Iris

•*Chapter 26*•

I R I S

I woke up at 6 a.m. Not that I got that much sleep anyways. After I shot, I fell into my brother's arms crying my heart out. He took me back to his room and I fell asleep in his arms. He stroked my hair until he was sure I fell asleep. And I did.

For 30 minutes.

I tossed and turned, all night. I kicked Alejandro because of it too, but he just rubbed my back and went back to sleep.

I sighed and got up carefully, making sure not to wake up Ally since I already put him through enough hell. I made the journey to my room, set out my school uniform on my bed and took a shower. I did my usual routine before getting dressed. While I was tying the ascot, Lorenzo walked through the slightly open door, dressed in his uniform.

"Good morning Cat." He said coming over to give me a quick hug. I hugged him back tightly and finished the knot. But when I saw him sit down on my bed, I knew something was up. I walked over and sat down beside him, putting my head in his lap. He started rubbing my hair and I let out a purr like sound. He laughed at that.

"But you hate being called cat, right?" He asked with a smirk. I laughed and sighed, closing my eyes, before he spoke again.

"I heard what happened last night." He said. I froze and shot up, looking at him with wide eyes. "From everything that happened with your mum, to you shooting perfectly on your first try."

I hung my head. I wasn't really sure how to respond to that. I was ashamed of the life I lived. Of what I went through and of who my mother was. Who my mother became.

They don't even refer to her as their mother. And I don't blame them.

But there was a time when she was the most amazing person I knew. The role model mother that you wanted to be like when you grew up. The person you trusted to tell who you had a crush on and they would squeal with you and talk about it all night. She was that mother once. And while I will never forgive her for hurting my brothers and I, she'll always be my mom.

I was dragged back to reality by Lorenzo resting his hands on my shoulder. My head snapped up to his and he was looking at me with the most emotion I've ever seen.

"Listen to me, love." He began. "I don't know what you've been through so I won't act like I do. I know you never had anyone except for that girl you talk about all the time. But Iris, we love you so much. We want to be there for you, we want to help you and we know we fucked up in the beginning. But we're trying so hard to make everything better for you. So please just let us in."

When he finished I was staring at him with sad eyes. I'm pretty sure I cried enough last night, as even when I washed my face my eyes were still puffy. I watched as his eyes reflected everything he was feeling. It was too much. I couldn't say anything, so I just nodded and let my head drop. He used his fingers to lift it back up and looked at me intently, before making a silly face, which made me let out a short laugh. He smiled at me, kissed my forehead and left my room. I sighed and put on my shoes, put my hair into a bun and went downstairs. I smelled french toast.

A.K.A the love of my life.

I speed up just a little more knowing that was what we were eating. When I got to the dining room, the boys from last night were there along with Luca and Mateo. I don't know where Emmy is and I guess Alejandro was still sleeping.

"Good morning." I said. Everyone answered except for Mateo. So I walked over to him and cleared my throat.

"Good morning Mateo." I said. He looked at me.