Island Rush (45 page)

“Well… I’m not sure what to say.” I said, our sweaty backs feeling relief from laying in the cool and shady grass.  My side close to his as well as my head, we laid there looking up together.

“Well, you could always say something like, ‘Wow Casey, I never knew you had such a creative mind to come up with this.’”

Looking up at the canopy of trees, I was more than proud of this idea he came up with.  I also couldn’t believe I never noticed how many birds there were here.  Sure, it was cruel in a way, but this was survival and practice.  It was incredibly creative considering it’s only been a few hours since he announced that he had this idea and made a slingshot.

“Fine, it’s brilliant and creative,” I mumbled, making him snort.  I turned my head to the side to look at him.  “How will we do this, though?”

“Well, I will be doing this.  You still need to hit the target before you move to the big leagues,” he teased, elbowing me.  “Anyway, you hold the small stone against this strap, which is just a small part of a vine.  With your other hand, you hold the stick in place while you pull back the vine and hold it up.”  Without the stone, he held up the sling-shot above him to demonstrate what he meant.  Pointing it up towards the innocent sound of birds, he continued explaining.  “Pull it back, aim, and release.” He pulled back the vine, and it shot forward in the air only an inch.  After that demonstration was over with, he rested his hand with his invention against his chest.

It was perfect.  One stick that branched into two sticks were used as the handle and prongs.  It supported the piece of vine, which was surprisingly good enough to use.  A small pile of stones rested at his side in the grass.

“But, how is this any different from standing still and throwing at a target?” Did he expect to have a flock of birds constantly flying above him?

“The target isn’t going to be standing still.  The birds won’t be sitting on a branch.  They will be flying up in the canopy of the trees.”

Looking up now, I was wondering if he went crazy.  “I hear them, but none is flying or in sight.”

“That’s because I didn’t start shooting the stones up and attempting to hit them.  When that happens, they will be all over the place.  Which will force me to be fast, aim steady, and shoot at them from here.”

I eyed the distance from where we were lying to where the birds squawked from high above.  I looked back at Casey, giving him my honest opinion on this.  “That’s impossible. They are so high up, you would have a hard time hitting them even if they didn’t move.  You won’t hit one from laying this far away on your back.”

“I understand that part, but it’s good practice and closely related to the reason for our practice.  It’s just like going after fish except we won’t be wasting time because there are so many birds.  We won’t need to wait for anything.  Also, even though it’s quite unlikely, this isn’t just good practice.  This thing actually shoots the stones up higher than I expected.  We might actually hit a bird if we are lucky.  Kill two birds with one stone type of deal,” he said smirking at his words.

I chuckled and nodded.  “Alright then, genius.  Show me your new idea in motion.  You’re just going to humiliate yourself.”

He smiled.  “You are going to regret saying that later.”  Taking a handful of the small stones, he set them on top of his chest and in easy reach.  Holding the slingshot up, he took one of the stones and pressed it against the vine.  Then his other hand held the slingshot up and over him.  Stretching the vine back and down towards us, he moved the tool just above his eye.  He let it go, and the stone was gone a second later, shooting up towards the tops of trees. 

I couldn’t see it, but I knew the trip was successful by the sound I heard of the stone hitting the leaves.  I watched the next events unfold within seconds after that one sound echoed through the canopy of trees.  After the stone disrupted the mass of singing birds, colors other than the blue of the sky, green of leaves, and brown of bark hit my eyes.  The yellow, tan, and white colors of a few birds taking flight came into my sight as they dispersed.

Casey obviously tried this before he called me over to check out his slingshot because he was on the job a second later.  His hand reached over his chest and grabbed another stone, set it against the vine, and sent it flying not a second later straight above us. 

More birds came into sight as Casey continued to pelt the stones in their direction, his hand moving in a cycle over his chest to the slingshot.  The birds were quick to leave which forced him to try harder and faster, which was good.  It would make him improve.  He did get a few more stones up there before the last of the birds were leaving.

