KISS (2 page)

Her mother decided to stop at a
grocery store to her horror. She hoped, she didn’t run into any of
her classmates. They probably wouldn’t recognize her anyway.
Somehow this idea was supposed to cheer her up but it immediately
caused her to sink into a slight depression. School sucked
anyway…stupid stereotypes. Exiting the store she was ready to
scream for joy, when a woman collapsed on her way into the store.
Naturally her mother’s response as a doctor was to go aid the
woman.

She watched as her mother reached for
the woman. She turned the woman on her side and told Iris to call
911. Iris did as she was told. They were starting to get a lot of
attention.

“
Stand back, I’m a doctor,”
her mother yelled as she started to pull her stethoscope out of her
purse. Iris had no ideal her mother carried such tools in her
purse. She had a small first aid kit too. Was that thing connected
to the wizarding world?

Her mother reported all of the woman’s
stats and information to the emergency personnel when they arrived.
Iris watched as the woman grasped her mother’s hand and asked her
to stay. What the hell was this? Where was she supposed to go? The
woman on the stretcher then pointed at someone else Iris hadn’t
noticed. It was her son.

Axel Rotterdam.

She sat in the passenger side of the
car as he drove behind the ambulance towards the hospital. Iris had
dreamt of this moment forever; somehow it wasn’t exactly what she
hoped for. She wanted to fill the silence, but what should she
say?

Gosh I’m such an idiot.
He’s hotter in person and up close. Sheesh. The flames of hell are
licking at my heels.

Axel’s eyes slanted over toward the
gorgeous girl beside him. He’d never seen her before. Her amber
colored eyes gazed cautiously at him before returning to her lap.
Did she go to his school? She had beautiful blond hair that matched
the woman who provided emergency care for his mother. Axel was
terrified of his mother going into an episode. She was sick. He
didn’t want to think about it, so he asked a question to fill the
silence.

“
What school do you go
to?”

“
Same as you,” she replied
back effortlessly. This was new. He wasn’t used to being treated
with indifference when it came to women. Axel had been around the
block a time or two.

“
How come I’ve never seen
you before?” he asked perplexed.

“
You have. I’m just not
usually dressed this way. This little ensemble was to please my
mother.”

“
I would have remembered
your face if I’ve seen it.” He definitely understood about the
whole parental thing where they try to impose their will upon you.
Parents always chuck it up to them knowing what’s best for you.
Axel called it bull crap.

“
Look, I’m sorry about your
mom,” she whispered.

“
Yeah me too.”

Axel swore he would find out who the
girl was in school.

“
Can I give you my number?”
he asked her. He wanted to slap himself. Why would he ask? Most
guys would just write it down and slip it to her, but he
instinctively knew that wouldn’t work with this girl.

“
I don’t know, can you?
You’re just infatuated with what you see now. This isn’t the true
me. This is who my mother wants me to be. Find me at school and
then…maybe I’ll take your number,” she said smiling at
him.

He pulled up to the emergency entrance
and parked the car. He really looked at her and his heart stumbled
in his chest. She had the most carefree smile he’d ever seen. It
was a very unique smile. He’d like to think she reserved it just
for him.

“
Deal.”

They both exit the vehicle and
preceded towards the hospital where chaos was bound to
ensue.

3

Date…ish

Iris watched in amazement as doctors,
nurses, rushed towards Axel. He was practically a celebrity there.
It was startling to see him go from the nice charming boy, to this
figure that everyone wanted to associate with. She stood off to the
side.

People couldn’t help
themselves. He was one piece of hot ass. C’mon look at those
bulging, lithe muscles underneath that stubborn fabric called
clothes. He was tall too, and I’m always a sucker for tall
guys.

There was no way she’s going near him.
Spotting her mother she rushed towards her.

“
Mom!”

“
Over here
honey!”

“
What’s going on?” she
asked with wide eyes. Was it selfish to say she wanted to go home
and hang out with her dad?

“
That’s Mrs. Rotterdam.
She’s doing much better.”

“
What’s wrong with
her?”

“
She’s very sick dear and
has a heart condition.”

“
Can’t you fix
her?”

“
It’s not that easy. Let’s
go before someone recognizes me.”

“
I thought you like that
stuff mom.”

“
Not when I’m off duty.
Hurry your dad should be pulling up.”

They got into the car and soon Iris’
thoughts were filled with Axel. Why didn’t she take his number? Her
hormones and heart said yes, but her mind said no. She was so
stupid at times. She probably was the only girl in the school that
turned down the guy. She wondered how long his mother had been
sick.

Once she made it home, Iris raced
upstairs to her room to get out of the dress she’d been wearing.
She wanted to go hang out in her dad’s studio. There was always
something going on in there. She walked and looked slowly through
her father’s work. There were sketches, paintings, and even models.
She loved all of his work. Some of his work was abstract and then
there were the faces of people he would draw. Her dad had an
uncanny ability to capture the emotions in the person’s eyes; it
was like they were looking at her.

She inherited her dad’s artistic
ability, but she was always gazing off into the sunset to do
anything about it, however since meeting Axel she wanted to paint
those pain filled eyes.

It wasn’t that morbid…was
it?

She grumbled to herself setting the
painting down. She wanted to be swept away in a passionate romance.
She giggled perhaps her mother was right. She did spend quite
amount of time surrounded by books. Iris picked up a sketchbook
absentmindedly and began sketching eyes that had become the center
of her universe. Would he remember her? Would he find her? Gah! She
should have taken his number when she had the chance. She groaned
slamming her head into her sketchbook.

