I pulled on a red plaid shirt over my jeans and top and grabbed a handbag, today was shopping day, the boys' birthday presents and Christmas presents too, I had £60 after starting a part time job at a newsagents down the road, I also need some clothes so today was an opportunity for clothes shopping too. I loved shopping, just having money was fun to me, let alone spending it. I leaped down the stairs and pulled on a pair of Charlie's old Converse,
"Bye," I called, "I'll be back for tea, if I'm going to be late I'll call you."
"Okay sweetie, see you later." Angela called. I slipped my mobile into my back pocket and opened the front door. Outside it was a surprisingly warm day for late November, the sun was out and children filled the street, a light breeze blew and birds twittered away to themselves, I could just tell that today would be a great day. Nearing the end of the street I spotted Olivia and Faith, two girls who I had met who also worked part time at the same shop as me, I classed them as friends because when I waved the waved back.
After about 20 minutes I spotted the first few shops and sped up a little. As I neared the centre I worked out which shops I would go to first, I had decided to get the boys chocolate and DVDs, they did love their movies. I rounded a corner into Grey Street and entered the music shop, it also had DVDs, gadgets and band merchandise. After a while I had chosen out a DVD set for each of them and picked out a shirt each with their favourite bands on for Christmas. In my head I made a mental note; boys nearly done, Angela to go. The woman behind the counter passed me a large bag with the items in and I smiled at her and left the shop. What next? Chocolate and cards! Across the street and a few shops down was a shop called Forntons which was, according to Angela, a very popular chocolate shop so I figured it would be best to go for well known brands. The smell of chocolate inside the shop over whelmed me and I bought myself a little bag of chocolate buttons as well as three boxes of chocolates for Alex, Charlie and Angela, now the boys were done apart from cards. I think I'll get Angela some nice clothes for her Christmas present, I can also get myself some new jeans! Checking my purse I saw that of the original £50 I now had only £30, I would have to limit myself to a cheap pair of jeans I thought to myself and sighed, these tatty old things were actually the boys' hand-me-downs and were very mis-fitting.
I spotted Primark about 20 shops down and pulled out the bag of buttons and began munching on them, I had plenty of time to have a few, you weren't allowed to eat in the shops you see, and I took this rule very seriously. I put the small bag back in my pocket as I pushed open the big glass doors of the shop and glanced around the rails and racks for something which would suit Angela, I found a number of items very soon and spent another half an hour deciding which one she would like the most, finally deciding on a dress which only cost £10 so I also chose some boots which were discounted. All together they costed just under £15. This was excellent, I had £5 to buy myself some new jeans that would actually fit. There was a wide range of jeans and I ended up picking out 5 pairs which I then went and tried on. I couldn't decide between a black pair or a blue pair of the same type of jeans so I closed my eyes and spun around in small cubicle I was stood in, on one side was the blue jeans on the other the black ones. I stopped and found myself pointing at the black pair. I returned the other 4 pairs to the assistant and strolled up to the counter where I bought the presents for Angela and my jeans. And that was that, shopping done. I checked my phone, I had set off at about 2pm and it was now nearly 4, I hurried out of the shop with my bags. We usually ate at about half 5 but I still had to get the presents past everyone and find somewhere to hide them, oh crap I still had to get cards and wrapping paper too, I knew there was a reason I hadn't spent that last £10.
I walked quickly down the high street dodging people as they walked the opposite way to me. A large group of boys approached me and I looked down at the ground, glancing up quickly as the were right in front of me, there was one, he had dark brown hair swept over his eyes and was wearing a green jacket, he was gorgeous,
"Hey Chris watch out!" I heard one of them shout then start laughing and he looked up straight at me and moved quickly to one side to get out of the way,
"Oh sorry!" He exclaimed grinning,
"Oh, it's, it's okay." I mumbled feeling myself going red. I smiled up at him then carried on walking, I took a deep breath and chuckled to myself as I heard the boys whistling at me, I spun around quickly, knocking into a man who was walking up behind me,
"Shut up!" I yelled and started to laugh, this just made them whistle louder, I stuck my tongue out at them and grinned as I saw Chris smirking at me, he winked and my heart skipped a beat.
"C'mon boys." He said and started to walk back towards me, the others followed, I turned around and started to walk away, I heard their shoes against the pavement, jogging to catch up with me. I felt a hand grab hold of my shoulder and turned around, expecting Chris to be there. But when I looked up at the boys face it was my brother. I gasped,
"Hey Jack, what are you doing man?" Chris yelled, "She's mine!" My mouth was still open but no sound came out,
"Isabella?" Jack whispered, I blinked and nodded quickly. He smiled at me and pulled me into a tight hug, "I knew it was you," He mumbled, "I missed you little sis." I'm pretty sure he started to cry because he started to sniffle.
"I. I." I tried to explain why I had left before but he just shook his head and hugged me tighter, I wrapped my arms around him too. My eyes began to sting with tears but I blinked them back. The other boys stood motionless, looking at each other and shrugging, Chris stood there, looking down at the pavement, obviously thinking that Jack had stolen his girl. I unwrapped my arms and cleared my throat loudly. Jack stepped back and took a long look at me,
"You look so much like mum." He said, his friends looked at him, confused. "Guys, meet my baby sister, she came home." His voice broke halfway through his sentence and he had to cough to hide his emotion.
"You have a sister?" One of the other boys asked, staring at me, Jack nodded
"But I thought it was only Finn..." Another said.
"Nope." Jack said, wiping his eyes, "Izzy is 3 years younger than us, she was only 3 months old when mum and dad died, she was taken into care and we haven't seen her since, she's 16 now." He informed his friends who shook their heads and looked genuinely sad about our parents' death and me being taken away.
"I really have to go." I said remembering the time and looking down at my shoes,
"No!" Jack and Chris yelled at the same time, they looked at one another,
"I can't let you Izzy, we need you, you, me and Finn, we're family we need to stick together." He begged,
"But I've only known that you exist few a month." I whispered, "Maybe one day, but for now I need people I can trust, I'm sorry." I told him, "But please do call me, I need to get to know my long lost brothers, hey," I added, pulling out a receipt and scribbling down my number, I wrote it again on the other end as an after thought then ripped it in half, giving one piece to Jack and one to Chris.
"See you around." I said and walked off in the opposite direction, I could get cards next weekend.