Krystal was almost certain that she had committed some sort of mistake towards her math tutor slash senior. It had been days since she had a real conversation with Amber, not that it was a habit for the two to have an actual sit-down to talk about life and other interesting topics about the world, but when it came to talking to the blonde, Krystal had never felt the barrier, the wall that she had been feeling recently. Sure, Amber replied her, responded to her and kept her company, but there was something that was just not quite right. Krystal sensed that Amber wasn't quite there. Had she done something that drove Amber to the edge?

    But what was it? What could she possibly have done to receive such attitude, such icy treatment from the blonde. 

    And what's up with the freaking wall?

    You know that feeling when you're in a room and you see this beautiful piece of fried chicken lying deliciously on a golden plate right at the center of the room, whispering seductively at you, "if you're ready, come and get it", and when you do, you run face first into this brick wall that hadn't been in the room and had just decided to pop up out of nowhere? Talking to Amber felt just like that. Well, not exactly like that because one, Amber wasn't a "beautiful piece of fried chicken"; two, even if Amber were to become a deep-fried piece of meet, why on earth would she ever whisper seductively at Krystal? Sigh, yeah, why would she ever do that? But basically, there was just something between Krystal and Amber that felt like a dam. A dam, that was getting in the way.

    Before this "cold war" between Krystal and Amber broke out, never did Krystal ever feel like there was something restraining the blonde from speaking her mind. She was always the first to tell Krystal how crazy her day was or how not-crazy Krystal's day probably was because all she ever did was stay in class and stare out her window. She would then proceed to her usual mumbling about "what's so interesting outside the window anyway?" as Krystal pretended to be too captivated by the view of cars driving by to have heard Amber's silent mumbles.

    Krystal always thought of Amber as someone who never let her guard up, because why would she need to? Being so optimistic, so positive about life, there wasn't any reason for her senior to ever feel the need to pour out some concrete and start moulding the shape of her walls. Amber trusted people and she never seemed to harbor any negative thoughts about anyone. It was like she only saw the good in people and everything else was irrelevant. Krystal wasn't entirely sure if Amber had chosen to see that about everyone or it just came naturally to her, but what she knew for sure was that Amber wasn't one to keep things to herself(in a good way). If she had anything to share, be it a loaf of white bread, a piece news about the weather or anything at all, she would share it with just about anyone within a 100-meter radius. 

    But apparently, Krystal wasn't part of 'anyone'. Maybe be she was before, but somewhere along their one-month long friendship, she had been dropped out of that category. It didn't matter if she was 100 meter, or 20 centimeter away from her blonde senior; Krystal wasn't getting whatever friendly signal everyone else was receiving from Amber. The only signal she picked up was the one filled with static and unclear disturbances. As to why that happened, Krsytal had as much clue as a caveman would if an iPhone 5s was shoved into his hands. Maybe Amber didn't even see them as friends in the first place? Maybe she was just being nice and treated Krystal like how she did to everyone else, but then grew weary of Krystal's ty attitude?

   Maybe it's just a phase? Yeah, maybe she had a bad week and was just, menstruating? But why does it feel like she's just avoiding me? Like I'm the only one prone to her treatment of indifference?

    Her mind brought back a memory from a week before, when all this started, when Amber first showed signs of her indifference. Amber was in her usual spot at the lunch table, between Krystal and Key, totally immersed with the cheeseburger she held between her two hands. Krystal herself was letting her homemade sushi perform its duty at filling up her stomach while the rest of the table erupted with voices of her friends in their own conversation with each other. Only two people were truly quiet at that moment; one being Krystal and the other, the blonde-haired senior. 

    Krystal had secretly glanced over to her right a few times, wondering what Amber was doing only to find the blonde munching away without much care towards the rest of the world. All she did was much, munch, chew, chew, pause, swallow and the cycle went on.

    Krystal tapped her feet quietly under the table, waiting for Amber to turn her head over upon realizing that she hadn't made her daily effort to talk to Krystal. She waited, and waited, but nothing happened. Amber didn't stop her eating and she definitely didn't seem like she was about to open to do anything but munch. Was this her not acknowledging Krystal's existence? Usually at this time of the hour, she would've already covered enough ground for Krystal to know what the group would be doing this weekend to the upcoming topics to be discussed during their math tutoring session, but weirdly enough, Amber wasn't her chatty self that day, or so she thought.

    Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Key leaned closer to Amber and whispered something into her ear. She quickly diverted her attention when she saw that Amber's head was going to turn her way. She prepared her ears for Amber's low voice as she continued biting away on her piece of sushi but to Krystal's surprise, nothing was heard. Glancing up, she found that not only was Amber no longer rooted to the seat next to her, but was all the way across the cafeteria table, chatting away with Luna and Sulli. No one would've believed that the Amber who was munching away quietly on her cheeseburger with a blank expression a minute ago was the exact same Amber that was now sandwiched in between the two most hyperactive people in the group, talking and laughing away like there was no tomorrow. Every time Krystal glanced up, either Amber had her jaw hanging and mouth wide open, laughing hysterically or was showing her white dentures, giving her two female friends a toothy smile. She definitely looked like she was having fun, at least more fun than she had sitting beside Krystal. Why am I feeling like I've just been abandoned?

    Shrugging off her over-thinking, Krystal put down her chopsticks and placed the bento back into her bag. Now that she was finished with her lunch, she listened in to the group's conversation and tried to put on a face that didn't say I'm-lonely-and-abandoned-someone-please-talk-to-me. Luna and Sulli were engrossed in a conversation about one of the teachers in the faculty with Henry occasionally inserting his thoughts and opinions. Luna mentioned that the teacher had some sort of foul smell to him and that could only mean that they were talking about Mr. Lee, her current Physics teacher. Sensing that she finally had an 'in' to the conversation, she decided to ask something she already knew the answer to.

    "How does he smell like?" She had asked so she could escape her own silence throughout recess period, but a moment passed before anyone said anything and that someone being Key. Feeling a little disappointed because she had been betting on Amber to jump up to her and give her the full details to her Physics teacher's personal scent, she tried her best to still look interested in what Key was saying to her. Not wanting to seem like she was being out of it, she asked Key another question. 

    The fashion-worshipping boy gave Krystal a thorough explanation, not that she was actually paying much attention to it, what with her mind preoccupied with other stuff. Stuff that might or might not be related to a certain blonde. She hadn't even noticed that Key was done talking and if it weren't for the sudden outburst of laughter around her, she would've continued her zoning out. She pretended to laugh along as well, seeing that everyone around her looked like they were on the verge of tearing up. She laughed without knowing why, all she got out of Key's explanation was just one, single word. 'Durian.''

    In the midst of laughter, her eyes unconsciously trailed over to the blonde. She saw Sulli raise one of her legs to kick Amber off her seat and before she knew it, Amber was out of her sight. Then, a figure towered over her and soon after, Krystal felt the presence of a body right next to her.

    Well, well, well. Guess who decided to come home?

    Glad that Amber was back to her usual seat, Krystal started to hum mentally as she waited for the blonde to strike up a conversation with her, but again, things did not happen the way Krystal wanted it to. Stealing yet another glance at her senior beside her, she saw that Amber was back to giving all her love and attention to the food at hand. Not wanting recess to pass without Amber uttering a single word to her, but also not wanting the blonde to have the idea that Krystal had actually wanted to talk to her, she said to Amber in a semi-bored tone the only thing she was sure the group was talking about.

    "So, you're not a Durian fan?" Krystal asked without turning to look at Amber. She then waited for a reply which felt like it wasn't going to come, at least not in this decade as Amber was taking her sweet time answering her. After God-knows how long, Amber finally opened up to speak, but all that came out was a 'no' and then another pause of a lifetime before she continued on with, "no, I'm not."

    Wow, Amber. Congratulations, I'm officially a 100 years old, Krystal thought to herself. Took you long enough to realize that you had to answer me.

    "I've never had--" Krystal started to say but was suddenly interrupted by Amber who abruptly rose from her seat. She yammered out some lame excuse about having to leave to the table, then with her bag slung over a shoulder, she quickly left and went out the cafeteria doors before anyone could even blink. 

    What was that about?

    "She didn't even wave us goodbye," Sulli pouted after Amber disappeared out the doors.

    "And look," Henry reached over Krystal and held up a water bottle, "she left her beloved bottle here."

    "Aish, that little kid. Toss it over, I'll give it to her later in class," Luna said as she stretched out her arm to grab hold of the blue-colored water bottle.

    Krystal immediately got up and swapped the bottle right out of Henry's grip. "I'll just run after her since she might have a panic attack after realizing that this is nowhere to be found," she said in a breath before leaving the table for Amber. Hopefully, the blonde hasn't gone that far yet.

    She ran her way to the cafeteria exit, the one Amber had used just now, and pushed open the heavy metal doors. Rushing into the empty hall, she discovered that Amber indeed hadn't gone far. In fact, it didn't seem like she was going to leave the hallway anytime soon because she was just standing there, with her feet rooted to the ground next to the lockers. Krystal began making her way to the blonde, glad that she had found her, but as soon as she started walking, Amber's feet kicked into motion as well but in the opposite direction. The closer she thought she got to Amber, the quicker Amber's pace would become.

