Amber wasn’t seen in school for the next couple of days following the slime incident. Onew checked the library every day, asked the librarian if she had seen the tomboy and looked across the school grounds at lunch in hopes of finding the girl and being able to explain to her that he wasn't the one who pranked her.

He had tried calling and texting her but she never picked up or replied to his messages, no matter how many he sent, but he refused to give up. He was going to find the girl and prove to her that he was innocent. He was going to regain her trust and confess his feelings to her as the two days without her just proved how hard he had fallen for the unique girl, how dependant he was on her laughs and smiles. He was in a deep hole, a hole with Amber all around him, and there was no way to get out.

It wasn’t until the third day without seeing the girl, however, that he called Key for help. Both Key and Minho knew what had happened, about the prank and how Onew was wrongly accused. But they, like Onew, understood how the girl could of reached the conclusion that Onew was to blame while being in the emotional state she was.

When he discussed it with his friends he told them that he could handle it, that he would find a way to talk to the girl and prove his innocence. But, now that he was having trouble with even reaching the girl, he didn’t know what else to do.

Key was quick to pick up the phone, it not even ringing once before Onew heard Key’s voice running down the line “Jinki! Have you been able to talk to her yet?”

Even if Key acted like he didn’t care sometimes, with his snarky attitude and diva like tendencies, both Onew and Minho knew he cared really and was almost like a mother figure in their group. Moments like this proved it, when the boy’s voice was filled with concern in times of crisis. Key always knew when to be snarky and when just wasn’t the time, this time was one of them.

“I haven’t been able to find her and she-“ Onew cut off when he heard a girl exclaim his name from Key’s end of the line. He blinked, unsure as to why the unknown girl would do this, before trying to hear the girl’s now quieter voice but not being able to figure out what was being said. All he could tell was that the girl was talking quickly and excitedly, as if hearing his name was a big deal.

“Her name is Amber...” Onew heard Key reply to the unknown girl’s question and Onew furrowed his eyebrows as his confusion grew, what on earth was going on?

Suddenly he heard some rustling, along with Key’s shout of “Krystal! Give me my phone!” before a the girl’s voice was clearly heard down the line, the girl, he now knew to be called Krystal, having obviously stolen Key’s phone.

“YAH!” Onew pulled his phone away from his ear a bit, the girl’s shout being loud and hurting his ears “Are you the creep that slimed Amber!?”

This girl knew Amber? She was her friend? This was perfect! He could get her to talk to Amber for him, get her to help him. He sighed quietly, for the girl to be this angry Amber must have been really hurt.

“She hasn’t left her room in three days now because of you and your heartless prank. What on earth is wrong with you!?”

Krystal continued to rant down the phone, the sound of her shouting voice blending with more rustling and Key shouting things Onew couldn’t hear in the background. Onew couldn’t help but be glad that Amber had someone to stand up for her like this, someone ready to fight for the tomboy. He was thankful she had someone to look after her.

“It wasn’t me” Onew said simply and sincerely. It didn’t take long to find out the culprits of the prank, the story running through the school like wildfire and being known by most of the school by the following morning. Onew wasn’t surprised by who was to blame, Jessica and a couple of jocks on the football team he didn’t know the name of having teamed up and done it for a laugh. He wanted to approach the group, speak his mind and let them know exactly what he thought of their little game, about how it had messed things up and angered him more than anything had done in years. But he knew he would get hurt, with them being much rougher with him because he was a boy. At that moment in time it wasn’t worth it, as finding and talking to Amber was his main priority.

“W-What?” He heard Krystal’s surprised but, at the same time, relieved voice travel down the phone line with Key’s shout of ‘that was what I was trying to tell you!’ following soon after.

“It wasn’t me...the last thing I would ever want to do is hurt her” Onew spoke truthfully, knowing that holding anything back at his point would only work against him “I just want to try and find a way to prove that to her”

The girl went quiet for a moment before muttering something to Key that he couldn’t hear. He didn’t know what she was saying but he knew Key would defend him and stand up for him if he had to. Key had seen how much hurting Amber had affected him, even if the prank really had nothing to do with him and he wasn’t to blame. Just the thought that the tears she cried were shed with her thinking it was him that pranked her, and that the fact he couldn’t defend himself at the time had hurt her more. He felt horrible and his heart felt numb. He just wanted to see the tomboy smile again, he wanted her happy.

Eventually Krystal sighed quietly “I don’t know what’s going on” She said, the confusion laced in her voice obvious “So I want you to come here and explain it all to me. She’s a wreck...and I honestly think the only thing that’s going to make her happy again is if you can prove it wasn't you who pranked her”

After that Krystal gave Onew her and Key’s location, a small cafe near to the park Onew always watched the tomboy play baseball in, before giving the phone back to Key who, sounding surprised over what had just happened, finished the call and hung up.

It sounded like Key didn’t even know that this Krystal girl was friend’s with Amber, that he was just as surprised as Onew was. But, at the same time, Onew was happy. It meant that he had a way to get to Amber now, a way to show her that he would never want to hurt her, or use her, or do anything that the girl now seemed to think he wanted to do all along.

He slipped his phone into his pocket and adjusted his bag on his shoulder before starting to run down the street, determined to get to the cafe as quickly as possible and start to sort everything out once and for all.