“Did you guys hear about the two cyclists who were attacked by a cougar on the Pacific Crest Trail earlier this spring?” Beth asked from behind me on the trail. “There were three of them, all women,” she continued without waiting for an answer. “The cougar tackled one of them, throwing her off her bike, and started eating her face off, until the other two women wrestled the cougar, choking it and hitting it with a rock until they were finally able to pin it down beneath one of their bikes while one of them called for help.”
In front of me, Emma groaned. “I want to go back.”
“Yeah,” Gigi added. “You’re freaking me out.”
She was freaking me out, too, but I was glad to hear Beth return to her normal fact-sharing self after Courtney had given her a bookmark in place of a T-shirt.
“I’ve done a lot of research on cougars,” Beth continued. “They’re pretty fascinating. They’re ambush predators, meaning they stalk their prey, usually attacking from behind. They kill with either a bite to the neck or the throat.”
Gigi whirled her head around. “Isn’t that the same thing?”
“No.” Beth quickened her pace, having piqued Gigi’s interest. “When they bite the lower neck, they snap the top of their prey’s spinal cord, the cervical vertebrae, breaking the neck and suffocating the animal. Sometimes, they also bite the head to crush the skull, along with their prey’s neck bones.”
I scrunched up my nose at the visual.
“Eww,” Gigi said.
Emma shook her head. “That’s some dark shit, Beth.”
Beth was now beside me on the trail. “When they bite thethroat, they crush their prey’s windpipe. They can also jump as far as twenty feet, and their jaws are powerful enough that cougars can take down prey even bigger than themselves.”
I turned to Beth, whose voice sounded almost giddy with excitement.
“Okay, enough,” Courtney called without turning around.
“My neighbor works for the Forest Service, and he told my mom recently that cougars in this area are becoming overpopulated. The increase in population also increases the competition for food supply, which is why they’re becoming increasingly aggressive. If you see one,” Beth continued, undeterred, “you’re supposed to make yourself as big and loud as possible. That way—”
“Beth, stop,” Courtney called from the front of our group. “You’re scaring everyone with your stupid facts.”
“They’re not stupid,” Beth quipped. “Thesefactscould save our lives.”
Courtney cast a sharp look over her shoulder. “Whatever. You’re probably just making it up so you don’t have to keep moving so fast. That’s why I told you to start exercising before our trip.” Courtney turned, taking a long stride over a puddle on the trail. “Plus, your ass is never going to get smaller if you’re not willing to put in the work. If you had, you might’ve also gotten a prom date.”
“Courtney!” I stopped in my tracks, gaping at Courtney’s long red hair, which swayed with her steps as she hiked. Beth had never done anything to her. How could she be so heartless?
“What?” Courtney whirled around.
“Do you even hear yourself sometimes?” I asked.
Courtney’s gaze shifted from mine to Beth’s, and her face softened. “I’m just trying to be helpful. Beth knows that.”
I turned to Beth, not buying Courtney’s act of innocence. Especially not after she went to the school board behind my back. “Are you okay?”
Beth waved her hand through the air dismissively. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
I studied my friend’s face before turning around. Even though Beth acted like Courtney’s “unintentional” jab didn’t bother her, I knew it did.
“Beth knows I’m looking out for her,” Courtney hollered from an incline up ahead. “Right, Beth?”
“Yeah, I know,” Beth called from behind me.
Yeah, right,I thought.
Gigi moved in step beside Courtney. A moment later, Courtney burst out in obnoxious laughter at something Gigi said.
I paused and shot Beth another look over my shoulder. Her expression was unreadable, but I knew she had to be affected by Courtney’s insults. How could she not?
I picked up my pace to keep up with the others, fixing my gaze on the back of Courtney’s head, cocked to the side as she giggled. She was the most generous person I knew, but she was also the most cruel.
