The crash course on fishing with live bait from Logan and Professor Summers didn’t exactly have Cole feeling like they were bound to catch anything, but the teasing and heckling from soccer teammates kept him from saying or showing as much. Both professors had different approaches, offering different advice on everything from how to prepare your line to casting techniques, to a debate on whether or not bobbers were a good idea to have. By the end of Logan and Professor Summers’ ‘need-to-know’, he and Jubilee each had their poles prepared with notable differences. Now the two friends sat on the lake in a row boat with Cole’s backpack full of snacks, a pair of gardener’s gloves and a cup of worms at their disposal, compliments of Professor Sydney--the only time he’d opted to interject along with a hushed piece of advice to the two teens to just be patient with their lines and not over-bait their hooks. Cole’s pole had been prepared by Professor Summers: a neon yellow bobber five feet up from the hook and a baby blue fishing reel fixed to a new-looking, red and black fiberglass fishing rod. His shoulders and chest slowly rose and fell when he sighed and looked over to Jubilee, “Do you remember half the shit either of them said?”

Jubilee was incredibly excited up until her professors opened their mouths. There was a lot of nodding on her behalf and confused glances over to her friends. After her bomb of a fishing lesson, it was no surprise to her that she and Cole were the only ones actually interested in giving fishing a try. Everyone else seemed so...lost. Maybe if she took notes she’d have a better grasp of what she had to do but Jubilee found herself chewing her gum and blowing out bubbles as she shook her head and sighed. “Dammit, Bummers.” She took the initiative to ask Logan to prepare her pole in hopes he’d give her some extra advice but he was just as confusing as before. Thankfully, Professor Sydney gave her and Cole the motivation she needed and she repeated his words in her head when Cole asked her his question. “I honestly don’t know what I got out of that. Retention is not my weakness yet somehow I found myself going off to la-la land. But hey...at least we look professional, right?” She pointed to her fisherman’s hat and chuckled. “Do you think we’ll catch anything? I want a big fish and we can eat it tonight!” Her eyes widened and she danced a little in her spot to lighten up the mood. “I betcha I can get a bigger one than you, Danger Boy!”

Cole breathed a small chuckled, “Same. I’m one hundred percent sure my eyes glazed over during all of that.” From behind his sunglasses, he glanced her way and softly smirked, “You do, yeah. It’s not a bad look though.” His eyes darted back to his bobber that only seemed to be doing its job because of the light breeze moving across the lake. He sighed as though it should be enough of an answer but added, “Honestly? I have no idea. If we do, I’ll be taking a lot of pictures. For proof, before they get eaten.” Eyes still on the bobber, he began wondering if he should try moving it up; one of the professors said something about fish being in deeper waters, but he’d pulled the recollection entirely out of context so he couldn’t be sure if it would help or hinder his chances. Cocking a brow, he slid his gaze in his friend’s direction. “Oh yeah? You’re on.” After leaning back and resting his foot on the boat’s middle bench, he asked, “Are we upping the ante on this little bet or are we just going for bragging rights?”

Jubilee grinned widely at his compliment. “Thanks, Cole!” She giggled, waiting patiently. "That's probably a good idea. We need evidence after all." The weather was perfect for fishing and she was sure she'd have a tan by the end of their outing. "Haha. I enjoy a good bet, Harris. Especially since I know I'm gonna win." Both eyebrows raises, she looked over to Cole and smirked. "Are ya a gambler?" Do you feel lucky, punk?" Her smile remained but her gaze moved over to her bobber. "What's this? Is that a victory I smell?" She cackled and pulled her line in only to be disappointed. There was nothing there. "False alarm."

Cole nodded in agreement while he lounged in the boat and rolled his eyes at the Clint Eastwood quote. “You gonna talk to empty chairs too?” he quipped back, glancing over at his line. “So...that wasn’t an answer, Clint.” Shaking his head at her, he went ahead and said, “We’ll just go for bragging rights,” but lifted his head slightly as she perked up, hopeful of a bite. “Over-eager, I see,” he teased with an unapologetic smirk. His own line in the meantime, sat untouched in the water, the bobber dancing over the surface ripples. “I don’t even think Logan or Professor TightAss said what kinds of fish are in this lake.” With not activity still, he added, “If there areany.”

