Chapter Twenty-Five
Day 9
On Monday, I sit with my team at breakfast, but none of us talk. Our eyes are down, focused on our phones so no one can overhear us working on the clue.
Gibs (a dude)
My brain hurts from all these conjugations
Andy (he/him)
What’d I say about shafting that quiz on imperatives for basketball last semester?
Gibs (a dude)
As more messages ping in, I update my pronouns in the profile settings. I study them for a moment, getting used to the new set. They feel right. And if they stop feeling that way, I tell myself I can always change them.
Isa (they/them)
I haven’t figured out the location yet, but it looks like we get to choose how to get there: 
Gibs (a dude)
The other is 
I do a quick translation on my phone.
Ellen (she/her + they/them)
‘a pie’ means ‘on foot’.
I hold my breath, waiting for someone to say something about my pronouns.
Gibs (a dude)
I am so disappointed
Gibs (a dude)
And tired. Like seriously, idk how y’all are conscious rn
“Buenos días,” Señor L calls as he enters the dining room.
I exhale. His T-shirt is blue today, with a pair of yellow yo-yos under dialogue bubbles, each one pointing to itself. An identical ¡Yo! fills each bubble.
Isa (they/them)
The cable car sounds fun. Unless anyone really wants to walk
Gibs (a dude)
Soooooo tiiiired, walking might kill me
Ellen (she/her + they/them)
I’m okay with the cable car.
Andy (he/him)
Me too, once we figure out where we’re going.
Ellen (she/her + they/them)
Is Señor L’s T-shirt funny because both yoyos are pointing at themselves and saying the word for “me” in Spanish?
Isa (they/them)
Yep!
Gibs (a dude)
Tho whether it’s actually funny is up for debate
I flap my free hand under the table. The more I practice, the easier it gets to solve Señor L’s T-shirts.
“Hey…”
We all look up from our phones, at Laurel.
“Hi,” I manage.
This is the most we’ve said to each other since Saturday. She zipped out of the room yesterday morning, then I did the same thing today. No talking.
“My team is visiting Montjuïc Castle today and wondered if y’all wanted to go together.” When no one says anything, she winds her purse strap around one finger. “I mean, unless you already finished clue three, like Emmaline’s team.”
“We were actually still working on solving it,” Isa says.
All I can do is stare at Laurel. Her team wasn’t even done with the first clue on Saturday, and now they’re on clue three? She also just broke the rules.
“Oh.” I wait for her to apologize, but she just fiddles with her purse strap. “Well, now you know. What do you think?”
“You want to work together?” Andy frowns. His gaze moves from Laurel over to Madison at the other table.
“Not really. We’re positive about the location. We’re just seeing if you wanted to travel together.”
My phone pings.
Isa (they/them)
Andy, you cool going somewhere with M?
Andy (he/him)
Yeah, I think so… I just wish they hadn’t blown the clue for us.
Isa looks up at Laurel. “Okay, sure. That works.”
“All right.” Laurel releases a breath, along with her purse strap. “Let’s meet after breakfast.”
“Miss McKinley,” Señor L calls as she’s halfway between tables.
Laurel pauses.
“Can you and your team stay behind for a few minutes once you’re done eating?”
“Um? Sure.”
Laurel glances back to us.
“No big,” Isa says. “We can wait.”
I say a silent goodbye to my owl as we exit the hotel. Then Andy leads us to the subway. Gibs, Isa, and I form a barrier between him and Madison.
We transfer trains once. Except for Abba and Mrs. West, no one talks much. It feels like I’m stuck between both teams, until Laurel steps up to the same pole I’m holding to keep my balance.
“Are you mad at me?” she whispers.
Between the rule breaking and our failed sleepover, maybe I should be. But I’m honestly not sure how I feel. “I thought you were mad at me.”
“Not mad. I was frustrated,” Laurel admits, “but it wasn’t really your fault. I just wanted to get started on the clues so we don’t get in trouble.”
“You’re on clue three already,” I point out.
“Yeah, but…” Laurel’s voice drops lower, and I strain to hear. “Only because we overheard Emmaline’s team. We haven’t figured out the other two clues yet.”
My stomach twists. Now she’s breaking rules and doing the clues completely out of order.
