Jake

24. The Party

A voice came from behind them.

"Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's-- Wait, what is it? I can't really tell. It's too short." Jake's head shot back to whoever was talking. She looked back and saw a tall guy with brown hair walking towards them. He was wearing light brown pants, a white button-up with the sleeves rolled up to his shoulders and a dark green sweater vest over it. He was walking closer to them as he spoke. Jake shook his head as the guy said, "You know, if you were any shorter-- Well, you can't get any shorter, can you?"

Jake stood up and said, "Shut up, Crestview." He offered her his hand and pulled her up from the ground.

The guy looked at her, tilted his head and smiled before saying, "What's your name?"

Jake said, "Don't answer him." She just looked down.

The guy said, "Okay, look, I'm having this awesome party tonight, but I could only have it if I invite everyone in 9th and 10th grades. And my mom won't believe that you said no. So...be at my house at 8:00 tonight."

Jake lifted his eyebrow and said, "So...Mr. Adam Crestview needs a favor. What do I get out of this?"

Sophia just stood next to him, watching and listening silently.

Adam sighed. "You can have fun or something. Look, you can even bring her. Just please? Everything would suck if you didn't come... Wow. I never thought I'd be saying that to you. Ugh. Anyway, would you come?"

Jake replied, "Ugh, fine. You're a couple blocks from here, right? I think I've seen your house before."

Adam said, "Yeah, it's green. You can't miss it. Thanks so much, Short." He turned around and jogged back to wherever he came from.

She turned to Jake and said, "Um, who was that?"

He shook his head as he said, "Some rich kid who thinks he's better than everyone else. He also gets people to do things easily. But, nothing to worry about."

She nodded, wondering where she might have heard his name before. It sounded so familiar to her.

He said, "You wanna come with me? It might make it less excruciating."

She smiled and said, "Um, sure. Sounds pretty fun."

He smiled and said, "Awesome. Um, maybe we should go, then. It's getting kinda late." She nodded. They grabbed their stuff and left.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to your house first? I mean, what if she says no? You don't have to stay."

He walked up the front stairs behind her and said, "It's fine. And there's probably a better chance of her saying yes if I'm there."

She started opening the door as she said, "True. Okay, come on." She pushed the door open and found a dark house. She turned on the kitchen light and looked on the counter. It read,

Sophia,

Sorry I forgot to tell you. I have a date. If it goes well, I should be back by 9. See you soon.

-Mom

She shuddered, knowing what she meant by 'if it goes well'.

She said, "She's gone. And she won't be back for a while. Uh, throw your stuff on the couch and... I don't know. I'll find something to do to pass the time." He nodded and she went to her room. She opened her computer and went into Spotify. She clicked on the first song she saw, which happened to be Love They Say by Tegan and Sara. She put the volume a little higher, then put it on shuffle before turning back around.