The bell rang throughout the school, alerting the student-body that recess was over. Krystal and her group of newly-made acquaintances dispersed along with the rest of the students in the cafeteria, each going their separate ways. She was the only sophomore of the group while the rest were seniors, with the exception of Sulli who was the lone junior. She left the cafeteria and made her way towards her locker which she had spent a significant amount of time searching for that morning to pick up the books needed for her next class.

    Grabbing her Mathematics textbook, she sighed into her locker and wished that math could cease to exist so that the pain and suffering of a million teenagers would come to an end. Why was math invented anyways? Why couldn’t humans be contempt with not knowing about calculations and numbers and just, measuring stuff? Why couldn’t we just let life run its own damn course without us keeping track of every little thing that happens? Why are we so-

    “You’re welcome.”

    Krystal turned her neck towards the source of the voice which came from behind. She took one look and almost immediately turned back to her locker to take out her math book and pencil case.

    “What for?” she asked monotonously, slamming her locker shut a little harder than needed.

    “For leaving out the part where you were on both your knees crying your eyes out.” The person behind her replied in a ‘matter-of-factly’ tone.

    Her body turned to face the idiot that now stood opposite her. “Nobody asked you to,” she said, voice filled with complete annoyance and eyes boring into the latters.

    “What’s your problem?” Amber asked with her arms tightly crossed in front of her stomach.

    “You.”

    Amber scoffed, turning her head to the side. “What, you have issues with people being nice to you?”

    “No,” Krystal shook her head slightly, “just with know-it-all heads.” With that, she turned away from Amber and started walking down the hallway.

    “Don’t you find that a little ironic since you don’t know me and yet, here you are calling me a know-it-all head?” Amber scoffed again as she caught up with Krystal. She walked beside Krystal, following her every step.

    God, why is she still here? Krystal ignored the blonde as she carried on walking to her math class. She forced her eyes to stay on the space in front of her and to never look to the side. Wanting to be left alone, she tried to have a change of pace as she walked. She sped up for a few moments and slowed down then sped up again in hopes that a certain someone would get the hint and leave her be.

    “I mean seriously, why are you being so judgmental towards me? You weren’t like this with the others.” Nope, okay, she’s still there.

    “So, tell me,” Amber quickened her pace as she felt Krystal do so, “what did I do to deserve this special treatment?”

    Krystal rolled her eyes as they walked past a few classes that were already filled with students. She scanned the hall for hers, giving Amber the ‘special treatment’ she rightfully deserved.

    “Oh, so you’re not speaking to me now? Awesome.”

    The hallway was becoming less occupied with people as they made their way into their respective classes. The noise died down in the hall and soon, it would just be Krystal and Amber out there if she still couldn’t locate her class. Where is that damn class?

    “Yep, Krystal, Soo-Jung or whatever, you’re really an adult for doing this. No, really. I am impressed.” Amber said, voice laced with nothing but sarcasm. She then stopped abruptly in her tracck. Tt was so sudden, Krystal's legs followed suit and had unintentionally come to a halt too.

    "It's this one," Amber nudged her head towards the class they were standing next to then began walking away. Before she was out of hearing distance, Amber took the chance to say one last thing to the girl who still remained standing outside her class, clearly surprised at the blonde's sudden leave.

    "And just FYI, when people do nice things for you, it's basic manners to thank them first before you start ing up to them."

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

    Amber crumpled up the note she had just written and tossed it out the window. She wasn't much of a litter bug and was always fully aware of how badly the environment was treated so she did what she could to help make a difference, but today was not one of her eco-friendly days. She could have tossed three thousand paper balls out the window and didn't give two s about it. She wanted to hold something, anything -- a can, a plastic bottle, someone's head in between her fingers and palm, then crush it with all her might. She wanted to feel satisfied upon hearing her strength causing something fragile to crumple between her fingers.

    She told herself to calm down, to focus on the poem that she was tasked to write. 

    There's nothing to be pissed about anyway.

