The Dates.

I heard the all too familiar tune that was basically the soundtrack to Jake's life. He played the song everywhere, literally. It's his ring tone so whenever his phone goes off, it's all I hear, he's played it in school during break time and lunch, he's played it when we've hung out at his place and he's played it just generally walking around the street. Right now, he was sat at my computer desk with Youtube up, beating his fist through the air in time with the drums.

"Doo, doo doo doo, doo doo doo, doo de doo de dooooooo!" he sang along loudly, spinning on the computer chair with his hands above his head.

"Please, not today." I grumbled into the palm of my hand, looking to my bedroom door and debating if I could make it out quick enough.

I had no chance.

"RISING UP, BACK ON THE STREET, DID MY TIME, TOOK MY CHANCES!" he roared, jumping up and grabbing the ever present air guitar.

Breathing out a heavy sigh, I grabbed my pillow from the bed and slammed it over my ears, already going over the apology I was going to tell my mum when Jake finally left later on. Not that she cared anymore; she was used to Jake singing and had chosen to live with it. Even through my pillow, I could hear Jake chanting valiantly along, as if he would combust if he didn't sing the lyrics and make a complete arse of himself.

Right now, he was pretending he was holding a microphone and was moving his free arm through the air, as if pointing to his loyal fans in an imaginary audience.

"Jake, maybe you should give it a rest today?" I suggested, though not hopeful that he would listen. I knew him too well.

"IT'S THE EYE OF THE TIGER!" he screamed, taking a running leap and skidding on his knees across the bedroom floor, like he was a freakin' rock star or something. Jesus.

"What is up with your music taste?" I yawned, tired from the long day at school.

"Hey! It's classic. You're the one in need of some serious musical education."

"Classic? More like past it, Jake."

He ignored me completely, instead choosing to repeat the song three more times after that and only stopped when I told him he looked like he was going to keel over. I handed him the always ready glass of water and watched him chug it down in one go. Smacking his lips, now refreshed, he wiped a sleeve over his mouth to dry off the water that had ran down his chin.

"God, I love that song!" he said, his breathing laboured.

"You think? I reckon it's gone way past the point of love, Jake. I'm talking obsession." I told him. "I'm seriously worried for you, mate."

Jake boomed out his laugh and let out a burp along with it. He bounced onto my bed and brought his bag with him, pulling out the wretched clipboard that I just couldn't escape from. The list of girls names came to a total of twenty four and Jake was here to narrow down the options for me. I should probably say something like I had complete faith in him...too bad that I didn't.

"Righty-o, Andrew. I think it's always best to start at the beginning, right? So number one of our list is Sophie Tuck." he informed me as he pulled out a yellow highlighter. The apparently lucky ladies who got to be interviewed by me (and Jake, it seemed) were the ones who were highlighted.

"Um, Sophie, uh?"

"Sophie Tuck. Year below us, brunette, kind of on the tall side." he said, examining the length of me. "I think she's taller than you, actually. She's out."

"What? Why?" I asked, thoroughly confused with Jake's elimination process.

"Dude, you can't date a girl taller than you. That's just...well, not cool. You'll look all petite and crap next to her." he babbled, instantly skipping ahead to number two of our list. He highlighted her without hesitation.

"Who did you just highlight? Jake, what's the point in me being here if you're gonna be the one to choose for me?"

"Well, you kind of live here, And. Why wouldn't you be here?" he replied back smugly, using the highlighter to scratch the back of his head.

"Dude, you know what I meant."

"Ugh, fine, spoil sport. I highlighted Josie Hunter. Believe me, you'll love her." he promised, winking at me like a wise old grandfather.

I shook my head, motioning for him to hand over the list. "No way, I know her. She's slept with half the school. I'm trying to find someone who won't hurt me, Jake."

Jake's face fell, the picture of disappointment. "Oh yeah. Well, I guess we could get rid of her..."

"Good. Now give me the list." I ordered, shoving my hand at him again. He clung to it like he was a child with a lollipop. I tactfully offered to buy him some food, from wherever he wanted, if he gave me the clipboard. After debating for a long moment, he finally relinquished the list over to me, promising he was going to find the most expensive restaurant on the planet.

"Right, now that's out of the way, shall we carry on?" I said, snatching the highlighter from his hand.

It felt like a long process but eventually, we narrowed the list down to ten girls. Well, Jake narrowed the list down to ten girls. It seemed that he still got his own way even when he wasn't the one holding the highlighter.

"Okay." Jake huffed, collapsing back onto my bed. "Angelica Hall is definitely in because, you know, it's her."

"Yeah, so is Lucy Davies because we caught her staring at me in History. Our logic for choosing astounds me." I said sarcastically.

"Don't forget Rebecca Grey. Admittedly, I was kind of unsure about putting her on there because she's like, a goth or something." Jake said. "Do you think she bites the heads off bats like Ozzy Osbourne? That'd be wicked."

"Don't judge people on their appearance all the time, Jake."

"Whatever. I was only saying it would be cool."

"Jeez, Jake. What's wrong with you?" I muttered in disgust.

"Nothing. Hey, how you feeling about the interviews tomorrow?"

"In truth? I think I'm sort of ready, you know?"

Jake laughed and gave me a thumbs up, dropping his head heavily on my mattress. He really must have worked hard today.