Amber dribbled the ball towards the goal, eyes focused on the goalie who looked mildly terrified. One defender was coming up towards her; the other one was on the other side of the field, so she didn't have to worry.

Amber moved quickly, pulling away from the defender far enough to get a clear shot at the goals, and then swung her leg. The soccer ball smacked against the white ropes at the back of the goals, the mud spinning off it.

Cheers erupted from the crowd as Amber was surrounded by her teammates, not even caring that there was mud covering her shins.

Ten minutes later, the horn blew, declaring the end of the game and their team cheered, the girls enveloping each other in a hug. Amber looked up at the scoreboard and grinned, the 1-0 beaming back at her proudly.

They celebrated on the change rooms, the girls giggling amongst themselves. Amber rolled her eyes and stepped out of the change rooms faster than all the others, because, unlike the rest, she didn't care if her hair was a mess, and she'd forgotten some books in her classroom anyway.

The main building was empty and even though it was late, the sun was only just beginning to set, the orange sunlight streaming through the windows along the corridors.

Amber sighed as she shifted her bag strap, sliding open the door to her classroom with a sigh. When she saw Henry standing in there, hunched over her desk, she almost dropped her bag in surprise. He looked up at the sound of the door and grinned when he saw it was her.

"You forgot your English textbook, right?" he said, closing her desk and walking over with it. Amber scowled. He knew she always forgot it.

"Don't you have, I don't know, violin practice or something?" she snapped, trying to push down the embarrassed flush on her cheeks as she took the book and shoved it into her bag.

Henry laughed, the sound light and carefree as he stepped out into the corridor. "We watched the game, remember? Kris and Eric are at the usual bench, waiting for your sorry ,"

He turned to her, about to say something else, but then he stopped, frowned and leaned close, until their noses were almost touching.

"What?" Amber muttered, face scrunching up as she stared back at him. Henry's hand reached out and swiped at her cheek.

"Mud on your face," he said pulling away and grinning at her in the sunlight. Amber scowled again and kicked his shin, making him yelp in pain.

"Ber! You're a striker!" Henry cried, "That hurts!"

Amber grinned. "Good," she stuck out her tongue before sprinting down the corridor, Henry yelling after her. When they got to their usual bench, Anber didn't slow down, continuing to run until she crashed into Kris' broad back from behind, laughing and asking for a piggyback. Kris tried to shoot her a look, but she was already latched onto him like a koala and Eric hid a smile behind his hand, even as Henry ran up to them, puffing because he couldn't keep up with Amber, especially with bags.

Kris indulged Amber, getting up with her still on his back, while Eric helpfully pulled down the back of her skirt. She wore shorts underneath anyway, but her three friends still had to constantly remind her to pull down her skirt when it rode up her legs. Amber had stopped caring a long time ago.

Kris only managed to get to the school gates before Amber fell off, unable to sustain her own weight on his back without any help from him. She punched his arm weakly while Henry laughed and slung an arm around her shoulder, reminding her that she was better at kicking than punching. Kris immediately moved away in alarm when he heard that. The four of them laughed, playfully shoving each other as they walked home towards the setting sun. This kind of stupid fun was what happened whenever they together, and as Amber looked at the three guys around her, she felt contentment fill her, reminding her of all the reasons why they were her best friends.

I remember when we were yelled at for talking in the halls

Henry yelped and almost fell off the desk when Amber threw his bread roll at his head. He bent over to pick it up off the ground while Kris snickered, easily catching the sandwich that Amber threw to him.

“Why do you throw it to Kris, but throw it at me?” Henry grumbled, rubbing the side of his head. Amber shrugged, settling onto the desk opposite him, already chewing on her bread.

“Jeez, my head hurts. Are these bread rolls getting harder?” he muttered.

Amber chuckled and Kris rolled his eyes. She took another bite of her bread before looking around. “Hey, where’s Eric?”

“No idea,” Kris muttered through a mouthful of his sandwich, “Probably doing some extra-curricular music thing again,”

“But it’s lunch time,” Amber replied, before shrugging and talking about this cool video game she’d discovered last night, while Henry grumpily reminded her that she’d texted him at three in the morning to tell him the exact same thing.

“Not like you were asleep,” Amber reminded him pointedly, chomping on her bread in a manner that was definitely not lady-like in the slightest.

“Dudes,”

All three turned to the door where Eric was standing there, looking exasperated. “We have a rehearsal for the graduation ceremony, remember?”

“Oh crap,” Henry leapt off the desk, while Kris sighed, muttering something about not wanting to spend his lunch time listening to their headmaster drone on about exams.