After his last stone shot up, I turned to him and smiled, slightly ashamed about doubting him.  “Wow, that was actual—”

I couldn’t continue, not when something small and sharp hit my forehead all of a sudden.  I didn’t need to look for what it was because I knew and my cheeks heated.  Casey’s last stone he shot up in the air came back down and hit the middle of my forehead.  And I knew this not just from the feeling of it hitting my forehead.  Nope, it was Casey’s loud laughter that erupted from my side.

“Oh... my... g-g-god!” he wailed in laughter after he rolled over onto his stomach and buried his face in his arms.              

I don’t think I’ve ever heard him laugh so hard or so loud.  I didn’t blame him.  If I were him, that’s what I would be doing.  It would be funny for me later, but right now, it was more embarrassing.

I reached up and rubbed my forehead, feeling a small mark it made but nothing close to anything major.  I glanced back over to Casey and saw he rolled back over, the slingshot a few feet away in the grass.  His hand rested on his quivering chest as the sounds of squawking birds was replaced with Casey’s loud and shaky laughter.  I saw him bite his lip, trying or at least attempting to shut up upon seeing my not amused face. 

“I-I’m…” he tried speaking but couldn’t stop himself.  He got a hold of himself a second later and between his laughter, he managed, “I’m so sorry!”

I nodded as I sat up, looking down at him.  He knew I wasn’t enjoying this.  At least he was trying to stop despite his sense of humor forbidding him to.  I couldn’t blame him.

Though a small stone came back down to hit me, something much better decided to fall from the heavens at that moment.  This would be a moment I would never forget. 

“Oh shit!” His laughter cut off a second before mine erupted, his words appropriate from what was sent his way. 

The tables were immediately turned.  This had to be the funniest thing I have witnessed.  After sitting up, I quickly collapsed back to the grass, my laughter just as loud and ridiculous as his was a moment ago.  Casey was now just as embarrassed as I was before.

I looked over to him.  I truly did feel sorry for him.  I mean, if a bird ever shit on me in front of someone I loved, I would be embarrassed. 

He laid there, pure disgust radiating from his face - which was mainly the best part about this.  His face was still and taking it all in, the shock and irony of the whole situation, mouth set in a frown. I was just happy it didn’t end up in his mouth since he was laughing so hard before.  Thankfully it was on his cheek. 

My body rocked with my laughter, and he turned his head to look down at me.  I saw him purse his lips, nodding as if this was about the accurate situation for us. 

“I’m sorry Casey!  But shit,” I laughed harder.  “Literally!”

I saw his face slowly thaw out.  His lips started to tilt up, his cheeks turning red under the bird shit, and his body began to quiver in overwhelming humor.  He whimpered with fits of laughter.  “What could be the odds of that?”

I just shook my head, clasping my hand over my mouth as I shook with laughter.  He soon followed, thriving in the laughter and humor that was rocking our hearts. The fact that it smeared slightly on his cheek didn’t help. I don’t think either of us laughed so hard in our lives before because it had to be more than five minutes before we came close to calming down. 

His laughter began to slow and while I tried to shut my mouth.  His eyes narrowed at me in mock suspicion.  “Why, Janice, getting shit dropped on my face couldn’t be that funny, could it?”

I laughed harder as I recalled what I said before.  “I told you that you would humiliate yourself.”

“Yeah, that was quite humiliating.”

“Even more so now since you just smeared it more over your cheek.”

His cheeks grew redder, “Well, maybe my darling could help me.”

He began to roll towards me, and I squealed.  I chuckled and rolled away from him, getting to my feet.  “No!  You aren’t getting that on me!”

“Aw!  But I am suffering!” He got to his feet and started walking towards me,  “Please, please, help me!”

My mouth was hurting from how much I was laughing and smiling.  “Now, let’s all calm down!  We’ll go to the lake and wash it off.”

