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Marisol (From Queenly), 6:09 PM: Okay. I saved your contact.

Colette resisted the urge to laugh. Marisol was so formal in her texts. Colette put her phone down. She didn't have a reply right now. Instead, she was ready to answer her manager's relentless questions.

Colette had sent her manager her location while she was in Marisol's room. Her manager, Gina, had been texting her nonstop about her whereabouts ever since she disappeared from the building. Now she was getting chewed out in the backseat of a rental car.

She leaned back in the seat of her car. "I'm sorry, Gina. It won't happen again."

Gina sighed. "I'd just like a warning next time." The middle aged woman leaned back in the passenger seat. "Why'd you go with one of the interns anyway?"

"Photography assistant," Colette corrected. She was sure that Marisol was the type to care about her title. "I thought I could make a friend," she said, "And I was bored." It wasn't a total lie. Though Colette wanted to settle things properly after the accidental magic sighting, gaining a friend was another motivation of hers.

Gina huffed. "Can't you just call up one of your co-stars? I know that a few of them live in New York." Gina scrolled through her phone as she spoke. "What about Jackson? He lives nearby, right?"

Colette pushed back a groan. "He seems to think that our characters' romance in Zodiac Class translates to real life," she said, "Everytime I see him, he tries to bring me on a date."

"He's a good looking guy," Gina said, "It would be great for publicity. Your fans ship you so much already."

"No thank you," Colette said, wrinkling her nose, "Not my type."

Gina shrugged. "Whatever you say."

The car rolled to a stop in front of a hotel. Both Colette and her manager stepped out of the car, thanking the driver. Together they walked into the hotel. They had checked in yesterday, having arrived in New York a day before the shoot. Colette navigated herself to her room and unlocked it with her keycard. When she walked in, Gina followed.

Colette raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Gina?"

"I'll go back to my room in a moment," Gina said, "You left early, so I have to catch you up."

Colette nodded in agreement, though she wasn't excited about it. She didn't hate Gina, in fact, Colette liked her manager, if only on a professional level. Gina was a good bit older than her and wasn't the most fun to be around. While she got her job done well, the older woman was incredibly boring. Colette hoped that in some miraculous feat, Gina might become super engaging in her hotel room. However that wasn't the case, and Colette ended up half-listening to a monotone recap of the magazine shoot that nearly put her to sleep.

Colette was incredibly drowsy by the time Gina stopped talking to the point that she hardly noticed when her manager left. As soon as Gina left, Colette sat on the bed. She laid down, staring at the hotel's pristine white ceiling. She allowed the events of the day to finally digest in her head.

She made a mistake. Someone saw her using magic and could have ruined her entire career. When she had first pulled Marisol into the dressing room, she wasn't sure what she'd do, or how far she'd go to keep the photography assistant quiet. However, Marisol had no interest in spilling Colette's secret. She got lucky that one of the tolerant people in the world saw her and not somebody else. She found someone she could trust, possibly a friend. Colette closed her eyes and thought of Marisol. She looked to be around Colette's age. She was short, her hair was cropped above her shoulders, and she was unbelievably blunt. She was sassy, bordering on a tad rude, but Colette couldn't help but like her personality. She was straight forward and hardworking and could probably rip Colette apart with her words, but Colette couldn't help but think that she was undeniably cute.

Colette shook her head and opened her eyes. She sat up. Colette hadn't made many new friends outside of work since she was 16. She wouldn't allow herself to scare Marisol away by obsessing over her. She reached to the side and grabbed the hotel TV remote off of the end table. She pointed it to the sleek black screen in front of her and turned it on. The T.V. flared to life. Colette expected a bad sitcom. Instead, she got American politics.

"A new bill has been introduced to the senate floor by a group of pro-magic senators," the reporter states, "This bill was introduced after 5 year old Reha Langham was taken away by the government for possessing magic. Take a look at the footage. Warning: It may be triggering to some viewers."

Colette swallowed nervously, her finger on the channel button, but she couldn't bring herself to press it. She watched as the screen changed to a shaky video taken by a cellphone.. A five year old girl was screaming and crying in handcuffs, being restrained and carried by an older officer. The parents were trying to force their way through several other police officers, yelling and reaching for their child, only for the kid to be taken away in a car.

Colette had avoided watching the video since it went viral, but she couldn't avoid it forever. She became nauseous. The screen shifted back to the reporter, who continued speaking. "If the bill is passed, it will no longer be illegal to practice magic and the government sterilization program will be disbanded. Now we will talk to the leader of the Magic Rights Organiz-"

Colette turned the T.V. off. She hadn't eaten since lunch and it was nearly seven, but she lost her appetite. A pressure built in her throat, a sob trying to surface. She shook her head, trying to force it down. She pulled a pillow over her face, blocking out the light of her room and muffling her ears. The pressure pushed through despite her best attempts and her eyes welled with tears. She clutched her pillow, burning her fingernails into the soft surface as sobs wracked her body.

She only barely heard the soft ding of her phone over her crying. When she pushed the pillow off her face and checked it, she saw a text.

Marisol (From Queenly), 7:04 PM: I followed you on Twitter. Don't follow me back. I don't want to get jumped by your fans.

Colette managed to let out a small laugh through her tears. She opened instagram and scrolled through her notifications. She hardly checked who was following her. She was always gaining followers due to her fame and had millions. However, since it was so recent, it didn't take long for her to find her new acquaintance's profile. She quickly pressed the profile, happy to find that it was set to public.

She scrolled down to look at Marisol's last tweet. It was from about a week prior.

Colette sniffed and smiled. Her tears had stopped falling. She giggled, her throat a bit sore from crying. Marisol was always so serious, yet she tweeted about playing minecraft. Her tweet was missing all the formality of her texts too.

Colette resisted the urge to like the tweet and rested her phone on the bed next to her damp pillow. Marisol knew her secret, but she couldn't tell. Maybe, just maybe, Colette finally found someone she could confide in.