    "Hey! Where are you going?" Krystal yelled out to Amber, hoping that the latter would stop in her tracks upon realization that Krystal was calling out to her, but she didn't. Amber didn't stop walking, if anything, she looked like she was about to break into a run.

    "Hey! I'm talking to you!" Krystal tried again. "Will you please stop speed-walking? I'm trying to talk to you here." But all her senior did was walk, or better yet, jog, further away from her. Not understanding why Amber didn't want to stop to reply her, she quickly sped up her own walking and when she was close enough, she reached out her hand to grab onto Amber's hoodie. She pulled Amber backwards with all the strength that she had and was satisfied when the blonde finally stopped walking.

    Krystal saw Amber jerked her head towards her and soon, she was met with a shout of annoyance that emitted from Amber's throat. Krystal moved back slightly, stunned by the tomboy's reaction. Not only did had her senior used a tone of voice she had never even thought to exist in Amber, but her eyes, Amber's eyes looked nothing like those that she had seen in her senior. The Amber that she befriended a month ago, the Amber who seemed to get her in a way that not many could. The Amber that was warm, understanding and patient and caring. And just, not like this.

    What happened to her?

    "Did you not hear me yelling after you or were you just being an ?" It was the only way Krystal knew how to deal with things when it got complicated. She knew that no matter what, she had to keep a straight face. She had to let others believe that she felt nothing, and could feel nothing. Of course, this wasn't an issue between her and Amber before, but now, it seemed like the tables have turned. And she had no other option but to hide her true feelings from Amber for now. 

    Krystal snapped her fingers in front of Amber's eyes. "Hello, earth to Amber? What are you up to?" And why the heck are you acting like this?

    Amber tilted her head up, but as soon as her eyes found Krystal's she turned her head away.

    What, now you can't even look at me?

    Not being able to handle how things were between them right now, Krystal began to speak again, but before she could get anywhere with her words, Amber shocked the younger girl even more by cutting her off.

    "What do you want?" Amber asked harshly.To Krystal, the question sounded more like "get the away from me" than "what do you want" and it not only managed to shock the brown-haired girl, but caused something in her to stir as well. Suddenly, she felt so small standing across from Amber, like she was guilty of bugging her and getting her mad. For being here.

    Trying not to let her emotions show, she quickly searched for words to say and finally settled on the bottle in her hand which she had almost forgotten about. She brought it out to Amber and waited for her to retrieve in. With a look of pure anger, Amber reached her hand out and swiftly took the bottle out of Krystal's grip. She muttered a low 'thanks' then her heels, about to march out of the place.

    Krystal was seeing Amber leave for the second time of the day and something in her told her that she might be the reason for all that. Without realizing what she was about to do, she reached out her shaking hand and placed it on Amber's shoulder. "Hey, is everything okay?" She couldn't help but ask.

    "Just fine," the blonde replied monotonously and with a quick shrug, she moved Krystal's hand away and left. She walked and walked and walked, and all Krystal could do was stay back and stare at Amber's blurring figure as she slowly disappeared out of view.

    If things were solely based and judged by that one incident that took place between the two of them in the cafeteria and the empty hallway, one would say that Amber was probably just having one of her moody days, but Krystal wasn't naive enough to believe in that.

    As this was just the beginning of the long list of proof of Amber's growing loathing towards the brown-haired sophomore.

A/N next update to look forward to(hopefully):

    Where's Amber? She's supposed to be here by now.

    As if on cue, the blonde-haired senior appeared at the doorway of the class. She slowly made her way to Krystal's table by the windows and sat herself down without greeting the sophomore sitting across from her. Amber reached into her pocket and took out her phone. Krystal heard the sound of her senior's iPhone unlock. She stared at Amber as the latter continued on with her code of silence as typed away on her phone's keypad with her slender fingers

    "Sorry," Amber said after their eternity of silence, with her eyes and fingers still glued to her phone, "Guess I forgot we had a session today."

    Oh, so you are aware of my presence. And, you forgot that you were supposed to meet up with me.

    Krystal was still in the process of processing Amber's words when she heard the other person in the room speak again. Although she said it quickly and very, very quietly, the low mumble was undeniably heard by the sophomore. And every word of the sentence was just like a stab in the chest.

    "Wish I was anywhere but here."

p.s i hope you guys didn't have too hard of a time at differentiating thoughts and non-thoughts in this update. things are a way more complicated in italics eheh thanks for bearing with this and with me :]