He laughed, and we started walking back towards camp.  He took his hand in mine as we walked, our fits of laughter never leaving in the process.  Even while we were close to being desperate for food, we still had time to laugh amongst it all.  That was one thing I would always love about Casey, and it was something I never felt with anyone before.

Chapter 47

The days following, all we did was go out into the woods and practice.  I continued throwing the knife and trying to hit the target on the tree.  I had to do that before I could get where Casey is at now.  Thankfully, I was starting to hit the target each time.  As I did that, he practiced by laying down under the trees with his slingshot. 

Every time I checked on how he was doing, it was always the same: grunts of frustration and stones going everywhere but the birds.  The important thing though was that he was aiming at something moving.  Soon, I would be where he was now under the trees. It sucked for us both.

Then came the day where I hit the target nineteen times in a row.  By then, I was pretty good.  So, after hours spent practicing that day, I gladly pulled the knife out of the tree and headed towards where Casey was practicing.

The waterfall always our relaxing background music, I walked through the brush and past the trees, following the sounds of squawking birds.  I caught sight of him a couple yards away through the maze of trees.  He was laying against the trunk of a tree, his neck craned up along with his hand holding the slingshot.  I paused, watching him as he aimed, not wanting to interrupt him.

His fingers left the strap, and the stone shot its way up and through the air, making the squawking of birds intensify.  But it hit nothing, and the birds soon settled back into the trees after he shot a few more stones up. 

When he lowered the slingshot back down, putting another stone against the vine, I decided to step out.  He heard the ground crunch beneath my feet and looked up, his eyes lighting up along with his lips.  He paused in his objective as I sat beside him.  Sitting next to where he was laying, I then slid down to the forest floor, resting my head against his shoulder in the nice shady grass. 

He stopped what he was doing, resting the slingshot in the grass at his side and resting his head on top of mine.  “Please, don’t tell me…” he sighed.

I smiled,  “Sorry… but I am ready to shoot at some birds now.”

“This is unfair,” he whispered.

I chuckled.  “Is it my fault I am doing well, and you are not progressing?”

“Yes, it’s completely your fault.”

He grasped my hand in his through the strands of grass, his hand warm and sweaty with mine from what we have been doing.  At least while under the shade, a slight breeze was there to comfort us.

“So am I going to need to make a slingshot for myself, or have you realized that there is no point to keep trying and that you should just give me yours?”

He rolled over and propped himself up on his elbow, facing me on his side, “Someone’s feeling risky today to be saying those things.  First, you should see if you can even do it.”

“Why?  You can’t do it yet you’re still trying and using the slingshot.”

“Good point,” He smirked at me and, without moving away, he grabbed the slingshot and handed it to me.  Letting go of his hand, I took it and held it above my face, looking it over and trying to remember how he held it and shot it before.  I raised the slingshot and held the handle with one hand, pinching the vine back with my other. 

For some reason, it didn’t feel right.  “How do you do it?”

He smirked and shrugged,  “I was just being myself.”

“What?”

Mock realization crossed his face.  “Oh, you were asking me about how you hold it?  Sorry, I thought you were asking about how I managed to be so amazing.”

I elbowed him.  “You know exactly what I meant, but I can’t argue because you are pretty amazing.”

“Don’t be a suck-up to the teacher, Miss Reeves.  Now, what you do is,” he paused in his directions, leaning closer to me and grabbing the slingshot from me and the stone.  “You take the stone and hold it against the outside of the vine by pinching it from the inside and through the vine.” He held it up and did what he was describing, showing me like the good teacher he was.  “That way, you are holding it in place and pulling the vine back with the same fingers.  When you let go, the vine goes up with the stone.”

After showing me with a demonstration, he then handed me the slingshot and a stone with it, resting back into the grass at my side.  His head rested on my shoulder and watched my hands. I raised them into my sight and above us.  With one hand pinching the stone through the elastic vine, I had to squeeze it a little harder since I wasn’t directly pinching the stone. 

