Elle's P.O.V.

        'Oh, shoot!' Ari was staring at me suspiciously. I sensed that she was cooking up assumptions. I tried to lie to her though I suck at fibbing. "It's just some friend from overseas. Sent me some memes." I hoped that that fib would work...But it didn't. "You're terrible at lying, you know that? It's a guy, isn't it?" She smirked, crossing her arms; I sighed and gave in. "Yup..." Honestly, she would probably pull a Tails and go through all of my digital stuff if I didn't tell her. "What does he look like?" Another impossible-to-dodge question shot at me. I held up a claw and went through my gallery before I pulled up a picture I had of Gold from his and my texts. He was a handsome Mobian hedgehog with fierce yet gentle light blue eyes and fluffy yellow and red fur, and his quills looked similar to Shadow the Hedgehog's style.

        "He looks like a cutie, doesn't he?" She teased condescendingly. I felt my left eye twitch and turned to look at her. There's no way she's-! "O-Oi! You can't have him!" I barely realized the words that came out of my fang-filled mouth as I held my phone close to my chest. "Excuse me?" She asked, surprise in her tone. I mumbled what I said before it hit me. A large Cheshire Cat grin plastered on Ari's face. "About time you've caught on." She giggled a bit before letting out a loud maniacal laugh, almost identical to Eggman's...

        I bet this got Sarah's attention because she returned from her "audaciously long bathroom break," as Ari put it. "Let me guess," she chuckled, resting a hand on her hips. "Ari found out, didn't she?' Ari, still laughing, sputtered out, "You bet I did! It was too easy! Can't believe she fell for it!" I was embarrassed that I had fallen for that. I attempted to deviate from that topic by asking, "So, Ari, how are your friends?" "Don't think you can change the subject that easily, purple girl. Buuuut, if you wanna know, they are chilling like villains in hospital wards," Ari spoke nonchalantly. "What?!" I was disturbed by how casual she sounded. 'What is that supposed to mean? Did something happen to them?'

        "Don't worry, Elle. This happens a lot. About five times a month. Two if we're lucky," she reassured as she leaned back, unaware that this was not how other people work. "B-but aren't you worried? They could've died!" I questioned Ari's morals and humility. "We have plot armor. We'll survive longer. Plus, don't underestimate our healers. They'll just plop us back up," Ari replied, leaning back to the point of almost falling. I was so tempted to poke her and make her fall over. "A- Anyway, let's forget about this and make Ari's visit memorable," Sarah tried to change the subject.

        "Sure, this place looks nice. It's been a while since my boss gave me a day off. Let's get moving when you're ready." Ari was finally distracted away from the topic. That went from zero to a hundred abruptly, but at least it was over. We went to souvenir shops and bought cute trinkets. By the end of the day, Ari now looked like a tourist (not that she didn't stand out in the first place).

        At the end of the day, we went back to my house to spend the night. We found out a lot of things about each other. Ari was a shifter, Sarah used to be involved in a lot of drama, and I told them about a dark secret from my past. That summarized the visit for today. Little did I know that that was perhaps the last day I would ever have a regular life...

(This chapter is a lot shorter than the previous one but that's okay! I've got more to come.)