2009 . 06 . 08 – 7:15AM

It was one thing to dread a moment, but it was another thing to dread an entire situation. Amber sighed to herself as she walked down the block of her high school, ignoring the sounds of passersby; a mix of school children, adults, cars, buses, high school students, etc. The brim of her LA fitted hat, thankfully, helped minimize the array of light beaming from the early morning Sun, as it greeted all of Korea a "good morning." She her teeth at the thought, thinking the words "good morning" was a little too overrated. She dug deeper into her cargo short pockets, wriggling her shoulders to readjust the straps of her bookbag as she suddenly felt a knot form in her shoulder blade. As she pulled up to the front of school, Amber rotated her head once, hoping that her movements would have at least eased the weight on her shoulders; and she knew damn well that she wasn't thinking about the weight of the books.

Amber greeted the security guard sitting at the front desk as she showed him her ID, the latter giving approval of the identification and carried on with his work at his desk. She took a sneak peak at her cellphone's time and gave herself a mental thumbs up. Ten minutes, she thought to herself referring to the start of her first class.

As she paced herself slowly to her locker, she tried her best to think of everything but what was really bugging her—Krystal. It was all questions with the younger girl. Why did she act the way she did with her girlfriend, why was it awkward to begin with—why did she feel like she had to hide it anyways? Amber knew how well Krystal was open-minded about things in general, but about homouality? She wasn't so sure. Then again, the generations were changing. But then again, Amber had to remind herself that she wasn't back home in America; she wasn't home in LA. She was in Seoul, South Korea. A whole different country with a whole different culture, with a whole different aspect on life. And it bugged her.

After the awkward coming out of her not-so-new relationship, rehearsals have been awkward. Recording sessions have been weird. Both Amber and Krystal have tried their best to feign the—whatever was in the air—giving off their best smiles and jokes. But whenever it got to just the two of them, it was complete silence. After a while, though, Amber noticed that the younger girl's attitude simmered. Amber thought about it more as she arrived to her locker, unlocked it and started rummaging through. She paused slightly as she looked at a photo strip of the two of them, completely forgetting that she even had it pasted on their to begin with. She then reminisced yesterday's rehearsal, where the girls talked about relationships. She looked...sad, Amber thought to herself. "No," she said lowly, breaking her thoughts as she shook her head slightly. She groaned to herself and shut her locker and made her way to class.

If for a second she thought she could forget about things, hoping the lectures her teacher would give would somewhat take over her mind, she was up for a rude awakening. Amber slightly squinted her eyes, adjusting her vision to what was halfway down the hallway from where she was. She slowed down her pace purposely to observe the setting more. She blinked as she watched Krystal give Eros a jacket and it was definitely not in her size. Amber saw Eros smile back and Krystal returned with a smaller one, running her hand through her hair. The two exchanged a few words, Amber saw. Before they could say more, Krystal turned her head to Amber's direction and immediately broke the two-second eye contact they briefly made. She had said something to Eros, which looked like a type of “see you later” and “thank you” somewhere in the mix. Eros nodded with a small smile and turned back to his locker.  Amber took the initiative after five seconds waiting for Krystal to walk further up and disappear—speed-walking to her friend.

"What was that all about?" Amber asked without hesitation as she reached Eros.

Eros turned to Amber with a smile, not sensing the small fire in her friend. He chuckled, "Good morning to you, too, Am."

Amber clenched her teeth. "You're not answering the question," she said firmly.

Eros closed his locker and put his bookbag on and raised an eye brow. He started walking towards class, the latter following. "Eros," she called out.

Eros rolled his eyes. "I'll talk to you when you're grumpiness goes away."

"Seriously, dude?"

The Roxas look-alike scratched the back of his neck. "Bro," he began, turning his head as they continued to pass other students. "It's nothing major."

"If it's nothing major, then why can't you just tell me?"

"It was my jacket."

"Huh?" Amber asked in confusion.

Eros nodded. "Yeah. My jacket. I gave her my dress jacket at the dance."