I raised it up higher until my eyes laid over where the stone would shoot.  “Is that right?” I asked, keeping my sight nailed to the trees above me.

He leaned up on his side again, taking both hands and placing them on each of my arms.  He moved them up more, straightening my arms as he looked down to me.  “Keep your arms like that and you are fine,” he rested back down to the grass, his head finding my shoulder again. 

I let the vine go between my fingers, and it shot up, hitting the leaves and making the squawking of the birds increase as they all took flight.  They soon returned since I didn’t shoot any more up.

“Good.  That was good.  So do you want to really try it?”

I nodded and looked back to Casey, his face an inch from mine.  “Any more stones?” I asked.

He smiled and turned back, grabbing a handful of stones that he had on his other side.  Resting back where he was before, he set the stones on my stomach and within easy reach since this required me to do it fast.

I took one of the stones and did what I did the first time, pinching the stone through the vine and raising it over us, straightening my arms out like he said.

“Don’t expect anything to happen. I have been doing this for days, and nothing has improved.  Oh, and remember to pay attention to where the stones fall too,” he said.

“I know I’m not going to get anything the first time.  But what do you mean remember where the stones fall?”

When he didn’t answer, I turned my head and was looking at the side of his face since he was still looking up – and with a blush.  I smirked and bit my lip,  “Did you get hit with the stones you shot up?” When he didn’t answer again, it was a sign that I could let out my laughter. “So, how many times did you hit yourself?”

He turned his head and looked at me, ready to defend himself.  He immediately said, “I did not hit myself.”

I laughed. “Yeah you did.  You shot the stones up that came back down and hit you.  You wouldn’t have been hit if you didn’t pelt them up to begin with.”

He chuckled close to where he was to my face.  “This is what I get for warning you,” he sighed.  “Nice to know I’m appreciated.”

I smiled and closed the distance between our lips, giving him a soft kiss which he responded to softly.  I felt a smile spread across his lips, then mine.  When I pulled back, I looked at him with mock sympathy.  “I’m sorry you hit yourself.”

He gave me an over exaggerated sigh,  “Just shoot the thing.  You get hit, I will have no sympathy for you.”

I laughed and looked back up.  I shot the first stone, interrupting the flow of the birds singing and in a second, they took flight.  I already had the next ready and aimed, this time, trying to place my eye on one of the departing birds.  It all took place too fast, though.  I quickly found a bird taking flight, I aimed, and shot the stone up.  Grabbing another stone, I found another bird and flung it towards the sky. 

I did that many times.  I grabbed a stone, shooting it up after aiming at a bird, and before I saw the outcome, I was already shooting after the next bird in the sky.  I realized while doing this that this was much harder than trying to catch fish.  But that was a good thing since it prepared us better. 

I finished and looked over at Casey with a smirk.  “Well, I didn’t get hit with any stones.  Other than that, how did I do?” I asked.

“Well, I’m a little mad right now.”

“Why?”

“I have been laying on the ground for days, shooting up and not finding the proper way to do it.  Then, you’re ready to try, and within a few minutes, you are a pro.  Plus, you didn’t even get hit once with a stone.”

“Nice to know I’m appreciated,” I smirked.

He rolled his eyes.  “Okay, if you were hit by those stones around sixty times—”

I laughed.  “You hit yourself sixty times?  Would have thought you would learn after the first time.”

He smiled.  “Anyway, if you were hit that many times or more and I wasn’t hit at all, wouldn’t that irritate you?  It’s not like I want you to get hit but I don’t like that I am getting pelted by stones
every
time.  Yet you come back with smooth skin, not pelted hit once.”

“Yeah, it would make me mad if I kept getting hit, and you didn’t.  I would have just thrown the stones directly at you to get even.”  I went on with his other point in which made him angry – or at least bothered him.  “And what do you mean you can’t find the proper way to do it?”

