Food just didn’t seem to go down the right way when two people were staring at you with so much judgment in their eyes, and Krystal’s parents had enough judgment for an entire crowd.

Amber choked down another forkful of egg before she just gave up and decided to stare down at her plate and push around what was left of her food until Krystal finished eating, which she hoped was soon.

“So, California…”

Oh no...interrogation time... "Yes?”

“I guess it’s a little looser out there huh?” Mr. Jung asked like a dad from an old sitcom.

She internally rolled her eyes. “In some parts, I guess.”

“You must miss it, then, sewing your wild oats.”

Amber’s brow scrunched. Wild oats? Who talks like that?! “Uhm, no. Never really did that.”

“Parties. Sneaking out?”

Amber laughed. “My older sister did that a few times, yeah. She always went to the same places so my parents weren’t really all that worried.”

“But you’ve had a few parties haven’t you?”

“Uhm, yeah? One or two.” Who hasn’t?

“Drinking? Smoking? Doing drugs?”

“I’m too young to drink.” Her fingers tapped impatiently at the table, starting to feel like maybe Krystal was punishing her for some reason. Couldn’t she hurry up and finish her toast?! “And I’m not into that other stuff.”

“You can’t find that sort of stuff around here anyway,” Mr. Jung said confidentially. “Only good, god-fearing families in this town."

She wanted to correct him and mention the kids she'd seen smoking weed under the bleachers and she thought she’d seen at least one drug deal in the bathroom at the deli a few days ago, but Krystal would probably never be let out of the house again if they knew about that.

“That’s great,” she said instead.

“Heard you’ve been quite the loner since your family moved to town,” Mrs. Jung finally jumped in. “It’s not good for young people to be without community.”

Amber put on a fake sweet smile. “Really? I should try a little harder to make friends then.”

“You should,” Krystal’s mother quickly agreed, apparently unable to detect Amber's sarcasm. “Maybe some time with our sweet Krystal will teach you a thing or two about what it takes to be a woman of God and how to build a good social circle.”

By being repressed to all hell? No thanks. “You’re probably right.”

“We should get going,” Krystal finally cut in, causing Amber’s shoulders to sag in relief. She polished off her milk and stood to hug her parents. “Thank you for breakfast, Mom. Love you, Dad.” She pulled on her backpack and Amber said a polite goodbye to the Jungs and tried not to run right out the front door.

She felt the tension finally drip from her neck once she was in the driver’s seat of her car, engine already started before Krystal got in the passenger’s seat.

“Okay…I’m Never. Never. Ever. Having breakfast with your family again. Why the hell did it take you a half an hour to eat two pieces of toast and some fruit?!!”

Krystal grimaced. She’d never heard Amber curse before. “Sorry. They’d be suspicious if I hurried my meal. They’d think I was excited to get away from them and get alone with you or something. I just..I just want this to go as smoothly as possible.”

Amber shook her head, pulling out of the driveway. “I would literally almost rather work alone than go through that again. Next time I’m pulling up at exactly 7:45 and if you’re not outside, I’m leaving without you. There is no way I’m stepping foot inside that house again. You hear me?”

“They’ll be mad,” Krystal tu