Chapter 8

Iris woke up drenched in sweat. She began panting as her mind cleared. She had a nightmare, again. She saw the faces of her victims in anguish, begging for mercy as she killed them. Iris climbed out of her bed and went into the kitchen. As she poured herself a glass of water, she thought about what she had done the other night. She had killed all members of the Labradors without hesitation. Yet now that the deed had been done, she couldn't help but wonder whether she had done the right thing. True, they were scum. Scum who were willing to kill innocents for money. But was it up to her decide their fate. Even after all they had done, did they really deserve to die like that? Moreover, by killing them, Iris may have gotten ridden of any possibilities of knowing the full extent of their crimes. Sure the public now knows that they were responsible for the bombings, yet despite suffering backlash from the public, Jonathan Vance, Arthur's father somehow managed to come out unscathed as there was no evidence that showed that his involvement. It might also partly be because of his mysterious client who had pulled some strings to exonerate him. It made Iris wonder if this would have gone differently if she left them alive. Their testimonies could have brought the father son duo all at once.

Nevertheless, there was nothing Iris could do at the moment. Jonathan would definetly have increased his security and Iris was not keen on pushing her luck. Moreover, it may also alert those who were backing him. If that happens, Iris may never be able to expose them.

Her head then turned to the clock. It was 5:30 am. Her medical leave had ended and today would be her first day to school. Iris had mixed feelings about going to classes. On one hand it might take her mind off recent events. On the otherhand, it is not going to feel the same without Heather. She ultimately decided to go to school as moping around is not going to help anyone.

....

Iris stood in front of the school gates. Despite having gone to this very school for years, Iris was feeling like a complete newcomer. Not only has her appearance changed, her mentality has become different than from the last time she was here. She was worried how her teachers and her peers would react to her transformation. But who knows. Maybe no one will even notice.

.....

They noticed all right.

Iris spent the entire day being stared at, gawked at leered, and catcalled by her hormonal peers. Well, mostly by the boys. Iris had gotten used to being stared like that by strangers. However, being treated like that by her classmates most of whom she had known since kindergarten was weird for her. Worst of all most of them didn't even seem to realise that it was her. They had assumed that Iris was a new transfer student. At least until she raised her arm when the teacher called her name for the roll call. The moment she did so, the entire class (the teacher included) went deathly silent. Afterwards, Iris was left alone for the rest of the class. However, when the class ended, she was hounded by her classmates mostly by the girls for some reason.

Iris was faced with a barrage of questions as she tried to make heads or tails of the said questions. Much to her confusion, they mostly asked about what she had been eating during the summer and whether or not she had been going to the gym. Although she briefly heard some asking whether or not she had done surgery. Thankfully, the teacher managed to disperse the crowd before Iris was overwhelmed.

Similar events occurred at her other classes until it was time lunch. Iris practically dashed out of her seat before the others could approach her. She then immediately went to the cafeteria hoping to avoid her classmates. After grabbing a few sandwiches, Iris looked around until she saw familiar faces. She walked up to a table occupied by two boys and two girls. One of the boys, a slightly overweight Hispanic boy wearing glasses looked up to see her approach and nearly choked. Seeing his reactions, the rest of the group turned to and was stunned to see Iris. The 5 of them stared at one another for a good whole minute until Iris took out her phone and snapped a picture of the 4 of their faces. This seemed to bring them out of their stupor as one of the girls spoke. "No way. Is that really you Iris? When you told me that you got a makeover, I was not expecting a complete overhaul." Iris chuckled as she took a seat next to them. "Yeah. Heather wanted to see the look on your faces when you saw me. That's why I didnt elaborate much." She said with a sad tone at the mention of Heather's name. The atmosphere at the table darkened before the the girl asked. "How is she?"

"She's fine. But the doctors doesn't know when she will wake up." Iris replied as she bit into her sandwich. She the let out a deep breath before asking. "So, what have the four of you been up to?" Sensing her attempt at changing the subject, the group began to tell her what they had done. Zack, the Hispanic boy had gone to Spain with his family for a vacation. The two girls, Annie and Amy went skiing to Switzerland. The other boy, named Charlie went to went to the Stark Expo and got a front seat as Iron man and Warmachine battled the drones made by Hammer tech. Despite being in such a life threatening situation, he told it with pride.

