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Iris
"Your best friend is an idiot, you know." This is the first thing I hear from Victoria as I reach my locker, after the soccer practice.
"Tell me something that I don't know, Vic," I tell her and she laughs, opening her locker.
"I wanted to suck out his blood with my imaginary fangs," Victoria says. "Butâ"
"Instead, you wanted to give him a large hickey."
I groan, turning towards Adi. "Can you leave at least the morning from your dirty mind?"
Adi leans on the locker between ours. "The truth is bitter but I guess, it can make some people blush," He grins, glancing at Victoria.
"Whaâoh my god." I laugh, looking at Victoria's red face.
She says, "Guys, stop."
We both ignore her.
"What about Victen?" Adi asks me, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Ew, that sounds like a disease," I reply. "What about Coltoria?"
He gives an impressed look. "Now, that's a song. I like it."
We give each other high-fives just as Victoria closes her locker and looks at us. "You know what? I amâ"
"Hey, Mendes." Three of us look at Sean Libers, standing behind Victoria. Victoria lets out a sigh. "I heard you got some sense about how Colt..." He narrows his eyes at me. "and his so-called best friends are."
"Get lost, Libers," I say to him, closing my locker.
"See, Mendes, they arenâ"
"Tori..."
And Colt comes. He places a kiss on Victoria's forehead, sliding his hand around her waist. Victoria looks as much surprised as Adi and I are.
"He finally got some guts," Adi whispers to me. "Unlike some two people."
"What?" I ask him but I guess, the drama in front of us is more interesting.
Colt looks at Sean. "Got any problem, Sean?"
Sean glares at him and I notice, then, that he has a faint back eye, which I think is covered with some makeup, and some scratches over his nose and lips. Colt, definitely, had beaten the hell out of him.
Damn, Colt, am I proud of you.
Sean, then, looks at Victoria. "Just asking Victoria if she wanted to go out with me."
Before Victoria can even reply, Colt beats her to it. "She won't because she is taken."
"Oh, she is?" Adi asks, feigning innocence. He pouts. "And another fish got out of the pond." He turns to me. "Milady, you still sinâow!"
Colt steps on his foot.
Sean (the idiot) says to Colt, "Really? Who's herâ"
"I am her boyfriend." Colt looks directly into Sean's eyes. "Now, if you want to walk properly, I expect you to move along and stop troubling my girlfriend."
This time Sean actually looks scared as, without any reply, he walks away.
"You stepped on my foot? Why?" Adi looks at Colt, bewildered.
Colt is not even looking at him. "Tori, you lookâ"
Victoria turns to Colt, raising her eyebrows. "Angry? Heck, yeah, I am." She puts his finger on his chest. "Girlfriend? One kiss doesn't make me your girlfriend, Colten Dias."
Colt looks at her confused. "Butâ"
"You need to propose me," Victoria says â no, orders him, stepping away from his arm. "Now."
"What?"
Adi says, holding back his smile, "No offense, Colt, but that is just not right. You need to ask a woman's permission before calling her your girlfriend."
"Kinda agreeing with AS, here. That was not good. Propose her good, man," I say to my best friend, seriously.
"Are youâwhâwhatâ" Colt splutters some words just as Alyssa and Tom come to us. "I thought it was pretty obvious."
"Pretty obvious what?" Tom asks, looking at us.
"Oh, just that Colt forgot to consult Vic about their, you know, relationship and now, he will propose to her." I relay the information.
"You are a disgrace to romanticism," Alyssa states and pretty much all of us agree. Victoria lets out a laugh, grinning at Colt's shocked and surprised face.
Tom shakes his head. "Wasn't expected from you, Colt. Do it. Propose her."
"Are you guys serious?" Colt looks at Victoria and she nods in reply. "Right now? In the hall?"
"You have ten minutes before our classes start. So... tick-tock," I say, tapping on my invisible watch.
He sighs. "Okay, then."
He goes down on one knee, holding Victoria's hand. Victoria starts to laugh while I pull out my phone to record this.
"This is either going to be the worst proposal or the best," Alyssa says.
Tom says, "My bets are on the worst."
"Mine too," Adi says.
"Sorry to say but it would be the worst." I nod.
"Thank you so much, guys," Colt grumbles before letting out a long breath. He looks at Victoria. "Will you, Victoria Grace Mendesâ"
"Oh, man." Nick comes in and looks at Colt's irritated and flushed face and ours amused face. "That's not how you propose"
"Well, I am trying," Colt says to Nick who laughs back, patting Colt's shoulder. He turns to Victoria, breathing out again. "Will youâ"
"Yes, Victoria, will you do the honor of getting some toilet papers so that we can shove it in his mouth?" Caleb says as he joins us with Michael.
