CAPTURE THIS (Updating regularly)

Chapter 5

Amber nodded thoughtfully. "I'll come see you after school. Go to work and distract yourself from all of this. I'll meet you at the gallery at six." 

Her words seemed not to have any affect on his mood.

"Yeah sure," he answered dejectedly. "See you later." 

Amber was on the verge of spilling everything about the night before but at the sound of his defeated voice, she bit her tongue. Now wasn't the time. He needed her now. 

She put the phone down and braced herself to prepare for getting off of the bus. It felt like a pair of fifty eyes were burning a hole in her back as she stood up. The crutches were deteriorating her self esteem  rapidly. Keeping her eyes glued to the floor, she tugged on her crutches, trying to pull them free from a crevice of the bus they seemed to have jammed themselves in. She fought to keep the blush off of her face as the little elderly lady who had been sitting next to her, gave her crutches an almighty pull and set them free. 

The whole bus seemed to be holding its breath waiting for her to get off of the bus. She thanked the driver as loudly as she could from the back exit of the bus. 

Fortunately, it was only a short walk from the station to the school. It was an ugly old building. The bricks were stained with soot from a fire that had taken place over two hundred years ago. The paint was peeling from the doors, and Amber was fairly certain that every single window was the home of an individual spider. 

The inside of the school was a far cry from the outside. The school had been redecorated just last year. Their quirky headmaster opted for bright combinations of colours for each room. On the walls were inspirational quotations about success which no-one had ever bothered to read. After having spent six years in this building, Amber felt very much at home there. 

The day began with registration. Amber checked the register in the summer and was pleased to find that she happened to be in her usual class with Saf and Zora. She saw Saf first. He was sat at the back of the classroom, waving at her as she walked through the door. 

Saf's actual name was Saffir but as no-one seemed to be able to pronounce his apparently exotic name properly, he insisted that they called him Saf. Amber still wasn't entirely sure if she knew how to say his name properly despite sitting next to him in registration for six years. His usually honey coloured skin had darkened several shades after heading back to Bangladesh for the summer, something that he had been dreading in the weeks before they went abroad. Amber hadn't had the chance to speak to him all summer. They weren't the type of people who texted each other everyday but they would hang out together at school and occasionally visit each other's houses. 

He had a wide grin on his face, his braces glinting under the light. Amber couldn't help but smile back at him as she hobbled towards the table.

"Gosh, I hardly recognised you," she told him cheekily. "What happened? Did you decided you weren't cooked enough?" 

Saf rolled his eyes. "You could have come up with a better one than that." 

Amber giggled at his mock-annoyance as she sat down in the chair beside him. "It's been a long summer. I'm just warming up... unlike you. Did someone forget to take you out the oven." 

Saf howled with laughter, tipping his chair back as he did so. Once he calmed down, he eyed her crutches. "What happened to you? I may be burnt, but at least all my limbs work."

Amber absent mindedly places a hand on her wound over her trouser. "Oh you know, I stabbed myself with a paintbrush." 

Saf's eyes widened with a mixture of concern and curiosity. "As you do, of course. It wasn't intentional was it? I know you're dying for a boyfriend, Ambs but this is a whole new level of desperation."