"Do you have class that you need to go to?" Vic asked her blonde-haired friend as she moved over to her desk, the teacher's desk, to pick up the small stack of paper lying there waiting to be passed down to the students. 

    Amber shook her head 'no' and took the quizzes out of Vic's hands. After getting the sub's 'go-ahead', she walked over to the students and started passing down the paper as Vic explained the details of the quiz. Vic announced to the class to begin answering their quiz as soon as they made sure that everyone had gotten it. Amber pulled an unused chair over to Vic's table as the class went silent with the students quickly scribbling away on their quiz paper. She tried to keep herself occupied while Vic pulled the usual teacher routine during a test, trying extra hard not to let her curious eyes wander around the corners of the class because she knew exactly where they would end up at.

    She leaned back on her chair, relaxing her head in the palms of her hand and trying not to think about the 30 other presence in the room but she knew in her heart that even if she somehow managed to forget about the 30 souls in class, her head would not let her lose her grasp on the thought of that one particular person. She was confused on why her mind was giving so much attention towards the rude, brown-haired sophomore. It's not like she deserves it.

    Vic slowly made her way to her desk and sat herself down next to Amber. She smiled at her young friend as she tidied up the papers and stationary on her desk. "So, it's been a while," she casually said as she put the last of the papers into the drawer.

    "Yes, Vic, it has. Where have you been for the last six months?" Amber asked, sitting up from her previously relaxed position. She wanted her question to be taken seriously. She hadn't spent six months of her life staring at her cell-phone, waiting for an overdue phone call from the closest person she had to a sister for nothing. "Two years via Skype was tolerable but then you disappear without so much of a warning for six months and now 'poof' you're here and I'll be seeing you every other day?" She continued.

    Though Vic was a little surprised at her dongsaeng's reaction, she didn't let her emotions overrule her state of mind. "Oh, you're complaining?"

    She started again, not letting Amber say what she had wanted to say, "Yah, I'm kidding. I'm sorry I disappeared on you for the last six months," she laughed, "but I had a valid reason to."

    "Oh, you do? Pray tell."

    "Well," she paused to grin at Amber, "I was trying to make this a surprise."

    "Are you serious?"

    "What? Aren't surprises like, your thing?" Vic asked with her eyebrows raised.

    "Yeah, yeah they are, but isn't this a little extreme?"

    "I don't know, maybe. I just missed you so much and when I was offered a job here, all I had in mind was how I should break the good news to you and I don't know, this idea popped up and well, you know the rest," Vic explained, glancing over to the students who were still immersed in their own work.

    "So, you're telling me that," Amber paused to think, trying to form words in her head, "that, you did this because you were too excited to see me?"

    "Yes."

    "That you missed me so much, you tried to become me?"

    Vic turned her head towards Amber and chuckled. "Sure?"

    With that, all questions about Vic's disappearance evaporated out of Amber's system as she leaned in for a hug. As Amber snuggled closer into Vic's warm embrace, a few coughs were heard from the class and Vic carefully pushed Amber away.

    "We're in school and I'm no longer a student so this might seem a little inappropriate," Vic laughed after distancing herself from Amber.

    "Oh jeez, don't even go there. A teacher-student relationship with you? No freakin' way, man," Amber pulled a sour face which earned her a slight punch in the arm by the older girl.

    They laughed about how and disgusting that sounded, then went on to talk about life. They had tons of catching up to do, and Vic had even more making up to do for ditching Amber for six months and making her worried. When Amber brought up the ert incident, Vic almost fell off her chair laughing. The students coughed again, louder this time to make sure that the sisterly duo knew that they weren't being very quiet. Vic collected herself, apologized and reminded the students of the amount of time left before the quiz was to be handed in. Turning to face Amber, she fell into fists of laughter once more.

    "Oh, my god, Amber. I never knew you had it in you," she laughed again, with her head down and supported by her hand.

    "Quit laughing. It's not even that funny," Amber poked a finger at Vic's head.

    "No, it actually is. I cannot believe you-"

    "Vic, seriously, stop. You're making too much noise," Amber said, cutting off Vic who was on the verge of laughing again. She looked at the class and caught a few angry and very much annoyed students throwing glares at them.

