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.
"What does this have to do about you guys being pissed with me?" My voice is almost a whisper because I feel like throwing up.
"It has everything to do with you, Laney because you left her alone at the party for some boy." Georgia finally looks at me. "Did you not miss the police report where they said she was found with Kelvin?"
"No, we didn't miss that but you should know the number one rule of the girl code." Jasmine crosses her arms. I squinted confused on what the number one girl code was.
"Never leave your girlfriends alone for some guy at a party." Who told them this fabricated lie? I never left Nadine alone and I was never with a guy.
Wait. Oh shit.
"I never left her for some guy. Nadine left me as soon as we got to the party so she could find Kelvin." There's only one person who could've told this. Unless I'm delusional. The two of them keep their distance and their voice silent
"Who told you all of this?" I question them. They look at each other before Georgia answers, "It's a rumor going around."
"Did Connor tell you this?" Again, the two exchange uncomfortable looks. "Were you with Connor at any point of the party," pushes Georgia. Fuck. "I was but it wasn't like that. I swear."
"Not to be disrespectful to Kelvin but you should never have left Nadine alone with him at that party. We've always known him to be problematic especially when those two rumors of those two women who claimed he drugged and sexually assulted them last year." I'm silent.
They're making me feel like I'm responsible for all of this. Maybe I partly am but so was Nadine. She got involved in this secret, crazy shit and she left me for another man when she said she'd never do that.
Georgia shakes her head with tears before storming off in the opposite direction.
"Look, I don't blame you completely, Laney. A part of me wants to believe you but another part of me is still hurting for how our friend was found," Jasmine sniffles into her blue coat. "I understand." I whisper feeling numb all over. "I never wanted any of this to happen." All Jaz does is nod before hurrying off in the same direction Georgia went.
"Can I talk to you?" I arrived at Billie's Cafe an hour early before Welsey arrived. We're supposed to invade the big bear's den at seven exactly.
"All black? Are you on your period or something?" Connor doesn't look up from mopping up the floor.
"Stop the bullshit. I know you're a part of that illegal underground gambling business." Connor pauses slowly looking up to me. He quickly looks around to make sure no one is looking.
"What the hell Laney?" He looks around me before leading me out the back door where the cigarette mom's usually doing their smoking.
"How did you find out about that?" Connor leans against the brick wall. A green dumpster stands about seven feet away from us stinking up my senses.
"The same way you and Nadine found out about it." Connor sighs a deep sigh.
"Is that the reason you're dressed like an undercover FBI agent?" I glance down at my black skinny jeans, button up shirt and coat and combat boots.
"Maybe..." I trail off. "What do you know about it," I question. "You're not planning on going there are you?" Straightening my posture I exclaim, "And what if I am?"
"Laney, are you insane? It's way too dangerous for you." "But not for you?" I pause looking at his blue eyes. Something's different with him. I've never seen fear in them before. "Nadine and Kelvin were in some kind of shit there and I want to know..." I trail off once again forgetting that me and Wesley's theory about our friends being murdered is confedtial.
"They didn't murder them if that's what you're thinking." The fear in Connor's eyes is suddenly replaced with anger. "Did you kill them then?" I suggest trying to read his body language. "Quite the accusations you're throwing out here, Laney." I keep my eyes on here waiting for the answer.
"No, I didn't. The detective was the first one to interrogate me but she ruled it out as a suicide." So the detective we met with that night had other suspicions of Kelvin's and Nadine's death being something other than a sucicide.
From my back pocket my phone vibrates. "Hey I'm here. Where are you," Wesley says into the phone. "Out back. I'm on my way in,Wes." As soon as I hang up Connor stops me in place. "You're going with Welsey?" His voice echoes with disapprovement.
"Wesley and I don't agree on much but the possibility that our friends were murdered is something we do." Connor follows me in. As soon as I enter the Cafe Wesley waves his hand up to me. Since he doesn't have a car, he rode here on his skateboard. It sits strapped in on his backpack.
"Wait, Laney. Let me go with you guys. I may have only been three times during freshman year but I can get us in safely."
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Chapter posted: 6/28/2022
Hey guys sorry for not posting for awhile. I hope everyone's doing well.
What do y'all think about Wesley, Connor and Laney teaming up. Do you think anything could go wrong?