Jake's Point Of View

I walk down the dark dingy corridors to the main hall – another boring wedding is all I need, for one family we seem to go to an awful lot of weddings, I could be texting right now or at least doing something vaguely interesting, but no – I am walking into a room of tables covered in bright pink flowers and a lot of people in dark suits and bright dresses with weird things on their heads that just about resembled hats… I barely knew the people getting married anyway, I think I may have meant the bride once and the groom, well, never. Sure I see why my parents have to go as they actual know them, but I don't. I'm 16, it's not like I couldn't have stayed at home on my own.

I sit down at the table with my evil parents for making me come here, there may be a slight over reaction there, but it's not like I'm going to tell them that, luckily my lunatic brother – Ben and my questioning little sister – Karen are on the little kids table in the corner of the room – I feel sorry for the rest of the children sitting with them. You see I am the only normal person in this whole family (in my opinion anyway) so I am glad my days of sitting on the horrible little tables with stupid little kids that ask annoying questions are over – all my parents friends seem to have a common dislike for children under the age of 13 so they seat them all in the corner of the room where they can't annoy anyone but each other, which is a great relief for everyone else, including me.

At least the food has arrived, that's something. I am about to tuck in when all of a sudden I see a girl about my age (one of the only people in the room) sitting on her own in the corner of the room looking lonely and quite depressed – as I have nothing better to do I go and join her. Maybe this whole day won't be a total loss after all… She is very pretty, with long brunette hair that hangs down to her shoulders. She is wearing a loosely hanging peach dress with a lacy collar that hugs her in the right places, but is not revelling like most of the other dresses here. All in all she looks stunning.

"Hi – Jake - -"I say awkwardly sticking my hand out hoping that she will understand what I am trying to say, I remember someone telling me that it was always better to be upfront about stuff, I don't expect they thought I would us their advice in a situation like this, but, what can you do? What would you expect and awkward teenaged boy to be like anyway…

"Oh… um… hi… I'm Ellie" she said after obviously not seeing me walking up to her. I talk to her asking her about how she knows the couple getting married, (in theory I am the Brides not sure what relation and as she is about 10 years older than be, I don't hold her to it…) She told me that the grooms younger sister was one of her best friends, but she had got ill the day before so she couldn't come which is why she was alone… If that was me I wouldn't have come at all, but she said she wanted to congratulate the couple anyway and that she would have felt bad not coming at all after they had given her a seat and food and everything, a kind thing that I know my family wouldn't have done.

In the end it turned out that almost her whole table had bailed on her as none of them knew here so she was sitting on her own anyway and with my desperate urge to get away from my parents meant I could sit next to her! Yay! I hate to admit it but I didn't sit next to her just to get away from my parents… I may have had another little motive.

As we finish eating our smoked salmon and buttery vegetables she begins to speak to me more about the snotty all-girls private school she goes to or more like forced to got to as she told me, I mean she told me she didn't want to go in the first place so I don't see why she had to go and the fact that her parents had fought a lot and then got divorced - I was extra sensitive on that subject… I know that I would be horrified if my parents were getting divorced; it did almost happen before… but that another story.

Ben's POV

"Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored! I am so bored. You know those people that have to stay in prison all their lives and have nothing to do but read old books that have worms and stuff living in them. I am a hundred times more bored than they are. Hey, Karen you know when you are really really bored, yeah? Well that's me right now!" I say to Karen hoping to ease my terrible pain by annoying her as much as humanly possible.

We have been here for hours now, and all we have done is sit in a church while old people cry and then walk from the church to the reception – now there is nothing to do but to eat these smelly sticky carrots… Karen is half asleep and just nods along, talking to Jake would be more fun that trying to talk to her at least we talk about interesting stuff even if we do end up disagreeing about it, so I look across the room at the silly old people table (I still can't sit there for ages and ages and ages because apparently I am very immature for my age or whatever those stupid adults say, not that we have wedding that often but still…)

I look around for another few minutes when I see Jake, talking to a girl! A real girl! This is one of my favourite things to do, mess with Jake, mess with his 'relationships' as he calls them. He always seems to fall for it so easily and as long as I don't cause any long term damage, he got really cross when he thought I had caused the brain damage. Hopefully I shouldn't get into too much trouble. I mean what harm can a little prank do? Time for a bit of fun I think, as I shake Karen a bit to wake her up before putting our plan in to action…

Karen's POV

After I finally come back around from my half asleep state. I really as so bored I fell asleep, properly asleep. I have never even meant these people and I think the last time Jake meant them he was two and that was almost fourteen years ago! I bet given a bit of time I could have convinced Mum and Dad to let Jake take care of us at home. I turn my focus back to Ben as I begin to listen to what he was saying something about a prank I think…

I giggle loudly as I hear what Ben is going to try to do to Jake, if this doesn't make today for fun nothing will, I am definitely not missing this – I am going to enjoy this prank… Most of the time Ben and I really don't get along, but we have real bonding time over annoying Jake.

Stealthily, I sneak under the adults table, and look for Jake's shoes, I get a massive stink of sweaty feet, and a lady on the other side of the table to Jake has taken her shoes off (Gross! Who takes their shoes off at a wedding?). When I find Jake's feet I quickly tie the laces together (It wasn't hard, the boys were converses everywhere he goes) I have become quite skilled at this after trying to learning to do it for six days straight with a wooden block and some borrowed shoe laces from Dads face leather shoes, it wasn't like he wore them a lot anyway, only to really big events so I didn't know why he got so angry – he was really not happy when I tied them so tight we had to use scissors to cut them off. Let's say when I start on something, I don't stop until I can do it - all I have to do now is get out from under the table and tell Ben that the target is really… I sound like a hit man and I like it. I think that could be a good future job. Karen Brockmen – Hit woman!

