The phone call with Key was a short one but Onew could tell that his friend was proud of him for approaching Amber like he did. Key knew what Onew was like, shy when it came to talking to new people and, with someone like Amber who he had been wanting to talk to for so long, Key knew Onew’s shyness would become even worse. Key was expecting to have Onew whining for weeks about how he couldn’t talk to the tomboy but instead found himself pleasantly surprised.

Onew was proud too, he was able to talk to her and see her out of school personality a lot closer and now that he had he knew he adored it. He didn’t like the girl in a way Key kept on insisting and Minho kept on implying but he knew that, to him, her personality was perfect. Her outgoing and confident nature counteracted his more shy tendencies perfectly and while he acted more confident in school she acted more nervously. They were complete opposites but basic science taught that opposites attract.

He hoped this would mean that they would get along well and become good friends, as friendship was all that was on Onew’s mind despite his friend’s protests.

But now Onew had a new mission, a mission to make Amber smile as widely as she did in the park while they are in school. He knew it would be a hard mission to complete, especially with how guarded the girl seemed within the school walls but he was determined to see her smile again.

He forgot his studies for the rest of the weekend, instead studying joke books rather than his normal algebra equations and watching comedian’s TV shows instead of listening to the voice recordings he always made of his classes. He could spare a weekend or two, especially for a mission which had, for reasons unknown, become so important to the boy. He would make her laugh, giggle, smile or even all three before the next week was through. He would do it no matter what, even with the limited time he would have to find her and talk to her in their lunch breaks.

He wrote down jokes he found amusing in his notepad, highlighting those he found the funniest and classed those as his secret weapons if the first jokes were not to work. Key had always said that Onew had no sense of humour and, while Minho did chuckle at his jokes Onew thought it was more to be polite than out of actual amusement so he knew that his own jokes wouldn’t do. But joke books were always good right?

Onew stayed up all night, sitting at his desk and jotting down jokes until the sun rose on Monday morning and his alarm went off at 6am, the time he would normally get up for school. He quickly turned off his alarm before yawning widely, he didn’t realise how long he had stayed up for. With a tired sigh he got up and quickly got changed for school, he would have an extra coffee before leaving he decided. That would keep him awake enough to make it through the day.

---

Lunch time came quickly and, rather than going to the lunch hall like he usually did, Onew wandered towards the library in hopes of finding Amber there. He entered the library and looked around him, the library was large and was the main thing the school boasted about, he knew it would take a while to find her unless someone knew where she was. But Onew knew none of the students would take much notice of the tomboy and so wouldn’t know if she had walked by, that being if they even paid attention to his question to begin with, so he instead decided to turn to the counter next to him and ask the librarian behind it.

“Excuse me, miss?” He asked quietly, so not to make too much noise in the quiet library and the librarian looked up from the computer she was typing on.

“Yes? How can I help you?”

“I was just wondering if you knew where I can find someone, she’s normally in here most lunch times” Onew shifted his bag on his shoulder before continuing to speak “She has short hair with a long, side swept and floppy fringe, and she dresses rather boyishly”

The librarian nodded instantly, having seen and spoken to the girl everyday she always knew where the tomboy could be found “You mean Amber right?”

Onew nodded happily and the librarian smiled, secretly thankful that someone wanted to talk to her as no one had wanted to, as far as the librarian could see, for the year the tomboy had been in the school.

“You’ll find her on the second floor” The librarian continued “she’s normally sat at a table in the secluded corner of the mystery fiction section”

Onew nodded again and bowed politely “Thank you very much”

He hurried off as the librarian looked back at her computer screen and continued to work. The mystery section of the library wasn’t hard to find, with the library being so well sign posted, and Onew found Amber in a matter of minutes.

