Karina trailed behind Giselle, her steps dragging as though the weight of her thoughts physically slowed her down.

They entered the classroom together, but Karina felt a growing distance between them.

Everything seemed...off.

The usual chorus of smiles and greetings awaited them.

"Good morning, President!" the juniors students chimed in unison, their words punctuated by the hushed excitement of whispers that followed. It should have been familiar, comforting even.

But today, it was anything but.

The faces were the same, but the smiles-they felt wrong.

Karina furrowed her brows, a dull ache forming at her temples. She rubbed at her forehead, struggling to make sense of the unease gnawing at her. It was like standing in a dream that refused to make sense.

Was this a prank? A bizarre coincidence?

No explanation she conjured seemed to fit. Her mind spun, muddled by fragments of yesterday-or was it today? The memories blurred together, overlapping like an unsteady reflection in water.

Giselle walked ahead and had already passed by some time before noticing anything out of the ordinary. She cast an irritated glance over her shoulder at the still-whimpering students, just as she had done the day before, grumbling, "Honestly, how do you handle all your fans? It's like they worship you."

But Karina didn't laugh. She didn't respond at all. Her throat was dry, and her chest felt tight, as if bound by invisible strings that pulled tighter with each passing second.

She clenched her fists, trying to steady herself. Exactly like yesterday, she thought, her hands trembling slightly. The same voices. The same words. The same...everything.

Giselle didn't notice. She continued chatting as they reached the classroom, her lighthearted complaints filling the silence Karina left behind. Karina barely heard her, too caught up in the whirlwind of her own thoughts. She followed in silence, her mind slipping further into chaos with every unanswered question.

Finally, Karina slumped into her seat, gripping the edges of her desk as though it might steady her. The room spun, her breath shallow as she struggled to ground herself. The world around her felt like a distorted echo of itself, the same yet irreparably different.

The thud of Giselle's bag hitting the desk beside her snapped Karina back to the present-or at least what she hoped was the present. She barely noticed Giselle leaning closer, concern lacing her tone.

"Karina, are you okay?" Giselle asked softly, her voice gentler than usual.

But Karina couldn't handle it. The weight of everything-the confusion, the dread-was too much. She snapped before she could stop herself.

"Stop it!" Karina's voice came out sharper than she intended to; with her glare entirely on Giselle, the other girl's eyes opened wide in shock.

"Quit this stupid game already!"

The air between them grew heavy, suffused with tension. Giselle's expression shifted from worry to hurt, her brows knitting together in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, her voice quieter now, tinged with disbelief. "What game?"

But Karina wasn't done. The frustration boiling inside her spilled over, her voice dropping into a low, tremulous growl.

"This isn't funny, Giselle. I don't know what kind of prank this is, but you need to stop."

Her words hung in the air, brittle and jagged. Giselle blinked, her face pale as she tried to process Karina's accusations. For a moment, there was only silence, save for the faint murmur of students settling into their seats.

"Karina, I-" Giselle began, her voice faltering.

But she was cut off by the booming entrance of Mr. Lee.

"Good morning, students! Let's dive into today's history lesson, shall we?" His commanding voice filled the room, oblivious to the tension hanging heavy in the air.

Karina sank deeper into her chair, the words washing over her without meaning. She stared at the blackboard as realization gripped her.

It's really happening. The same teacher. The same lesson.

Her stomach churned as her thoughts spiraled. Giselle crossed her arms, her posture stiff, her face unreadable as she turned her attention to the front of the classroom. The warmth Karina usually found in her friend was gone, replaced by an impenetrable wall of silence.

The lesson dragged on, but Karina couldn't focus. Her thoughts spun, pieces of the puzzle scattering further apart the harder she tried to fit them together.

Her notebook lay open, yesterday's-or was it today's?-notes staring back at her. Word for word, they were identical to the lesson unfolding before her.

Her pen hovered above the page, motionless. What was the point? She already knew how this would go.

She cast a glance at Giselle, hoping for reassurance, for any sign that she wasn't alone in this madness. But Giselle's gaze remained fixed ahead, her face cold and distant.

Of course, she's mad at me, Karina thought bitterly. Her stomach twisted with regret, but even that was overshadowed by the suffocating unease wrapping tighter around her.

Karina took a shaky breath, gripping her pen like it was her last tether to reality. Her mind screamed questions she couldn't answer, doubts whispering at the edges of her sanity.

Am I losing my mind?

Whatever it was, she had to find out. But all she could do is trapped-in her own mind, in this looping day, in the unbearable silence between her and Giselle.

And she didn't know how to escape.