"Pass me the hammer, will you?" Tommy asked. Joel picked up the hammer and smiled before pretending to throw it at him. Tommy jumped back and swore as he collided with the kitchen counter. "Shit, Joel, not like that!"

Joel chuckled. "Whoops." He passed Tommy the hammer as Tommy shook his head in exasperation.

"That kid's rubbing off on you, man." Tommy said.

"Unfortunately." Joel responded, which made them both laugh. "I forgot what having a kid is like." He continued. "You just never know what to expect. Yesterday, I was cooking dinner, and she and Dina came in covered in leaves and dirt. I asked them what they'd been up to, and Ellie said they'd raked together a leaf pile in the park nearby, hid in it, then scared the shit out of every kid that tried to jump in."

Tommy snorted. "Wow. That sounds like Ellie."

"Yep." Joel sighed. "Maybe I should teach her to be a good person who doesn't scare small children. But whenever she does, I end up laughing with her."

"I would too." Tommy replied. He leaned back from the flooring he was prying up and looked at his brother. "So she's been back in school for a month now. Still good?"

"Seems like it." Joel shrugged. "The foster care classes are all about how to help the kids handle their emotions and trauma, but she's been doing alright." Despite his words, Joel still felt an undercurrent of worry whenever he dropped Ellie off at school. He hadn't told Tommy about Ellie yelling at the world the morning after she was assaulted, or the way she still occasionally woke up screaming, or how she sometimes didn't want to talk when he picked her up from school. However, he held onto his conviction that the good outweighed the bad.

"It's nice that she has some new friends now." Joel added. Ellie and Dina had quickly become best friends, to the point where Joel picked up Dina and Ellie from school almost as often as he picked up just Ellie. Ellie was also friends with Bria and loved going to Tommy's house on the weekends. Unfortunately, Ellie only had the same lunch period as the two girls every other day. Joel had worried about that on Ellie's first day back at school, especially after her complaints about how hard it was to make friends.

But when he'd picked Ellie up that afternoon, she was grinning. "I met these two dudes at lunch." She told him. "Jesse and Lev. Jesse is super tall for a ninth grader, like way taller than me. It's creepy. But he's super funny. And Lev is kind of quiet. I think he's younger, thirteen or something. But he's so sarcastic. He said this one super funny, mean thing about a girl who was kind of a dick to me, and Jesse laughed so hard that milk came out of his nose."

"They sound like a fun pair." Joel replied, distracted. "But a girl was mean?"

Ellie shrugged.

Tommy's laugh pulled Joel from his thoughts. "Yeah, boy friends." He leaned back with a smirk. "You think she'll start dating soon?"

Joel remembered a few days ago, when Dina had called Ellie cute, and Ellie's face had turned red as she stuttered in response. And a week before that, when he'd seen Ellie awkwardly try to put her arm around Dina as they watched a movie in the living room before chickening out. "Not those guys."

"Never say never." Tommy warned him. "That's what I said about Bria's friend Scott, and suddenly they're walking around holding hands." Joel rolled his eyes as Tommy complained about the prepubescent boy who had become the bane of his existence for the last couple of weeks.

Ellie had complained too. "They're so annoying." She snapped one day as Joel drove them to an orchard to go apple picking. "Now Scott has to have lunch with us every time and Bria never hears anything I say when he's around. She just stares at him like a dope."

"Don't be too mean." Joel warned. "That might be you one day."

"Ew, no. Boys are gross." Ellie retorted. "I'm never dating one."

Joel shrugged. "I wouldn't either. Women are better."

"Agreed." Ellie nodded. Then her face blazed red. "I mean- that's not- like I'm not saying-"

Joel took pity on her. "You know what's better than both men and women?" He interrupted as they pulled into the orchard. "Apples."

Ellie snort-laughed, her embarrassment fading. "Let's go get 'em."

Joel lurched back to the present as his phone rang. He grabbed it from the counter. "Hello, Miller Contracting, how can we help you today?" He answered with his usual script.

"Is this Joel Miller, guardian of Elie Williams?" A woman asked tonelessly.

Joel's stomach dropped. "Yeah. Why?"

"Please come to the school immediately." The woman responded. "Ellie is suspended for having a physical altercation with another student."

