“Er…” I stared at the floor of my locker, not sure whether to be amused, or irritated. It was only lunchtime, and my locker was already filled with papers. Rian’s blazer hung by one of the hooks near the top, and two of his new books were on the top shelf. I didn’t mind that. It was the papers. They were all unorganized, littering the bottom of my locker. Letting out a sigh, I stooped down to shuffle them into one pile.

            “Hey!”

            Immediately I stood straight up, smashing my head against a rather hard chin. I winced, rubbing the sore spot. “Ow…”

            A masculine chuckle erupted from the person behind me, and I turned to see Noah. “Hi,” he greeted with a grin. “You have a hard head.”

            “You have a herd chin,” I responded, wrinkling my nose at him. “Um, what’s up?”

            Noah’s expression turned sheepish and he shuffled on his feet. “I can’t seem to find the cafeteria… could you help me?”

            How cute. “Of course,” I responded with a laugh. “Hold on, let me just set these papers up here…” I stood on the tip of my toes and shoved all of Rian’s papers onto the top shelf, above his books.

            “What are you doing?” A new voice, not Noah’s, demanded.

            I glanced over my shoulder to see Rian staring at me curiously. “Cleaning up your mess,” I told him with a frown. “I thought you said you didn’t use your locker that much?”

            Rian shrugged. “I don’t want to carry around books or useless paper.”

            “Can you try to keep them at least a little more organized then?” I asked, pushing a lock of my hair behind my ear.

            Rian smirked. “I don’t know, can I?”

            I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, a high-pitched voice cut me off. “Oh my god! It’s Rian!”

            “Hi Rian!”

            Rian shut his eyes for a moment, letting a small sigh out through his teeth. Noah chuckled, bumping his hip again Rian’s. “Lady’s man already?” he joked.

            Stephanie, a girl from my homeroom, came up to us, her eyes wide in excitement. “Noah! Hi!”

            “Hello,” Noah responded, flashing a grin at her.

            “Are you going to lunch now?” she asked, her eyes darting back and forth between Noah and Rian, completely ignoring me.

            Noah nodded. “Yep.”

            “Want to sit with me?”

            “Sorry,” Noah started, suddenly putting a hand on my shoulder. “But I’ve already promised I’d sit with my locker buddy today.”

            Stephanie’s eyes finally flicked to me, her face falling slightly. “Oh…”

            I gave her a sympathetic look.

            “Maybe another day?” Rian interjected, gaining her attention.

            She brightened up immediately. “Of course! Just let me know!”

            “Will do,” Rian responded with a warm smile. “Stephanie, right?”

             “Right!” she chirped giddily. “Um, have a good lunch!”

            “You too,” Rian and Noah responded together, waving as she scampered off with a group of girls that had been watching the interaction between her and Rian and Noah.

            I smiled at the pair of boys. “Surprisingly, you guys are really nice.”

            Rian raised an eyebrow. “What? Did you think we were going to be snobs?”

            “Maybe a little,” I admitted sheepishly. “But you guys definitely proved me wrong. You’re really nice to your fans.”

            “Are you a fan?” Noah asked casually. “It’s cool if you’re not,” he added quickly. “I’m just wondering.”

            “We’ll, I’m not not a fan,” I answered offhandedly. Would they care if I were a fan or not? Would they think I just wanted to be friends with them because they’re famous?

            Rian chuckled. “So, I take it you are a fan?”

            I cleared my throat, offering a half-smile. “Yeah, sorry.”

            “Dude, don’t apologize!” Noah cried, his eyes widening slightly. “It’s awesome that you’re a fan. Thank you!”

            “Don’t thank me,” I muttered, embarrassed.

            “Oh, is there a party going on?” Someone draped an arm around my shoulder and I looked up to see Luke grinning at me. “S’up, Iris?”

            I blinked at him in surprise. He remembered my name? Ms. Rigolo had only mentioned it once, and we’d never given each other formal introductions. It was kind of pleasing. “I’m about to go to lunch, want to join?”

            Luke nodded his head. “I’ve been searching for the cafeteria for like, the last ten minutes.”

            “Dude! Me too!” Noah cried in response.

            “This place is huge,” Luke continued, making a face. “It’s pretty much impossible to locate anything. Without the girls to show me to my next class, I’d never make it on time.”

            I laughed. “You’ll get used to it.”

