BLACKOUT; JR [1]

4.3

With all the adrenaline gone, our plan seemed quite boring, but it was all we had. Jake sat on the ground against a tree, eating fortune cookies, and I tried not to look at him. Although, that didn't stop him from looking at me.

I helped Andy set up a very low-key trap for our new pet panther. Tin cans and string around the forest. I give it an 8 for effort, maybe a 3 for execution.

"So, what's the plan now?" Jake asked, chewing slowly. Andy and I continued to tie string around the trees, and we didn't say anything. "We still don't have any bait." Jake countered, shaking his head.

"We don't need bait." Andy snapped, seeming to be 400% done with Jake's negativity.

"So... the panther's going to be lured by tin cans then?" Jake said, clapping his hands together in mock satisfaction. I narrowed my eyes at him, but he didn't notice it because for the first time in the last twenty minutes, his eyes weren't focused on me.

"It's an early alarm system." Andy stated, passing me some more cans.

"So, we're gonna put strings around the entire forest?" Jake asked, sitting up slightly.

"If we have to." Andy sighed.

"Even if this thing works, how do we know it's a panther and not just a... possum, or something?" At this, Andy dropped the string, and a noisy clash of tin against tin sounded at his feet. He stood there, looking defeated. Jake looked impressed with himself. "Got you there, nerd." He smirked.

Then Andy snapped.

"You know what, why don't you come up with an answer?" Andy asked, staring at Jake with a new found hatred. "Why don't you try and work things out for once? I'm sick of it!" Andy shouted, storming off. Jake stood up quickly, and raced over to Andy before he could get too far away.

"Andy, I didn't mean to-"

"Yes, you did!" Andy shot back, successfully cutting Jake off. I sat down, continuing to tie the string around the cans.

I'd seen Andy blow up a few times in my life. One time it was because of me, but it was an accident, and he bounced back. I knew the best thing to do would be to leave him alone until he was ready to talk about it, or at least calm down.

"Andy, stop! Please." Jake said, causing him to turn around. Jake had finally gotten to him, I am surprised he didn't blow up sooner. I would have, if that had been me. "I was just being a pain." Jake stated. Hey, no arguments here. "I didn't mean to... I don't know. I'm sorry, alright?"

Andy looked like he was contemplating whether or not to forgive Jake. I'd seen that face before, he looked at me like that when I accidentally broke his favourite pen. We were seven.

"Alright." He said, ultimately forgiving Jake and his attitude.

"Hey..." Jake said quietly, pulling another fortune cookie out of his pocket. "It's the last one."

"Thanks." I watched Andy tear open the plastic wrapper, and break the cookie.

"What's it say?" Jake asked.

"Rise above any random insults." Andy read out, causing me to giggle and Jake too look at Andy with disbelieving eyes.

"Really?" Jake laughed and Andy cracked a small smile, the both of them glancing down at the paper. Jake gave Andy a small, friendly punch on the shoulder and turned to me. "These things never lie." He smirked, sending me a wink that went unnoticed by Andy.

I felt my face heat up, so I quickly went back to tying the knots that were probably going to undo themselves within the next minute.

"Should we keep going? I'll help." Jake announced, finally.