Isabella's POV
"Bella I really would feel better about driving you there." Dad urged for what felt like the millionth time in the last hour.
I grabbed an apple from the kitchen and headed into the living room with my dad still following closely behind me. "Nope!" I chimed happily.
He had been following me around the house all day like a lost puppy, asking questions about where Natasha lived, who was going to be there, what time I'd be coming home and I hadn't been able to answer a single one clearly enough for him.
Mom laughed and rolled her eyes from the couch and shook her head in my father's direction. "Honey she's told you ten thousand times, she doesn't want you to drive her."
"I really don't." I added with a smile. I grabbed my rucksack from our old grey armchair and headed towards the door with a spring in my step.
"Bella it's going to be getting dark soon. I know that we live in a safe enough neighbourhood but you never know who could be out there." Dad pressed again, holding his car keys tightly in his hand and biting his bottom lip like his life depended on it. "At least let me drive you halfway. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened and I hadn't tried my hardest to take you there safely."
I groaned and threw my head back dramatically. "Dad I'm twelve. I'm not completely helpless you know."
My mom stood up from the couch and wrapped her arms lovingly around my father's shoulders. "Your dad used to roam the streets by himself when he was much younger than you."
My dad gasped and turned to face her with his arms crossed over his chest. "Laur don't go putting ideas into her head!" He then turned back to me and shrugged. "A boy knows how to handle himself... a girl on the other hand —"
I rolled my eyes and opened up our front door, feeling the cold crisp February air as it brushed against my cheekbones. I turned back to face them both and grinned. "I'll be back home by eight." I hurried down our driveway and waved frantically to the both of them as I headed in the direction of Natasha's house. "Don't wait up!"
I giggled excitedly to myself as I passed by all of the houses on our block and realised that for the first time in my life I was actually going to spend time with a friend who didn't happen to be Dean Morris.
Although I missed him and wanted nothing more than for my best friend to come back into my life I was also looking forward to the future ahead of me and all of the possible friendships I could make as the years went by. It was a new start and I had to remember that.
Natasha had invited me to come over to her house last week after our sleepover for a small get together with a few other people that I didn't know yet. I was nervous but also weirdly excited. I wanted to get to know new people and make more friendships than the ones I currently had.
It felt good to finally be known and seen as Isabella Lynch and not some half Italian girl with an overprotective father. Perhaps Dean was holding me back all this time from even forming any other relationships outside of the one him and I shared. Or perhaps I was just trying to make excuses so that I'd feel better about his disappearance. Either way, I was happier, and I really hoped that's the way my feelings would stay from now on.
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I quickly retrieved it, rolling my eyes when I realised who it was. "Are you kidding me? I just left the house!" I hissed to myself before answering. "Hello?" I asked sulkily.
"Are you there yet?" Dad asked. I could hear the worry in his voice.
"Dad I just left!" I exclaimed as I continued walking down our block. The sun was beginning to set a beautiful shade of pink above the growing trees and the wind was becoming chillier than it had been when I'd first left the house. "I'll probably get there in about ten minutes."
I could hear him repeating what I'd said to my mom in an over exaggerated tone before returning to his phone call with me. "Ten minutes? Bella it's going to get dark! I knew I should have driven you —"
"I'm fine." I sighed, running a free hand through my messy ringlets of blonde hair. "Natasha knows that I'm on my way anyway. I'm sure she'll be waiting for me outside or something."
There was silence for a couple of seconds on the other side of the phone until my dad finally murmured a simple, "Fine."
"I'll call you later okay? When I'm on my way home."
"Okay... okay." He sighed again. "I love you. Stay safe, okay?"
"Love you too." I replied before hanging up and turning around a sharp corner.
Most people love the idea of their parents, or their father, to be exact, being overprotective, but not me. I hated it, a lot actually. I'd much rather him be laid back and only ask one or two questions instead of following my trail like a sniffer dog and interrogating me like a police officer would to their suspect.
