West||Life Story

Chapter Three

"So, I heard about your parents... That sucks." Jake said, walking along side me down in the bottom paddock.

"You're the first person not to say sorry."

"What would saying sorry do? Bring them back?" She questioned. "It's just a five letter word that's lost pretty much all of its intended meaning."

"That's true." I agreed.

"You're a cool kid West. When I first saw you I kinda thought you'd be an arrogant prick, turns out I was wrong." She admitted.

"Who said I'm not an arrogant prick?" I said, feigning hurt.

"Aww, you poor thing. I think you'll live." She giggled.

"I felt rude for wanting to ask this... But isn't Jake a boys name? Typically speaking of course." I asked

"Yeah, mum and dad thought I'd be a boy and already had things made with the name Jake on it... I suppose it's a fairly sexually ambiguous name though." She shrugged. "So what's with the w names in your family... West, Wyatt, Wade and Winnie... It's a bit weird." She questioned.

"My parents names were Wesley and Wendy. All our middle names start with e, and we all have the last name Harrison, so all our initials are W.E.H. Wesley Edward, Wendy Elizabeth, West Ethan, Wyatt Edwin, Wade Evan and Winifred Emily Harrison." I smiled.

"All my sisters have the same middle name... I have a boys middle name. They all have Marie as their middle name... I'm just Jake Holden Wynters... To be honest I think dad chose my middle name because he's a big Holden racing team fan... He loves it when they hold the Bathurst 1000, we go every year." She giggled.

"I like your name. It's not mainstream, especially for a girl." I smiled.

"You have a very nice smile. Normally after people have been through what you have the smile would be all but gone... But you're still smiling."

"I'm tearing myself apart on the inside. I had the flu when they went away... They were gonna stay but I told them not to let me hold the rest of the family back from having a good time. Wyatt blames me for everything and I know it." I sighed.

"Well trust me, it's not your fault. The name the media gave it is pretty catchy though."

"Not when the media is following you around asking how you're coping after the Harrison Holiday Homicide." I scoffed. "It makes it sound like some shitty Christmas horror film."

"True that."

I wish it was a horror film.

***

"These are the horses. Tim-Tam, Oreo, Wagon-Wheel, Caramelo, Cookies and Cream." She smiled. "I named them. I'm the only one who eats junk food. The others think it's too tolling on their figure. I always tell them if they played sport and actually helped out on the farm it wouldn't be, but they never seem to believe me. The one that only eats junk food, but has a killer waistline."

"My parents were the same, so are my siblings. Mum used to go on about how I won't be skinny forever if I keep eating the way I do, but last time I checked, I'm the one with a six pack." I laughed.

"I'm on the guys team for everything. They always think I'll hurt the girls, especially in contact sports. You'll definitely notice tomorrow when you show the basketball coach what you've got." She smiled, picking up a hay bale and carrying it in to Caramelo's stable.

"You need a hand?"

"Yeah, just take a bale into Oreo. Dad already fed the others."

I grabbed a bale and lifted it up. It was a lot heavier than I'd first anticipated, but I was still able to take it into the stable no problem.

"You wanna play a game of one on one back over at the house? We have a hoop." She asked.

"Yeah sure."

"Yay! None of the girls ever want to play, so I end up having to invite one of the guys from the team over and they're all more focused on the fact that I'm a girl with decent tits than they are the game." She giggled as we walked back up the paddock to the house.

This will be fun.