Joel's brain went blank with shock. "What? A fight?" He stumbled over the words. "Is- is she ok?"

"Ellie is fine." The woman said, and he heard some irritation in her previously emotionless voice. "The school nurse checked her out, she doesn't have as much as a bruise. The girl she attacked, however, has a broken nose, a black eye, and a possible concussion."

Joel couldn't speak for a moment. "I'll be there." He managed before hanging up.

Tommy was watching him. "What happened?" He asked in a low voice.

"I have to go." Joel grabbed his keys and hurried to the door. "Don't start demolition yet."

He drove to the school and found Ellie sitting in the principle's office, her eyes on her shoes. She didn't look at him when he said her name. The principle asked Joel to sit down, and Joel listened as best he could through his shock. He caught snatches of words: "One-week suspension," "special circumstances," "abrupt transition to a new living situation," "off her official record."

"Next time," The principle's hawk-like gaze bored into Joel's, "she will be expelled."

Then Joel and Ellie were back in his truck, driving away from the school. Joel was silent. He remembered the popcorn war he, Ellie, and Dina had fought yesterday, the girls giggling like little kids. He remembered how Ellie had literally jumped up and down in delight when she came home three days ago to see that Joel had built her the firepit she'd asked for in the backyard. They'd roasted s'mores and she'd practiced the song he was teaching her on the guitar. Her fingers had strummed the strings so delicately.

"Get it over with, Joel." Ellie interrupted his thoughts. She'd wrapped her arms defensively around herself as she glared at the street ahead. "I know you want to. So just do it."

Instead of responding, Joel turned right. Ellie glanced back at the road in alarm. "Wait, home is back that way." She insisted. "Where the hell are you taking me?" Joel said nothing. "You're not going to murder me in the woods, are you?" Ellie demanded. "Joel, tell me you're not going to do that!"

"I'm not going to do that." Joel said flatly. Ellie nodded and leaned back in her seat, but he could see her discomfort in the way she kept looking around.

He pulled back into the house he'd just left. "Come on." He said as he climbed out of the car.

Ellie stared at the unfamiliar house with wide eyes. "You're not going to murder me in an abandoned house either, right?"

"Just follow me." Joel ordered before slamming the car door. A moment later, he heard Ellie's door open, then her quick footsteps behind him.

He stalked into the kitchen, where Tommy was still prying up the flooring. Tommy grinned when he saw Joel "You're back fast." He said. "Guess it wasn't that bad then." His words died in his mouth when Ellie walked in behind Joel. Tommy glanced back and forth between Joel's harsh expression and Ellie's mutinous one. Then he jumped to his feet. "I'll just- leave you two alone." He muttered as he booked it out of the house.

Joel finally turned to look at Ellie. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Ellie shrugged as she flexed her fingers. Joel noticed streaks of dried blook on her knuckles. "I was thinking that if Emily was going to act like Voldemort, then she should look like Voldemort too." Joel blinked. Emily? Ellie had never mentioned her.

Ellie tapped her nose. "Get it? Like, no nose."

Joel was unmoved. "Not funny."

"Very funny." Ellie shot back.

"Ellie, you never resort to violence! Ever!" Joel shouted. Ellie flinched from his anger. He'd never shouted at her before. "Violence is for criminals and drunks like your stepfather. Not for you. You're better than that."

Ellie's eyes hardened. "Who says I'm better?" She snapped. "I was raised by an addict and a drunk rapist." She stalked the length of the room and startled Joel by punching the wall. Her fist left a deep hole in the drywall. "It doesn't fucking matter that I have a new dad and new clothes now, I'm still fucking trash like my parents. I'll never be anything more than what they are." She punched the wall with each sentence. Her voice shook with anger.

"Ellie." Joel was aghast. "Don't say things like that. It's not true."

"How the fuck do you know?" Ellie demanded. "I already murdered someone. I'll always be a murderer. Everyone's waiting for me to be the next school shooter."

Joel couldn't believe the vile words dripping from her mouth. "Ellie, stop!" Joel yanked Ellie away from the wall and grabbed her shoulders. "Who's saying these things to you?"

"Emily!" Ellie yelled, and now she was crying. "She knows about what I did, Joel. I don't know how, but she knows, and she keeps telling me that I'm a murderer and everyone's waiting for me to snap."

