Iris groaned and slammed her and down shutting off her alarm. She grumbled under her breath pushing back her mass of curls away from her face, she blinked clearing her hazy vision and rubbed her fists in her eyes. She sighed and rolled out of bed and padded barefooted towards the bathroom she stripped out of clothes and stepped into the shower, Iris showered and washed and conditioned her hair, she smelt of vanilla and strawberry. She grabbed the towel and dried herself off.
Iris rummaged through her dresser draw and pulled out a pair of black cotton underwear and a lacy bra she slipped them on. And then moved towards her closet the sun was blaring though her window warming her skin.
Iris opted to wear a navy colour buttoned down blue dress pairing it with a pair of thin tights and her ankle boots, she brushed her hair and pulled into a bun where her stray curls and bangs framed her face. Iris sighed and grabbed her bag full of books and headed off to school.
Since Tanner was now gone, they had no one to teach the class till the new teacher would arrive which was apparently by Wednesday. They had free period and Iris decided to head to the library not wanting to be involved in the fundraiser since she had hardly knew the man compared to her peers, plus she wanted a bit of down time.
Iris smiled seeing Rose
"Hello" Iris smiled
"Hello dear, not in class?" the old lady asked as Iris leant against the counter
"No, it's Tanner's class and you probably heard what happened to him" Iris murmured tucking in a stray strand, Rose tusked
"Poor man, I know he was a hard ass but-"
"No one deserves to have their life ripped away like that" Iris added softly, Rose looked at the teenager carefully
"You make me curious Iris" Rose said meeting the bright emerald orbs
"How so?" she asked cocking an eyebrow
"You sound like wise beyond your years"
Iris smiled and shook her head and headed to the back of the library where there was a table and a cushy chair
She dropped her bag onto the desk and looked through some of the shelves pulling out a few books, Iris soon had a piled of novels sitting beside her and she read loosing herself in the make believe world.
It was lunch time and Iris had grabbed her usual sandwich and looked around and spotted Bonnie and Elena sitting at a table in the centre of the room, along with Stefan.
Stefan's head perked up smelling a familiar intoxicating scent
"Iris" he smiled seeing the pale girl who grinned back at him
"Hi" she said sitting down next to him, she looked around the group her eyes met Elena's who gasped
"Oh Iris, I'm so sorry" she said "I…I forgot I should have called you"
Iris smiled lightly and bit down on her bottom lip "No it's fine" she shook her head
"We can do it tonight…oh I told Jeremy-"
"Elena its fine whenever you want" she grinned and bit into her sandwich listening in on the conversation
"So Iris" Stefan nudged her lightly making her look at him "how was your evening last night?"
She swallowed her food and licked her lips "Hmm, was ok, your brother showed up on my doorstep"
"What?" Stefan asked startled "you didn't let him in did you? Did he bite you-"he whispered furiously so that the other girls didn't hear
"No, I'm not stupid enough to let a bipolar vampire into my home" she scoffed, he chuckled lightly "he came to talk, your brother was actually civil and interesting" she laughed.
Stefan's eyebrows shot to his hairline Damon being nice to someone and not having an ulterior he must really like her he thought, but it was hard not to like the little raven head, she had a lure that pulls you in
"So Bonnie what are doing this evening?" Iris asked sipping her drink
"Hmm, oh I'm going to go to my Grams, she needs to talk to me" Bonnie said, Iris nodded wondering if the elder Bonnet was going to talk to her granddaughter about her being a witch. Iris couldn't help but be somewhat jealous of her since she had been exiled and that she wasn't allowed to go back into the world which she loved, it had been her first true home.
"Oh have fun"
Bonnie chuckled "I'll try"
"What about you Caroline?" she asked the blond
"Oh?" she looked away from her small compact mirror "well I'm doing the car wash fundraising thing for Tanner and Elena's coming are you?"
"Oh" Iris wracked her brain for an excuse and improvised "I've got plans, sorry"
Caroline sighed heavily and went back to the mirror
"Do you really have plans?" Stefan asked
She gasped mockingly "Why Stefan, I'm offended at that" her lips twitched in amusement but he smile which made her giggle "I promise Rose, the librarian" she clarified "that I'll help her out"
Stefan hummed and nodded as Iris went back to eating her lunch the rest of their free time chatting.
Iris finally arrived at home just as she unlocked her car door she saw Elena running out of the home before she could call out to the teen she dove into her car and was gone.
Iris frowned something was up, she shrugged her shoulders and approached her door, she unlocked the front door and shut it firmly behind her, her footsteps echoed around the empty house as she walked into her living room she dumped her bag on to the desk and headed into the kitchen.
Iris slipped off her jacket and made herself some pasta for dinner, while she set the sauce on the stove she waltzed upstairs to get change, Iris slipped on some pair of loose flannel shorts and a long sleeve shirt. She brushed her hair putting it into a messy bun. She padded barefooted downstairs and glanced at the time it was reaching six in the evening, Iris gabbed her bowl of pasta and headed into the living room where she plopped down on the cushy creamed colour couch.
Iris turned the television on and flipped on a programme. She was halfway through her meal when she heard a car pulling up. Iris glanced at the time and saw that it was teen, she placed her bowl of food on the coffee table, and peeked through the curtains and saw a clearly upset Elena getting out of the car. She frowned seeing the troubled girl, Iris slipped on a pair of tennis shoes and grabbed her keys and jacket. She hurried over to Elena's house and knocked on the door a couple of minutes later it was opened.
"Iris?" Elena asked confused, "What are you doing here?"