The girl was eating her lunch, a simple sandwich, while reading a book which Onew couldn’t quite read the title of. He looked around them both, the tomboy not yet noticing Onew’s presence, and saw that no one was around, in fact nearly the whole floor was deserted. He couldn’t help but think that, maybe, Amber chose this floor of the library because of how empty it was and this table because it was hidden from the rest of the floor in case anyone else did come up. He sighed softly, he didn’t like how she seemed to feel the need to hide herself.

He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before silently heading over, putting his bag down on the floor and sitting next to the girl at the table. It was only when his chair scraped along the floor that Amber’s head shot up, wide eyed and looking somewhat scared, but she seemed to relax a little when she saw who it was. Onew was thankful for this and, at the same time, rather flattered that she wasn’t cowering away from his company.

She didn’t say a word though, instead just looking at him in confusion. So, Onew decided, he would have to be the first to speak.

“Why did the cook get arrested?”

Amber looked even more confused then and Onew mentally hit himself. This didn’t seem strange at all, sneaking up to the girl and then asking something like that. She was going to think Onew was a complete weirdo, he just knew it.

“um...” Amber’s voice was quiet, it was partly due to being in the library but Onew could hear the timid tone in her voice too. No one else was around, what was it about this school that made her like this “I don’t know...”

Onew smiled lightly, sensing that his intended mission was already destined to fail. But he had a list full of jokes and a week in which to make her laugh, he would manage it somehow.

“Because he beat up an egg!” Onew delivered the punch line happily and enthusiastically anyway, even though he could tell the chances of the girl laughing were slim. There was no point in ending the joke lamely now that he had started it but Amber looked at him in disbelief, as if the joke was so bad that it didn’t even class as one.

“Jinki...?” Amber asked slowly as she bookmarked her book and put it on the table. It was ‘A Study in Scarlet’, the Sherlock Holmes book, Onew could see the title now. “What are you doing?”

She asked in the same timid voice as she spoke in before and shrunk away from him a little as if she was worried about receiving backlash for her question. He didn’t like it when she acted like this, it made him worry about her and made him paranoid and think that he had done something wrong.

He smiled warmly, as warmly as he could while worrying like he was, in hopes of making the girl relax “I’m trying to make you laugh”

Amber looked even more confused now but she did relax slightly, something which Onew was thankful for. She leant back in her chair and looked at Onew as if he had a second head. She didn’t understand why Onew was putting all this effort into trying to be nice to her, no one ever did around here so why should he?

“Why are you trying to make me laugh?” Amber’s voice was starting to sound less timid but a tone of disbelief could be heard in her voice, it making Onew laugh softly.

“I’m doing it because I like your laugh” Onew said it with confidence, to let the girl know he was sincere, and he smiled softly as he saw a light blush take over her face. The light pink across her cheeks was cute, Onew couldn’t deny it, and he felt proud for being the one who put it there. But, at the same time, he was surprised that something so small could make the girl blush so cutely. It was like she hadn’t been told something like that before.

“Don’t say stuff like that” She spoke quietly again, slight confidence disappearing as soon as it had appeared. She looked somewhat saddened, as if she didn’t believe him despite his sincerity. He decided to push the subject a little further as a determination to make her believe him took over his mind.

“Why not? It’s true” It was at this point the school bell rang, giving the students the five minute warning before their next class. Amber stood up and fiddled with the corner of the Sherlock Holmes book she had put on the table before, keeping her eyes glued to it too as her fringe hid most of her face.

“...if you want to make me laugh” Amber picked up the book and then her bag before putting it on her shoulder and slipping the novel into it. It was only when the book was safely in her bag that she looked at Onew again who was looking at her hopefully, wanting any hints he could get “Then keep trying...prove to me that you mean it”

Onew kept his eyes on her, trying to read her and understand what she was thinking. She wanted him to prove it? To prove this wasn’t just a joke to him and that he was sincere?

Then so be it, Onew thought, the determination running through him stronger then than ever.

Challenge accepted.

Author's notes:

I have so many essays to dooooo, I swear I'm going to die!

Enjoy, I've been writing whenever I had any spare time