Hello Shadowhunter! New Chapter coming at ya!
This chapter's going to have some drama!
(AKA: Max and Iris drama and Julian and Iris drama!)
I'm writing this in religion class... so ya enjoy the chapter!
:)
IRIS POV
My heart physically hurt. Was it possible to feel this way? Like someone had stuck their hand in your chest, ripped out your heart, threw it on the ground, and then stomped on it until there wasn't anything but a bloody pulp left. Because that was how I was feeling right now. Sure, Julian didn't have feelings for me and only knew me as one of his best friend's little sister, but I wanted him to notice me so much.
Wow I needed to get a grip, don't let this affect you Iris. 'You have been through a lot already' I thought as I glance down at the emerald velvet of my chair. I continue to sit at my desk, I had removed the chair that was pushed up to the edge, and continue to glance out of the corner of my eye at Julian and Natalie. The way he smiles at her and hold her hand makes me long for that even more. They seem to be happy together, laughing and talking with each other. She smiles at him and tells him something that makes her face fall. I glance up at the clock and realize it is two minutes until first period starts, she must have to leave. His hand finds hers and he brings it tenderly up to his lips. Natalie's long brown hair whips around as she walks out of the classroom. Once her back is turned Julian turns toward the room, the expression on his face one that I can't decipher.
As soon as he turns around his chocolate brown eyes lock on mine. Brown on green. I can't look away even though my mind keeps telling me that I should. I study his face, how much he has changed since that dark day when Will and his friends began the taunting that became my life. He's a lot taller now, I'll give him that. However, as a posed to Max, he is lanky and not all muscle. Don't get me wrong there is definitely muscle there, but he's more of a speed fighter than a muscle fighter. His tan face has no dark circles under his eyes and no zits or pimples. The eyelashes that his eyes look through are so long and make him look even more attractive. When he smiles at someone, his lips stretch and reveal his perfectly white and straight teeth, and the dimples that adore his tan cheeks appear too, lighting his whole face up.
I whip my head around to look at who he was looking at, definitely not me. No one is making eye contact with Julian when I turn around. My red hair hits me in the face when I look back at him. He chuckles, something that makes my heart soar. He walks even closer and I realize that he was smiling at me. Not his friends, not some girls that want to flirt with him, and not Natalie. Me. He's so close that I have to angle my head upwards to get a good look at him, so close that I can smell him. I ignore the fact about how creepy that is, and let my nostrils fill with his amazing scent. He smells like oranges, nice and fresh oranges. Such an odd thing to smell like, but at the same time it's weird that I am smelling him in the first place.
"Did you think I was smiling at your brother? Or is it that surprising that I'm talking to you?" says Julian.
My breath hitches. Play this cool.
"A little surprising considering the fact that I'm your best friend's sister, I thought it was illegal for us to interact according to him." I respond with a playful tone.
He smiles, and I know that I said the right thing. Score one for me.
"Nope, not illegal," He says, "At least I hope not, or else your brother will kick my ass."
I laugh, a whole hearted laugh that makes my stomach and side hurt. And soon, he laughing with me. Is this flirting? I don't know because I am not really the most experienced person to define flirting.
"Well, I know he would or just ignore me or tell me to get away from him." The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them from coming out.
Julian looks at me through his eyelashes. Some king of emotion is clouding his chocolate eyes. An emotion I can't decipher.
"It's his loss if he pushes you away, I remember when he was protective of you and treated you like you were glass," he takes a breath, "He's different now, and everyone can see it."
I'm shocked by his words. I never thought that anyone noticed how much he's changed. I thought that I was the only one who recognized it. Evidently not. But looking at Julian right now, and seeing how he said that sentence whole-heartedly and seriously, I knew he was right.
"Yeah I know-" I was interrupted by the shout of someone in the classroom.
"BLACKTHORN! OVER HERE!" It was my brother, interrupting one of the longest conversations I had ever had with Julian. I was going to kill him. That I was sure of. When we got home he was in for a world of hurt.
Julian tilted his head up and smiled and waved at my brother.
"Got to go, see you later." He said to me and smiled. I just smiled back at him and waved at his retreating form.
"What, Iris!" I spun around and saw Julian speed walking back towards me.
I gave him a questioning look. What would he be doing back here? Was he really denying the presence of my brother over the presence of me?
He came up to me with a piece of paper in his hand, "Let me look at your schedule."
I was taken aback for a second and then hand the piece of paper that contained all my classes. He looked over it carefully, reading every class, teacher, and room number.
