Pear Picking

One-Shot

"I don't see why I have to be here," Jake says, crossing his arms and glaring at Mrs. Davis, his teacher. "She's the one that hit me first."

"You are here because of what you were saying that caused her to strike out at you," Mrs. Davis says, looking at her two students. Just a few days ago, she broke up a fight between the two, and it took talking to multiple children that witnessed the fight to find out what had happened. Jake had been saying hateful things to Amanda, Sam's best friend, and Sam was quick to defend her friend.

"She is the only one who deserves to be here. She slapped me," Jake says, glaring at Sam, who he was stuck standing next to.

"You should have kept your mouth shut when I told you to stop," Sam says, glaring right back.

"Enough, both of you," Mrs. Davis says. "Now, today you will be working alongside each other to pick the ripe pears from all of these trees. As long as you work together without taking a bunch of breaks, you should finish before it is time for your parents to pick you up."

"I am not working with her," Jake said, grabbing his bag and marching off to a tree.

"Just remember that what you don't get today, you will have to come back tomorrow and get," Mrs. Davis says, walking back to her house to get some papers graded. Sam watches her go before grabbing her own bag and walking to the tree on the opposite side from Jake.

After several hours, Jake has made his way through three trees and on his fourth while Sam is only on her second tree. Jake, being taller, can easily reach a lot of his without the need for a ladder, but Sam has to use a ladder. This means she is constantly having to move the ladder around.

"I hope you know I am not helping you with your trees," Jake says as they are eating the sandwiches Mrs. Davis brought out for them for lunch.

"I didn't ask for your help, and I don't need it," Sam snaps, putting down a barely eaten sandwich and walking back over to start working again.

"You should finish eating before you start working again," Jake said, feeling a small hint of worry for the girl. He knows he was beyond hungry, so Sam must be as well.

"Don't tell me what to do," Sam says, moving the ladder before climbing up it and starting to pick pears again.

As Jake is finishing his lunch, he watches Sam and frowns when he sees her trying to reach branches that are too high for her even when she is on the ladder. He looks away for a second to get a drink from his water bottle when he suddenly hears a loud crash. He is up and over to Sam before it can fully register to him that she is on the ground with the ladder laying next to her.

"Are you ok?" Jake asks, moving the ladder farther away and kneeling next to her.

"I think so," Sam says, laying there and trying to take stock of how her body is feeling.

"I am going to go get Mrs. Davis. Don't move," Jake says, getting ready to get up, but Sam grabs his arm and stops him.

"I'm fine. Don't bother Mrs. Davis," Sam says, sitting up and brushing dirt off her arms.

"You shouldn't be up and moving around," Jake says as Sam stands up.

"I'm fine. I have to get these dumb things picked," Sam says, bending over to pick the ladder up and gasping when she feels a sharp pain in her back.

"You are not fine," Jake says, grabbing Sam's arm and making her sit down. "Just stay sitting, and I will pick the last of these."

"I am not going to just sit here and get in trouble for not picking," Sam says, going to get up again, but Jake stops her.

"You can sit here and go through the ones we picked to make sure they are all fine and put them into the bags to be tied off. If Mrs. Davis tries to say anything, I will talk to her," Jake says, moving over all of the pears they had already picked before starting on picking the last of the pears.

Once he is done, he joins Sam in going through the pears, and they get talking. By the end of the day, they realize they have a lot in common and finish the job quicker than needed. By the time Mrs. Davis comes out to get them so they can clean up before getting picked up, she finds them both laying next to each other, fast asleep, with all the pears picked and packed away.