A year to remember

3. Mila

We arrived at Jared's home, a beautiful luxury Baroque style mansion. His parents were away for the weekend, as they usually were, which meant we had the run of the place as well as his parents vast alcohol stash. His house wasn't far from Alyssa's apartment, and we could have easily walked it, but you know, heels.

The music was pumping, the crowd keyed up; but the moment we entered, everything changed. The mood was suddenly elated. After all, it wasn't a real party unless we were there, and this party was to celebrate our last weekend of holidays and to kick off our senior year with a bang. If anyone could throw a killer party to set the mood for the year ahead, it was Jared. Well actually, Alyssa could too, but in her words "I don't feel like having any losers in my home." Plus, we had pilates in the morning and I knew she didn't want to be hungover and have drunken teenagers on her furniture and floors. Because eww!

I recorded our entrance on my instagram story; I was quickly gaining more followers every day and a few boring brands had reached to me to collaborate, but I was saving myself for the big guns; the high end fashion brands. That's what I deserved.

Scarlett's phone rang, Tyler had just arrived. She shot me an excited smile before she walked outside to greet him. Alyssa and I made our way through the foyer. I spotted Jared in the next room, pouring shots with some jocks, including Max, the quarterback. They were already pretty drunk by the time we made our fashionably late appearance. Knowing them, they would have been drinking all afternoon, watching sport in the home theatre before the party kicked off. As the boys nodded a hello and walked off, I saw Max watching me, his eyes lingering on my chest. Tempting, but not tonight.

"Looking good ladies," Jared said, eyeing us off as we approached him. "Which one is my date tonight?" He grinned, rubbing his hands together.

Alyssa rolled her eyes, acting like she didn't enjoy the attention. "Puh-lease, Jared."

He pulled us both in for a quick hug, smiling in his cheeky, charismatic way. I swear, if anyone else pulled that, I would have instantly labelled them a sleaze, but Jared was just a charming heart-throb, and although flirtatious- and sometimes borderline too crude- we knew his friendship with us was completely plutonic, so he always got away with it. In fact, it was almost borderline offensive that Scarlett, Alyssa and myself were the only girls in the school to sit firmly in his friend-zone. 

Then he looked up and raised his eyebrows slightly, in an oddly surprised manner. I turned and followed his gaze to Scarlett, who had walked up behind us, with Tyler by her side. "Wow Scar, you scrub up nice," Jared said and she smiled uncomfortably at his compliment. My eyes shot to Tyler, who was staring daggers at Jared. 

One of the things I loved most about Scarlett was that she had a humility about her that no one else had. Alyssa had been born into the most powerful family in town, everyone knew her name. Jared and I had been blessed with good looks and to rich, successful fathers. Naturally, when you are told you are blessed and unique and above everyone else from a young age, the message gets ingrained into you and you develop an ego. I wasn't stupid, I knew I was selfish and a bit of a narcissist, but I owned my flaws. They were a part of me and I embraced it all, the good and the not-so-good. But Scarlett had been raised by parents with strong family-centred values, and although wealthy, they didn't put as much emphasis on their looks, power and money as our families did. They believed in hard work, in study, and in quality family time. That concept was foreign to the rest of us.

Jared pulled Scarlett in for a hug, completely ignoring her boyfriend, Tyler, who was just behind us. He hugged her for a moment longer than he hugged us, squeezing her tightly and almost nuzzling into her neck. Jared shot Tyler a smirk over Scarlett's shoulder. I rolled my eyes; he was such a pot stirrer and would do anything to annoy Tyler. Tyler looked like he was ready to lose his cool.