2009 . 1. 05 – 2:58PM

Krystal packed her things at light speed and dashed out the classroom as soon as she heard the final bell ring.  This was one of the rare Monday’s she didn’t want to miss – hanging out with her best friend.  Her social life was dropping due to her preparations for her debut, which wasn’t unwelcoming, but couldn’t be helped.  Following your dream — you have to make sacrifices, right?  She relaxed her pace, noticing a tall figure leaning on her locker.  The figure’s phone was out and she was texting someone, a foot crossed over the other – one hand in her pocket.  Krystal never realized how much her mind and soul calmed down whenever she took a sight at the older friend.  She was comfortable around her, and Krystal was more than glad at that fact.

The figure felt eyes on her, causing her to look up.  She smiled.  “Hey,” Amber called with a wave.

“Hey,” Krystal greeted back with a small hug.  “You’re here.”

Amber nodded, her eyes back on her cell phone screen.  “Yup, still livin’ and breathin’.”  The younger girl laughed at the tomboy’s “ghetto-ness” as she opened her locker.  Chatter could be heard from all of the middle school students passing by in the current wing they were in.  Everyone was glad that school was over, especially on a dreadful looking Monday like this.  No one, especially Krystal, liked Monday’s – unless there was a specific event going on; that was a different story.

Not to mention the class Krystal had every last period of her entire schedule: Math.  She hated math.  Not that she couldn’t understand it; she just saw it as a bacterium she didn’t like that wanted to enter into her body.  Krystal just wasn’t fond of numbers, that’s all.

After making the exchange of books from her bag to her locker, to more books that she needed, her jacket and God knows whatever else she had in that little storage area, she closed her locker with a final clang and locked it.  Amber heard the noise, still not removing her eyes from her screen.  Krystal caught it.  Jeez, what’s so great about her cell phone?

“Ready? Jay texted me saying that he’s waiting outside for us already.”

Krystal nodded to this and they both journeyed through the hallway towards the staircase.  A warm smile formed on her face after seeing her two close friends a few feet from her.  She threw a wave towards their direction and they repeated the gesture.  The pair of friends walked closer to Krystal and Amber, a suspicious look developed on their faces.

“Hey, I didn’t know that you had a boyfriend, Krystal,” a friend of hers, Silvia asserted.  She crossed her arms and raised an eye brow at the androgynous upperclassmen.

Amber blinked.  “No, I’m a—“

“He’s not; just a friend.  Come on, we gotta get going,” Krystal interrupted at a fast pace.  She grabbed Amber’s jacket sleeve and dragged their butts out of that situation.  Before the pair could answer, Amber and Krystal were already seen at the top of the staircase — about to head down.  Krystal took a quick glance at her friends behind her, one of them having a confused/fallen expression.  She could feel a headache come on.  Great, that one doesn’t believe me.

“Whoa, whoa, can you just chill for a sec?” the tomboy pleaded.

They were halfway down the staircase, Krystal a step beneath where Amber was; who was still holding onto her sleeve.  Amber cleared , “You can let go now, you know.”

The young one mentally face palmed, letting go of Amber.  “What was that all about?” the older girl questioned, now walking down the stairs.  Krystal followed.  “Uh…”

“Well?”  They made it to the ground floor and could see that most of the building was empty; excluding the factor of after school activities.  Amber pulled the zipper of her jacket halfway up as they neared the exit.  She stopped, noticing Krystal taking a halt.

“Promise not to tell?”

“I don’t need to make a promise, Krys.  You should know by now that I keep secrets,” Amber answered with a small smile.

Krystal stifled a chuckle, rolling her eyes.  “Okay fine.  One of them likes you.  And no, it’s not Silvia — it’s the other one next to her, Joanne.”

“And she doesn’t know I’m a girl, does she.” It was more of a statement than a question.

She shook her head as a response.  “None of your friends know I’m a girl, do they.” Another one.  Good going; boy was she smart.  Krystal did a double turn and sighed.

“You know that I’m comfortable with telling people that I’m genetically a female, even if I look like a boy, right?” Amber asked.

“Yeah I know… it’s just, I don’t want her to feel like a total loser once she finds out.”

Amber put a hand on Krystal’s shoulder.  “You make it seem like it’s an illicit secret.  It’s not that bad of a thing to hide.”

The fourteen-year-old cringed at the foreign word.  “My good God, Amber, please — don’t use any of those big words on me.  Mind you, I’m younger than you by two years.”

The tomboy laughed.  “Sorry, sorry.  Do you doubt your intelligence?”

Krystal shrugged and began walking passed her, causing the other to follow.  They made their way outside and could feel the cold breeze hit their faces.  “Maybe, I don’t know,” she replied.

Amber scoffed.  “Whateverrrrr.”

The pair noticed Jay waiting nearby a bus stop.  To Amber’s surprise, she found Eros there waiting next to him.  The two boys found the pair and they waved.

“Hope you don’t mind, kiddos, Eros here wanted some pizza before heading off to volunteer at some nursing home,” Jay stated with a small grin.

Amber and Krystal shook their heads and smiled, causing Eros to smile, as well.  They all head to the pizzeria, making chit chats on the way there.