Jubilee loved when her and Cole had their little back and forth. It kept her going. “Pfft. There was so something there. It probably saw your face and went swimming back.” She chuckled and nudged him gently. “Bragging rights sounds good to me though.” She watched her and his bobber and sighed loudly as she listened to her best friend. “Hold up. I just had a thought. What if they don’t know anything at all about fishing? Like, what if they both stood up mad late, read a book or two and tried to sound all smart during our lesson and they’ve never picked up a fishing pole in their lives! I mean...think about it. Do you imagine Professor Boy scout and Logan fishing...ever? Maybe Logan I’ll give you but he’s a bit of a prankster that one…” Her eyes narrowed as she thought about the call to Professor Munroe’s office. Shaking off her thoughts she looked over to Cole. “What if there are no fish and we’re sitting here like fools?”

Arching a brow at her, Cole sat up again and then lifted his sunglasses to give her a long, unimpressed stare. “Someone’s in rare form,” he noted, lowering his sunglasses. He shook his head and brought his attention back to his fishing rod until he heard Jubilee’s theory. Thinking about it a moment, he wondered it until his brows came together and he asked, “He is?” Somehow he couldn’t see Logan finding much of anything funny unless there was some kind of sadistic outcome, but he knew Jubilee had a unique relationship with the burly man, so maybe he did. “I dunno. I mean you said Logan fails at gardening. I’m sure he and Professor Munroe get their jollys in but living at their workplace, probably not that much. And the only thing I’ve ever seen him smoke are cigars...the guy’s got to have some kind of outlet...unless he’s a closet yoga head.” The mere idea of Logan meditating in some sort of pretzeled, Cirque du Soleil pose was enough to bring a smirk back to Cole’s face, along with a few quiet chuckles. he shook his head again, “Summers is...I dunno. I’d kinda buy it though. He seems like he’d be working at REI if he wasn’t an X-Men. I mean he’s not just a boy scout for being a goody two-shoes. I think he’s thoroughly earned that nickname. But if there’s no fish out here and they know it, I can’t promise that his precious fishing pole won’t end up broken. On accident, of course.”

Jubilee frowned slightly and looked towards the water after noticing Cole’s glare. “I took the trash talking too far...I’ll bring it down a few notches.” She offered him a tiny smile and listened as he continued on, it widened and she shook her head thinking about Logan on a yoga mat. “Anything is possible. If he does do yoga, I’d love to see that for sure.” She chuckled and threw her line back in after adjusting it. She let out another laugh at Cole’s statement. “Of course. We left it by the dock while we were gathering our things and next thing we know, it’s broken in half! Probably another camper accidentally stepping on it and not having the decency to tell us! The nerve of them, Professor Summers!” She grinned and let out a tiny sigh. “I’ve always wanted to do this though. I can scratch off my list. Now, if we catch something, that’ll be pretty darn amazing.” The wind blew through her hair and she tucked a few strands behind her ear. “But if we don’t, I won’t be disappointed. I’m just glad to be doing this.”

Cole hard a hard-pressed gaze on his bobber as though staring at it like that would bring a fish to his line. “It was just unusual for you. At least for me it was but trust me, if I couldn’t take it, I wouldn’t have said what I’d said.” He shrugged lightly and thought about the theories he’d thrown out there, smirking at the mental image of Logan’s yoga poses still lingering in his mind. The smirk grew as Jubilee fed his ‘accidental’ claim on the demise Professor Summers’ pole would meet were they to somehow make this discovery. His expression softened a bit as he thought about everything; the past few days had been, to his surprise, fun and so far he’d either already hung out with the people he usually enjoyed spending time around, or he had plans to before leaving. But right now, he was savoring the easygoing fun he was currently having with Jubilee. “Same here,” he replied, shifting a bit to try and rig his pole to the boat so that he wouldn’t have to reel in and cast out again. With his hands free, he rifled through his backpack to open up his bag of gummy worms, made a face and then chuckled, half-joking when he asked, “Want a worm? One you might actually want to eat, I mean.”

