On Monday morning I hurried into the school building, glancing at my watch warily. My alarm clock had failed to wake me, so I was running half an hour later. The halls were nearly empty and I sprinted toward my homeroom, praying the bell wouldn’t ring before I made it. I burst through the door just as the bell sounded. Everyone in the room looked up at me in surprise.

            And that’s when the whispers started.

            Warily I moved toward my desk, very aware of the girls that were turning heads as I walked by. A few sent me knowing smirks, while others sent me irritated sneers. Rian glowered at me from the back of the room, his arms crossed. Noah sent me a sheepish grin as I fell into my spot in front of Rian. I could feel his glare on my back.

            As soon as the pledge and announcements were over I turned around and frowned at Rian. “Why are you giving me that look?”

            “Why don’t you ask Noah?”

            I turned to Noah, who was making his way over to my desk. “Hey Iris,” he greeted, hovering over me. “How are you this fine morning?”

            “Why is Rian glaring at me?”

            “That is a question I don’t have an answer to,” Noah responded, glancing at Rian. “Maybe our maid popped the yolk in one of his eggs this morning.”

            Rian gave Noah a sarcastic look. “My eggs were fine.”

            “You guys have a maid?” I asked in surprise.

            Rian and Noah gave me surprised looks. “Doesn’t every famous person have one?” Noah asked.

            “No,” I told them. “Some lead pretty normal lives…”

            Rian still looked puzzled. “Strange…”

            Suddenly Abby Ross appeared at my desk, shooting Noah a grin. She turned her head down to me, her grin faltering a little. “So Iris, you must feel pretty lucky right about now.”

            “Lucky about what?”

            She rolled her eyes. “Like you don’t know.”

            “But I don’t know,” I responded, miffed.

            Noah laughed loudly, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Iris, she’s talking about that.”

            “That?”

            Abby giggled. “Aw, Noah! You were right! She does have a cute habit of repeating what you say!”

            “Isn’t she adorable?” Noah responded, patting my shoulder. “She’s the best girlfriend ever.”

            My eyes widened in surprise. “Girl—”

            The bell signaling the end of homeroom tolled, cutting me off. Noah quickly pulled me out of my seat, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. For a moment I blushed, surprised by his affectionate gesture, but then reality got a hold of me and I ducked out from under his hold.

            “You two love birds have fun,” Rian commented moodily, brushing by us.

            I stared after him for a moment before turning to glare accusingly at Noah. “Noah, what did you tell everyone?”

            “Come with me,” Noah said, pulling on my arm. He quickly looked around the room, frowning. “Let’s talk somewhere quieter.”

            “I have to get to class—”

            “I’ll make it quick.”

            I hesitated for a moment before I sighed. “Fine. You have a minute.”

            Thirty seconds later we were in the math wing, standing by the water fountain. I crossed my arms and waited for Noah to speak. “Look,” he started with a sigh. “A lot of people saw… well, I guess I kissed you the other night?”

            I grimaced. “Yeah…”

            “First, sorry about that,” Noah apologized. “I, obviously, was drunk. But that’s not the point. A lot of people saw me kiss you, and I don’t want them to get the wrong idea. So I told them we started dating…”

            “You what?” I cried, staring at Noah in disbelief. “Noah! Why did you do that?”

            Noah looked surprised. “What’s the problem?”

            “The problem is we’ve only known each other for like, two weeks!” I told him. “People are going to think I’m a… I’m a gold digger! Or something! Noah! Ugh!”

            Noah held up his hands. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! But I don’t want everyone thinking I kiss just anyone. You know I was hiding from people because I didn’t want to make out with people I didn’t know.”

            I ran a hand through my hair, shaking my head. “So you want to give them a bad opinion of me?”

            “No!”

            “You didn’t think, Noah!”

            Noah frowned at me. “Look, I’m sorry. You’re right. I wasn’t thinking when I blurted that out. But I thought it’d be okay, since you act like you’ve known Gold for forever.”

            “What are you talking about?”

            Noah gave me a flat look. “Iris, you’re the only one who acts like Gold isn’t a big deal.”

