I disagree wholeheartedly with you on that one Pax!! Ask yourself...how would you feel if your best friend swooped in and slept with the love of your life who you've desired to be with since you can remember!!?? Even if we say she slept with Alex for purely altruistic reasons, which she didn't and she says as much, would you still not feel betrayed by your so-called best friend!!?? Agree with Sarah being a good role model for her kids though, Sarah and James are very wholesome and I love that about this VN.
Tara fucked up bigly and I can't understand all the praise she gets.
I think it all comes down to how you view Tara.
If you see Tara as only an opportunist, looking for a way to take his V card and - by going behind Jaye's back and taking advantage of both Jaye and Alex when they were vulnerable - stealing his virginity so Jaye and Alex would Never get to share their first time together, then you are right.
But --
I don't see Tara that way and my Jaye focused playthrough only reinforces my belief in the deep relationship she has with Tara.
When Tara drove Alex to her house in the aftermath of the fight on Graduation night, Alex was intent on leaving early the next morning.
Tara did not have 6 months to try to persuade him that this was a bad decision, she had less than 6 hours.
Hers was a hasty plan of desperation, the Hail Mary hoping to buy time or a change of heart so that Jaye could have a chance to tell Alex how she feels. She was an 18 year old girl trying desperately to protect her BFF's heart from her own anger and rage. She Knew how devastated Jaye would be if Jaye did not get the chance to try to make things right with Alex.
She made the most dramatic gesture of friendship and sacrifice she could think of to try to get through to Alex - choosing to give him her V card And telling him to imagine that she was Jaye, trying to get him to own the deep well of feelings she knew he had for Jaye.
She had to know that there was a danger that Jaye would not understand but Tara loved Jaye so much that she had to try, even at the risk of losing that most precious friendship.
So -
I see Tara as Jaye's BFF first and foremost - yes, she does crush a bit on Alex - but she Never pursued him out of respect for Jaye.
* She has known that Jaye was in love with Alex since she was little.
* She knows how connected they are.
Remember - no secrets between Sisters - Jaye's description of the relationship she and Tara share.
If Tara told Jaye what she did to try to stop Alex from leaving - and she did (early Yacht conversation between Jaye and Alex where he could lie about that night or not) - then it is implied that Tara knows about everything (bedforts,
the ring - final scene in CH 7, that Jaye is a virgin who held out for Alex (she did in my playthrough).
*
She arranged for them to have their 7 minutes in heaven together, making sure that neither of them did that with anyone else.
Jaye and Tara are in constant communication - from Alex saving Jaye's life when she fell overboard to Tara knowing that Alex was going to get lucky with Jaye before he did - she texts him and makes sure that Alex has 'the cheat codes' -
what story to ask Jaye about - her first kiss - as well as Jaye's favorite alcoholic drink - the Dark and Stormy.
Tara, from half a world away, does everything she can to smooth the way for Jaye and Alex to reconnect.
So it all comes down to how we view the friendship between Jaye and Tara, is it:
Some shallow thing where bitches back stab each other and can't be trusted with boyfriends or secrets.
Or
Best Friends for life - committed to trying to help each other and knowing each other So well that they trust each other's actions implicitly, even when the 'common man' might not.
I favor the second perspective.
