'Ken!' Emily managed to choke out before we were both overcome with laughter again.
The day flew by; I barely remembered anything I was supposed to have learned. A clear indication I am destined to succeed in life, I'm sure. What surprised me the most was how much fun Emily was. Not that she's usually a Debbie-downer, but I'd never seen her this happy. Perhaps it was Amber's absence. Not that I had mentioned anything to Emily, but I had noticed a few other absences too. Alex and Jared were nowhere to be seen. Not that I'd know where to look. Still, wherever I did look, they weren't there. Jared was probably off for Amber, and god knows where Alex was. Probably off skydiving, or chasing pigeons or something weird. I received another text from Amber around lunchtime, telling me she would meet Emily and I outside school at the end of the day. She said she had some news. I absorbed this vaguely mysterious text, and recited its contents to Emily, who had no idea what 'news' Amber was talking about.
We were sat on the same bench the tangerine had been on earlier that day. Scanning the crowds of sweaty, loud teenagers for any sign of Amber's tiny frame. I caught a glimpse of red hair, only to see it was a random guy.
'How about him?' Emily motioned towards a guy with a skateboard, and blue streak in his brown hair. I say we were scanning, I was scanning for Amber, Emily was trying to play matchmaker.
'Meh,' I commented on her choice of male, still craning my neck to find Amber in the crowd.
''Meh', she says. You try and help someone and they 'meh' you.' Emily mumbled. I let her voice fade into background noise still concentrating on finding the needle in the haystack.
'There,' Emily motioned lazily to a spot in the crowd, where Amber's cropped red hair was instantly recognisable. We waited as she struggled through the crowd towards us. That sounds too dramatic. She just walked through the crowd.
'Hey!' Amber directed the greeting towards both of us, but threw her arms around me crushing me in a bear hug. How can someone so small be so powerful?
'Hi.' I managed to choke out with my remaining supply of air after being hugged so tightly. She finally let go of me, and pulled Emily into a one armed squeeze.
'So? How's your Dad doin'? Everyone's been worried. Mum and Dad send their love.' I told Amber.
'Oh he's fine. Well his arm is broken but it's ok. He'll heal and stuff. He's comin' outta hospital tomorrow they just wanted to keep him in case of concussion or something. But, he says he doesn't even remember the crash. He swerved into a lamppost! How can he not remember? Weird. Anyway thank your parents, I'll tell Dad.' She rattled off, barely pausing for breath. She has a healthy set of lungs on her.
'Thank god he didn't get hurt worse.' Emily remarked, pulling Amber down onto the bench in-between us.
'I know.' Amber exhaled gustily, she looked tired and stressed, I decided not to pursue the topic of her Dad's accident for now.
'So what's the news? Come on, cough it up.' I gave her an expectant look. She seemed confused.
'News...? Oh yeah. I lied; I just wanted to make sure you'd meet me.' She flashed us a sunny smile. Emily rolled her eyes.
'Freak,' She muttered. Amber narrowed her eyes at her.
'Actually I do have SOME news. Kind of. It's about Alex,' Sideways glance at me.
'I spoke to Jared and he said something about Alex moving house or leaving or...' She trailed off, looking expectantly at me. As though I knew something about this.
'Oh.' Was all I could think to say. Again, I was pushing the limits of my vocabulary today. That was odd. Why was he moving when he just moved here in the first place? I tried to pass off my annoyance as confusion. I just didn't understand why someone would move so late in the school year, after only starting a new school for a few weeks. There was no point in lying to myself. I was upset if he was leaving, and annoyed that he hadn't said anything to me. Now I sound arrogant, I'm really not the type of person who expects everyone to run everything by me or anything. I just though, since we shared something so big, he might of mentioned it. He shouldn't go. He couldn't. There was so much more to him that I didn't know yet. It had been nice to meet someone my own age, with something I could never have in common with anybody else. Well, if he wanted to be all leaving and stuff then fine. I didn't care (I did care). It didn't matter (it did matter). It was at that moment I decided I needed to talk to him. He needed to hear all of these thoughts. Verbally, not through mind reading. Privacy people, privacy. I needed to talk to him, and yet I had no idea where he lived. Darn.
'Amber! I know what I needed to ask you! Do you know Alex's number; I need to text him about some homework thing...' I tried to sound casual, as if I routinely asked for guys numbers for 'homework' related issues. I didn't like the knowing smile creeping across Ambers face.
'Suuuuure. Well I can get it from Jared. If you REALLY want it. For 'homework'.' She winked at me. I shook my head at her. Not sure exactly what I was going to say to Alex yet, but I'd find the words. Eventually. Maybe. Hopefully...
Thanks for reading! Sorry it took so long to post this section up! Computer troubles and a lot of studying to do! Please do comment with feedback!
Cheers :)
Chapter 8- Moving? Part 1
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