Happy late Christmas, hope you had a great holiday (I was sick -.-) and happy almost new years, I hope to make lots of updates before 2013^^

 

Chapter two

 

If anyone said anything, Kim Himchan would say without a doubt that he didn't snore, yet here he was once again in Professor Lee's history class pulling off his chainsaw impersonation. Most kids would of gotten sent to detention the second their head hit the table but Kim Himchan and his five friends already had detention for the rest of their school careers, not to mention it meant Professor Lee could actually give the lecture he'd planned to give with out those goons interrupting.

 

It was on that day though that Lee Hyukjae had commanded the class to get with their history partners to work on their quarter projects, which meant Amber Liu had to make a decision- wake up the sleeping dragon or work on the project yet again by her self. She probably would have gone with the later option, since she'd made it a goal to be drama free this year, but after running into him just a few nights ago she felt she should reach out to her class mate, not to mention she really didn't want to work alone.

 

Gathering up her things and waving to her seat neighbors, Amber headed to the back of the classroom, catching the eyes of a few of her classmates who sat in hushed silence, watching as she approached her doom- poor Lee Joon wished to yell out to Amber a warning, something along the lines of “get away from him Amber-ssi~” but Thunder already held a hand over the older boys mouth. Waking Kim Himchan, that was deadlier then playing with a rattle snake, more stupid then swimming with alligators, more insane then- Hey, wait Amber, aren't you listening to a thing I've said!

 

“Himchan-ah, get up please.” She pulled a chair over and sat infront of Himchan's desk and lightly tapped the boy's head, “Yah, we have a project and I'm not doing it alone.” all the boy did was swat at her hand and let out an odd noise. Feeling annoyed by the lack of response, Amber grabbed the history book that Himchan used more often as a pillow then a learning guide, and pulled it out, making Himchan's head bang against the table.

 

“Yah!” he looked around furiously, ready to pummel the guy with the nerve to mess up his beauty sleep only to freeze at the site of Amber sitting infront of him holding his Pillow/history book. He sat there, trying to reason in his still half asleep mind why Amber Liu would be sitting there but he came up with nothing.

 

“Good morning Himchan-ah, did you sleep well?” Amber grinned and slid his book back to him and opened her's up.

 

“hmm, why you here?” he ignored the shock from the rest of the class, no one got away with waking Kim Himchan without getting an earful, yet here he was just sitting there taking it.

 

“You and I have been history partners since the beginning of the year, if you were able to stay awake during class you would know that Himchan-ah.” She chuckled as she flipped through her book then smiled up at him, “Page 45 please, we need to do a report on Alexander the Great.”

 

It took him a minute but soon enough he did as she requested and the rest of the class stared on, none of them really sure as to what was going on.

 

 

“So when's this thing due?” Himchan questioned after he'd woken up completely.

 

“This portion is due tomorrow at the beginning of History, I don't really know how we're gonna finish it in such a short amount of time.” She didn't mention the fact that they'd had all week to do it but since Himchan hadn't spoken to her until two days ago she hadn't really had the nerve to talk to him.

 

“ah~” This was a good chance for Himchannie, it was like God was smiling down at him, “we should meet up after school then, finish it up so we can get the grade- Your house?”

 

“My house... prolly a bad idea, my Grandmother's kinda... well my house just isn't a good place to study. Yours?”

 

“my uncles out all day anyways, sure.”

 

“alright.”

 

 

 

“You hungry?” Himchan asked as he threw his bag ontop of a pile or junk and lead Amber into his little one bedroom apartment. You couldn't see the carpet, it was covered so heavily with clothes, broken computer parts, and magazines of questionable character. The couch had a thin blanket that sat twisted haphazardly across it and the tv had a huge crack on the screen.

 

“yeah, sure.” Amber nodded while looking around, wondering how they could even walk through this place with out tripping.

 

“All we have is ramen, hope you don't mind.” Himchan motioned towards the couch and headed across the room where kitchen section was.

 

“It's no problem at all.” Amber smiled, grabbed Himchan's bag from one of the piles of junk and headed towards the couch, fully intent on finishing up this project. She sunk into the couch then pulled her history book out and opened it up, “Are you and your uncle close?” she asked, trying to ignore the stench in the room.

 

“He's alright, can be kinda a jerk sometimes.” Himchan pulled a pan out and held it in the sink, pouring water in before setting it down on the stove, “he's out most of the time so it's not like we really talk or anything.”

 

“oh, what does he do... for like a job I mean.”

