Chapter 4

Courtney felt herself come to consciousness. For a moment she forgot where she was before she opened her eyes. Her bedroom, come on Courtney where else would you be?

When was the last time she woke up naturally? She turned her body to look at her alarm clock. 9 in the morning. God, did she really sleep 11 hours? She sat up, stretching her arms up in the air. She felt her back pop which caused her to let out a happy groan. She didn't know when Duncan would be coming over but she needed a shower. She walked into her bathroom and took a look at herself.

"God, can't believe I went to sleep with my makeup on." She scolded herself as she leaned into the mirror to take a better look at her face.

She took off her remaining makeup before she continued her morning routine. Brush teeth, hair, and then take a shower. She had missed the way hot water felt on her skin. For a week she'd been taking cold showers to try and stay awake as she studied for her finals. She stayed there for much longer than she usually would.

Forty minutes later Courtney was out of the shower, hair dry, makeup on, and now looking for what she wanted to wear. She really wished she knew where she was going. A frustrated sigh escaped her. Like she should care where he was taking her, it wasn't some date!

She decided on something simple instead. A white long sleeve shirt that had a sunflower at the center of it, and high-waisted blue jeans. As she put on her shoes she heard something downstairs. Did something just fall?

She mentally cursed. It was Ted, wasn't it? If he thought he could come in here and make her breakfast or something to gain brownie points with her, he had another thing coming! Nothing could fix that fact he tried to play father figure with her. She also knew that he probably told her mom about what happened last night.

She walked down the stairs, making sure her face looked stern. Her goodnight's rest caused her to feel her sense of self come back. The sound was coming from the kitchen. She knew it!

"Good morning." She greeted as she entered the kitchen.

Her calm façade left her as she now glared at the person in her kitchen. Duncan sat on her counter, eating a bowl of cereal as he watched a Saturday morning cartoon on her kitchen's small TV.

He turned to look at her, lifting his spoon filled with Cheerios up. "Morning, honey."

"How'd you get in?" She demanded, hands on her hips.

He set his bowl down and brought out something from his pocket and tossed it to her. "Key."

She reached up and easily caught it. She looked at it. Yup, that was defiantly her house key. She thought she'd be more annoyed if she saw it but she seemed to almost not be as affected by it. Almost.

She walked over and stood in front of the TV causing the male to try and look past her.

She rolled her eyes before addressing him. "You stole my key? You know what you just did was illegal, right?"

"I had to make sure you woke up. When I got here I went to your room but you were in the shower. Decided I'd help myself to some breakfast but I forgot your selection sucks."

She stared at him unamused. He said that but he still ate her food.

"Where are we going anyway?"

Duncan became uncharacteristically silent. She raised a brow, it seemed as if he was deciding on something.

She crossed her arms and peered at him, her voice coming out as if she was trying to give him a warning. "Duncan?"

He finished off the milk before he spoke. "Going to the forest. I need you to show me where you found the body. I was thinking that the killer might have hidden it somewhere close by."

"So you need my help playing detective?" Her voice sounded like she tried to choose her words carefully, confused by this decision.

"Not playing. I told you last night that adults are dumb as shit, so it's up to us to figure it out."

"Was that why you were nice to me?" Her question seemed to take him off guard.

"What? No."

She knew he sounded confused, but she decide to ignore it. She placed a hand on her forehead as she started to think about it. She let out a laugh.

"Of course!" She smiled, her voice sounded as if she finally caught onto a joke. "That makes perfect sense. Listen, if you wanted to ask for my help you could, no need to play the nice guy."

"Hey, I meant what I said."

"Please, Duncan, you're never nice to me."

"Look who's talkin', Princess." He stated, getting off her countertop to look down at her. "When have you ever been nice to me? Of all the years we've known each other, do you really think I played you last night? Look me in the eye and tell me to my face that you think I wasn't straight with you."

Courtney was taken aback by the statement. Her mouth felt dry as she tried to find the right words to say. She was saved by the sound of her doorbell. She looked away from Duncan and walked out of the kitchen and made her way to the foyer. To her surprise when she opened the door it was Geoff.

"I got everyone here just like you asked." Geoff smiled.

Courtney turned her head to see Duncan walk up behind her. He went ahead of her and wrapped his arm around Geoff's shoulders.

"Cool, now to investigate!"

