A/N: Here's chapter 12. Enjoy, people.
Iris was less pissed, but more confused and hungry.
She stormed down the hallways, expression like a hurricane about to decimate a town and glowered at anyone who stood in her way. A bundle of conflicting emotions swept through her like a tornado, and she just needed a moment to think.
Iris pushed open the cafeteria doors with a tired sigh, scanning the crowd and wrinkling her nose at the overwhelming stench of hormones and sweat exuding from the rambunctious teenagers.
Near the edges, she spotted Aiden waving her over frantically and calling her name. Plastering on a fake smile, she waded through the sea of people, nearly tripping over a few times on strange objects littering the floor.
Humanity are such pigs, she thought, sidestepping a suspicious green puddle.
"Iris! Hey," Aiden shoved a boy aside and patted the newly free spot on the bench, "here, sit!"
The boy scowled darkly, "Dude, what the hell? Pals before gals, remember?"
"Quiet, Jay." Aiden hissed.
"Hi! I'm Mia." A Korean girl with brown curls that tumbled down her back and glittering dark eyes waved.
"And I'm Charlotte." The girl opposite Iris with red hair and startling grey eyes grinned.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Iris."
"We know," Mia said with a sly smile, "Aiden wouldn't stop talking about–"
"Who wants cake?" Jay cut in loudly, slamming a pack of cupcakes on the table.
"Ooh I do!" Aiden said with way more enthusiasm than needed, tearing open the packet excitedly. He offered it around and Iris took one hesitantly, wondering what Mia was going to say.
Ah whatever, she thought with a shrug, biting into the cupcaking. She closed her eyes in delight at the explosion of sweet flavour. Having food was a luxury in her old life, and deserts happened once in a blue moon when Harry managed to carve out time for an outing with her mother. A stab of sadness struck her heart as she thought about the last family trip. If I had known that would be the last one, I would have spent more time with Mum.
A tap on her shoulder snapped Iris out of her stupor. She whirled around, heart clamouring up her throat, not relaxing even when she saw it was Damien.
"You," Iris growled, aggressively chomping on her cake.
"Me," he mocked in the same tone, gaze briefly flicking over the group behind her. "The others want to know if you want to sit with us."
Iris pulled a face. "No way."
Damien sighed and shook his head. "That's what I told them. Oh, by the way, after school we have clubs so you'll have to stay back if you want a ride."
"Ew no. I don't want to spend a second longer here than I have to. I'll just walk home."
"Nah, Dad will get all upset that his kid has to walk home. What about the bus?"
"Ooh don't take the bus," Charlotte piped up, "there's usually a weird drunk group that come on at that time."
"I can get a lift from Dad."
"Dad can't pick you up- he's busy with work."
"No, no, no," Iris shook her head with a tiny smirk, "I meant my dad. He'd always pick me up unless there's an emergency at work."
"That's a violation of the contract."
"It's either that or I walk home. Alone. In the cold, dark and rain."
"Fine!" Damien threw his hands up like the overdramatic hedgehog he was. "Do what you want, I don't care."
"Do what you want, I don't care," Iris mimicked in a falsetto, subtly sticking her middle finger at Damien's retreating back.
"Is that your brother?" Jay asked, exchanging weird looks with the rest of the group.
"Yeah," Iris sighed, having an inkling as to what would follow. She pulled out a savoury pastry from her bag and slowly chewed it, her stomach still not used to being filled properly. "Why? Do you guys know him?"
"Well, Iris," Aiden chuckled awkwardly, "normally, no one cares about the upper years in school- frankly, we've got our own shit to deal with- but everyone knows the West-Browns because they're... well—"
"Because they're very rich, famous and good-looking."
"Yes, thank you Mia."
"Good-looking?" Iris pulled a disgusted expression, unable to fathom how someone could be attracted to her 'brothers' who shared a single brain cell between them. "Ew."
"Yes," Charlotte nodded, "ew. Romance outside of fiction is usually ew." Murmurs of agreement went around the group.
"So, Iris, what's your next lesson?" Aiden asked.
"Uh... I have–" Iris opened her phone to look at her timetable, but got distracted as a message flicked down from the notification bar.
Meet me near the toilets
I have something to tell you
Iris stood up abruptly, her chair scraping back harshly and gathering the attention of several people nearby. But she had no time to feel embarrassed. "I have to go. I'll see you later, yeah?"
"Where are you–?"
Iris slung her bag over her shoulder and nearly tripped over the bench, tuning out the others' questions and concerns. Her mind ran at a million miles an hour, thinking of a million theories- each more ludicrous and drastic than the last. Jax is never this serious. Something's wrong. What if we've been discovered?
**************
I keep imagining Damien (yes he name has changed from the other version- thank you to the readers who pointed it out! I'm gonna leave it like that for ease) as a hedgehog.
I hope you guys liked it!
Stay safe and thanks for reading :)