    "Okay, okay, fine," Vic sat up and wiped what seemed to be tears off the side of her eyes. "It's not that funny," she told herself.

    Seconds later, a series of laughter erupted from the teacher, but she this time, she made sure to keep her volume on a lower scale so she wouldn't disturb her hardworking students.

    "I'm sorry," she said to Amber, still trying to suppress her laughter in, "but when I think of you as a , it's just so-"

    Vic never continued her sentence as she went off to the La-la land of laughter, happily feeding off the latter's misery. Amber tried to calm her friend down, but every time she tried to say something, Vic would just turn into a bigger laughing mess. With all the staring and glaring given by the students, Amber couldn't risk anymore of it. So, she just sat back and let Vic get high on the idea of Amber being a .

    As much as she had wanted to shut Vic up, she couldn't. She smiled at the sight of Vic throwing her head back in laughter, glad that her being here was at least making someone happy. She liked it when people smiled. She loved it when people laughed. And she loved it even more when she was the reason behind the smiles and laughter.

......................................................

    "These are my notes from two years back. You should take a look through them," Amber placed a blue-colored notebook onto the desk and slowly pushed it over to the other side. She waited for the sophomore to pick it up or give some sort of reaction at least, but none happened. The latter just continued her stare out the class window and did what she does best in the presence of the short-haired girl-- ignoring her.

     Amber had seen this coming. No, she really did. As soon as Vic pointed out that only one student in class failed to reach the set standard of the quiz, Amber sent a silent prayer to whoever that was listening to not let things play out the way in did in her head. She prayed long and hard that it was some other dumb student who had failed the test. Someone who hadn't just transferred to the school, who didn't have long, beautiful brown hair, whose Bio book she hadn't picked up that very morning and who didn't mistaken her for a . Anyone but her.

    She had both her eyes tightly closed as Vic said the name of the student out loud. Maybe if she concentrated hard enough, the odds would be in her favor. When she opened them moments later, she found herself staring into the eyes of none other than Krystal Jung. Even with the distance that separated them from one another, she could already feel herself being pulled into a dark hole where she'd be forced to dig her own grave then burry herself in it. Truth be told, Amber's imagination and feelings were nothing but an extreme exaggeration to what might happen, but she couldn't help it. The way Krystal's eyes bored into hers just made her very insecure about herself. Insecure about what, she had no idea. All she knew was that of all the people and peers she had dealt with in her life, never was there someone as straightforward and shameless as the brown-haired sophomore.

    Is shameless even the right word to describe her?  Yes, she was rude. And a little mean. And a little judgmental, but were those qualities a shameless person would possess? Amber had not the slightest clue, but she thought maybe shameless wasn't the adjective for her.

    y, maybe?

    With a raised brow, she looked at Krystal as she continued to stare out the window. This girl had done a great deal to her on the first day of school slash the first day of her last year of school. From the moment she had laid eyes on the sophomore, her emotions were sent on a non-stop rollercoaster ride. She went from breath-taken to confused to amused to annoyed to downright pissed to scared to irritated and finally, awkward as she sat across of the brown-haired girl. Her mood swings were usually kept to a low tide, never really surfacing unless something titanic had taken place but now, she found her body stranded in a sea of emotions and no matter how hard she tried to swim ashore, her legs just wouldn't cooperate. 

    She talked to Vic about this, about how she should deal with people like Krystal. As much as she wanted to drag Krystal by the hair and strap her to an electric chair for being an to her for no particular reason whatsoever, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to this, that there was more to her than how she was letting others and even Amber perceive her. 

    "Just because she treats you a little differently than she does to others doesn't mean you should do the same. Be the better person, Ams. You're nice to everyone, so I don't see why you should treat her any differently. Just do what you do and things will lighten up."

    Amber knew in her heart that Vic was right. She was being childish for holding that pointless grudge on Krystal although it was short-lived. Amber wasn't mad or annoyed at the younger girl anymore. If anything, she felt foolish and angry at how she let her emotions control her. She wasn't going to be that person anymore. She wasn't going to be the ticking time-bomb that will one day blow up and destroy everything that she had ever cared for. No, this time she was going to be the bomb specialist. This time, she was going to do what she can to disconnect the wires and get herself one step closer to shutting down the bomb.