A gnawing feeling started to bubble in Courtney's stomach as she locked the door. She didn't like the way he stared at her. His eyes bore into her, and she could see that inside those teal eyes that he was hurt, angry, and shocked that she would have suggested something like that. She hated the thought of being wrong and being the person who messed up. She was always right. Always.

She took a deep breath before she turned around and put on a fake smile when she saw Brigette waving at her from the front seat of Geoff's van. If Duncan could act as if nothing happened, so could she.

That was her thought before she got into Geoff's van. She wished she could have sat up front between Trent and DJ. She knew that they would think something was off if Duncan got the back seat to himself. Who would subject themselves to being cramped anyways?

Everyone sat where they did the night they went to The Cove. Except for Duncan and Courtney, now they sat on opposite sides. She gave him a quick glance before moving her eyes to look out the window. She needed to mentally prepare herself, she couldn't be focusing on Duncan.

Her heart started to race at the thought of being there, searching and actually finding the body. It had been more than 42 hours, and from what she heard from Gwen, that meant the body was already bloating. The wound was probably filled with maggots. Flies swarming around it. She wanted to throw up at the thought.

"Hey." DJ's voice caused her to be pulled away from her dark thoughts. "You okay?"

"What?" She asked. It took a moment until her mind caught up to her and she nodded. "Yeah, just tired."

"If you aren't feeling up for it, I can stay on the beach with you." He offered, causing her to smile.

"Thanks, really, but this might be cathartic for me."

"Just say the word, all right?"

She let out a soft 'Okay,' before she turned her attention back to the outside world. The thought of DJ dropping what he was doing just to make sure she was okay made her feel better. She felt she could walk into the forest and if she became too uncomfortable she could just give him a look and the two could go back and relax in the sand.

Geoff pulled off the main road and got to where they would park. Bridgette was quick to get out of the car, as was DJ. The two of them began to stretch, getting ready for their trip into the woods. Courtney stepped out of the van and watched them. Everyone seemed to be taking the situation too lightly.

"Uh, why'd you bring a video camera?" DJ asked, causing her to turn to see that Trent was turning on a camcorder.

"Since Gwen couldn't be here, she wanted me to videotape," Trent stated as he pointed it to Bridgette.

"That's weirdly sweet." She snorted as she finished touching her toes.

Courtney felt her annoyance at the rest of the group snap as she stalked past Trent, shoulder checking him. He tightened his grip on the camera. He pointed it at Courtney as she went first down the path to the cove. DJ walked into view, staring down at the camera.

"Nice going, Gwen."


They finally arrived at the cove and stood at the entrance to the forest. Courtney looked over to Bridgette, wondering if she felt the same way. She didn't seem out of it as she took the first steps into the forest. Together they went deeper into it until the beach couldn't be seen.

"Okay, where did you find him?" Duncan asked, now standing in front of the group.

"I don't really remember. To be honest I don't remember much from that night. I know what I saw, but it's hazy." Bridgette confessed, the look she gave Courtney showed her guilt.

"That's fine, just don't let the cops know that. Gives them more cannon fodder to use against Courtney's witness statement." He advised, his gaze turning to Courtney.

"How many skulls have you drawn in the area?" She asked, walking over to place her index finger on the bark. "It was small, and it felt new."

"Good eye," Geoff praised before he turned to Duncan. "Do you remember?"

"If it's the last one I carved, yeah." He mumbled before he led the group to where the tree was.

It was just as Courtney stated. A small skull on a tree that was 6 feet in front of a small clearing of the forest. Wide enough for a clear view of a dead body. She pointed out where the body was from where she stood.

Duncan walked forward and bent down, taking a better look at it. Courtney knew she was wondering the same thing he was. Were there leaves that had blood on them? Did something he was wearing fall off?

She wanted to take a step forward and look but it felt as if cement blocks weighed her down. She could see him, a bullet wound in his head. No. That wasn't right, he was stabbed. She didn't see the wound, but those dead eyes, staring her down. Duncan wasn't there anymore, it was night again and the body was there.

Her pulse was racing, and she felt fear coursing through her veins. Her breathing became labored as she tried to regain her surroundings. They had to leave. Bridgette and she had to get out of there. She quickly turned to Bridgette ready to tell her they needed to leave but stopped. She was back to where she was before. It was daytime and Duncan was there again, no dead body in sight.