Jubilee was concentrating as much as she could on her bobber and secretly hoping for something to bite. With a small smile, she nodded at Cole’s comment and wondered if maybe she was doing something wrong. Blowing her hair out of her eyes, she was almost frustrated with the outcome so far. As much as she was enjoying the small talk and the peace and quiet, she was actually really looking forward to bragging about catching a fish. She looked over to the candy in question and chuckled. “I was about to say…” She winked and took the worm from him. “Thanks, Cole. God I love these.” Biting into her gummy, she bopped her head back and forth as the two friends continued waiting. “Do you wanna do this again sometime? It could be a group of us? But you and I can come back out here and we’ll be pros by like the third time I’m sure.” She looked out to the water and sighed. Nothing yet.

Following a light chuckle, Cole set the bag on top of his open backpack and snagged a couple of gummy worms for himself. He settled back in his seat, reclaiming his inactive pole but reeled his line a little bit closer. Though debating whether or not he should recast or heed Professor Sydney’s advice, he heard Jubilee’s question. “Yeah, maybe. We do have a trip to plan still, don’t we? Maybe this’ll be it.” Finally settling on a decision, he started to reel in his line. He remembered enough of what the professors said about how to cast that he felt confident enough to give it another try. After flipping the reel open and pinching the line to his rod with his index, Cole watched himself wind his hand back and quickly cast back out. The untouched bait, along with the hook and bobber, sailed through the air until an anti-climatic plop sounded and only the bobber was visible. “On the one hand, I can understand how some people find this relaxing...but unless you know you’re gonna catch something it’s boring as hell.”

Jubilee watched as Cole reeled in his line. He seemed a lot more comfortable than she was and she even felt like she learned more in those thirty seconds then she did during their lesson. “Mm hmm. I agree. Peaceful though. I can see why someone would want to do this as an escape. Get lost somewhere and fish for a few hours. It’s probably therapeutic for them. I don’t think we’ll get something today but at least we can say we tried!” She smiled and reached for another gummy. “These are really good by the--whoa! Cole! It’s tugging! I swear! I’m not--oh my God!” She felt a pull and tried to reel it back to the best of her ability but couldn’t. “I can’t...oh my God!” She couldn’t help but chuckle from the excitement, keeping her grip and looking towards Cole. “Help! I think I really caught something this time, Danger Boy!!”

Cole listened to Jubilee, cracking another slight smile. She tended to find the positive in everything--even sitting in a seemingly fish-less lake. He closed his reel again but shortly after doing so, he heard Jubilee’s sudden reaction and quickly looked over to her. Situating his pole to stand on his own again he rose to a crouch so not to rock the boat too much while nearing her. His eyes watched from behind his sunglasses as the bobber stayed submerged and danced around almost in figure-eights and all he could think to say was, “Start reeling it in!” He was somewhat mesmerized, hoping that she had actually hooked a fish, but part of him was nervous as well, recalling Logan saying something about fish swallowing hooks. The recollection triggered another memory and he looked back to where he saw the gardener’s gloves. Moving again, Cole snatched them up and then sat down beside Jubilee to see what would surface.

Jubilee was more than excited. She was thrilled by the sudden turn of events and when Cole instructed her to reel in what she had possibly caught, Jubilee nodded once and did just that. The pulling at the end of her line had her convinced she had hooked a generously sized fish and so she let her rod do the work, keeping her balance and looking over to Cole every so often for confidence and encouragement. The feeling was like nothing she had experienced and she was sure her smile was hurting her cheeks. With smooth, non-stop pressure she fought the fish on the other side and when Jubilee spotted it, her eyes widened and she let out a small shriek. “I told you! Look!!” She worked the fish closer and closer pulling the rod tip up and reeling rapidly. When she finally reeled it in, the excitement had her panicking slightly. “Oh my God...what do I do next?”

Watching diligently while pulling on the gloves, Cole’s lips slowly formed an amazed smile. The fish fought all the way to the surface, curling its tail end to one side once it was out of the water. It wriggled violently on the pole only to stop suddenly while Cole moved closer again. “Tilt your rod back a little,” he said, reaching out to try and get the fish. It was his first time handling a fish but he’d seen movies and shows before, so he hoped imitating that, along with the jumbled mass of lecture from Logan and Professor Summers might work in his favor. “Damn, he commented, grabbing hold of the line first, “this thing’s kinda big.” He hesitated a moment when the fish flared its bony dorsal spine, but soon gripped it tightly, thankful for the protection of the gloves. Its mouth hung agape with the hook adorning its seam and its gills continued to flap open and shut. Sitting back with the fish gripped in his wide hand, Cole used his other hand to push and wiggle the hook out. “This is crazy,” he commented with a smile, managing to get the hook free. “Way to go, Jubs,” he added, his smile growing into a grin as he held the fish up slightly within the confines of the boat. “I’m not sure if this is a bass or a trout or whatever, but it’s bigger than anything I thought we might catch out here. You want your picture with it?”