“How did Amber manage to persuade you so easily to come and hang out?” Jay asked Krystal.  They were in line, waiting to make their order.  Eros and Amber were back at the seats, a couple of feet away from them, making sure no one took their spot.  They decided that Jay and Krystal should buy the food with their gathered money, while the others stayed behind to just relax.

“Well…” Krystal began.  She looked away briefly as the two of them moved up bit by bit on line. 

“Hey, what can I get you guys?” The young girl blinked an answer, slightly surprised from the sudden question heard by the employee at the register.

“Three regular slices and two pepperoni slices, please.  Oh, and these drinks right here,” Jay answered with ease.  The employee nodded and punched in the prices.  He took the money Jay had and returned the changed.  They then waited for the food.

“Five slices in all together?” Krystal asked.

“Eros likes to eat a lot.  Haha.”

Krystal chuckled from the response.  “Well, to get back to what we were talking about, the truth is, Amber and I barely have time to hang out, so, might as well take the chance to hang out with her… even if it’s with you guys.”

“You miss her.”

Krystal turned to Jay.  She looked up to him and saw a sympathetic smile on his face.  She hesitated on what to say.  She felt frustration build up into her; it wasn’t hard to agree with that statement.  But a part of her felt that it was… wrong.

Jay chuckled.  “Sorry to interrupt your alone time with her.  You’re not the only one who hasn’t seen Amber in a while.”

“Yeah, I know,” the latter replied.  Amber has always been popular amongst her friends.  I wonder if she’s been this way back in the States, also.

“Somethin’ on your mind?”

Krystal jumped a little from the question.  “Uh…”

Jay gave out a smile.  “Hey, you can tell me.  I won’t tell anyone.”  He put his right hand over his heart.  “Promise.”

Krystal smiled back.  No wonder Jay was Amber’s best friend; he’s a good guy, indeed.  She knew that, and she was pretty sure that everyone else did.  “Has Amber talked about her past to you before?”

Jay raised an eye brow.  “Define ‘past’.”

“Like, has she talked about her life before she came here – her life in the United States?”

The older boy thought for a minute.  He shook his head.  “Now that I think about it, she hasn’t.  The only thing I know about her, regarding anything American related, was just her parents and her older sister,” he answered.

“What about her parents and older sister?”

He gave out another shrug.  “Amber just said that she has an older sister named Jackie, who’s in college right now, and that her parents are her… you know, parents.  That’s it.”

Krystal fell into silence as she began to process what she just heard.  So, I’m not the only one who doesn’t know anything about her past.

“Hey, don’t think about it too much,” Jay implied, breaking Krystal’s short train of thought.

She looked up at him as a response.  Jay leaned against the counter that had the cash register placed on top.  “Amber’s full of secrets.  She doesn’t open up easily – I’m pretty sure you know that by now.”

Jay had a point.  It took a while for Krystal to get comfortable with Amber herself.  Sure, Amber was the type to get along with people easily, and sure, she was a happy go-getter girl, but there was a part of her that was just secured.  As much as she hated to admit it, Krystal didn’t know that much about Amber; at least, it felt that way.

In time, their food came and both, Krystal and Jay, took their tray of food back to their table.  They found that Amber and Eros saved a seat booth-like table.  The androgynous girl moved closer to the window, leaving space for Krystal to sit, while Eros did the same for Jay.

Amber gave Jay a weird look once he sat down.  The older boy caught it and chuckled.  “Don’t worry, Amber, I didn’t bite her.”

Krystal laughed as Amber rolled her eyes.  They all split their pizza, Eros taking both pepperoni slices while Amber, Krystal, and Jay had the remaining three regular slices.  Amber shook her head with a smile.  “Eros, you’re such a fata—“

“I know,” Eros replied, cutting off a small curse word Amber was about to say.  He laughed.  “I can’t help it, kid.”  He looked over to Krystal.  “You don’t get intimidated hanging out with juniors and seniors?”

The latter eyed the older boy.  “Why would I get intimidated?”

“Don’t mind him,” Amber interfered.  “He’s always like this.  Hang out with us more often and you’ll continue to see this delinquent side of him.”

“Hey, I’m not that stupid.”  Jay and Amber laughed at Eros’ response.

They continued to chat about countless things and laughed away.  It was an endless notion of aspects and they were all enjoying themselves.  Amber’s ears perked up once she noticed a familiar song play in the pizzeria.  She swallowed, feeling a little tense.

“I didn’t know Stevie Hoang was famous in Korea,” Jay said, also noticing the song.

“He’s not,” Amber replied, a little cold.  “This is an Americanized-pizzeria, remember?”

“What song is this?” Eros questioned.

“Addicted.”

“I’m assuming you know the artist?” Krystal asked.

“Not that well,” she lied.  She fidgeted to the left, uncomfortably.  “My friend showed me his songs before I came here.  I don’t like his songs, anymore, though.”  There was an awkward silence between the group and Amber was the only one who didn’t notice. 

“How do you not like anyone’s songs, anymore?” Jay whispered to Eros.  The latter just shrugged a response.