"Fantastic, we have this class, Gym and Combat training, Advanced Herb and Healing Potions, Advanced Shadowhunter Literature, and Speech." He explained, " Can't wait for those classes, wait you're in Advanced Rune Making and Recognition 4?!"He asked.
I blushed a little bit, "Yeah, Angel Blood remember?" I say, "Max got the muscles and the speed and I got the Rune skills."
He nodded his head, "Interesting, so I'll see you later, okay?" he asked.
I blushed a little bit, nodded my head, and waved at him as he walked away once again.
Just then, the bell rung and the teacher walked to the front of the room to begin class. She was short, probably the height of my mom (which is short) and had straight brown hair that went past her shoulders and bags that went to her eyes. Runes were marked all over her skin, very visible on her arms and legs that her skirt didn't cover. She was also obviously pregnant, a small bump visible through her shirt. She looked very welcoming, she had a big smile on her face and looked ready to begin.
"Welcome Freshmen!" She started, "I am Mrs. Portock and this is going to be a very exciting and fun year that we have ahead of us, yes, I know that most of your are just dying to get your hands on a seraph blade, but I can assure you, this class will be fun and there might be some room for demon slaying techniques in here as well." She said with a smile. Whispers we heard around the classroom after she said that. No one had ever heard of bringing a weapon into a classroom or learning techniques outside of the gym. Let's just say it was a big deal that Mrs. Portock said that.
"First thing we are going to do today is get to know each other better, you'll get to know me and the people around you, so let's begin!" Mrs. Portock said excitedly. I kind of looked down at my lap, not really comfortable talking about myself in front of people who hate me for my chair. Mrs. Portock then pulled up a power point presentation on the board in the front of the classroom.
"Alright, so I'll give you my about me presentation and then there will be questions at the end that everyone will answer about themselves, so let's begin,"
"First, I am twenty-nine years old, I also graduated from the Academy like you guys will. I am married, happily for five years to my husband, Conner. And yes, before you ask if I am fat or not, I am pregnant-about five months actually."
Choruses of 'Awwwws' ensued from the girls and nothing from the guys. The presentation continued about Mrs. Portock's life, it was pretty interesting, but then on the last slide of the presentation there were a couple of questions that we had to answer in front of the class.
What's your name?
Where are you from? (Institute or Part of Alicante)
What is your favorite subject?
Who is your favorite Shadowhunter Historical figure?
What is your favorite color?
All of the students in the classroom went around and answered the questions. When Mrs. Portock got to Julian, his favorite color was still red, and I felt once again my cheeks burn like they had all those years ago when he answered the same exact question. Mrs. Portock finally got to Max and I instantly hoped he wouldn't say anything stupid or arrogant. Who was I kidding, he most definitely would.
"My name is Max Herondale, I'm from the New York Institute. My favorite subject is Gym and Combat of course. My favorite Shadowhunter Historical figures are my parents, and my favorite color is gold." He said with a smirk.
Everyone laughed at his answers, all the girls seemed to fawn over him and all the guys who didn't know him before wanted to be friends with him. Finally Mrs. Portock reached me, it was my turn.
"Hello, my name is Iris Herondale, I'm from the New York Institute and-"
"Wait!" Mrs. Portock interrupted, "So, are you and Max related, like twins?"
I merely nodded my head at her while Will muttered to his friends, "Yeah but you will never see them interact with each other, could you imagine what would happen to Max's ego if he hung out with his sister and her friends?" Will, Max, Jem, Tommy, and Julian all snickered at Will's comment. My face turned as red as a fire truck, a mixture of embarrassment and anger. I couldn't tell though if Mrs. Portock heard the comment or not.
I continued anyway, "My favorite subject is Rune Making and Recognition, my favorite Shadowhunter historical figure is Charlotte Branwell, and my favorite color is green." I finish. Internally I am praying to the angel a thank you for letting me get through that. It's sad that I pray on the Angel for those kind of things.
The class finished smoothly with a syllabus from Mrs. Portock that explained what we would be doing throughout the year. The bell rang and then everyone dispersed from their seats. Let's just say that like always, I was the last to leave the classroom. I waved goodbye to Mrs. Portock and pushed myself out the door to pure chaos. Kids were running through the halls, shoving other people out of the way, and then there were the senior and junior boys who were just running people over.
I made my way as best as I could through the crowd with my notebook and my shoulder bag that was sitting beside me in my chair. I spotted Tessa out of the corner of my eye, looking as lost as I did. I pushed my way towards her and yelled,
"Tessa!" She spun around and looked confused until she spotted me, then a smile crept up onto her face.
