You what????

"Thanks so much for letting me in. I left my USB in the library and I have a saved article there. I'm just gonna lock the room once I find it."

Soojung's aegyo voice could be heard outside and Amber couldn't help but thank the Heavens for this divine timing to rescue her from the land of Awkward which is currently the library.

Thank God!

The door finally opens. The two people locked inside hold their breaths until Soojung enters the room.

"SOOJUNG!" a half scream and half whisper escaped Amber's mouth as she shot up from sitting down to hugging Soojung's legs

She turns on the light switch to find a very red-faced Amber on the floor

"Yo what did you do?"  Soojung says in her usual sassy voice, facing Henry who was also red

"It was getting hot" he says, Standing up
Soojung winks at him and Henry smirks.

"Great timing" he whispers as he walks past Soojung

"Oops"

"You guys hide in the shadows while I turn the lights off one by one and distract the guard"

"Gotcha"

And so the spy-like duo scurry and hide in the hallways following Soojung towards the exit and into her car, parked right outside the school

"Hey." Henry tries to talk to Amber once more after his "confession"

"Wh-what"

"Whoo! That was intense!"
Soojung enters the car and Henry takes another deep breath

Amber was in the front seat, beside Soojung and Henry was at the back

A silent car ride until they got to Amber's house
Soojung takes the silence as a good sign

"So, what did she say?" Soojung looks at him thru the mirror and Henry just shakes his head

"What does that mean?"

"She didn't answer me!"

"But it was all so perfect! My plan was flawless and you had to go and blow it all up!"

"Right. Miss Perfect-timing."

"Hey you still owe me for this. I had to skip my manicure pedicure time just to rescue you guys"

"Whatever. Thanks anyway. I hope things don't become more awkward between us."

Soojung just laughs at the president's lovebug

"Hah! Good luck with that."

---

Act cool. Keep it together. Forget that anything happened last night.

An uncomfortable Amber walks the hallways, eyes never leaving the floor because no, she wouldn't risk making eye contact towards anyone especially Henry

And as if she had a radar in her chest, her heartbeat quickens upon smelling his perfume

Oh

All she wants for the earth to do now is swallow her because she recalls they're classmates today

She settles in for a seat and to her utmost luck, the room wasn't so crowded yet so the seats beside her, behind her and infront of her were yet to be taken

Curse me for being early

"Hi"
His unnerving voice, the first one to greet her in the early morning

Act normal

"Hey"

"Good morning"

"Morning" her voice wavers

"We got a quiz today?"

"I dunno..."

"Can I sit here"

"Wherever you like"

Okay, this situation would have been semi normal if only Amber wasn't breaking her neck trying to avoid this hamster's persistance on looking at her face

Please, help me survive today

In the middle of classes, in between the buzzing of gossips that these two were beside each other, Amber drops her pen and Henry was quick to pick it up

"Here"

When Henry was about to return it, he sees that she had already flicked out a new pen and continued writing as if nothing happened

"Oh " she begins flicking the pen in the air because she ran out of ink

"Hey... You need this..."

Without eye contact she retirieves the pen from Henry, fingers cold and shaking as she does so.

"Thanks"

The school bell finally rings and Amber was the first one to dart out of the classroom

"How was school todaaaay?" Jackie asks as her little sister comes storming in and angrily tying up her apron

"Peachy"

"Did you guys break up already?"

"WHAT?"

"Oh so you guys are still together?"

"What? No!"

"So you guys did break up"

"We aren't a thing okay? Now will you just leave this to me and go home?" Amber goes behind the counter and shoves her sister out of the shop

"O-okay... I still have my apron on though" Jackie mutters outside the shop

What's the matter with you? One minute you're spazzing over a good morning text from him and now you're technically avoiding him!

Wait no.

Ugh!

He just thinks he likes me

Yeah  That's it... he just thinks he--

"Miss?" A customer was standing in front of the counter, ready to check out an order.

"I-I'm sorry..."

Great. Now he's affecting me. I gotta study. Focus everything in studying. Don't think about what happened...

"Eonni has been wearing her hood on a lot, lately" a wide-eyed Sunyoung sits beside Amber, observing her as she adjusts her hood again, while eating

"Eonni wears hoodies most of the time" Jinri explains

Sunyoung nods but argues "but she wears the hood on always now. Eonni, do you have pimples?" She tries to pry Amber's hands from the cloth

"Yah, Sunyoung eonni. Amber eonni is just conscious. We all have those days"

Will these two ever shut up?

"I had one three days ago, good thing it's gone now."

"Yeah, we haven't been sleeping early, that's why. Amber eonni always stays up late but never gets pimples. I dunno about now..."

They need to shut up

"Eonni must be stressed or something. Maybe Henry already surpassed her in the rankings"

"Eonni?"

"Jinri! Quick! Eonni is choking on rice!"

Great now I got everyone's attention

Henry was, coincidentally in the cafeteria for lunch at that time and had to see the commotion

"Omo! President to the rescue!"

"Knight in shining jacket!"

"I can't... omg it's happening right in front of us"

"Here I have water!"
Henry ran to their table with a bottle of water which Amber had no other choice but to drink.

Either I swallow what I swallowed and die or swallow my pride and drink this water

Henry's concerned face after she had recovered was quite a sight. Like she wanted to pinch the life out of his cheeks. She knows he's adorable but she just can't admit that to herself. Never would she do that.

"Hey, you okay?" He rubs her back
Sunyoung and Jinri's mouths were half open while fanning Amber with their hands

"I guess I am... Thanks anyway" still avoiding eye contact

All eyes were on them and Amber can't help but feel conscious from all the stares.