 

Himchan chuckled, “probably not something I should be telling a church kid.” He grinned as he stared down at the boiling water, She was gonna be like the rest of them- claim he's a good guy and let him do what ever he wanted cause he had a bad life, it was like clockwork.

 

“there's not a lot of opportunities out there,” she was gonna say it, she was gonna tell him what a poor guy he was, gonna ask him if she could help in any way, “We need to work to be good people though, it doesn't matter where we're from.”

 

huh?

 

“It's kinda hard when you got a record, you wouldn't understand.”

 

“probably but selling your self short because others do does no justice towards your self.” Amber bit her lip, wondering if she should really be lecturing him, he had been so hospitable towards her so far but it annoyed her when people gave up.

 

Himchan paused, wondering if he misunderstood her words- she should be saying something like “you poor dear” right about now, not telling him off... who the hell was this Amber Liu and who was she to tell him how to live his life? He growled out a, “so what's a guy like me gotta do, I've got not money, nothing to support my self.”

 

“work harder.”

 

and he was frozen in place... there was no sympathy, no giving in, just honest blunt reasoning. He bit his lip then turned around to face her, “ramen's done.” he stated before grabbing two sets of chop sticks and bringing the pan over to where Amber sat waiting for him.

 

“Thank you.” Amber said after he'd sat down and took the chopsticks, unbeknownst of her the slightest of their finger's brushing sent electric sparks up and down Himchan's spine. It was strange, she didn't seem to be affected by his good looks, the sob story, what's a guy gotta do to get a quickie these days, “so do you know anything about Alexander the Great?”

 

“aint that that one kid that graduated last year, he was a pretty weird kid.”

 

“no, Alexander the Great, he lived a long time ago and conquered countries.”

 

“what about him?”

 

Amber sighed and shook her head, this could be more difficult then she'd figured, hadn't he been reading during class? Dipping her chopsticks into the ramen she pulled out a good size clump and blew on it, “How about you read up on the section while I start us off.”

 

he paused, wondering if he was really about to study out side of school, then shook that thought away, obviously Amber was different then most girls that saw the inside of Himchan's apartment, he had to go about this in a unique way- Amber seemed to value hardworking smart guys so he'd just have to be one... at least until he got into her pants.

 

And as if fate (also known as Zelo) had a sick sense of humor, the front door of Himchan's apartment swung open and in walked five very loud boys, two of them Amber remembered being from the same class as her and Himchan, “Ah~ hyung! Oh, you have company!” Zelo grinned and walked in unannounced and plopped down in between Himchan and Amber.

 

“What're you guys doin' here?” he shot a glare towards Yongguk who held back his laughter as he shrugged, “we're busy studying.” the ice on his tongue was enough to send shivers down everyone's back.

 

“Hi I'm Zelo, hyung talked about you at lu-” before Zelo could say any more Himchan's hand covered the younger boys mouth.

 

“Don't listen to him Amber, he's the spawn of the devil!” Himchan spewed before being pulled off of Zelo by Yongguk who didn't like his littlest “brother” touched like that, “Yongguk, he-”

 

“Noona, What's your name, you have really pretty eyes.” Zelo beamed and grasped Amber's hands.

 

Amber laughed, “it's Amber, how old are you.” she patted his head and wondered how a highschooler could be so damn cute.

 

“Sixteen Noona!”

 

“That's enough Zelo, you'll kill Himchan Hyung if you act like that.” another boy smiled and sat down where Himchan previously sat, “I'm Jongup, It's nice to meet you Amber.” he held out his and and shook Amber's hand gently, “We heard a lot about you last year, to be honest I'm not surprised, you being related to Kim Jonghyun and all.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Jonghyun, he's constantly being talked about in town, famous family after all.” Daehyun stated and sat down at the coffee table, “your family used to be the richest in Kwangju until Mr. Kim up and left his ex wife and youngest son to scrounge around, even now it's 'Mrs. Kim got a new face lift even though she's heavily in debt' or 'Kim Jonghyun's cheating again' hearing about you wasn't much of a surprised, I think it'd be more surprising if you hadn't been talked about at all.”

 

Amber didn't know if she liked this boy, he seemed like a know it all, to smart for his own good, “We can't help it if people pay attention to us.”

 

“Talks like one of the famous Kims as well, what you get your self into Himchannie.” Daehyun laughed loudly then began to eat Himchan and Amber's ramen, not bothering to ask.

 

Himchan pushed Yongguk away, “What're you guys doing here, we need to study.” in which Amber nodded.

 

“Himchan study?” Daehyun laughed even louder, gaining a smack from Himchan.

 

“Out, all of you!”

