Best Friends Forever

Lucie’s P.O.V.

I was worried. I was so worried. Iris was a total wreck. She didn’t deserve this. She finally found the perfect guy and she wanted to be with him all the time, but it couldn’t be that way. I found myself being ashamed because I was still together with Niall. It wasn’t fair. One of them had to stay single for the fans and it had to be Harry because he was the ‘most popular’ one. Every time I went on Twitter I saw fans being sad because Harry was heartbroken. The fans were so happy for him when he was with Iris. They liked it. But management thought differently. Ugh, I hate their management. You must be heartless to order someone to break up with the love of their life. It was the second day of school and I was having science class. I hadn’t seen Iris all day. Obviously because we are in different sections, but when I went to school this morning she wasn’t waiting for me. Which isn’t likely her. I hoped she wasn’t staying home all day. She needs to go out and have fun. When she’s alone all day, it will be even harder for her. At that moment the school bell rang. When I walked out of class, I bumped into Anna. “Hey, have you seen Iris today?”, I asked her. “Nope, I’m sorry. I was wondering as well where she was. We were supposed to have maths together today, but she wasn’t there”, Anna responded. “I’m going to call her”, I said and took my phone out of my pocket. I dialled her number but it went straight to voicemail. “It’s turned off”, I said confused. Iris never turned her phone off. “I will go by her house this afternoon”, I said determined. “I’ll go with you. I’m worried about her”, Anna responded. The rest of the day I tried to keep my head with school. Worrying about her wouldn’t help. She would be fine. Iris doesn’t run simultaneously seven locks. When we got out of school, Anna and I went to Iris’ house. We rang the doorbell and her mom opened. “Hey girls”, she said brightly. “Hey, is Iris home?”, Anna asked. “No. She is at school. I had expected she would be with you”, she answered. Anna and I looked confused at each other. “What’s wrong?”, Iris’ mom asked. “She wasn’t at school today…”, I responded slowly. “I tried to reach her, but her phone was turned off”, I added. “I swear to God she left the house this morning. I didn’t see her leaving, but I know she did”, she said worried. I walked in the house without even asking. I practically lived here. I went up to her room, with Anna and Iris’ mom behind me. The moment I walked in her room, I saw her laptop was gone. I walked over to her closet and also saw her suitcase was gone. I got an anxious feeling. “She’s gone”, I said. Iris’ mom started freaking out. “Where the hell can she be?”, she asked half-crying. “I’m going to call the police”, she added. I wanted to stop her, but I realized we had no idea where she could be. She could be anywhere. I grabbed my phone and opened WhatsApp. I saw she had been online just an hour ago. I typed her a message: Where the hell are you? Running away from your problems is a race you’ll never win. I hoped this would help her realize that what she was doing had no sense. I walked downstairs to comfort Iris’ mom. “Did I do something wrong?”, she wondered aloud, still crying. “No, it isn’t you. Iris is just knotted up with herself. She just needs to figure out what she wants”, I said while trying to calm her down. “Did you call the police already?”, I added. “Not yet”, she responded. “Then let’s wait. I’m sure Iris is gonna be fine and I will try anything to talk to her”, I reassured her.

Iris’ P.O.V.