"Excuse me. I don't feel so good" she stands up and jogs her way through the doors of the cafeteria with Henry tailing her

"Hey!" He looks around, not finding her so he just goes back in the cafeteria, still bothered as ever.

The next days are purely episodes of Amber evading Henry at school and constantly pushing away the fact that she misses talking to him and  pretending to be annoyed by him when it's him talking to her that she wanted.
Mornings were filled with her internal squeals from the "good morning, i miss talking to you. Why are you avoiding me? :( " texts she recieves from him

The online forum about them has run dry. The interactions were turned into evasions and a series of the two not interacting.

She feels guilty, she never tells anyone. Not even herself.

Friday comes along and she remembers that she completely forgot that they meet every weekend.

Afternoon, She comes down the school's stairs and anticipates his presence in the first floor. So she leans against the wall and moves stealthily, with every step sidewards.
She leans over, peeking to see if he was around.
The coast is clear so she walks to the front yard.

Uneasy, she looks around. The street was minus the presence of the student body president.

Maybe he's given up?

Prom's next week.

"He's not around" Amber tells the same girl who always asks for Henry's service.

"Is that so? Well, I guess I'm not hungry afterall." With that, she stands up, picks up her handbag and exits the cafè.

To: Henry :)            

Hey. You up?

Where is he?

"Hey sis! You're free to go-- where's the hamster?" Jackie walks in, ready for her shift

"I dunno. He hasn't texted back for the whole day!"

"You didn't do anything to him, right?" Jackie looks at her suspiciously

Amber just freezes. A wave of guilt washing over her.

"Just kidding. You should go and see what's up or tutor him or whatever you guys do at his place" she shoves her sister, since she felt a bit of tension in her aura

"Good evening, Mrs. Lau. Is Henry home? He wasn't at the cafe the whole day."

"Oh, he's upstairs, dear. You can go see him." the lady smiles at her and Amber's guilt just worsens

"Henry?" she knocks on his door, shifting the pile of books in her arms so she could lean close and listen if he's awake inside.

She hears footsteps on the carpeted floor from the inside so she straightens up, and finds herself pulling on her clothes and raking her boy-cut hair with her fingers.

The door opens. And the first eye-contact of the week that lasted for more than a second was made.

"Hi?" her nervous voice, unintentionally loud, echoing through the huge house.

"Hi" he says blankly. He was too busy looking at her flushed face.

"Y-you weren't at the shop earlier..."

"Yeah..."

"B-but I-I'm here because of the review." she says in defense. She didn't want to seem too concerned.

She finally notices it.
His eyes were droopy. His skin was on the much paler side. And his lips were redder than usual.

He's sick again.

Why is this dude so sickly?

"We can study here. If that's okay with you..."

Just this once. He's sick. Be considerate. Be considerate.

"Sure... I hope you don't mind the... mess..."

Her jaw drops. Clothes were scattered everywhere. Surprisingly his study desk was clean and organized.

She places the books there and he pulls up a chair for her.
"Shall we begin?"

"Sure."

"Congratulations, by the way" he says while stretching after their review

"For what?"

"You're still on top place"

She blinks.

So he really didn't touch the grades. Well, that's good...

"Let's agree on something." he smiles and Amber gulps before she could respond

"What is it?"

"Well..." his evil smirk, revealed once more.
"Since I didn't alter anything with the grades and stuff, why don't you do me a favor and let me take you to prom?"

What was that?

Are we back to this topic again?

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Be my prom date!"

She sighs because she has rehearsed for this question the night of the library incident and the following nights after that.

Let's do what we practiced. You can do this. Tell him you're not going.

"W-Why do you even think you like me?"

great. And that ladies and gentlemen is how you blow everything up.

Henry smiles at her. She was going to stab his neck with the pen she was unconsciously gripping on to if he's going to smile even more.

"Hmm, let's say you're not really my type..."

She glowers at him

Really?

"But you're really something else you know. I tried moving on from you after the chemistry incident. I got your very obvious hint that you didn't like me even back then. Even to this day"

Henry does a good job of making things and situations become awkward in a flash.
Must be his talent.
Amber thinks

"So?" Henry was waiting for her reaction the whole time "whatcha say?"

"Uuhhh..."

"Uuhhh?"

"I-I'm really not gonna attend prom"

Henry just smiles a warm smile and Amber's nervousness subsides just a bit.

"I respect your decision. At least I finally got those hidden feelings off my chest. You don't know how long it's been"

"..."

"I wouldn't mind if you'd reciprocate those feelings though..."

"Stupid! I gotta go. It's late" she shoves him aside and leaves his room.

She finds herself smiling, walking her way home. It felt like an army was marching through her chest. It didn't hurt. It felt pleasant. Very pleasant.

"Hey mom!" She kisses her mom's head before heading up the stairs to her room, humming.

"What's up with your daughter?" Mrs. Liu who was knitting in the living room asks her husband who was in the kitchen.

"Either she's finally found someone and kissed that someone or got top place again" the man laughs

"But she's never in that much of a good mood whenever she gets top place. It's a normal thing for her now."

"Maybe it's the former, then"

She sighs as she plops down her bed. She hums as she flips through her notebooks' pages.

Right now she doesn't care if she notices she's acting a bit weird. Henry likes her. And it doesn't seem that gross anymore.

---

a/n: yeah. summer break. yeah.

also writer's block. triple yeah.

but i'll fight through these borders. lol.

ok

*nae naes away*