    Bringing the tip of her pen towards the new sheet of paper she had placed on her desk, she started scribbling on it. She let the words flow smoothly out her head and onto the piece of paper but it wasn't long before she got irritated by her dissatisfaction towards her work. Her writing came to a stop on the fourth line when she couldn't think of anything else to write. She turned her head towards the window on her left and breathed out heavily. She didn't understand why her friends got the friendly side of Krystal when she herself who made it clear that her intentions were kind and genuine was shown the ier side instead. Even if she had been mistaken for a ert at first, and of course that wouldn't have left a good first impression, but Amber had explained herself and cleared her name. So, why was she still being singled out by the new girl? And I picked up her lost book, for God's sake.

    When Amber had heard Luna call Krystal "Soo-Jung", her mind immediately and without a doubt recognized the name as the owner of the lost book she had picked up that morning. She found it, handed it over to the office and had even left behind a friendly note as a reminder to be more careful with belongings. Having almost lost her own class schedule that very same morning, Amber couldn't help but feel the irony of it all. It amused her, how things were happening on the first day of her senior year, but all that amusement was quickly replaced by her own annoyance and frustration. Twice she had helped the girl and she still received nothing but a face of annoyance. What did she do wrong?

    "Something is definitely up with you today."

    Amber lazily turned her head towards her seat-mate. Key tapped the of his pen on his desk as he continued to stare at Amber, awaiting for a reply. When he received none, he decided to dig deeper. Going with what his gut was bugging him to ask, he leaned nearer to the edge of his desk and towards Amber, "Is it the new girl?"

    "What if it is?" Amber asked back with an expressionless face.

    A slight smile appeared on Key, knowing that his sixth sense was doing a great job. Who said only women were good at these things?

    "You pissed at her or something, boo?"

    Amber exhaled through , "Nah, just annoyed."

    "Who wouldn't?"

    Surprised by Key's quick reply, Amber tilted her head and sent a questioning look at her fabulous friend.

    "Hello, I was there when she was all 'Hi, I'm Soo-Jung, nice to meet y'all' with the rest of us and then suddenly turned into 'I'm Soo-Jung but Krystal's what I like to be called' when she was talking to you," he said, throwing in little hand motions while explaining, "also, I saw the whole sneaking-up-behind-her-at-the-lockers scene."

    "What?"

    "Sheesh, it's not like I was following you around or anything. My locker's there so stop flattering yourself."

    "Huh," Amber eyed Key suspiciously, not buying whatever the boy was selling.

    "Ugh, whatever," he rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue, "But yeah, I witnessed your little argument with her."

    Amber broke her eye contact with Key and sighed, "I just don't understand why she's being such a to me."

    Key chuckled, "Me neither but try not to let it get to you, girl. You know how some people can be."

    "But I was just trying to help," Amber groaned.

    "Yeah, you and your Mother Theresa qualities. This is why people think you're a ert. You put yourself out there too much and you're just so desperate to provide assistance," he said looking at Amber, "which normal person does that?"

    "This normal person," Amber pointed at herself.

    Key laughed and shook his head, "Hmm, which reminds me, since everyone knows you're so eager to help people, Vic asked for a favor and we took a vote. The supposed tutoring assistant for the math class that she's subbing for bailed and she needs a new one pronto."

    Amber faked a laugh, "Seriously? But I can't do math."

    "Well, you know what they say, 'Those who can't do, teach'."

    "But I don't even-"

    "Oh, shut it, Ams. We know you get A's for math like Henry gets middle fingers for picking up girls," Key said, cutting off Amber.

    "But I hate math."

    "No one's asking you to like it, Vic just needs you to tutor it."

    "Ugh, but-"

     Before Amber could voice out another reason for her to ditch math tutoring, their English teacher stood up and announced to the class that they had three more minutes to complete their poem assignment before class ended and they had to hand their work in. Amber looked back down at her work, or at what should have been her work. She had three minutes left on the clock but there was still at least 10 lines to go before she could wrap things up. Quickly settling all thoughts and distractions aside, she picked up her abandoned pen and let her creative juices flow. Line after line, she kept writing and writing, not letting anything or anyone stop her from her long train of thoughts that formed into poetic words, at least what she hoped to be poetic words.

    When she was done, she slowly place her pen down on the side of her table and stared at her work of art. Her head nodded and her lip curved into a slight smile as she read from word to word, feeling satisfied with her rushed assignment. She glanced over to her fellow friend and found him still hurriedly writing away on his paper. A soft but evil laugh erupted from Amber when she saw that he was only on his second line of the poem.

