Alternate (Alternate #1)

Chapter Two

The lake sparkles ahead of me as I sit on the slightly dampened grass. I see Jakob and Nik trying to catch some fish in a shallower part of the lake. By the looks of things, they aren't getting very far with it, but they're having fun. I scoop up another bottle of water and pour it through a filter we got from a camping store. Alexia then bottles up some of the clean water and packs it into her bag. I scoop up a handful and drink from my palm. It's warm because of the sun, but it's fresh and clean, and that's more than I can ask for.

There's a large splash and I look up to find that Jakob tried - and failed - to catch a fish by diving for it. Alexia starts to laugh and I join her.

"I was hoping we'd have a warm meal tonight. I'm tired of eating scraps." She sighs when the laughter has all died down.

"If it comes to it, we'll heat up one of our cans. We deserve a hot meal. And, they're quicker to cook than raw fish anyway."

"I know... I just really miss proper meals. Grams always made the best roast dinners ever."

"I remember." I grin. "I used to always skip eating at home so I could have dinner with you on roast nights."

"Those were the best nights ever. I used to sit next to you all the time, just to stop Jake from sitting there."

I start to laugh again, picturing Jakob sulking over his dinner. "He used to get really jealous of it too. It was hilarious. He'd playfully blame me for it to lure me into cuddles with him for at least a solid hour."

"Eeeew!" She shrieks with laughter. "I still don't understand why you'd want to cuddle with my brother. He's like the yuckiest boy I know!"

I smile, watching the boys from afar. "Things are different when you're older Lexi. And when you like a boy a lot then things like cooties don't matter."

"I like Nik a lot, but I don't want to cuddle and kiss him." She makes an adorable disgusted face which has me laughing even more.

"You're just too young to get it, Lex." I hear Jakob and Nik cheer and get to my feet. "Seems like they got a bite. We're having fish tonight." Alexia gets up and we walk to meet them.

"It isn't exactly huge, but we can share it evenly and get some meat on our bones."

"It's great babe, well done."

"Hey! I was the one who caught it!" I grin at Nik and run my fingers through his ragged blonde hair and wink.

"Seems like I need you more than I need Jakob, Nik." His eyes light up at the thought of being needed, being essential to the group. Jakob gives me a fake pout, the exact same pout he gave me over roast dinner, and I can't help but grin at him, hoping that our cuddle fest will occur later.

"How much can we eat of it?" Alexia draws in all of our attentions. I look at the fish held in Jakob's hand. He's right about it not being very large, but it isn't exactly tiny either. It could easily supply two meals between the four of us with our current meal sizes. However, we're all hungry beyond belief, ravenous even, and deserve a filling meal.

"I think we should just eat it. We don't want to risk it going stale. Plus, we can catch another tomorrow for breakfast and dinner. We have an expert fisherman among us." I pat Nik on the shoulder, knowing I'm being overly enthusiastic, but we need all the praise every once in a while. He must know it too because although he shrugs off my hand, his eyes smile along with his lips.

"Great, let's cook this baby up." Jakob takes the fish over to where Alexia and I were bottling water. We all follow and watch him assemble the fire pit.

"Is it safe to light a fire so early?" Nikan asks. I look to the sky to try and determine the time. Jakob is better at it than me, but I can tell the general timing now. It seems to be around 4 or 5 in the evening. I assess our surroundings. We'd been walking around the forests all day, getting deeper. All around is pretty much just trees and wild animals. We haven't seen anyone since the girl back at the house. Still, you never know where someone could be hiding, waiting. Any smoke would stick out like a sore thumb.