Chapter 10
Of Books and Reputations《SM High Forums》
| Topnotch Day Out |
Student body president Henry Lau and SM High top placer Amber Liu were spotted once more on a day out together at the game center and having fun. Could there really be something more to these two very influencial people?
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Comments:
Anonymous: omg
Anonymous: lol they r so dating
Anonymous: i rlly dont think theyre just friends
Anonymous: have they always been this close??
Anonymous: i hated Amber back then but now, i ship her so hard with the pres
Anonymous: they're gonna have really brainy babies //cries
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"Hi Amber~"
"Hello.."
"Hey Amber!"
"Hi.."
"Omigosh Hi Amber!"
"Uhh hi?"
"AMBER!"
"SOOJUNG!"
"Sooooo?" The younger one smiles mischievously "how's life?"
The short haired girl just looks at her judgingly "what do you mean? perfectly fine. Uhh, except the fact that the students are greeting me and smiling at me as if they didn't hate me back then... wait... You're acting weird too"
"What whaaaat? No I'm not" Soojung shrugs, her smile still plastered on her face
"Right. With that smile of yours. You've done enough damage with the school paper and the online forum"
"What? I don't control the forum haha it's the whole student body's. I don't have the power in that matter."
"Well your article started everything"
"Can't be helped. Anyway, I got classes. You might wanna... check on the forum some time. Interesting stuff" she winks before she skips away like the delusional fangirl that she is.
"What's up with her... I guess checking wouldn't hurt" she reaches for her phone from her pocket and opened the school's website
"Wait... what??"
"HENRY LAU!" she busts into his office's door and she catches Henry stuffing his face with doughnuts.
"Amber!" He exclaims through his full mouth
The tomboy just stands in front of him, her hands on her waist, waiting for the pres to swallow the food in his mouth so they can speak without any hassle
"Okay" he finally swallows then clears his throat
"So... how's the reputation?" His fingertips connected like what villains do in movies
"Don't give me that 'so how's the reputation' script. Okay, people may be noticing me right now but really?? I'm getting all this because we're..." she stops as she shudders at the thought "dating" she makes quotations marks in the air
"But we're not, right?" Henry grins, crossing his legs
"... O-of course we're not! I didn't say that we were, stupid!" And with that she storms out of his office, smoke fuming out her ears... metaphorically.
He seems to enjoy all this commotion, the lil
---
Comments:
Anonymous: omg i just saw Amber by the student council office
Anonymous: aaaahhhh
---
Amber was busy with her phone, walking along the hallways
To: Henry :)
Hey, I didn't want my rep to be fixed this way.
From: Henry :)
Hey yourself, I actually didn't think this would actually work out better than I expected. But hey! It's working yaayyy
To: Henry :)
farewell what's left of my reputation
[Incoming call from Henry :) ]
Wtf
Should I answer?
Heavens, help me
"Hello?" She picks up after four rings
"Yo, listen here" he laughs before finishing his sentence
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing. I just checked the forum everyone was talking about. It's golden."
"Uh. Okay."
"But that's not my reason for calling. Anyway, this is all working so well! Don't you think--"
"I don't"
"Accept the fact, your reputation was... meeeh, beyond repair"
"Hey!"
"But things are working smoothly at the moment. I. Am. A. Genius."
"Right"
"Don't you have classes?"
"I have. I'm hanging up"
"Byeeeee~ Have a great day, Amber"
[Call Ended]
Great, first he texts me, now he's learned how to call me up.
Oh , my trip to his office actually got me late for class
She sprints off to class, yep, late
---
"So are you really his girlfriend or not?" Song Qian was stretching her legs on the gym's floor while Amber was sitting on the bleachers, head propped on her hands, observing the older friend
"I'm not, eonni. He's not even my friend!"
"Those photos in the forums though..."
Amber cringes as she recalls those photos that looked like they were taken by some stalkers or whatever
"Ew. I actually had fun that day."
Song Qian just smiles at the tomboy. She knows a monologue is on its way
"I mean, Henry... The guy is a different person when he's sick. He was kind. He was warm... well, he had fever, of course he'd be warm. And he was extra caring about my feelings for his cousin. I mean, he's not like that at school! Not at all! He's an arrogant brat. He's also a different person at the shop. Eonni, he's so charismatic whenever he puts on the apron. He lures in so many customers... mostly girls, but yeah. The guy is oozing with charisma. But I don't like him one bit! Ya feel me?" She sighs after her monologue and the elder just smiles warmly at her flustered friend
"You're all red"
"What" the tomboy feels for her warm face.
---
"She definitely has love-hate feelings for the guy" Song Qian was sitting at the back of the class beside Soojung just sl they could talk about the trend
"I know, right? She likes him deep inside. I can feel it." Soojung giggles, containing her smiles
"You know what she told me the other day?"
"Ooohh eonni~ do tell!" Soojung reaches for Song Qian's hands, visibly desperate for information
"Sshhh! Keep your voice down!"
"But eonniiiii~"
Normally Song Qian quiets her down whenever she whines, but this time she was also excited to tell her what she knew
"She described him as warm, kind, charismatic and considerate of her feelings. And she did have fun when they were at the game cente!"
"Omoooo~"
"And to top it all off, she was blushing and smiling while telling me that"
Incoherent gibberish came out of Soojung's mouth and the two girls spazz over their friend's life...
