𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒯𝒽𝓇𝑒𝑒
Anger is a funny thing. A dangerous thing. A terrible thing. It makes people lash out, brings out something in people that they almost shouldn't be capable of. Anger makes people do things. It makes them get back at those who wronged them in the most cruel of ways.
Controlling your anger can be among the most valuable of skills. Finding healthy ways to expel your anger, not to let it fester and build. To not let yourself snap.
Control.
Iris would admit that she lacked control over her anger. It came too easy to her. Too quickly. And she knew how to get back at people. How to ruin them, even if just for a moment. She knew what words to say, the right words to tear apart a person from inside out. To scare them into submission. To push them to the brink of lashing out right back at her, making them become just as harsh as her.
Honestly... it would almost be better if Iris would just take up fighting. A punch perhaps less cruel than the words she could create.
But whether through words or through a punch. The cruelest of paybacks, of reactions... tend to come from the silent actions.
Which is why that morning, still fresh off the anger from the night before... Iris packed her bag and left without a word.
Only to Sally-Ann's, they had been planning the sleepover for weeks... but of course, Remus didn't know that.
A silent action... a reaction caused by anger. Remus would wake to find Iris and a few of her belongings gone... and coming fresh off the words left for him the night before... The panic he would experience upon waking up was incredibly cold... cruel.
Iris Blackwell knew how to hurt people.
~~~~~~
As her friends arrived one by one, Sally-Ann took notice of the lack of energy in each and every one of them. Tracey fresh off a long vacation in Paris. Jane fresh off a fight with her family. Iris... just distant.
She could at least count on Valeria to be normal, but still, with most of the group out of commission... a day in was definitely the play.
So with Sally's parents off at some wedding for the next few days and her brother at a friend's for the night... the girls took over the living room.
And Iris would admit to most of that day being one big blur. Her attention not really quite there. She would be pulled in from time to time, making brief notice of what she was doing... but mostly one big blur. And if any of her friends had taken note of it... they had the courtesy to just let it slide.
And by the time the sun was long gone... well, Iris just laid on the couch, gaze on the television. Only vaguely aware of the conversation from her friends.
"Okay, Iris, you have to break the tie. Is Roger attractive, yes or no?"
Iris blinked herself back to reality. Glancing at Jane and then back to the television. Only then seemed to realize what she had been watching for the past few minutes. 101 Dalmatians, Roger being the owner of one of the dogs in the movie.
Thinking it over for a second, Iris watched as Roger started singing the melody to the movie's very own villain song, and narrowing her eyes, she nodded a bit, "He is one of those guys you come around to."
Sally laughed aloud, "What does that even mean?"
Shrugging as she watched the scene on the screen unfold; Iris elaborated, "He isn't attractive in the way that you take immediate notice. But as you get to know him, your perspective of him shifts, you take notice and start to find him attractive," she paused. "He has attitude, sings, and dances... I would marry him."
Tracey and Jane both cheered, taking it as a win for their side.
On the other hand, Sally and Valeria scowled, the two of them turning their attention to the tv as they scrutinized the man in question.
Iris was about to return to her daze when Sally shouted out, scrambling to pause the movie, "Holy shit! Roger looks like Nott!"
Iris shot up, her face scrunching as she stared at Sally-Ann as if she had three heads, "Theodore?"
Sally nodded harshly, excitedly pointing to the screen with a laugh, "Obviously less cartoonishly, and Nott isn't blond. But I swear, that right there is Theodore Nott."
Everyone in the room looked to the man on screen, making their own comparisons. Valeria, the first to come around, "Theodore does dress exactly like that. The sweater vest and trousers make it really easy to see." She looked over to Iris in question, "And Theodore is fairly tall and lanky, right?"
Iris pulled a face, "Why ask me? I've never cared to notice how tall Theo is." She turned her gaze to Tracey, "Ask the one who was obsessed with him for two years."
Tracey shot Iris a bitter look right back, "I was not obsessed with him," but still, she answered the question. "He was at least as tall as Iris by the end of the school year, though."
Valeria nodded to herself, "Settles it then. Roger is Theodore Nott. And it proves that Tracey really does have a type."
Tracey pouted, "Jane also said he was attractive. And Iris said she would marry him. Don't just focus on me here."
Sally nudged Iris, sending her a smirk, "Don't tell us that Nott is going to steal the heart of another one of us."
Iris cringed back at the thought, glaring at Sally, "Theodore can't sing... and I am not calling him tall until he is taller than me." Her eyes flicked back to the tv as she plopped back against the couch, glaring at the character on screen, "And you officially ruined this movie for me."
~~~~~~
The next morning seemed better for the teens; mostly, everyone rejuvenated after the day in. The only outlier being Iris, who, while definitely much more present than she was the day before, still didn't seem entirely there. But as with before, if anyone noticed, no one made word of it.
So as everyone prepared for their morning, they chatted endlessly, throwing out ideas for what to do. The group seemed set on London but was a bit lost on what to actually do when there. Well... until Jane let slip that there would be a ball. Why? Well, no one seemed to care. All that mattered was that they needed to go shopping immediately, being as once back at school, this would be much more difficult.
And so, Iris was unintentionally subjected to another day of dress shopping. She and Jane both subjected to just being there to give opinions, their plans for dresses outside the range of anything they would find in a shop.
Dress shopping in a group can be among the best of experiences. Spending hours just being a circle of opinions and positivity. Having the extra eyes to help pick colors, fit, neckline. Giving the confidence to wear that dress you love but scare yourself away from.
Normally Iris would have been all for it. But as she and Jane sat off to the side, she found her attention more so out the window than anywhere else.
"What are you looking at?"
Iris's gaze remained firmly locked outside, her voice bland, "Those boys across the street at the ice cream parlor."
Jane spotted them, taking notice of how they kept glancing over, "What are they talking about?"