            “But you’ve been here for four years, haven’t you?” Rian pointed out. “Are you a senior too?”

            “Yeah, but I got used to it pretty quickly,” I responded with a shrug. “When you have your schedule down it’s a lot easier.”

            “You’re a senior?” Noah asked. “Does that mean we might have classes together?”

            “Obviously not the first three,” I told him. “But maybe in the next four we might have one.”

            He looked excited. “Want to see my schedule?

            Before I could respond, Rian cut me off. “How about during lunch? I’m starving.”

            “Agreed,” Noah, Luke, and I concurred.

            Noah gestured for me to walk in front of me. “Lead the way, Belle.”

            “Don’t call me that. Iris is okay.”

            Luke nudged me in the shoulder with his elbow. “Aw, you’re so modest.”

            “Come on guys, leave her alone,” Rian advised, rolling his eyes. “I’m sure I’ve mentioned that I’m hungry already, right?”

            “Right,” Noah and Luke responded immediately.

            On the trip to the lunchroom, at least twenty girls asked Gold to sit with them at lunch. I wasn’t sure when they had decided it, but they told each girl they were sitting with me at lunch. Not that it bothered me. Who wouldn’t want to sit them? I couldn’t help but to smile at the fact that out of everyone in the school, they wanted to sit with me.

            “This place is awesome,” Noah decided, setting his lunch tray down at the table I always ate at. “They serve Chinese food for lunch!”

            “And it actually looks edible,” Rian added, taking a seat next to me.

            Luke appeared at the table a few moments later, taking a seat across from me, and next to Noah. “They gave me six soup choices,” he commented, grinning widely. “It was hard to choose between them.”

            I glanced at Luke’s tray, raising an eyebrow. “It looks like it.” There were three bowls of soup and a cheeseburger on it.

            “So,” Noah started, stabbing a fork into his pork-fried rice. “Have you guys heard that the teachers told all the students they weren’t allowed to ask us for autographs?”

            Luke pursed his lips. “I was wondering why no one has asked yet.”

            “My English teacher first period asked me for an autograph,” Rian mentioned, letting out a laugh. “I guess it’s okay for the teachers to ask, huh?”

            There was a sudden gasp from behind me, and I turned around to see Chloe staring at me, her eyes as big as saucers. Noah and Luke grinned at her, and a blush appeared on her face. I couldn’t help but to grin at her too. She continued to stand stock-still, staring at the table, until I gestured for her to sit down next to me.

            “Rian, Noah, Luke, this is Chloe,” I introduced, pointing at her. “She’s my best friend.”

            “And a huge fan,” Chloe interjected excitedly. “It’s so awesome to meet you!”

            “You too,” the members of Gold responded simultaneously.

            Chloe grinned at the boys before turning to me and beaming. “So how did you become friends so quickly?” she asked, turning to face everyone again.

            “We’re locker buddies,” Noah explained. “Rian somehow ended up having to share a locker with Iris.”

            Chloe’s eyes widened in surprise as she took the vacant spot to my left. “Like boyfriends and girlfriends do?”

            “Chloe!” I hissed, feeling my face heat up.

            Luke immediately cracked up, choking on a spoonful of soup. He thumped his fist on the table, his eyes watering. Noah quickly slammed him on the back with his hand, only causing Luke choke harder. Rian rolled his eyes at the pair, a smirk playing on his lips. “Boyfriend and girlfriend, huh?” he commented in an amused voice. “Well, I don’t mind,” he continued, leaning towards me. “What about you?”

            I leaned back away from him, watching him warily. “What are you…?”

            “Rian! Don’t pull out your playboy moves already,” Luke scolded, reaching across the table and slapping his friend on the shoulder.

            Rian held up his hands innocently. “Chill, I was joking.”

            A piece of paper was suddenly waved in front of my face, and I stared at it for a few moments until I realized it was Noah’s schedule. I took it from him, glancing down his list of classes. “Do we have any classes together?” he asked eagerly.

            “Umm,” I hesitated, looking at the period numbers. “Chemistry and art class.”

            “Oh! That means you have Chemistry with me too,” Chloe told him, her eyes bright and star struck.

            Noah grinned. “We have chemistry, huh?”

            Chloe blushed again and shook her head. “N-not like that!”

            Rian heaved a sigh from my other side. I turned to give him a questioning look, but he just smirked again and said nothing.

