2009 . 1 . 30 – 7:50PM

“You know?  Truthfully, I think that it was pretty useless of me to come over today, considering the fact that you’re going to the 8^th grade masquerade ball tonight.”

A tall, slender teenager was seen in front of a full body mirror in her room, twisting back and forth with a black spaghetti strap dress held in front of her.  She scrunched her lips together, turned her head from side to side, making a mental debate on whether or not to use the beautiful fabric for tonight’s dance.

She turned to the person lying down on her bed, who was currently occupied by a laptop.  “Does this look good on me?”

The latter turned her eyes to the hopeless younger girl, breaking her small thoughts on what was on the computer screen.  She blinked and rolled her eyes.  “No, actually, it looks very ugly, just like your face.”

“Amber!” Krystal yelled, clearly seeing the sarcasm in the older girl.

Amber gave out a small laugh.  “I’m kidding!” she yelled with hands up in a defense position.  She removed the laptop from her lap and got off the bed, lazily sauntering to a nearby computer chair.  She turned it around and sat in it, looking up at the worrying teenager with a raised eye brow.

“Why are you getting so stressed out about this stupid dance?” she asked.  A chuckle escaped .  “I mean, the other day, YOU were the one that was silently complaining about Alex asking you out, and now you’re excited to go?”

Krystal rolled her eyes.  “It’s just that — I wanna look good…”

“For Alex?"

“Oh God, no,” the latter replied immediately.  She turned to the mirror one more time.  “It’s just, you know — it’s a dance.  You have to look good, right?”

“What, I can’t even look good in front of my own best friend?” Krystal mumbled lowly to herself.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Besides, your opinion matters.  I just wanna look good, I’m a teenage girl.  It’s fine with—” Krystal stopped midway when she turned to the older androgynous girl beside her.  She bit back a stupid grin, watching Amber spin in the computer chair around and around out of boredom.  She looks like a little kid.

“Amber,” she called out.

The latter stopped her tracks after hearing her name.  She sighed after taking a small look at the girl.  Clearly, her best friend was a damsel in distress over a dance — which seemed to matter… a lot.  Getting up, she grabbed a small black mask from Krystal’s study desk and walked over to her.  She put it in front of Krystal and leaned on one side, her free hand inside her pocket.  “Wear it with your dress.  Believe me, you look perfect.”

“That’s still not enough,” Krystal muttered and pouted.

Amber gave out a loud groan and threw herself on the bed.  “It’s just a dance, Krystal.  And it’s just Alex.  If you knew that you were gonna stress out about this, why did you say yes to him in the first place?”

“Because I wanted to avoid drama.”  Krystal laid the dress over the mirror and sat in her computer chair, rolling over to her best friend, who now had her hands over her eyes.  She could tell that the training and school work was getting to the older girl; she was getting too tired.

“Drama?” Amber questioned.  She removed her hands away from her eyes and stared up at the younger girl.  “What does saying “no” to a guy asking you out, have to do with drama?”

A slightly annoyed face developed on Krystal’s face.  “Have you seen Alex?”

The latter shook her head.

“Well, he’s very emotional… he’s kind of a nerd,” It was almost as if Krystal was ashamed of saying it.

Amber’s ears perked up to the statement.  “Hey, that’s not very nice, we’re both nerds in our way, too.”  She sat up and chewed the inside of her cheek.  Sitting directly in front of the younger girl, she shoved her hands into her pockets.  The tomboy gave out a slight chuckle, a little impressed by what she heard. “But wow, this guy actually had guts to ask out one of the most popular girls in the 8^th grade, huh?”

“I’m not popular,” Krystal asserted as she got up from her seat and made her way to the closet.

Amber also got up and leaned against the study desk.  “Yeah, but you’re still one of the prettiest.”

Krystal couldn’t help but smile at the compliment and just continued searching for another dress to wear.  It was one of the moments where she was glad that her back was turned to Amber.  The smallest things always made her smile and she hated herself for that.  Krystal was stopped, however, feeling a hand on her right shoulder.  She turned around and was met with Amber’s smile.  “Just wear the black dress with the black mask, and get some black heels.  There, done.  Go change.”

