It wasn't getting warm fast enough.
Ski season was from November until April, which meant it was fucking cold and snowing for almost half of the year. And it was annoying to see everyday the same light grey sky as she walked to school.
She was glad no one had asked her about Jordan since their little quarry in the corridor, and she was glad no one had ratted them out. Apparently Mr. Figgins was a bit too slow on his feet and there was no one there when he arrived and the school had no proof her bruise wasn't from a fall.
Where all the other teachers were she didn't know, but she was glad they weren't there.
Now they would only exchange death-glares everytime they crossed paths or Ellie had to wait for Jesse's practice to finish so they could hang out or study math. Ellie had a feeling, though, he was asking her to fight somewhere outside the school, just the two of them.
Did she want to? Yes. Would she? Probably not.
Yara seemed in peace now too, which was good. She was a freshman, so Ellie only saw her on the hallways, but no one bothered her anymore, and she was actually walking with two other girls.
Her relationship with Cat was kind of weird, though. They weren't dating, but they weren't just friends. They would kiss sometimes when Ellie went over, and it sometimes became a full make out session that would usually end with them finishing up Ellie's tattoo design.
It was pretty cool, if Ellie could say so herself. It had her moth, now shaded on the wings and on its body and two sets of leaves behind. One white and the other had its tiny leaves colored in. It was awesome and beautiful and she couldn't wait to get it tattooed on her forearm.
"What you thinking so hard?" Dina asked her, bringing her attention back to the notebooks open on the table.
They had been studying in the library since Dina had finished her track practice and Ellie was back from kickboxing. But she was tired from the physical exercise, and her mind actually felt sluggish, even for math.
"Nothing important," she answered, scratching the back of her neck.
Dina didn't look very focused on their textbooks either, and she yawned. "I can't do this anymore, wanna grab a coffee?"
"Coffee? Ew, no, that's disgusting," she said, even though she was putting her stuff in her backpack and Dina rolled her eyes at her.
"I know, let's go."
They walked in silence and as they walked through the salted pavement, Ellie couldn't help but remember the night after Christmas, when they'd talked on the curb at the convenience store. Ellie didn't even know why she had opened up to Dina, but the words fell easily from her lips, like Dina was meant to hear them.
Dina's genuine eyes, her head on her shoulder, how she'd stayed and opened up. Their friendship had grown deeper since then, and it kept Ellie's heart full. After everything that happened with Leah and Nora at the other school, she was happy she'd found friends here.
"You know Jesse and I are dating, right?" Dina blurted out as they approached the café. It took her a lot of willpower not to roll her eyes at that, because everyone knew.
Ellie hadn't been surprised when they started, because she knew Jesse liked Dina for a long time, and she'd heard Bonnie nagging them about dating for weeks after the holidays.
"Yeah?" Dina bit her lip, looking at her from the corner of her eye.
"But I don't know if things are gonna work out," she said, voice quiet. It seemed like she'd been thinking about this, because there was some sort of confusion behind her eyes, like she was trying to figure something out.
"Why?"
Her body held a weird kind of tension as she kept her head forward, as she let the question hang in the air and drop. Ellie wondered if she shouldn't have asked, because Dina was just so quiet and it was weird because she was always talking. Dina shrugged.
"It's weird. Sometimes it just doesn't feel right," she said and Ellie watched her reddened nose in the cold, the puff of air condensating in from on them. She wasn't sure if she should say something, because Dina never talked to her about Jesse.
And she wasn't sure if Dina just wanted to talk of if she wanted to be comforted. So she reached out and squeezed Dina's hand, meaning to say "that sucks" with it. She looked at Ellie with a tentative smile on her lips.
"Thanks," Dina said, and squeezed back.
But Ellie still felt kind of awkward, because maybe Dina had some kind of expectation, maybe she had wanted her to say something then, and she didn't. Or maybe she was just overthinking shit again.
They sat inside the café and Ellie stretched her legs under the table, eyeing the menu knowing she would just get the hot chocolate again.
"Are you guys already in marine biology?" Dina asked her as they waited for the waitress to return with their drinks.
"Yeah," he said, and then made her voice sound really serious, like she was telling Dina an important scientific fact, "how many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh?"
Dina looked at her, puzzled. It was obvious the mismatch between her tone and her words confused her enough to leave her speechless for a second.
"Ten tickles."
"That was... awful," she stated, but there was just this hint of a smile on her lips and on her eyes that made Ellie's heart flutter.
"No it wasn't," she nodded at the waitress and sipped at her mug, "what were you gonna ask?"
"I don't get that thing with the coral reef and the algae."
"It's just that global warming makes the ocean water, well, warm," she chuckled awkwardly, looking at Dina's eyes, "and it kills the algae that live in the coral reef, so they become white because they are dead."
"What?"
"'Cause, you know, the thing that makes the reefs so colourful is the algae that lives inside them. They live in a mutualistic interaction, so without the algae, reefs are just a weird limestone skeleton."
Ellie knew that even though she was horrible at explaining whatever, Dina understood her. But there was something more there too, a different glint in the way her eyes dropped and she licked her lips. And then sipped at her own mug.
Ellie felt like the air between was charged, though she didn't know why. Dina was tense and she was tense because she felt like Dina was on the edge of her seat.
"Thanks," she said and her eyes met Ellie's again with a smile and she relaxed. Dina wasn't mad at her, but Ellie had a feeling she was something.
"Do you wanna come over and watch a movie or play video games?" Ellie asked as they stood to leave.
"Are you inviting me to Netflix and chill? Or PS4 and chill?" she teased, obviously enjoying the way Ellie's cheeks reddened.
"Dick," she said, shoving her hands on her pockets and pushing the door open, hearing Dina laugh behind her.
"Dumbass," she said right after, following Ellie uphill to her apartment.
"So I don't need to buy you dinner first?" she smirked at her over her shoulder, in a split second of confidence. Dina's mouth was open in shock and Ellie laughed. So worth it. "Your face!"
Dina pushed her.
"You're so stupid," Ellie didn't even have to look to know she was rolling her eyes.
"But you love it."
The walk was comfortable, except for the cold winds that blew through their clothes. Dina's shoulder would sometimes bump hers, or their hands would brush and Ellie would feel small electric shocks through her body.
She unlocked the door, leading them inside and fixing both of them another cup of hot chocolate. Dina sat on the sofa, picking up a controller while her eyes tracked Ellie's movements.
"What are we gonna play?"
"What do you wanna play?" she sat beside Dina, stretching her legs on the centre table and shifting through her games. "I've been playing this one, it's basically about a gangster in the old West. You can shoot a lot of people and ride horses or whatever, it's pretty non-linear."
"Won't I mess up what you've done?"
"Nah. Just try not to kill any major NPC and we should be fine"
"Okay," she complied and Ellie handed her the controller and went back to drinking from her mug.
Dina wasn't horrible, but she wasn't good. It was almost like watching Joel, except she was a bit better at controlling the camera. Watching her was fun, and Ellie's cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
"Ellie... I think your horse is getting sick," Dina stated, thoughtful.
Ellie looked at her, Dina's eyes meeting hers and then back at the TV. Was Boadicea getting sick? Was this some important plot point in the game and she was missing the details leading to it? She considered standing up and going to the TV.
"What? How can you tell?"
"She sounds a little hoarse," Dina said, sipping from her cup. She looked at Ellie from the corner of her eyes, a glint on them.
"Oh boy," she sighed, but she couldn't help but smile.