Week 4: Fun-in-the-Sun Week – Jake

"Amy, what's your number?" Jake asked one day at breakfast.

"Why do you need it?" she asked and Jake stared at her.

"So I can infiltrate your mind through electromagnetic waves-I want to text you Santiago" he snapped. She was always so suspicious of him.

"Oh, right. Here give me your phone. I'll put it in" she said, taking his phone.

"'I'll put it in' – title of your sex tape" Jake whispered to her.

"What? Shut up," she said with a sneer as she handed him his phone back, "you're just upset my team is beating yours"

Jake sneered back at her. Jake's team had definitely taken a beating. The score was ten to eight. His team had lost four times in a row and it wasn't looking good. As Jake mused about ways to throw Amy's team off their game, Terry came around their table and handed out the daily schedule.

"Thanks, man" Jake said as he picked up the schedule. He smiled. Swimming was on the agenda.

"Looks like we have the pool today" he said handing her the paper.

"Relay race?" She asked.

"Relay race" he confirmed and his smile widened. Hannah, one of his campers, was a swimmer and his team always shined during relays. There might have been another reason he was excites for pool day but that was...

Jake shook his head and shoveled pancakes into his mouth.

Jake's team reached the pool first. Jake took his shirt off and put sunscreen on. He paid special attention to his nose and made sure it was covered in white.

"Hey guys, make sure you put sunscreen on. You can borrow mine if you don't have yours" he told his campers. Gillian came over to take him up on the offer.

"Are the others coming?" she asked.

"Yeah, should be here soon. Not sure what's keeping them"

"Hey, Jake?" she asked.

"A-yup?"

"Do you have a thing for Amy?" she asked. Jake stared at her and immediately panicked.

"What? 'Like'? What even is that? No she's more of like a girl friend that I have. That came out wrong. I mean she's like a friend. She is a friend. She's a girl friend. No, I mean she is a girl that happens to be my friend" he said, his smile nervous. Gillian gave him an incredulous look.

"Okay man, whatever" she said as she quickly put on the sun screen and threw it back at him. Jake congratulated himself on a crisis well-averted. It's not like it even was a crisis. It was just, y'know, he didn't want the kids spreading rumors and then singing stupid "sitting-in-a-tree" rhymes.

As Jake continued to grapple with his internal struggle, Amy and her troupe approached the gated pool. This didn't really help Jake because she looked very…nice in her bathing suit. It was a practical pink one-piece, but still, she looked nice and Jake was the kind of person who noticed when people looked nice. Not in like, an attractive way, y'know, just nice. Not a big deal.

"You ready to lose, loser?" She asked, hands on her hips and smug look on her face.

"Don't get too cocky Santiago. I have a proposition for you"

"What is it?"

"How about we set this race aside for a separate bet that doesn't count towards the big bet?" he asked and Amy raised her eyebrows in interest.

"What are the stakes?"

"If I win, you have to hike the trail to the treehouse with me tonight at midnight" he said. Jake wasn't sure where this was even coming from. He guessed he just wanted to do dumb teenager-y stuff. He'd been planning to do this anyway and it'd be more fun with company.

"What?! We can't do that! We have to be in our cabins, watching the kids"

"They'll be sleeping. You know as well as I do the pool will knock them out for the whole night and we won't be gone long"

"It's against the rules!"

"I know, that's the point. I haven't broken any in a while" He smirked at her. Amy looked over her shoulder, worried someone was listening.

"Okay, fine, but what do I get?"

"What do you want?" he asked. She thought for a moment.

"I want two wins" she said with a sly smile.

"Positively evil," he outstretched his hand and she shook it, "We have an accord!

"Your kids are gonna wish they'd never been born, Peralta"

"Okay, that was a bit much and also, the opposite will be true" Jake said as he removed his hand from Amy's, which was really soft by the way, but that's neither here nor there.

The race started with Amy's team in the lead and pretty much stayed that way until Hannah, the last racer on Jake's team, got tagged in. Hannah was like a freaking barracuda and passed Jorge (who had a considerable lead on her) for the win. Jake gloated mercilessly to Amy.

"WOO! Hey Amy, what was that you were saying before? Were you saying my kids would wish they'd never been born? Is that what you said before?" he asked and Amy glared at him with as much malice as she could muster. Jake knew it must be killing her to have to break the rules.

Jake was standing by the trail at midnight, patiently waiting for Amy to arrive. She arrived on time, but brought her nerves with her.

"This is such a bad idea, Jake"

"Oh, calm down. We'll be fine"

"That sounds like something a guy in a horror movie would say right before he got stabbed to death" she said as she crossed her arms.

"Well, in any case, you won't get murdered"

"And why not?"

"You're a virgin. Virgins never get killed in horror movies" he shrugged.

"Ugh, you're such an ass"

"Aw, come on. This is going to be fun! By the end of it, you'll be glad you lost that bet" He said, smiling.

"I doubt it" she said, crossing her arms tighter.

"Look, I even brought you a present!" Jake said as he revealed two lanterns with candles inside.

"Lanterns? Are you trying to summon a 'slasher' villain?" she asked.

"Oh, come on. Admit this is cool"

"Alright, maybe it's a little cool. Where did you get them?"

"They're on the cabin porches, but all the porches have lights now so they're only there for decoration and I got the candles in the supply shed. Found a light too!" He said, excited.

"Boy, you've really been planning this, huh?"

"Just for a couple of days. I wanted to see what I was missing out on the day I got bit!" He said as he lit a lantern and handed it to Amy. He lit his own and they began walking the trail.