 

“calm down Channie, we just wanted to hang out, we've never gotten to talk to the famous Amber after all.” Youngjae smiled and waved over at Amber who waved back, confused by their antics- why were they so interested in her, sure her family got talked about a lot but that didn't make her any special.

 

“That and Hyung wanted to see you as soon as possible, he said it's important.”

 

Himchan froze then bit his lip- he didn't like giving up so soon but he knew making his Hyung wait was asking for trouble, “I'll head over now, can you get her home for me.”

 

“Himchan we haven't finished this project and you wanna go play with your little friends? It's due tom-”

 

“yeah, no problem.” Yongguk nodded and patted Himchan's should before whispering in his ear, “If you need help-”

 

“I got it Guk, just do what I asked.” Himchan pushed away then grabbed a sweatshirt, “sorry Amber, rent's due.” he called over his shoulder before heading out the door.

 

“Yah, Himchan you jerk, I'm not finishing this thing-” the door slammed and Amber let out a frustrated growl, “What a useless jerk, hasn't contributed a single thing and-”

 

“You ready to go Liu, we've got a pretty tight schedule.” Yongguk stated and pulled out his cell phone, “hmm, Jongup and Zelo will take you home.” he stated before looking back at her, “Or would you rather stay here and wait for Himchan's uncle to get back, he's bound to be drunk right about now, I'm sure he'd love for you to stay.”

 

Amber raised an eyebrow then shook her head and began to gather her things, “I can get home by my self.” she mumbled then stood up.

 

“aw, I wanted to hang out some more noona!” Zelo whined.

 

“er, sorry Zelo-ssi.” she said and awkwardly patted him on the head before sliding through Jongup and Daehyun and headed towards the door, stopping when Yongguk placed at hand on her shoulder.

 

“It's a rough neighborhood Liu.”

 

Amber looked up at him and smiled, “I'll be fine, the bus stop isn't to far and it's still light out. Thanks for offering.” she slung her bag over her shoulder and stepped over a nice sized pile of junk before heading out the door, ignoring the calls from the boys. She hurried out the door and headed to the steps, she could see Himchan just going down the road- there was no way in hell he was getting away with making her do all the work.”

 

She sped up, truly grateful that her ankle was fully healed, hoping to catch Himchan before the others caught her. As he turned down an alleyway he turned back and was surprised to see her heading his way, “Yah, go home Amber.” he yelled at her and took off quickly as he could down the way.

 

“You're gonna help me with this assignment you lazy .” she called to him and turned the corner as well, stopping abruptly when she found it vacant, “Yah, Kim Himchan!” she called.

 

“Damn you're a fast runner.” Zelo huffed as he was the first to catch up to her.

 

“Where is he? This thing's due tomorrow and he hasn't done a thing?”

 

Once he finally caught his breath he straightened up and smiled, “Eh, hyung has to go to work now, it's a bit more important to him then school is... I hope you understand.” he made several cute gestures that Amber ignored.

 

“yah, where'd he go?” she questioned Yongguk who finally got there.

 

“What the kid said, work, we got a different life then you Liu, you might as well head back to your nice little home and calm your down.” he looked towards Jongup who stood next to him, “get her home Jongup, I got something I gotta take care of.” and with that he sent Jongup and Zelo a warning look before heading away with Daehyun and Youngjae fallowing behind.

 

“Shall we go then?” Jongup smiled pleasantly before pulling Amber and Zelo along.

 

 

 

“I wasted all this time getting here just to argue and eat ramen- ramen that I didn't even get to finish thanks to your friend back there.” Amber complained to Zelo on the bus ride home- Himchan's apartment was clear on the other side of town, something that made Amber wonder even more as to why he was going to her school when there was a school closer to him, one that was cheaper as well.

 

“Hyung's a jerk noona, you should really not hang out with him, he'll just drag you down.”

 

“Be respectful.” Jongup stated.

 

“It's the truth, I mean how worthless can you get.” Zelo's words only made Amber the more curious about her History partner- she didn't want to believe someone was worthless, maybe he just needed some help to get on his feet, someone to whip him into shape maybe? She nodded her head (making the boys question her sanity since they hadn't said anything in the last few minutes) and resolved to help him straighten up, it'd be her goal of the year!

 

(AN- sorry for the slightly boring update, as well as the lack of updates ALL FREAKING MONTH -.- Christmas, work, sickness and family kept me busy all month (I'm just getting over the flu which was terrible this time around, I actually ended up getting Pneumonia from it -.-) so yeah, I actually had plans of getting this chapter out weeks ago but then a bomb of terrible hacking couphiness happened so I'll try to update in a quick manner.)