surprise? i wasn't supposed to update bc i haven't thought of anything and i'm writing another fic but i saw this lying around in my gdocs so here ya go

XVV. 

Amber likes summer. She loves going down the beach; she loves soaking in the pool; she loves binge eating ice cream in every flavor possible; she loves bathing under the sun and everything else that summer has to offer.

What she doesn’t like, though, is being shipped to Taiwan to live with her relatives two summers in a row now. Her parents think that she’s becoming too American so their idea of getting her in touch with her Chinese roots is to exile her.

So she grumbles and grumbles as she drags her luggage behind her before ringing the doorbell of her aunt’s house where she’ll be staying for the rest of summer. Oh the joy. The door opens and she sees the last person she expects to see and she can feel her blood starting to boil.

“Amber!” Henry greets, grinning at her, eyes almost disappearing. “It’s been so long since I last saw you!”

Amber blinks and all she can remember was the time when she was seven and he was ten and he stuck gum on her hair. He still has the same stupid smile that she wants to slap off his stupid face.

“Auntie, Amber’s here!” he calls from behind him and her aunt emerges from the kitchen to greet her with a bright smile and a bone crushing hug.

Amber barely gets to greet her when she all but shouts for her cousin to come downstairs.

“Jackson, you’re cousin’s here!” Her aunt called and a few minutes later, her cousin stumbles down the stairs, almost tripping multiple times before getting to her and pulling her into a hug.

“Hey Jackson.” Amber chuckles, ruffling the younger’s hair.

“We’re going for some hoops.” Jackson grins, pointing to him and Henry and she’s reminded that he’s there and she almost scowls. “Wanna come?”

If Gum Boy Jerk is going to be there then she’d rather not. What’s the best excuse to get out of this?

“I’m kinda tired from the flight so maybe next time.” Okay, that’s not a total lie, she really is tired. She just rather stay inside and keep her hair away from that jerk.

“Okay, then. C’mon Henry.” Jackson smiles at her one last time before dragging Henry out of the house screaming about how he’s going to kick Henry’s at basketball. Amber laughs at that because Jackson at basketball.

“You know where your room is, right, sweetie?”

“Yes, Auntie. Thank you.” she smiles and her aunt gently squeezes her shoulder. “I have a question, though,” she starts and her aunts looks at her expectantly. “Is Henry going to spend the entire summer here, too?”

“Yeah. The other day he just surprised us and said he’s here for a vacation.”

Amber groans internally. That’s what she’s afraid of.

“But I bet he just fought with his father again and ran away.” Her aunt takes one of her bags, opening the door to Amber’s room.

“What?”

“Oh he’s done that a lot.” Her aunt shrugs. Amber raises an eyebrow. She didn’t know that he’s been fighting with his dad. But then again, they’re not really that close so she’s choosing to ignore that.

“You, Henry, and Jackson were so close when you were kids, right?” Her aunt grins.

They were. The three of them were inseparable as kids despite the age differences. They did everything together and even had their own tree house complete with stupid codenames for each other. Henry’s family is a close friend of hers and Jackson’s and they all used to have barbecues and whatnot. But Henry’s family moved to Canada and the last memory she had with him was when he stuck gum on her hair. Thus, the grudge. She’s not going to let that meat bun walk around with his stupid grin without paying for what he had done.