Trent bent down beside Duncan, pointing the camcorder at the leaves. "So..Was bringing them even a good idea?"

"What?" Duncan mumbled after a moment of staring at the ground.

Trent let out a sigh before he nodded his head to where Courtney stood. She stared into the distance, Bridgette placed her hand on her shoulder. Duncan looked to them and back to his friend before he shrugged and went back to moving the leaves.

"Dude, seriously, they witnessed something traumatic and here you are bringing them back to it." Trent thought he could get through to him but Duncan stayed quiet.

"Well, what can I say, I'm not a nice guy." His statement was met with a glare.

"Could you get over your teen angst for a second? This is not the place to start acting like a jackass." Trent said, his grip on the camcorder tightening.

He brought it up to view Duncan's face, ready to shame him more. His attention was brought to Courtney as she quickly walked further into the forest. He showed Gwen the girl walking further past some trees, knowing Gwen would say something about it. He could imagine her words now, 'And that's how you become the first victim.'

"I'm going to go and check ahead." She stated.

Trent pointed it back to Duncan. He stared at a leaf before he took a quick glance up. Trent caught him watching her leave. Hearing Bridgette's call to Courtney caused him to look back to Trent who pointed the video camera at him.

Duncan raised his hand up and grabbed the front of the camcorder and shoved it back to face the ground. "Get your girlfriend out of my face."

Bridgette followed behind Courtney. She was glad that she stretched before her friend was speed walking as far as she could from everyone.

"Court, slow down." She called as she reached out and grabbed Courtney by the shoulder.

She looked at Brigette who took out a twig from her hair.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were right behind me." She stated, helping her friend get some of the nature out of her hair.

"You want to talk about it?" Bridgette asked, causing Courtney to freeze.

She tried not to be hesitant with her answer, but she didn't know what else to do. She stared at Bridgette's face, wondering if she should actually voice what was going on. She wanted to keep this anxious feeling to herself, fearing as if she actually spoke about what had happened it would make it too real. That scared her.

She brought her left hand and placed it on her right arm, her eyes avoiding her friend now. "Not really."

"That's fine, I'll go first." She smiled, reaching out to grab her hand.

Courtney allowed herself to follow Bridgette's lead. The two sat on one of the trees that had fallen over from the storm a few nights ago. She waited patiently for her to talk, knowing that it prolonged her stating how she felt.

"It's weird, you know?" Bridgette began. "When it happened I thought I would remember everything, but all I see are figures. I know there was a dead body and someone else there. It makes me feel like such.. Shit, that you have all these memories of what happened and we can't even connect with each other over what happened. I was lucky to not have the memory of the dead body, but here you are by yourself. It makes me feel like a bad friend."

"You know," Courtney smiled, reaching her hand over to touch Bridgette's shoulder. "I was reading a book and it says that trauma is different for everyone. Your mind decided to protect you by blocking it out. Shielding you from the further trauma you might have faced."

"Even so, I'm sorry." She said, a sigh of relief coming right after. "Man, that felt so good. I've been holding that in since Thursday. Now, what about you?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Bridgette stood up from the tree and helped Courtney stand. "Okay, we can talk about something else."

"I'd like that very much." She smiled.

"So what happened between you and Duncan? You guys didn't bicker once on the way up." Bridgette stated as she jumped on top of the tree and began to walk over it.

"Nothing happened." She rolled her eyes which caused Bridgette to jump off the tree to block her path.

"Did you two have a fight? Because the last time this happened was in 8th grade and you guys didn't talk for, like, two months and it was awkward for everyone." Bridgette stated, crossing her arms. "And for the sake of the group, I ask for you two to make up."

Courtney remained silent for a moment before she let out a sigh. "Let's say, hypothetically, I might have said something to hurt his feelings."

"You have to be specific, you're rather critical of him."

"I am not that critical." Courtney denied causing Bridgette to laugh.

Bridgette turned around and began to walk, Courtney following behind her. "You two never got along, but you guys are still friends, right?"

Courtney remained silent.

"The answer is yes. If I were you I'd just apologize, I mean you do feel bad about it."

"I don't know if a simple apology could help it though," Courtney confessed, causing the blonde to let out a hum.

"He did seem super pouty. If an apology won't help, just talk to him about it. Saying sorry won't always save a conflict."