"Iris!" She yelled, (as loud as Tessa could yell) "I'm so lost right now and don't know what to do! You know I don't like crowds!"
"Where are you going?" I questioned.
"To the Gym!" She answered, "I've got Gym and Combat Training with Metz and Simonton."
"Me too! Let's go!" I told her, pulling her along with me. However, Tessa being Ms. Selfless went behind my chair and started to push it for me. This is why I like Tessa but also don't like Tessa. She does things for other people and she puts them before herself, which is good, but she never leaves time for herself. We push our way towards the gym, or the direction we think the gym is in. I quickly think back to the beginning of class when Julian told me we had gym together. He's going to see me be embarrassed by the gym teacher and every other kid in there that can perform simple combat exercises that I can't because of obvious reasons. We finally arrive after getting many stares, whispers, and points from the other students in the hallway.
The gym is big, to put it lightly. And it's stocked with the finest weapons, mats, practicing dummies, track, and bleachers. The floors are an old oak like wood that creaked a little when you walk (or push) on it. The ceilings are so high that not even my brother could jump that high. And on the bleachers sit a group of about twenty kids so far with two teachers, one male and one female, standing in front of the bleachers. Once we came closer to the bleachers I felt twenty pairs of eyes land on me and soon I felt the familiar rush of heat to my cheeks. At the top of the bleachers. Sat my brother, Will, Jem, Gabriel, and Gideon. No Julian to be seen. Tessa and I make our way to the bottom bleachers and wait for the passing period to end.
The loud shrill of the tardy bell is heard and in comes Julian, sprinting through the gym doors and across the length of the gym. Cheers and shouts from my brother and his group of friends as Julian slows down to a walk and climbs the bleacher steps up to his group of friends. Both the teachers stared at us, looking into each and every one of our eyes. Everyone sat perfectly still, no one dared to speak or move a muscle. That is, until my brother opened his big, fat mouth.
"Hey," He said, "So when are we going to get to the fighting, because I am itching to get my hands on a seraph blade."
I mentally cursed my parents for having Max and for raising him to be an asshole. God, why couldn't Max just be a good student for once and follow the rules. No he's going to get killed by the Gym Teachers. I felt Tessa beside me tense up as well, probably thinking the same exact thing as me. I heard Max's friends chuckle at his comment and then the male gym teacher spoke,
"Well, thank for that valuable input Mr..."
"Herondale, Max Herondale." Max answered with so much arrogance laced into his words.
I saw a flash of annoyance and recognition in Mr. Metz's eyes when Max explained who he was the spawn of. Mom warned me that this would happen, that some of the teacher's would recognize who Max or I was that they may treat us differently. I already knew that I would be treated differently, by everyone.
"Mr. Herondale, I should have known, I was warned that you would be in my class." Mr. Metz continued.
"I think the word you are looking for there is privilege, Mr. Metz, privilege." Max answered.
Angel, when we leave for the day I swear I will kill that stupid boy. Mr. Metz narrowed his eyes at Max, while Max just kept looking at him with that arrogant smirk of his, so similar to my father's.
"Well then, if it's a privilege, why don't you do me the honor of fighting with that dummy over there," Mr. Metz said while pointing to a beat up, old seraph blade dummy, "It would be a privilege for the class and I to watch you."
"It would be an honor Mr. Metz." Max said as he stood up from his spot on the bleachers.
Max's entire group of friends clapped for him while he walked down the steps and toward Mr. Metz who was holding a model seraph blade. Max took the blade from Mr. Metz and started to warm up by swinging it around a little. Both of the gym teachers stood and eyed Max, analyzing his moves as he warmed up to fight the dummy. Most of the class was chanting his name right now, but I couldn't because I knew that would just encourage him more. Tessa gave me a look of horror and whispered in my ear,
"The dummy is rigged."
I gave her a questioning look and whispered back, "What do you mean?"
"The exact same thing happened to Nate his first year," Tessa explained, "He was called down because he though he was ready to fight the dummy, but the dummy fights back, big time too."
I felt the color drain from my face as Max was ready to give his first strike to the dummy. He swung the seraph blade back just as Dad taught him how to and began to bring it down on the dummy. But before the blade met the beat up leather, the dummy came to life and punched Max in the stomach. He sucked in a gulp of air as the wind got knocked out of him and he was on the floor, the seraph blade fell inches from his grasp.
The entire class gasped and a few girls screamed. Mr. Metz just looked amused and turned back to us as Tommy and Will ran down to help their friend.
"You see students, even those who think they're the best can fail, in this class you will learn how to succeed."
