"Do you think they'll be here soon?" Ellie's nervous voice drifted from the living room.

Joel looked up from the batter he was mixing. "It's quarter to ten in the morning and they're due at ten. Most kids your age don't move too fast this early. Give them time."

"What if they hate me after?" Ellie's hands drifted toward her mouth.

"Don't bite your nails." Joel admonished. "If they hate you, then they'll leave and you and me can eat these chocolate chips cookies all by ourselves." He gestured toward the batter.

Ellie scowled at him. "Not helping." Her eyes lingered on the bowl. "Some cookie dough might help, though."

Joel pulled a spoon from the drawer and scooped a heaping spoonful of dough. "Why would they hate you?" Joel asked as he handed Ellie the spoon. She stuck the entire chunk of dough in her mouth. "Because you did the best you could with shit parents? Because someone tried to do something awful to you and you defended yourself?"

"Because I killed someone." Ellie said dully, her voice muffled by the cookie dough.

Joel crouched in front of the couch where she was sitting to look at her. "You're not the only girl who's gone through something like that, Ellie. As crappy as that is, it's the truth." He told her. "When I was a kid, my mom told me how a boy in her childhood neighborhood cornered her in the woods and raped her. She was maybe a year older than you."

Ellie's face had gone pale. "Holy shit. Did he go to prison?"

"No. She was too ashamed to tell her parents at first, and by the time she did, all physical evidence was gone." Joel's fists tightened. His mother had been gone for decades and he still wanted to kill that boy. "She told me that story so that I would treat women right. I'm telling you because you need to know you're not alone. For all you know, Dina has gone through something similar."

Ellie swallowed. "If- if your mom knew what I did, what would she think?"

Joel smiled. "She would be proud as shit that you defended yourself."

Ellie's weak smile in response faded as her eyes drifted towards the front door. Joel sighed as he lumbered back to the kitchen and started scooping balls of cookie dough onto the baking sheet. It was Saturday, the day after Ellie's fight, and she'd chosen, with some gentle coaxing from Joel, to start her week of suspension off with her most difficult task: telling her friends what happened. Joel hated that she needed to, but there was no way around it. Nothing could stop Emily from talking. The brat's closest friends probably already knew. How Emily knew was a mystery that Joel was determined to solve. But not today. Today, he was baking cookies for his foster daughter, who he was hoping wouldn't get her heart broken. He couldn't imagine Dina or his niece turning their backs on Ellie, but he hadn't met Jesse and Lev. They were wildcards.

"I think I'll tell them in the backyard." Ellie broke the silence. She was standing by the door now, staring through the peephole.

"Ok." Joel nodded. "Do you want me to be there?"

"No." Ellie fiddled with the hem of her new, dark green shirt. On it, a purple cartoon dinosaur grinned. The speech bubble above him said, 'All my friends are dead.' Joel hoped that wardrobe choice wasn't a bad omen. "I have to do this on my own." Ellie said. Then she gasped. "Fuck, there's Dina. And Bria. Holy shit, this is happening."

Tommy's expression was grim as he waved at Joel from the car. Joel waved back. He'd told Tommy last night over the phone. He could still hear the raw horror in Tommy's voice. "How can anyone do that to a little girl?"

Bria and Dina, who Tommy must have picked up, jumped out of the car and ran to Ellie. They enveloped her in a group hug as a tall, dark-haired boy who must have been Jesse rounded the corner, followed by a smaller boy – presumably Lev – on a skateboard. They joined the girls and Joel opened the door as the group of teenagers tramped into his house.

Bria and Dina ignored him entirely. "Dude, what happened?" Bria asked Ellie, her eyes wide. "I saw you and that Emily jerk talking across the cafeteria, and then the next thing I know, you're fighting. And then both of you are gone and people are saying that you were suspended for a month!"

"There was blood on the floor. Are you ok?" Dina's dark eyes were concerned as she reached out to cup Ellie's face.

Ellie's face blazed red. "I'm fine, guys. Actually. And I'm only suspended for a week, not a month." Then she cracked a grin. "You should see the other guy." Dina didn't smile back. Her hand fell to her side.

Bria's brow furrowed. "I thought you were fighting a girl?"

"Hello sir, I'm Jesse Shang." Joel startled as the tall boy stepped over the doorframe and held out his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Joel." Joel shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too."

"It's a saying, Bria." A quiet voice said. Joel turned to see Lev behind Jesse, skateboard in hand. He met Joel's eyes and nodded. "'Sup."

Joel blinked. "'Sup." He muttered almost to himself as he closed the door behind the kids and returned to the kitchen.

"Ellie, tell me the truth:" Jesse grinned widely. "Did you actually break her nose?"

Ellie gave a tentative smile in return. "Yes?"

"Holy cow." Bria's eyes widened as Jesse crowed in delight.

"Finally!" He slapped Ellie's hand in a high five. "She's deserved it for ages. She was such a dick to you."

"Now her outside will match her inside." Lev added. Bria snorted.

"Wait." Dina frowned. "Why did you never talk back to her before now? Why go straight to hitting her?"

"Dude, who cares? At least she's out of commission now." Jesse pointed out.

"I care." Dina crossed her arms. "I never thought of you as violent, Ellie."

Joel winced at the disappointment in her voice. He could tell from Ellie's nervous swallow that she heard it too.