Courtney was ready to respond. She was going to agree with Bridgette and uncharacteristically talk to Duncan about how she might have been wrong. The thought though, left her as she watched Bridgette stumble over her own foot. She watched her friend try to desperately stop herself from falling over. It was comical if not for the fact she might hurt herself if she fell.

Reaching out, Courtney was ready to catch her but she was too late. Bridgette fell to the ground. Hard.

"Are you okay?" Courtney tried to force down a laugh as she watched her friend slowly lift her torso up from the ground.

Bridgette stood up, letting out a laugh of her own. "I'm fine. I think I landed on something?"

"Yes, it's called the ground." Courtney teased as she took a few steps forward, wondering if they should keep going or wait for Bridgette.

"I'm serious!" She laughed before she became silent.

Courtney turned around, about to ask what was wrong. The look on Bridgette's face caused something in Courtney to run cold. Why did she look like that? The sound of cracking wood hit her ears. She looked down, underneath some of the leaves Courtney could see wood splintering beneath Bridgette's feet.

Courtney raced forward, hand outstretched to try and grab onto Bridgette. She was able to grab her hand, but Bridgette was already falling. Courtney's body hit the ground, the side of her shoulder slamming against something hard. On instinct, the pain caused her to let out a scream. Tears of pain pricked her eyes. Still, she refused to let go of Bridgette's hand. She moved her body slightly, resting her underarm against the edge of the now opened hole.

"Courtney, can you pull me up?" Bridgette asked, her voice scared as she held tight to her hand, her legs dangled freely.

"Not in this position. Can you get your feet into a ridge or something?" Courtney asked, gritting through her teeth as she stared down.

It was an old well. Whoever covered it up, did it poorly. Old bits of plywood still fell into the well. She watched Bridgette try and shove her feet into the rocks, but she kept slipping. It caused more strain on Courtney's injured arm, but she had to power through the pain, who knew how deep the well went?

"I'm going to scream really loud, okay?" Courtney told her, Bridgette eagerly nodded her head.

She took a deep breath and let out a scream. It was loud, Bridgette on instinct closed her eyes at the high volume. She screamed for help a second time. A third time. By the fourth time, she could hear footsteps. She could hear voices coming from behind her. She turned her head and saw Geoff and Duncan.

"Found them!" Duncan called back to the others who were probably searching somewhere else.

Courtney, through gritted teeth, pleaded. "Help, Bridgette."

"I got her," Geoff said as he got down beside Courtney and reached his hand out to grab her arm.

He kept one hand at the edge of the well to steady himself. With one tug he was able to pull Bridgette up. The force caused him to fall back onto his butt, Bridgette now resting against his chest. Courtney was able to let go of her hand, her job now done.

"Thought you guys were getting murdered," Geoff stated as he moved his hand to rest against his knee.

"Well, whoever plugged up the well is going to be charged with negligence," Courtney grumbled as she sat up. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a little winded. Think I'll take a break from searching." She moved her body, back now against Geoff's torso.

Courtney knew that if Geoff wasn't in the afterglow of not being worried anymore he would be freaking out over this moment of contact.

"I'm going to go get Trent so he can videotape this," Courtney stated, gesturing to the well.

She stood up, letting out a hiss as the pain in her arm was now noticed.

"Courtney, are you okay?" Geoff asked, causing her to look down at him.

"Just a little bruised arm." She stated. "You should be concerned about Bridgette, she's the one who fell in a well."

"Yeah, but she's not the one bleeding." Geoff pointed out, leading everyone to look at her arm.

Courtney's sleeve was ripped open at the elbow. Blood had streamed down her arm, the white cotton soaked it up. She couldn't even tell how big the cash was. The blood blocked her view.

"Do you have anything in your van?" Bridgette asked, noticing Courtney was too focused on looking at it.

"Luckily for us, my mom always forces me to bring a first aid kit in the van," Geoff stated.

Bridgette looked at Duncan. "Take her to the van and get her cleaned up."

"Why me?" He protested. "It's your fault for falling in a well."

"Dude!" Geoff complained as he used his free hand to motion between Bridgette and himself.

"It's fine, I can go by myself," Courtney stated as she walked past Duncan.

Geoff looked at Courtney and then at Duncan. He pointed at him, scolding him. "Duncan, video Gwen is judging you!"

"I'm also judging you." Bridgette pointed out, raising her hand causing Geoff to nod.

