Tosser~ a James Cook fanfic~

Cook ~1

It had been a couple weeks since Tess had started college and so far it was proving to be...interesting to say the least. Every day Katie had been forcing a friendship with Effy and Panda, leading to some painful lunch hours. Emily seemed distracted as ever but Tess couldn't figure out why. And then there was Cook. He hadn't let up one bit. Every single day, he found some new way to torment her. Whether it was commenting on her outfit—always something along the lines of, "A bit much, innit you might have to take it off?"—or pointing out her tongue piercing with that mischievous grin, pretending to like it but clearly just trying to rile her up. He had this way of getting under her skin, even if she wouldn't admit it. So that's how she had come to hang out with such a random group.

It was during one of those particularly painful lunch hours, sitting with Katie, Emily, and the usual suspects, that Cook decided to announce his birthday plans. He swaggered over to their table with his usual confidence, a dart in his hand and announced loudly, "Right, you lot. It's my birthday next week, and we're having a proper piss-up."

Freddie, who was sitting nearby with JJ, rolled his eyes but smirked nonetheless. JJ, excited as ever to be part of something, chirped in, "Are you giving out invitations or just broadcasting it to the entire year?"

Cook laughed, a loud, carefree noise, and started handing out crumpled-up pieces of paper that looked more like shopping lists than birthday invites. "Here, Freddie, JJ, Naoms you're in. Twins, Eff and ye weird friend too."

"Oh wow thanks Cook! I've never been invited to a party before. This is gonna be great isn't it Eff?" Pandora said excitedly, Cook harmlessly laughing at her innocence

He kept tossing them around, but when he got to Tess, he hesitated. JJ noticed and, always too upfront for his own good, said, "Cook you didn't give Tess one."

Cook grinned mischievously, raising an eyebrow. "Eh, I guess she can come."

"Wow, you're really rolling out the red carpet, Cook," Tess said dryly, taking the paper from him with an exaggerated eye roll.

"Don't get all emotional on me, babe," Cook teased, leaning a little too close to Tess. "Wouldn't want you fallin' for me."

Tess scoffed. "Please. I'd rather throw myself out of a window."

Cook just winked at Tess, clearly not bothered by the rejection. "See you at mine, then."

"What makes you think I'll come to your big birthday bash?" Tess teased

"Not think, love—know," Cook shot back with a playful grin. "See you there. You can thank me after, yeah?"

Tess smirked and leaned back in her chair. "No thanks, I've got a thrilling night of rearranging my undie drawer planned." She said sarcastically as Emily stifled a laugh

As much as he got on her nerves, there was something about Cook's relentless energy that made it hard to stay completely annoyed with him.

After school Tess was walking back with Katie again

"So you going to Cook's thing then?" She nudged her friend

"Dunno I mean it could be really hilarious but I don't exactly wanna give him the satisfaction" Tess wondered

"Oh babes it will be so worth it yeah? Just come please" Katie said as she skipped off down her street 

COOKS PARTY

It was the morning of Cook's birthday and Tess woke up to a gloomy looking day in Bristol. She reluctantly got out of bed trying to make the most of the day. She rolled out of bed reluctantly, dragging her feet down the stairs. The last thing she wanted was to run into Paul, who always seemed to pop up with the world's worst attempts at small talk. Instead she found Michelle sloppily eating a bowl of cereal.