It happens the second Iris is old enough to start reading and understanding the newspaper.
It’s become a habit for her; each morning and night she’d find herself reading the news, the paper often a little too big for her to hold in her smaller hands. Iris’ parents often filtered the news and let her read the softer sort; news about entertainment, lifestyle, and the like.
The older she got, however, the more interested she was in actual news and actual reports; she managed to convince her mom to let her start reading the front page news more, and the rest happened from there.
She was never the type to write fiction, definitely not. Iris didn’t think she was creative enough to come up with words and weave them into believable fictions. Novels were fine and she liked the sensation of exploring different worlds and stepping into the shoes of girls like her, but she often found that she liked her own pair of shoes the best.
Iris’ sneakers were dirtied, the laces a little ratty from years and years of use. She ran around a lot; ran often with a notebook in her hands and a pen sitting comfortably on her ear. Whenever something happened in the neighbourhood, she was often there with ears perked, smiling wide and charming enough to fetch details. She was a natural and had the charisma to match; if she were any less charming, then her parents would have scolded her for intruding too much.
High school came and went. Iris Hu was part of the newspaper club; she gathered awards for her often critical and careful style of writing. At the same time, she was practically glued to the television every night. She watched with a frown on her face even when her parents called for dinner, learned to idolize few anchors who earned her love and became wary of those who didn’t seen to have the right principles in mind.
Both parents tried to talk her out of her passion as well as other relatives who attempted to encourage more “traditional” career paths such as law or medicine, but Iris didn’t budge at all.
Some relented. Others cast a disapproving eye. It took Iris many, many months to finally convince both her mother and father to let her do what she wanted.
Once college application season rolled in, Iris applied to different colleges and universities with one course in mind. Again did the questions come, the doubts; older figures second guessing what she could do.
She ignores the rest.
Her parents defend her. They show her awards, her papers. It makes her feel a little bit warmer, knowing that they believe in her now.
Four years fly by, and Iris graduates with a degree in journalism. She graduates with Latin honors, graduates after spending four years as a member of the university publication, graduates after presenting her thesis related to her chosen course. Four years have added experience under her belt as well as a fuelled love for her passion. She could go anywhere at this point and she would flourish in no time.
She could go anywhere.
Iris Hu enters META in the summer of 2009 and is assigned to cover a big story alongside Ezra Tully and Leo Vargas in the following year.
She expects to come back to London a few months after with the necessary details, a good outline, and amazing photos from their travels. If they could break something as big as that, then it would do wonders for all their careers. It’d be proof that falling in love with her chosen craft was worth it all this time.
(She doesn’t.)
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