know this is likely some glitch. But I need to check it for myself.

I don’t want to leave Ben here alone. So I grab his arm and say, “Follow me—”

Thankfully, the library isn’t too far. It would be easier if she just answered the phone. Am I supposed to check every floor?

And then I see her, sitting at a table outside.

For a second, I think I’m imagining things. She’s wearing her favorite bubblegum-pink cardigan. But she left for Copenhagen weeks ago. Does this mean it’s really November again?

“JULIE!”

That came out much louder than I intended. Everyone around us turns to look at me. But I don’t really care about that. I race toward her immediately.

“I thought she was studying abroad,” Ben says.