Exactly one week later, Ellie sat on the gym's wooden floor again. She searched the group of students who filtered in a few minutes before class started. To her dismay, she found no hint of teal hair.

The self-defense instructor called her class around for stretches, so Ellie joined the rest of the women for warm-up. Ellie's shoes squeaked against the floor, wet from the water everyone tracked in. A rare chance of rain turned into a light drizzle earlier in the morning, and it had not stopped since.

She glanced at her feet as she reached her arm across her body to stretch her shoulder. When she looked up again to switch arms, a pair of brown irises so dark they swallowed the pupils stared back at her.

"You came back," Freya said.

Ellie tried to hide her smile, but to no avail. The corners of her mouth stretched halfway up her cheeks. She played it off with a shrug.

"It's raining."

Freya joined Ellie in stretches as they reached to touch their toes. Embarrassment flushed Ellie's cheeks when her fingers barely passed her knees, her back bent as far as she could go. Freya lifted her head from where her palms rested flat against the floor.

"You'll get there," Freya said. Ellie made one last attempt to reach her ankles before standing up again. The other women in class kept their positions a few seconds longer. Not everyone bent as far as Freya, but it was painfully obvious that Ellie was the least flexible in class.

The instructor split everyone into pairs, separating Ellie and Freya. Being the shortest in class, Ellie was paired with a woman about her size and twice her age. Even though Freya wasn't more than a few inches taller than Ellie, her muscular build put her in another category.

Ellie did her best to concentrate on the given instruction, but her divided attention and lack of physical prowess led to a frustrated partner. Across the room, Freya escaped her partner's grasp with ease as the instructor showed them. Strands of teal-colored hair loosened from their pins and fell in Freya's face. Ellie watched with wide eyes and a gaped mouth as she realized that Freya could take her down in an instant if she wanted to.

By the end of class, Ellie concluded that rain did not, in fact, lessen the physical demand.

Somewhere within the last hour, her attention snapped back to the task at hand. Seconds later, she found herself staring up at the ceiling after her partner knocked her onto her back. The woman's smirk suggested that she relished in taking her partner down. She was probably vengeful for being paired with the dud of the class.

As the rest of the students filed out and the instructor prepared the studio for her next class, Ellie sat against the wall, nursing an already sore back. Not at all to her surprise, Freya joined her on the floor. She let out an exaggerated grunt as she plopped down in front of her.

"Cunty Colleen was in a mood today."

Ellie's forehead creased, and her head turned towards Freya.

"Cunty who?"

"Cunty Colleen. Your partner. I saw her take you down. She's usually a little more gentle when throwing her partner on the mat. I thought steam would erupt from her ears."

"She's always like that?"

Freya's hearty laugh filled the studio, drawing the attention of the few people left. Ellie's cheeks ran hot at the attention.

"Sure as hell she is. The woman's an Energizer bunny of hatred. The only reason she doesn't get booted is because she's shagging the instructor."

Ellie huffed a half-laugh through her nostrils. Picking up her phone for the first time since class ended, she saw two missed calls and a message from Tessa.

Running late. Be there in 20.

"What are you doing after this," Freya asked, scooting closer to Ellie. "Let's get ice cream. There's a place a few doors down."

Ellie glanced at Tessa's message. She had almost a half-hour to kill. She could either sit and watch Colleen flirt with the instructor or spend time with her friend.

Ellie nodded and tossed the phone in her bag. She struggled to stand, straining her sore back muscles. Freya sprang to her feet and led the way. Ellie averted her gaze to avoid catching Colleen's attention, lest she throw her onto the hardwood floor instead of a mat this time.

The "ice cream shop" was not so much an ice cream shop as it was a taco stand with a soft serve machine. Freya ordered for herself, then stepped aside to give Ellie a chance. She stepped up to the register, practicing what to say in her head. She did not want Freya to know that she had not quite nailed down the arts of ordering and talking to strangers yet.

"Um... vanilla, please?" she said in a small voice. She pulled out a couple of crumpled dollar bills from her pocket and slid the money across the counter, hopeful that Freya hadn't caught on to her apprehension.

Ice cream in hand, Freya chose a table in the corner. Ellie sat with her back to the wall for a clear view of the door.