As we all laugh, Colt closes his eyes, trying to control himself. But his pink ears give away the message: 'I know I suck at being romantic but just let me try dumb imbeciles.'
"That's the worst proposal of this year," Michael says, looking at Colt.
Tom, Adi, and I say, together, "We know!"
Michael continues, "I mean what are you even doing on the ground? Why the hell didn't you consult any of us? I would have told youâ"
"You would have?" Alyssa says, looking at him.
Michael gives back a dry expression. "Yes, I would have."
"Surrreee, okay."
Nick covers Michael's mouth with his hands before he can say anything back. Nick says to Colt, "Continue, Colt."
"Thank you. At least someone has sense," He says and, finally, looks at Victoria who is grinning. "Victoria Grace Mendes, will you save me from all of these idiots and be my girlfriend?"
Victoria, finally, pulls him up and kisses him softly on his lips. "I will be your girlfriend, Colten Dias." I hear her whisper to him.
"What's happening?"
I turn so fast that Noah and I hit each other's forehead. I almost stumble back from the effect but credits to his quick reflexes, he holds me.
"Shit," Noah murmurs and looks across my face. "Are you okay?"
Given what I found yesterday, my insecurities are coming to the surface more than often. I trust Noah but I don't trust myself around him. So, during the practice, I tried to keep my distance from Noah and it was a success until now.
"Did I hurt you, Bella?" He whispers.
I breathe out, "Why do you think you would hurt me?"
"That is what I do."
Especially, when he does this, I cannot even get myself to repel from his magnetic field. The more I try to stay away, the closer I come to him.
His golden orbs seem to burn into my skin but it feels like a summer breeze just after the rain; soft and cool.
But something happens.
Noah turns stoic and he steps away from me, clenching his jaw. Instead of the glow in the eyes, there is a certain coldness in them. They glance anywhere but me.
I haven't seen Noah like this for a long time.
"Iris," Caleb calls me. "We are going to be late for class."
"Yeah." I nod. "Yeah, yeah, we are. Noahâ"
He left, again.
***
"It was alright. I would give you a solid 95 and I need a 98, next practice. Right, Kei?"
I am in the dance room, as the last performance was of Keisuke and Julio gives him his marks.
For my performance, today, I got 96 and was told to get at least a 99. It is kind of hard to get that score but it is not impossible.
With the Nationals really near now, we need everything to be perfect. Every dance, every step, every expression of every dancer, whether solo or in the group, has to be good. Kei and I have seen videos of other participating teams and we have very strong competition, this year.
We have been preparing for this, since December, and thus we have to make sure we get ourselves in Worlds.
"Yes, Julio," Keisuke says, nodding at him.
Julio turns to every one of us. "Okay, dancers, practice over. Tomorrow, we meet again."
"Wow, he is in a mood," Keisuke says, coming next to me. Justin passes a bottle to me as I get up from the floor.
"Happens always some days before the main event," Juliet says, picking up her bag from the side, and we all do the same, going out of the class.
"Remember when we were in Worlds, two years ago? Julio stopped all the practices for two days straight just a week before we were leaving," Justin says, looking at us.
"That was because some of the dancers broke down with fear that we won't be even in the top 3," I say, after drinking from the bottle.
"But, come on, you can't deny the fact that he was a new teacher then and freaked out when he found out about it," Keisuke says, shaking his head.
"He is very much one of a kind." Justin laughs.
"Yeah." I smile.
"But he is still the best," Juliet says, smiling. "Oh, hey, Adi."
I turn and see Adi leaning on the wall, in front, of us. His hair is way too ruffled and I roll my eyes, knowing what he did before coming here.
"Hey, J-square." Justin and Juliet laugh at it. "Kei."
"Adi," Kei says back, smiling.
"Do you guys mind if I borrow Iris?" Adi asks, looking at them.
"She is not a thing, Adi," Juliet scolds him.
Justin says, smiling, "But you can take her."
"Just make sure she is hydrated and doesn't overload herself with a lot of pressure andâ"
"Okay, okay," I say, stopping Keisuke to say anything more. I look back at Adi and say, "I will come with you."
I walk with Adi, after bidding a bye to them. I look at Adi and ask, "So why did you lend me?"
"We are going to Noah's place!" Adi replies, grinning. "With him, of course."
I look forward and see Caleb and Noah are seriously discussing something near Noah's car. Maybe they are talking about soccer and the upcoming match this week...but I guess not.
When Adi and I are close to them, they stop talking.
Caleb looks at me in confusion. "Iris?"
