"Hey Am!" Henry smiles, seeing her the first time that day.
He finally comes across her in the afternoon as she was walking the hallway heading to her last class by the student council's office. Henry was carrying a boxful of shiny fancy decorations for the prom.

"Yo."

"What's up? You seem bothered..."

"Oh gee... I wonder why..."

Henry just gives her a weird look and tries catching up to her, matching her strides as she hurriedly walks away

He blocks her way, standing in front of her
the tomboy sighs through her nose

"Oh! What are those?" she points to the box Henry was having a hard time carrying
Henry was going to open his mouth to answer but the tomboy got him covered

"Ohhhh... Right, for the prom this weekend." She snaps her fingers "Must have forgotten. Oh yeah, because I wasn't going. Oh! But you are, right? With Soo--"

"I get it." He nods, chuckling

Amber blinks

"You're jealous."

"No I am not. As a matter of fact" she raises her hands to her waist
"I just want you to take care of my friend. Rid your mind of this so-called jealousy, good sir. Now if you may, I have a class to attend to." she gestures him to move aside
Henry of course fakes a curtsy and smiles as he moves to the side to let her pass

I like her so much

That little . Who does he think he is? Psh no I'm not jealous! He's not Soojung's type. At all!

Our not-jealous little heroine slams her books on the table and massages her creased forehead as she sat down

Kibum looks over his shoulder, raising his brow. An inquiry if she was okay.
She nods her head and tries to put on that normal smart- face.

A small neon green sticky note was on her desk

This was definitely from Kibum

u sure u're not goin? Ur friends are going

She can't help but feel bad for the guy. His crush had gone off with Sunyoung and now that she doesn't intend on going, the guy's got no date!

Hey, u ok?

She replies with her own yellow sticky note with a small white daisy design at the bottom

I am. I expected it to happen :)

Really?

Yes

About the being okay thing?

Also yes.

She accepts his answer half heartedly and goes back to listening to the discussion

The school bell rings and Kibum was asked by Amber to stay

"You didn't have to wait for the classmates to drain out. Your reputation isn't like before anymore" he laughs

"Really?"

He nods

"Well, that's not the case here. let's talk about prom... Since it's just around the corner."

Kibum's eyes widened at his friend's eagerness

"Woah. Didn't know you were interested in this stuff, ms. I-do-not-like-dresses"

She glares at him "hey this ain't for me. I still am not going"

"Oh. So what is it?"

"I was just concerned, if you're already going with someone else to the party"

"Well, you're really not going, right?"

"Yeah"

"Well I got another date right after you told me you weren't going"

It was Amber's turn for her eyes to widen

"That fast??"

Kibum adjusts his collar "well, fine boy like me..."

"Who are you going with?"

"Some junior... A girl"

Amber just laughs and gives him a hug, Kibum hugs back, still confused

A tear slides down her cheek and Kibum notices it after they pull out of the hug

"You're not okay at all"

Amber nods a slow nod

"I'll walk you home"

"Okay"

The entire while, the president was peeking through the half-closed door, a pile of papers in his hands. A few students noticed him crouching near the door but they didn't bother him.

What this hamster saw was this fashionista guy Kibum and his all-time crush in one room. Just the two of them

But I thought Kibum was gay?? Why is he with Amber? Is he making moves on her?

Omg. Did he just hug her? And she's smiling?? Really?? Wtf is this?

He sees them starting to pull away from each other and Kibum wiping Amber's cheek as Amber smiles and nods

Woah. What just happened?

He quickly stands up and pretends he just passed by in time for them to come out of the room

"Hey!" He greets them and Amber gives him a glare through her glistening eyes.
Key understood then that it had something to do with the president.

"Hey pres. She's not feeling well." He smiles at Henry who now seemed really worried

"O-oh take care then"

"He's going with Soojung after I rejected his proposal!" Amber almost breaks the teacup she put down on Kibum's table
"Dude, chill out."

Amber sighs. Trying to find the chill.

"Sorry. Would you like more cookies?"

"No, I'm good. Thanks. So..."

"yeah?"

"You like him now?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"What? No! Soojung needs to find a better date!"

"That took you a while to answer."

"Shut up."

Kibum smirks as Amber finally sits down in front of him, grabbing her own fringe as if she was contemplating

She catches his stare
"What?"

"I know how you feel. I mean, I felt that way back when I was still confused on how I felt for hyung."

Amber gives him a gentle smile, sympathizing

"I hope you make up your mind. Whether or not you like him. I knew this was about Henry."
Kibum stands up giving his friend a hug

"I don't know."

"Still not going?"

