I've Been Waiting For You ~ Lucy Bronze

'This Seems Like A Bad Idea'

Isadora's POV-  (Finally)

"Dominick! Can you get the door!" I yelled again. He came slouching down the stairs, a deep scent of weed followed him.
"Why have I always got to get the frickin door?" He snapped back at me. He knew why he had to answer the door. We all knew why. He's the only one of us who looks anywhere near close to being an adult.
"Izzie!" He called for me "It's for you!" His speech was slurred, and cheerful. A fake cheerful I knew only too well living here. The kind of cheerful that told me I was really in for it later on.
As I walked down the corridor from the kitchen, I caught a glimpse of the intimidating look that rested on Dom's face. Naively, I had believed he would walk past me and continue back to his room, instead, he barged his arm into my shoulder harshly and gripped onto my upper arm as he whispered through gritted teeth
"I swear to God, if she calls the police Isadora, you're out within the hour"
I nodded, too scared to say anything. He let go of the grip on my arm, barged my shoulder again and stumbled off leaving me alone.

"Hey Kei," I smiled "What are you doing here." I was pleasantly surprised at her showing up. After all, I completely expected her to forget about me. She's a world-class footballer, and I'm a runaway care kid. I understand how she took pity on me that day, but I don't understand why she came back.
"Don't 'Hey Kei' me young lady. I've been worried sick about you" She lectured completely unexpectedly.
"Why?"I asked as I leant across the door frame to try and obstruct her view of the state of the living area.
"Why." She scoffed "What do you mean why? I've been expecting a call from you all week Iz"
"Calm down, we only met 5 days ago. Anyone would think you were my mother" I smirked.
"I may not be your mother, I may have only met you 5 days ago but I care alright?" She argued back.

Holding my hands up in surrender I walked backwards into the corridor. She stood there confused, watching me walk further into my house
"You coming in or what?" I asked whilst turning the corner into the kitchen. I heard the door shut and her step into the hallway, I called out to her
"Keep your shoes on, God knows what's touched this carpet" She inspected the faded green carpet, covered in stains, burns, and cigarette butts. I tried not to look at her face, I knew she'd be judgmental of the state of the house.
"Fancy a drink?" I asked in an attempt to distract her from finding anything else she probably shouldn't see.

"Um, what have you got?" She asked waiting at the opposite end of the kitchen from me
"Water, orange squash, vodka, gin...and that's it" I listed whilst digging through the cupboard
"Just water please Iz" She smiled slightly at me. I filled two glasses and handed one over to her. We stood for a moment next to each other before I led her through to the living area.
"No offence Iz but it er... kind of stinks of weed in here"
"I don't know what you expect from a bunch of care kids Kei," I told her whilst sitting on a bean bag in the corner of the room. "We could go for a walk instead if you want" she quickly agreed.

After placing the empty glasses in the sink to be washed later, I told her I needed to grab something from my room. What she didn't know was I was hiding my own weed. The weed a 12-year-old should not know of, let alone have access to buying. Just as I'd placed the last of it behind my skirting board, I heard a knock on my bedroom door. I called for whoever it was to come in. The knock was soft and delicate. It was caring.

"Hey, you were taking a while I just wanted to check you were okay." She told me as she inspected my room, just as she had done with the kitchen and living room. My room was quite bare. Very different than it had been at my care home. The walls were cream with a white skirting board surrounding the room, my bed was pushed into the corner of the room, furthest from the door covered in a navy blue duvet and a grey blanket draped over the top of it. My wardrobe, bedside table and dresser drawers were all padlocked. A precaution after having learned from past mistakes of trusting my housemates.