Jubilee smiled proudly as she watched Cole handle the fish. “Thanks. I’m just so amazed right now but I don’t know a thing about fish so it could be anything for all I know.” She chuckled and moved closer to take a good look at her success story. As happy as she was, her smile faded slowly the more she watched the trout or bass or whatever wiggle in Cole’s hands. The pang of guilt made her feel even worse and she looked at Cole with worried eyes. She wasn’t sure how much time they had left but figured that maybe a quick picture wouldn’t hurt. Their friends would like to hear about this moment. “Um… don’t hate me, okay?” She bit her bottom lip as she searched for her phone and pulled it out as soon as she did. “I just...let’s take a picture with it and then...can we throw it back?” Her heart was breaking as she watched the fish and she looked up at Cole with a small pout. “Please?” Jubilee held up her phone, mustering up the best smile she could and leaned into Cole. “They’ll believe us if we have proof…”

Nodding, Cole said, “All I know is that it’s not a catfish because they have those whisker things near their mouths.” He felt Jubilee’s eyes on him as he focused on getting the hook free and when he succeeded and posed his question, he looked to her somewhat quizzically from behind his sunglasses though it had nothing to do with his question about taking a photo. The look on his face quickly faded into disbelief, jaw slackened. There was a deafening silence on Cole’s end, even after she pouted at him and begged. “....You’re kidding,” he said, pinching the fish a little tighter at the mouth. He grimaced while looking back at the fish, shooting daggers at it with a slight narrowing of his eyes. Were his hands not gloved and dampened from the fish and hook, he would have dropped his forehead into his palm. Instead, after pursing his lips to let out a noisy sigh through his nostrils, Cole turned his head to stare at Jubilee and her phone. “You do realize that if this had been my fish, we wouldn’t be having this discussion, right?” One more sigh later, he pinched his free hand between his knees to pull the glove off, held his hand out for her phone and said, “Alright, alright. I’ll hold the fish up and you hold your hands up next to it, to give some kind of measurement if people wonder how big it was.”

Jubilee frowned slightly and stared at Cole with sad eyes as he went on. “I’m sorry! But look at it!” Scenes from The Little Mermaid flashed through her mind as she tried to convince Cole and when he gave in, she smiled softly and nodded when he gave her instructions. She knew that perhaps it was asking for too much especially after all the bragging she had done but this was the right thing to do in her mind. “You got it!” She held out her hands next to the fish and smiled as widely as possible.. “Cheese!” When he snapped the picture, she looked over to Cole and asked him “Is it okay? Do you think it’s okay to go back in the water?” She chewed the inside of her cheek and observed her friend and her catch, hoping for the best.

Cole turned his gaze on the fish at her plea and after a few seconds, he said, “I am. Looks like dinner to me.” After a resigned sigh and agreeing to let the thing go after a photo, Cole shifted slightly in his seat, holding the fish beside her hands while his iPhone wielding hand readied the camera feature. Through her sing-song ‘cheese’, he’d snapped two photos and then brought his hand to the bottom of his sunglasses to push them up over his forehead long enough for him to get a better look at the pictures. The fish wriggled again in his hand and he’d almost dropped it in the boat but his fingers pinched tightly against its mouth again until he was certain the photo was decent. As he leaned to one side to pocket his phone again, he said, “Yeah, I think it’s still got enough life in it.” After one quick breath in and huffing it back out, Cole slid to the edge of the boat again; he recalled seeing a couple different ways that fish were released, from movies and television programs. He’d seen people toss them back in with both hands, and he’d seen people lower them with care as though reintroducing them to water. Not caring much about what the proper release protocol was, he threw the fish overboard with a flick of his wrist and watched it disappear under the splash of the water. The bubbles in the water quickly vanished and Cole affirmed, “Yeah, I think it’s gonna be fine. It’s gone to tell its friends to stay away from us.”