Inciting Investigations

Chapter 14

Birdy Anders

Birdy practically ran up all the way to Badger’s house with excitement in her step. She hadn’t had the opportunity to present during the school day to see him or Julian alone to tell them the news about what she had found. Henceforth, she was full of energy in anticipation.

She slammed the knocker so much harder than she ever had out of frustration, which genuinely surprised her. She was well aware that it had probably scared Julian and Badger much more than it had scared her, but she didn’t really even care. They would understand.

She waited anxiously with her foot tapping against the wood of the Pasternack porch rhythmically. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four… She thought, just like music. She loved music. It was one of the few things that could calm her down.

Birdy turned quickly when she heard the door open beside her. Her body whipped around to see Badger there looking slightly surprised at the wide grin on her face. She didn’t usually smile when she saw him. Correction: She never smiled when she saw him. It was actually more of a little wince most of the time when she noticed his presence around her.

She paid his peculiar expression in mind, though. That day was not a day that she was willing to waste a singular second on questioning what he was thinking at any given moment. Instead, she pushed past him and kicked her shoes off in a hurry. She also threw her jacket around somewhere near her shoes, which was completely unlike her. Ever since she was a very young child, her mother had always drilled into her head that no matter how much she didn’t like someone, she would still treat them with the utmost respect.

So, no matter how much of an annoyance that she usually considered Badger to be in her life, she still was respectful at the very least. Especially to his home. She always laid her shoes down in an orderly fashion when she went over there and neatly hung her coat onto one of the many hooks the Pasternack’s had on their wall, ready for visitors. Furthermore, she never shoved her way in. She always waited patiently for him to say his little greeting to her, and she would reply. Then, and only then, she would step into the threshold of the house. However, today, she had done absolutely none of that, very weird for her.

Still, she reasoned with herself that all would be explained when she reached the living room and sat down.

Birdy walked in and saw the familiar face of Julian Rodriguez, and for once, she didn’t hate seeing him.

“¡Hola, Juli! ¿Qué tal?”

“No mucho…¿Y tú?”

“¡Mucho!”

Julian had sounded confused at her sudden friendliness, or that was what she pulled from his expression at least. He looked a bit funny like that. His eyebrows were slightly raised, and it was obvious that he was surprised, but that he was trying to hide it. He had never been good at hiding things like that, and they both knew it. So he just looked back down at his phone.

She supposed that her use of his nickname was also a bit out of place with her normal behavior. She, on an everyday basis, always called him by his full first name. Julian, unlike everyone else who just called him Juli. She wasn’t exactly sure why she had been so inclined to call him that, but she just equated the fact to her unbridled happiness.

Badger finally walked in the room, seemingly having collected himself. He also had a couple of drinks in his hands. A water for Birdy, she didn’t drink nearly enough in his opinion, so he made her drink it every time he came over. He also had a Gatorade for Julian, who seemed to like the red flavor the best. She wasn’t sure why, the blue ones were the best.

He handed out the drinks and asked, like he did every day, if either of them wanted snacks. Of course, like they did every day, both of them told him that they didn’t want anything.