I loved London. I always had and I always will. I just stepped out of the plane on Heathrow. All my saving money was gone, but now I could see my brother finally again. That was worth so much more. Thomas would be so shocked if he saw me. He told me not to come, but I just couldn’t help it. I missed him so much and it was nice to be away from home. I just needed something else on my mind. When I came outside with my suitcase, I held a cab. “To University College London, please”, I told the driver. After an hour I arrived at the university. I paid the driver and stepped out of the cab. I looked my eyes out. The campus was so big. How in hell was I going to find Thomas here? I didn’t even know in which dorm he was staying. The moment I wanted to walk towards the main building, I heard some noise behind me. I turned around to see photographers running over to me. They started shouting all different questions at me. “Iris! What are you doing in London?” “Are you here to visit Harry?” “What did you think of Simon’s choice to make you and Harry break up?” “Do you still love him?” I was overwhelmed by all those questions. “Assholes, leave her alone!” I looked up to see where this voice came from. I sighed out of relief. “Thank God for saving me”, I said and hugged my saver Stephanie. “Iris, what are you doing here?”, Stephanie asked me. “I’m here to visit Thomas”, I said with a smile. “But you’re supposed to be at school”, she said confused. “I know. I skipped school. I had to see him”, I responded. “Well, since you’re here already, I better bring you to him”, she said grinning. We walked to another building and I just followed Stephanie. It was so good to see her. I hadn’t only missed my brother, but her as well. “Still in love?”, I asked her grinning. “Definitely. Your brother is amazing”, she answered smiling. “I know”, I said with a smile. “Here it is”, Stephanie said when we stopped in front of Thomas’ door. “Stay here. We’ll surprise him”, she added. She opened the door while I remained waiting in the corridor. “Thomas, I have a surprise for you”, I heard Stephanie saying. I knew my brother hated surprises, but I hoped he loved this one. “What is it?”, he asked. “I think you should check out for yourself. The surprise is in the corridor”, she answered. At that moment Thomas walked out of his room and saw me standing. “Iris!”, he exclaimed delighted. I ran over to him and gave him an enormous hug. “Before you ruin this beautiful moment. Mom and dad don’t know and I know you didn’t want me to come, but I missed you too much. I haven’t seen you for so long”, I explained. “You’re so sweet. I missed you too”, he said and hugged me again. “I hate to tell you this, but mom and dad need to know. If they find out you’re gone, they’ll freak out. Especially mom”, Thomas added. I knew he was right. “Okay okay, but can’t it wait some more? I’m gone anyhow and it takes at least four hours to go back. Can’t we just enjoy this day together?”, I suggested. “Okay, but you have to promise me you’ll call them tonight”, he said decisively. “I promise”, I said with a grin. “Well, what do you wanna do?”, he Thomas asked. “Let’s explore London with the three of us”, I said suggesting. “Great idea!”, Stephanie said. Thomas nodded smiling in agreement. “Where do you want to go first?”, Stephanie asked me when we were once outside. “The London Eye”, I said smiling. I have been in London a few times now. Every time I took a ride on the London Eye and I couldn’t just get enough of it. I didn’t care there was a long queue of people waiting. The experience was just amazing. Luckily today the sky was very clear, so we could see so many kilometres in the distance. It was so nice. The ride was 40 minutes, but for me it was still too little. Once we were on the ground again, we decided to just walk around the city. Everything about London was so great. Its people, its buildings, its culture, but most of all, its vibe. When we walked on Leicester Square later, there were so many street artists. They were always here. Dancers, singers, everything. Each and every one of them was so different, but that’s what I liked most about it. In London people could just be themselves. We stopped walking to watch some amazing dancers perform.

Harry’s P.O.V.

“Why can we never just walk on the streets without being recognized”, I said laughing while we walked over Leicester Square. Like usually, girls ran over to us to get a picture or autograph. “I’ll never get used to it”, Niall responded grinning. A girl came up to me. “Hey, can I get a picture with you?”, she asked shyly. “Yeah of course”, I said smiling. “I think you and Iris were the perfect couple. You were so cute together”, she said after we took the picture. “Thanks. That means a lot to me”, I responded with a little smile. I tried to be happy again and the boys gave me enough distractions, but there didn’t pass a day where I didn’t think of Iris. She would always be in my heart. “Sorry girls. We really gotta go now”, Niall said after we took some pictures with a few girls. We walked further and passed a group of dancers performing. Again, girls started shouting. I saw a girl turning around and my breath stuck. “Haz, what’s up?”, Niall asked, who immediately noticed that something was going on. I looked straight into Iris’ beautiful blue eyes. I felt a sting in my chest again. She was only like 5 metres away from me. How I wish that I could just hug her now and never let go of her. I noticed that Niall had become aware of her as well. “What is she doing in London?”, Niall whispered. I ignored him. I kept looking at Iris and she kept looking at me, like we were magnetic. I saw a small tear leaving her eye. Slowly she turned back around and at that moment the tears streamed down my face.

Iris’ P.O.V.

At that moment a tear left my eye. I just couldn’t help it. I turned back around before the tears streamed down my face. I didn’t want Harry to see me like this. I wanted to be strong. I promised myself Harry was nothing to me anymore, but I found myself having a harder time than expected. “Are you okay?”, Stephanie asked me worried. I shook my head while still crying. She didn’t say a word and took me in her arms. “You wanna go?”, my brother asked. “I just want to sit down”, I answered slowly. “You seem so strong”, Stephanie said once we sat down. “Yeah, I seem. But I’m not…”, I responded. “I said to myself that Harry is nothing to me anymore, but seeing him only makes it harder”, I added. “You can’t just forget what you two had. You are in love. You need to take the time to process”, Stephanie responded. “I don’t want to. I just want to be happy again”, I said while I started crying again. “I understand that, but that takes time”, she said while stroking my back. At that moment my phone beeped. I checked it to see it was a message from Lucie: Where the hell are you? Running away from your problems is a race you’ll never win. She hit me right in the face with this message. I was running away from my problems, again, and it was useless. What did I think I would achieve with this? Of course, I got to see my brother now, but it didn’t help for what was going on in my life. “What are you thinking about?”, Thomas asked. I showed him Lucie’s message. “She knows how to get you”, he responded laughing. “Can I sleep at your place tonight?”, I asked him. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know if you want to sleep between three loud, dirty boys”, he answered laughing. “You can stay in my room”, Stephanie added. “Thanks. I will go home tomorrow morning”, I said. “Okay, but don’t worry. You are strong enough to go past this. I know you can. Now, let’s make a fun night of it”, Thomas suggested.

