Iris groaned and rolled over she had managed to get a good couple of hours of sleep which was what she exactly needed. She stared up at the ceiling and stretched her stiff muscles and glanced at her blinking alarm clock, she saw that it was eleven in the morning and yawned wondering what she could do today, she had paid the bills went grocery shopping yesterday and did some cleaning, Iris swung her legs out of bed and looked out of her window what was there to do? She thought and saw that the yard could do with some weeding and perhaps a bit of colour, Iris grinned realising what she could do, sort out the front yard and make it look cleaner. The back garden was already done when she had moved in so there was nothing to do there.
With a nod she set off to get ready, Iris entered her bathroom and stripped out of her night clothes which consisted of a pair of short shorts and a thin camisole, she turned the shower faucet on and held out her hand letting the warm water cascade down her skin, when she was satisfied with the temperature of the water she stepped into the stall.
Iris just stood under the spray letting the water wash down her, she tilted her face upwards and sighed.
Iris stepped out of the shower and wrapped a large fluffy towel around her small body and headed back into her bedroom. She rummaged through her closet and pulled on a pair of light denim shorts as well as a floral camisole.
She ran the brush through her hair and tied it up into a messy bun; she slipped her small feet into a pair of worn converses. Iris saw that it was passed noon and made herself a sandwich. She sipped her juice and was just washing her dishes, she glanced up and spied Jeremy and Elena through her kitchen curtains, she could tell that they were arguing, she sighed softly and turned away. Iris grabbed her car keys and headed towards the florist to pick up some flowers and plants.
About two hours later she pulled back into her driveway and unlocked her trunk and saw the range of potted plants and flowers as well as several gardening tools. Iris grabbed the tools and dumped it on the grassy grounds she heard the slamming of a door shutting. She saw Jeremy storming out of the house, he looked upset and angry he kicked a rock out of his pathway
"Jeremy is it?" Iris asked making him look at her,
"Yeah" he asked confused
"I…erm we've met earlier, but I don't think you remember" she smiled at him
"I…yeah" he turned away but her voice stopped him
"Wait Jeremy, do you want to help me?" she asked
"What? Look I'm going and-"
"Come on I could use with the help" Jeremy turned around to face the petite English girl, she gave him a soft smile which was a first for a while, there was no judging in her eyes he noted and she wasn't trying to control him
"Yeah I would like to help you" he smiled at her, this was a perfect distraction for him putting his mind off everything from the deaths of his parents to Vicki
"Great, come on then" she grinned at him attempting to take a potted plant but it was too heavy making her grunt
"And this is where I come in" Jeremy chuckled
"Wow" Jenna muttered having witnessed the scene from the front room window
"What?" Elena asked coming in a frown on her face, she saw Jenna peeking out of her window, she looked over her and was slightly miffed at the scene, and there was Jeremy with a smile on his face
"I haven't seen him smile like that for a while" Elena muttered
"Hmm, me neither and I think I know the reason why" Jenna murmured seeing who was keeping her nephew's company
"Iris?" Elena asked confused
"Yeah she asked him for help with the gardening" Jenna smiled and stepped back
"At least he's doing something" Elena sighed and saw Iris laughing at whatever Jeremy was saying.
"Here you go" Iris sat down beside him on her porch swing handing him a glass of ice cold water
"Thanks" he muttered, she could see that he was in a dark place
She licked her lips "Jeremy if you need anyone to talk to you can come to me"
"Iris no offence but I doubt you know what's going on. Or how I'm feeling"
She smiled ruefully at him "I do, I lost some people I love before" he gave her a questioning look "my parents they're dead as well" she said making his lips drop into a frown
"Iris-"
"It happened a long time ago" she waved him off "but after that there was a lot of people I loved have gone, you're going into a down ward spiral Jeremy" she lightly squeezed his bigger hand
"Iris I don't need someone else to tell me how-"
"I'm not going to tell you what to do Jeremy" she said firmly "it's up to you to deal with the way you grieve" he looked at her, she really was beautiful he idly thought "Whether it be ranting or raving, doing drugs" she sighed and took a sip of her drink "I do want to tell you one thing though, the world moves on Jeremy, whether want it to or not people move on as well, perhaps you should do that as well" she smiled at him, a thoughtful expression came across his face her soft words were ringing around his head
"I…I don't know, I feel so lost" he whispered,
"You'll find your way back Jeremy, just let people in" she murmured and looked down at her watch "you should get going"
He nodded and stood up the same time she did
"Thanks for the help" she called to his retreating form
"No problems, thank Iris" he said sincerely she smiled and nodded and headed inside.