Krystal exhaled and nodded.  She started to take off her shirt, but stopped from a yell coming out of the older girl’s mouth.  “WHOA, WAIT!  At least let me leave the room first!” Amber screamed, covering her eyes.

Krystal giggled.  “Chillax Amber, I’ve changed in front of you before.  We had gym together last semester, God.”

Amber shook her head and left the room, leaving the younger girl to continue on laughing to herself.

Walking down the stairs, Amber was hit with a familiar aroma that she used to smell at home all the time.  “Ugh,” the tomboy gave out.  “Now that I think about it, I really miss everyone,” she said to herself.  Well, that’s what I have to sacrifice since I’m doing this insane training.

“Amber?”

The girl by the name turned around and gave out a small smile.  “Hi, Mrs. Jung,” she greeted with a wave.

Mrs. Jung smiled back and returned the greeting, now walking towards the teenager.  She was wiping her hands on a hand cloth and Amber could tell that she was the culprit of the wonderful smell of spaghetti roaming around the house.  “I didn’t know that you were here.  No training today?”

“No training.  Just taking a break, you know?” the tomboy replied.

“Amber,” another voice shot from the kitchen.  A tall figure walked in, and Amber smiled, yet again.  “It’s nice to see you.”

“Nice to see you, too, Mr. Jung,” she responded, now shaking his hand.

“Stay for dinner, there’s more than enough for everyone,” he offered brightly.

That caught her off guard.  Amber laughed and shook her head.  “No, it’s okay.  I should be going, anyways.”

“Oh, are you going to the dance tonight, as well?”

“No, that’s for the eighth graders,” Amber explained.  “I’m just here for Krystal.”  The statement made the wife and husband raise an eye brow.  Amber reacted quickly.  “You know, wardrobe malfunctions.  Girl things.”

Mrs. Jung giggled.  “You should stay, Amber, really.  I know that it’s been a long time since you’ve had an American home cooked meal, right?”

Mrs. Jung was right and Amber couldn’t disagree with that, even if she tried.  It hasn’t even been that long since she visited home since she only arrived to Korea a few months ago, but she couldn’t deny missing meals made actually by hand.  She sighed, sympathetically, seeing the faces of her second parents.  They really did want her to stay.  Eventually, though, she gave in.  It was the least Amber could do for them, ever since she came to S. Korea.  The Jung’s were almost like her second family — always caring for her and she was beyond the definition of thankful for being in their blessings.  And she definitely didn’t wanna ruin it.

“Alright, alright.  I’ll stay.”

Small statements of approval were heard from both parents and Mrs. Jung led Amber into the kitchen.  “Jessica’s coming for dinner, as well.” 

The tomboy scrunched her eye brows together to this explanation.  Before she could ask anything, Mrs. Jung beat it to her.  “She asked her manager to stay for a bit if schedules ended early since she misses my spaghetti, haha.”

Amber whistled as a response; there wasn’t much to say, truthfully.  Thinking about it, it’s been a while since Amber has seen the ice princess senior.  Sure, she passed by her from time to time at the building, but all was said were small chit chats.  “How are you?”; “HEY!”; “How’s training?”  Yeah, that was basically their conversation.  It never lasted more than five minutes since everyone was too busy to even have an actual conversation nowadays.

Amber sat down at the dining table, seeing that the table was already set.  She looked around mindlessly, trying to find something to help Mrs. Jung out with, but couldn’t find anything at all.  Drinks were already on the table, utensils — everything.  Around a wall to her left was an abstract painting.  Amber wasn’t a big fan of art, but she couldn’t deny the fact that those types of images look intriguingly cool.  Below that painting, was a small end table with some family pictures.

Subconsciously, she got up from her seat and walked over to it.  How come I never noticed these before whenever I came here?  Looking at them, Amber couldn’t help but smile how precious and simple pictures could mean.  It was always an amazing sight to see Krystal smile brightly with her family — and she wondered, just a little bit, how it would be like to be a part of it.  No matter how weird it sounded, she remembers asking herself how it would be like to be in the Jung family.  Not blood wise, though — something particularly different that wasn’t entirely worth mentioning.

She grabbed a picture of Krystal — a solo picture that was taken maybe two or three years ago.  Then, she looked to Krystal’s baby photos.  Amber chuckled to herself.  “Beautiful since birth.”