Jake's POV

I am still chatting away to Ellie when I think I her something under that table, I ignore it, I don't want to see like a paranoid freak in front of Ellie thinking that someone is under the table, I think it is all the years, living with Ben and Karen have done that too me. After I got out of hospital for the second time I flinched every time they came near me for almost a year. That really was one of the worst birthdays of my life. Actually, that was one of the worst experiences of my life in general. So I am pretty sure that it is just my senses messing with me, I really want to impress her and being weird is not going to help my case, turns out I really like this girl…

All of a sudden I hear someone sneaking up behind me tip-toeing along (living with my sidling's my hearing has grown very strong – you never know when the next attack will be and I get the feeling this will be one of them) I begin to turn around when I feel an ice cold – something, go down the back of my shirt, in shock I try to scream but begin so cold so suddenly - I panic, I try to take a step forward, but my feet won't go and I realise a few seconds later that my shoes have been tied together as I hit the floor – hard. Bloody hell, my head is ringing…

Sara's (Jake, Karen and Ben's Mum's) POV

I saw Ben sneaking up on Jake and I knew something was going to go very wrong (Ben always did this when Jake was trying to talk to a pretty girl, last time it was Lucy, and left when her new shoes were ruined with the dog sick, and the time before that it was Melissa and the badger poo… her father tried to sue us.) it was never fair for Jake, he was only trying to impress a girl, he would dress up all nice and take her out somewhere nice, but then Ben would appear out of nowhere and ruin it. The only time one of his 'girlfriends' lasted more than a week was when Ben was on camp. Let's say Jake finally left his room after a couple of days and we had to get him a new phone number because of all the hate he was getting for the girl and her friends. That was a bad week for Jake.

I could tell something like this would happen again and boy was I right…

I tried to catch Jake but I was falling to fast and as he hit the floor with a massive crack, I was about to help him up when I saw so blood come out of cheek and I began to panic, I can't cope with another trip to hospital this, we only got Ben back this weekend after one of his bonfires, he was lucky not to get worst burns. Jake enjoys telling him that he is a pyromaniac and then watching the confused look on his face as he tried to work out what it meant. Well, at least until he googled it…

Back to Jake, he tried to get up and managed it with a bit of help for Ellie who was at his side in a second flat, how cute! A little moan escaped his mouth as he regained him balance on to rather shaky feet, by now the whole reception was staring at Jake with his cut cheek "I tripped" he says simply and everyone goes back to their meals without any argument or even an 'Are you okay?', I thought it was a little mean but hey it was a rather good save for almost certain public humiliation.

But after years of experience at making up excuses for Ben and Karen's pranks all the family is rather good at it… Though I tripped, is not the best excuse ever.

Ben's POV

Oooppppppps e daisy – I only meant for a bit of a laugh, make him trip and them we who all laugh about it later, not for him to fall really hard and cut his face open, I think this is probably the third worst injury I have ever given him only after the broken leg and the dislocated jaw. Not that I mean to give him those either, all of these things happen by mistake. I wish more people understood that, because I know that I am going to get a proper clobbering when we get home, if not before.

He is really going to kill me now, mum is going to kill me after Jake is done with me and today is just going to get worse! I walk over to Jake who is talking to Ellie as she puts a massive plaster over him cheek and tells him how brave he his – he is enjoying that immensely, maybe a little too much – someone's got a crush… Maybe this day could get a bit better. I can mock him whilst he is killing me!

"Hi Jake, look, I am really sorry and I really didn't mean to hurt you or anything, Karen and I were just really really bored and we wanted something to do and – "I say before begin cut off by Jake, I was expecting to get a punch or at least something, but what came out of his mouth next really confused me…

" Look, it's fine, I am just as bored as you are so don't worry and anyway – my cheek will heal, it's just a cut" He says calmly. Too calmly for my liking.

I was very surprised and I mean really heart attack surprised, I expected him to rip my head off. I thought I had gotten out of the woods but then, when he leaned closer to me he whispered in my era "You will pay for this you little toad, if you have ruined my chances with Ellie , I will actually kill you…" I knew it was too good to be true, but he must really like that girl to be nice to me for her… I am beginning to wish that I hadn't scared off all of those other girls before if this is how he behaves when he is around them, it could have really worked in my favour.

Jake's POV

Be strong, don't cry – everything will be fine, though I will probably need stitches (again, my ankle never really healed after Ben and that stun gun. I still don't know how he got that thing.) "Oh goodness! Jake are you ok? Stupid question, of course you're not, poor you…" Ellie says to me, I love the way she speaks, adding little side notes to herself as she goes alone… it's like she is trying to have a convocation with herself "Yeah, I'm Ok, you get used to my brothers and sisters pranks after 16 years of it. I've had worse…" I reply, biting my lip to stop myself bursting into tears (I'm such a wimp, I know, but hey my face felt like it was about to fall off) "Well, I think you are the bravest person in this room" she whispered in my ear before giving me a kiss on my good cheek…

If every time Ben hurt me I got this kind of treatment, it may be something I could get used to. Just maybe…

A.N.

New story! Outnumbered is probably my favourite TV show of all time (apart from maybe 'Friends'. And I've had this story written up for ages. It was on Wattpad, but I took it down, so it's here now!

I hope you enjoy...