            “I’m not the only one—”

            Noah cut me off. “Yes, you are. Even people who aren’t our fans try to suck up to us just because we’re famous. You’re down to earth, and don’t treat us any differently.”

            “That’s because—”

            “Isn’t there some kind of excuse you can make?” Noah asked in a pleading tone. “We can pretend we met a few months ago or something. We can pretend we’ve known each other for a while!”

            “I—”

            “Please!” Noah begged. “Please, please! Iris, help a brother out here!”

            I stared at Noah for a moment, pursing my lips. He gave me a pleading look, putting on his oh-so-adorable puppy-dog look. After a moment of that I could feel my resistance starting to fade. I sighed and Noah got excited— just like how a puppy would when their owner gave them a treat.           

            “Look, I’ll help you,” I told Noah. “But it’ll be more believable if we say we met through my brother.”

            Noah raised an eyebrow. “Your brother?”

            “Yeah, he’s a member of the band Chasing Silhouettes,” I admitted, dropping my shoulders. “I’m sure you’ve heard of them.”

            Noah’s mouth dropped open. “The Chasing Silhouettes? The one that won The Best New Band Award last year?”

            “The one and only,” I responded, glancing around the hall. “Now, I’ve got to go to class.”

*

            “That explains so much,” Luke commented, staring at me in surprise. “Your brother is Brendon Carter?”

            Noah shook his head in disbelief. “Doesn’t it? I’ve always thought it was weird how Iris is so calm around us. Turns out she’s siblings with Brendon Carter. Makes sense. Don’t you agree, Rian?”

            “Whatever,” Rian muttered sullenly, stabbing his fork into a pile of mashed potatoes on his trey.

            My own mashed potatoes lay untouched on my tray. I stared at them, frowning. “It’s not really that big of a deal…”

            Okay, maybe that was kind of a lie. Chasing Silhouettes was more famous than Gold. However, since my brother was the lead singer, it wasn’t really that big of a deal to me. In fact, it was a little annoying. I much preferred to be known as Iris Cater, not Brendon Carter’s little sister. Which was why I hardly mentioned that little fact. And I had been planning on keeping it a secret from Gold. Too bad for that.

            “Did you know this, Chloe?”

            Chloe looked up from her lunch, turning to Luke. “Well, yeah. Everyone here knows. Brendon attended this school two years ago.”

            Noah’s eyes widened. “He did? Wow! We’re like, following in his footsteps!”

            “So you have an unfair advantage of being around famous people,” Luke said in an accusing tone, turning back to me. “You know, I was beginning to think something was wrong with you. No one is that calm around someone famous.”

            “You know, it could also be that I don’t find you guys any different than normal people,” I pointed out.

            “Which is because your brother is famous,” Luke continued. “That’s why you treat us so normally. Because before your brother was famous, you treated him normally.”

            I gave Luke a flat look. “I still treat my brother normally when he’s home.”

            “Can we meet him?” Noah asked in an excited voice. “Pretty please? I mean, usually boyfriends meet their girlfriends’ family, right?”

            Rian snorted, sending Noah a glare. “You’re not really her boyfriend.”

            Noah pursed his lips at Rian. “What’s your problem?”

            “I don’t have a problem,” Rian responded, turning back to his food. “But, just for the record, I called dibs.”

            Noah furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

            “Forget Rian,” I told Noah, shooting Rian a glare. “He’s just being a guy. Also known as a dick.”

            Rian sent me a mocking look. “Ow.”

            Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder. Looking up, I found a very irritated Nick staring back down at me. Crap. The student counsel meeting. “Oh my god! Nick!”

            “Class President,” he responded, looking at me with a frown. “Skipping out on the meeting again, are we?”

            I made a face. “Sorry. I forgot again.”

            Nick shook his head and sighed. “Look, I can understand why you want to eat lunch with your boyfriend—” Rian snorted. “—but you can’t skip out on these meetings.”

            “He’s not—” I quickly cut myself off, coughing. “Yeah. Sorry. It won’t happen again.”

            Nick nodded approvingly. “You make sure it won’t. I hate when all the responsibilities fall on me. There’s a reason I’m not president.”

            “Because your grades aren’t good enough.”

