3 Chapter Three

We're home finally, Iris though with a little sigh. After their little brawl over going to the new school, she finally gave up. Even though they just got home, they are about to leave to the school to meet some model students that will be in Iris's class. The students will show her around the school and will help her with the time-table for the first semester while Mrs. Bloom will sit in the office and talk to the principle about Iris's transfer. I hope the people in the school are nice. I hope that I can make some friends. I hope I can fit in. I could go on. I need to stop freaking out. Iris was in her room, thinking about all of the things that could go wrong. She didn't want to go, but it, sadly, wasn't up to her.

"We're leaving now!" Mrs. Bloom's voice echoed to Iris's room on the second floor.

"Coming!" Iris called back. She really didn't want to go, but she didn't have choice. At least I have my book with me, Iris thought to herself.

Books were her scape for the world. She reads pretty often, which is have increased her vocabulary and her creative mind is always running. Though she loves reading, she does also love to socialise with friends and family, mostly about the book she was reading recently, but what else is she meant to talk about? And because of her wild imagination, Iris likes to write books as well. One day she is planning to be an author, to sell her books, to see all of the happy smiles she can bring to other peoples grey worlds, just as books help brighten her own world. Her mother yelling broke Iris out of her daydream-state.

"Are you coming or what?"

"Yes, yes. I'm coming."

The day Iris had been dreading has finally arrived. At least she has a book with her, right?

...

Iris is sitting on one of those chairs outside the office. Alice was left at her aunties, away from Iris and their mum so then there wouldn't be distraction. Her mum is talking to the principle about the transfer. Meanwhile, the kids meant to show iris around the school aren't there yet. Her heart is pounding in her chest feels like it's about to bounce out. Why am I stressing so much?

After what felt like a millennium, Mrs. Bloom walked out of the office door. This leaves Iris an opportunity to see inside the head's work space.

The colour palette was very bland. A big window filled one of the large walls. A neat, organized desk sat left the window. The wall opposite the desk was lined with shelves and shelves of books. They didn't seem very interesting. They were thick, grey and brown books. On the spines were the titles. The water cycle: by Aaron Brown. The basics of English: by Smatha Rose. How to control hazardous children: by Ronald Smith. The list when on. As she was reading the titles of the books, one book in particular caught her eye. It was colourful, unlike the rest of the books, a bright orange. Iris wanted to investigate more, but knew now wasn't the time. Iris was looking at the book intently, and the principle must have noticed.

"Do you like my book collection?" He walked in front of Iris's gaze, making the latter realise that she was staring. With the head now in front of her, she thought it to be rude if she didn't look at him.

He was a fat man, wearing a suit that just fit. Though the torso of the man was huge, but the legs, covered in matching pants that seemed several sizes too big, were skinny. Almost as if a five-year-old was cutting and pasting different people and sticking them together. His shoes were formal, black and shiny, almost new. From the feet to the head that didn't have any neck, just fat and skin holding the two together. He had a black curly moustache with matching hair, though he had little of it. He had one of those fancy monical to tie the whole look together.

"So, you must be Miss Iris Bloom?" His voice was a little raspy, most likely from age. Even though he seemed kind, his smile still sent a chill down Iris's spine.

"Y-yes..." I stuttered. Iris isn't normally nervous, but with this man, this man is just, different.

"Nervous? That's ok. Everyone gets nervous on their first day," he said cheerfully and smiled that bone chilling smile again.

"My name is Mr. Smith". He put out a hand to shake. Iris took it as that is a sign of kindness and she didn't want to seem rude.

"I'm Ir- you already know my name". The cogs suddenly started to churn inside Iris's mind, after a few hours with them gaining cobwebs. "Are you the guy who wrote..."

"Yes, I have written a few books in my time before a teacher. Why, I have written this book right here".

He pulled How to control hazardous children off the shelf.

"Do you want me to refer to you as Mr. Smith, Mr. Ronald or sir?"

"I prefer students to call me sir."

He seemed very proud of the book. Though it is a bad example of his work, at least he was happy with it.

"Do you like reading?"

"Yes. I have a book right here," Iris showed Mr. Smith the book she has been reading.