Duncan was silent before he let out a groan and turned around to catch up with Courtney.

Geoff looked down to Bridgette, a smile on his face. "Did you want Duncan to leave so we could be alone?"

"No. Courtney and him got in a fight, so I'm trying to speed up the healing process." Bridgette sighed, moving her body to get more comfortable in his lap.

"They did seem quiet on our way up. Hope those crazy kids can make it." Geoff joked.

"I mean if they can't make it who will?"

Bridgette giggled. Geoff was glad he was able to make her laugh. He always felt as if he kept messing up with her. Staring at her for too long, rambling on forever, and the compliments he gave her always made him cringe while it left her confused. But now? Now it seemed like he was making progress.

"By the way," she began. "Thank you for saving me. I didn't want to die in a well."

He stayed silent and for a moment Bridgette saw something different from him. He held a serious look, however, it was not there for long before he moved his arm to pull her closer, his friendly demeanor coming back. "No prob. You have to watch where you're going though because you seriously took some years off my life."

"Deal." She laughed, moving her hand to pat his chest.


The backseat door was rolled back, allowing Courtney to sit on the floor of the van. Her feet moved over the grass as she waited for Duncan to find the first aid kit. The pain from her elbow and arm were now more known to her. Her adrenaline rush had faded on their way back. She hoped Geoff's mom packed some painkillers in the first aid kit.

She looked at her sleeve. It wasn't a lot of blood, but enough to make her wonder if it was deep. She could imagine it now, her wound large. She'd probably have to go to the hospital. She'd also have to toss her shirt too.

"Apply pressure." Duncan was curt with her as he placed a pack of gauze in her hand, the first aid kit now beside her.

Was this what it was going to be like? He'd be cold and distant with her? What happened between the two that made them start talking to each other again back in 8th grade? Did she apologize? Did he? Maybe one day they just started to talk, as if nothing happened. She didn't want this to be like that time. How long would he act like this two, three months? That thought bothered her.

She pressed the gauze against her elbow. She fought through the pain. She looked at Duncan, he was playing with his lighter. Shocking, she thought he'd light up. Was he out of cigarettes? He did smoke like a 1940s detective.

"Hey, Duncan." She spoke.

He let out a hum. She wondered if he was going to ignore her. Still, she had to clear the air.

"Are we friends?"

That seemed to cause him to stop flicking his lighter on and off.

"I mean don't you think we just tolerate each other? We just started hanging out because of everyone else. You were right, you're never nice to me and I'm never nice to you, friends don't do that." She stated, before letting out a sigh. She had to phrase this better. "You were nice to me and so I thought it was because you had an ulterior motive. Which is weird, don't you think? What friend would think that?"

"Is this you apologizing?"

"An apology just won't always save a conflict." She quoted Brigette from earlier. She was right after all. Duncan had the right to her thoughts on the matter besides a simple apology.

He let out a loud buzzer sound, taking her off guard. "We were looking for 'Sorry I was wrong.'"

"It's that simple for you?"

"Yep." He stated, putting the lighter into his pocket.

"Then, um, I'm sorry then."

Why did she feel so nervous over a simple apology?

"What was that?" He hummed, leaning closer to her.

Oh, that was why. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could feel her pride fighting her. She didn't want to state that she was wrong. She always refused, but she needed to.

"I, Courtney Flores, humbly apologize to you," Courtney said.

She opened her eyes and saw Duncan holding each index finger next to a thumb as he put an invisible camera in front of her.

"Oh, yeah, that's it." He smirked. "One more time, but this time with passion!"

"Are you serious? Earlier you wouldn't look at me and now all of a sudden you're back to normal?" Courtney asked, the disbelief she had on her face only caused him to chuckle.

"Listen, I'm easy to please. You own up to what you did wrong and we're cool." He told her as he bent down to his knees. "Now let's see how bad this is."

Courtney pulled the gauze away, showing that it had stopped bleeding. "I hope it's not bad. My Mamá would freak."

"Doesn't look too deep." He told her, pulling out a few antiseptic wipes.

She stayed silent as she prepared herself for the pain. She knew it was going to hurt when he cleaned it. He wiped around the area, making sure that the dirt around it was gone.

"By the way," he began, as the wipe went closer to her injury, "I'm sorry too. Probably wasn't the best to bring you along. You had to leave because you felt uncomfortable, right?"