            “T-they would be if I actually tried!”

            I smiled, rolling my eyes at Nick. “Yeah, okay. Go do my job.”

            “I will!” he snapped. “And I’ll do it better than you!”

            “I bet you won’t.”

            “Just you wait!” Nick twirled on his heel and began to march towards the exit of the cafeteria. I smirked after him.

            Luke gave me an amused look. “Do you usually make him do your work?”

            “It depends on the day,” I responded truthfully. “I really did forget about the meeting today.”

            Noah looked smug. “I’m dating the class president.”

            “Fake dating,” Rian snapped.

            “Whatever, dude.”

            Rian scowled at his band mate for a moment before abruptly standing. “I’m going to mingle with my fans. And not pretend to date one of them.”

            Noah sent me a confused look as Rian stalked away. I responded to his look with shrug. Who knew what was going on in Rian’s mind? He was probably irritated because he claimed me as his target, and now Noah was fake-dating me. I scoffed. If that was what Rian was upset about, then let him be upset.

            Kevin appeared at the table, taking a seat across from me. A few locks of his black hair fell into his face and he swiped them away quickly, his dark eyes piercing into my own. “So I heard an interesting rumor today.”

            I half-smiled at him. “That I’m dating Noah?”

            “Did you guys hook up at my party on Friday?” Kevin asked. “I was pretty sure Noah was drunk when he kissed you.”

            “I was,” Noah interjected. “Er, no offense Iris.”

            I shook my head. “None taken.”

            “So then why are you two dating…?” Kevin asked, his brow wrinkling in confusion.

            “Well,” Noah drawled, shooting me a sheepish look. “We’re only pretending to date.”

            Kevin looked confused. “What?”

            “Noah doesn’t want to be seen as a player,” I informed Kevin, shooting Noah a flat look. “So I’m stuck as his girlfriend.”

            Noah looked offended. “What do you mean by ‘stuck’?”

            “Do me a favor Kevin,” I started, ignoring Noah, “if anyone asks you about me dating Noah, tell them my brother hooked us up.”

            “Brendon?”

            “The one and only.”

            Kevin looked more confused by before. “Has Brendon even met Gold?”

            “I wish,” Luke scoffed, leaning across the table towards Kevin. “He is my idol. I’d marry that man if I could.”

            Kevin laughed. “Well hey, you can ask Iris to hook you up!”

            “My brother isn’t gay… well, not that I know of,” I told them with a shrug. “But if you’re interested…”

            “Well, I don’t want Noah to be jealous,” Luke joked, reaching across the table to pat Noah’s hand.

            Noah pulled back immediately. “What is that supposed to mean?”

            “You confessed your love to me the other night,” Luke enlightened him. “It was really touching, actually.”

            “I did not!”

            “You did. And then you proposed to me.”

            “Not-uh!”

            Kevin chuckled, nudging Noah in the shoulder. “So when you’re drunk you spill your true feelings?”

            “Which would mean he was bi,” Luke said thoughtfully. “Since he enjoyed kissing Iris.”

            “He hardly knows her!” Kevin joked with a loud laugh.

            I rolled my eyes, pushing myself away from the table. “I’m going to buy a cookie.”

            “Wait!” Noah commanded. “Will you take up my tray?”

            “No.”

            “Shot down,” Kevin whispered.

            Luckily for me, there was barely anyone in the a la carte line— just a group of underclassmen I didn’t know. They were giggling excitedly, shooting glances at the table nearest to the line. Curiously, I followed their gaze to see Rian sitting there, surrounded by a group of twittering girls. No surprise there. At the exact moment I looked at him, he coincidentally looked back up at me. For a moment we both stared at each other in surprise. Then his eyes narrowed and he looked away, talking to a girl with cropped, black hair and many piercings. I furrowed my brows in confusion.

            Someone tapped on my shoulder and I twirled around to come face-to-face with a pretty blonde girl I didn’t recognize. “You’re Iris, right?” she asked, giving me a shy smile.

            “I’m, um… yeah… do I know you?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

            She shook her head. “Nope. I’m Amy, a sophomore. I just wanted to ask if it’s true your brother hooked you and Noah up a few weeks ago.”

