Iris

Chapter 1

My hands tangle in my freshly dyed hair, sighing at the reflection in the mirror.

This year I had gone with a deep auburn, because I haven't gone that yet and mother claimed it brought out the features of me face.  You know, the ones that don't change every other week.

I lean forward, taking a good look at my eyes, at the moment they were sporting a deep blue, almost navy color, that while in the sun looked sort of like my school uniform, though sitting in the dim lights of my bathroom kind of reminded me of the night sky.

"Willow," I hear Mother call from the kitchen downstairs, "Hurry up before you miss the bus, dear."

I sigh, taking one last glance at myself before bending down and adjusting my socks.  My school was very strict about dress code, and even a folded sock could manage to get you detention.

I walked down the landing grabbing my bag from the counter.  I look over to see Mother reading the paper, she looks up, her eyes the mixture of my fathers natural blonde hair and the color he had it last, brown.   My Father died fall of last year, and ever since then looking into Mothers eyes have been hard.  

She opens her mouth to say something until my little brother, Evan, runs into the room.  "Guys!  Look!" He shouts, pointing at his eyes.  They were a deep violet color, a big change from the depths of brown that they had been up until this point.  Evan was a dreamer, to say the least.  When Father died he completely threw himself into drawing, always drawing his soulmate and what he assumed she looked like.  He, for sure, will make a great soulmate when it comes time.  He's constantly telling me about the dates him and her will have, even has said a thing or two about his dream wedding.

Mothers eyes just widen, as does her smile.  She knows how much his soulmate means to him.

"Wow, bud!  Pretty soon we will have to start dying your hair.  What color are you thinking?"

You can feel the delight radiating off of him as he yells something about green.  I excuse myself to go and pack my school bag.  I was just putting my lunch in when mother says, "Willow, we don't have time right now, but when you get home we need to talk."

I just nod, heading outside to wait for the bus.  Evan didn't have to be at school until eight, seeing as he went to public school still.  We lived in Perlin, the biggest city up to date in the United States, so there were many options for schooling.  Evan currently goes to Glendaylle Academy, one of the upper public schools in Perlin.  Its where I used to go, before everything with him happened.  Then I transferred to where I am perfectly content at now.  I really only had one friend, though after everything that has happened, I choose that path.  I can't allow myself to get out of line or slack off.  There was something comforting about how strict they are here.

I was just pulling my headphones out when the bus pulls up.  I immediately head to my normal seat, three from the back on the right.

Just as I was really  getting into the song, a mass of fluffy black hair plops herself right next to me.

"Willow," Ava beamed, smiling at me, "Love the new hair!"

Ava is the definition of care-free.  To be honest, I do not know how we are friends.  To be even more honest, I also do not know how she hasn't gotten kicked out of here yet.  Always preferring to wear a variety of shoes with our uniform (anything but the white sneakers we are required to wear), rarely wearing the mandatory socks, and sometimes wears shorts when its hot outside, even though during temperatures over 70 we are aloud to only wear our skirts the school assigned us.  She hardly even brings her bag, and one time even brought her dog to school.

We were nothing alike, but somehow we fit together nicely.

"Thank you," I smiled, "When are you redying yours?"

"As soon as I pick out a color."

I shake my head at her.  She has dyed her hair every color on the spectrum.  Even orange.  Who dyes their hair orange?

"What colors are you thinking?"

"Maybe an ombre from blonde to blue."

I nod my head in approval, taking my water bottle out of my bag to take a drink.  I really shouldn't have at that moment though, because the next thing she said had me almost do a total spit take.

"So there is this party Friday, we should go."

I gasp, trying to get my lungs to refill with air.

"Where and why would you even think about it?"  I say sternly.  Though I wouldn't call myself a total good girl, there aren't a lot of things I approve of.

"I don't know the exact location, but my cousin invited me," she saw the look I was giving her and continued sternly, "And, you never do anything fun and I want to change that.  One night won't kill you, Wills.  And who knows, maybe you'll see some freak with dark blue hair while you're there"  She smirked and nudged me, referring to my everchanging eyes.  

"I don't know, will there be drugs or alcohol there?"

"No, my cousin is going and you know how he is."  Her cousin has a reputation he cannot break of being valedictorian for his class.  She has a point.

"I will think about it"  I mutter, putting emphasis on the think.  Ava has a bad habit of twisting words.

"Better think quickly, because I am going to be gone for the rest of the week."

This shocked me.  Though Ava is quite the rebel, she hardly ever misses classes.  

"Why?"

"I'm going out of state to look at colleges that are closer to Alec."

Alec was not Ava's soulmate in the slightest, not that she cared.  He was also five years older than her and has already graduated college, not that she cared.  And he lives four hours away, not that she cared.  They have been together for going on 3 years with no flaws which shock me, normally couples that aren't each others soulmates never work out.  I don't know what they plan on doing if they do somehow stumble across their soulmates, though I'm sure they have a plan.

"Ah, well we do have these cool inventions called phones, I can use one to text you.  But how are you two anyways?"  I ask curious, she doesn't really talk about him much anymore.

"Well, he is finally meeting dad this week," She says, "and I don't know if I'm ready because.."

She continues talking but I drown her out, because as the bus squeaks to a stop in front of our school, I swear I saw a bundle of shaggy locks matching my uniform in the corner of my eye.

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A/N: Are you ready for this adventure?? Cause Im not lol