Everybody knows Jake West is always a second choice for Annabelle Chantarat, but when Year 11 starts and new girl Alice Hang enters the picture, Jake gets an epiphany, and suddenly, he's not second best anymore.
Honestly, Jake doesn't think much abo...
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Jake West isn't a stranger to parties. With a country club listed under his family name, parties are basically the only time where he can see his socially-charged parents. Although he's quite certain that Charles West hasn't got a clue what his second son is up to most of the time, Dianne West always drags him along to whatever fundraising they're having for the night because God forbids people see her as an absent mother.
When the rest of his friends were going crazy on the monkey bar, four year old Jake had to stay sane in his little designer suit and sit next to everyone's favorite firstborn, Jones West.
It wasn't easy to grow up in the West household, but blood is truly thicker than water, and now Jake finds himself handling social settings as if it's his domain —albeit reluctant sometimes— like tonight.
"Okay, this is crazy, I'm not doing this." Jake signs off a goodbye as he avoids eye contact with strangers trying to asses him. He should've known better than to take centerstage in the middle of the living room, but evidently, loitering on the sideline is an even worse position for someone who tries to blend in. If you look like know what you're doing, then nobody would be on your case.
"Oh, yes you are!" James snaps before shooting him an annoyed glare. "Jake, come on, what's wrong with you? We didn't come all the way here for nothing."
"What if someone notices we're crashing?" He reluctantly follows James to the kitchen to get some drinks. It is in times like this that Jake truly wonders how they've stayed best friends for the past eleven years since they met in kindy.
"Mate, we're wasting precious time here, you could've round up at least three girls by now, and are you kidding me? We're from Preston, we're basically kings." James answers with a disgusting level of confidence that only the James Haines can administer, and Jake swears he throws up a little in his mouth. He'll never get used to James' jackassery even though he's been the prime witness for a long time now.
"Seriously, just kings? Not gods? You know you'd make a great Zeus."
"Whatever Lemon Lime Bitters, you know I'm right. So what if they notice us? How much you wanna bet I can bed'em." James' retorts casually as if what he just said isn't a dick move, and once more, Jake is appalled by the fact that his friendship with James is what brings him this trouble in the first place.
Earlier this afternoon James found a Facebook Event circling around his long list of Camden High's fangirls and he decided to use this neighbor school's party as their crime scene.
"I don't know James... I have a bad feeling about this." Jake can hear the non-subtle whispers from the girls who are obviously aware that they don't belong there. "You know they're looking at us..."
"Well, of course they are, why wouldn't they?" James smirks contorts into a wince as he gulps down the red cup of Goon. Fruity Lexia mixed with off-brand orange juice might be the norm for house parties, but people in Preston operates with a different set of rules, and it is a far taste from their basic Asahi.