I’m such a dope. How could
I miss such an opportunity? I mean he was right there, I could
practically smell his breath. Whhhhy?

“
Hey sweetie, whatcha ya
got there?” her dad asked entering the studio, interrupting her
internal rant. Iris threw the sketch book away from her as if it
was contagious and looked at her father with wide eyes.

“
Nothing,” she said
stammering. Slow down heart. She was afraid it was going to give
her away, not that her wide eyes and stammering didn’t already do
it.

“
Then you won’t mind if I
take a little peek at it.”

“
Dad! No! You know better
than anyone. It’s against the code.” She lectured him while
pouncing on her sketch book. She fought the blush as it threaten to
sweep the surface of her skin.

“
Did you have fun with your
mom today?” Iris sighed. She didn’t know why her father insist on
asking her this question every time she and mom went
out.

“
It was okay. I rather have
been here in the studio though.”

“
She just want to spend
some time with you.”

“
No she wants to live
vicariously through me. Dad I’m not her. I’m me.”

“
Sweetie, don’t be so hard
on her. The news of having a girl was the greatest joy she could
ever have. She would finally have little girl to splurge and share
all her hobbies with.”

“
Well I’m sorry that I’m
not what she wants me to be.” Iris picked up her sketch book and
stormed out of the studio. Her dad was supposed to be on her side.
He didn’t understand how stifling it could be to have someone
always imposing themselves on you. She felt like she was
drowning.

Closing the door once she was in her
room, she let out a deep breath. The one thing she could be
grateful to her parents for was the east wing of their home that
was dedicated to her. She had all the space she would ever
need.

She picked up her phone and checked
for texts messages. She laughed when she saw messages from all the
girls. Out of all the girls Natasha was the one she was closest to.
She never demanded anything from Iris like the others. She didn’t
press for information; she waited for Iris to feel comfortable
enough to tell her. Natasha had caramel colored skin and light
brown eyes. Her hair was black as sin and drew attention wherever
she went. Iris was just glad that it didn’t go to her head. Now
Crystal was completely different; she was the captain of the
cheerleading squad and thrived in the center of attention. She
could be nice sometimes but she was always gossiping, and Iris
didn’t particular like the fact that she seemed to enjoy other
people’s misery. Crystal was the typical bright blue eye blond hair
girl. She was about five feet five inches in height and cute. Amie
recently joined their group, from what Iris could discern she was a
quiet girl; but it was obvious she aspired to be like Crystal.
There were good traits about Crystal, she was smart and
participated in school government. Iris met the girls in sophomore
year of high school and now they were starting their senior year.
She giggled when she saw the text from Natasha.

My little sister is a
brat. Don’t you want a spawn.

Iris quickly texted her
back.

She can’t be that bad.
She’s only five.

She giggled when her phone
beeped.

Come take her! Do you want
to go to ice cream shop? We have to eat all we can while Crystal
isn’t breathing down our throats.

Sure. See ya in
twenty.

Iris quickly read the other messages
from the other girls. Crystal talked about the hottest guy in
school which was Axel of course. She would die if Iris told her she
met him in person and she actually turned him down. She smiled at
Amie’s simple message of hello.

Changing out of the dress from earlier
she threw on a pair of jeans, sandals and a tee-shirt. She left her
hair down. She needed to find Ryan. He was the family’s driver and
Iris usually spent her time with him. It was a little sad when you
thought about it. Hanging out with the driver; but she come to
think of him as an endearing grandfather.

“
Ryan!” She called running
through the house.

“
Here, miss.” He said
waving her down. She gave him a hug and told him her plans to go to
the ice cream shop.

“
Alright miss. Let’s
go.”

She waved a goodbye to Ryan as she got
out a block away from the shop. She still hadn’t told her friends
she was wealthy and she had planned on keeping it that way—well she
might tell Natasha. She wasn’t sure yet. She often heard stories
from other people in their circle of people using them for their
money and Iris wanted to avoid that. She wanted to remain down to
earth and hoped to develop good people skills so she could
instinctively tell when people were trustworthy.

She smiled when she spotted Natasha.
Taking a seat she gave a sigh of delight when a root beer float was
placed in front of her.

“
You are a
saint.”

Natasha rolled her eyes at Iris’
theatrics.

“
Any plans for the school
year?” Natasha asked.

“
Hmm, not really. You know
me. I avoid trouble like plague.”

“
A typical Iris answer.
What about guys? I haven’t seen you date one person.” She huffed
digging into her sundae.

“
I date…ish, okay fine; so
I don’t date but it’s not a priority.”

“
I guess there isn’t anyone
good enough for Iris,” she said teasingly.

“
That’s not true!” Iris
shouted with indignation. She thought about Axel and it felt as
though all the blood in her body rushed to the surface of her
skin.

Natasha gave a yell of triumph looking
at Iris flushed face.

“
Girl you are borderline
purple. Who is he?”

“
No one!” she squeaked
out.

“
Don’t tell me, it better
not be Axel.”

“
What? Why?” she asked
confused.

“
So you are crushing on
him. You and every other girl out there. Have you even talked to
him?”

“
Sort of, but Natasha you
have to swear you won’t say anything. This remains between you and
me. I’m serious.”