"I- There's, uh, something I need to explain to you guys." Her eyes dropped to her sneakers as she spoke.

Jesse's grin slowly disappeared. "What is it?" His playful tone had turned somber. Lev watched Ellie intently, his head cocked like a curious bird. Bria's wide eyes were wary and intrigued. Dina's gaze was locked on Ellie, but she was farther from her best friend than she normally was. Her expression was hurt and defensive.

Joel prayed to any god that might listen. Please don't let Ellie lose Dina. Don't let that happen.

Ellie sighed. "Let's go outside." After her friends followed her, Joel sidled to the window. He couldn't hear a word, but he would watch.

The kids sat in a circle like kindergartners about to play Duck Duck Goose. Joel could only see Bria and Jesse's faces. For a tense several minutes, Ellie spoke without interruption. During her story, Bria and Jesse's expressions went from indignant to shocked to horrified. By the time Ellie's gesticulating hands fell back into her lap, Joel could see tears streaking down Bria's face. Jesse was shaking his head, and even from the house, Joel could see the fury flashing in his eyes. Lev stayed still as a statue, but Joel could see the tension in the boy's clenched fists. Suddenly, he yelled across the backyard. "FUCK your stepfather!"

Dina's head was bent forward, like she was gazing at her lap. Joel's stare could have burned a hole in her back. "Come on, Dina." He growled.

Then Dina turned to Ellie and pulled her into a hug. Ellie's expression crumpled and Joel watched her break down into Dina's shoulder. Lev inched over, then Bria, then Jesse, until all four of Ellie's friends were hugging her. Surrounding her like an honor guard.

Joel smiled, then went back to the kitchen to check on the cookies. They were a perfect golden brown.

Ellie spent the rest of her week of suspension hanging out with friends and lounging on the couch reading the third and fourth Eragon books. Joel, however, was busy. When they sat down for dinner after Ellie's friends left on Saturday, Joel grilled her about which of her teachers were treating her like a problem. After some vague answers, Joel discovered that all her teachers were fine with the glaring exception of her math teacher. One hour-long call to the principal and a vague threat to escalate later, Joel had moved her into a different teacher's class.

Joel also asked Ellie about her grades for the first time. He should have brought them up sooner, but after what happened to her, they didn't seem important. That was a mistake. If anything would help Ellie recover, it was treating her like a normal kid. Emily had treated Ellie like a girl with no future. Joel, by not paying attention to her education, had inadvertently done the same.

He was not thrilled to see mainly Bs and a couple Cs. "Listen, these are ok, but if you want to go to college, you'll have to bring them up."

Ellie's expression was startled. "College?"

"Yeah, college. Or do you have other plans?" Joel asked, genuinely curious.

"Uh…" Ellie stared at the cookie she was holding. "Survive?"

Joel felt a pang in his chest. "You don't have to worry about surviving anymore. I'll take care of that." He said gruffly. "There's so many things you can do, Ellie."

She took a bite of the cookie. "Like what?" Crumbs flew out of her mouth as she spoke.

Joel showed her. They scrolled through different college's websites, looking at the different majors and the classes they offered. Ellie's eyes widened at a video of engineering students controlling their robot. "Oh shit, that's cool." At one point, she took the computer from Joel. Joel watched as she bounced from engineering to art to music.

"You know, they have clubs for a lot of that stuff at your high school." Joel pointed out. "We could sign you up."

Ellie frowned. "They cost some money though. Like, to go to competitions and stuff. Especially the robotics team."

A quick answer – she'd already checked. For the thousandth time, Joel thought about how much he hated Ellie's mother. He couldn't imagine the woman he'd heard about spending a single cent on anything her daughter wanted to do. "I haven't done anything but work for twenty years." Joel said dryly. "I have nothing but savings."

Ellie jerked her head up to look at him. "Wait, are you rich?" She asked eagerly.

"No." Joel snorted. "I wish. But I can pay for the robotics team."

Ellie considered that. "Yeah, that sounds cool. I think Lev is on the team."

"Sounds like you'd best show that boy how it's done." Joel responded.

Ellie laughed. Then she paused. "They were so nice today." She spoke to the computer. "I thought they'd be upset that I killed someone, but they were only angry at my stepfather. They were glad he was gone." She twisted a bracelet that had appeared on her wrist a few days ago. Joel had a feeling he knew who gave it to her. "Even Dina."

"Dina seemed upset that you hit Emily." Joel remarked.

"She was. She hates violence. She won't even watch it in movies." Ellie met Joel's gaze with a wry smile. "She understood after I explained, but she said the same thing as you. 'Don't ever do it again.'"

Joel thanked his lucky stars that Dina was Ellie's best friend. "Sounds like sage advice."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you would say that."

"So do you feel better about going to school next week?" Joel asked.

Ellie sighed. "Yes, Joel, you had a good idea this one time. Don't let it go to your head."

Joel pointed to the Tupperware box of cookies on the kitchen counter. "Are you saying the cookies weren't a good idea?"

"Two times." Ellie relented as she stood from the kitchen table and headed toward her room.

"And I figured out how to get that black cat decoration to stay on the toy car while you drove it around on Halloween, wasn't that a good idea?" Joel called after her.

Ellie's voice was exasperated as she yelled back just before closing her door behind her. "Good night, Joel!"