Chapter 5: Reckless

 

It was a ridiculous idea, I know, but I would really love to get to know her better outside of school.

 

Well, wishful thinking, AJ. Wishful thinking.

 

 

AMBER POV

 

I set my alarm an hour earlier than usual. Why? Because I want to wait in front of Krystal’s house and walk together to school.

 

I know it was the craziest idea I had since joining the swim team, soccer team, tennis team, and chess team. But this is the first time I’ve gotten so interested in being friends with someone that I was ready to give an effort in knowing her deeply.

 

I dressed with care and put on an extra spray of my favorite scent. Donning on my cap and skateboard, I rolled down to her street happily. Stopping a block away from her house, I found a hidden spot and waited for her to come out.

 

KRYSTAL POV

 

“HEY! Wake up, ugly! Time to go to school!” Jessica hollered a loud and annoying wake-up call.

 

“Ugh. Go away, Jes! It’s still too early to get up!” I hid under my blanket to block out the noise.

 

“Too early your ! It’s already 7:20! Get up!” at the mention of the time, I jerked awake and ran to the bathroom.

 

I was dressed and ready to go in under 10 minutes (a new feat for me). Running down the stairs, I headed straight to the fridge to get a small carton of milk to drink while walking to school. A quick goodbye to my parents and sister, and I was out of the house, running late for class.

 

“Krystal!” yelled someone from behind me.

 

Looking back, I saw AJ approaching me on her skateboard. Oh, she looks kinda cool while riding a skateboard. I thought.

 

“Hey, AJ! Running late, are we?” I asked when she rolled near me and picked up her board.

 

“Yeah, overslept.” She said, scratching the side of her head.

 

That habit of her that I found really adorable when we first met, is growing on me. I smirked at her and said, “Me too. Have you had breakfast?”

 

“Mmm-hmmm,” she nodded, then asked, “You?”

 

I held up the small carton of milk in answer.

 

“That’s all you’re eating?” she sounded worried.

 

I just nodded. For some reason, her question made me suddenly blush. The thought of her worrying about me brought a weird tightening in my chest. She mumbled something under her breathe and dug through her backpack.

 

“Here have this,” she handed me a green apple.

 

Extremely touched by her gesture, I thanked her and put the apple in my pocket. Truth is, I detest green apples. They taste nasty and sour. Not wanting to offend her, I didn’t mention it and just opened a new conversation topic.

 

“Do you always ride you board to school?” I asked.

 

“Yeah...Do you know how to skate?” she smiled at me.

 

“No. I guess I never really got the chance to learn.” I said.

 

“Do you want to try?” offered AJ.

 

“Now?” that gave me a start.

 

AJ nodded and put her board on the ground for me step on.

 

“Wait, wait. I’m not ready for this.” I hesitated.

 

“Oh, come on. Just one try? Don’t worry…I’ll hold you.” She assured.

 

I took a deep breath before saying, “Okay.”

 

AJ took my left elbow and helped me onto the board.

 

“Left foot first…then use the other to push the board forward…” she said.

 

I did as she instructed but not before clutching her right arm with both my hands. A girl needs to be sure she doesn’t fall, you know?

 

I pushed myself forward with my right foot.

 

The board was surprisingly easy to maneuver, much to my surprise. I moved a few paces, with AJ holding my arms, running beside me. I pushed the board forward once more. This time, it went faster and AJ had to run faster to keep up with me.

 

Once I slowed to a stop, I got off the board and launched myself to hug AJ. She stiffened for but a second before returning my hug.

 

“Thank you so much for teaching me! That was sooooo fun!” I almost shouted in her ear.

 

She just laughed and disentangled from my hug. “You’re most welcome. I could teach you more if we have time…” she looked at her watch and continued, “…which we don’t have much of. We literally need to run, Krystal.”

 

We beat the first bell by a few seconds. After a hasty goodbye, we parted ways to run to our first class. The teacher was thankfully late and I was able to compose myself before the recitation we were going to have for today.

 

I opened my notes and tried reviewing for the recitation. But a few sentences into my notes, I found that I could not concentrate. The morning’s events keep replaying in my head. I could still feel AJ’s hands on my arms, guiding me as I tried skating for the first time. I could still smell her unique scent, a mixture of sunlight, light perfume and AJ. I could still feel her strong arms, her body curved into mine as she returned my hug, making me feel small and girly…

 

“…be the first one to recite? Hmmmm….Ms. Jung. Please come forward for the recitation on Tennyson.” Our teacher’s voice suddenly pulled me out of my daydreaming.

 

I stood in front and started my recitation.

 

AMBER POV

 

I was beyond ecstatic during the whole first three periods that morning. My head was spinning from all the progress I’ve made with Krystal. She seemed to be more comfortable with my company.

 

The hug that she initiated, though, was beyond what I expected. I was frozen for a few seconds before I returned her hug then. My mind was saying it was just a friendly gesture but my heart said otherwise. I chose to listen to my brain and think of that simple hug as plain friendliness. Still, I was teeming with joy the whole morning through.