"You like fantasy? I'm not very fond of that type of book, but I heard it's very popular"

It seemed that on one knew what to say next, so after an awkward five minutes of silence, Mrs. Bloom decided to be the one to say something.

"So, when will the students meant to show Iris around come?"

As soon as Mrs. Bloom said that, almost on que, three students, one girl, one boy and one that Iris wasn't sure about came into view at the end of the hall they were standing in. The boy and girl were talking and laughing, leaving the genderless one out. The girl was wearing a floral yellow dress and a matching headband. She had coily bronze hair that stopped a little above her shoulders in a bob. The boy was wearing baggy jeans and a light blue t-shirt with a logo on the chest. He had messy brown hair that needed to be cut. His appearance reminded Iris of her image of Harry from Harry Potter. The genderless person had a haircut that was shaved on the sides, but had a longer, curly fringe was covering one of their blue eyes. They were wearing ripped jeans, tighter to the leg, but not skinny. Their tan, peach and washed-out blue jumper tucked in at the front, leaving the rest loose. They looked quite cute compared to the other two.

As they approached, Iris's heart began to pump. She didn't know why. Was it just nerves? She concluded it to be nerves, but it didn't stop her palms from getting sweety.

"Ah, here you three are!" Mr. Smith greeted them with a smile that only seemed to bother the genderless one as much as iris herself. "Iris, Mrs. Bloom, this is Jake, Grace and Jaylin."

The boy, whose name Iris assumed to be Jake, had a smug smile on his face after seeing Iris.

"So, you're the newbie hm?" He looked Iris up and down, arms crossed, as if to see if she was up to his standards.

"I'm Grace!" The girl, with a smile going from ear to ear, pushed in front of Jake and put out her hand, which Iris took. Grace took a strong grip and shook very vigorously, shaking Iris whole arm. "It's nice to meet you!"

"You seem very excited to me- "

"I am, I really am!" Grace interrupted, then pointed to her face, as if to show her obvious huge smile.

The only person who hadn't come up to Iris was the genderless girl, Jaylin. When Iris looked over at her, her heart started to pound again. Jaylin was looking down, fiddling with her fingers. Iris thought that maybe their heart was pounding as fast as hers. Before she could come up with a decision, Grace pulled Jaylin to be with the group, leaving her surprised and not ready for interaction. This sudden movement also brought Iris out of her daze and back to reality.

"And this is Jaylin, I don't actually know her all too well, I just know that she gets good grades and that she is very quiet and timid"

"Can you please stop telling everyone my personal business?" Jaylin seemed very annoyed at Graces choices.

"Ops! Sorry..." Grace slowly backed away, smiling shyly.

"Well, getting good grades and being shy isn't personal business, it's just facts" Jake added.

"I don't care, I don't want people walking around telling everyone that I don't like tomato's"

"You don't like tomato's?" Grace came back out of no where to add to the conversation that everyone already wants to be over.

"Hey. Hey. Let's not fight. We want to set a good example for Iris here, and to show that choosing you three wasn't a mistake"

"Sorry Sir" the three said in unison. Even though they all apologized, Grace was the only one who seemed to be sorry for her actions.

"Now that you are all hear and have introduced yourselves (Mr. Smith shot a look at Jaylin), you three can show Iris around. Remember that she will be your classmate for the rest of the year, so make sure to make a better impression then you just had. To redeem yourselves, if you will. Now, you best be off before you don't have enough time to show the entire school before three."

Now that Mr. Smith had finished his speech, it was time for Iris to finally look around where she would be spending the next however many years.

Mrs. Bloom gave Iris a hug, then told her she would need to leave so then Alice won't be with their auntie much longer ("You know Alice, she never liked Auntie Mary much"), and that she would be back at three. They said their goodbyes, though they were cut short by Jake's impenitentness.

"Let's go already, I want to get this over with," though he more muttered that last part.

Grace took hold of Iris's hand and skipped away, leaving Iris to jog to keep up. Jake followed close behind, with Jaylin in the back, slowing milling alone at the back of the pack.

"This is going to be the best year ever!" Grace said enthusiastically.

"Yep, best year ever..." Iris played along through half gritted teeth. Yeah r