"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, there is a rapture on the lonely shore, there is society, where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more."
Slowly but surely, Iris arose from the surprisingly hospitable beds. Slivers of golden sunlight illuminated the once-dark room, creating a somewhat ethereal aura. The brunet rubbed her eyes, trying to adjust them to the newfound brightness. A warm feeling rushed over her bare legs, which were partially covered by her best friend (and ex-boyfriend)'s old football jersey. Sure, it was a bit odd for Iris to be wearing her ex's clothes, but Jeremy didn't mind, so neither did she. After all, it was one of the last things she had that reminded her of home.
It took the girl 20 minutes to pick out an outfit, and another 10 to apply light make up and jewelry. Iris's light brown hair was held in a ponytail by a simple black ribbon while a set of gold rings adorned her fingers; the new dress code only permitted her to be creative with small details of her ensemble. Welton had come up with a uniform specifically for the young Westworth girl: a button up top, black tie, skirt, and oxford shoes. Iris looked in the mirror, slowly analyzing her clothes. The button up was tucked into a knee length, blue-and-white plaid skirt; Iris was pleasantly surprised that she realized she still looked good. After brushing some mascara into her eyelashes and making an attempt to tie her tie, she grabbed her books and headed to breakfast.
Iris Westport sat next to Steven today, the boys had made sure of that. Not that she minded, of course. She found the ginger quite attractive. The brunet poured herself a cup of coffee before bashfully turning to Steven and tapping his shoulder. "Hey, Steve? Could you maybe do my tie for me? If you can't tell, I'm not very good at it," A shy smile traced her lips as she looked over his face, trying to scan every last detail.
Steven chuckled lightly as he began to fix her tie. "Steve, huh? I like that. Don't worry though, about the tie. Charlie and Pitts here couldn't do theirs until second year," Iris giggled softly while looking into the boy's eyes, a soft blush tracing her cheeks. Noticing how unruly his red hair was, Iris gently reached up and ran her fingers though it. Steven's eyes fluttered shut in a state of pure bliss, he loved how delicate her hands were as they massaged his scalp.
Todd, noticing the interaction between the two, tapped Neil's shoulder and gestured towards them. The brown-haired boy stifled a laugh, and instead cleared his throat obnoxiously loud. Iris and Steven quickly broke away; both beginning to flush a bright red. Gerald Pitts and Knox Overstreet sent a look to the rest of their friends that said: 'We have to get these two together'. And as of that breakfast, that became the boy's goal. Operation get Iris and Steven together had just began.
School started all too quickly for the groups liking. Todd and Iris drained another mug of coffee before trudging out the door and down the hall, desperately trying to catch up to their friends. As the school bell tolled, a earthquake of footsteps clattered down the singular staircase that led down to Welton's classes. Iris was trying as hard as she could to not be trampled, but seeing as she was not terribly tall, it was quite the task. Steven tried the best he could to keep the girl in his line of vision, but it was proving difficult as rowdy boys pushed a larger gap between the two.
"Slow down, boys! Slow down, you horrible phalanx of pubescence!" Mr. McAllister, the school's Latin teacher, pushed his way against the crowd. The tweed-clad man resembled a fish desperately trying to swim upstream. Iris giggled at his command and continued the descending trek to her World Studies class.
- - -
"Hey, can I sit here?" A boy with long, sandy blonde hair looked down at Iris with soft but piecing grey eyes. The girl nodded, smiling as he slid into the seat next to her. "I'm Edward Jenkins, by the way. Who might you be?" Edward smirked at the good-looking girl next to him.
"Iris Westworth, pleased to make your acquaintance, Edward," She responded. Of course, Edward Jenkins was very attractive, but she had her eyes set on a different boy.
"The pleasure is all mine."
Steven gripped his pencil tightly, his knuckles turned a ghostly pale. Gerald snickered and turned around in his seat, so he was now facing his ginger friend. "Hey Meeks, maybe if you stare at him long enough he'll spontaneously burst into flames." His comment was met with an angry glare from Steven and a snort from Neil, who had also noticed the looks he was casting. The odd thing was, Steven had never been a jealous person. Not that he had ever exactly had someone to be jealous around, girls had never really caught his eye in the past. That, and he had gone to a previously all boys school. Iris had done something to him, and he didn't know how to control it. Steven would normally not develop feelings so quickly, he had only known Iris for two days. Little did he know, Iris felt the same way.
World Studies dragged on for another forty minutes, ending with Mr. Privet announcing a new assignment. "Pick three laboratory experiments from the project list and report on them every five weeks. The first twenty questions at the end of Chapter One are due tomorrow." The class groaned in unison, not looking forward to the tidal wave of homework that lied ahead. Iris and Edward smiled at each other before waving goodbye and going their separate ways, the girl joined her other friends in the journey to Latin with a grin plastered on her face.
Iris plopped down in the seat directly in front of Steven, who beamed a beautiful smile. She turned around and flashed him a smile before whipping her hair back around and excitedly bouncing her leg. Latin was by far one of her favorite subjects.
Her mind was changed thirty minutes into class. While Mr. McAllister droned on, Iris wrote a few words down on a piece of paper. Reaching her hand backwards, she nudged the note into Steven's hand, who curiously opened it.
===
this class is boring );
wanna do a study session tonight? i doubt i'll remember anything by the time we get out of class
-iris x
===
The ginger boy tried his hardest to suppress a large grin, but failed miserably. He quickly scribbled a response, careful not to be caught by the professor.
===
i know, but at least we have each other, right?
as for tonight, 8:00?:)
-steve x
===
Iris turned her head just enough for Meeks to see her wink and give him a thumbs up. Butterflies were set loose in both of their stomach's, desperately wanting their classes to speed by so they could study alone.
- - -
Latin was painstakingly slow, but Iris almost didn't want to get out of her seat. Trigonometry was next on her schedule; math was not her strong suit. As Charlie drug her out of the classroom, various complaints slipped out of her lips. The boys just laughed and pulled her along, guiding her down the hallway into their next set of seats.
Iris, who was half asleep, had been sat next to Richard Cameron, the only boy in the group she could positively not stand to be around. The girl was snapped back into reality as Mr. Haber prepared to dismiss the group. Before the teens were able to escape, he called out one final warning. "Your study of trigonometry requires absolute precision. Anyone failing to turn in any homework assignment will be penalized one point off their final grade. Let me urge you now not to test me on this point."
Iris shuddered as she stood up, cracking her back and stretching out her legs. A groan left her lips as she did so, which earned a chuckle from Steven. The girl teasingly rolled her eyes at the boy, but took his arm and continued down the hall to English.
"I swear Haber is going to murder me. Knox, how high up do you think the window in the Latin classroom is?" Iris dramatically leaned into Steven, causing all of the boys around her to chuckle.
"Hopefully high enough, I may join you," He responded, Charlie grunted in agreement. The large group took their seats in the English classroom. Charlie sat in the far back with Knox taking the seat in front of him, Pitts, Neil, and Cameron filled the full middle row, Todd and Steven sat in the front row, and Iris sat directly behind her favorite ginger. The various loud conversations were quickly shut down when the new teacher strolled through the rows and out of the door. Confused looks were thrown around the classroom, nobody knew exactly what to do.
"So, do we just follow him?" Iris began to stand and collect her things while the boys stared at her incredulously. Just then, Mr. Keating peaked his head back in the door frame and called out to his students.
"Well, come on!"