14Chapter One: I've got my eyes on you.
"Life doesn't give you the people you want. It gives you the people you need. To help you. To hurt you. To love you. To leave you. And to make you into the person you were meant to be."
Wild and frantic parties were not Brooke Parson's comfort zone but her so called best friend and only friend, Ethan De Wilde, convinced her instantaneously with just the usage of one word. It was astonishing that he was capable of persuading her by only uttering one word but he was a boy not full of much words so when he does articulate something, it's something either sarcastic or something tremendously noteworthy.
She gave an attempt to retaliate but Ethan merely smirked whilst ruffling her already tousled hair. In the end she relented and found herself being dragged to the bothersome party that Ethan was invited to.
Ethan De Wilde was quite the character. Whenever Brooke tries to revisit her pasts she finds it difficult to retrieve the whole memory on how they both encountered and how they became inseparable best friends because when she thinks about it, their personalities are so diverse yet they are so incredibly close.
Ethan is more of a reticent and antisocial person who rather chooses to spend his leisure time reading books. He has the looks; the money and the mysterious aura happening but amazingly those things don't content him. He's even popular yet he only has Brooke as a friend and she's totally the contrary of him. He has a sharp tongue and she's just comical and tries to make a laugh from everything. He's impassive whereas she's always smiling, giggling or grinning. He has blonde hair and she has dark brown hair. He has attractive, penetrating eyes whereas she has plain, tedious eyes that bore into you. He's popular and she's not. He's had manifold experiences with girls whereas she's only conversed with him, her father and older brother. He likes to answer everything with a sarcastic comment whereas she replies in pure honesty. They are so highly different but something imperceptible between them binds them together it's simply indescribable which is why when the teenagers at the chaotic party perceived Ethan and Brooke enter together they weren't surprised but they were shocked that Brooke actually came to the party.
Brooke immediately noted that people were staring at her. Automatically she nudged Ethan who was blankly roaming his eyes around the room, looking already entirely bored.
"Ethan," she said, leaning over a tad closer to murmur in his ears inconspicuously. "They're staring at me. Maybe I should just go… Ethan?"
As if he suddenly realized he was at a crazed party he subtly transferred his eyes to Brooke and smiled weakly, "They're staring at you because your sense of fashion is burning their eyes."
Hesitantly she lowered her eyes to examine her choice of clothes and then stared back at Ethan nervously. "Is it that bad?" asked Brooke.
Ethan hastily inspected Brooke, "It's horrible."
"Your flies are open."
"Better luck next time, Brooke," said Ethan. "You tried using that one last week."
Brooke poked her tongue and started maneuvering past the people who were partying with such gaiety. The dance floor was compiled with teenagers pressed against each other, swaying to the beat. In other words they were practically sexing each other.
Distinguishing Brooke's revulsion, Ethan dragged her to the other side of the vast house, dodging past people efficiently although, every now and then he paused for a second to nod his head vaguely at the people who had enough valor to say hello.
Ultimately they made it to the backyard which was much more liberated. There was still a compact of people spread out in groups, holding drinks in their hands whilst talking. Some people were from her school while some were just unknown people to her. People recognised Ethan and raised their hands at him as an amiable gesture of hello whereas girls started giving him seductive glances. He disregarded the glances he was receiving but deep down Brooke knew that he would probably end up hooking up with one of them and breaking their hearts. It's life and it's Ethan.
Just that moment as they sat down on one of the bench seats Brooke felt her phone vibrating. Reaching for it she pulled it out hastily and distantly glimpsed at the caller ID and noticed that it was her older brother, Jefferson, calling.
"Yes, Jeff?" answered Brooke sweetly, leaning back into the chair comfortably.
Ethan curiously raised his eyebrows as he grabbed a beer bottle for himself since she didn't drink.
"Where are you? Who are you with?" said Jefferson, his strident voice echoing through the phone. "Wait, is De Wilde there? Put him on the phone."
"Jeff," said Brooke, rolling her eyes. "It's okay. I'm only at a party and it's—"
But before she could finish her sentence Ethan grasped the phone off her and immediately started reassuring Jeff.
"Yeah," said Ethan, plucking his lips. "Jeff, I promised you, didn't I?"
Brooke could then hear her brother rambling fervently on about something while Ethan took a lengthy sip from his bottle of beer.
"Yeah." And with that Ethan ended the phone call and handed the phone back to Brooke without exchanging any words.
Flabbergasted she stared at Ethan with her mouth slightly opened in an "O".
"What? You're not gonna tell me what he said?" asked Brooke, somewhat annoyed.
He shrugged his shoulders. "He just said to keep an eye on you."
Brooke sighed. Her older brother, Jeff, was overly protective over her but the ironic thing was that it was him who needed the major protection thing going on. He was the one in her family who always caused problems. He was the one that always went out late partying.
"What else?" said Brooke, trying to conceal her annoyance?
"He just said to make sure you don't go do anything stupid."
Angry, she stood firmly on her foot and walked away. "I'm not some dumb bitch that needs to be looked out for. I appreciate the thought and all but I'm not going to go do anything idiotic like you and my brother."
Walking off in frustration she felt the tips of her ears slowly tinting with heat.
"What do they think I am, some stupid girl?" muttered Brooke angrily.
Stalking into the room she found herself breathing in an atmosphere clogging with sweat. Disgusted, she pushed past the mob of entangled people and reached for the front door, desperate to breathe in fresh air on the verandah but before she could reach for the door knob it swung open and a hysterical girl rushed into the room, running up to the dance floor, stretching for the microphone.
Embracing the microphone she shrieked into it, "Aiden Elliot and Prince Alexandra are outside the house!"
Before Brooke could comprehend who the heck Aiden and Prince were she covered her face as wild girls abruptly started rushing past the house, screaming as they reached for the door, exiting the house.
In the midst of all the chaotic running, Brooke frantically started pushing past the wild girls but no long before, she felt her arms being dragged across the midst of the mess by a strong grip.
"This is why I have to keep an eye on you," growled Ethan. "Or else you'll get trampled on by mad girls."