"Soojung!" Amber calls once she spots her friend a few meters away from her.
She just dropped a bunch of coins in the vending machine probably gonna buy some juice. Once she heard Amber's voice she sprints away

"Yah! Soojung!" The elder races after her. Eventhough she qas in the running team, the school was crowded early in the morning and she lost sight of Soojung because of that.

"What's up with her?" All she could do was scratch her head. She looks to her left and she jumps up to the sight of Henry's smile on a flier on the bulletin board. It was the flier urging everyone to support him on his upcoming competition.
She was outside Henry's office. Again. And she wonders how she managed to stop there specifically.

"Hey!" Henry emerges from the door. Amber turns around and she jumped up again because one, his voice startled her and two, what the hell it was Henry!

"Oh. It's you." he looks at her from head to toe
"hey, keep your voice down. And no running in the hallways, alright?" He smiles and she walks away without saying anything.

What a good way to start my day 
She rolls her eyes

She passes by the vending machine and Soojung was there again fiddling with it to claim her juice box.

"Soojung!!" She calls out once more. Soojung perks up while sipping off her straw and scoots away again

"HEY!"
---

"I already told you. No running and yelling in the hallways."

"Tch." She averts her eyes. Amber was sitting in front of Henry's desk, arms crossed.

"Anyway, That isn't the reason you're here."

Smile again and I'll--

"Your new shoes are in your locker. The exact same design. New pairs of socks. Also in your locker..." he smugly says
"Plus your locker stuff has been arranged and the damages have been repaired."

"Overnight??" She wasn't able to contain her amazement. He looked so amused seeing her finally show emotions to him.
Well, aside from hate, disgust and judgement.
---

Impressive
She thinks as she opened her locker. "Holy crap" her shoes were indeed of the same model and everything was indeed back to normal.

He really is determined for this competition. Geez, if it's that big of a competition I should have done better on that test.
Am I jealous? Yes.

---

"Hi!" Henry places his lunch tray on Amber's table and she jumps for the fourth time of the day
"What the heck-- are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Murmurs were heard from all over the cafeteria. Amber tries to hide behind her jacket's collar.

"Why are you here, anyway?" She whispers at him, giving him the death stare

"Thought you were lonely sitting by yourself. Happy eating!"

"If Soojung find the two of us--" she stops talking when she saw the certain Soojung pass through the double doors of the cafeteria. They meet eyes and the younger slips through the doors once more. "Excuse me." Amber stands up and rushes towards the doors.

Why the heck is she running away from me?

She finally never lost sight of her and found her cornered in the publication office.

"Jung Soojung, why the hell are you avoiding me?"
Soojung was staring at her with wide eyes, trying to catch her breath.
"Wait. You don't know yet?" She asks the elder

"What? Don't know what?"

Before Soojung could answer, her editors enter the scene bringing a bottle of champagne and a few wine glasses

"Chief! Congrats on our last publication this month!" They said in chorus.
"The Henry and Amber articles are gonna be a hi--" 
The other one was stopped by the sight of The Amber's presence in the room.

"That." Soojung nervously says.

"Wait... what??? But you promised you wouldn't do it anyway! I got Key as my prom date!"

Soojung turned her puppy eyes on
"Henry told me to."

"Well can't you at least take it back?" Desperation in the tomboy's voice

"We already submitted it to the printing press so..."

Was the room rotating or was Amber going to pass out?

"Excuse me. I feel a bit dizzy all of a sudden."

"Oh, okay." The school paper team just look at her as she drags herself lifelessly out the office.

I'm losing all my hair Amber thinks, feeling for her locks

To: secondratehamster            
I'd like a word with you. Meet me at the usual spot after classes

Henry feels that "usual spot" has something special between them. He feels like it's only the two of them who know that certain place whenever one of them is going to mention "usual place"
Did that make sense?
Weird hamster
He laughs to himself

I'm finally getting her attention.

"What the hell is with you? Do you really wanna make a racket through the school paper? Gosh! Do you even know what she wrote about us?"

There's his smile again

"You're getting too worked up over that."

"Why the hell are you taking this too lightly?"

"Well, first, I read the soft copy of the paper and comfirmed it to be published. Second, I actually encouraged Soojung to push through with her articles--"

"Wait, articlesss?"

He raises his index finger telling her he's not done talking

"don't worry those articles focus more on fixing up your reputation and last... Uh, nevermind. That was it."

"What? Really." Amber was sick of it all. Why did the final parts of her senior life have to end up like this?