            “If you have Chemistry and art with Noah, then you have it with me too,” Luke stated, brandishing his schedule. “What’s your sixth period class?”

            “Spanish,” I informed him.

            He tsked. “I have Spanish second and English sixth.”

            “I have English sixth too!” Chloe chirped. “I can show you the way after Chemistry, if you want!”

            “That would be perfect,” Luke responded happily. “And then I can follow Iris to art.”

            Noah leaned towards Rian, staring at him curiously. “What do you have after lunch?”

            “Chemistry, Spanish, then art,” Rian listed off. Then he raised an eyebrow at me. “Same schedule as you then, right, ultimate locker buddy?”

            “Guess so,” I responded, unable not feel a little thrilled.

            “Class prez! There you are!”

            I turned in my seat to see Nick, the vice president for our class, coming toward me. I held in a groan as realization shot through my mind. Crap. It’d totally slipped my mind that there was supposed to be a student counsel lunch meeting today. Gold had distracted me.

            “Class president?” Noah repeated, looking surprised. “You’re president of the student council?”

            Luke whistled. “So you’re little miss popular?”

            I blushed, shaking my head. “No, that’s not it. The student council is based on grades here—”

            “So you’re miss smarty pants?” Rian interrupted, looking amused. “Hmm, I think I chose the wrong locker buddy.”

            “What’s wrong with being class president?” I snapped, a little offended.

            Rian shrugged. “I’m more of a party-er.”

            “Who says I don’t party?”

            Rian gave me a surprised look and I shot a grin at him. Just because I was smart didn’t mean I couldn’t have fun.

            Nick cleared his throat. “I’m going to excuse you from skipping out on our class meeting today,” he started amiably. “But our class advisors want to talk to you about Snowball. They want to you to meet with them after school today. Dimitri, Taylor, and myself will be attending as well. Are you free?”

            “What’s Snowball?” Noah asked in a whisper.

            Nick seemed to notice that the people I was sitting with was Gold for the first time. His eyes widened in surprise, and he turned to me. “You’re friends with Gold, Iris?”

            “Um, we’re—”

            “Locker buddies,” Noah told him. “Closer than friends.”

            I half-shrugged at Nick’s confused face. “I don’t know either.”

            “So what’s Snowball?”

            Nick turned to Noah, shaking his shaggy brown hair out of his face. “It’s a dance for the seniors.”

            “A dance?” Luke repeated sounding interested. “When is it?”

            “Not until next month,” I informed him. “Nick, tell Ms. Streaker and Ms. Walker that I’ll be there.”

            Nick saluted to me. “Will do. Enjoy your lunch. And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you skipped out on the meeting to eat lunch with Gold.”

            “I didn’t mean to skip it,” I protested loudly, but Nick was already walking away.

            I felt a tug on my hair and I turned to see Rian watching me, amusement in his eyes. “Skimping on responsibilities? That’s not very president-like.”

            “I wasn’t skimping! And let go of my hair,” I demanded, slapping his hand away from my head.

            Noah and Luke chuckled from across the table as a scowl appeared on Rian’s face. Doing my best to ignore the boys, I turned to my lunch, picking up a cucumber slice. From the corner of my eye I could see Chloe grinning at me. I studiously ignored her.

            “So since you’re class prez, does that mean you have the best grades in you class?” Noah asked curiously.

            “Um, no,” I responded, dropping my cucumber back onto my tray. “There’s a few people ahead of me, but they didn’t want to be on student council.”

            Luke cocked his head to the side. “And you do?”

            I shrugged. “Why not? I like organizing activities for our class to do. It’s better than letting someone who thinks doing a rope-course activity is fun decide for the whole class.”

             “I like the way you think,” Noah complimented. “When Snowball comes around, I want you to be my date, okay?”

            I looked at him in surprise. “What?”

            “You don’t want to?” he questioned, giving me a puppy-dog look.

            I shook my head quickly. “No, that’s not what I mean. It’s just… It’s like, a month and a half away. You might find someone else you want to take. We barely know each other—”

            “I know you more than anyone else in this school though,” Noah pointed out.

            “But you’ll make more friends.”

            “And?” Noah asked, raising an eyebrow.

            “But—”

            Rian sighed. “Noah, she’s trying to tell you she doesn’t want to go to the dance with you.”

            Noah looked at Rian, hurt flashing across his face. “No need to put it so bluntly, dude.”