“MOM!  WHERE ARE THE OPEN TOE BLACK HEELS!?”

Amber looked to her right, hearing the loud ruckus coming from her younger friend, and without knowing, Amber’s mouth fell agape.  She has seen Krystal in dresses before, but the thought of how she looked at that very moment made Amber’s heart skip a small beat.  Just like what Amber told her to do, Krystal wore the black dress and she was seen holding the black mask in her left hand.  Amber managed to get a hold of herself and she closed before Krystal even noticed.  She was hot.  No doubt about that.  Oh, what puberty has done to teenagers.

Krystal peaked her head through the open door that connected the dining room to the kitchen and shook her head.  “Oh for — where did my mom go?”

Feeling as if another presence was there, Krystal turned around to find Amber staring at her.  She put a hand to her hip.  “Have you seen my mom?”

Amber shrugged.  Krystal’s eyes wandered down to the older girl’s hands.  “Looking at my humiliation I see?”

The tomboy laughed.  “No, don’t worry about it.  There’s definitely nothing to be humiliated about here.”

Krystal chuckled and Mrs. Jung walked into the dining room.  Going back to the same distraught self she was in no longer than five minutes ago, “Oh there you are!  Where are the heels, mom?”

Mrs. Jung held them up.  She smiled.  “I knew that you would be looking for these.  Go, go — put them on and eat dinner before you leave.”  The mother started pushing her daughter to a nearby chair, and Krystal could do nothing but comply.

As she began to put on her heels, Amber sat back down quietly.  Mrs. Jung brought the spaghetti to the table and Amber started getting the food, now feeling the grumbling coming from her stomach.

“I can’t eat mom, I’m late already.”

“What?” Amber asked with a mouth full.  Two pairs of eyes made its way to Amber and all the tomboy could do was laugh in embarrassment; she failed to realize that being surprised often led to not thinking before speaking.

“Yeah, time flies, huh?” Krystal asserted as she pointed to the clock, fixing her final strap on her heel.  Amber looked at the nearby wall clock and widened her eyes.  It was 9:24PM.  The dance started at 8:30PM — time does fly.

“Come on, kiddo, I’m driving you to the dance.  Amber, do stay and eat, yeah?” Mr. Jung popped in from the living room and did a two finger salute.  Amber nodded as a response.

“Have fun at the dance, Krys,” she called out.

“I’ll try,” Krystal responded, emphasizing on the last word.  This led Amber to give out a small cackle, taking another fork full of spaghetti.

Mrs. Jung shook her head in small disapproval.  “I guess she won’t be seeing Jessica.”

As if on cue, Jessica’s voice was heard from the front entrance right when Krystal and her father opened the door.  Statements on how beautiful Krystal was in her dress and so much more that Amber couldn’t remember was heard.  In no time, the front door closed and Amber was met with the eyes of Jessica Jung.  “Okay, so she did seen Jessica.  That’s good at least, huh, Amber?”  The tomboy nodded at Mrs. Jung’s saying and gave out a small laugh.

“Oh, Amber,” Jessica said randomly, noticing the tomboy sitting down at the table.  The latter gave a small wave and smiled.  Jessica smiled back and went on to hug her mother.  “Dinner’s ready, help yourself,” Mrs. Jung said, guiding her to a seat near Amber.

“OH SHOOT!”

“What’s wrong, mom?” Jessica asked after hearing the sudden outburst coming from Mrs. Jung.

She bit her lip.  “I forgot that I made plans tonight with your father to see Mrs. Park,” she answered.

Jessica raised an eye brow, and so did Amber, but she decided to keep to herself.  It clearly wasn’t her business.  “She got into a divorce so she’s been alone for a while.  I promised her that I’d stay eat dinner with her along with your father.  I have to call him; you guys will be okay staying here alone, right?”

The oldest daughter of the Jung family nodded and turned to Amber.  “We’ll be good.  Right, Amber?”

The latter nodded with a smile, shifting to the left uncomfortably.  She has never been alone with Jessica like this ever.  It just felt awkward but decided to hide it the best she can.  “I’ll just ask my manager to bring Amber home later when we’re done with whatever,” Jessica added.

