𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐄, ackley bridge

03: FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

——
THE NEXT DAY OF SCHOOL, TO HER SURPRISE, FLEW IN FOR MARNIE. She had been officially enrolled in her A-Level classes: English, Art, and Travel & Tourism, and was finding the classes manageable as of now (she wouldn't be saying that in a month's time, A-Levels101: Don't get cocky and claim A-Levels are easy - you'll just jinx yourself). Mainly because she'd only had art – a class for the quiet, easy-going pupils usually took, meaning she had no erratic boys were messing about or prissy girls wasting class time, bickering with the teacher. She had the class for three periods and then 'study' periods for the remainder of the day in the common room – study were basically free periods because no one tended to do their work in there.

She'd been in the room, lifting her bags to get ready to go home after a stress-free day. She was glad she had her classes as an excuse to not see either of her friends today - Missy was still annoyed with her that she wasn't doing anything about Nas, failing to realise that if Marnie did deal with Nas, it'd likely end up in a brawl because of how two-faced she was acting towards her best friends. She was glad she didn't have to see Nas because she knew it'd definitely result in a brawl if Alya and her minions were by her side. She had never been so glad to have picked the subjects she had as they had granted her a peaceful morning.
Tuesdays were about to be her favourite day.

The school intercom screeched through the speakers of the school before Jordan Wilson's voice could be heard ranting through them just as she stood up. "What do we all think of Ackley Bridge then?" He asked rhetorically, answering himself with how much of a shithole it was. Students paused in their tracks and teachers stopped their lessons as his mix of opinions and insults aimed towards the teachers, students and the community. "It doesn't matter if you're white or Asian, there's no jobs for any of us! We're all going nowhere!"

Many pupils like Marnie were gobsmacked by the act of the boy, the balls he had to speak his mind over the bloody intercom. How'd he even get access to it? Did that boy just go to school to run the corridors?

"What you all lookin' at?" She heard a deepened voice spit towards all his peers, and without getting the chance to look over, Cory was already storming out of the room with his blazer under his arm, escaping the judging looks and stares of other pupils. Marnie got a whiff of his aftershave as he stormed past her and out the door, just as the intercom squeaked off.

Well somebody's spending the rest of the week in isolation.

She rushed past her peers to see where the angered boy ended up - it was clear he was fuming at his brother; embarrassed by his behaviour and messing about, it made him look just as bad. "Cory! Would you calm down?!" She said after him, seeing how his fist was clenched and how aggressively he shrugged on his blazer. He stopped at his locker to grab his bag and Marnie leaned opposite him, "yo!"

"I'm going to kill him." He said, pulling his bag out of the tin cabinet.

"Don't. You have to ignore him," she warned, watching how he frustratedly collected his things. Students were rushing by them to get home from the school day while the teenager was getting ready to knock some sense into his brother - quite literally. "I'm being serious. Your dad will deal with him, you've got nothing to do with it!" She repeated, watching him closely. Marnie Cooper knew somewhat of Kevin Wilson as a person - mainly because he'd gone to school with her mum and she'd told him what he was like as a past pupil: loud, aggressive and always starting a fight with other boys. Little did she know their dad would deal with Jordan a lot worse than what she knew of.

"Nothing to do with it? He's my brother!" He exclaimed irritably, "he can't stay out of trouble for 2 seconds!" Cory knew his frustration was out of protection for Jordan, because he knew his father would be the one to deal with him, and that was the issue. He didn't know why he always did these things when he knew the consequences he'd face at home - his dad certainly didn't go easy on him.