tragedy

chapter two

word count: 1008

pic is what eli looks like in this story :)

Walking to school, Iris waved and smiled at a few people who acknowledged her before stopping at her locker. She put a few of her textbooks inside, just to lighten up the weight of her book bag. "Girl, you will not believe what happened last night!" Alli said quickly, walking up to Iris with a huge smile on her face. Yeah neither would you, Iris thought. "Well, you're going to tell me right?" Iris chuckled, closing her locker and walking towards the door where she was supposed to meet Declan, knowing that Alli would follow along. Alli was always cheerful, which is very much what Iris needed most times. She never failed to put a smile on her face. "So I was just sitting there right and Johnny DiMarco texted me." She explains, emphasizing Johnny's name. Iris didn't know much about Johnny and she wasn't sure how much there really was to know. He transferred to their school last year and was kind of a loner. It seemed like he only hung out with some guy named Drake Lempkey. "Johnny DiMarco?" Iris questioned, giving Alli a look. "Since when are you interested in him?" "Well, I didn't think that I was but we got to talking last night and he's really cool. He's sweet too. Something could be happening!" Alli grinned widely, dragging out the word 'happening'.

As Alli finished her sentence, she and Iris reached Declan at the stairs. He was wearing practically what he wore every day, a sweater with a button-up and a tie underneath it, and some slacks. He always said he was used to dressing up for private school, which he went to until high school. When he noticed Iris, he looked at her with a huge smile on his face, acting like everything was perfectly fine. When he saw Alli with her, his face fell. Alli took the hint that she probably wasn't welcome in this conversation and started to walk to class. "I'll see you at lunch." She said to Iris with a small smile.

"Hello, gorgeous." Declan smiled, pulling Iris into a hug. Iris hardly hugged him back, her arms limp around him. "I thought you said we were good." He harshly whispered into her ear. "We are," Iris responded, putting on a smile and pulling away from the hug, looking up at Declan. "Perfect," Declan said before connecting their lips for a moment. Iris didn't even feel anything when he kissed her anymore. She didn't even feel disgusted, she just felt numb.

When Iris pulled away from the kiss, she looked around for a moment, noticing someone coming out of the office with a confused look on his face, holding a sheet of paper. She hadn't seen him around before, maybe he's new, she thought. She couldn't see his face but he intrigued her with what she could see. He had long dark hair that paired well with his all-black outfit, a silver chain necklace, and one singular ring on his right hand. She was still staring when he looked up and saw her. In the quick second that they made eye contact, she felt something. She couldn't pinpoint it but it was something. She took a mental snapshot of his face, his big brown eyes, and his furrowed eyebrows of confusion. Almost quicker than the moment occurred, Declan snapped. He grabbed her wrist, tighter than last night if that was even possible. When Iris snapped her head in his direction, he leaned down to her ear, to be discreet of course, and whispered, "We talked about this. You look at me and me only." When he pulled away he had a stone-cold look on his face. His eyes were practically black with rage and it scared her. She simply nodded to let him know that she understood. "I have to get to class." She said quickly, walking off in the direction of her class. She noticed the new kid still lingering around the space and she wondered if he had noticed what had happened. No, she thought, no one can ever know.

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The day seemed to be moving in slow motion as Iris floated through her first two classes. The sounds coming from the mouths of her teachers didn't even sound like words and she hardly even looked at any of her classmates. Her entire day was being spent thinking of all the scenarios that could possibly lead to her getting out of this hell that she is trapped in. She spent the day looking for a sign that something could possibly save her. She wasn't having much luck.

Iris walked into her third class of the day, a college-level English course that she was taking. It was probably Iris's favorite part of the day. The part of the day that she got to spend reading different stories that took place in different universes, none of which were like hers. She had always been drawn to literature and she had actually dabbled in writing here and there, even though she didn't think she was any good. Mr. Turner was also a plus to the class. He had always been the type of teacher to check up on her and make sure she was doing okay. She confided in him a few times when she would come to his classroom during lunch to discuss whatever book she was reading at the time. He was a mentor for her writing as well. She would get him to read her work and he would tell her how to be better.

As she was sitting and waiting for class to start, particularly burning a hole in the wall with her stare, she spotted a familiar dark figure out of the corner of her eye. She drew her eyes away from the wall and towards the figure, which turned out to be the new kid that she had seen earlier that morning. Seeing him again brought that same feeling that she had gotten before and even now she couldn't describe it.