Hear's a fun one shot I started working on months ago and never got around to publishing. It's not meant to be a Capril story but if you want it to be, feel free to think of it that way. Enjoy! :)
"How is it that one careless match can start a whole forest fire, but it takes the whole box to start a campfire," April exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air in utter disgust.
She and Casey were both bored out of their skulls with all four turtles gone on their "spirit quest." They both missed the busy atmosphere and the constant action that came from six teenagers living under the same roof. To cure their boredom, they decided to build a campfire. Fun and easy, right? Well, not for April.
It was April's idea to build the campfire, so she unfortunately couldn't blame anyone but herself for their current situation. She naively believed she could make one after years of failure. When April was younger, her father had always been forced to make the campfire because of April's inability to ever start one successfully. She followed the procedure perfectly but could never seem to actually start a fire. Sure she could start a flame, but never an actual campfire. She would try first, but always let her father take over after so many failed attempts.
Taking the lighter from his daughter's slender fingers, Kirby would then start their campfire in a matter of seconds. In just a few minutes, they would have a blazing fire perfect for roasting hotdogs and marshmallows.
"Oh well, maybe next time sweetheart," He would say while handing her a skewer.
When she went to camp one summer, all the counselors tried to teach her how to make a campfire. They made it their goal for that summer to teach April O'Neil how to build a proper fire. April even heard that there were bets on who, if anyone, would be able to teach her. They took turns, each showing her a different technique. One counselor, Mr. Riordon, had even let her use matches and special wood that was supposedly perfect for beginners. It had looked simple enough; strike the match against the side of the box and gently hold it against the tinder. Mr. Riordon was patient and a great teacher, but even he couldn't have stopped what happened next.
She had struck the match against the box but instead of lighting the wood, she lit her counselor's orange t-shirt on fire. She wasn't entirely sure how it had happened, one second the flame was on her match and the next, it was on her counselor. Mr. Riordon had immediately stopped, dropped, and rolled like he had taught the campers, but he had forgotten they were next to a lake. Franticly rolling (he was apparently deathly afraid of fire; who knew), he rolled straight into the lake. After the "incident," he never let her try to make another campfire for the rest of the week. He made sure no one let her near the matches or any sort of item that could start a fire. Rumor had it, he quit counseling the next week to become a writer. April seriously doubted that would ever work out; he didn't seem like the author type.
The current box of matches boasted that it contained 500 matches and could light any piece of wood. She had already used half the box and still had zero success. She had tried using dead leaves, bark, paper towels, and even cardboard. She tried the multiple techniques she had been taught while at camp, but nothing seemed to be working.
The entire time this had been going on, Casey had repeatedly offered to help her.
"Let me help you, April."
"No stubborn wood stands a chance against Casey Jones."
"C'mon April, I can do it."
"April, just let me do it."
All offers were made in vain. Stubborn April wanted to make a fire, and by golly, she was going to make a fire. She had first thought it would only take a minute, then two minutes, and then five. 30 minutes later and there were still no signs of an actually fire.
Stressed out and frustrated, April finally gave in to Casey's multiple requests.
"Here Casey, you try. This wood is impossible," April sighed, handing over the box of matches.
Casey was thrilled and eagerly grabbed the desired box. Smirking, he struck a match and held it against the tinder, which immediately caught fire. He quickly moved the wood to the proper positon and began to gently blow on the flame. In less than five minutes, Casey had a blazing fire.
Through this whole process, April could only stare with mouth open and blue eyes wide. She had spent so much time trying to start that fire and Casey did it in five minutes. She felt like a total failure at life.
Casey turned to her with his signature, gap-toothed smirk on his face.
"Told you wood doesn't stand a chance against Casey Jones."
April expression immediately changed to irritation.
"I warmed the wood for you," She stated, turning away from Casey and toward the welcoming fire.
"Of you course you did, Red," Casey smiled, holding back a chuckle as he grabbed a skewer and a marshmallow.
Following suit, April did the same and successfully made several delicious s'mores with Casey, laughing and joking about all their fun times in the old farmhouse with the turtles.
That's when things went wrong.
April had only wanted one more s'more. That was it. So simple, yet so hard. To get to the best marshmallow roasting spot, she used a nearby to stick to gently move a piece of burning wood. That was her mistake. Instead of moving the log slightly, she pushed the log off the fire and into the grass. Flames erupted where the piece of wood had rolled, sending the two teenagers scrambling for water to extinguish the flames. Thankfully, they had decided to keep a gallon of water nearby in case of an emergency (Two teenagers + fire = trouble). Grabbing the bucket, Casey poured the entire thing onto the flames and the surrounding area, smoke billowing up from the extinguished wood and grass.
After staring at the remnants of their fun evening, April and Casey looked at each other in shock.
"April, remind me to never leave you alone around fire."
"Sure thing Casey."
WAIT! PLEASE favorite this story if you liked it and leave a review letting me know what you think of it. Constructive criticism is appreciated. And praise. Praise is also appreciated. Check out my other stories if you liked this one. You might like them too. :) Maybe. Hopefully.