I was a good kid... for the most part. I never stayed out past my curfew (not that I ever really had the chance to anyway with my dad on my back) I was never disrespectful to any of my elders nor adults. I managed to get mostly straight A's and yet I pretty much get kept on lockdown by my dad.
As I continued to walk I noticed that the sky was getting much darker now. I'd underestimated just how quickly the sunset went down. For once my father had been right; for once.
After what felt like hours of walking which realistically had only been short of ten minutes I arrived outside of Natasha's house. It was a small yet quaint home with shiny fairy lights covering every single inch of the porch and a pretty welcome mat beside their front door.
I smiled and tucked my hands into both of my pockets before heading up to the front door and knocking my fist carefully against it. I could hear faint music coming from inside but it wasn't your typical party music, it was more mellow and relaxed. I kind of liked it.
Within seconds the front door opened with a quick force and Natasha stood in front of me, her dark brown eyes filled with happiness as she realised that I'd finally arrived. "B!" She exclaimed in excitement, throwing her arms eagerly around my neck and pulling me close to her vanilla scented chest. She pulled away and eyed me up and down with a grin. "I love your shirt! I didn't know you were a fan of Queen."
I smiled and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear before shrugging my shoulders. "My dad got me into them when I was little." I explained, suddenly feeling extremely nostalgic when I thought back to my dad singing me songs from old rock bands and incredible solo artists.
"Cute!" Natasha grinned before taking her hand in my own and dragging me into the warmth of her home. She closed the front door behind her and led me into what I could only assume to be her living room. "You guys, this is Isabella. She's my best friend so play nice okay?"
I was greeted by a room filled with four to five people, two of those being guys and the rest being girls who weirdly looked a lot like Natasha with their piercings and obviously illegal tattoos.
"Hey everyone." I murmured nervously, holding my hand up beside my head in an awkward manner. I really didn't think I'd be as nervous as this but clearly my overly confident attitude had failed me once again.
Natasha grabbed me gently by the hand once more and guided me out into her kitchen. She reached into the fridge and handed a can of soda to me before popping one open for herself and jumping up onto the kitchen counter.
Underneath the bright light of the kitchen I could see that Natasha had touched up her red hair dye. It looked darker than usual and her hands had a tint of red to them too which kind of gave her little secret away.
"Should we go sit with them?" I gestured to the living room and decided that finally after a few moments of silence between the two of us it was good for me to break the ice.
Natasha shook her head and smiled, taking slow sips from her soda. "Bored of me already B?"
I laughed nervously and shook my head, holding my soda close to my chest. "No of course not, I —"
She leapt down from the counter and giggled, throwing her free arm around my shoulder and guiding me back into the living room. "I'm just messing with you, B." She then sat down beside a girl with bright pink hair and patted the spot beside her to which I quickly sat down too. "Okay everyone, let's share our names so B knows who you all are."
A girl sat across from us with dark black hair, pale skin and dark blue eyes scoffed and held a lit cigarette up to her lips. "What is this, Tash? Circle time?" A couple of the others laughed and wearily I did too. The mysterious girl then cleared her throat and smiled at me. "Alright, alright. I'll bite. I'm Stella, but you can call me Stell, everyone else here does."
I smiled. "It's nice to meet you." I then raised an eyebrow and added. "Stell."
Stella chuckled and nodded her head in approval. "Dang new girl. If I didn't know any better I'd say you've been here all along."
A guy who looked to be about our age with dark rimmed glasses and light blonde hair raised his hand from beside me and Natasha giggled. "Go ahead T."
The guy grinned at me and held out his hand to which I accepted. "I'm Terrence." He explained with a nervous chuckle. As I examined his face more I realised that there was a huge gash underneath his right eye and quickly he bowed his head in embarrassment.