Iris sat down at her desk, she'd just eaten and decided to do some homework and read up on some of the history of Mystic Falls, she flicked through the pages and studied the images and spotted Stephan in several in them, she had just turned the page when she froze her eyes widening she held the book closer seeing a striking resemblance to someone she knew.
"Elena" she muttered, that was impossible she knew that Elena wasn't vampire but there was the teen staring right back at her. Iris took the whole picture into account and noticed the period clothes and the date.
This wasn't Elena no this was her lookalike and she was standing with Stephan
"Oh merlin" Iris muttered seeing this, damn this town certainly wasn't boring, a frowned marred her pretty face was Stephan interested in Elena because she resembled someone he once knew? She had seen his face and the way he interacted with her no he did care for her.
Iris sighed and looked at the time she thought it would be best to head to bed since she had school the following morning, as she changed out of her soiled covered clothes she wondered how Elena would react to finding out the truth.
Iris brushed her hair and braided it wasn't any of her business really, but if the teen was in danger she would help. Iris felt the breeze on her skin and saw that the window was wide open; she clambered onto the window sill and was about to close it when there was a loud
'Caw' making her gasp and jump, she clutched her chest and saw the big crow
"What the hell?" she muttered and tilted her head it mimicked her actions making her giggle "You're funny birdy" she commented and shook her head and slammed the window shut. Iris turned around and climbed onto bed and reached over turning the lamp of.
She sighed and sunk into her soft mattress and closed her eyes, today had tired her out she was exhausted, Iris snuggled into her bed and fell fast asleep.
The former witch was woken to her alarm blaring loudly, she groaned and pounded her small fist on to the ringing device, she cursed when she ended up pushing it onto the floor, Iris groaned and looked down at it and sighed in relief when it didn't look broken she reached down for it, but her momentum went off balance and she ended up slamming face first into the floor
"Oww" she whined and crawled on to her knees and was clutching her throbbing nose "bloody hell" she muttered stalking off towards the bathroom.
Iris looked into the mirror and saw her red nose; "look like Rudolph" she muttered to herself and then washed face with cold water, cooling down the fiery feeling in her nose. She looked up and was slightly relieved when it the redness had died.
Iris had a quick shower and dried herself off; she rummaged through her dark oak dresser and slipped on some fresh panties and bra.
She was clad in her underwear and looked through her closet, deciding to wear a pair of dark skinny jeans and a simple grey long sleeve top that had a scoop neck, she brushed her hair and left it out. Iris paired her outfit with ankle boots adding about three inches to her five foot structure. She grabbed her black leather jacket and messenger bag and headed downstairs.
Iris saw that her books were scattered all over the desk and proceeded to pile them into her bag, once she was done with that she made herself some toast and tea and scarfed them down.
"Morning Iris" Caroline greeted her at her locker
"Hi" Iris smiled and noticed that the girl was literally giddy "Something good happened?" she asked
Caroline giggled and nodded "Yes, I met the hottest dude ever and he is totally interested in me"
Iris smiled at her and nodded "Wow, is he nice?"
"Ergh who cares but he is good looking, and a demon in the bedroom if you get what I mean"
Iris cheeks redden making Caroline laughed
"Aw you're so cute Iris" she pinched her cheek and skipped away making Iris cock an eyebrow, she was slightly concerned for the blond wondering who this mystery man was that made the girl squeal and giddy.