    Yes, one step at a time.

    Without breaking her gaze at Krystal, she leaned forward and placed both her arms on the desk, supporting herself. She forced her lips to curve into what would pass for a friendly, heart-warming smile. "Alright, so obviously we got off on the wrong foot here."

    Thinking that Krystal would continue assuming her role of being a spoilt 8-year old who was giving her dad the silent treatment because he didn't let her buy the latest Barbie merchandise, she opened to speak again in hopes of finding a way to clear and patch things up with the younger one.

    "No, you got off the wrong arm." It was a harsh whisper, but Amber had heard it. Krystal's out of the blue response caught Amber totally off-guard. Her mind went and whatever make-up speech she had planned out in her head was gone in an instant. She tried searching for the words, but all her mind couldn't go any further than I...she...I...I.

    Amber blinked. And blinked. And blinked. hung slightly open and her face was painted with what seemed to be a mixture of shock and confusion. Krystal turned away from the window and focused her eyes on the senior that sat in front of her. Joy shot through Amber when she saw that Krystal had finally come to acknowledge her presence. She had even talked to Amber. Now, that was progress.

    Her happiness was short-lived as soon as Amber realized that because Krystal was now paying attention to her, she was forced to come out of her mental shell and talk to Krystal. Yes, talk as in like, an actual conversation. Well, .

    Amber remained still. She wanted to lean back on her chair or run her hand through her hair or jump into the pit of a volcano, but her body wouldn't let her. Her arms were glued to the desk like how Krystal's eyes were glued to the figure opposite her. She had to come up with something to say and she had to do it fast. 

    "Your arm wasn't very nice."

    As soon as she let the sentence slip out of , she mentally cursed herself. Your arm wasn't very nice? You couldn't think of anything else to say like, "I'm sorry" or "you got it all wrong". Of course it had to be, "Your arm wasn't very nice." Genius, Amber. You're a genius.

    Amber faked a loud cough, dragging her hand to as she turned away from Krystal.

    "What I meant was," Amber said when she put an end to her coughing fit, "someone's not over the ert incident."

    "I don't think anyone who was that close to being taken advantage of would get over something like that in a day," Krystal replied with her gaze still following the blonde's every little movement.

    "Taken advantage of? Oh, please. I barely even touched you."

    "That's what all rapists say when they're confronted about what they did."

    "I'm not a ," Amber clarified for the second time that day, "and neither am I a ert. I told you, I'm not even interested in girls, but if I somehow had offended you or did something you didn't like last night, I apologize for it. I'm sorry, alright?"

    Krystal tore her gaze from Amber and looked away. Her attention was once again given back to the window next to her. She stared out the window, leaving Amber sitting there with her apology hanging and a million thoughts running through her mind.

    Amber didn't know what to think. She had just given the most sincere apology she could muster up in her lifetime(okay, maybe not) and Krystal didn't even give her so much of a response. She could have at least nodded her head or hummed or something. She didn't have to brush Amber's apology off her shoulders like it wasn't worthy of her acknowledgement. Even if she didn't intend to accept it, there was so much more she could do other than to ignore Amber and to turn back to look at whatever that was outside the damn window. 

    They sat in silence for what felt like an eternity, with Amber clenching her fist on her lap and Krystal seemingly blocking out the rest of the world. Amber felt the blood within her boil and she no longer knew if she had it in her to stop herself from doing something she'd regret. Noticing that her own knuckles were turning white, she exhaled, letting out the breath she had held in for too long.

    She prepared herself to stand up, but before her legs could do their job, another part of a body had picked something up. She looked up at Krystal, unsure whether her ears were functioning properly. She focused hard, willing her ears to hear what they heard a few seconds ago.

    A quiet, but obvious sob came from the only other person in the empty class.

    What have I done now?

A/N alright, so this chapter didn't turn out the way i planned it to be but oh wells. sorry for putting kryber in all these negatively-charged situations but it'll be better in the next chapter. a make-up session is on its way so hang in there. i'm sorry if this seems to be progessing really slowly ahaha oh and um, it's exam month now so i might not be around for the next two weeks? yep two weeks max. sorry but school got in the way ahah hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.