The next day, Laurel suggests that her team and Ellen’s team hang out again, and Ellen agrees to ask her teammates. They vote and all disagree, which Ellen finds unfair, since everyone else has gotten to pick somewhere to go. Gibs ends up deciding that the group will go to Park Güell to see a lizard statue, and Ellen dreads having to tell Laurel that she can’t hang out with her again.

The next day, Laurel’s team gets on the same train as Ellen’s team again, and Ellen is immediately questioned. She admits that she didn’t fully reject Laurel’s invitation, instead telling her where her team would be going for the day. Laurel’s team then decided to follow. Laurel mentions having figured out the first clue, but she has it wrong, and Ellen can’t resist telling her so. Ellen also admits that she never asked Abba to switch teams and instead let Laurel believe that she had. Laurel feels betrayed and leaves Ellen on her own.

Gibs rushes into the park and takes pictures with something that appears to be a lizard statue at first but that turns out to be a man posing. Later, Ellen’s team overhears Laurel mentioning that Ellen told her she had the wrong clue. Ellen’s team can’t believe that she would break the rules. Andy gets pulled away by Madison, who tells him that she knows he’s gay. When Andy comes back to his team, he is silent. When he finally tells the group why he is angry, Gibs and Isa become upset with Ellen, too. Isa tries to explain that Ellen robbed Andy of the opportunity to come out in his own time, and Isa now feels like they can no longer trust Ellen.

Ellen can’t sleep, so she goes down to the courtyard early in the morning. She thinks about how she was so focused on Laurel’s team that she forgot about her own. The Gaudi postcard slips out of Ellen’s diary, but she doesn’t feel that there is anything “beautiful” about her life right now. Ellen would rather look at her owl postcard, but she wonders if looking at the real thing would be better. She decides to break the rules and leave the hotel so that she can stare at the owl on the top of the building. Doing this helps momentarily, but it doesn’t solve the problems in her life, so she heads back to the hotel door. When she pulls on the handle, she realizes that it is locked.

Ellen panics for a moment, then texts Isa, hoping they will help even though they aren’t happy with Ellen right now. Isa opens their window and stares down at Ellen, then agrees to come downstairs to let her in. The greeting is awkward, and Ellen tries to tell Isa that she understands why everyone is angry at her. Suddenly, they are interrupted by Abba, who finds them in the stairwell. Abba sends Isa back to her room and takes Ellen for a walk; he is not happy to hear that she left the hotel alone. They go sit on a bench at a nearby park together, and Ellen explains that she has damaged her friendships with both Laurel and her teammates.

Ellen feels better once she voices her problems, but thoughts of her father eating shrimp linger in the back of her mind. She asks Abba about this, and he admits that he isn’t always kosher like Ellen and her mom. He explains that he grew up in a strict religious community that wouldn’t let him be himself, and that included the fact that he liked both men and women. Ellen isn’t sure how to handle this information, but she feels comforted to know that everyone has a different way of being who they are. She realizes that people are complicated—much too complicated to be placed in simple categories.

Ellen thinks about her lists in her diary and realizes that they no longer make sense to her. Abba comes to take Ellen to see the teacher to discuss the fact that she left the hotel and that Laurel was asking her for clues. Ellen admits that she left the hotel, but Laurel covers for everyone (including her other friends) when she tells Señor L that she asked Ellen for information, but Ellen said nothing. Señor L decides that Laurel and Ellen will have to spend the following day in their hotel rooms.

Later, in the hotel room, Laurel and Ellen sit quietly until Ellen asks Laurel why she lied about keeping Andy’s secret. Laurel turns the question around on Ellen, who finds herself apologizing for lying about asking to switch teams. Matters still feel distant between Ellen and Laurel, but there is forgiveness between them as well. Ellen turns her focus to Andy and notices a Pride Parade event coming up the following day. This gives her an idea. Later, Ellen and Abba call home, and Ellen admits what she did. Ellen’s mom suggests talking it out in therapy. Ellen gathers the courage to talk to Isa and invite them to meet in the courtyard the following morning, hoping that they can convince Andy to come along as well.

Ellen makes her way to the courtyard early the next morning, nervous about what will happen. She finds Andy and Isa there and gets right to the point of explaining her mistake and apologizing for taking Andy’s chance to come out away from him. Andy hesitates at first but seems to understand. Ellen reveals that she heard about a Pride Parade happening later today, and she suggests that the rest of her team go. (She cannot join them, because she isn’t allowed out of the hotel today.) Later at breakfast, the group decides to go to the parade and brainstorms ideas for their original clue. Ellen stays at the hotel and watches a history movie that the teacher set up. Afterward, she gets a call from Abba and the team at the parade. They show her a video of everyone celebrating, and Ellen can see all kinds of people expressing who they are.

Señor L surprises the group by taking them on a boat for the last night. There, they all present slideshows of their trip, and each team provides a clue that the rest of the class has to decipher. The answer to the clue that Ellen’s team created is Barcelona itself, which everyone thinks is a great idea. The teacher reminds everyone to book their seats for the flight, and Laurel asks Ellen if she wants to sit together again. Ellen tells Laurel that she should sit with her new friends, because Ellen wants to do the same.

On the last day in Barcelona, Ellen’s new friends have one last surprise for her. They take her up to the roof to see the owl up close, and Isa and Ellen hold hands. Ellen feels the warmth of friendship and pulls out her owl postcard, which now has a message on the back that reads, “Owl I need is you” (321). Everyone is proud of Ellen for making a pun, and they are also deeply touched. Ellen thinks about the rest of the summer and the upcoming school year and realizes she doesn’t know what might happen. Knowing that she is finally comfortable with the future’s unpredictability, Ellen is glad to take things one step at a time. She feels that it is enough just to know that tomorrow will be beautiful.