"Was that Caroline?" Bonnie asked making Iris jump
"Bloody hell why is everyone sneaking up" she scoffed making Bonnie laugh
"Sorry Iris, I called your name but you seemed totally out of it" Bonnie said as Iris grabbed her history book and fell in step beside the dark skin girl
"That was Caroline by the way" Iris commented
"Hmm" Bonnie's brows furrowed
"What's wrong?" she asked dodging several students out of the way
"Nothing, it was just that me and Care was supposed to go shopping and she never turned up"
Iris tapped her slim fingers against the hardback books "Hmm, maybe something came up" Bonnie shrugged her shoulders and nodded "Probably, so did Elena invite you to dinner?"
"Don't you mean the get-to-know-you session?" she asked sarcastically, Bonnie chuckled and nodded they had arrived at Tanner's classroom
"Yeah she did" Iris nodded
"Good, because we hardly know anything about you Iris" Bonnie smiled and took her seat, missing the smile drop off of Iris's face
"as if you would want to" she muttered and headed towards her seat which was next to Stephan
"Hey" he greeted her smiling up at the petite raven head
"Hi" she smiled and sat down "so dinner?"
"Yep I'm going" he nodded
"Trying to make the friend of the girl you're pining over like you" she murmured, he scoffed
"Really Iris"
"Really Stephan" she mocked but smiled at him brightly "don't worry, anyway it was Elena's idea"
Stephan glanced at her "She told you?"
"Yep" Iris smiled and picked up her pen, thinking it was slightly weird to use since she had gotten used to working with a feather quill.
"I'm glad I got someone on my side whose coming" he smiled and lightly gave her hand which was resting on the desk a small squeeze
"No problems Steph, you're a friend" she said cautiously
He grinned at that "Yep I'm your friend" he nodded, just then Elena arrived and frowned slightly when she saw Stephan's and Iris's hands
"Hey Elena" Stephan smiled removing his hand, both supernatural creatures had missed the moment of jealousy that had passed Elena's face
"Morning" Iris smiled brightly at her "Is Jeremy ok?"
"Yeah he's fine" she said shortly, making Stephan look at Iris with enquiring look, Iris shrugged her shoulders
"Well I'm looking forward to tonight" Stephan smiled at the brunette, "get to spend more time with you" causing a smile to appear on Elena's face
"You guys are so going be shagging within two weeks" Iris blurted out, her eyes widened, both Stephan and Elena blushed but then burst out laughing
"Shagging?" Elena questioned "I didn't know you Brits still use that term"
Iris cheeks tinted pink "Not sure about everyone else but I do"
Elena smiled and shook her head, feeling slightly silly at her reaction to Iris earlier knowing that the raven head was just a friend to Stephan.
Their attention was soon focused on the front when Tanner arrived.
Iris grumbled under breath tugging the shorts down plopped down on the bench pouting
"Why the glum face?" Elena asked
"Have you seen what I'm wearing?" she asked wryly, Elena frowned realising why Iris's mood change, the girl was modest and she knew that the raven head was feeling uncomfortable in her own skin
"You look good, in Caroline's words if you've got it flaunt it" Elena smiled and tugged her into a standing position
"Why am I here? I don't even want to be a cheerleader" she stood beside Elena who gave her an amused look
"One it gets you out of gym and two you don't have to do nothing" Elena explained, Iris sighed and nodded
"Fine, valid reasons, I hate gym anyway"
"That's the spirit" Elena clapped her on the shoulder and jogged away, Iris turned around to see where she was going and saw the tall brunette heading towards the football where no doubt Stephan was.
"Iris STRETCH" Caroline shrieked making Iris jump
"Yes sir" she mocked saluted making the girls around her giggle.
Iris was at the back of the group not wanting to be at the front, she just couldn't wait to go home.
