I was frustrated the next morning since I begged papa to let me come with him on their daily scouting around the island but he always turned me down. Even Finn wanted me to come. Papa almost got angry everytime I insisted. So I just accepted my defeat and stayed behind as they left for their ventures. Mrs. Tram was arranging stuff on the living room of the guild house when she noticed me standing by the door, staring outside.
"Beau found a river a few kilometers from the village," She stated, "Maybe you want to go with Frypan later. I told him to try fishing. Trust me, it's fun."
I smiled and nodded before ambling to the kitchen.
"Yow Maya!" Fry greeted as soon as he saw me. He was getting ready for his hunt, bringing a pair of spears and two buckets. He asked me if I wanted to join him and I excitedly agreed. He handed me a spear and we set off to the river.
"Where you guys going?" Thomas waved at us. I was almost tempted to tell Frypan to ignore him.
Sometimes I wish this boy would just stop minding other people's business.
"Fishing. By the river." Fry replied. Thomas curled his lips before joining us.
Couple minutes later, we reached the woodlands. The dapple shade of the trees seemed inviting for some reason. It was calm and still, not a breeze stirred, only the sound of the dead leaves and sticks each time we took a step. We followed an almost rutted path while carefully avoiding the low hanging branches.
We finally reached the river, smoothly flowing onward without a fuss. Along the sides; trees, roots, brambles and bushes grew, adding final touches to this beautiful work of nature. I stared at the glassy water and almost yelped when I saw something swimming in it.
"Oh shit!" Thomas screeched as more of the fishes appeared and kept arcing as they swam upstream. He took the spear from Fry's hand and aimed for a single fish by slowly moving it back and forth, before shooting it towards the prey -- missing.
Secretly sneering at his failure, I walked nearer towards the bank, crouching on the damp soil and aiming the spear on anything that was moving. I inhaled sharply before darting it. It dove on the water and I saw something squirming and splashing, indicating my target was hit.
I smiled proudly as Frypan waded in the water and retrieved the fish, placing it on the bucket. It plopped as soon as it landed on the bucket.
"Show-off." Thomas hissed.
"Stupid." I retorted.
It took a while for Thomas to get the hang out of spearing fish but he eventually learned. While I, on the other hand, was surprisingly good at this. It was like discovering a new skill. Although I had no idea how I knew how to aim at these moving animals, in the first place, but shuck yeah I felt so overwhelmed. After Thomas and I could hit a fish, Fry would then collect them and it didn't take long for the two buckets to be filled.
"We go'n be having salmon for dinner." Fry said as he rubbed his hands excitedly while looking at our catch. He was now soaked but thankfully he didn't mind it since he was thrilled how we managed to capture fish using only spears.
"Just so y'know, I caught more than half of these." Thomas bragged, even if he knew himself that it was a big, shucking lie. I huffed in annoyance before sitting down on a large stump.
Falling leaves started to tumble from the cluster of intertwining branches above, branches that grow so thickly only bright rays from the sun broke through. I observed as they fell to the ground, some landing at the river. It was weird how entertaining it was for me to stare at twirling leaves hit the ground. My daze was cut off when I noticed Thomas snickering. I looked at at him and raised an eyebrow.
"You are so good at those." He said.
"What?"
"Staring. You're good at staring."
Ha! Said the boy who watched his girlfriend fall to her death. I muttered to myself.
I picked a thin branch that was lying beside, throwing and hitting him on the shoulder.
"We better go." Fry reminded as he picked up one of the buckets while Thomas brought the other. I took the spears and we went back to the village. Once we passed by one of the vineyards, Newt saw us and quickly dashed towards us.
"Where have you shanks been?" Newt asked.
"Fishing." Thomas showed him the bucket filled with salmon. "I had no idea I was so good at this."
I rolled my eyes and secretly mimicked what he just said. Newt noticed and let out a soft chortle.
Frypan and Thomas proceeded to the kitchen without me since Newt would not let go of my hand.
"Newt, I'm going back to the guild house."
"What? Can't you stay here with me?" He pouted, "I'll miss you."
"Miss?" I furrowed, "I was only gone for a few hours."
"Come on," He begged and stroked my hair, "Let's spend some bloody time together."
"You need....you need to work."
"Please Maya."
I groaned and crossed my arms. "Alright."
"So now you're embarrassed to be with me?" He irked and squinted his eyes.
"No. It's just....I'm not.... You know what I mean." I frowned. Newt smirked as he held my hand and kissed it.
"How 'bout that? Whatcha gonna do about it?" A smug look on his face. He really enjoyed teasing and annoying the klunk out of me.
I slowly withdrew my hand. "The only thing you'd be kissing is that damn shovel."
~
After lunch, Jeff suddenly wanted to talk to me alone for some reason and he was really eager about it. He dragged me to the shore, far from the village.
"Look, Maya, I really need your help."
I folded my arms, looking at him vaguely.
"You know Steffy, right?" I nodded my head.
Steffy was one of the immunes who worked at the medhouse with Jeff and Clint. She was a chubby and lovely girl who had the pinkest cheeks. She also had short, curly, brown hair which matched her pale skin.
"I like her. Like, a lot. I'm asking you to help me, you know, do something to make her like me back."
"Boy, you came to the wrong person." I said dryly.
"Come on," He pleaded, "Of course you can help me talk to a shucking girl."
I felt bad for him. As much as I wanted to help him, the only thing I was good at was disappointing others and zoning out all the time.
"Just tell her how you feel." I shrugged once. "Problem solved."
"That simple? I don't think so," He replied, "How 'bout this; what are the things that makes you like a guy?"
"Not being stupid." I answered immediately.
"Yikes. That's unfortunate." He paused for a while and stooped down. "I'm all kinds of stupid. Did I just blow my chance with her?"
"Jeff," I held his shoulder, "I spent...I spent most of my life surrounded by boys. Trust me, I'm as lost as you are when it comes to girls." The discouraged med-jack rubbed his arm and sighed heavily. Feeling guilty for ruining his day, I needed to think of something.
I sighed. "Well, you need to win her trust."
Jeff's face lit up. "Trust? Alright. Got it." He nodded his head excitedly. "What else?"
I scratched my head, almost tempted to just run away and let this boy solve his own dilemma. I was not the best in giving advises so I wondered why he even asked for my input.
"But I also think a lot of guys like her too," He added, "I wanna be the one she'll like back."
I exhaled loudly. "Tell her that you, you killed grievers and, and survived the scorch. That'll impress her."
Jeff chewed on his nails out of frustration. "I don't think that'll work, man."
I shifted my gaze to the horizon and listened as the waves crashed to the shore. After a few seconds, I looked back at Jeff who was waiting patiently for me to respond. "Uuugh, be the reason why she smiles everyday."
"How the shuck am I gonna do that?"
"Be stupid."
"What?" He groaned, "You said awhile ago you don't like guys who're stupid."
"This is Steffy we're talking about. She's not me."
"Alright. First, win her trust. Second, make her happy. Wow. Those actually make a lot of damn sense. I knew you'd help me."
I felt my cheeks fluster at Jeff's compliment. Those advises I gave him might make him look like a moron in front of the girl he liked but hey, it was worth a shot.
"Is there a third one?" He asked.
I thought for a while. "N-never ignore your instincts. Your gut know's what's up. Trust that bastard."
"What the hell does that mean?"
I smiled. "If you feel it's a bad idea, y'know, talking to her, then it probably is."
"That shit's deep," Jeff muttered, looking slightly amused, "Thanks a lot Maya. I knew you'd help me." He chuckled before running back to the medhouse.