Friends (Highschool AU)

Burning Marshmallows

I ran back excitedly to help Bela. She seemed to struggle to reel it in. I helped her by supporting the rod and reeling it in. It seemed to take forever, but this thing was really heavy. It must be a big one. With one final yank, we got it out of the water.

Disappointment sunk in when it turned out this big fish we caught was really an old leather boot. Bela was still incredibly excited and unhooked the book.

"That's it? How are we supposed to eat that?" Wales chuckled. He also had his fishing rod in the water, waiting for a bite.

"Ever heard of boot soup?" Bela smiled.

"I am not eating a boot," Wales laughed.

"Well, actually, this is real leather and we can tear off the items we don't need, like the shoelace and sole, and then we just boil it up," Bela smiled.

"How do you know this?" I asked, impressed at her knowledge.

"Papa was abusive and never fed us, so we had to find over ways to make food," Bela explained. I felt bad for asking now. Although almost everyone I knew had abusive parents, Bela's dad was the worst.

"I'm still not eating a boot. I'll catch us some fish," Wales said, turning back to his fishing.

A few seconds passed, and he actually got a nibble. He started bragging about it before he reeled it in, laughing excitedly.

We waited for the grand reveal when he got it out of the water. It was a decently sized fish which could be two of us. However, luck quickly changed when an eagle, out of nowhere, swooped down and plucked the fish right off the line, with the hook still in the fish's mouth.

"Aw, that was my only hook," Wales said disappointedly.

"Don't worry, we still have the boot," Bela said cheerily.

"I said it before, I'll say it again. I'm not eating a boot," Wales muttered.

"Fine. This is a forest, surely there are animals we can hunt," Bela offered.

"We don't have any weapons or traps," I pointed out.

"I do," Bela smiled.

"You scare me," Wales muttered.

We walked back to the campsite and watched as Bela pulled out two bows and quivers. I was wondering where she had carried them, as she didn't seem to bring much.

"But there are only two, there are three of us," Wales pointed out.

"Four, actually," Aus added.

"Do you want to go hunting as well?" I asked, knowing that he is completely against hunting.

"Fine, don't get hurt." He muttered, looking back at the fire and prodding it with a stick.

"I packed some rope, I can set up traps," I said as I pulled out a length. I was fantastic at making traps, Maori taught me how.

After preparing everything, we were on our way to do some hunting. Just three teenagers, armed with bows and traps. Nothing could go wrong.

...

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU IT WAS HARMLESS!" Wales shouted, as he ran for his life away from the moose that was speeding after him.

"It was until you shot him, but keep running, the trap is under that tree, don't forget to jump over it!" I shouted back. He gave me a glare and nodded. He kept running, and I stopped behind a tree, waiting for the trap to go off.

When I heard the loud thud, I knew I had success. I dashed over to where the moose had been caught. Bela jumped down from the tree and Wales was lying on the ground, completely exhausted.

"Great catch!" Bela praised.

"First of all, why was I used as bait? And second of all, we can't eat that thing," Wales mumbled, sitting up.

"Good point. He's still alive, we should let him go and catch something else," I said.

"Wait, before we cut him free, let's get a photo!" Bela said excitedly. We all agreed and huddled in together to get a good picture with the moose. We took several pictures before letting the moose go. He wasn't happy, but he was free and had an arrow stuck in his butt which Wales forgets to collect.

We went deeper into the forest, to try to find some birds or smaller creatures to catch. We were all in good spirits and ready to catch some dinner.

Bela turned out to be amazing at hunting, and her accuracy with the bow and arrow was impressive. We caught sevens birds in total and took them back to the campsite to gut and cook.

It disgusted Aus when we gutted and cooked the corpses of the birds on the fire. He always had a soft spot for animals and bugs and never joined us for hunting or fishing. But he would still eat the food we cooked, just not kill it.

We all sat around the fire and ate the cooked birds. They were actually pretty filling and quite tasty. We all joked about the day's events. Aus and Wales were quite reserved though, only occasionally adding in comments.

Aus, unsurprisingly, had found a bunch of spiders and three snakes which were happily making their home in his tent. Bela was a little unsettled by the thought of spiders and snakes in the tents. Aus reassured her that the spiders and snakes are only in his tent.

We showed Aus the many photos of us in front of the moose, while Aus exchanged them with photos of his new spider friends.

It was getting dark. The day was beginning to end. It was kind of sad, but really wanted to do one more thing before everyone went to bed.

S'mores.

Wales had brought along all the ingredients for the perfect s'mores. Aus kept setting them on fire, while the rest of us gently toasted our marshmallows. Aus kept saying that they are only good when they are on fire.

I don't agree.