"That's not true." Joel insisted.

Ellie shook her head. "No, she's right." Her anger drained away, leaving an eerie lack of emotion. "Other than her, only the teachers know. I see the way they look at me. She's right."

Joel shook his head. "Ellie, why didn't you tell anyone about what this girl was saying?"

Ellie's eyes darkened. "She said that if I reported her, she'd tell the whole school what I did." Her fists clenched. "I- I didn't want to lose my friends." Then she laughed bitterly. "Not that she'll stay quiet now. Guess I'm fucked anyways."

Joel looked at her. She stared back defiantly. There was something in her eyes that Joel didn't like. "Ellie." Joel said. "Why did you decide to hit her today?"

"What do you mean why?" Ellie's eyes flickered with outrage as she pulled away from Joel. "Because she was being a total dick."

"She's been a dick for weeks now." Joel pointed out. "Why today? Did she say anything different?"

"No. I don't know." Ellie shrugged. "Guess I 'snapped.'" She did air quotes on the last word. Joel recoiled from her smirk.

"Don't give me that shit." He growled. "Tell me why."

Anger flashed in her eyes and then boiled over. "Because I fucking wanted to, ok?" She snapped. "Because everyone was waiting for me to do it and it felt so suffocating and I wanted to teach that little shit a lesson anyways, so why the fuck not?"

"So you felt that people had a low opinion of you and you decided to prove them right." Joel repeated flatly.

Ellie glared at Joel. "Don't talk to me like that! You have no idea how fucking hard it is. I do everything right, I turn my homework in on time, I talk in class, and I'm still the problem! They still see me as this fucking damaged kid that's going nowhere. Fucking Emily flounces into school with her new fucking clothes and her new fucking laptop and two parents who love her and IT'S JUST NOT FAIR!"

"You want to talk to me about fairness?" Joel's voice was harsh. "My daughter is dead, Ellie. She died of brain cancer when she was thirteen years old. Meanwhile, a piece of shit like Adrian makes it to adulthood. If anything isn't fucking fair, it's that." Ellie staggered back a step, her eyes wide as she took in his words. "You're alive. You're not sick. You escaped both of your crap parents. You have the chance to live an incredible life. But if you hit all the Emilys of the world, you'll end up in prison. The Emilys will walk free. Does that sound fair to you?"

Ellie's face was pale. She couldn't meet Joel's eyes. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I- I shouldn't have hit her. It's just- it's so hard." She wrung her fingers together. "I still see his face after I shot him. Like, all the time. And then she keeps throwing it in my face."

Joel sighed. "I wish I'd shot him instead of you. I wish I could take that burden off your shoulders. But I don't have any shortcut for you. You just have to keep going. Spend time with the people you love, do the things you love. One day, he'll feel very far away." Ellie nodded and went to turn away. Joel stopped her.

"You absolutely shouldn't have hit Emily." He reiterated. "And you should never hit her again. But since you did…" Joel held up his hand for a high five. Ellie grinned and slapped it.

"It was kind of amazing." Ellie admitted. "She was so shocked. She was used to me just taking it."

"You can't hit back, but you don't have to take it." Joel said. "Record her and report her. Come up with a witty retort. I bet if I got Uncle Tommy back in here, he could help us with that." Ellie nodded, a slow smile spreading across her face. "One thing is," Joel began reluctantly, "since this girl will likely tell everyone, I think you should tell your friends first. If they're good friends, they won't abandon you for protecting yourself."

Ellie's brow furrowed. "I guess I have no choice." She sighed, then looked at the wall she'd punched. "Sorry about that." She added guiltily. "Will you have to fix that?"

"Nah." Joel picked up the big hammer and passed it to Ellie. "We're in the demolition phase. This whole kitchen has to go." He backed away. "It's all yours."

Ellie stared at him. "Really?"

"Really." Joel confirmed. "But first, one thing-" He cleared his throat. "You're an incredible person, Ellie. You're smart and funny and kind. You're talented enough to do whatever you want to do. Everyone who knows you has become better because of you. Me most of all." He swallowed down the lump in his throat. "Emily has no idea what she's talking about."

Ellie stared at Joel. He saw tears shimmering in her eyes. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Then she whirled around and yelled a battle cry as she started destroying the kitchen.