Krystal kept her eyes on her as she observed the tomboy to her left.  She has never, so far, seen Amber like this; her expression was low, almost rock bottom, and she was now taking small bites from her pizza, chewing slower than before.  It was a fresh scene, and it kind of scared her.  Jay and Eros exchanged looks, but decided that it was best not to question it.  Once Eros saw Krystal about to instigate something small, he mouthed out a “No.”  She caught it, a little frustrated, but decided to let it go, as well.

“So,” Jay started.  He cleared his throat.  “How did you and Krystal meet?” he questioned, now switching topics.

Krystal rolled her eyes and stared down at her pizza in embarrassment.  “Don’t ask.”

A small laugh was heard from the tomboy next to her.  “Nothing serious happened, Krys.”

“Nothing serious?   I thought that you were a hot guy!  That’s not serious!?”

Silence fell upon the group, once again.  Krystal saw the duo in front of her trying to keep a block-headed face but it failed as they bursted out laughing hysterically. Amber joined in and covered her face in slight embarrassment.  Krystal felt her cheeks flush in a light pink.

“You talked to her?” Jay asked Amber after calming down.

“Sort of… I came into the practice room to meet one of our members since I was gonna room with her, and she was with Krystal.  I barely knew Korean so it was hard to talk to her, but Krystal saved me since she knows how to speak English.”

“And that’s when we found out that Amber was really a girl,” Krystal added. “Sulli, one of our members, her and her big mouth decided to be stupid and tell Amber that I thought that she was a hot trainee,” she added once again.

Amber smirked.  “Psh, what can I say?  I’m unpredictable.”

Krystal pushed her best friend.  “Cocky.”

“Ready?  I’ll walk you home now.”

It began to get a little late, and it was already dark outside the pizzeria.  Eros left earlier than the others, noticing that he was about to be late for his scheduled timing at the nursing home.  Jay decided to leave early, as well, since he wanted to play billiards with his brother and his friends.  Thus, leaving Amber and Krystal in the pizzeria to relax and actually have time to themselves.

Krystal nodded at the question.  “Yeah, let’s go.”

The two threw out the garbage on the way out and stepped into the chilly night.  Amber exhaled out, watching the small puff of white air disappear in a split second.  Feeling the temperature of her bare hands drop slowly, she placed her hands in her jean pockets.  Krystal rubbed her hands together, thoroughly forgetting her gloves back at home.  Amber noticed it and took out something from one of her extraordinary zipped jacket pockets, putting them in front of the younger girl.  “Here, you need them more than I do.”

Krystal stared at the gloves, than at the tomboy.  “You sure?”

“Why?” Amber eyed her jokingly.  “Would you rather take pink gloves?  Sorry if my black gloves offend you.” She stuck a tongue out.

The latter playfully shoved the tomboy and took the gloves.  “Thanks,” she said sincerely.  She playfully pouted.  “And, besides, I don’t like pink that much.  I’m not like Jessica.”  Amber chuckled and hummed a response as they continued walking.

The two continued to walk in silence; not necessarily caring since the scenery was almost perfect.  It was a calm and relaxing state of mind, and it made Amber think about her times back in the States.  She always walked at night.

“You know?” Amber started.  “I used to walk one of my friends home all the time at this hour; sometimes even later than this.”  She looked up at the stars and exhaled deeply.  Krystal noticed that it was the same expression Amber had back at the pizzeria, except it was a little lighter than before.

“Wow… that’s the first time I’ve heard you say something about your past,” she muttered.  However, the tomboy heard it.  As always.

“…How come you never talk about your life back in the United States?”  It was something that was on thin ice – questioning Amber about her past wasn’t really on everyone’s to do list.  Just as Jay said to her before, she wasn’t the type to open up easily.  Then again, it’s only been a few months since Amber has joined SM; still Amber should say something to her, and Krystal knew herself that she deserved at least something.

Amber pondered in silence for a bit.  They reached Krystal’s front porch; her expression indecipherable.  “You should get in; it’s cold,” the tomboy said without any feeling.

Krystal blinked.  “Don’t change topics,” she asserted.

Amber looked away instead of giving an actual answer.  She swallowed, still keeping shut.  “Well?” She looked down at the younger girl, and she could see that Krystal was pushing for a reply.

She lightly chuckled.  “The only reason why I never talk about it is because there’s nothing to say.”

Krystal’s mouth fell slightly.  Crap.  This girl is good.  She scrunched her face, thinking of a comeback, because she knew very well that Amber was an intelligent individual.  Giving an answer like that, she couldn’t say “That’s not what I’m looking for.”  It wouldn’t be a rational, or given reply for that matter.

Amber shook her head.  And just as if she read her mind, “Hey, you asked a question, and I answered.  That should be enough.”

Krystal chewed the inside of her cheek.  She heaved a sigh.  “You know that you can tell me anything, right?”

Amber nodded and started walking away, making her way back to the dorm she was residing in.  She stopped, however, and turned around halfway to face the latter standing in front of the given doorway.  “Besides, I wouldn’t want you worrying about stupid things.”

“It would make me worry?” Krystal asked.

“That… and because I wouldn’t want you to be judgmental about it.  It goes both ways.”