            I blanked at her for a moment. News had traveled that quickly? “Who told you that?”

            “Noah,” she told me. “I’m in the same Spanish class as him.”

            “Oh. Well, it’s true,” I said awkwardly. Usually people I didn’t know didn’t randomly talk to me.

            Amy gave me an excited smile. “Seriously? That’s so awesome! What’s it like dating a celebrity?”

            “So it is true!” another voice interjected, and I looked over my shoulder to see another girl I didn’t know. This time she was a brunette with heavy eye makeup. “I thought Noah was kidding!”

            I grimaced at her. “Nope. We’re, er, dating…”

            “You’re pretty lucky to have a famous brother and a famous boyfriend,” the girl standing beside the brunette commented. She stared at me for a second, as if seizing me up. “You’re the senior class president, right?”

            “That’s right… and I’m trying to get myself a cookie—”

            “Has he taken you on any dates?” Amy questioned, tapping on my shoulder repeatedly. “Is he romantic? He looks romantic. He’s got great hair.”

            “I actually—”

            The brunette scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Of course he’s romantic. Didn’t you read the interview AP did?”

            Amy glowered at the brunette. “You can’t always believe those interviews.”

            “It came from his mouth!”

            “And they could have blown it up!”

            Taking this as my chance to escape, I slipped past the two arguing girls and into the kitchen. I quickly grabbed my M&M cookie and paid, hoping the girls didn’t notice I disappeared. Paranoid, I looked over my shoulder, relaxing when I realized no one was behind me. As I turned back to the front, I slammed into someone’s shoulder.

            “Watch it,” the person I ran into snapped. “God, Iris.”

            I turned my head up to glare at the person. My eyes widened when I realized it was Rian. “What’s wrong with you?” I demanded.

            “What do you mean?”

            “You’re being an ass to me!”

            Rian rolled his eyes. “I’m being an ass?”

            “Yeah, you are,” I told him, putting my hands on my hips. “Before you were just a jerk, but now you’re an asshole.”

            Rian shot me a dirty look. “Well what about you?”

            “What about me?”

            “You’re not exactly the nicest person ever.”

            “What have I done to you?” I demanded angrily. “I don’t recall ever being mean to you!”

            Rian shrugged, looking away. “Shut up and leave me alone, Iris.”

            My mouth suddenly went dry. As much as I hated to admit it, his words actually hurt.  “Are you jealous or something?” I guessed, narrowing my eyes at him. “I don’t see any reason for you to be. It’s not like I’m actually, you know, dating Noah.”

            “I’m not jealous!”

            “Well you’re acting like it!” I responded, throwing up my arms.

            Rian crossed his arms, giving me a sarcastic look. “There’s nothing to be jealous over.”

            I stared at him, biting the inside of my cheek. He returned my look, his eyes softening.

            “Look, Iris—”

            “Oh, let me guess why you’re being so immature. You’re on your period, right?” I interjected, giving him a hard look.

            Immediately Rian’s expression went from annoyance to surprise. A smirk graced my lips as I cocked my head at him. He opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came out. Finally he emitted a snort. “I’m not on my period.”

            “Then you’re just naturally a jerk.”

            “Here’s an idea Iris. Go play girlfriend with Noah and leave me alone.”

            “Fine,” I snapped, shoving him out of the way. “I don’t want to talk to you anyway.”

            Rian laughed loudly from behind me. “Good! I don’t want to talk to you either!”

            Throwing the bird at him over my shoulder, I stormed back to my table, my cookie crushed in my fist. Noah was looking at me with wide eyes as I landed hard in my seat, glaring at the table.

            “What was that about? I could hear you shouting from across the cafeteria,” Luke asked, giving me a worried look.

            I bit my lip, staring a hole in the table. “I don’t even know.”

            Kevin placed a hand on my shoulder. “Whatever it was, I’m sure it will pass.”

            I shrugged. I wasn’t too sure it would.

_________

So much work............so little time. I hate having to go to work for 5AM and now class at 9... but I need the money because I'm the only one in my family who works so booooooo.

I want to write. But anyway, enjoy!