Chapter 7

Ryan's POV

Lunch break rolls in sooner than expected.

Standing in the queue in the cafeteria, I look at the menu to decide what to have. When our chance comes, Caleb orders for himself and Iris, while I make an order for my group. The lunch lady nods and goes away.

As we wait for our food to come, I look at Iris and Caleb, who seem to be in some deep conversation. So I just stand there, tapping away at the countertop out of boredom. When the lady comes back with our food, we thank her and start to walk away, when she calls out to Iris.

"Iris, Matt had ordered a chocolate milkshake. It would be so kind of you if you could hand over this cup to him?" She gives a large paper cup with his drink to Iris. Iris stares at it for a good one minute, before taking it from her.

"Sure Mrs. Morgan," She says wearing her adorable and sweet smile. The lunch lady smiles back and starts attending others standing in the queue. As soon as she turns, Iris' smile becomes too sweet. And I'm not the only one to notice that, it seems.

"Iris...." Caleb drawls out with a hint of caution,

"What's going on in that little devilish mind of yours?" When she turns to look at us, her smile turns even sweeter, if that's possible. She looks at the paper cup in her hands, then back up at us. And then the next thing she does makes me widen my eyes. I look at Caleb, to see him wearing the same incredulous expression as me. We both look back at Iris, who gestures for us to follow her. Hesitantly we do.

Walking to our table, I and Caleb take our seat next to Tristan and Meredith. Then the four of us stare at Iris' back with curiosity, as she walks over to Matt, or Matthew Ryder, who is coincidentally sitting at the table next to ours.

Tapping his shoulder, she hands the paper cup to him.

"Matt, Mrs. Morgan told me to give this to you." Matt looks busy on his phone. So without looking up, he reaches out to take it from her and absent-mindedly mumbles a 'thanks'. But a sense of realisation fills him the next second, as he slightly shakes the cup. Frowning, he looks up at Iris, then at the cup, and back at her.

"Iris," he says in a confused tone. She raises her eyebrows in question.

"What is this?"

"This," Iris says, "is what Mrs Morgan told me to give you." He gives her an incredulous look.

"But where is the chocolate milkshake in it?" He shakes the now-empty paper cup. Well, the answer to his question is not hard to find out, since it's lying right before his eyes, in the form of a chocolate moustache adorned by Iris. She gives him a shrug.

"Mrs Morgon told me to only hand over the cup to you." Saying so, she turns around and starts walking to our table.

"But I had paid for it!" He yells at her. She looks over her shoulder.

"I was told to give the cup to you, and I did. I don't know what you're talking about." Reaching our table, she plops down in the chair between me and Caleb. Stretching her hands above her head, she looks down at her plate of cookies.

"Y'all can share this. I'm full," She says, rubbing her tummy. Leaning back in her chair, she first looks at Caleb, then my way and gives me a lazy smile. Shaking my head, I take a tissue from my tray and lean towards her, wiping the moustache from above her lips. While doing so, my eyes momentarily get distracted by her pouty lips. I shake my head internally and quickly finish wiping it off. Putting the tissue away, I give her a smile and mutter an "all done". She gives me a thumbs up and says,

"Ta!" My smile widens. Hell! I've smiled a lot more often in Iris' presence. Is that a good thing? The more I think about it, the weirder it seems. But my thoughts are soon interrupted.

"Hey guys! Did I miss something?" I close my eyes and internally groan on hearing his voice. When I open them, I see Iris giving me an amused look, before looking at the source of the voice. She raises her eyebrows and gives Tristan a questioning look, who looks speechless.

"I believe you guys haven't met yet." He says slowly and glances at the person standing near our table.

"So, Bennett, these are my good friends, Iris and Caleb," He nods in their direction.

"And guys, this is Bennett," He looks my way, maybe to see my reaction, and visibly gulps. Licking his dry lips, he continues,

"Ryan's younger brother." They both look surprised, looking between me and him. Eventually, they greet him back and ask him to take a seat. Everyone then indulges in a small conversation, and I quietly listen.

Soon the bell rings and we scramble off, heading to our next class. I have AP History, and I have this along with Iris. So together we head off in our classroom's direction. Walking side by side, we both fall in comfortable silence, lost in our own thoughts.

Our classroom soon comes into view. As we near it, Iris puts a hand up, stopping me. She slowly walks towards the door and I follow suit. I can hear someone's voice coming from inside.

