Promises, Promises

nine. he knew

Iris wanted nothing more than to be out of this classroom and in the comfort of what she now would call her bedroom. At least there she didn't have to work and wasn't surrounded by people that she had to fake a smile for when they looked in her direction. She could also snuggle up next to Snuggles and let out her emotions without being judged.

But, no. She was stuck in the middle of boring English class while her teacher went on and on about the hidden meaning of a play they recently started reading.

Iris' eyelids flutter shut slowly, drowning out the surrounding noises around her. She let her mind wander back to old memories; of Kayla, of vague fragmented memories of family like her grandparents who passed away when she was very young, and of her parents.

"Miss Mitchell!"

Iris jumped slightly at the sound of the voice, looking over to meet her teacher's glare. She sighed softly, slumping back down in her seat. "What— I mean, yes?"

A couple students around snicker at her blunt response and weak coverup.

"Are you falling asleep in my class?" Her teacher asked, crossing her arms over her chest to seem more intimidating as she narrowed her eyes at Iris.

"No...maybe.." She intended to mutter the last half but as she yawned, the word came out louder than she expected it to. Iris froze at that realization of her own body's betrayal, glancing around at her classmate's expressions. "When will I ever shut up..." She squeezed her eyes shut in annoyance with herself.

"Excuse you?" The teacher asked after a dramatic gasp.

Iris opened her eyes to the astonished look across her teacher's face, "Oh, no! No, I said when will I ever shut up? I didn't say when will you shut up, cause that'd be rude. And sure, I'm not in the mood to really be here at the moment cause...never mind..I'm just rambling so I'll shut up before I make this any worse for myself." Iris squeezed her lips together, looking down at her lap as tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

Wow. She just needed to learn how to keep quiet or at least keep her thoughts to herself.

"Iris, that's a detention for talking back."

Iris squeezed her eyes shut, knowing that was going to happen after her 'almost breakdown'. She just hoped that maybe she would've gotten off with a warning.

"Your honor, I call bullshit!" A voice from the back of the classroom shouted, banging on their desk.

All heads turn, finding the voice belonged to none other than Lucas Brown. His hand was scrunched in a fist which he used as a gravel against the desk. He quickly rubbed at his tired eyes, bringing attention to his dark circles. He also had an airpod in one of his ears.

"Mr. Brown, do not use language like that in my classroom or you'll be joining Iris in detention." Ms. Cromwell crossed her arms over her chest, facing Lucas who shrugged in response being too tired to vocally respond. "And take that out of your ear."

Ms. Cromwell turned to face Iris again, "Don't be surprised Iris, you wished to not be in class so I helped you to do just that."

"Smartass." A voice, most likely Lucas', said from the back of the class, covered up by a cough.

Ms. Cromwell gasped and turned towards the back of the room, but doesn't say anything more as the bell rang. Students snickered and laughed as they packed their belongings away, then filed out of the classroom. Ms. Cromwell quickly wrote out a detention slip and placed it onto Iris' desk.

Iris groaned as she packed her binder into her bag, then lazily walked out of the classroom with her head hung low. She could feel someone's presence behind her and mentally prayed it wasn't the demon she called her teacher.