Amber furrowed her eyebrows. "What the—"

"I ran into her outside when I went to go answer a phone call. She was outside talking to one of her friends," he lied. He chewed the inside of his mouth. It's not a total lie. But still.

"Which friend?" Amber asked curiously.

Eros feigned an apathetic look. "Beats me. It’s one of the girls."

"Besides," Eros added as they both entered class. They sat next to each other closest to the wall. "Why does it matter?"

Amber did a double take on the question. Why did it matter? Amber knew Eros had a girlfriend back home and he was well in love with her. She had to repeat the question in her head. The more she did, though, the more frustrated she got. She shook her head. "You might give her the wrong idea," she finally said with an attitude.

The latter rolled his eyes. "Please. Drop the crabbiness. It doesn't mean anything. Let it go, Am."

Before Amber could say anything else in rebuttal, the teacher spoke up about getting class started. She gave her friend a glare, a meaningful one, too.

"Right back at you, cranky sh*t," Eros said dryly.

 2009 . 06 . 12 – 5:09PM

"I'm gonna use the bathroom."

Small sounds of approval peered through the brief silence in unison rang, breaking the mixed rumbles of heavy breathing throughout the rehearsal room. Krystal wiped her sweat as she watched the tomboy walk out and about. It's been nearly a week and the tension between the two of them was killing her slowly on the inside. She sighed to herself as she ran her hand through her hair. She untied her ponytail then tied it back up into a neater ponytail, beginning to contemplate on whether or not to go forth and confront her newly found, lesbian band member. Krystal still had to figure out why she was angry, nonetheless, upset.

Regardless of her feelings, something in her pushed her off the floor and she suddenly began to walk towards the door, in search of the tomboy. "I'm gonna use the bathroom, too," she called out apathetically, to which the other members gave out another unison mumbles of approval.

Krystal exited the rehearsal room and quickly made her way to the bathroom not too far down the hallway. Once she entered, she found Amber sitting on one of the counter tops, leaning against the mirror, catching her breath from their intense dance session. Krystal stood at the doorway, hearing the door behind her shut, breaking the common silence between them. Amber wiped the sweat trickling down the side of her face, moving any connected hair away and made eye contact with the younger girl.

"Amber," Krystal called out, a little too lowly.

The latter exhaled. "Look, I'm not in the mood to fight or—"

"No one's fighting here," she interrupted. Krystal walked over to the countertop, leaning sideways against it, only a mere few inches away from the older girl.

Amber looked away in half defeat and in half exhaustion. "Then what?" she asked.

Krystal crossed her arms, her heart picking up speed with anxiety. She looked down. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?” Amber asked, directing her head to the girl next to her, eyes to the floor.  “That I’m gay or that I’m with a girl?”

Krystal chewed the inside of her cheek. She grew the courage to look at her friend. Her best friend. "Both."

The tomboy shook her head making eye contact with Krystal for a split second before looking back down at her feet. "It's a lot more complicated than it seems, Krys," she answered.

"I can do complicated."

"Well it's complicated to a point where I'm not even comfortable with myself to be open about it."

Silence.

Krystal continued to study Amber in front of her. She knew Amber wasn't lying. In fact, she looked hurt. But it wasn't a feeling she didn't know; Krystal felt the same way.

"I'm sorry," Amber said, breaking the silence between them.

"It's okay," Krystal mumbled as a response. "Just know that I'm here for you." She hopped up onto the countertop and leaned against the mirror. "If anything, I should be sorry. I didn't mean to react the way I did; I guess I was just hurt that you didn't feel comfortable to tell me," Krystal admitted.

Amber nodded. "Well, we just have to take it day by day I guess."

Krystal looked down to her fiddling hands.  She bit her lip.  “I don’t care…” she said with hesitation.  Pausing, she slowly turned her head to the girl next to her.  “As long as you’re happy.  That’s all that matters to me.”

It earned a look from Amber. She turned to look at her younger friend and saw her looking back. The eye contact they made wasn't an uncomfortable one, nor the silence. But it was genuine. Amber's eyes softened.

"Thank you."