"Yes, but it was my own decision to come so.." She trailed off, her voice cutting short at the sight of Duncan's stare.

It was fixated on her arm. She never liked seeing him so serious. He was Duncan, jackass extraordinaire, he didn't do serious. Lately, though, that seemed to change. He seemed to change.

"Doesn't matter, I should have asked you on the beach. I could have found it myself."

"Well, I definitely wouldn't have been injured."

"Speaking of which, hold still." He advised, about to place the wipe on the wound when Courtney quickly placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, hold on! I have to mentally prepare myself." She told him, her eyes staring at his hands. His right held her elbow, lifting it up for him to have a better look, the other ready to gently wipe away the bacteria.

"Just squeeze my shoulder." He said, moving his eyes away from what he needed to do.

"No no, I just need to-," She was cut off by Duncan placing the wipe on her skin.

Her nails dug into his shoulder at the sudden wash of pain.

His shoulder stiffened, not expecting her to use her nails. "Claws."

"I said to hold on." She told him, her eyes clamped shut as she prepared for him to continue, her fingers flattening to make sure she didn't hurt him again.

"You can continue if you want. Not that first time I had a girl claw me." He snickered.

Courtney opened her eyes to glare at him. "Duncan, that's gross."

"No, gross would be me telling you that it turns me on." He teased as he went back to cleaning the wound.

"You know what? I can do this myself," Courtney said, her hand moving away from his shoulder to try and get away from his grasp.

His hold on her elbow became rock-solid as he continued to clean. "No can do, Princess."

"Duncan, do you, perhaps, feel guilty that I fell in the well?" She asked and for a second he stopped but soon easily continued.

"Wanna make something of it?" He looked away from her elbow, his green eyes staring her down.

She stayed silent for a moment. She had to take this all in. He felt guilty and was showing remorse? For the most part, he never did anything like that.

She smiled at him. "That's oddly sweet of you."

"You tell anyone and I'll-,"

"-You'll tell everyone we made out, I got it." She finished, her fingers curling into his shoulder, ready for the pain.

When he got done cleaning the wound, he wrapped the bandage around her elbow. She looked at the bandaging, it was actually done well.

Probably had a lot of practice, she thought as she looked back on all the times he got into a fight.

He placed the first aid kit back where he found it before he leaned his body against the van.

"By the way," he began, turning his head to look down at her as she got out of the van, "I wouldn't say we tolerate each other. More like... we're comfortable. So don't go spouting that bullshit of us not being friends."

"Comfortable?" She mumbled, looking up at him.

"Yeah, comfortable." He repeated, leaning his body close to hers.

His face was closer to her own, his eyes not leaving hers. Courtney felt her heart speed up. He pulled away and the sound of the van door slamming shut made her look away from him.

He was closing the door for her? For a second there she thought he was going to kiss her. Why did him not doing so leave some sense of disappointment in her? She shoved that thought down as she walked forward, him following after her.

"This reminds me. We had a fight in 8th grade and we didn't talk for two months, what caused us to talk back then? I don't remember either of us apologizing. I wonder if we would have just ended up doing the same thing. Going back to routine, I mean."

"Oh, that? Yeah, I heard you crying in the library and telling Brigette how worried you were that we weren't going to talk again." He said, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"That never happened! I doubt I would cry over you." She scoffed, her pace quickening.

"You were a blubbering mess! Made me feel really bad for you." He went on, getting in front of her.

"If I remember correctly, you were more pouty than usual." She shot back, a teasing smile coming to her face as she peered up at him. "Did you really miss me that much?"

He smirked down at her, "Maybe."

She stared at him. He held that same smirk he always did, but this time like he was hiding something. Not something bad, but just something that Courtney couldn't put her finger on. He moved his hand and placed it on her head. He still held that teasing nature about him, his 'usual' self coming back again, 'never taking anything too seriously' self.

"It was weird not having you nag at me. Got to quiet." He moved it left to right, messing up her hair in the process.

She grabbed his wrist, ready to take his hand off of her. She still had a smile on her face as she tried to make her voice sound annoyed. "Quit it."

He laughed as he pulled his hand away. The conversation stopped there as the two walked towards the beach. She held her elbow, she forgot to see if he had any pain pills. Her elbow was more of an annoyance now compared to her shoulder. She was able to move her arm so it didn't pop out of the socket but it definitely was bruised.

