Curiosity Killed the Cat

Chapter 11. The Invasion of Big Bear's Den

After Wesley finished his meal of tasteless chips and ground beef I told him what I found out. Shockingly the two of us come to an agreement. We aren't going to go into the bear's den without a safe and smart plan.

Wesley: Do we seriously have to name our mission "Invade Big Bear's Den?"

I can hear Welsey's eye roll of annoyance through the words on my phone.

Laney: It's a little on the nose isn't it?

Laney: How about Operation Catch the Bad Guys?

Wesley: I think I preferred Invade Big Bear's Den better.

Laney: Whatever.

Wesley: You know u make urself sound a little like a sociopath with all these secret mission names.

Laney: Hey! It's my first stakeout. Besides Nadine and I were obsessed with true crime so the probability of some murderer coming after us is extremly low.

Laney: And if they do scratch them so you get their DNA embedded in your fingernails.

Wesley: Huh?

Laney: Nevermind.

Wesley: Whatever. Come prepared. We ride at dawn.

Laney: *read at 11:12am

Wesley: Don't tell me you've never seen the movie, Superfast.

Laney: I have but that's a poor choice of movie to quote lmao.

Wesley: It most certainly is not. Ig I'll see you later.

I find myself smiling to myself after sliding my phone into my back pocket. Just as I'm crossing the courtyard into the cafeteria I bump into Georgia and Jaz.

"Wow, is that a smile? What's there to be happy about," comments Georgia kind of rudely. Why after all this time has she treated me like shit. We were all good before we lost Nadine. Something changed between the three of us. Something not discussed.

"Okay, why are you angry at me? I know our best friend died but it's not my fault. We're all grieving and I'm not going to lie the process hasn't been great. I know you know how it feels." My words are meant for Georgia and Jaz but I'm looking at Georgia. Her eyes don't meet mine. Her strawberry blonde hair hangs down to her waist like a thin strip of tape.

"We're not angry," answers Jaz. But she's lying straight through her teeth. "Georgia, are you angry at me for some other reason?" I stare at her as the cold fall wind whips our hair into tangled knots.

"Georgia?" I plead one last time. "God, of fucking course I'm mad at you," bursts out Georgia. "Georgia," warns Jaz. "No, Jasmine. Our friend here is clearly so blind. So let's enlighten her shall we?" I feel as if they've already stabbed my stomach with the world's sharpest knife.

"Yes, our friend was in a dark place but you're one of the reasons she did what she did!" Georgia yells, with ears red as a tomato.

"What are you talking about?" I hear my voice tremble. "Look, Lanes, we found out the truth of what led up to Nadine's death," Jaz says for the first time.

"Before that night at Kelvin's party, Nadine had stressed to us about how worried she was about going alone. She didn't think you would go with her." I'm silent as Jaz tells me new news. I knew that Nadine was worried to go alone but I'd always promised to stick by her thick through thin.