“Is that why Señor L wanted to talk to you after breakfast?”
“Yeah.” Laurel’s eyes dart to her teammates, then back to me. “We promised we’d give him a status update tonight.”
When I don’t say anything, she leans closer. “We already know the second clue has something to do with La Rambla. Plus, we took a ton of pictures when we went to the beach and the Olympic Village, so if the first clue is either of those, we’ll be good. Once we figure that one out, we can get the next clue sheet from Señor L and pretend to do the others in the order he wants.”
This sounds like a mashed-up pun from Isa’s list. A cheetah who’s lion to our Spanish teacher.
We get off at the next stop, then take a funicular train out of the station. It crawls up a steep hill, and the city comes into view below us.
“I thought it’d be faster,” Gibs says. “Ugh, why is this so slow?”
I glance over at him on one side of the train car. He’s like a human shield, keeping Andy out of view from Madison.
“The cable car should be better,” Andy says. “We can probably even get some”—he lowers his voice—“pics of Barcelona desde arriba.”
Beside me, Laurel watches them closely.
The funicular comes to a stop and we hop off, following Andy to the cable car station.
“Looks like it’s up to eight people per car,” he says, reading off a sign. “If we split up by team, that’d be four each, plus one adult.”
Laurel turns to me. “Or you could come with us. That’d only be six in our car.”
“If Ellen’s going with them”—Cody steps closer to my teammates—“I’ll go with you all.”
“Come on, Elle.” Laurel waves me toward a waiting car.
I hesitate for just a second. Laurel didn’t ask what I wanted, but at least we’re talking again.
Our cable cars rise, one after the other. Barcelona comes into view on one side of our car, the Mediterranean Sea on the other. Streets spread out from the beach like veins toward Plaça de Catalunya.
“Isn’t it pretty?” Laurel presses her hand against the window.
“Yes.” I point toward a set of familiar spires. “That’s La Sagrada Família. It’s a huge church. My team went there last week.”
Laurel pulls out her phone and snaps a photo, which reminds me to take out my own phone. I record the last half of the trip, panning over buildings.
Sophie-Anne joins us. “I adore this view.”
I chew on my lip and don’t say a word.
The cable car slows to a stop at the very top of the hill.
As the doors slide open to let us off, I spot the rest of my team, waiting for me.
We cross a stone bridge that overlooks a well-trimmed garden, then pay the entrance fee. I grab a free brochure as we make our way inside.
“I can’t wait to see what the castle looks like.” Sophie-Anne skips as she walks.
“Technically”—I look up from my brochure—“it’s an old military fort.”
The walls of the fortress rise on all sides of us. Up one more level, then we’re out in the open, looking down at the city of Barcelona. Cody follows Andy, Isa, and Gibs as they head toward a row of cannons.
I move toward a stone ledge overlooking the Mediterranean, and Laurel follows. A pigeon watches us approach, then takes flight, a gray blur soaring toward open water.
We take everything in. Up this high, the wind whips my hair into my eyes. I pan my phone from the sea to the docks to the beach, wondering if I can find the café we ate tapas at last week.
Nearby, Isa pulls their hair up into a ponytail. I stare at their fingers, remembering how gently they touched my face, wiping makeup away.
Isa looks up. Our eyes meet.
“The humidity is killing my hair.” Madison steps in front of Laurel and me, fluffing her ponytail.
“Girls,” Mrs. West calls. “Let’s pick up the pace a little.”
We climb another set of stairs and explore the top level of the fort, peeking through slits in the stone and taking pictures in front of old watchtowers. Sophie-Anne stays by Madison’s side, trailing a safe distance behind Isa and the boys.
“Hey, Laurel. Take our picture?” Sophie-Anne points to a lookout area that juts out of the fort’s wall, with all of Barcelona as the backdrop.
“Sure!”
Laurel snaps a couple of pics in portrait mode, then a few more with the phone turned horizontal. She hands Sophie-Anne her phone next.
“Let’s get one together, Elle. Just the two of us.”
My hands tingle with happiness. If we were alone, I’d flap them.
Out on the lookout spot, Laurel puts one arm around my shoulder. It prickles a little, as always, but I ignore it.
Sophie-Anne snaps our picture, studies the phone, then looks up. “This one’s good! I got the whole city behind y’all.”