Henry has never been competition to her eyes since the beginning of senior high until now. His existence has somewhat become a tad bit relevant since he was actually her admirer back then, and he was her classmate. Now he's making her life miserable. It had to be now that she's a step closer to her goal. Now that the school year was almost over.

"By the way, I'm helping you fix your rep. Doesn't mean I'm giving up my hopes on being valedictorian" he smirks and she sticks her tongue at him

"Whatever"

"I've completed my requirements for you. We got a deal?" He holds out his hand, looking forward for her to shake it.

"Deal."

---

It was a fine Saturday morning. Amber puts on her snapback and happily comes down the stairs. Only to find Jackie making pancakes at the kitchen.

"Why are you cooking? Where's mom?" The look of disappointment on her face. Not that she's better than her sister at cooking, but Amber looks forward to her mom's cooking every morning.

Only today, her parents aren't home. Huh.

"Not here. They left 30 minutes ago." Jackie was focused on flipping the pancakes to look at her younger sister
"They looked really excited. Maybe the franchise thingy worked out. Want some pancakes?"

"Uh, no. I just might wanna grab something at the shop for breakfast." She laughs, grabbing her skateboard from the wall

"Heeeey. I'll take that as an insult."

Amber gets to the store to find it already opened. 
Did she forget to close up last night?
But I did close up... did I?

She walks in to find her parents talking to another couple. She picks up her apron and puts it on, ties it around her waist and greets her parents and the early morning clients.

"Oh, this is my youngest daughter, Amber." Her mother presents her to the lovely couple who seem to be about the same age as her parents.

"Hello!" She beams at them and it was obvious that they liked her right away

"Take your hat off, honey." Which she does right away and off she goes behind the counter

Her parents seem to enjoy talking to the couple as they were all smiles.

The doorchime rings

"Welco--" Amber's greeting was cut off

"This is our son, Henry" the woman introduces the man, who just entered, to Amber's parents. The beam in her parents' eyes definitely signified interest towards the young man who was wearing his infamous smile. Amber was frozen in her spot like what the ?

"Why don't you go order something? I'll pay later" Henry's mom encourages her son to which he gladly obliges.

Amber was *this* close to slamming his face on the glass display if only he walked closer within her reach.

"I'll take twenty of these donuts please"
Oh that fake smile of yours urrrggh
"Yes, sir" she replies in gritted teeth
Gosh, she hated him so much

She grabs the thongs and a paper bag and starts putting the donuts in

1,2,3...

She feels Henry's stare as she does her job and she can't help but feel uneasy

... 15, 16,--
Wait, do I count after I put the donut in or before? How many have I put?

"Wait. I lost count" 
She gets the donuts out and starts counting and starts getting disoriented again

She finally succeeds after the third time she put the donuts in
Why the hell is he affecting my brains? Seriouslyyyyy why

"Twenty donuts" 
Henry gives off a low chuckle he reaches for the bag but Amber doesn't let go

She whispers threateningly

"Why are you here, huh? Don't tell me your parents and my parents are bestfriends."

Amber isn't gonna buy the clichè drama series script. Nope. Nuh-uh.

He grabs the bag from her hands and winks at her
"Not bestfriends. Business partners." He says before walking his way to take a seat with his parents.

All Amber could do was glare at him from behind the counter. Everytime he catches her stare he winks at her which would make her look away for a moment before glaring at him once more.

"I heard Henry and Amber have been classmates since elementary and now in senior high" Amber overhears but pretends she hears nothing, casually arranging the items in the display.
She listens close anyway.

"Well, that's good! If Henry is going to own the franchise after they graduate, Amber can teach him the ropes. He can come here anytime. Amber can be a very good teacher."

What

Amber spares a glance at their table.
Henry had his mouth filled with donuts emphasizing his fluffy cheeks

Hamster

"That's brilliant! Henry, you're going to be Amber's intern every weekend until you graduate okay? Since you're gonna run the franchise after graduation. It's like you're getting a training before the real thing!" His mom's voice was so excited 
"Who knows? They might develop a strong bond and end up tying the knot. It's gonna be a family business, then!" Amber's dad adds. Everyone laughs but the two youngsters. Their parents' smiles were so encouraging that Amber coughed choking on her saliva and Henry choked on the donuts in his mouth

"Water! Water!"

a/n: hi...yeah. new chapter. yeah. things are gonna escalate quickly in the next chapters xD but i'm still not confident about where this is going hahaha (dnt kill me plseu) but yeah... yeaaaahhh... gonna update SOOOOON

not this month, but soon lol idk

bye