    Key looked towards his friend when he heard the laugh and shot her a glare. Amber returned the gesture by grinning evilly at him.

    That's what you get for eavesdropping, you little homo.

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

    Before Amber left her previous class, Key had informed her that Vic would be waiting for her in the math class that she would be tutoring in. Leaving Key behind to finish his poem, she made her way down the hall and into a different block where she would meet up with her ex-senior who had taken up the job as a sub in the high school that she graduated from two years back. Amber smiled at the thought of having her unnie back in school. She missed Vic, she really did.

    When she first transferred to the Korean middle school from California, she knew no one and had no one to talk to. Her Korean was non-existent and she wasn't aware of the local traditions and customs. With her parents dead and buried back in the States, there wasn't anyone to guide her through things. There was her older sister, but she was a drunk and was never sober enough to have a serious conversation with Amber. In fact, the only memory of Jackie being completely sober was when she picked Amber up from the hospital where her parents were pronounced dead in and then bringing her home to pack up her things. When everything Amber needed was stuffed into a small backpack, they headed straight for the airport and booked a one-way flight to Seoul. As soon as the then 13-year old Amber stepped into the cramped apartment of her sister's on Korean soil, Jackie left her under-aged sibling alone and went out the door. She returned in the wee hours of the morning, waking up her sleeping sister on the worn-out couch when she slammed the front door closed. Amber had never seen her sister sober since, not even when they were asked to attend their parents' funeral by their grandparents. 

    Even at a young age, Amber came to a quick conclusion that her sister was not one to depend on. She would have to try and work things out herself, but being only 13 at the time, there wasn't much she could do for herself, at least not until she was put into middle school where she met her first friend on foreign land and the first person that could ever come close to being an older sister to little Amber.

    Vic took her under her wing as soon as she found the poor girl locked inside one of the stalls in the school toilet, no doubt being one of the school bully's doing. Not knowing a single word of the Korean language at the time, Amber could only mumble a few words of her mother tongue at Vic and miraculously, the older girl replied her in fluent Mandarin, being a Chinese descent herself. And that was the start of their sibling-like relationship.

    Vic took care of Amber, she gave her everything she needed-- love, protection and guidance. Everything that God had taken away the moment He let Amber's parents' car collide with another. She was grateful of Vic's existence because Amber knew fully well that without her, she would have been nothing. Nothing, or dead. 

    "Aah yes, my help has arrived," Vic made her way towards the door where Amber was standing at. She put one hand on the blonde's arm and pulled her into the class. "Alright, everyone. This is Amber, a senior who has kindly volunteered to be the tutor for every one of you who has problems with math."

    Vic smiled at her class, sending signals with her eyes for her students to clap and welcome the tutor. Amber's hand went to the back of her neck as the students started clapping, feeling rather awkward standing in front of a class full of sophomores. 

    "So, kids, if you have problems with math, any problems at all, don't hesitate to confront Amber or me, but preferably Amber because she's the assigned tutor," Vic explained, placing her hand onto Amber's shoulder, trying to ease up the tension building up in the blonde, "since I'm sure all of you have a knack for overestimating your mathematics skills, we will have a short quiz later to see where your real standard lies and if it's below the bar that I have set, you will be put under the care and supervision of Amber until you are given the green-light to be on your own."

    The class instantly groaned while Amber and Vic broke into a laugh. Although Amber wasn't exactly thrilled at the thought of having to tutor these children in one of her most hated subjects ever, she would try her very best to live up to Vic's expectations of her. She depended on Vic throughout her pre-teens and now it was time to return the favor. She was confident that she could do her job as a tutor well. She had to because she didn't want to disappoint her senior with such a simple task. 

    Yes, I will not mess this up. I will not mess this up. I will not mess thi-

    As Vic continued in attempting to calm the class down, Amber's eyes circled around the room awkwardly until she felt it fall upon the the black irises of a certain student. She blinked a few times, hoping that her mind was playing tricks on her but, it just wasn't her day to be delusional. 

    Oh.

    .

A/N right, so this took a lot longer than expected and sorry for the errors made. i'm scared that this story will blow over and bore the hell out of everybody. ​i won't lie because i feel a little lost writing this and idk maybe some comments might help englighten things a little? what do you guys think aha