"Terrence is gay." The girl with pink hair explained from beside me. She reached over and smoothed her hand gently over his. "He got that horrible gash under his eye after some creep at school found him alone in the locker room."
I gasped and held my hands up to my face. "That's so disgusting. Did you tell your principal?" I asked, turning to Terrence.
Everyone laughed and I stared at them all in confusion. Natasha placed her hand on my arm and shrugged. "Their principal doesn't care. She only praises the jocks and cheerleaders, all of the misfits and outcasts get treated like scum. That's just how it is, B."
"I'm so sorry." I murmured to everyone. "It's not like that where Natasha and I come from. I guess I didn't know what it was like outside of my school."
The pink haired girl smiled in my direction and shrugged. "Don't say sorry. I wish we didn't have to know, consider yourself lucky." She then gestured to her hair and chuckled. "I'm Viola but everyone here refers to me as Pinkie."
I laughed. "That's ironic huh?"
Viola smirked and shrugged her shoulders. "My mom always begs me to dye my hair purple to live up to my name but I think the pink is here to stay for a long time."
Before anyone else could speak the living room door opened and a boy who looked to be around six foot tall with a big mop of dark brown hair and light green eyes entered and lifted his arm lamely to us all. "What's up losers?"
Natasha rolled her eyes from beside me and lifted her middle finger up to him. "Ha ha, funny. Where have you been anyways?"
The boy threw himself down onto the couch instead of joining the circle with the rest of us and pulled a small bottle of liquor out from his pocket. "Out." He replied sharply, not bothering to meet her gaze. He took slow sips and then handed it over to Terrence who politely refused. His eyes then lingered to me and suddenly he paused, pointing his finger in my direction. "Who's this?"
Natasha smiled and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. "This is Isabella. She's one of my new friends from school." Then she gestured to the boy and smiled at me. "That's Flynn. He's my foster brother."
Flynn chuckled and nodded to himself. "We're not related, thank god."
Viola and Stella giggled quietly to themselves whilst Natasha threw a pillow into Flynn's face. "Jerk!" She exclaimed with a smirk.
Flynn then focused all of his attention on me, a wry smile forming across his lips. "It's nice to meet you Is."
Is, I thought to myself with a shy smile. Yet another nickname I wouldn't have ever thought of for myself.
"It's nice to meet you too." I murmured shyly in his direction to which he smiled at.
Everyone began to talk and laugh amongst themselves once again but I kept my gaze fixated firmly on Flynn who now had his full attention on his cellphone.
I wasn't sure how old Flynn was but if I had to guess then I'd probably assume that he was at least fifteen. He was much older than I was by any means and if my dad or even my mom found out that I'd been hanging around with a group of people older than me who had tattoos, smoked cigarettes and drank liquor neat then I'd probably be as good as dead.
I leant into Natasha, still keeping my eyes fixated firmly on Flynn. "How old is he?" I asked, just quietly enough for her to hear.
Natasha gazed in the direction of Flynn and a smile appeared across her lips as she leant back into me. "He's sixteen." She explained, tucking a strand of her dyed red hair behind her ear. "My foster parents took him in way before me. He's pretty messed up but don't let that define him. He can be a good guy when he wants to be, I promise."
I began to wonder what she meant by Flynn being, 'pretty messed up', although it was none of my business I weirdly wanted to know more about him. He seemed mysterious in a strange sort of way and I kind of wanted to find out what his deal was.
"So where are your foster parents?" I asked, realising that I hadn't seen a single adult here yet.
Natasha pointed to the ceiling and smiled. "They're asleep." She explained. "They always let us have friends over during the weekend."
"Oh." I murmured. I suddenly felt more comfortable though knowing that her foster parents were asleep upstairs. At least that meant that things couldn't get too crazy around here. "So... what's her deal?" I asked Natasha, gesturing to a girl who was sat in the corner of the room with a book shielding her face.
Natasha took a sip from her soda and sighed. "That's Maisie." She explained. "She's not a big talker."