Iris arrived home and lugged her heavy bag of books into the house and dropped them in the corner of the living room where her desk was, her walls were all lined with books that she had gathered as well as photo albums, the pictures were enchanted not to move anymore since she was no longer part of that world.
Iris yawned and took her jacket off placing it on the back of the chair and went into the kitchen to grab a soda, once she had gotten her beverage she settled herself behind her desk and opened her laptop starting to do her work.
She chewed on the cap of her pen and scrolled down the screen, attempting to right a paper on Shakespeare's works, Iris sighed and looked up her book shelves and grabbed the most famed pieces of his work intent on using direct quotes.
She jumped when her cell rang; it was utterly silent apart from her tapping on the keyboard before the living room was filled with the shrilling sound
"Hello"? She said into the phone, saving her work
"Iris, where are you?" Elena asked making her frown, Iris glanced at the time
"Oh shoot, I'm on my way" Iris uttered
"Ok" she hanged up,
Iris turned her laptop off and grabbed her jacket and house keys, she had gotten so into her work that she had lost track of time, she was about ten minutes late.
Iris locked the door behind her and jogged over to Elena's house, she licked her lips and tucked in several of her fallen curls and knocked on the door, a second later it was opened revealing a smiling Bonnie
"Hey" Iris grinned as the dark skinned girl step aside allowing the English teen to enter the house
"Thank god you're here" Bonnie muttered, and dragged Iris into the kitchen by her hand
"Why? What's wrong?" Iris asked
"Nothing, except Elena keeps going on about Stephan" she rolled her eyes
"Speaking of Stephan he's really nice" Iris smiled
"Ergh not you to" Bonnie mumbled as they entered the kitchen
"Iris" Elena greeted her smiling
"Hi, sorry I'm late got carried away with my work" she said and hopped onto the stool as did Bonnie
"I can't believe you invited him-"
"Why don't you like him Bonnie"? Elena asked angrily looking at her best friend
"I just…I got a bad feeling about him" Bonnie admitted, Iris frowned
"What do you mean?" she asked, Elena nodded wondering the same thing, Iris saw the girl tense up
"I touched him" Bonnie said
Iris eyes widened "Ergh why would you do that?"
"No" Bonnie cried out seeing Iris's pale face flushing red, Elena chocked down a laugh
"Not like that, I meant I touched his hand and I saw something"
Iris brows "what like a vision?" wondering of the teen had some seer blood
"Sort of, there was blood and a girl and blue eyes"
Elena scoffed "Really Bonnie?" not taking her seriously, Iris however tensed recalling the fact that Bonnie was a descendent of witches
"Are you thinking what you're grandmother said is true?" Iris asked quietly
"What me being a witch?" Bonnie sighed and shook her head "I don't want to be a witch, seriously?"
Iris shrugged her shoulders "could be exciting" she muttered
"Another thing" Bonnie carried on not hearing Iris's comment "I can't these numbers out of my head" she then listed the numbers
"Bonnie really?" Elena frowned "can't you just get along with him for me"?
Iris twirled a curl around her finger feeling slightly excluded from the scene in front she didn't blame them though knowing that the two girls were close since they grew up together
"Where's the serving spoon?" Elena asked herself
"Top draw" Bonnie responded Elena opened it and sure enough it was there
"Coincidence" Elena uttered just then there was a knock on the door, "It's Stephan now be nice" she said and walked off
Iris followed after Bonnie "Maybe your gram isn't as crazy as you think" she commented
"What-"
"You should talk to her Bon" Iris cut her off but smiled and gave her hand a small squeeze.
Iris twirled her fork around her plate, she peeked up from her lashes and saw that like her everyone was focused on the food in front of them, this is awkward she thought, she yelped when there was a sharp kick to her shin, she looked up and saw Elena looking pointedly at her clearly telling her to say something
"You ok Iris?" Stephan asked looking at her,
"Spinach" she abruptly said
"What-"
"I don't like spinach, I shared now your turn Stephan" Iris said feeling her cheeks heat up, she glared at Elena who couldn't hide smile
"Iris can you help me with the coffee, or tea" Elena said hastily taking her leave Iris smiled forcefully and ignored the burning look from Bonnie who wanted her stay
"Excuse me" she rushed out of the room and headed into the kitchen "So where do you want me?"