“Okay,” Mrs. Jung answered.  She grabbed her cell phone from a nearby table and started dialing.  Putting the phone to her ear, she waited for the desired person to answer — who was Mr. Jung, as Jessica and Amber assumed.  “Don’t burn the house down, you two,” she stated before going upstairs.

The pair giggled and watched Mrs. Jung disappear.  Small silence fell upon the dining table — only the movement of utensils and chewing was heard.

“So…” Jessica began, taking a small glance at Amber.  “What are you doing here, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Amber swallowed and took a sip from her glass of Coke.  “Krystal wanted me to be here after school,” she replied.  She cleared .  “I think that it was pretty useless of me being here since she’s going to that dumb dance, though.”

“She didn’t give you a specific reason to why she wanted you here?”

“No.  She just… wanted me here.”

“No opinions on dresses?”

“She asked for that right when she was starting to get ready, but earlier in school, she just kept begging me to come here,” Amber stated.  She shook her head with a small smile.  “She’s not easy to say no to.”

 “Hm.  I see,” Jessica said with an unreadable face.

Amber looked at the older girl.  Now that she thought about it, what was the real reason why Krystal wanted her here in the first place?  Choosing a dress could’ve been helped from her mother, considering the fact that Mrs. Jung had a pretty good sense in fashion — that was undeniable. 

Before Amber could answer, her Blackberry Curve 8900 began to ring and vibrate in her pocket.  She apologized, knowing how rude it was to answer a phone call or look a text message during dinner.  Jessica nodded with a small smile, not caring.  Unexpectedly, it was a text message from Krystal.

Jung, Krystal (Mobile)

Received one minute ago

AMBER! Can you pick me up? Alex is reallllllly boring and annoying me and I just wanna leave. Please come quickly — he won’t notice when I leave since everyone is in masks. My friends aren’t helping either and it’s just… ugh, just come, okay? Please? I owe you one! <3

Amber looked at her plate.  It was already finished.  Good timing, Krystal.  She fixed her dishes, putting her phone back in her pocket after texting her friend back.

“Was it Krystal?” Jessica asked, a hand keeping her chin up.

Amber blinked before getting up.  What makes her think that Krystal would text Amber?  All of the questions roaming around her mind just kept coming, but Amber decided to let it go.  “Yeah… haha, she wants me to go and pick her up.  The dance isn’t that fun.”

Jessica laughed and got up, as well, grabbing her dish.  They walked to the kitchen and placed it in the sink.  “Don’t worry about the dishes, I got them.” Amber nodded at the statement from Jessica and headed to the living room, where her jacket and shoes were. 

She put on her jacket and started with her shoes, bending down.  Amber could hear Jessica follow after her.  She turned her head and looked at the older girl, who leaned on the wall, holding her arm.

“You guys got close pretty quick,” Jessica stated as she watched Amber put her shoes on.

Amber forced a chuckle out of awkwardness.  “Yeah, I guess.  I mean she helps me with my Korean all the time.  That’s probably why since I pretty much have no one else to talk to besides Henry.”

Amber saw the older girl nod.  “Mhm.  I just find it a little interesting, that’s all.”

“What do you mean?”

Jessica shrugged as Amber fixed her posture and stood straight.  “It’s just I’ve noticed that she talks about you the same way she talks about Sulli, if not a little more than; same goes for how she is around you.”  Another shrug.  “She got comfortable with you really quickly.”

Amber blinked at the statement, now breaking the eye contact between the two of them.  She was never close to Jessica and this conversation was about the longest one they’ve ever had.  Amber was sure that imagining a conversation this long with Jessica wouldn’t actually be about Krystal; she imagined it being about recording or being in f(x), but nothing like this.

She forced out another chuckle.  “Well, I’m always thankful for her friendship.”

The statement caused Jessica to give out a small smile.  “I’m sure she is, too.”  She gestured towards the door.  “Alright, you should go,” Jessica said.  “It’s pretty cold and as time passes by, it’ll reach it’s coldest soon, so yeah.”

Amber smiled and obliged by opening the door, beginning to exit the Jung residence.

“Oh, while you’re at it.”  Amber stopped herself halfway from leaving quickly and turned halfway around to Jessica. 

“Treat her out for dinner, she would like it."

Amber laughed and shrugged.  “If you say so.”