The Misadventures of Jake Foley

Jake's Misadventure #31: Target Practice.

"I've never been in here THIS early." Tristan rubs the crusties from his eyes, trying to hold back from yawning. Jake clutches a folded note in his hand, his eyes staring at the locker in front. 

"Are you sure this is his locker? We don't need to attract the wrong person." Jake sighs, "Yes, it is. Stop being such a worry wart, you're starting to sound a lot like me." 

Tristan eyes Jake's hand as it reaches towards the open crevices of the locker and drops the note right into one of the slots. "It's done. Are you sure this is going to work?" 

Tristan nods his head in assurance. "He's the top of the 'food chain' here. He won't resist an opportunity to flex his stupid muscles." 

As the day goes on, Jake's nervousness begins to intensify in the pit of his stomach. Images flash in his head of all of the thing's that can potentially go wrong per usual. But all of that nervousness changed once he saw Beth's stunning smile. Her light blue cardigan sways with the wind, as her milk skin reflects the sunshine's rays. 

"Doing anything today?" Jake shrugs his shoulders, purposefully pushing the revenge plan to the back of his mind. 

"I was thinking we can grab a burger from Shake Shack and play some Guitar Hero. It's been a while since I've played!" Jake turns to Beth, his face expressing pure shock. 

"Of course now you want to play Guitar Hero..." Beth raises an eyebrow,

 "What's that supposed to mean?" 

"Nothing! I'm going to be busy for a bit this afternoon. So I won't be free until later on." Beth scoffs.

 "Are you blowing me off, Foley?" Jake smiles wide, 

"No, I don't think so. You're just not used to someone saying no to you, 'The it' girl in school." Beth scoffs and playfully pushes Jake. 

"I don't even know what that means. But of course, if you have better places to be then I can't stop you can I?" Jake leans forward and begins to whisper.

"Trust me, I'd rather be at home but today's the day of that revenge Tristan's desperately seeking. Plus I wouldn't want to get you involved in all of this."

Beth smiles, "How nice of you Foley. Saving the damsel in distress!" Beth and Jake's simmering romance basks in prolonged silence.

 "I'll wait for ya at Shake Shack." Beth places a lingering palm on his shoulder before walking off, once turning back to release her signature smile. Jake's heart flutters. 

Arriving at the community park, Gus & Tristan see Jake walking from afar. 

"Are you sure this will work?" 

"Why wouldn't it work Matthews? No one's going to see our faces with these on." Gus whips out two Halloween masks that completely cover the face. Jake approaches with a wide smile, masking the nervousness. 

"Gus? Is that you?" Jake smiles, approaching Gus with a hand. "Long time no see! How's the senior life treating ya?" Gus buries his hands into his pocket.

"Oh you know, leaving at 12 and having the rest of the day for creating some hi-jinks like this!" Jake turns to Tristan. 

"Here I thought you were the one who came up with it! So, what's the plan?" The three huddle a bit closer. 

"Alright. The plan is to have Devin and his cronies expose themselves in this open terrain here. Tristan and I  are going to be up in the trees, non exposed to them and also wearing these masks to hide our identities. Get them to this tree here and we will rain hot paint balls at their ass." Gus laughs, grasping his state of the art paintball gun. 

Tristan and Gus climb up the gigantic tree. Jake crosses his arms, shaking his feet in nervousness. As soon as everything was set up, Devin and his cronies are seen in the distance. 

"Call him over, really make him pissed off." Jake nods before calling the boys from far away. "Hellooooooo Boys!?" Devin was the first to look, and as soon as he does, his eyes go wide, so does his smile. Devin and five of his friends walk in unison, each of their eyes stare menacingly at Jake. Jake couldn't help but feel nervous but felt oddly protected by the paintball shooting angels. 

The boys stop a few feet from Jake. Devin walks forward, his smirk even wider than before. Jake tries not to show any fear, despite eyeing the bloodthirsty Devin and his cronies. 

"Here I am. I've heard you've been looking for me?" 

"Yeah, you've been dodging me for quite some time. Had to get your attention." Tristan clenches his jaw very hard, Gus placing a cautionary palm directly in front of Tristan. 

"Don't be stupid, we will get them. Don't ruin this plan." Tristan nods slowly before fixating his eyes towards the head of Devin. 

"By jumping my friend? Sounds very classy."  

"As classy as you sneaking up from behind? Sucker punching me?"

Jake smirks. 

"How does that jaw feel? Is it hard to chew? Is it hard to sleep at night? Knowing you got embarrassed in front of the student body? Knowing you got punched by a real man?" Devin's face turns  grim until his patience withers away with the last sentence. Devin nods his head as his friends begin to stalk towards Jake. 

Jake smiles, raising an opened fist near his face. 

"You guys are a bunch of idiots if you think I came here alone." Jake clenches his fist. On cue, Tristan and Gus rain hot paintballs at the boys directly below them. One by one the boys fall, writhing in pain. A hot paintball explodes on the jaw of Devin, causing him to fall on his back.

Groaning in pain and unable to move, Devin looks up to notice Jake walk over and hover above him.

 "Don't worry Devin, I'll take great care of Beth for you." Jake winks at Devin before placing his hands in his pocket and walks off without a care in the world.