“Does anyone want to check out the watchtower?” Laurel asks once we make it back.
“Sure,” I say at the same time Madison shakes her head.
“Hard pass. I’m literally melting.”
“Same here,” Sophie-Anne chimes in.
I expect Laurel to agree like she’s been doing all week. But then she turns to me. “Looks like it’s just us, then.”
If my heart had wings, it’d soar, just like that pigeon.
We stop in front of the watchtower, waiting as a woman takes a picture of two kids inside it.
“Austine, non!” the woman calls as a small girl climbs onto the fort ledge and strikes a pose, her long, white-blond hair whipping in the wind.
“What do you think, Elle?” Laurel nudges me.
“Single mom. She saved up a lot of money to surprise them with a trip to Barcelona.”
“Love it.” Laurel enters the watchtower as the family moves on. “And when they get home, the little girl gets discovered by a talent scout and becomes a model. Money problems solved.”
The tiny watchtower is barely big enough for the two of us. As we take turns looking out over the city through the narrow stone windows, I can’t help wondering about the family’s real lives. Maybe the little girl isn’t even a girl or doesn’t like she, her, hers pronouns. There’s no way to know.
Laurel sighs. “This is nice.”
“The view?”
“Well, yeah. That’s nice, too. I meant it’s nice to finally be doing the scavenger hunt. I just wish we’d started sooner.”
“You still have the rest of the week.”
“True.” Laurel moves past me, back out onto the fort’s roof. “But now we’ll be rushing. We don’t even know what we’ll be doing for our presentation.”
Neither does my team, but I keep that to myself as I follow her out. We pause at a ledge that overlooks the garden by the fort’s entrance.
“You really haven’t figured out the first clue yet?” I ask.
She shrugs, staring down at the perfectly trimmed hedges. “Madison keeps saying the scavenger hunt doesn’t matter, but… I don’t know. I mean, she’s been dealing with a lot between the breakup with Andy and the divorce. Obviously, she can’t do anything about her parents, but Sophie and I think she and Andy need to talk. If he just explained why he’s mad at her, maybe she’d be able to focus on the clues better.”
This is something I hadn’t considered.
Laurel sighs again, then looks around the rooftop. “We should probably go find everyone.”
My thoughts race as we head toward the stairs. Maybe I can help Laurel’s whole team, without breaking any rules. “He’s not mad at her.”
Laurel slows. “What?”
“Andy.” I match her pace. “He’s not angry at Madison.”
“Are you sure? He seems to avoid her a whole lot.”
“Yes, but only because he thinks she’s upset with him for breaking up with her,” I explain.
“Oh.” Laurel’s silent for a moment. “I think she’s more confused, honestly.”
We pause at the top of the stairs.
“I don’t think he meant to hurt her,” I say. “But he also wanted to be true to himself.”
Laurel’s brows scrunch. “So he likes someone else? That’s why he broke up with her?”
I shake my head, just a little. “I can’t talk about that. He told me not to tell anyone.”
Laurel tilts her head. “But I’m not ‘anyone,’ Elle. We’re best friends.”
Yes, but…
“This is a secret.”
“Okay.” Laurel smiles. “But that’s what best friends share with each other, right?”
“Right.…”
A group of tourists pass. When they’re gone, Laurel turns back to me. “It’s like when I tell you something I heard about someone at school. It’s still a secret, since I only shared it with my best friend.”
“Right.” My voice is stronger this time. “So as long as he doesn’t know I told you…?”
“Yep.” Laurel bobs her head. “And he won’t. Promise.”
“All right.” I take a breath. “Andy’s like me.”
“Like… you?” Her eyes widen when it finally clicks. “Oh.”
I chew on the inside of my cheek. This is okay, I decide. I just won’t share that it’s Xavi who Andy likes.
“I never would’ve guessed, but that makes a ton of sense.” Laurel reaches for the railing and takes a step down. “So it wasn’t anything Madison did.”
“No, it wasn’t.” I follow her down the stairs, one step after the other, until I spot our group waiting under a stone arch.
Before I can walk toward them, Laurel pulls me into a quick hug.
“Thanks, Elle.”
There’s a lightness in my steps as we head over to meet everyone.