The group spent the entire lunch period inquiring about the events that happened at Stark expo. It was going well until Iris felt an arm around her shoulders. She tensed at the sudden touch before turning to see who it was. And almost immediately her face scrunched in disgust. Her friends each had similar looks as they looked at the new arrival. It was a slightly well built, blonde boy a grin that yelled "douchebag".

The aforementioned douchebag was a quarterback of the school's football team by the name of Bradley Sampson. Standing 5 feet and 8 inches, this no brain all brawn of a sad excuse of a human being basically had paid his way into the football team. His father worked for a pharmaceutical company as the regional manager and Brad makes sure every one knew it. From expensive sunglasses to limited edition pens, he has roughly $2000 worth of clothes and accessories on him at all times. And like any stereotypical rich douchebag, he has posse of equally arrogant minions at his beck and call.

"What do you think you are doing Brad?" Charlie hissed. Brad in turn, sneered as he said. "What does it look like I'm doing. I'm saving the new hottie from you freaks." He then turned to Iris as he added. "Hey beautiful, come sit with me and my mates. You shouldn't hang out with these losers." He then grabbed her arm and attempted to make her follow. Keyword being "attempted". Iris let him try for a few moments before yanking her arm out of his grasp. She then turned to him and said. "No thanks, I happen to like the view of that wall. Makes it easier to ignore you and your stupid face." She pointed to the white wall which was in front of her.

Brad was stunned upon hearing her words. This was the first time someone had rejected him (Not really). He then cleared his throat as he leaned on the table with one arm getting into the personal space of Zack. "OK let me try again. Me... handsome, rich and popular. You..... new, hot and gorgeous. Them... ugly, alone and sad. Now come with me." Brad began speaking this time more forcefully as he grabbed Iris's hand once again and tried to drag her behind him. Again, keyword is "tried". A strong hand grabbed onto Brad's hand and forced him to release Iris's hand. Brad, now fuming turned to his assailant with a hateful glare but immediately became terrified when he came face to face with the pissed of 6 foot 5 inch hunk of the captain of the school's football team, Isaac Griffith aka Iris's brother.(Did I forget to introduce this guy before?)

Isaac glared at Brad as the latter began to retreat backwards in fear. "What is the meaning of this Brad? How dare you touch her!" Isaac yelled causing the rest of the students to stare them. Brad looked around to see eyes on him, so to protect his image(if he had any) he straightened himself as he said. "What's wrong with me looking out for my fellow school mate? You should just mind your business, Griffith." "It became my business when someone I care about is involved." Isaac spat venomously causing Brad to flinch. Then suddenly, a look of realisation came over him as he began laughing.

"Oh my god. Don't tell me. You are cheating on Angela. Hahaha. Hey Angela look what your boyfriend is saying." He turned to a blonde girl who was standing next to a group of cheerleader. The girl, Angela stared at Brad with a deadpan look. She obviously knew who Iris was considering how big of a sis con her boyfriend was. Instead she chose to stay silent knowing that Brad was putting himself in to deeper hole with every sentence. Iris's classmates simply looked curious about how this was going to end. And admittedly, they wanted to see Brad make a fool out of himself as well.

As Brad was guffawing with laughter, he saw Iris signal him with her index finger. He then walked to her confident that she had changed her mind. However, what she said next blew his mind. "I'm his sister." Brad was left speechless as the rest of the cafeteria minus Brad's lackeys(some of them anyways) were trying their best to keep themselves from laughing.

"But you look nothing like Daisy." Brad sputtered. "Thats because shes not Daisy dumbass. That's Iris." A collective shock spread across the cafeteria amongst the student who were not yet aware of Iris's identity.

As the events were unfolding at the cafeteria, a dark haired girl was watching Iris with a book open in front of her. A photo of Iris prior to her "makeover" lay on the open page. The girl was lovingly caressing the picture as he whispered to herself. "Welcome back, Iris."

AN: Sorry this took so long hopefully future chapters won't take as long.