ADOPTED BY PHAN

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Sorry for the wait! I didn't exactly read this through either so I'm not sure how well it is. Vhatever. Enjoy!

As soon as Iris walks through the front door, she's bombarded by questions from her parents.

"Alright. Alright!" Iris shouts, quieting the two. "One question at a time, please!"

Dan and Phil lead their daughter into the lounge, taking a seat on the couch across from her. They sit in silence for awhile - just staring at each other - before Iris speaks up again.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Dan asks through gritted teeth.

"Aren't you guys gonna lecture me?" Iris' curiosity is genuine. "Ask me a billion questions?"

"Is there really anything to ask?" Dan replies, "I think it's pretty obvious what's going on between you two."

Phil jumps into the conversation, "What Dan is trying to say is no, we will not bother you with questions. It's quite clear to us that there's budding romance, and we won't interfere with that. You've also had all of those talks, so we won't bother you with that either. As long as you're happy, we have no problems."

"Well-"

Phil elbows Dan, cutting his sentence off. He stares at him from the corner of his eye as he speaks, "Dan may act like an asshole, but he's okay with everything."

"It must be true if Phil used a naughty word," Iris jokes, twiddling her fingers in the air.

"I have to admit it is true," Dan comments.

"Yes. Now if you excuse me," Phil says, standing up. "I have to put a coin in the swear jar."

* * *

"Iris! They're here! We're leaving now!" Dan shouts from the doorway. Iris hears the door shut, indicating Dan and Phil have left for work.

"Hello!" Zoe greets, the same group from a few days ago on her tail.

"Hey," Iris smiles. She then turns to the two males, "Sorry, what're your names again?"

The dark-haired boy with stubble speaks up first, "Well, I'm Alfie. And this is-"

The other boy interrupts, clearly imitating a higher-pitched voice, "Hello best friend! I'm Jim! Jim Chapman!"

"No you're not, silly!" Zoe laughs, lightly smacking the guy's chest. She explains, "This is my brother Joe! He wanted to come with me today to make a video."

"Shhh, you'll make it sound like I'm using her!" He jokes, dropping his voice back to its normal tone.

Iris giggles, "What kind of video?"

"It's called YouTuber Whispers." Joe begins explaining, "Ever play the game Telephone? It's like that, except you'll have noise-canceling headphones on as you try to read the sentence from my lips. You'll then pass that sentence on to the next person who's also wearing the headphones, and vice versa. You'll understand more as we play."

"Wow, this sounds fun!" Iris remarks excitedly.

"Can we film now?" Louise blurts at Joe.

"Of course, just let me set up!"

After about a half an hour spent setting up and creating an intro, the game is in motion. Joe begins, shouting the sentence at Zoe, who cannot hear a word.

"You're the worst sister ever and I hate you!" Joe yells, then quiets down, "Wait, did you hear that?"

"What?" Zoe shouts.