Weird.
---
It was has been three consecutive nights that they have been talking to each other through late night phone calls after Amber's shifts.Calls about nothing in particular but mostly consist of threats from Amber and competition talk. About getting the top place by the end of the school year.
Amber was already in bed. It was past twelve midnight and she can't get a proper shuteye.
He hasn't called yet.
Wait. What?
I should sleep
Why am I anticipating his call anyway?
She shuffles under her sheets. Her subconscious waiting for her phone's screen to light up
That's it
She reaches for her phone and calls him herself
"Hello?" His sleepy voice like molten caramel against her ears
"Hey..."
"Oh! Amber! Sorry I didn't check who was calling" the sleepiness of his voice immediately disappeared at the recognition of Amber's husky voice. A voice he already knew too well.
"Sorry if I disturbed you... you should go back to sleep" she bites her lower lip
"No it's good. I wasn't sleeping yet."
"Yeah. Right."
He chuckles and a dorky smile creeps up Amber's lips
"No really. What's up? Can't sleep?"
"Yeah."
And as if all she needed was to hear his voice, she yawned and finally felt like closing her eyes.
"Anyway, was just checking. I should go to sleep"
"Thought you couldn't sleep..." he yawns back on the other line
"Good night"
Henry chuckles and Amber smiles
"Good night, Amber"
[Call ended]
She sighs and midway, stops.
"What are you doing?" She hides under her blanket, kicking the sheets and biting her pillow
What's happening to me
The next day was a Saturday. Amber was kind of feeling awkward and conscious. You think it wouldn't be a new thing for Henry to come and work but today felt extra awkward.
Is it about the late night calls? Or was she nervous about him confronting her why she called last night? Or because she was wearing an apple-scented perfume? Would he notice?
Why would he? Why would my smell matter to him, anyway? Why is he making me insecure?
"Morning!" He finally enters and puts on his dark green apron
Amber jumps up from fiddling with her shirt and was speechless for a moment.
A few seconds later and she finds her voice
"Y-you're late!" She tries to put on a stern voice as Henry walks closer to her
She slowly leans back because her perfume still bothers her.
Why did I even have to put on perfume???
"Sorry, boss. I wasn't able to immediately go back to sleep after you called" he grins and pats her shoulder
He scrunches his nose for a bit
She smells funny today. Not the donut scent...
"W-what..." she leans back further
"Nothing. Let's get to work!" He claps his hands and goes to clean the tables
He's suspiciously sunny today
Students from SM High have been flocking their cafè after the first article came out. It was a bad thing because Amber felt like these s are only here for some photos of her and Henry.
That lil
but it was also a good thing because the number of customers grew because of the articles and their supposed "relationship" which their parents have no idea about. All Amber's parents know was that Henry's charisma was what brought a horde of people in their quaint cafè. When all Henry's charisma brought was a considerable number of female customers. These regular females especially bother Amber today.
Henry was busy running the cash register and Amber was the unoccupied one.
"Excuse me!" One girl calls
Amber goes to her direction and asks what she'd like
"Uhh, actually Henry knows my usual order. Maybe he can take my order" she says, eyeing the tomboy from head to toe.
Amber clenches her fists, feeling her tolerance fade away.
"Henry's busy at the moment. I could take your orde--"
"Can't you do the stuff he's doing right now instead?"
Chill. Chill.
A rude customer wasn't a new thing for Amber. But this one in particular, she'd like to punch.
"A moment." She coolly says as she heads her way to Henry
"That lady wants you to take her order"
"You okay?"
She nods a stiff nod
Amber observes from the counter as the lady was all smiles when Henry was walking towards her.
Psh
---
"You've become quite popular at the shop..."
Her arms are crossed, as she leans back on the passenger's seat
"Charisma" he confidently chuckles, not taking his eyes off the road.
They are in his car, on their way to Henry's house for the study session.
"Especially with those bunch of girls..." she mutters, arranging her seatbelt
Henry pretends he didn't hear it.
---
"You could give me harder questions you know" he proudly says after Amber finished checking his test question answers.
"Good. It only shows you're improving" she starts arranging her stuff, getting ready to go home.
"Yeah."
...
"Amber..."
"Hmm?"
"Is Kibum really taking you to prom?"
All Amber would wish for right now was for the Earth to swallow her whole and never spit her back out again because damn, Henry was just staring at her, waiting for her reply.
"Maybe... but Soojung published the article, so I'm not going, instead."
"I see..." his voice quite disappointed but Amber pats his back
"Kibum likes Onew-oppa anyway, so he'll be fine. Anyway I better get going. Bye!" She quickly picks up the papers and rushes to the door before he could say anything else.
"B-bye...?"
Wait... Kibum likes Onew???
The thought that bothered the hamster as the tomboy slipped through the door
a/n: hello~ we're almost there hahaha
is this long? i think and feel like it's long.
plus gosh! i think it's gonna be more than 15 chapters. are you guys cool with that? haha maybe you're all tired of reading long chaptered stories ;-;
anywhoooo~ here it is :D
this (<- you can't click on the "links" in the story above, but his one is clickable. lol) is also gonna be a thing... kinda like a themesong? have you guys heard of it? :D you guys should listen to it. it's like HenBer but in a form of song hahahaha okay i should stop.
bye~
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