It's been days without hearing anything from Krystal. She won't try to talk to me when she sees me in public places, like the cafeteria, or the courtyard, and when it's time for us to go to dance instruction, she never looks my way.

My heart is breaking.

I keep the tears back as I concentrate on dance moves, but whenever we have to cross-over, switching places in the group, and she goes past me, I feel that lump in my throat that keeps me from saying her name, begging her to forgive my stupidness. 

The instructor-oppa is impatient today. When I mess up for the third time in a row on a simple set of moves, he walks into the group and pushes me into the wall roughly, grabbing the front of my shirt.

"I swear, if you f(x) girls don't get it in your head that dancing is one of the integral parts of your group, I am going to kill you and start replacing you one by one!" he shouted, as he let go and shoved me back. I fell into the wall, slamming my backbone into it, and it hurts. I'm biting back tears as I struggle to get up, and when I rejoin the group the instructor glares at me.

I give all I have to the instructor for the next two hours, willing myself not to think about the big problem lying before me.

Amber hasn't tried to contact me since our big fight. I know she wants to. I see it in her eyes whenever she catches sight of me in the courtyard, or in the cafeteria. She's stopped eating with our group. I don't know how much she sleeps, but it isn't much, because she's trying to hide large bruises under her eyes with too much foundation.

We're getting ready for our next big song. The dance moves are the hardest we've ever had to learn, and it's taking all my concentration, as I'm sure it is for everyone else. Today's instructor is one of three. He's teaching us the beginning part of the dance routine, and he's very impatient. We're all used to Amber needing a little more time to get the dance moves just right, so we've never worried about it. The instructor oppa is not as nice as we are.

As he slams her against the wall, shouting in her face, I feel anger rush through me, and clench my hands. There's a dullness in her eyes that I've never seen before, like she's given up. He shoves her again as he walks back through our group to the front of the studio, and Amber looks like she's going to cry, but picks herself up and joins us again. 

I want to tell her it's all right, that we understand and that the instructor just doesn't know us. But I can't say it. I haven't been able to say anything to her all week. I hate myself for not being able to say I'm sorry for being jealous and overprotective. I just keep hearing those words she said to me...

It's Luna, as always, who comes to find me in my room. The place is a wreck, on my side. I haven't touched Krystal's things, and it's remained as immaculate as she left it. But there are food wrappers on my side of the floor. My bed hasn't been made since she stopped sleeping with me. Clothes are falling out of my closet.

Luna pokes her head in my door. "Amber, are you awake?" The light is off and she can't see me sitting on the edge of my bed in a tank top and boxer shorts. I'm not sure how long I've been sitting here, contemplating taking a shower. I've also been contemplating taking my life, to stop the pain in my heart that threatens to kill me from pure sorrow anyway.

"Yeah, 'm awake," I mumble loud enough for her to hear. She comes in the room, leaving the door open, and wrinkles her nose. 

"Amber, it stinks in here," she says, covering her nose and mouth.

"You don't like it, you can leave," I say without emotion.

SLAP! My face feels like it's on fire as I fall off the bed.

"Stop it!" Luna cries out, and when I look up at her, there are a few tears trailing down her cheeks. "What are you doing to yourself? Why haven't you come and talked to me?"

Startled, I'm staring up at her. "I--I--"

She grabs my arm and starts dragging me towards the door. "You're talking to Krystal right now. Enough is enough!"

I grab one of the legs of the bed as she drags me past it and halt the both of us. "She hates me, Luna. She doesn't want anything to do with me. She doesn't even look at me anymore, let alone talk to me. What's the point?"

"What's the point?! The point is, you two need to figure out how to get past this stupid roadblock! Fights happen!"

"Not the way I shouted at her," I said, feeling my throat go dry and a lump work its way in there. Luna dropped my arm and decided to sit next to me, the hair from my forehead.

"Amber, we all make mistakes. Relationships aren't perfect. But you can't go on like this. Not alone." 

I give her a small smile. "Luna, you're the best. It should've been you I fell for. We already know each others hearts."

Luna gave a dry laugh. "There are so many things we'd fight over, Amber. Trust me, the heart that knows another does not guard against hurt and betrayal."

After a moment, I sat up. "Sulli kissed me, Luna."

Her eyes grew wide in shock. "What?" she asked, not sure she had heard me.

I nodded sadly. "She's holding it as blackmail against me. Krystal will never talk to me again, ever, if she finds out that happened."

"How did it happen?" asked Luna, still unable to entirely comprehend what I had said.

I told her everything, how I had gone to their room, and how I had confronted Sulli, which had turned into me comforting her because she was so depressed about it, and then suddenly she was kissing me and had even pulled me down before I had found the control to say no, at which point she had told me that unless I spent more time with her, she would tell Krystal we had kissed, ruining my chance of ever getting back with her.

Luna put her hand over , eyes wider than ever. "Why would Sulli do this? Has she gone insane?"

