Forbidden Mates

Ch 5: Partners?

Izzy's POV: 

After the ambush family meeting, I ran to my room faster than I thought possible. Of all the people my brother could show interest in it just had to be my friend. Why couldn't he just be with anyone other than her? I ended up staying in my room for the rest of the night and went to bed. Before I knew it, my alarm was going off and I was getting ready for school. I peeked my head out of my door and didn't see anyone so I made a run for it. The last thing I wanted to do was run into my brother or my parents. How could they be on his side? They know how hard it's been for me to make a friend because of my brothers and the one time I do, they side with my brother who happens to have a crush on her. I make my way to the kitchen before I run into my dad. I tried to turn around before he could see me but I was not fast enough. 

"Izzy, I know you think we're against you right now, but we're not." I couldn't help but roll my eyes and let out a sigh. 

"He could have anyone else. Why does it have to be her?" He let out a sigh and put his hand to his nose. 

"Your brother has never shown any interest in anyone. Doesn't that mean your friend is special to not only you but your brother? And if she's special don't you think that means she can be your friend and something to your brother?" I grabbed an apple and water. 

"I'm going to be late for school. I'll see you after school." With that, I went out and got in my car. 

Once I pulled into the parking lot, I made my way to my locker. Fortunately, no girls stopped me nad tried to get anything from me about my brothers. I made it to my locker and found Claire already there. I know I shouldn't be mad at her, but I can't help it. Why did he have to like her? 

"Hey, how was your night?" I thought about ignoring her. Thinking maybe if I ignored her, then my brother would stop showing interest in her. But if I ignored her then I'd lose my only friend. 

"It was interesting. How was yours?" We started making our way to class. 

"Long. You would think with all the moving I've done, I'd be used to unpacking. Yet it still feels as though it gets longer each time." I couldn't help but let out a small laugh. We made our way into class just before the bell rang and sat down. Mr. DiNozzo came in and announced that we would have a project. You would think the second day of school would be too soon for a project but I guess not. He told us we'd be able to pick our partners and then get our assignment. 

"Would you be my partner Claire?" 

"YES, I always used to hate picking partners as the new kid but now I've got a best friend so I don't dread it as much." I smile and then make my way to pick out a folder with the assignment. Once I get back to our seats, we open the folder and look it over. We were assigned the Italian government and how it compares to other governments, what programs we would implement, and what we would remove, change, or add. Mr.DiNozzo was kind enough to let us start in class but told us that we would have to work on this on our own time. Before we knew it, the class was up. As we were walking to class, Claire and I talked about whose house to go to for the project. We ended up deciding on my house since Claire was still unpacking at her house. 

I texted my dad asking him if it would be okay if Claire came over to work on our project tonight. He ended up just sending a thumbs-up emoji, so I let Claire know. We decided she would just follow me home after school. Before we knew it, the next class started and I tried very hard to focus but all I could think about was whether or not Ryder would be home tonight.