Chapter 7- Highschool Sweethearts

Even though Iris said she was fine, Leon didn't really believe her. While she was in the shower he went over hundreds of possibilities of what could have happened to her in 45 minutes. Has she met someone bad? Had she been mugged? Or maybe she had simply fallen? It seemed unlikely but he couldn't imagine the 16-year-old girl could get into much trouble. 

When the bathroom door opened he looked over in curiosity and was stunned. Iris was wearing his clothes, they fit poorly and were a few sizes too large. But more importantly, she only had a few scratches on her. Some were indeed a little large, but they couldn't explain the amount of blood that was on her earlier.

"Um… What happened? I mean- It's okay if you don't want to tell me, I just…" He trailed off.

"Thank you." 

He stared at her, stunned. She really wasn't going to tell him? He had partially meant that statement ,yes. But he was dying with curiosity! He watched her gather her things and stop in front of the door.

"Thanks for your help. See you tomorrow." As Iris said her farewells, it struck Leon just how alienated she was to him. Even after they had spent an hour or two studying earlier that day she acted no different than when they had first met. And looking back on it now, she was an extremely curt person, to a point of absurdity. He hadn't paid much attention to it before because he didn't know her and they have a professional relationship more than anything. But aside from when she tutored him, and was forced to talk, she was very quiet. 

He couldn't help but feel a bit bothered by this. And seeing her in that state earlier only made him more curious. 

-

The next day Iris was eating lunch during their break when someone suddenly sat next to her. 

"Did you get home alright yesterday?" Leon brought his lunch over and leaned closer to her.

Iris frowned as she stared at him. She didn't understand why he was talking to her right now. They didn't have any sort of special relationship for him to talk to her outside of tutoring. 

"Is there something on my face?" Leon smiled sheepishly as he touched his cheek.

"Is there something you need?" Iris directly asked.

"Can't I just talk to you?" Leon looked at a loss.

"Why? We don't know each other that well."

"Why don't we become friends then? We'll be spending more time around each other in the future anyways." He held eye contact with her, his face clear of ulterior motives.

"Whatever." Iris answered before returning her attention to her lunch. 

Leon thought over her answer. It wasn't a refusal so… It was an allowance by default? He felt a bit confused. He had anticipated some resistance but he didn't know what to feel about such an indifferent response.

When Leon's friends saw where he was sitting, they all sat next to him. They were loud and disruptive and some people at the table quickly moved elsewhere. They paid no mind to Iris, not thinking she had any relation to Leon. 

Iris's annoyance built quickly and it didn't take long for her to grab her lunch and relocate. Leon's eyes followed her for a few seconds but he was quickly distracted by his friends. 

 Iris found temporary peace but she didn't notice that the table she was sitting at also occupied a cute girl with brown pigtails and green eyes.

"What's your name?" Lily slid closer to Iris and asked with wide eyes. Iris gained attention because she didn't blend in with the rest of the highschoolers, probably because she wasn't a highschooler, and Lily has also taken notice of Iris. 

Iris's frown deepened at the sight of Lily. She did not want any contact with the female lead.

"Syra."

 Lily seemed unaware of Iris's resistance to her.

"Nice to meet you Syra, my name is Lily. And this is Annaleigh." She gestured to the girl with shoulder length brown hair next to her, presumably her friend.

Iris continued to give minimal response to Lily but the girl just kept talking. Eventually Iris stopped replying and ignored her, but Lily was perfectly fine with talking to herself. It was no wonder the main leads got along so well with how much they had in common. They both had an affinity to stick to Iris for no reason. 

Lily rambled on and Iris's irritation built, she had little patience in the first place, and Lily was particularly annoying. Finally, at the end of her line, Iris stood up abruptly and left. Lily and her friend were left staring at the door still swinging from Iris's violent push.

"I wonder if she's sick?" Lily guessed.

Annaleigh looked at her friend, stunned. She knew Lily was stubborn to a fault, but Iris had obviously not wanted anything to do with them. She made it obvious.

-

Iris headed to Leon's house but couldn't help but feel reluctant when she thought about how he suddenly started to stick to her. His actions puzzled her, but it didn't matter much at the end of the day. She just had to complete the task by preventing the main leads from having contact.

As she approached the house, she saw Leon's head poking through his bedroom window on the 2nd floor. Once he saw her he waved with a large smile on his face. Iris frowned and turned away before opening the front door. 

She entered the bedroom to see the previously messy room had been tidied. She ignored Leon, who was leaning against the wall, and began unloading her textbooks. 

"What's your last name?" Leon suddenly asked, skipping greetings. 

"What?" She met his eyes, frowning as usual. 

"I'm just curious. I can be curious, right?" He said with a cheeky smile.

"I guess." Iris thought for a moment. She didn't remember Syra's last name as it wasn't mentioned in the book. She tried to run through the memories of her time in this world, looking for clues.

"Is it personal? Are you the heir to a really rich family or the mafia?" He joked.

"Of course not. I just don't want to tell you." Iris stalled as she looked through Syra's school work. 

"Oh come on. Is it lame? Mine is Danielson, which I feel is pretty boring." He walked closer and watched her as she rustled through her bag. Finally she stopped and looked at him.

"It's Forrest." Iris stood up straight, feeling victorious. 

Leon froze for a second. He had thought she wasn't going to answer.

"That's a pretty cool last name."

"Sure. Here's what I prepared for you to study today." Iris redirected the conversation back on topic.

"Ok. I'll get started." Leon temporarily gave up on digging for information and focused on becoming a good student.