It was the last class of the day. I had survived almost the entire day with minimal taunting from other kids. After the Mr. Metz incident in gym, people forgot about it-they didn't even talk about it and denied it happened. If that had been me, the story would have spread like wildfire. Now, I push myself into my last and most dreaded class of the day. Advanced Rune Making and Recognition IIII. The class that I have with the smartest seniors in our school. Seniors.
I push myself through the door at the end of the hallway. I am greeted by a dimly lit room, most of the lighting is by candles and a couple of lamps. A dozen easels are set up faces a chalk board, black paint and steles, both training and real ones, are set up next to the easels. Different posters hang around the room with differen runes on them. A few kids are already sitting at their easels, ready for the day to begin.
"Oh my goodness I am so sorry I am late!" A flustered voice that comes from behind me says. I push myself a little farther forward and turn around. A woman, the teacher I'm guessing, stands before me. She was young, the youngest teacher that I have encountered today, I was guessing she was in her early twenties. Long, dark black hair flowed down her back. Runes were marked on her arms and her legs on her pale skin. She had a kind smile that she was showing me right now, her face didn't show any shock or annoyance or prejudice. She looked genuinely happy that I was in her class and sitting before her.
"You're not late, we are just early." I explained.
"That is a good way to put it, why don't you have a seat and we can get started." She said.
I pushed myself to the back of the classroom at the last easel. The bell rang and I guessed this class was going to be very small-only about eight people were in this class. I looked around at the other kids in the class, they were obviously seniors, four girls and four boys. They were joking around and looked like they were having a good time. There was about four sets of easels between us, I felt like I should scoot up, but I didn't want to annoy them. One of the boys caught my eye and waved his hand saying,
"Hey, come on up here. We don't bite!" Then the rest of the kids begged me to come up with them.
I felt accepted. I never have really felt this way before. I pushed myself from my back easel and went in between a senior boy and a senior girl. They weren't even looking at my chair.
"Hi, my name's Kyle!" Said the guy who invited me over, "What's your name? Cool chair by the way."
I blushed a little bit.
"Thanks, um, my name's Iris Herondale." I stutter out.
Everyone's eyes go a little wider.
"Herondale? Wow, you're like a prodigy then right?" a girl questions.
"Um, kind of. I mean, I'm in an advanced rune class for seniors as a freshmen-so." I say.
"Cool." Another guy says.
This was so foreign to me. I had never had people, besides my friends, take such an interest in me.
"You guys aren't just, stringing me on right?" I ask. I just want to make sure that they were being genuinely nice. At least I hope they are.
Some of the kids chuckle, while other just look at me funny.
"Of course we're not stringing you on, We wouldn't kid about this kind of stuff." A girl named Mara says.
"Well, I saw you in the hallway today and…saw that you were having a tough time." Kyle says, "People shouldn't be like that just because you're disabled. It's a stupid policy anyways."
I nod at them and smile. The teacher walks to the front of the room, everyone silences and looks to her.
"What's up guys?!" She says, "I'm Ms. Marr, it's very nice to see some familiar and new faces."
"Actually the only new face is you my dear." Ms. Marr says as she points to me. "Can you introduce yourself for me?"
I nod and clear my throat, "Hi, I'm Iris Herondale it's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too Iris." Ms. Marr replies.
A chorus of hellos and greetings come from the seniors. Ms. Marr starts to talk a little bit about herself, turns out she is an artist like my mom. She enjoys mundane TV shows, like all the other seniors in the class. Turns out that since my mom was introduced into the Shadowhunter world, mundane things have become more mainstream in the Shadowhunter culture. By the end of class we were talking about the latest Sherlock episodes. Ms. Marr also talked about what the year would intel.
It sounds like we will learn different runes and learn how to draw them so that they are extremely effective. We will also learn how to recognize different runes when we see them. All this rune talk made me keep touching and itching the runes that are still printed clearly on my thighs. By the time the bell rings, I don't want to leave. Ms. Marr and the seniors in my class made me feel welcome, we talked about mundane things and we just really connected. I know now that this class will be fun.
As I was leaving the building and pushing myself down the sidewalk and towards the portal station, I felt a pair of eyes burn into the back of my head, I spin around and see him. The cold dead black eyes stare right into mine, a smile like the devil's adores his lips. I can't mistake the pale white blond hair for anyone else. Sebastian Morgenstern. The man who ruined my life. I quickly turned myself back around and started to push myself away. But I still snuck a look back at him, only to find that his spot between the trees on the Academy campus is empty.
I finished this in my Technology Class-Be proud of me!
Don't Forget to Review
;)
