Chapter 4 -Highschool Sweethearts

Iris woke up extra early the next day in an attempt to avoid Syra's parents. As she passed by the nearby mirror her eyes paused on the completely unfamiliar face. Syra had warm brown skin and black hair, like her mother. But her charming and charismatic features were unsimilar to Syra's mom's. They were likely inherited from her father, but it wouldn't be surprising if even Syra's parents had trouble recognizing her. Iris's influence and the way she held her body and the expressions on her face made the originally youthful and charming person into a sharp and intimidating one. It made for a strange dissonance that made the people in the hallway glance over her with questioning gazes. She had relied on Syra's schedule that was saved on her phone to navigate her first day in Syra's body, but she still stuck out like a sore thumb. 

She had been approached by many of Syra's friends but had done her best to alienate them. The sooner they stayed away from her the less they would interfere in her task. 

She reached her first class and quickly lost focus. She had indeed not been in school for a few years, but she was familiar with everything the teacher was saying. The book's education system was outdated to what she was used to. 

As the class went on she became aware that the boy next to her was familiar. His friends called out to him and the teacher would call on him occasionally. As the class ended and everyone was packing up, she stopped him before he left. 

"Are you Finn?" She stood before him imposingly. 

"Yeah?" He looked confused. Finn and Syra didn't know each other very well at this point, as the starting point of the book had yet to come, but Iris, or Syra as Finn sees, should've at least known his name. 

"Are you free to meet me after school?"

Finn's cheeks were instantly stained with a bit of blush and he immediately forgot his earlier doubts. Syra was undoubtedly beautiful and she was very popular in the school. The idea that someone like her might be interested in him instantly went to his head. 

"Y-Yeah! Where do you wanna meet?"

Iris instantly went silent. She realized she didn't know any of the locations near here. 

"In front of the school." Not giving him a chance to reply she started heading to her next class, leaving Finn's mind whirling.

Aside from meeting Finn, the rest of the day passed uneventfully. She didn't share any of the same classes with the main leads, so she didn't have any opportunity to contact them. Before heading to where she could clearly see Finn waiting, Iris headed to the main office of the school and applied to become a tutor. Syra didn't have as good of grades as Lily, but it was enough. 

After applying for the position that Leon had only posted this morning, she headed out of the office and passed by a cute and energetic girl. Her medium length brown hair was in pigtails at the moment and her brown eyes were single-mindedly focused on the front desk. Iris slowed her pace and waited to hear what the girl said behind her.

"What open positions are there?"

"The new one just got picked up. But you should hold off on tutoring more people anyways. You're handling far too much." 

"I'm fiiine, I'm managing everything well. My grades don't drop, no matter how many people I tutor!"

The receptionist at the front desk sighed but looked at the girl affectionately. 

"I'll hold the next position for you, okay?"

"Awesome! Thank you so much!"

As Iris walked out of range of the female lead's lilting voice, she saw Finn's head perk up expectantly when she entered his eyesight. 

He wasn't described very in depth in the original novel and even looking at him now there wasn't much to say about him. He was a plain, ordinary high schooler. His brown hair cut to an unflattering length and his clothing boring and immature. 

As she stopped in front of him, she gave him a short nod before saying,

"Follow me." 

"Huh?"

Iris immediately started walking and she heard Finn's scrambling footsteps hurriedly catching up with her. 

"Hey!W-wait!"

She paid no mind to his words and kept a steady, fast, pace. 

"Where are we going?"

It didn't take long for Iris to reach the entrance to an alleyway. Her footsteps paused and she blankly looked over her shoulder.

"We're here."

Finn felt a shiver down his spine as Iris's gaze bore into him. He felt an ominous premonition invade his mind.