"Caleb?" I ask in the same way.
He frowns and says, "You should have gone home by now."
In the morning, I had come to school with Colt but with what happened this morning, I didn't want to spoil the little after the proposal date. So, I decided that I would take the school bus.
I guess plans change fast.
"I called for extra practice," I reply to Caleb.
"Right." He nods, before saying, "I will dropâ"
"Actually," Adi interrupts. "She is coming with us."
"She is?" Caleb asks Adi, before looking at me. "You need toâ"
"I am not a kid, Caleb. I can take care of myself," I say, frustrated by his overprotective brother attitude.
"Yeah, she is." Adi agrees. "If it makes you feel any better, Noah is with her. Also, I am too."
"I guess so," He replies after a moment.
Caleb glances at Noah but Noah looks at me as if asking why. I guess we will just stack them in the 'unexplainable whys' box.
After Caleb goes towards his car and Adi opens the back seat door to sit inside, I stop Noah. He looks at me with his best cold expression.
Not flinching a bit from his expression, I ask, "When did you and Caleb become so buddy-buddy?"
"From today."
I smile. "Seriously?"
He doesn't smile back. "Yeah."
"You know what?" I open the shotgun seat door and glance at him. "On that note, I want a cold coffee."
He breathes in as if it is hard and gulps. I am about to ask what is wrong but then, he chuckles, pushing back his hair.
He replies to me, "I guess, I have to."
***
Unfortunately, Adi had to leave, because he got some call from his company (sometimes it is hard to believe that) about some technical difficulties and something I didn't understand.
Right now, Chris Radcliffe enters into the garden behind their house with a huge glass of smoothie, stopping Noah and me in the middle of an argument about...
What the hell were we even arguing about?
"Hey, bro. I think the number increased. 21 more than yesterday," Chris says just as Noah takes the glass away from his hand and starts to drink.
"Jerk," Chris says, narrowing his eyes at him.
"Dork," Noah says back and they grin.
Alright-y
"What increased?" I ask, looking at Chris.
"Love letters. Cards. Flowers. Chocolates." Chris shrugs his shoulders, sitting on the chair beside mine.
"From who?"
"Our admirers."
"Chris." Noah hisses, looking at him.
"Hey, it just slipped, okay?" Chris raises his hand in surrender. "Also, why hide the fact that you modeled to earn money?"
"You modeled?" I ask Noah, surprised.
"Christopher Robin." Noah scowls. "You cannot keep your mouth shut."
"Oops?" Chris shrugs, unapologetically.
I look at him, expectantly. He runs his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, I used to model. It is just something Mum asked me to do for her fashion line."
"Aw," I coo. "You are a mama's boy, aren't you?"
Chris starts laughing and Noah scowls but doesn't deny it.
"But you know, I have to admit. It will be a sight to see you in some colors other than just monochrome. Take my advice, wear something colorful and bright like your room. Heck, wear something different other than this..." I gesture towards his black leather jacket, black t-shirt, and black pants.
"Iris, trust me. Mum and Rina tried their best to convince him but... well, you can see," Chris says, shaking his head.
"I have seen him twice in colors. That's it," I tell him.
"Life is monochromic," Noah murmurs. I hear Chris's sharp breath. I look at him, looking at the ground, and then, at Noah.
He gets up and holds out his hand. "Bella, let's go inside."
What just happened?
"I can stand up by myself, Stupid," I say, knowing not to force the topic more.
"Chris, you coming too?" he asks him.
Chris looks between us with a smirk and says, "Yeah, I need to make myself a new smoothie because my jerk of a brother drank it."
"Dork," Noah replies and they both crack a smile. This is how I know everything is normal between them.
"So, where's Sam?" I ask them, sitting on the stool when we reach the kitchen. They are rummaging the fridge for I don't know what.
"Portland. Studies and all," Chris replies, taking out whipped cream and condensed milk and keeping them on the island.
"He went? Gus with him too?"
"Obviously. Those two are best friends since birth, given the fact Gus's family were our neighbors." Chris sits beside me as Noah puts some fruits on the island.
I laugh. "I know the feeling. Colt and I have been best friends since forever, I guess."
"That is pretty cool."
Taking notice of his accent, I ask, "Chris, you were born here?"
His eyes soften. "No, I was born in Nottingham, England."
"That explains the accent."
"Have you heard yourself?" Noah says, looking at me, as he uses the mixer.
What the hell is he doing?
I scrunch my eyebrows. "What do you mean by that?"
"You say most of the words in the American way but there are certain words which you say in the English way but the accent is the same," Chris says to me.