"You're not worried about more snakes?" she asked.

"Nah, snakes have to hide at night right? Because it's cold?"

"I honestly have no idea. Maybe I should have studied snakes before I came" she said.

"Whatever, we'll be fine. Man, holding a lantern feels so cool" he said, pointing his lantern dramatically.

"It actually is"

"Right? I feel like Belle's dad when his horse abandoned him in that creepy forest"

"Hey, Jake?" Amy asked.

"What's up?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"This? Like, why did you bet me for us to do this?" She asked. Jake didn't really know how to answer.

"I dunno…I thought it'd be fun"

"Yeah, but why not just ask another counselor? You and Boyle get along really well and you go to the same school as Gina right? Why not just ask them instead of betting me two wins?" she asked.

"Well, I thought it'd be fun to go with you and I knew you wouldn't break the rules if I just asked" he said and he was glad it was dark. He definitely felt a blush coming on. Why didn't he just ask Boyle or Gina? Boyle would have followed him into the dark if he asked him to.

"Oh" was all Amy could manage to say to that. They hiked in silence for a while until they could see the tree house.

"Oh, wow! Jeez this is like…Swiss Family Robinson status!" Jake said as he admired all the rope bridges and hammocks connected to the surrounding forest. There were actually three tree houses and they were all connected by wood and rope bridges. A rope ladder led to the biggest bridge and Jake handed his lantern to Amy so he could climb up.

"Here, hand me the lanterns" he told her and she obeyed. Amy started to climb the rope ladder, but her foot slipped through one of the squares. Jake caught her hand quickly enough and she was able to steady herself. With Jake firmly grasping one hand and her other on the bridge, she maneuvered her way up.

"Whew, thanks" she said and Jake held her hand for a beat too long before letting go.

"Uh, no problem, let's check out the tree houses!" he said, hurrying to the biggest shack that was straight ahead at the end of the bridge. The climbed and maneuvered their way through all of the houses, but decided to sit down in the smallest one. It was the highest point of the structure and it had a skylight.

Jake put down his lantern in the center of the tiny room and looked up at the moon shining through the skylight.

"Come on you have to admit this is pretty awesome" he said.

"Okay, you got me. This is awesome" she said, a warm smile lit up on her face with the soft glow from the lanterns illuminating her. They looked at each other in the mist of the candlelight and the moonlight. Jake felt something leap in his chest.

"You look like a wood sprite," he finally said.

"What?"

"I mean, uh, you know the, uh, different light sources and all. Like we both must look like wood sprites, you know, because of the light" he said, his panic-smile making an appearance.

"Oh, right. Yeah" She said. Jake sat down on the floor and pulled out a bag of peanuts. Amy sat down opposite of him.

"Peanuts?"

"Yeah, I get snackey. Want some?" he asked, offering the bag. She took a handful.

"Thanks," she said and both of them stared up at the sky in silence for a few minutes until Amy broke it, "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Go for it"

"Do you really research serial killers?"

"Oh, totally" he said smiling.

"I do too"

"Whhhhhhaaaaaat? You do? Why?" he asked.

"I want to be a detective one day"

"No, you don't" He said, confusing Amy.

"Uh, yes I do"

"I want to be a detective" he said, a huge grin growing on his face.

"No way, really?"

"Yeah!"

"That's crazy" she said.

"Small world" he said and she smiled, which resulted in his heart jumping.

"So who do you think it is?"

"What?"

"Who do you think Jack the Ripper is?" she asked.

"Oooh. Well, I can't give too many details on an ongoing investigation, but…it's Cutbush, I'm almost positive it's Cutbush" he said and she nodded.

"It's either him or Tumblety" Amy agreed.

"Totally" Jake said, his heart gently hammering under his sweater. The feeling scared him and he thought it might be best to call it a night.

"Ready to head back?" he asked.

"Yeah, let's go"

During the walk back they talked excitedly about their Jack the Ripper theories and who they thought was the scariest serial killer of all time. It felt as if no time had passed at all when they reached the beginning of the trail. They blew out their lanterns and walked back to their neighboring cabins, talking in whispers.

"Okay, but Ted Bundy was terrifying. Everyone thought he was just some nice, normal guy. He got away with it for so long because he was like, pleasant and handsome" Amy said.

"Yeah, I get it, but John Wayne Gacy was literally a clown" Jake said, shivering.

"He also only went after guys, so yeah, that makes sense" she said as they arrived at the back door of her cabin.

"Well, we'll have to put this convo on pausies for now"

"Yeah, for sure" she said and Jake turned to leave.

"Hey, Jake?" she asked and he turned around.

"Yeah?"

"You were right. I am glad I lost" she said and smiled the sweetest smile he had ever seen before disappearing into her cabin.

Jake didn't know long he stood out there, staring at her door, but he know it was for a while. In truth, he was worried that if he went back to his cabin right away, his campers would have woken up by the sheer force of how hard his heart was beating inside his chest.

AN: Aww yeah, here's chapter four! Killing it. I think I'm starting to get Jake's voice down a little better. I feel like I've written him way too serious in the past, but I'm getting the hang of it. Amy's a lot easier. I relate to her more, for sure.

And WHOA, how about that finale? My heart hurts and I've watched it three times already. I'm dead.

Is my inner serial killer nerd showing? I may or may not have co-written a play about Ted Bundy once. Oops.

Brownie points if you spot the Death Cab for Cutie reference.

As always, thank you so much for reading and I value your input! 3