The One Life War

Chapter 19 - Planning for Scamming

"I'm going to go to the bathroom, excuse me."

"Sure."

"Be right back."

Joel walked towards the bathroom.

"Is he okay?"

"Yes, Scott, his girlfriend was kidnapped after she went crazy for multiple weeks, and she was kidnapped by one of their best friends who also kidnapped some of their other best friends earlier this week. He's totally fine."

"I didn't ask for sarcasm, Yammy."

"Sorry, I'm just... Stressed..."

"Don't worry about it, I get it. I'll be right back. I'm going to go check in on him."

Scott walked towards the bathroom that was in the direction that Joel had walked towards. He carefully tapped on the door.

"Joel?"

Silence for a moment, then: "Yeah?"

"Can I come in?"

Another pause. "I guess."

When Scott entered, his friend was sitting on the floor of the bathroom. He held a bottle of soap in his hands.

"You okay?"

"Yeah-well-no, not really. I just feel like I could have prevented all of this, you know? Like I could have stopped her from playing so much or I could have protected her better or something. It feels like my fault."

"Joel, listen to me: Lizzie's choices are not your responsibility. She is her own person, and even if you wanted to control her, I don't think she would let you. Her choices are hers, no matter how stupid they may be."

"But... She's my girlfriend. I'm supposed to protect her..."

"You shouldn't have to protect her. And even still, you did. You helped her regain her sense of self. I know a lot of guys that wouldn't stick around if their significant other was going through what Lizzie was, but you stuck it out. You stayed with her. You helped her through something no one, not even her best friend, thought she would be able to recover from anytime soon. But Joel, it isn't over yet. We have to get her back and maybe save Joey in the process, right? And we can't have you wallowing about how you "messed up", which you didn't, because we need you."

Joel sighed softly. "Thanks, Scott."

"Anytime."

Suddenly the doorbell rang.

"How long have we been in here?" Joel asked.

"A while. We should probably go..."

"Right."

The two stood up.

"Thanks again, Scott."

"What are friends for?"

~~~~~

"Alright, look, there are no bad ideas other than the ones that end up putting our friends in jail. Any ideas?" Callum asked the room full of people who couldn't seem to do anything other than argue.

"I might..." Stacy spoke up.

"Go ahead, Stacy." Callum said, giving the floor to the nervous girl.

"What if we wait a little bit longer for Meghan to get the location of Joey and Lizzie from Joey, as he doesn't know that Meghan has betrayed him yet. And then Meghan, Scott, Callum, Yammy, Kyle, and I go to distract Joey so that Joel, Shelby, Mariel, and Britt can go and save Lizzie?" Stacy explains.