Duncan didn't speak again until their feet hit the sand. "Hey. Can you check something for me?"

"Like what?" She asked, walking over to the firepit that still had some chard pieces of wood.

"While you're looking over the reports could you keep an eye out for June 19?"

She looked over to him. His hands were back in his pockets as he stared her down. His casual nature was gone. He looked like he did when they arrived. Serious, like he was some detective trying to solve a decade-old mystery.

"That's the day Grant, you know…" She spoke before she quickly crossed her arms, the movement causing her arm to let out another deep ache. "Why?"

"Last week I overheard my dad say something about an anniversary. If Grant did kill himself then it might have something to do with whatever happened."

Courtney stared at him for a moment before she took a step towards him. She peered at him, her voice curious. "If? Did? Duncan, you said it like he didn't do it."

"Last night Gwen came over and pointed out that something was wrong with the report. Her mom's boyfriend was suspicious that it might have been something else, by the way of the gunshot wound."

"Any basis for this claim? You know, besides the word of one coroner."

He let out an aggravated sigh. "I'm not saying it happened, I just want to make sure."

"Fine." She spoke after a moment of thought. "I'll keep an eye out for the date."

She stood there, staring at him as he looked back at the forest. She could tell he wanted to get back in there.

"So," She spoke, her fingers taped against her other arm. "Gwen was over last night?"

He looked back at her and let out a snort. "Don't get jealous. Trent was there too."

"Like I would get jealous. I was only asking as a friend." She huffed as she looked away from him.

"If you're asking as a friend, I'll tell you that Gwen is hot." He smirked, looking down at her waiting for her to respond.

She whirled around, her index finger pointing up at him. "Oh! I knew it!"

His response was to laugh at her as she continued. "Ever since 8th grade I always knew you had some weird little thing for her!"

"Oh, calm down." His laughter left him. His smirk was still on his face as he placed a hand on her unharmed shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better I think you're hot too. Also careful there, Princess, you acting like this just fuels the idea that you're jealous."

She rolled her eyes, moving her shoulder away from him. "You are so full of it."

"And as you can see, we have two teenagers flirting." Trent's voice came, causing the two to look over and see him point the camcorder at them.

DJ and Geoff followed him out of the forest, Bridgette on Geoff's back.

"Aw, they made up!" Bridgette teased.

"I'm so happy for them." Geoff laughed as he walked towards them. "Did you two kiss and make up?"

"You know it. She's been all over me." Duncan's statement was met with Courtney jabbing her elbow against him only to wince in pain.

"So shy." He mused as he watched her hold onto her injured elbow.

"You guys should just go back to searching for the body." She scolded before she walked over to one of the logs to sit down. "I'm taking a break."

"Scream if something happens." Duncan waved before he walked back into the forest, followed by Trent.

Geoff and Bridgette went with them after a minute of wondering who would stay with Courtney. DJ decided for them as he sat beside her. They went into the forest, calling for Duncan to wait up.

Courtney stared at the ocean as she tried to think about the dates that she had gone over the night before. Should she be searching for one that happened since 1975, or from the beginning? For all they knew it happened before he became the manager. If something did happen it might not even be part of the files. Could it be at his house?

She let out a sigh, she didn't realize how exhausted she was. Her body felt drained of energy and she just wanted to close her eyes and sleep.

"Hey, you okay?" DJ asked as he noticed her try and fight and keep her eyes open.

"Just tired." She yawned. "I'll be fine."

"If you want we can go back to the van and you can sleep there." He offered as he stood up.

"You sure? Won't you get bored?"

"Hey, I told you I'd be there for you, so this is me being there for you." He stated, helping her up off the log. "Besides I think I saw a book Gwen left in there."

She caved to the offer for sleep now too tempting. "If you insist."

DJ sat in his usual spot in the front row, reading over Sherlock Holmes's story. Courtney laid in the back, curled up on the seat. She didn't know if she was going to sleep, the seat was comfortable to sit on but for sleeping? It felt weird. She never could sleep in a car when it was in drive and she doubted it would change if it was stopped. Her doubts were proven wrong as she fell asleep in a matter of minutes.


Author's note: Back at it again like months later, but I really want to continue this fic! I really missed writing for this story. Also, I headcanon that Courtney uses Mamá at home or when she's comfortable but for the most part she says mom around her friends and others.