"Riley met Ellie when she was around fifteen. Ellie came to the school and Riley beat up some guys who were after her. Stole her music player too. Ellie left then confronted her and got it back. That night, she heard Riley sneaking out and demanded to have her teach her to do it too. Not wanting to get caught, she did. They had a huge adventure where they were almost killed by Infected and they came across the Fireflies and their leader, Marlene. At this point, Riley wanted to join them more than anything and she'd been out that night to find them."

She pushed around the glass that had once held wine back and forth between her hands. It was just something to do really. Something else to focus on.

"Turns out, Marlene knew Ellie's mom and she paid special attention to her. Riley wasn't given a fuck and when the girls left, Riley was upset. After that, the girls were the best friends possible. Months passed and it was nearing time for Riley to turn sixteen. There was a huge fight where they said the worst possible things to each other and then Riley ran away without a word. She went to find the Fireflies and it turned out everything was a test. Marlene had been waiting for her and she had another test."

Riley hesitated then. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she realized she still couldn't talk about it. "She made her do something Riley would never be able to talk about, something really fucked up, to prove she should be a Firefly. It worked. Hooray she was a member. Bad news was that she had to leave the city and never come back because she was needed elsewhere. It would mean having no hope of ever seeing Ellie again. What about Ellie though? Couldn't she join? Nope. She was special as fuck according to Marlene and she didn't want her anywhere near the Fireflies."

To this day, she was still so jealous that Ellie could be so special. There were times when she seriously hated herself for that.