"She can't see clearly," I said dully, rubbing my face. "Sorrow and jealousy cloud her heart."

Luna grabbed my hand, looking in my eyes. "I will go with you. When ever you need to spend time with Sulli, I'm going to be there. She can't beat you if you have a second person on your side. She was probably betting that out of shame you'd never share this with anyone--"

"But she doesn't know me," I smiled, squeezing Luna's hand.

Between classes, I went back to the dorm room to get a couple books I knew I'd need for a later hour. As I unlocked the handle with a key, I looked to my right and saw Luna helping Amber out of her room, dressed in nothing but a loose white tank top and the boxer shorts she slept in. I felt my heart ache when I saw Amber's face: dirty, tear-streaked, bruised underneath the eyes. Her hair was more of an actual mess than her usual perfected messy look, achieved with hair wax.

Amber chanced to look my way, and I didn't look away for once. Our eyes met, and hers grew sadder as she turned and followed Luna to her room, bare feet slapping against the cement.

My voice didn't work. I wanted to call out her name and run up to her and say I was sorry and ask for forgiveness. Instead, I stood there, keys out, staring after her like an idiot. I just watched them as they walked the few meters to Luna's room and disappear inside it.

Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring my ability to see how I was going to get the key in the lock. I tried for several moments and gave up when I couldn't seem to fit them together. I ran my hand back through my hair, getting it out of my face, and gently rubbed my eyes. A few tears fell to the ground, leaving small dots of wet.

Sulli was gone to a class, thank goodness, and Luna started the water in the shower for me as I sat on her bed, reliving the horrible moment that had happened between Sulli and me. When Luna came to check on me again, I was bent over, arms wrapped around myself, trying to rid myself of the feelings of guilt and sadness sweeping over me.

"Come on," she said gently, helping me stand up. "Give me your clothes and I'll go get you some new ones from your room. I'll be back in a few, okay?" I stripped and gave her my pajamas, then stepped in the shower as I heard the door open and shut. I grabbed their shampoo and massaged it into my short hair, lathering it up in moments. As I scrubbed my scalp, water and soap running down my face, I head the door open and shut again.

That was quick, I thought, rinsing the lather out of my hair quickly and scrubbing my body with a washcloth Luna had left for me. I finished washing, and then I hard the door open and close again as I was rinsing the last of the soap from myself.

"Sulli! You're home early! How long have you been here?" asked Luna, feigning a happy surprise.

"Oh, I'm going to leave," said Sulli, "I just lent my last pencil to a classmate and he forgot to give it back, so I came back to grab a snack and to stock up on pencils."

"Oh, that's nice of you!" bubbled Luna, no doubt trying to herd Sulli out as quickly as possible.

"Did you know you left the shower running?" asked Sulli.

"Yep, washing some underwear in the shower!" said Luna. I could imagine her gently shoving Sulli out the door. "So embarassing to take it down to the communal wash!"

"Okay!" said Sulli and then the door closed heavily. I turned the water off and heard Luna locking the door with a click. I stepped out of the shower and began drying myself off with the towel, rubbing my hair like crazy.

Luna ran up to me with my clothes in hand. "You had better hurry! She knows something's up and I give her two minutes until she comes back to check out the whole shower situation."

I pulled on my underwear and then my shirt, nervously hiking my pants up and buttoning them. I ran my hand through my wet hair, shaking it a little.

"Thanks Luna, I owe you," I said gratefully.

"Yes you do!" she said with a smile.

Then the door handle rattled. 

"Luna! Luna, let me in, I forgot something!"

Luna and I exchanged a look of horror. SULLI!

"Umm, just a second!" Luna called out, as brightly as she could, pulling at her dresser and grabbing a pile of her underwear from the drawer. She ran back to the shower, turned it on, and threw the underwear on the floor, pouring some soap on them. 

"Get under the bed! The bed!" she hissed at me, and I dove beneath Sulli's bed, scooting underneath just in time as Luna casually opened the door. Sulli came in, looking suspicious.

"What were you doing?" she asked.

Luna laughed. "Oh, I found some embarrassing stains, so I had to put more soap on my underwear, and I didn't want anyone to come in and see them!" she said, a little painfully.

Sulli gave her a smile, patting her arm. "It's okay, Luna. I won't tell the others. You must be pretty embarrassed to feel like you have to lock the door."

Luna hung her head in mock shame. "Yes. It's very embarrassing. I know I can trust you to keep a secret."

Sulli's smile grew at that, and she said, "Well, I have to run!" The door closed lightly behind her and Luna collapsed on her bed.

I crawled out from beneath Sulli's bed, looking up at Luna.

"You're really the best," I said, giving her a genuine smile.

"Well it was worth it to see that goofy llama-faced smile," she said, wiping her forehead.

 

[A/N: Close call! What should Krystal do? And what on earth is Amber going to do since Sulli has blackmail on her! Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter! As always, thank you for your positive comments and subscriptions! *bows* ]