Lucie’s P.O.V.

I was still downstairs with Iris’ mom and Anna, when I got a message from Niall: Iris is in London. Harry and I spotted her on Leicester Square with her brother and another girl. No worries, she’s fine. “She’s in London and she’s with Thomas and probably Stephanie”, I stated after I read Niall’s message. “Thank God”, Iris’ mom said relieved. I read Niall’s message again. I immediately opened Skype on my phone and clicked on Niall’s name. It said he was online, but he always was, so I hoped he would answer. “Hey”, I said as soon as Niall accepted the call. “You and Harry saw Iris in London?”, I followed immediately. “Yeah, she was only a few metres away from us. She noticed us and she and Harry couldn’t help but staring at each other. Harry is a disaster now. This definitely did him no good”, Niall explained. “Same for Iris, I guess…”, I responded slowly. “We have to come up with a plan to distract them all the time. If they think about each other, they can’t stop crying”, I added. “Any ideas?”, Niall asked. “I know Iris had a school crush, Justin. Maybe she can move on from Harry if she starts hanging out with him. But don’t you dare to find a new girl for Harry, because if Iris sees that on social media, she will be even worse”, I said to him. “I will make sure there’s always one of us around to distract Harry. He just needs fun”, Niall responded. “Okay, good idea. I gotta go now. Love you”, I said and blew him a hand kiss. “Love you too”, he said smiling and ended the conversation. I closed the Skype app and opened WhatsApp again. I typed Iris another message: I just heard from Niall you’re in London. I really hope you’re doing okay. Please come home soon. xx “Now we’ll just have to see when she comes home”, I said. “I’m going to call Thomas”, Iris’ mom said and grabbed her phone. Not even ten seconds later she was on the phone with him. “How is she? Yes, I understand that, but it’s best for her to come home. We’re not mad at her. Okay, that’s great. Thanks.” “She is coming home tomorrow morning”, she said after ending the phone call. I let out a sigh of relief. “I want you girls to keep an eye on her the next few days”, Iris’ mom said to me and Anna. “Yeah sure. We will do anything to make her feel better”, Anna responded determined. I nodded in agreement. “I’m gonna go home”, I said and added: “I will come back tomorrow to see how she is doing.” “You are such great friends for her”, Iris’ mom said smiling. “Thanks”, Anna and I responded shyly in unison.
The next day I went to Iris’ house again during my lunch break. She had arrived this morning. The moment I wanted to ring the doorbell, Iris opened the door. “Hey”, I said softly while hugging her. We went up to her room and sat down on her bed. “How was London?”, I asked her. “It was great, until I saw Harry on Leicester Square…”, she responded. “Yeah, Niall told me”, I said. “It was so hard to see him standing there and not being able to hug or kiss him. I thought I could move on from him, but I miss him so much”, she said crying. “It’s not crazy you miss him so much. It’s been like five days. You can’t move on from someone in such a short amount of time, especially when neither of you is the reason of the breakup”, I told her. “You’re like the 100th person to give me this advice and I wish I was able to take it, but I don’t know if I can”, Iris responded. “I will do whatever it takes to see you happy again. Truly happy. It’s our senior year. We have to make the best of it!”, I reassured her with a grin. I saw her mouth forming a little smile. “See, it’s a start”, I said while giving her a gentle push. “Do you wanna go back to school this afternoon?”, I asked her. She nodded which surprised me. “Anna and I talked to the principal yesterday and we explained what you’re going through and that you need your friends close, so he would try to move you to our class”, I said to her. I hoped this would cheer her up a little. “Thanks”, she said with a smile.
When we arrived at school after lunch, the principal came over to us. “Good news, you’re transferred to Lucie’s class”, he told us. “That’s great. Thanks!”, Iris said happily. She looked genuinely happy. “Here is your new timetable”, he said while handing it over to Iris. After he had walked away, I grabbed it out of her hands. “That means we’re having French now”, I said with a grin. We walked to French class together when Justin came over to Iris. He was in our class too. “Hey. Do you still wanna hang out sometime?”, Justin asked her. I didn’t even have to encourage Iris to go hang out with Justin, he just came to her himself. It would be great if Justin made Iris forget about Harry. “Wait a second”, Iris said before turning her head towards me. “What should I do?”, she whispered to me. “Say yes. Justin’s a great guy. What’s there not to like about him?”, I said with a grin. “Okay, true”, she responded smirking and turned her head towards Justin again. “Sounds great. Tomorrow?”, Iris suggested. “See you then”, Justin said smiling before walking into the classroom.

Notes