Bad Bets (Bad News Series Book 3) *Under Major Edit*

Chapter 1

"I don't feel like going, that's all." Isabella made a point, slouching back against the sofa with arms crossed over her chest.

"And, before you say it..." She said, holding a finger up to silence George. "...no, it's not the pregnancy hormones speaking."

Chuckling, he fell back on the sofa beside her, lifting her legs to rest over his.

"Babe, you'll get to see your friends, it's been a long time."

Pouting her lips she knew he was right but it didn't change her dislike for the idea. It was January the 20th, the day of the annual Brighton fair. It always seemed a little bizarre to her that they decided to carry it out in one of the coldest months of the year, however it always managed to crowd the pier and sea front with tourists and locals from all over.

"I can see them anytime, we don't have to go to this." She tried yet another tactic but George was having none of it.

They had all organised to meet up at the fair for 6pm sharp and spend the evening just catching up on what they had all been doing. It had been two years of creating new lives for themselves and things had changed a lot.

Isabella and George had sort of isolated themselves from everyone the moment the pregnancy had been revealed. They thought it was for the best, especially considering George's friends consisted of gang members and people whom still had fun getting into a lot of life threatening trouble.

George had left the gang when they had finally achieved the get out alongside Joe, the both of them being able to take a break and a breath of fresh air.

"Iz, it's been two years and you've seen Sophie for about four of those days. It's about time you reconnected."

The truth was, she was nervous. She had always lived in a completely different world to Sophie, Jack and Elliot. They had been bestfriends at school and after, but there had always been that obvious difference. They were from what was known as 'Uptown Brighton', where all the wealthy families grew up and gleamed over their success and riches. Whereas Isabella had been born and bred in the complete opposite location, 'Downtown Brighton', as it was called, where you got by on little but coped and got on with it.

Her mum never earned a great deal and neither was Isabella doing so now. George was bringing in what he could from the odd fights he did at a local ring, but he knew he was going to have to find something serious soon enough. They were just scraping by, living a life of little but were actually completely content, happy even, in their little bubble. However when mixed with people who were supposed to be their bestfriends, it made them realise how small their life savings had become.

"I know, you're right I just..." Isabella began to say before George cut her off.

"They never judged you before and they won't judge you now, they're happy for you, for us Iz."

*

"Shots, let's do shots!!" Sophie grabbed Elliot's hand, pulling him in the direction of the bar.

"Soph, I'd like to at least get some 'hello's' and 'how are you's' in before I get pissed." He laughed, stopping her from wandering off.

"You're lucky I love you because I would have ignored your sensible arse by now if not."

Sophie and Elliot had been going on strong since their messy battle over the past years. It had taken a long time to make it work but they were now finally balancing in something good for them. Sophie had earned herself a place as manager at Topshop, now running the store and absolutely loving it. Elliot was working his butt off at the race track, a business his father had set up where his sister also happened to share workload. The three of them were close, family close and work close, using good hours to keep the business alive.