I Like Me Better When I'm With You | Ackley Bridge

33|'I Hate Ya!'

"Jordan." Mr Bell's voice snaps me and Jordan out of our daze in English. "It's time. Come on."

I squeeze Jordan's hand as he stands up to leave class, but he stops after throwing his bag over his shoulder. "Come with me?"

"I-I can't, Jordy, it won't be right." I shake my head sadly. "And you know how Cory will be. I can't handle that. I just..."

"Please?" He begs.

I sigh, "Fine, I'll just wait outside. Deal?"

"Thanks, baby." He kisses my cheek and pulls me along with him behind Mr Bell.

"Oh, Izzy, I wanted to talk to you as well." Mr Bell states as we walk out of the class. "It's about, Danny, I just thought -"

I cut him off, "Shut up."

"Who's Danny?" Jordan asks, jealously.

"Shut up. It's nothing." I say, and we fall into a small uncomfortable silence.

"So it's Mrs Carter, me, Mr Qureshi. It's, uh, nothing too formal." Mr Bell starts to explain. "Yeah, so, um, she's going to ask you exactly what happened, uh, just to have it in writing. And she might ask you a few more questions."

"But he can stop whenever, right?" I check.

"Yeah." Mr Bell nods to what I say. "Yeah, you and Cory, you can leave everything else up to us."

As we approach Miss Carter's office, my eyes fall upon Cory and Mr Qureshi. My heart pounds in my chest. I never thought I'd be this nervous to see the boy I've known my whole life.

"What's she doing here?" Cory asks spitefully, not even looking in my direction.

"I asked her to be here." Jordan defends me earning an eye roll from Cory.

"Cory, I-"

"Don't."

The four of them wordlessly walk into the main office whilst I wait on the steps outside.

Not two minutes later, Jordan storms out. "I'm not doing it."

"Jordy?"

"Hey, we're doing this together." Cory turns him to face him.

"Yeah, you can do this, Jordan, you just -"

Cory cuts me off, "Stay out of this, Booth. This is family business."

"Don't talk to her like that!" Jordan grabs Cory's shirt, roughing him up.

"Jordan!"

"Enough!" Mr Bell and Mr Qureshi get between the two brothers.

"What is going on with you three today?!" Mr Bell raises his voice. "Well?!"

"Why don't you ask them two?" Cory says, turning to me and Jordan. "There the ones sleeping around."

"Shut up, Cory!" Me and Jordan yell.

"Can we stay on topic, please? Deal with this after the meeting, yeah?" Miss Carter suggests.

"Exactly." Mr Bell agrees. "Now, Izz, I think we should really talk about Danny -"

"Danny?" Cory asks, finally looking at me. "Who's Danny?"

"Yeah, who is this Danny you two keep going on about?" Jordan asks, jealous.

"Danny like Karate Kid or Danny like Danny DeVito?" Cory asks as if that'll change his opinion.

"Stop." I tell them clutching my head, tears brimming my eyes. "Stop saying his name! It's nowt to do with you lot so butt out!"

Everyone looks at me, either concern, confused, or taken aback, so I take a deep breath before speaking, "Now let's get on with that meeting, yeah? Go on, Jordy."