Iris Falls

Calm before the storm.

Iris crept quietly through the side door, it was two in the morning and she didn't want to find out if her parents had gotten home early today. She snuck into their massive kitchen and stole a box of cereal and refilled her bottle with freezing cold water before trying to sneak up the stairs.

"Caught you." Iris jumped and nearly dropped her precious box of fruity-Os.

"Don't scare me like that Danny!" She hissed quietly from the fifth step. He chuckled from his place on the couch and stood up with a plastic bag in his hand.

"Don't worry they aren't home yet, but they did mention that they wanted to talk to you tomorrow, I thought I should give you fair warning." He joined her on the steps, handing her the bag. "You need to eat better Rissy, dance takes a lot out of a person."
I eyed the bag holding the sandwich before grabbing it and dropping it in the box of cereal.

"Sometimes I feel like you care more than my parents, thanks Danny." The butler smiled as he shooed me upstairs with mocking scooting gestures.

"Now off to bed young lady! I think your parents may be coming back soon and lock your door I don't want a repeat of last month." Iris nodded and sprinted up the stairs. Her parents had come home drunk again and they had tried to "talk" to her, it ended with a back eye and a few bruises, Iris had told everyone that she had fallen off her bike and hit something. Everyone had bought it accept Miss Envern, that's when she offered to let Iris stay as long as she wanted at the studio.
She dashed into her room at the sound of the door opening and Danny greeting her plastered parents. She shut and locked her door quietly, keeping the lights off so her parents would think she was asleep. She felt her way across her big room to her bed and quietly set her stuff down before sliding to the ground and waiting for her parents to "check" on her before they stumbled to their room for the night.
She could hear Danny guiding the drunk couple up the stairs, her mother complaining loudly and her father slurring as he told her to be quiet.

"Wait, waiths, we need to tallk to Ilisss." They stopped at her door and jiggled the door knob.

"Honey, let us in we need to talk to you." Her dad asked through the door, trying not to sound drunk as her mom giggled.

"Iris is asleep, she came home hours ago, you can talk to her in the morning." Danny pulled my parents away from the door.

"NO! NO! I wanna talk to my princess!" My mom started bawling as Danny lead them back to their room my father protested with something about me being young enough to recover from lost sleep. I held my breath until I heard the door to their room shut. Danny walked by my door.

"They're done for the night do you want me to get you anything?"

"No, thanks, Danny. Good night." I didn't move until his footsteps had faded. I slowly stood up, suddenly exhausted, as I walked over to to my bathroom to take a shower. The one good thing about having filthy rich parents was the sound proof rooms and personal bathrooms attached to those rooms. I showered quickly and put on a tanktop and underwear before sliding onto my large bed and Turning the white Christmas lights I had strung around my room on, the dim light was perfect and calming as I ate.
My room was a decent size, ok maybe it was pretty big, like two double car garages with a vaulted ceiling big, another reason to never have any friends, I didn't like bragging about how loaded my parents were, they did that enough that I hated it. Not even Tessa knew. I sighed and tossed the plastic bag into the garbage can by my bed before drinking some water and placing it next to the cereal box on my nightstand. I dragged my self off my comfy bed to brush my teeth before stumbling back and sprawling on my bed and Turing off the lights.

----------------------------------------------

I rolled over and buried myself deeper into the blankets as the sun threatened to invade my personal space. I drifted in and out of sleep before the smell of eggs and bacon tempted me out of bed. I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and threw on a baggy hoodie before quietly stumbling down stairs into the kitchen, avoiding the dining room where my parents possibly were nursing their hang overs.

"Mornin' pumpkin!" Jessie smiled as I slumped into a stool and flopped onto the counter moaning in response to her greeting. "Late night? Here, have a nice smoothie while I serve you up." She opened a small fridge under the counter and pulled out a big cup filled with a fresh made strawberry and banana smoothie. After pulling a blue straw out of a drawer and poping it in the drink she slid it across the counter to the semi awake teenager.

"Thanks."

"No problem sweetie, Danny told me to tell you that your parents want to talk to you after breakfast, so you better dress nicely when your finished." Jenny pursed her lips as she slid scrambled eggs onto a plate. "I'm really sorry about it hun, but you need to talk to them, they might actually have something useful to say."

Iris sat up, the dark green hood covering her face as she quietly drank the smoothie.

"I just wish that they would grow up ya know? Just because they have money shouldn't give them the right to come home drunk every weekend and pretend their decent people for the rest of the week." She mumbled quietly as Jenny placed the plate full of eggs bacon and toast In front of her with a fork and placed a kiss on her head.

"At least they aren't staying out all night anymore, they keep coming home earlier every time." Jenny said as she carefully cracked eggs into another pan. Iris looked at the plates being prepared for her parents, everything was sliced and laid out with flawless perfection, a small flower decorated both plates of gourmet breakfast food. She glanced down at her plate and smiled at the difference. She liked how Jenny made her feel like a normal kid sometimes, the toast and eggs had been laid out to look like two eyes and a nose and the bacon formed a smile on the plate, the difference was almost laughable.

"Good morning Iris, how are you doing?" Danny walked in through a door that lead to the dining room, he patted her shoulder as he walked by and grabbed her parents plates.

"Good, thanks." Her reply was muffled by the food in her mouth. Danny winked at her as he walked past again. Disappearing through the door.

"Can we bake something again today if my parents leave?" Iris asked as she drank some of her smoothie.

"Sure! I think they have an outing with the president of the bank around two, what do you want to make?" She dropped dirty dishes into the sink and joined Iris on the counter with her hands around a large mug of coffee.

"Can we make something chocolate?, like super super chocolate with marshmallows and caramel and Swedish fish?" Jenny laughed

"Well I guess we coul-"

"Oh! And pretzels and sea salt and vinegar potato chips? And salsa? Ohhhh what about hot sauce?"

Jenny shifted away from Iris an amused expression on her face.

"Prepping for a visit from aunt flow I see, well I guess we can work something out, or you know we could just bake caramel rocky road brownies and eat the rest separate." Iris laughed and ducked her head in embarrassment.

"Yeah, or that."

"Better finish and get dressed Iris, your parents want to see you at 11:30 in the eastern parlor." Danny had swept into the kitchen again, grabbing two small plates of some cold dish out of the large stainless steel refrigerator and closing it with his foot. Jenny scowled at the footprint on her pristine fridge then turned her glare to the clock.

"You have half an hour to get that rats nest out of your hair and decent clothes on. Better hurry pumpkin." Iris nodded and silently finished her breakfast before slipping out of the kitchen and up to her room.