Fifteen years old.
"You're taking the sprint?" Came the arrogant voice from behind her.
Tessa whipped around and came face to face with the shocking green eyes.
"You got a problem with it?" Tessa asked. Her long legs meant she could cover the ground a lot faster than most, meaning she was the sprinter for the race. Her homeroom, or as they called it here, form classmates had oh-so-kindly put her name down for this sports event.
Gabriel's lip curled. "Yes. You're a girl-"
"And what's wrong with that?" Came the familiar voices of her best friends from behind her.
Tessa grinned at the voices as she turned.
The English project had been what had formed Tessa's and Will's rocky friendship. They were there for each other, absolutely no question about it, but there were times Will would distance himself from Tessa. She'd asked Jem about it, for the two of them had been friends the moment Tessa had been knocked over by Will's 'stray' ball. Jem had smiled and said he does it with everyone and to not let it bother her. So she didn't. And now? She was Will's friend.
"You claim to be smart, Lightworm. Surely you know of Boudicca? She was a woman." Will said, with the ever-present arrogance underlying his words, though there was an icy tone underlying the arrogance.
Jem caught Tessa's eyes and they both grinned, before looking away. Will arguing with Gabriel was a daily (and incredibly funny) event.
"And she was defeated." Gabriel cut in.
"No, she was betrayed." Jem corrected, the warmness he had with everyone still in his tone, though, like Will, there was coolness beneath it.
Gabriel just glared at them, before walking off. He knew that to continue arguing with Will about this would just end in Gabriel's humiliation.
"He's taking the sprint for Green." Jem said with a small sigh, which would be a long stream of curse words if it was anyone else. Jem settled with sighs.
Will smirked. "Yes, but Tessa's taking it for yellow, I'm doing the sprint for blue, and you're doing it for red." Will told him.
"What could go wrong?" Tessa said, though by the look Will and Jem gave each other, she'd said something wrong.
"Exactly." Will said quickly. "Nothing can go wrong." He said, a question in his eyes as he looked to Jem, who nodded.
"We're all well, all that remains is to sabotage Gabriel." Jem said, joking.
"It's already sorted." Will said, dismissing the comment.
"WHAT?!" Jem and Tessa asked simultaneously.
"Will…" Jem started.
"Did you deliberately sabotage Gabriel?" Tessa asked him.
Will shrugged. "Guess we'll find out."
Tessa was grinning. She'd came second. True, it was joint second with Jem, and true, Will had subtly tripped Gabriel, but still. Second was good. Second was great, though Jem insisted she take the medal.
"Why do I have to take it?" She asked. "It was a shared victory."
"James is already silver, Tessa. I doubt he needs to accessorize any more than he has done." Will said as the three of them stepped off the podium.
"I actually just hate the colour silver." Jem told her as they went to the back of the stands to their usual seats.
"Why?" Tessa asked.
Will smirked, so Tessa knew that his next answer would be a lie. "Well, let's just say that the colour silver is usually associated with coming second. Jem has to face the fact that he'll always come second to me, with the colour just a harsh reminder." Will said, mock sadly.
Jem laughed and pushed Will to the side slightly, so he stumbled.
Will grinned.
"Yes Will. You're so fabulous, we get it." Tessa said, rolling her eyes.
"See Jem? She understands!" Will said, as the three of them began to laugh, the hot heat of summer bearing down on their backs and making Jem's hair shine even brighter in the sun.
When Tessa thought of her friends, she still laughed at how they'd met. When Will and Jem got into a deep discussion, Tessa would laugh, because it was obvious that their personalities collided.
Jem. Beautiful, sweet, kind, caring Jem.
Will. Sexy, outgoing, insensitive, funny Will.
Of course, Tessa would never tell either of them that they were pretty damn fine. It would result in making Jem give his sweet blush that made Tessa heart skip a beat and Will giving his smirk that would make the blood in her pound.
Tessa sighed. The joys of being friendzoned by both guys.
Though perhaps it was for the best. How could Tessa choose one of them when they were both so important in her life?