            “I never said that!” I protested, frowning at Rian. “I’m just saying that we met today, and I bet you there are tons of girls in this school that are more than willing to go with you.”

            “So does that mean you’re not willing?” Noah asked, frowning deeply, once again giving me his best hurt-puppy eyes.

            “That’s… that’s not what I meant,” I said, faltering a little. Why did he keep giving me that puppy-dog look? He was too cute!

            Luke started laughing, shaking his head. “Iris, it’s okay. Noah is just giving you a hard time.”

            Noah grinned at me and I scowled back at him. “Seriously though, I would go to the dance with you when the times comes,” he told me. “All you have to do is ask.”

            I sighed, stabbing my fork into my salad again, picking up the cucumber I meant to eat earlier. “Let’s just drop it.”

            The rest of lunch passed quickly, and soon the five of us were trudging down the science wing hallway, toward the Chemistry room. Luke and Noah were joking loudly, their voices reverberating through the narrow hallway. One of the earth science teachers glared at us as we walked by— they still had a class going.

            “It’s Gold!” one of the freshmen in the class cried shrilly.

            Noah posed dramatically by the door, winking at her. Luke rolled his eyes and shoved him forward. I peeked at the teacher, who was glaring again. A sheepish grin made its way onto my face and I quickly slipped out of her field of vision. We went to the back staircase and climbed up it, coming out on the second floor of the science wing.

            “It’s the first door on the right,” I called out to Rian, who almost walked by it.

            He stopped, glancing back at me momentarily before grabbing the door to the Chemistry room and pulling it open. He entered, and Luke and Noah quickly followed, Noah holding the door open for Chloe and myself. I thanked him, and he shut the door after us. The Chemistry teacher, Mr. Broaddus, stared at Gold as they stopped at the front of the classroom.

            I nicknamed Mr. Broaddus “Leprechaun” because he reminded me of a leprechaun. He was short, had ginger hair, and had the hint of an Irish accent. The resemblance was extremely amusing, but I had to be very careful not to call him Leprechaun— one of the sophomores did last year, and they were sent to the principal’s office.

            “What do we have here?” Mr. Broaddus asked in his Irish accent. “Transfer students?”

            “They’re Gold, Mr. Broaddus,” Stephanie, the girl from earlier, informed him.

            Mr. Broaddus gave her a hard look. “Are you insinuating something, Ms. Tobin?”

            Stephanie blushed and I quickly looked away to hide my smirk, understanding at once what he meant. Leprechauns and Gold. Oh, the irony.

            “We’re the band Gold,” Luke clarified with a grin. “We just transferred here today.”

            “Oh,” Mr. Broaddus grumbled. “Well, welcome to the school.”

            Ten minutes later we were all situated, the class starting. The girls in the classroom were talking in excited whispers, glancing at all the members of Gold… All of who happened to be seated around me. Rian was directly behind me, while Luke and Noah were on either side. Funny how the universe worked sometimes. Fortunately, Chloe was placed directly in front of me.

            “So, since it’s a new semester, I’m going to be assigning new partners,” Mr. Broaddus told the class, holding a piece of paper out in front of him.

            “Why can’t we choose partners?” someone from the front complained.

            Mr. Broaddus gave them a flat look. “Because last time I did that someone, and I’m not mentioning any names… Matt and James,” Mr. Broaddus coughed, staring at pair of boys, who were grinning sheepishly back at him. “Decided it would be funny to light a pile of my essays on fire.”

            There were a few snickers throughout the class and I ducked my head, hiding my grin. That was definitely a fun class.

            “So we’ll start with Stephanie and Matt,” Mr. Broaddus started. “No complaining,” he added as Stephanie let out a groan.

            I listened carefully as Mr. Broaddus went through the list of names. Chloe glanced over her shoulder, giving me a worried look. I didn’t really hate anyone in my class, but I didn’t exactly like everyone either. Chloe and I had been partners since day one. And change wasn’t my thing.

            “Chloe and James,” Mr. Broaddus stated.

            Chloe’s shoulders sagged, and I let out a deep sigh.

            “Iris and Rian.”

            My eyes widened. “Huh?”

            A few of the girls near me turned and gave me envious looks. I felt my hair being tugged at, and I turned around in my desk to see Rian smirking at me.

            “Locker buddies and Chemistry partners, eh?” he commented, letting my hair slide through his fingers. “This is going to be fun.”

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Here's chapter two!

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