"Figures." I murmured with a bite of my lip.
Maisie has been sat there the entire time and hadn't bothered to introduce herself to me once. I hadn't noticed her at first if I was being truthful and so I thought perhaps she hadn't noticed me either, but Natasha had announced my arrival loudly to the whole room so there wasn't exactly a reason for her not to at least tell me her name.
"I'm going to talk to her." I said confidently to Natasha.
I stood up and brushed myself down before heading over in Maisie's direction. "Good luck!" Natasha called out with a nervous giggle. "She barely speaks to herself let alone anyone else."
Maybe she's just nervous like I am. I thought to myself as I got closer to her. Or maybe she's some foreign exchange student and I just don't know it yet.
I finally reached her and knelt down to her level before gently prodding her arm with my finger. Maisie glanced up at me slowly, revealing her light brown eyes and short bob of wavy brunette hair. "Can I help you?" She asked in what felt like a slightly condescending tone.
I smiled and pointed over to Natasha who now seemed to be engaged in a deep conversation with Viola and Stella. "I'm Natasha's new friend, Isabella. I don't think we got the chance to introduce ourselves so —"
"We did." She snapped, keeping her eyes face down at her book. "I just didn't want to."
I folded my arms across my chest and exhaled. Keep your cool, Bella. Don't freak out on her. You're trying to make friends, remember?
I put on a fake smile and extended my arm out to her. "Well I want to." I demanded. She timidly held her arm out back to me and we shook hands. "Isabella." I greeted with a smirk. "And you're Maisie right?"
She nodded slowly. "Yes."
I sat myself down beside her and glanced at her book. "So... what are you reading?"
She didn't reply for a few seconds until finally she let out a deep sigh and handed her book to me. "If you really must know," she began, pointing to the cover. "it's Jane Eyre, have you read it?"
I nodded with a smirk. Luckily I had, thanks to my mom working as a librarian and bringing all of the old books home of course. I'd done my fair share of reading old and new classic novels.
"Of course I have." I replied with a smile, which seemed to instantly grab Maisie's attention. "I won't spoil anything for you." I continued, realising that she was probably only a quarter way through the book. "But it's a great novel. I loved it."
"Wow..." Maisie murmured breathlessly. She seemed taken aback by my knowledge of novels and love for classic stories. "I've never met anyone who shares the same love for Charlotte Brontë like me before."
I giggled and shrugged my shoulders happily. "Well now you have."
A sudden tap on my shoulder caused me to turn around and lock eyes with Flynn. He was stood behind Maisie and I with his arms folded across his chest and a huge grin playing on his lips. "Dang Is, you've managed to crack Maisie already and you've only just got here. What else are you capable of?"
I smiled to myself. "A lot apparently."
Flynn chuckled and nodded his head in an approving sort of way. "I feel like I've seen you before, Is."
I raised an eyebrow. "I don't think so —"
He sat down beside me and shook his head. "No seriously. Do you know a guy named Connor Ball?"
I nodded slowly. "Yes. He's kind of family to me I guess. He's married to my dad's cousin —"
"Cece right?" Flynn continued.
As he stared deeply into my eyes all I could think about was how he knew Cece, or better yet Connor himself. I'd never seen Flynn in my entire life, how could it be possible for me to know him?
"Yes —"
He quickly cut me off. "My older brother used to hang out with Connor back in the day." He explained with a chuckle. "I'd sometimes tag along when I was around ten years old. So this one day Connor tells my brother that we have to pick Cece up from this house and that's when I saw you with her. You were a lot younger then though obviously."
I stared at him in a confused state. "I would have been six."
He nodded. "Yeah I suppose you would have been."
I then bit my lip and decided to ask the ultimate question. "Who is your brother?"
"Jesse." He replied. "Jesse Moore."
***
a/n
ooh Jesse! what do you guys think about this?
all my love,
b x