"... So in his absence, I've been asked to take this class. But don't for a moment think it's a free lecture. You're to sit here and study for your upcoming test in silence. Nobody's allowed to move out of the class till the bell rings-"

Iris grabs my hand and starts walking towards the hallway we had just come from.

"Where-"

"Shh... Just come! Why do you have to ask so many questions?" She whisper yells without looking at me. I sigh in defeat and let her take me wherever she wants to.

After turning many corners and walking through several hallways, we finally stop in front of huge wooden double doors. The Library. She's still holding my hand, as she takes me inside. After passing several aisles of bookshelves, we finally come to a stop in the 'Fiction and Literature' section. She lets go of my hand, which is instantly hit by the cold air due to the lack of warmth. I tuck my hands in my jean pockets.

"Why are we here?" I whisper, knowing that talking here is not ideal.

"You seriously wanted to rot in that 'boring lecture'?" She puts air quotations while saying boring lecture. I shrug.

"Not really..." She just gives me an amused smile, before turning to look at the bookshelf and picking out a book.

"Perfect...." She whispers, before plopping down on the floor leaning against the bookshelf.

"Take your pick, geek," She says as I raise my eyebrows on hearing what she called me.

"What? Tristan referred to you as 'the angry, permanent scowl wearing geek who loves books more than anyone or anything else in this whole world." She gives a one shoulder shrug, before going back to reading her book.

Well, yeah. Reading is one of my favourite hobbies. I love reading many different literary works. But did he just call me an angry, permanent scowl wearing geek? I scowl, but let go. I'll deal with him later.

Blinking my eyes a few times, I look for any good book on the shelf. Gliding my fingers on the books' spine, I stop when I find one of my favourite novels. Pulling the book out, I plop down right next to her. She looks at my book.

"To Kill A Mockingbird? Not bad..." I just give a smile and look at the book in her hand.

"A Walk To Remember?" She nods her head enthusiastically.

"It's one of my favourites. Like, I just, I don't know. This was one of my first novels I had ever read and it simply got to me. I love the way Jamie and Landon's relationship has been portrayed. Their love story, it is so sincere, unique. Special. I, I like reading this book from time to time and it never, ever gets boring. Not to me." She heaves a deep sigh.

"Everything Landon does for Jamie, how he makes her happy, how he expresses his love to her... It's so heartwarming. And, imagine how great it would feel to have someone in your life who will love you just like Landon loved Jamie. Don't you think?" Iris doesn't look at me while saying so and has a dazed and faraway look on her face. I can feel her happy emotions surge through me.

But her words hit home. Hard. All of a sudden an overwhelming feeling fills me. All those words from the past, the reality comes spiralling down on me, slamming into me with an undeniable force. I'm suddenly reminded of that dreadful day, the day I came to know about the dreaded reality. That day had changed my outlook on life.

"So where did you move in from?" Iris' question snaps me out of my thoughts. And I cannot be more grateful for that. I need to distract myself to prevent my eyes from flashing red.

"We moved in from the East Coast," Her mouth forms an 'O' shape, as she nods her head slowly.

"But why did you move here?"

Well, I along with other supernatural beings am on a mission to solve a certain mystery that's only getting more mysterious by each passing day.

"My..... Uncle, and Aunt, and my father own a big company, and they wanted to expand their business in the West. So.... yeah." I nod and shrug.

"Wow. That's good." She gives me a warm smile and goes back to reading A Walk To Remember.

I take this time to admire her and think about today's happenings.

We befriended just today, but it feels like we've known each other for a much longer time. The way we are so comfortable around each other, talking like some good old friends who haven't met in a long time. It amuses me to no extent.

We indulge in a small conversation. With talking, laughing and chuckling at her silly antics, I don't realise that time has passed so quickly until the school bell rings. Gathering our stuff, we make our way towards the Library's door. I try my best to not snort or laugh at the librarian who's giving us a stern look when we pass by her desk. Shaking my head, I ask Iris what her next class is. 

"Space Science," She says. 

"So we don't have the same class it seems." I smile and am about to continue when my phone vibrates in my jean pocket. Taking it out, I realise that I've received a text message. Opening it, I freeze on reading what is written.

No, no, no. This is not possible.

"What's wrong?" A wave of concern washes over me. Her concern. I look up to see Iris looking at me with worried eyes.

"It's nothing," I lie. "I just realised I have an assignment that I had to submit today about which I totally forgot." She heaves a relieved sigh.

"Oh.... Then good luck with the punishment, geek." She gives me a two-finger salute, before walking away. When she's out of sight, I immediately re-read the message to make sure what I read is true.

How did this happen?

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