"Mind if I come in?" she didn't wait for a reply and stepped into the house, Elena sighed and led her into the kitchen, she sat down on the stool and Elena sat opposite her "Where's Jenna?"
"She's on a date with Logan Fell" Elena said
"Have you talked to Stefan today?" Iris asked softly and didn't miss the look of panic across Elena's face "You did and I'm assuming you found something out about the Salvatore's?" she asked
Elena's head shot up her eyes widening "You know" she stated.
Iris licked her lips nervously and answered coolly "Know what?"
Elena's eyes hardened "You knew" she accused "you knew that Stefan and Damon are vampires"
Iris nodded at her, seeing anger explode from Elena's face
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" she shouted. "You knew I liked him and then this"
"Because" Iris said calmly managing to cool Elena down by her tone and demeanour "It wasn't my secret to tell Elena"
"Secret? This is like some horror movie, vampires as if-"
"Why not?" Iris demanded her cheeks flushing in slight anger "the world is full of surprises Elena you should know that. You shouldn't fear Stefan has he ever hurt you before, from what I can see he's a good man and you shouldn't be so quick to judge, the world isn't black and white there are shades of grey" with that she stood up and left leaving behind a thoughtful Elena, her words ringing throughout her ears there was definite truth in there.
Iris bit into her apple grabbing the fruit on her way out, it was a Saturday and the last week had been hectic, the following day after Iris had spoken to Elena the brunette had come up to her and told her that she was right and that perhaps it was best for her to give Stefan another chance.
Bonnie had told her that there was some function for the founding families at Lockwood manor so she and the rest of the girls would be there for the evening leaving Iris on her own.
She had glanced at the time and saw that it was about seven in the evening so the party had got underway already, the new teacher turned out to be starting on Monday which to her made it sense.
She had worn a pair of skinny black jeans and a loose purple top. She paired it with a pair of converses and her dark chocolate leather jacket; she grabbed her bag and keys and locked the house up.
Iris sat down on a bar stool and ordered a soda, wanting instead a glass of fire whisky. She sipped her soda and sighed utterly bored out of her mind, the place was a ghost town only a couple of patrons roaming around.
"Aren't you a little bit young to be drowning your sorrows?" she heard a friendly voice, Iris looked up and saw a man in his early to mid-thirties he had a bit of scruff on his face
She chuckled wryly "I wish" she muttered he sat down beside her
"I'm Alaric Saltzman" he smiled friendly at her which she returned and shook his hand
"Iris Potter" she grinned "nice to meet you"
Alaric grinned at the young girl, she sure was friendly he ordered a drink
"So correct me if I'm mistaken but I thought there were more people here" he commented, she nodded
"Hmm, there's a big party at the Lockwoods, my friends are there" she said lightly gripping the glass, Alaric looked at the petite girl curiously
"How comes you here?"
She smiled sadly at him "I wasn't invited, it's for the founding families and they get to bring whoever they want"
Alaric frowned at her as she looked away
"So aren't you meant to be home then doing homework or won't your parents blow a gasket?" he took a sip of his beer but he promptly spat it out at her next words
"There dead, so they're not blowing anything" she muttered
Alaric looked down at her "I'm sorry I don't think-"
"Doesn't matter, happened a long time ago" she waved him off, there was a moment of silence "So what brings you into Mystic falls?"
"The teaching position" he said, her eyes widened at this
"Serious, you?" she asked surprised making him laugh
"Why's that so surprising?" he asked
"Because you don't come across as an arse" she murmured her British accent strongly coming through, she blushed realising what she just said "no offence, you're not an arse- well I can't really say, but I wouldn't…ergh I'm shutting up"
Alaric laughed loudly at that "It's fine" he smiled and patted her on the shoulder
"So do you have carers, or are you living with a relative?"
Iris swallowed her drink "No one just me" she smiled
His eyebrows shot up to his hairline but left it at that since he knew she wouldn't appreciate it if he delved into her past.
For the rest of the evening Iris had gotten to know about her history teacher and found out about how his wife had been murdered when she had told him about her parents were murdered when she was a baby
"I'll see you at school Mr Saltzman" she smiled and left, leaving behind Ric who watched her go, she definitely wormed her way into his heart he thought, especially after what she admitted about how she did have good friends but still felt like an outsider since she had no one there for her.
Iris yawned and rubbed her tired eyes and headed inside and looked over to the Gilbert driveway and saw that there were no cars there,
"Must still be at the party" she muttered to herself and unlocked her front door and headed inside, she dropped her keys in the dish bowl and hanged up her jacket on the hook and kicked her converses off and headed inside not feeling the mood to eat so she headed upstairs.
Iris opted to have a nice relaxing bath to bring her into next week, she stripped out of her clothes and filled the tub up with warm water and poured bubbles into it once it was filled to the rim she turned the taps off and slid down into it, sighing as the warm scented water washed over her. She groaned and slid under the water and closed her eyes feeling her muscles relax.
When the water started to grow cold, Iris climbed out of the tub pulling her emerald green robe on, she drained the tub and turned the bathroom light off.
Iris felt a chill go down her spine and saw her curtains were lightly blowing and that her window was wide open and went to slam it down but an oversized raven caught her attention
"Iris, Iris come help" she swore that voice was familiar it but shook her head and proceeded to shut the window.
Iris crawled into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin and reached over to turn her lamp off, she sighed and her eyes drifted shut.
AN: There's another chapter and I wanted to thank those who reviewed and added the story on their fave list...to those who are wondering whether it was Nicklaus or Elijah with Iris in the last chapter well...I'll do the cliche thing and say you just have to wait to find out
Anyway please review, thanks