“It’s not like I’m mad that I didn’t hit any birds; that probably won’t happen.  I do however understand the importance in aiming and speed which is our main goal.  I saw how you did that, how well you aimed and how fast you were able to get the next stone in the air.  That’s what I have been struggling with.”

I shrugged.  “Keep practicing I guess.  I don’t know how I did so well today.  Beginners luck maybe.”

He scoffed and took my hand in his after I set down the slingshot.  “Yeah right!  You need to stop trying to make me feel better about myself.  It sounds like you are sucking up to me for a good grade.”

“Well then, maybe all this is a lie for a good grade.  Maybe I’m just pretending to love you since I had an awful grade in your class.  If we were together, do you know the advantages I would get over the other students?”

He laughed.  “I doubt that is it.  That’s not why you are with me.  I think you are in it for the money since teachers make the big bucks,” he said sarcastically.  “And for my good looks and dance skills, obviously.”

“Hmm... well, the dancing was a definite turn on as was your looks.  Money always helps too.  But the truth is, I want you for your killer slingshot skills,” I said as dramatically as I could.  “I mean, it is absolutely
unreal
and impossible to hit yourself sixty times - without even trying too!  Not to mention you shot it away from you each time.  I swear, gravity sure surprises the hell out of me-- Ah, haha, haha, haha!”

I broke off into laughter when Casey took my hand he grasped and pinned it above my head in the grass, rolling over me, and straddling me.  His hands then moved over my stomach and sides, tickling me.

“You think you are so clever don’t you?  Smartass,” he chuckled while I tried fighting him off with my weak hands.  I continued laughing while his hands moved over me with success, sliding under my shirt to tease and torture my skin there.

“Casey!  Stop! Oh, ha-ha!  Casey, Casey, Casey!  Oh God, st-st-st-stop!  Hahahahaha!” I squealed with my obnoxious laughter.

“Nope.  You asked for it!  Take it back and say I didn’t hit myself.  Because I didn’t hit myself!”

I wasn’t going to surrender just because he was tickling me… plus, he was wrong!  He technically was the cause why the stones hitting him.  It’s not like they came out of nowhere; he shot them up himself! 

My voice squeaked even higher with my laughter.  “Cas, Casey!  Ah, stop!  Ca-Ca-CASEY!”  

“Come on, Janice,” he said, continuing to slap my hands away from his under my shirt.  “Just say it and I’ll stop.”  I tried digging my hands into any open space as I jerked under him, unable to stay still. 

His hands left me for not even a second, and both of my hands were pinned above my head.  He crossed my wrists so he could hold my hands back with only one hand pinning my arms, his other returning to tickle me. 

“No.  Ah! Hahaha!” His hand moved over my bare stomach, sides, and hips, fingers flickering in a quick motion.

“Say it!” he chuckled.

“Haha!  Stop, Casey!  I can’t breathe,” I said, hoping he would believe that last part and feel bad for me. 

Of course, he was smart and knew not to fall for it.  “You are fine!  I think you want to say something else, though!”

“Never!  Eeeekk,” I squealed.

“Are you sure you have nothing to say?” he smiled as he moved his one hand up and under my armpit, his fingers tickling me there.  My arms quivered from trying to force his hand binding mine away.  He was strong, and my struggling muscles didn’t have a chance.

It came time for me to break out the big guns.  I willed myself to stop squirming.  Then, I forced my lips shut so they could reach up to his.  Trying whatever I could to make him stop, I kissed him with as much force, love, and passion as I could.  A second after I kissed him, his hands instantly stopped thanks to how much I put in that one motion.  I caught him off guard.

I held in my victory smile and for a second longer, kissing him.  Then, I pushed him off me.  I laughed at his shocked expression as it turned into a playful one upon realizing it was a trap, but it was too late for him.  When he tried grabbing for me, I squealed and rolled in the opposite direction.  I swiped the slingshot in the process.