"I thought you said this was an ice cream place?" Ellie said, picking at the plain soft serve. Freya took a lick of her twisted cone.

"It is. They just happen to have los mejores tacos, too. It's not called Tacos and Ice Cream for nothing."

Ellie accepted Freya's explanation and glanced around the restaurant. The building's cracked, exposed brick walls weren't decorated much except for the Mexican, American, and Los Angeles city flags. The scent of roasting meat coated Ellie's mouth, turning the vanilla ice cream into an unexpected meaty flavor.

Freya wasted no time with awkward silence. She leaned forward and rested both elbows on the small table, tipping it in her direction.

"You're different than I thought you'd be, Ellie Russo."

Ellie took a bite of birria-tinted ice cream and wrinkled her forehead at Freya.

"I'm just me."

"Well, 'just me' is pretty cool. Chase Holland was right."

Ellie's eyes fell at the mention of Chase's name. The interview had come out a little over a week ago, and she had yet to talk to that side of the family.

"He wasn't supposed to say anything at all," Ellie said, lowering her voice. She stabbed at the lump of ice cream with her spoon.

"It wasn't bad or anything. He kind of did you a solid, going on about heroism and shit."

"It's not about what he said; it's about what's happening because he said it." Ellie glanced at Freya. She leaned forward, coaxing Ellie to tell her more, and she obliged. "The only reason I'm here is because people somehow find out where I am and follow me. It stopped for a while, but the same day that stupid interview came out..."

Ellie huffed and sank in her chair. Freya stared back at her with a strange mixture of intensity and understanding. Ellie looked away and crossed her arms.

"I can't walk out the front door without feeling like I'm being followed."

"You're here now. I don't see anyone following you."

Ellie glanced around, aware that an unwelcome guest could pop up at any moment. Aside from the people behind the counter, Ellie and Freya were the only ones there. She eyed the door, waiting for someone to swing it open and intrude on their conversation, their privacy.

"If it makes you feel any better, the only reason I'm here is because people follow me, too."

Ellie eyed Freya with suspicion. Her teal hair was like a moving target in a crowd of people, but that couldn't mean people followed her around for fun.

"Why?"

"Well, more like person. My ex was a major creep. I signed up after he broke into my house. I caught the fucker taking a shower. Kicked his naked ass to the street before he kicked mine."

Ellie's eyebrows raised at the mention of Freya's ex-boyfriend. She tried to hide her surprise, which Freya picked up on. Her lips twitched into a brief smirk, and her eyes filled with amusement.

"Granted, my rebound wasn't much better. She clogged my shower drain with hair and stole my dog."

Ellie's cheeks flushed with embarrassment for the third time that day. Freya had caught her poking her nose into her business, and now she seemed to bask in the awkward aftermath.

"Don't worry, I got him back—the dog, not the ex."

In an obvious effort to change the subject, Freya bombarded Ellie with her deepest burning questions. She demanded to know the smallest of details Ellie had never even considered before.

"Where are you from? What did you do for seven years alone in a basement? What's it like to live in a mansion? What do you mean you didn't like pineapple on pizza?"

Every question caught Ellie a little more off guard, but she answered them regardless. Something about Freya made her feel on edge, but safe at the same time. Like they could go right up to the edge of a cliff together and never fall off.

Exactly twenty minutes after Tessa's first message, the table vibrated, and Ellie's phone screen lit up with Tessa's call. Instead of answering, she looked to Freya. Freya's midnight eyebrows—which gave an indication of what her hair would look like without the dye—rose and fell.

"Duty calls," she said, tilting her head towards Ellie's phone. Ellie contemplated blowing Tessa off, but a second incoming call finally motivated her to pick her bag off the floor. She stood, and Freya followed suit. "I'll see you next week."

Ellie turned to leave, then froze. She looked back to Freya and clutched her bag's handles in tight fists.

"Actually, there's this thing... Well, Joe and Tessa are making it a whole thing. It's not a big deal. You don't have to come if you don't want to—"

"Spit it out," Freya said. Ellie folded her arms and shrunk in on herself. She looked into Freya's brown eyes, which made her teal hair pop against her tan skin.

"Will you come to my birthday party?"