CAPTURE THIS (Updating regularly)

Chapter 8

Amber frowned down at her phone. It was five in the morning, what on earth was she still doing awake? 

She decided to call Ann instead of continue texting. 

"Hello?" 

"Ann, go to sleep. You need to rest. It's probably not good for the baby to be up so late." 

Ann sighed. "I wish I could, but I can't stop thinking about what I'm going to do after university."

"Give me a call when you go to bed. We can try to get some sleep together."

"Sure," Ann agreed distractedly. "Ambs... How does Dad seem? Is he still mad?

Amber hesitated, not knowing whether she should tell the truth about how stubborn her father had been the day before when she tried to convince him to let Ann come home. 

"Dad's... He's not happy. He wants what's good for you?"

Ann didn't sound impressed. "By kicking me out?"

"I know," Amber answered quietly. "I know it's stupid but I don't know how to change his mind." 

Ann sighed again wearily. "Forget it, Ambs. If this is what he wants, then leave it." 

Ambs desperately wanted protest but she knew it was no use. 

"I'll call you tonight, Ambs. I need to get some sleep before my lecture." 

"Sure. Be careful, please. Try not to do too much in your state," Amber advised her. 

"Right. Bye, Ambs." 

"Bye." 

Amber put her phone into her pocket and stared down at her crutches. Only one more day until she could walk around unaided. The wound didn't hurt much any more but she didn't want to cause any more strain before she saw the doctor. 

Amber hobbled off of the bus when it got to her stop and let herself into the house. She could faintly hear her father's snores and was grateful she did not have to face him. What was there to talk about any more? She didn't want to share how her day was going and she couldn't care less how his was. She took comfort in the fact that she would be adding to any of the stresses he'd have from his job. It was a new taste of bitter that Amber wasn't used to but a piece of her wanted him to struggle like she knew Amber was doing. 

Amber made her way up the carefully up the stairs. She had regained full function of her leg and she had grown impatient of the crutches. There was just one more day remaining before the doctor would take her stitches out but Amber was cautious - she didn't want the wound to become damaged because of her impatience. By the time Amber reached the top of the stairs, she had decided that she could manage one more day.

The sun had come up fully when Amber stepped out of the shower and got ready for school. She had a lot of time to get ready today so she decided to spend it taming her wild fiery hair. She looked up a new hair tutorial on Youtube and selected an updo which carefully pinned all her hair into place. Amber lost count the number of bobby pins she used to keep every single strand in place. She couldn't admit it to herself but she had one person on her mind as she wore her most flattering dress and a pair of comfortable wedge heels. Would he think her make up was too heavy? Maybe the red lips were just a bit too much?

By the time she got to school, Amber's self confidence had been knocked a number of times by people staring warily at her as she got on the bus, or people at school hurrying out of her way or holding doors open for her. 

Just one more day, she told herself. But that wasn't the only reason she was looking forward to Wednesday. The clearing in the forest, the smell of the earth, the breeze nipping little bites onto her bare hands, the sound of Alex humming... 

"So how was Matty when you left this morning?" Zora asked her as she sat down at their usual table for registration. 

Saf was playing with a Rubik's Cube and paused to give her a brief smile as a greeting. 

Amber shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I left before he woke up."

She fiddled with a spare hair tie around her wrist whilst internally debating whether she should tell them that she spent the night in his bed. The guilt was weighing down on. 

"He's a big boy, he can look after himself," Saf commented uninterestedly, momentarily distracting Amber from her inner turmoil. "Damn this thing! Mr Achebe gave me the equation for solving this thing but... I... can't... solve... it!"

He punctuated the last four words with a twist of the cube before frustratedly throwing it down on the table. 

"Maybe you wrote it down wrong," Zora suggested delicately plucking the cube off of the table with her long slender fingers.

Saf rolled his eyes impatiently. "Despite what you might think, I'm not illiterate, Zo. Amber takes English with me, she knows. Don't you Ambs?" 

But Amber was distracted from their bickering by the sound of the door opening. Mrs Bellerose didn't walk through the doorway as she had been expected. She felt a jolt run through her body as her eyes fell upon the inky black hair and a shadowy stubble that covered the bottom half of the man's face, who had just stepped through the door. 

"Right, settle down. I'll be taking this registration for Mrs Bellerose as she's out sick today." 

He froze with a hand still clutching the handle of the door as his eyes fell upon her red lips and tamed mane that was struggling to come free from its restraints. 

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Hey! 

I hope you enjoyed this little chapter. I really hope you guys like the pictures I've added to the beginning of each chapter. I'm particularly fond of the gif at the beginning of this chapter (if you're on mobile please comment and let me know if you can see it - my phone broke over the weekend!) 

You know how Amber's going to come out of her crutches on a Wednesday? I ended up in crutches on Wednesday. Weird coincidence, right?? I'm getting stupidly exited over it! 

Anyway, lemme know what you guys thought. I'm trying to make chapters shorter because I understand that they can drag a bit! 

Toodles. 

Fariha x