Izzy Malik; Teenage Years

Chapter 25

Jake and I had been home for almost a week now, he had gone back to school but I wanted to wait until all the fuss about my Dad's accident had died down because I didn't want to attract unwanted attention at school. Today, I was going back to school, Jake's been telling me that no one's really talking about it and that the girls want to see me. I wanted to see them as well but it was hard because I was always home and they were at school, if they weren't at school then they'd be busy with sports or meeting with their friends so I couldn't see them much.

I looked at my reflection in the full length mirror, adjusting my hair and becoming aware that it didn't look that great so I quickly put it up into a messy bun. Year 10 was challenging and the fact that I had to sit my GCSE's next year but my mocks this year wasn't really helping me out when it came to stress. My stress levels have been too high for the past few months, it was scary. I looked down at my outfit which was a black and white stripy shift dress with a pair of tights, my biker boots and a leather jacket. I wasn't really keen on the whole 'dresses and heels' but if I thought I could pull off a dress as something casual then I'd wear it. My thoughts were cut off by Jake who was standing in my doorway with a small smile on his lips, I hadn't had seen him since our first day back in Bradford. The only way I could talk to him was over the phone, my grandparents found out about what went down in London and they've officially banned him from staying in my room, coming in my room or even being left alone. I don't think they wanted a great-grandchild, I don't blame them.

I walked towards Jake, my arms around his neck, his around my waist. My head was nestled in the crook of his neck. I let out a small smile and muttered a quick,

"I've missed you." He didn't respond, he just let out a small smile against my neck. I took in a whiff of his smell, peppermint and cigarettes, I scrunched my nose in disgust when my nose recognised the scent of cigarettes. I pulled away from his embrace and looked at him with a disgusted look on my face,

"Cigarettes, really Jake? I thought we've talked about this." He let out a frustrated sigh and ran his hand through his hair. I have to admit, it was pretty hot. Focus Izzy, he broke his promise. Now's not the time to think he's hot.

"I know, I know. It's hard. I've been smoking for over a year and it's hard to quit. Those patches didn't help with nothing, if anything they made it worse. Plus, I've been under a lot of pressure lately as well." Instantly, I shot up, worried about his home life. He didn't really talk about it much and he doesn't live with me any more so I worried about his safety a lot.

"What's up Jake?" But he had a look on his face which showed me that he didn't want to answer my question and I didn't want to pester him about it, he'd tell me eventually when he was ready. With us, we never pressured the other to talk, it just happened. I planted a kiss on his cheek and took a hold of his hand smiling down at our intertwined fingers.

Jake and I were now entering the school, he took my hand in his and gave me a warm smile, which instantly made me feel better about everything. I took a deep breath and gave his hand a squeeze. Jake opened the door and we walked through the hallway in silence. People were whispering and some didn't really acknowledge our presence. A lot of people were looking at me with a weird look on their face but I already knew why, they finally knew exactly who I was and why I was here. No one really bothered me before but I had a feeling that it was going to change. Jake and I continued to walk in silence along the hallway until I was stopped by Cassandra, Claire, Amy and Elizabeth. I gulped, I hadn't had really told them everything because I wanted to tell them in person but I'm pretty sure the internet did my job for me.

They all looked at me with a stern but soft look in their eyes, we stood there in silence, my hand was still attached to Jake's and I wasn't going to let go any time soon. We were all standing in a circle until one of the boys from Jake's football team came, I recognised him as Eric, he was nice. He stood there, raising an eyebrow at the silence, he quickly turned to me,