Amber felt her heart sink as she watched the two leave to join Eric at the door. Henry turned around at the last minute, catching her eye before running between the desks to put his bread roll on the desk beside her. “Look after it for me, ‘kay? Be back in a flash,” he shot her bright grin and then weaved his way through the desks to join the other two who were waiting in the corridor, before the three of them sprinted off to the main hall.

Amber whispered a tiny “Bye,” to the empty classroom before miserably turning back to her bread that no longer seemed as appetizing as it was a few minutes ago. She sighed, looking out the window at the flowers outside. Some of the buds were level with the second floor window and Amber sighed. When the flowers bloomed, it would be the end of the term and time for exams, and the boys’ graduation.

“Can’t you just wait a little bit longer?” she murmured, “I need a bit more time,”

Amber put her bread down and looked at Henry’s bread roll beside her, alone and abandoned, like she would be soon.

She had known this would happen; she’d known ever since she befriended Henry when he moved into the house down the street, had known since they found Eric playing the guitar by himself in an empty classroom, since Kris stepped into the cafeteria looking like a lost giraffe and they’d beckoned him over to their table.

She’d always known, being the only girl of their little quartet, and being the only one in the year below. She’d always known, but she’d never accepted it, never acknowledged it until now, when it was glaringly bright, standing in front of her like an obstacle that couldn’t be moved.

Amber slipped off the table and slid into the chair, pushing the two pieces of bread together to the front of the table as she rested her head on the table, staring out the window wistfully.

Henry never did come back for his bread; the bell rang to signal the end of the lunch period and Amber headed to class with a blank expression and a heavy heart, tossing the two half eaten lunches into the bin without a second thought.

“Are you…….. studying,” Amber stated more than asked, her nose scrunching up when she found her three best friends sprawled on Eric’s living room floor, a few textbooks open between them.

“Trying to,” Henry clarified as he sat up, stretching, and Amber rolled her eyes because while she and Eric maintained decent studying habits, Henry and Kris were basically hopeless in terms of studying. Not that they did badly in terms of grades, they just weren’t very good at studying.

“Ergh,” Amber said with emphasis, dropping her bag onto one of the couches and walking into the kitchen, helping herself to a glass of cordial.

“Hey, we have our final exams okay, you could at least be a little supportive,” Henry muttered and Kris rolled his eyes and tried to focus on his algebra and graphs. Eric wasn’t even listening, too immersed in his English essay that he was scribbling out furiously. Amber wasn’t sure if she could even read his writing, but whatever, that was his problem.

“I have exams too,” Amber said as she sat down between Eric and Henry, pulling out her own textbooks, “but you guys have never studied for exams before, so I figured it wasn’t an issue,” she shrugged and Kris threw his eraser at her. She threw it back and smirked when it hit him squarely between the eyes.

Amber and Eric did a decent amount of study, as expected, while Henry and Kris managed more than they would have by themselves, so when they took a break two hours later, they declared the study session a success; this meant that when Henry deemed it time for video games they could all only roll their eyes and agree.

In the end, Kris won Mario Kart by a long mile and Henry sulked in his 11th place after falling off the edge of the map too many times. Amber shoved a jelly snake into his mouth and told him to stop being a baby, to which he responded to by shoving her until she fell against Eric. He was saved from being kicked to death by Amber only by Eric holding onto her while Kris tried to stifle his laughs.

After Eric finally let her go (Henry was in the kitchen, hiding), Amber seethed in her time out on the couch and pretended she wasn’t aware that these kind of moments were going to become more and more rare. She didn’t want the flowers to blossom, because that would take her best friends away her, and she wasn’t ready for that, not just yet.

Our feelings that were precious because we were together

Exams passed in a blur and Amber’s head was swimming in a pool of numbers and English novels and medieval dates by the time she stumbled out of her last exam, collapsing into the embrace of her three best friends with a grin. They’d finished a few days ago and their graduation ceremony was the next day. Amber grinned, put her arms around Henry and Eric (Kris was too tall, she had once complained) and steered them all towards the nearest game arcade, determined to use up the last of her pocket money trying to beat Henry on Dance Dance Revolution.

It took her until the fifth attempt before she managed to finally beat his score and she pumped her fist in the air and told Henry he had to pay for her dinner now. Henry rolled his eyes and reminded her that he had beaten her four times before that, so technically she owed him four dinners before he owed her one. Amber scowled and kicked his shin, sending him hobbling to the nearest bench to nurse his shin while the other three of them descended the escalator. Henry only noticed when they were halfway down to the next floor. They laughed at his panicked expression and how he almost tripped over trying to get onto the escalator, genuinely worried his friends were leaving him behind.