"What the hell was that?" Elena whispered,
"What?" Iris asked confused
"Spinach" she said
"What? You said say something and I did" she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly "not very good at improvising"
Elena laughed "I can tell"
"Anyway, what about the lame excuse to get us out of the room so Bonnie and Stephan could get to know one another" Iris said leaning against the counter as Elena went around the kitchen making coffee
"Well it wasn't as lame as yours" Elena muttered, Iris licked her lips and grabbed the tray loading the empty mugs on to it
"Should we head back"? Elena asked as she slowly placed the coffee on to another tray where there were some biscuits and snacks
"Sure, you go first Bonnie was giving me evils earlier" Elena gigged and led Iris back into the living room where surprisingly Bonnie and Stephan were chatting to one another
Iris dropped down on to the couch next to Bonnie whilst Elena and Stephan were on the other seat,
"So what have you two been talking about?" Elena smiled and poured everyone a cup of coffee,
"Oh Stephan was telling me about the witches who apparently fled from Salem to hear" Bonnie said
"Smart move Stephan" Iris mumbled knowing he would hear her, he sent her a small smile and discreetly nodded
Just then there was a knock on the door making all of them freeze
"Is someone else coming?" Bonnie asked Elena shrugged
"Must be Jeremy" she said leaving the room creating another moment of silence Iris took a sip of coffee and cringed
"Ew" she spat it back into the cup making Stephan and Bonnie laugh
"Iris I'm guessing that you don't like coffee" Stephan said amused seeing her face scrunch up balking at the taste
"Why are Americans so hooked on that" she said grabbing a biscuit to get rid of the bitter taste
"Same reason why the English are so obsessed with tea" Bonnie chuckled at the small raven head.
"Ergh" she shuddered making them both laugh again.
"I'm going to check on Elena" Stephan announced leaving the room,
"Are you ok now?" Bonnie asked cocking an eyebrow
"Yes" Iris shook her head just then Caroline entered the room with a box both Iris and Bonnie stood
"I didn't know she was invited" she muttered to Bonnie who shrugged
"Hey girls" Caroline grinned at them placing the box on to the coffee table "I can't wait for you to meet him"
Iris grew curious as Elena re-entered and saw a brooding Stephan on her heels, which was a surprise since earlier he seemed so at ease.
Iris felt her jaw slacken slightly seeing the new person coming in, whoever he was he was as in Caroline's words 'hot'
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends brother" he smirked, Iris tensed and looked at Stephan
"Brother?" she questioned "I didn't know you have a brother Stephan"
"Me neither" Elena muttered
"Aw baby bro probably feels a bit inferior no doubt" he said cockily
"Hmm not so much" Stephan grimaced. "This is my brother Damon, this is Bonnie Bennett" Damon shook her hand his bright blue eyes moved on to the little beauty next to her "and who is this?"
"Iris Potter" Iris shook his hand and tensed when he flipped it over and kissed the back of her hand,
"Lovely to meet you, Mystic Falls seem to have so many gorgeous women, no wonder dear Stephan didn't want to introduce me, doesn't want to share" he smirked darkly at Iris, who pulled her hand away, he could immediately smelled the raven head's scent it was literally mouth-watering
"Arrogant prat" Iris muttered too low for the girls to hear, Stephan stifled a chuckle whilst Damon narrowed his eyes, he wanted to taste her dig his fangs into her delicate soft looking skin.
"We brought desert" Caroline called; Elena went to go get plates, whilst Bonnie, Iris, Stephan and Damon sat on the couches.
