Keep Calm and Good Luck (Jack)

[Luxanna Viera]

Camping, trees and roots were not Lux strongest points. She was clumsy and somehow, the forest seemed to hate her, because she kept falling and crashing into things, and she had ever since she came on this trip. But it was too late to turn back now, so she just had to suck it up and be a man about it. Who cared if she got a few extra bruises and cuts? Not her. She was used to it by now. Besides, if anything else failed, she could always end up becoming one of those creepy circus clowns who made people laugh over their clumsy behavior. That or turning into a lion. Whichever paid the most.

Taking a quick peek around at the different students, trying to find someone, anyone she knew, her eyes rested on a familiar boy who she had spent some fun time with in the forest before. Jack. Sweet, innoce... Loud, obnoxious and rude Jack. Whom she just happened to like. He wasn't really that bad. Most of the time anyways. Sure, he had his flaws, but didn't everyone? And his wasn't nearly as bad as most people she'd met. At least he just had a fowl mouth. He was funny and nice, and very attractive. Not that she cared about that. Nope.

Lux skipped after him, trying to catch up. ''I see you still got your head in one piece. Congratulations.'', she said with a smirk once she reached up with him.

[Jack McCarthy]

What was he doing here? No seriously, what was he doing here? You may find this hard to believe but Jack McCarthy was hardly a master mountain-man, quite the opposite in fact, Jack spent his entire life in the city and liked it quite you very much. Quite frankly he sucked as a camper. So why was he here if he hated camping so much? Simple; because Jack prided himself on being where the action was. For being at the pulse of everything exciting.

But for now that excitement somewhat alluded him, to be replaced with irritation, see when Jack heard the phrase “Camping trip” he assumed he would actually camp. Y’know with tents? And with that in mind Jack spent the last hour and a half setting up his tent…until someone was kind enough to point out the cabins.

“….Well…fuck!”

Thanks to his power setting up the tent wasn’t as hard as you would think, but if any thing, putting down the tent was far harder, Jack just naturally assumed that he would just employ the same system as before, just pull up pegs at complete random, but unfortunately the damn things wouldn’t budge. Like a tree not wanting to let go of a bag of weed, the metal peg was stuck in the ground, Jack face reddened as he huffed and puffed and used all his strength to remove the peg, but to avail, eventually frustration overtook him as he kicked at the peg.

“You stupid-mother fucking-OW!”

Jack hopped up and down as his foot exploded in pain, because…well he kicked a giant metal peg.

“Ow, ow why did I do that!?”

Jack was waiting for the pain to subside when Lux came over to greet him, “Oh hey” Jack said pleasantly surprised. He was hoping to run into her eventually, she was a lot of fun not to mention one of the few people that did not want to punch him in the face.

Jack laughed nervously at the memory of that night.

“Meh. that guy talked a big game, he was just lucky I was in such good mood, otherwise I would have totally beat his ass down…wait, he isn’t around is he? Jack asked looking over Lux’s head for any sign of “Ortiz”

[Luxanna Viera]

With a chuckle, Lux sat down next to Jack and watched him do whatever it was he was trying to do. ''Uh huh. Sure you would have.'', she said with a smile and rolled her eyes. She found it amusing how hard Jack was trying to act all cool and tough, and in the next second appear as such a wimp. Because really, who could ever find Oriel scary? He was just a lump of love and joy. And maybe a hint of sadism... ''Don't worry. He's not here.''

Lux could actually imagine the two boys to be friends, and she really thought that they would manage to have fun together. She really hoped so, because she enjoyed the presence of both of the boys and having Oriel actually liking some of her friends would make a nice change of things. ''So, what are you doing?''

[Jack McCarthy]

Phew! Jack took a moment to mentally wipe a bead of sweat from his brow and signed in clear relief. Thank God for that! Even though he would never admit it in a million and twenty-one years, but Jack was so very relieved that the Crazy bastard wasn’t within speaking distance, less he tried to murder Jack in cold blood again.

Personally, let the record show that Jack McCarthy had no problems with Oriel in any way, and he would have no issues in extended his hand in friendship towards him…but Oriel seemed to have quite a sizeable problem with him especially with Jack hanging out with Lux. So he just had a hard time picturing the three having pizza together without Oriel trying to stab Jack in the neck with a plastic knife and fork.

“Oh, good, cool…” Jack said nonchalantly as can be with his hands in his pockets and looks at the ground as if he didn’t really care about the answer in the first place. Jack looked up again and his head turned towards his semi-deflated tent. “Oh…Well funny story, there was a slight miscalculation on my part. See when I thought was like real camping, you know, man verses nature, bravely fighting against the elements, wiping yourself with a leaf. You know, camping! But it turns out that, isn’t the way things works, now I have to take fecking thing down. Nightmare.

[Luxanna Viera]

Lux looked at the tent with her eyebrow raised, trying as hard as she could to keep herself from laughing her ass off. ''You know...'', she began and the corner of her lips turned upwards. ''If you payed attention to what the teachers were saying, you'd know we'd be sleeping in cabins.'' Buy hey, him not listening only brought the rest of them some... 'Joy'. She wasn't going to complain about it.

''Oh yeah, when you decide to go full-out Tarzan, remember to stay away from the Poison Ivy.'', she chuckled with a smirk. Though, that could actually end up being pretty hilarious.

She'd help him and all, but Lux didn't really know a whole lot about tents. Well, she did, but she wasn't going to tell Jack that. Nah, she'd stand around and laugh while watching his brain trying to puzzle it all together. Hey, now. Even Lux wasn't a saint. She enjoyed watching people in mild misery too. Well, not really. Mostly just Jack because he made such a huge deal about it. ''Well, you better get to work there, Crocodile Dundee.''

[Jack McCarthy]

Ok, Jack would readily agree that Lux suggestion was clearly the sensible choice and Jack would do well to heed her advice but since when did Jack start doing anything that remotely was ever considered sensible? Jack was quite possible born with out any regret and he wasn’t about to start now, even if she did have a point.

“Wellll…In my defense I was going to listen to the teacher, I really was….but then I just got a text from my old friend “Nidge” about how he just stumbled out of a three day house party wearing nothing but one sock and a pair of moose antlers. Classic Nidge! You would like Nidge you really would, I met him back in Dublin in a bar at like three o’clock in the morning and I accidentally puked on his face…weird that most of my stories start that way…anyway, I looked at him, expecting fists to start flying, because trust me; in a Irish pub it doesn’t take a lot, but the next thing I know he’s laughing and puking in my face! We’ve exchanged numbers that night. So there you go…a little story for you. Just goes to show; every real friendship starts with vomit.”

As he said that Jack eye’s lit up and he began scrambling in his pockets

“…Actually that’s not a bad quote, I should write that down.”

Jack holds up his hands in a framing motion

“Every real friendship starts with vomit-Jack McCarthy.2013. Watch one day that'll be engraved on my statue outside the school...or at the very least on a t-shirt.

Truthfully Jack wouldn’t have taken Lux help even if she offered which Lux should consider quite the compliment seeing as in his mind one of the benefits of a friendship was free labour, he was quite happy to do the rest even if it was a bugger of a job it’ll get done, eventually.

“So, how’s things on your end? How’s that hammer hanging?”