Gold Rush

Chapter Four

"Iris!"

            Before I had time to jump in surprise from the sudden shouting from behind me, a pair of strong arms wrapped around me, lifting me off my feet, and whirling me around. My eyes widened in surprise, and I immediately tried to struggle out of his grasp. "Kevin! Put me down!"

            Almost immediately I felt my feet touch the ground again. I whirled around to come face-to-face with my childhood friend, Kevin Yun. He grinned at me, his eyes squinting as he did so. A lock of his naturally black hair fell into his face, and he quickly brushed it away with a tan hand. "I haven't seen you in three weeks," he complained, "and this is how you react when I greet you?"

            I rolled my eyes. "That wasn't a greeting. That was an assault."

            He frowned. "You're no fun."

            "Yun!"

            Kevin whirled around, and I glanced over his shoulder to see Chloe hurrying towards us. Kevin wasted no time in sprinting towards her, gathering her up in a hug, and twirling her around like he had did to me a few moments earlier. This time though, Chloe laughed instead of demanding to be put down. When they were finally done twirling they came back over to me, both grinning.

            "So, how was Japan?" I asked as we started toward the school building.

            Kevin shrugged. "The same as it was last year. Long flight. Nice to see my grandparents though."

            A gaggle of girls suddenly rushed by, twittering excitedly. Chloe, Kevin, and I glanced after them as they rushed towards the school gates. A black limousine was now pulling up to them, signaling the arrival of Gold. I grimaced, wondering when they would stop using the limo to come and go. It drew way too much attention.

            I rolled my eyes, heading towards the school building. A cold wind whipped my hair around my face, rendering me blind for a moment. As I lifted my hand to brush away my hair, something heavy slammed into my back, causing me to fall forwards. A cry escaped my lips as I fell flat onto my face. And what was up with people trying to kill me today?

            "Hey locker buddy!" the person on me sang joyfully.

            I rolled over, causing Noah to fall off me. He grinned and sprung to his feet, offering me his hand. Frowning, I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring his help. He acted more and more like a puppy every day. Of course, after a week of this, I should've been prepared. Every morning he threw himself onto me like I was a life vest and he was drowning in the ocean.

            "Whoa, are you okay Iris?" Kevin asked, jogging to my side. He gave Noah an amused expression. "Who are you?"

            Noah looked like a car had struck him. His mouth flapped open and closed for a moment, looking between Kevin and myself, obviously in shock. "Rian!" he finally shouted, turning towards the school gates. "Luke!"

            The two said men were slowly trudging toward the school, surrounded by the girls who had been waiting for the gate. When Rian looked up at Noah and myself, he grinned wickedly. He turned to the girls around him and said something I didn't catch before hurrying over to us. I gave Kevin a wary look. He returned it was a confused one.

            "Iris," Rian greeted me, shaking his hair out of his face.

            "Hey."

            "How are you this fine, January morning?"

            I raised an eyebrow. "I'm good..."