"I am half British and used to go to London every summer. So, I guess, it is in my blood." I shrug my shoulder.
"Do you know about our Turkish heritage?" Chris asks, excitedly.
"Yes, Noah told me," I say, smiling towards Noah. He gives me a small smile and a wink, making me laugh.
Chris scowls at us. "He tells you all the fun parts! Did he tell you about our granddad turningâjudging by that expression, yes he did." He points at Noah. "Did he also tell you that it is just stupid and hopeless and overly romantic?"
I am taken aback and look at Noah. "No, he didn't. Why would you think that?"
"Why not?" Noah questions back.
"If you fall in love, wouldn't you do something similar for them?"
"A big if that is," Noah breathes out.
"It is not," I say back. I shrug my shoulders. "All you have to do is just look and... you know."
His hair falls on his forehead, hiding his eyes a bit as they look into mine with so much intensity I can't fathom.
"So, I have heard..." Chris smirks. Noah runs his fingers through his hair while I look at Chris and smile. He says, "...you have been kicking my brother's butt in football?"
I laugh. "Yeah, you can say that. I am a good coach."
"Assistant Coach," Noah corrects, looking at me.
"Coach when Coach Tucker isn't present," I point out.
"Well, that doesn't mean that she doesn't kick your butt. I agree she is good," Chris says and I grin.
"You notice me, huh, Chris?" I say, ruffling up his brown hair. His cheeks redden but he smirks, nevertheless.
"Well, do you have a map? I just keep getting lost in your eyes," He says, winking, and I laugh.
"Stop being a flirt, Chris," Noah says, getting my attention, as he keeps a glass of cold chocolate coffee with a straw in front of me and a strawberry smoothie for Chris.
I take it, looking at him.
"Why, Noah? Don't be so jealous. You are my one and only Stubborn and Stupid Soccer Captain." I mock him the way he did the last time.
"The what?" Chris chokes on his smoothie and starts to guffaw.
Noah looks at me, amused and eyebrows raised. He opens his mouth but a second later closes it as I take a drink from the delicious coffee.
"Hey, Iris." I see Amelia coming into the kitchen as she takes an apple from the bowl in front of us.
"Hey, Amelia," I reply, smiling.
"Sorry, I couldn't see you more at the party. I was... busy with some school work."
"Right, school work," Noah muses, smirking. Chris looks between his siblings, confused.
"What do I not know? This is not fair. Why am I the last one to knâ?"
Mrs. Radcliffe strolls in and smiles, looking at me. "Iris! What a pleasant surprise!"
"Hello, Mrs. Radcliffe," I say, shyly.
"Just call me Mel. I told you, remember?" She tells me, smiling at me, warmly.
Amelia drops the half-eaten apple on the floor, Chris stops drinking his smoothie and Noah raises his eyebrows as they, all, look at Mrs. Radcliffe.
"The dramatics this family has." She shakes her head. "So, Iris, is Daisy here too?"
"Actually, no. I came here with Noah."
She looks between Noah and me, confused. "Uh, why, may I ask?"
"He is my friend."
Noah nods, looking at me. "Yes, mum, Bella is my friend."
Mrs. Radcliffe turns to Noah, slowly, and raises her eyebrows. She lets out a laugh and turns back towards me with a smile. "I hope you can handle this boy."
"Sometimes, I can but other times, he is just..."
"Too temperamental?" She suggests and I nod.
"Yes, that he is, very much," I reply to Mrs. Radcliffe and she grins, taking a juice out of the fridge.
"I am right here," Noah says.
"Iris, I have a feeling you and I are going to meet a lot in the future," She says to me, before looking at Noah. Her eyes soften as she says to him, "I am happy you've got some more friends other than Aditya."
With that, she goes out of the kitchen, I give a questioning look to Noah.
I understand he is guarded with himself but don't people go out and make friends? He has the whole gang as friends, now, but what his-
Call me beep me if you wannâ
"That's Kim Possible, right?" Chris asks before I pick up the call.
"She is fanatical over it," Noah says, smirking and looking at me.
"I am notâHey, Dad?" I give a glare to Noah, before getting my attention to Dad's voice.
"Hey, Kiddo. Where are you?"
"At Noah's," I tell him as Noah takes the empty glass of smoothie away from me.
"Okay, tell him to get you home," I hear Mom say, now.
"Uh, okay but..." I trail away as I hear some barking in the background and someone else's happy voice.
"We are home, sugar cube," Dad says.
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did i update twice in 24 hours? hell yeah, i did! is something wrong with me? when it is not. am i listening to Not in The Same Way by 5SOS? yes, yes i am.
Rạk khuá¹
Inerys