Iris could feel Damon's eyes boring into her she ignored him however, so Stephan had a brother she thought he must be the vampire that's been doing the attacks and now he was sinking his claws into Caroline, who she concluded have no idea what kind of monster she was dealing with.
"So Elena what do you do for fun?" Damon asked everything was having some desert
"Erm…well-"
"She doesn't do much since her parents died" Caroline cut in. making Iris choke on her piece of cake; Bonnie alarmingly slapped her on the back and rubbed it
"Oh Iris you ok?" Elena asked
Iris nodded her cheeks bloomed an attractive rouge making Damon salivate
"Yeah went down the wrong way" she covered
"So you're Stephan's older brother?" Elena asked
He smirked and nodded "Yep just me and my brother, parents passed away a long time ago"
"No kidding" Iris muttered
"What about you Miss Potter?" Damon asked
"What about me?" she asked tightly
"I haven't seen your parents Iris, Jenna wanted to meet them" Elena frowned
Iris looked down and played with a stray thread and sighed looking up at them, she shrugged
"They passed away when I was a baby" she said
Elena eyes widened as did Bonnie's
"How?" Caroline asked bluntly, Iris didn't mind since she knew the blond was at times crude but not on purpose that was just her nature
"Caroline" Bonnie hissed at her
"Aw no I want to know as well" Damon said, Stephan's fist clenched wanting to smack his brother
"They were murdered" she stated
"Wow, is the killer still out there?" Caroline asked, Elena sent the blond a glare she could tell that Iris was reluctant to talk about her past
"No, he's dead"
There was a tense silence
"So who do you live with?" Bonnie asked
Iris licked her lips, Damon watched her small pink tongue dark out his hunger for Iris was growing he wanted to ravage her, he'll compel her later to have a taste later he thought
"In England my aunt and uncle took me in" she toyed with a strand of her curl "In England you turn of age at 16, my parents left me a trust fund and I was the last in the Potter line"
She paused "so they accumulated a lot of money over the last couple of decades and it was left to me. My aunt and uncle aren't nice people so when I turned 16 my godfather allowed me to be emancipated and it was granted, and here I am"
They all processed this, Elena gave her hand a small squeeze, Stephan's mind was reeling at this her relatives weren't nice people? Were they responsible for the carving of the back of her hand?
"What do you mean they weren't nice?" Damon asked his bright blue orbs boring into her
"Just what I said" she said "Jealous that they weren't getting the hands on the money I suppose and now want nothing to do with me"
Elena frowned and took note that Iris was always a bit stiff and never touchy and feeling and tensed whenever she hugged her
"So what about your godfather? Is he looking after you?" Elena asked concern seeping through her
"No he died" she asked
"So you're all on your own?" Caroline asked.
Iris gave her a tight smile "Been that way for a while"
Stephan frowned at that knowing that she was probably lonely
"So Stephan I heard you joined the football team?" Iris said after a moment of silence,
"Yeah I did" he said, she was relieved at him for going along with this, he knew she was attempting to change the subject
"Oh you guys should've seen Stephan he was amazing" Elena gushed. Iris sat back nibbling on the piece of cake glad that the spot light was off of her.
Damon however grew even more curious at the English girl, she was hiding something he knew that and he hadn't missed the way she had stiffened when she talked about her relatives, wondering what she meant.
Iris groaned and let out a yawn and dumped her keys in the small dish bowl, she stretched her arms above her head and decided to head to bed feeling exhausted. She had spent ten minutes more at the Gilberts and left.
Iris changed into a pair of flannel loose bottoms and a thin camisole, and crawled into her bed and pulled the covers up she sighed and stared up at the ceiling, so Stephan's brother was the mystery attacker no doubt and she had told them about her past, she knew that they would be curious but she decided to not to tell them anything more, there was no point really she wanted to start fresh.
AN: Hey, I wanted to update yesterday but for some unknown reason I couldn't log in, did anyone else similar problems?
Anyway thanks to those who reviewed so far, this is a extra long chapter so please REVIEW !