tragedy

chapter four

word count: 1043

Iris spent her lunch with Alli and Declan, as she did every day. Others sat at their table and although she was friends with all of them, those two always had most of her attention. Today was different though, as she replayed her encounter with Eli in her head and a genuine smile stayed on her face for the rest of the day, for the first time in a long time. She made it through the rest of the day peacefully, lunch being the last time she would see Declan for the day. Soccer practice was typically her escape from the real world. She would forget about everything bad in her life and just focus on her feet, the grass beneath them, and the ball rolling in front of her. Again though, her mind was taken over by the dark-haired Shakespearean that she didn't even know. Her thoughts stayed with her until the moment that she fell asleep, and even in her dreams, she could see him.

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It had been about a week since Eli had started attending her school and taking over every corner of her mind. She hadn't talked to him since that first day in English and all she wanted was to hear his voice directed at her again. Eli continued to impress her with his contributions to class discussions and she continued to try to do the same, feeling as though she accomplished sometimes when she would catch his god-like smirk again. Iris tried to ignore her feelings, for herself and for everyone around her. She didn't want to make Declan mad so there was no way she could slip up and let him catch her eyes lingering on Eli for more than a second. She knew what that would mean for her, and possibly for Eli if Declan ever had the chance to lay into him. However, she was determined to befriend him at least. Even if their conversations could only be contained in the small, cold, classroom, it was something at least. She just could never find the right words to start a conversation with him and as much as she wished that he would be the one to say something, he never did.

After waiting what felt like forever, English finally rolled around and Iris got that familiar feeling in her stomach that she got whenever she saw Eli. As she walked into class, she caught him following her with his eyes and she gave him a soft smile; he returned it. That's something. Iris thought. That means something. She just couldn't figure out exactly what that was.

This past week Mr. Turner had assigned them the task of writing their own version of Romeo and Juliet. He wanted them to take their own thoughts, opinions, and creative qualities and apply them to the age-old story to make it something new and modern. Iris actually had a lot of fun writing hers, taking Romeo and Juliet, a story that everyone knew, and doing something different with it. She enjoyed the creative liberty of doing anything that she pleased. Today, they were meant to do peer edits. Mr. Turner was a strong believer in the fact that we learn a vast amount from our peers. Every time they wrote a paper, he assigned partners and gave them the weekend to discuss with their partner and make any edits that they felt necessary. When Iris thought about who she wanted to partner up with this time, the only name that came to her was Eli. She had other friends in the class that she enjoyed hanging out with but she wanted to spend more time with him. As Mr. Turner began to call out the partner's, Iris kept her fingers crossed, waiting for her name to be called. "Walden." He said, looking towards her. She raised her eyebrows in response, letting him know that she was listening. "You received the highest grade on the last paper. I'm going to pair you with Elijah so that you can show him how this process works." As soon as he had finished explaining himself and moved onto the next set of students, all Iris could think was, oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. She had wanted this but she hadn't expected to be so nervous about the whole thing. This meant that she actually had to think of something to say when he talked to her. She hadn't exactly thought this through.

When Mr. Turner finished assigning all of the pairs, he excused the class for the rest of the period, telling them to go work with their partner. Iris stood up from her seat and took the short walk over to Eli's desk, where he was standing as well. "So where's the best study spot?" Eli greeted her with the question and she tried to quickly think of a good answer. "I usually just go to the library. It's quiet. No one's ever in there." Iris replied. Eli chuckled at her remark. "Lead the way." He said, extending his hand out in front of him. Iris hid a smile as she exited the classroom with Eli in tow. She walked slowly, wanting to extend the walk and possibly start a conversation that wasn't about their project. "So why did you move here?" She blurted out, instantly regretting the possibly overstepping question. Noticing Eli tense up a bit, she backed up her question with, "It's totally cool if you don't want to say. Sorry, that was intrusive." She shook her head in embarrassment. "It- It's okay. Really. My mom just believes in the bullshit of new starts. Thinks that this will be 'good for me'." He states, matter of factly, putting air quotes around his mother's statement. Iris nodded knowingly. She wasn't going to press him for more information. It seemed as though he wasn't exactly happy with the fact that they moved here. However, she couldn't help but be curious about the story behind his response. Why did he need a new start? What was he escaping from? "I can't say I'm that mad about it, though. This place is pretty cool." Eli shrugged, looking at Iris for a second before looking away again.