"Still not going." a sure smile on her face

"WHAT?" Sunyoung, Jinri and Qian said in chorus, looks of shock on their faces towards Soojung and then towards Amber

"Told ya she ain't going" Soojung side-eyes the short-haired girl, the latter just shrugs

"Eonni! How could you miss this one last important event before we graduate?!" Sunyoung was screaming at the top of her lungs again while Jinri was now blankly staring at the table because she just realized one of the corsage and flower crowns she made for tomorrow's event would go to waste. She planned on giving them to each of the squad's members only to find out Amber wasn't going. Qian was much calmer than the two younger ones facing a crisis.
"Now, let's respect Amber. She makes her own decisions, she must have a reason for not attending. Why won't you go? You had to tell us just now that it's one sleep away"

"Everyone, I'm so sorry I was late on informing you--"

"If Henry hadn't asked me for prom, even I wouldn't know" Soojung butts in earning another "WHAT??" from the three people

"And why are you going with Henry, Soojunga?!" Sunyoung once more yells, causing everyone to look their way

"I don't know anymore" Jinri is still dazed

"I'm confused" the eldest one has given up and is now massaging her temples "Why are you dating Amber's boyfriend?"

"WHAT HE'S NOT MY--"

"Eonni, I'm not officially dating--"

"WHY ARE YOU SAYING HE'S MY BOYFRIE--"

"He just asked me out because the person he likes rejected his--"

"IT HAS BEEN AWKWARD BETWEEN US--"

"Because Henry confessed and he got rejected--"

"BECAUSE HE KISSED ME OKAY?"

"WHAT"

"WHAT"

"WHAT"

"WHAT"

"Uhh... Just kidding?"

The others were convinced with her "just kidding" script but Soojung, at the moment was following her as she is making her way home

"Eonni, did you guys really kiss?"

"Haven't we settled this at lunch time? I was only kidding so you guys could shut up. The looks on your faces though" she forces a laugh, avoiding eye contact with the person beside her

Soojung just pouts
"Eonni... are you mad?"

"Hmm? About what?"

"Me going with Henry to prom. I just did it out of sympathy. You know I always had eyes for Jongin... So I hope you'd--"

"It's totally fine, Soojung. I'm not mad psh"

"Why'd you reject him though? You know he's always liked you. I also wanted to make it up to him since I technically told him to tell you how he felt... I didn't expect things to go this way."

Amber faces the younger one, hands on Soojung's shoulders
"Hey don't feel bad. It's not your fault..."

"Are you really not going?"

Amber nods with a sure smile on her face

"Really"

"Do you like him though?" She follows up as they start walking once more

Amber just giggles "Why are you following me anyway? Where's your car?"

"Yah, you're avoiding the topic. My sister's using it. Answer me!"

"Hmmm... I dunno" and with that she abandons Soojung who was knowingly smiling, sprinting away

"Hey... I could borrow a dress for you for tomorrow, since you seem like you don't have anything to wear for the prom..." Jackie speaks behind the half-open door of Amber's room.

"Nah, I'm really not going"

"Whaaaat why? This is your--" Jackie now fully opens the door and enters, sitting on her sister's bed while Amber fixes her notes, getting ready for bed

"I know, I know. My first and last prom as a high schooler. But Jack, don't you think my grades matter more? I mean, I can have fun after graduation"

"Ah grades, grades. You never have fun!"

"But studying is fun!"

Jackie just gives her that "oh really?" Look and her younger sister just laughs

"Really, I think my exams matter. I don't see the need to attend and besides--"

"Dresses aren't your swag. I know." She stands up and gives her sister a ruffle on her head "get some rest. No prince charming again tomorrow eh? You're gonna be on your own... again"

"Yeah, he's going to prom..." and she mutter under her breath "with Soojung..." her sister doesn't hear

"Heh, well you could've earned a whole day and night being free but nope, so you're still gonna work half the day tomorrow" she laughs before opening the door

"Oh please, I love the shop. And doing things alone"

"Right. Night, sis"

"Good night, Jackie"

"Ah~ good morning Prom day..." were the first words to escape from Amber's mouth. A few minutes later she was still sitting in bed, staring at the sunrise

Woke up too early.

She shrugs

Meh, too excited to finally work alone again this weekend

"Hey it's been a few weekends that Henry hasn't been around the shop." A regular customer who had become Henry's service and charisma's fan asks as he makes his regular order of egg benedict and hot coffee.

"Yeah, he's been sick and today he's got a party night to attend to. Probably busy since the morning."

"Don't you miss the guy? Seems the two of you are pretty close" he winks

"Uhh... Not really haha, I see him everyday, I think I have seen enough of him to last me a year"

Today was pretty slow. Or Amber was just too bored not having Henry to help out and not having to look forward to tutoring him later tonight.

Well, more time for me to study

a/n: hello. here it is haha :D this is reaching it's rising action haha i know right it's already been several chapters and we still haven't reached the rising point. i'm sorry guys. please bear with me and my laziness haha i wouldn't wanna make extra long chapters *cries*