They ate at the foodcourt of the shopping centre, and almost started a food fight between themselves when Eric tried to steal a piece of Amber’s pork and instead sent it flying into Henry’s nose by accident.

Henry claimed they were all bullying him. They all rolled their eyes, and this time Eric kicked him under the table. Amber cackled and shared a high five with him while Henry glowered at them all and Kris stole some of Henry’s chicken when he wasn’t looking.

“Who’s up for another round?” Amber grinned as she put her tray away and Eric glanced at his watch.

“Graduation tomorrow starts at nine, so I think we’d better head home, Am,” Kris said.

Eric nodded beside him. “Yeah it’s already past eight, and I still have to take two buses to get home,”

“Oh, right,” Amber’s grin fell away from her face as she shifted her backpack, “Graduation tomorrow,” she mumbled and turned away.

“Amber?” Henry frowned, noticing the change in her voice.

“You’re all getting old,” she stuck her tongue out at them before laughing and sprinting off towards the exit while Eric protested that he was actually quite young, and Kris rolled his eyes.

It was only when they were at the bus stop, waiting for their bus, that Eric noticed that Amber had gone quiet again.

“Ber?” he touched her shoulder lightly, but she didn’t lift her head, her fringe still over her eyes. Henry and Kris had turned to her by now, Henry even reaching over and brushing her fringe away, and in the dim light of the streetlamp, they saw it.

“Amber, are you - ” Kris started, but Amber seemed to realise at that same moment, raising her hands to her cheeks, the tears on her fingertips shimmering in the light.

“,” she breathed and then she pushed past them and sprinted off. All three boys were too shocked that Amber was crying to do anything for a moment, but then Henry snapped into action, running after her, and Kris and Eric followed a split second later.

Amber ran back towards the food court, bursting through the doors into the half empty hall and turning towards the bathrooms. Henry cursed and tried to increase his speed, but by the time he reached the doors of the food court hall, Amber had already disappeared inside the girls’ bathrooms, where none of them could follow.

“,” Kris muttered as the three of them stood outside the girls’ bathroom, breathing heavily from their run. Henry barely restrained himself from yelling out loud as he ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

“Could we, you know, ask someone - ” Eric started between heavy breaths, but Henry shook his head, frowning.

“Amber wouldn’t listen to them anyway,” he said, sighing heavily and leaning against the wall beside the entrance.

“So what now?” Eric asked, biting his lip, brow creased in worry.

Henry folded his arms across his chest stubbornly and stared at his shoes. “We wait,” he replied.

Amber clamped the hand over tighter, like it could push the sobs back down . She wasn’t even breathing properly.

She had promised herself she wouldn’t cry, and even if she did, she’d do it when she was alone, in her own room, under the covers late at night, when no one else was around.

But Amber scrunched her eyes closed as she remembered Henry’s hand against her forehead and Kris’ voice asking if she was -

A new wave of hot tears flowed from her eyes as she reeled in the emotions, so torn apart that this was effectively the last day she had with her best friends, the people who were so close to her, and she'd ruined it. She knew Henry wanted to go back to Canada, and Kris had applied to universities in Hong Kong, and Eric was almost definitely going back to the United States too, leaving her in Korea all alone. She hated everything about the three of them graduating, because it was tearing their friendship apart; it was tearing her apart.

And now she’d gone and cried in front of them and she didn’t want to face them after this. Shakily she pulled out her phone.

Henry jumped when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Eric was on the phone, letting their parents know that they were going to be late, and arranging a lift since the buses were going to stop running soon and they didn’t know when Amber was coming out.

Go home. I’ll make my own way home, Henry gritted his teeth at the message from Amber, Kris frowning as he looked over his shoulder.

We’re not leaving you behind, he replied, taking a deep breath and turning to look at Kris who was chewing his lip in anxiety. Kris rarely got worried or anxious, but this was serious. Amber rarely ever cried. All three of them could count the number of times she’d cried on one hand.

Eric peered at Henry’s phone, reading Amber’s message upside down, face quickly changing into a frown.

“My mum’ll come pick us up.... when we’re ready,” Eric murmured, and Henry nodded mutely. Kris put a hand on his shoulder, a quiet means of comfort.

Henry was so engrossed in his thoughts, he almost missed the quiet moving figure of Amber leaving the bathroom, but he spotted her as she walked past them, immediately reaching out and grabbing her arm. He enveloped her in a hug before she could even say anything, holding her head to his chest and almost shaking as he took shuddering breaths.

“Goddamnit, Ber,” Kris muttered as he and Eric surrounded the other two, the four of them huddled in the middle of the food court hall. Henry was holding Ambe