Higher Love // Jake Seresin

Chapter Thirteen

Jake Seresin

    The current class rankings were posted. To no one's surprise, Jake was currently leading the points. Phoenix was in second and then Haley followed in third. They were all fairly close in points, but that didn't matter to Jake. He was still first, but they did have two months left in the program. It was the end of September, so a lot could change. Not that Jake was going to allow that to come to pass.

    He had spent the last few weeks continuing things with Sabrina. He had worried after their conversation by the pool she was having second thoughts, but things had strengthened since then. They focused more on them, rather than everyone else around them. A lot of their time together they had been worrying about Haley or anyone else. They shifted it and focused more on them. Which did involve a lot of opening up to one another and being vulnerable. Which was a new concept for both of them. Jake could see Sabrina was softening some toward him. Not entirely, and Jake wouldn't want her to. He loved what a firecracker she was and never took his shit.

    That morning, they were going to going over basic fighting maneuvers. They had a guest lecturer coming in to teach. Jake figured it was some old timer who wouldn't be much of a challenge to go against. He glanced as the instructor entered the room, not someone Jake had recognized. His name was plastered at the front of the room.

Captain Pete Mitchell, callsign Maverick.

    Jake saw Haley and bird boy exchange a look, but he wasn't sure what that was about. Maybe one of them knew something about Maverick that he didn't. He realized he had heard the name now but didn't know much about him. He didn't really care though and turned back to the front of the room. Cypher had stepped up to announce about their guest lecturer and what the day was going to entail. "Captain Mitchell will be leading you in your training exercise today." Cypher announced.

    "Still a Captain at your age?" Jake chided. That seemed ridiculous. He looked like he should be an admiral by now, so he wondered what the deal was.

    "A highly decorated Captain." Maverick responded. He looked at Jake with a look that he couldn't quite read. He didn't seem intimidated, and Jake wasn't used to that. He didn't seem bothered either.

    Jake was going in the fourth group for the training. Haley, Blaze and Rooster were going out together against Maverick now. Every group prior to them had been taken out by Maverick so far, and had push-ups to do as a result. Jake was sitting inside, listening to things on the radio. He was talking to Coyote some, but was paying attention to how his sister was doing. He could hear Blaze and Haley yelling, it sounded like Maverick may not be as easy as he looked.

    "And that's a kill." Maverick said over the radio. Rooster cursed right after him. Jake snickered, as did Coyote. That meant Rooster had gotten taken out.

    "Shocking." Coyote commented and Jake laughed.

    Jake leaned toward the radio, listening. "Come on, don't take any shit Haley." He mumbled. He wanted her to take out Maverick so she could gain points. He knew his sister was good, she could do it.

    "Still running around with Sabrina?" Coyote asked, sitting back in his chair.

    "Can't get enough of me." Jake answered with a grin. He didn't want to get into how things were with her. It was easier to just sound like a guy. Truthfully, Jake knew he was crazy about her. He felt the shift from just doing a casual thing to starting to feel more like it was an actual relationship. Heading in that direction anyway. Which both excited and terrified Jake.