 

When 4^th period rolled in, I was even more excited than I was a few hours ago. Just the thought of being in the same room as Krystal made my heart leap with joy.

 

Leap with joy, what has gotten into me? I’ve never been this poetic.

 

When I came in the room, Krystal was already at her seat beside mine. I took a deep breath before walking to my seat and saying a small hello to her. She returned it with a small smile and fixed her gaze in front as Mr. Banks entered the room.

 

After the usual roll call, Mr. Banks continued droning on about useless stuff I probably won’t use after high school, but I listened. More like tried to listen to the boring math he was teaching the class.

 

With my short attention span, I could not bear to stay put and listen to boring for long period of time. So here I am looking at the streets outside the big windows. A particularly bright sports car passed the street and it immediately brought me back to the stunt my sister and I pulled just two weeks ago…

 

“Hey, Amber! Let’s go borrow Henry’s car and drive to LA!” Jackie bounced on my bed excitedly.

 

“Go annoy someone else, Jackie! I’m busy, okay?” I was not busy. I just wanted to get on her nerves.

 

“As if you’re too busy for some mischief. Come on, li’l sis! Get up your and wear a skimpy dress and get drunk with me!” She prodded me with her foot until I finally gave in.

 

“Okay okay! We’ll tell mom and dad that we’ll sleep over at Em’s. I’ll call her now to give her a heads up.” I got off the bed and called my ever supportive best friend.

 

It was an easy favor and she immediately said yes. With that covered, all we need to do is borrow Henry’s car. Jackie took the task in calling Henry, who was unfortunately on an overseas trip at that time, and couldn’t lend us his car.

 

We tried calling all our friends but no one seem to want to lend us a car for the whole night. Jackie suddenly thought of a ‘brilliant plan’ which involves climbing over fences and sneaking in a deserted apartment.

 

“No. We are not sneaking into Henry’s apartment and stealing his car. End of conversation, Jackie,” I said to my stubborn sister.

 

“We’re not technically stealing his car, you know? Just borrowing it. And we’ll fill up the tank so he won’t know. I’ll even reset the odometer. So please, let’s go! I’m so thirsty for some adventure.” Jackie pleaded.

 

I could not say no to that. So here I am, in my sister’s room, getting all dolled up for a ‘Night in Vegas’.

 

“This is the perfect outfit for you Amber!” my sister squealed in delight.

 

She was holding up a very sheer sleeveless white button down and black leather shorts. I gave Jackie free reign over my outfit tonight, but I did not expect to actually kind of like what she picked for me. They were not too girly, like the other outfits she forced me into before.

 

She donned on a matching pair of red boy shorts and bra and asked me to change into my outfit for tonight.

 

Standing in front of the mirror, I could see that the white button down was practically see through. The high-waisted leather shorts, which I thought were not too short, actually came a few inches short of my bum.

 

“AMBER LIU! Don’t you look hot?! Oooh! I could practically hear catcalls from here,” Jackie teased.

 

“Ugh! This is way too short, Jackie! Can’t I just wear something else?” I tried pulling down the shorts, but they were too snug to move.

 

“Absolutely not! This is just perfect…” she undid a few buttons of the shirt and tied the loose parts around my waist.

 

The effect was kind of nice with the high-waisted shorts. Just a sliver of skin could be seen, not too ty, just the right amount of y. With a pair of 5 inch sparkly ankle boots, the whole ensemble looked really good…I do actually like how the outfit gave me a boyish look.

 

“Now, on to hair and make-up!” Jackie clapped excitedly.

 

Of course, she was ready even before me. Her skin tight dress and red pumps emphasized her girly features. Her usually unkempt longish bob is styled to perfection as was her make-up.

 

After fifteen minutes of her prodding my face with brushes and wands, I was finally ready for the night.

 

She had given me dark smoky eyes, lips and slightly contoured cheeks. My hair which was always on my face, was now artfully sleeked back into complicated curls and pins.

 

“You look, hot, li’s sis! Now we’re ready to go! But before that…”

 

She suddenly snapped a polaroid of my face, then of my whole body, saying that we should commemorate my first night in Vegas.

 

The sneaking and stealing at Henry’s apartment was uneventfully successful. In just a few minutes, we were on our way to Vegas and, in Jackie’s words, have the ‘best night’ of our lives…

 

I was pulled out of that reckless memory by the loud bell. Krystal was looking at me weirdly as we were walking to the cafeteria.

 

“You were not listening to Mr. Banks at all, weren’t you,” she asked.

 

“Of course, I wasn’t. I never listen to him unless the test period is near.” I answered.

 

“Oh. What were you thinking about, you had a smile plastered on your face the whole period?”

 

“Nothing. Just my first time in Vegas…” I said, wagging my brows suggestively.

 

She laughed loudly and said, “I’ve never been to Vegas. Let’s go together next time.”

 

“Absolutely.”

 

A wicked plan just came into my head just as we sat at our lunch table. And I couldn’t wait to put it into action.