Amber's pov:
Going through the front doors of school the next morning, I am constantly turning my head in every direction while looking for a certain figure.
The bundle of nerves in my chest has not gone away since yesterday, and I am about to scream if I don't figure out where it went.
Turning around the corner, I don't know whether to sigh in relief or let out a painful cry as I see Liam chatting with Luke and Ella by his locker.
Obviously I have to tell him sooner than later that the book he spent YEARS into making may be in someone else's hands.
Meaning that it's finder will know that I've been crushing on Damien for YEARS.
That does not sit right with me.
"Hey guys!" I try my best to sound cheerful as I walk towards the three of them. They turn towards me and greet me back.
"Well good morning sleeping beauty-... oh girl, maybe you should go back to bed." Liam doesn't even try to lie as he puts his finger over the bags under my eyes.
He's not lying though, I barely got any sleep last night due to stressing about the journal. My worst fear would be Damien finding out that I've actually had this major crush on him since middle school.
Not only would that be embarrassing, but he believes that I barely knew him when we first started talking, he's gonna know that I continued to lie to his face since I was too afraid to admit my crush on him.
Not only that, but I dreaded having the conversation about losing the journal to Liam.
"Don't you think it's a little to early for compliments?" I say, rubbing my sleepy eyes.
"As much as I hate to say it, he's right. You don't look as energetic as you usually are... Maybe you are coming down with something." Ella says, her mom mode activated as she feels my head and cheeks to check if I felt warm.
"I don't feel sick." I say as she withdraws her hands from my face.
"Well you feel fine, maybe you should stop at the café to get some caffeine in your system, it would do you good." She suggests.
I nod my head at her, finding it as the perfect excuse to pull Liam away to chat, "You're right, Liam do you mind coming with me?" I ask.
At my question he nods his head with a goofy grin before locking his arm with mine, "Of course, anything for my bestie."
We wave bye to Ella and Luke before heading towards the café, but once we are halfway there, I pull him to a stop.
With a guilty expression, I look towards the ground, "I have to tell you something."
Picking up on my mood, he puts a hand on my shoulder, "You can tell me anything, is everything alright?"
"No it's not... and I really don't know how you are going to react once I tell you this."
"oh my gosh..." Liam says all of a sudden, causing me to look up at him in shock thinking that he already found out.
I was wrong.
Very wrong.
"You and Damien did the dirty-..."
"What-... LIAM! NO!!!" My cheeks turn bright pink as I push his laughing form away while muttering a few interesting words under my breath at my so called best friend.
"I'm kidding! If you guys did it you would be crawling through those school doors on your hands and knees because-..."
Not wanting to here the rest, I cover Liam's mouth with the palm of my hand, "What I'm trying to tell you is really important Liam..." I say, removing my hand once I can tell that he understands.
"Okay, okay I'm sorry. I was just trying to lighten the mood a little bit." He replies cheekily, nudging my shoulder.
"I know... but I'm just really stressed because... I lost the journal."
Liam's smile drops as he stares back at me with a lost expression.
"What?"
"You know... THE journal."
"You mean the Ambien journal?"
I nod my head as he continues to stare at me dumbfoundedly.
"Yeah... that one."
"As in the journal that I made... the one with the beautifully drawn wedding photo of you and Damien on the front with a sh*t ton of pink sparkles... that one?" His eyebrows are raised as if he can't even believe it himself.
I can't even blame him because I doubted it too when I first came to realize it was gone.
"Yes that one, Liam what do I do?" I can't stop the tears from forming in my eyes and I cover my face with my hands, not wanting to make a scene in the hallway.
"Hey, shhhh... it's okay, there is no need for any of those tears." Liam says, pulling me into a hug as I can't help but let out an ugly sniffle.
"A-Aren't you mad?" I stumble over my words, doing the best I can to hold in my stress-induced tears.
Pulling away, Liam uncovers my hands from my face and holds them with his, "Why would I be mad?"
I stare back at him like he has grown three heads, "Because that journal was like your prized possession. You carried it everywhere with you."
"I wouldn't say everywhere-..." Liam draws out, earning an eyebrow raise from me.
"Okay so maybe I did like to keep the journal on me a good number of times, but why would I be upset when I now have the real thing in front of me!" He grins widely, throwing a suggestive wink at me.
"I-...ugh you had me stressed over nothing, I thought you were gonna yell at me or somethin."
Liam dramatically gasps while laying a hand over his heart, "How could you think that of me? I would never!"
"Oh really? So should we just ignore the time when I accidently spilled water all over your Shawn Mendes poster and you yelled-..."
"Hey! In my defense I was a middle schooler who was closeted with anger issues... you just got me mad at a bad time."
Rolling my eyes, I couldn't help but giggle, "You were really mad though."
"Don't we have more important things to talk about? Like the missing journal? Where did you even lose it?" He asks.
And for the next couple of minutes until the homeroom bell rings, I fill him in on all that I know so far about the disappearance of the journal. We concluded that it definitely had to have been stolen because that would be the only explanation to why my zippers on my backpack weren't how they usually were.
Unfortunately, I didn't check whether I had the journal walking into the hospital or not, so I don't know where it exactly could have been stolen. Luckily, I've only been to two places since the moment that Liam handed me the journal and when I discovered it was gone.
The school and the hospital.
I was leaning more towards the school because what medical professional in there right mind would want anything to do with some random teenager visiting their boyfriends' little sister.
But also, I don't think I've made any enemies at school to the point where they'd be snooping around in my backpack while I wasn't paying attention.
I was conflicted, but I am going to try my best to figure out who in their right mind stole it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Staring at the clock, I couldn't help but count down the seconds until I would finally be able to meet my boyfriend for study hall.
Yes, I know that I see him pretty much everyday...
But as much as I hate to admit it, I am crazy for him as much as he is crazy for me.
I would never let him know that though.
Hearing the bell, I wait a few seconds after sitting through another "The bell doesn't dismiss you, I do," before packing my stuff and heading out the door.
After finding out that the journal was gone, I tried my best to act the same in front of Layla and Damien. I didn't want my worries to ruin the fun time that we were having.
Plus when it comes to Layla, I feel embarrassed that I think of my problems as a big deal, since it's nothing compared to what she feels on the daily.
So I put a smile on my face and told myself that everything would be okay.
Thankfully, I am in more of a clear head space after having that chat with Liam first thing this morning. It made me feel so much better knowing that he wasn't mad.
Walking towards where Damien and I normally meet, I am startled by the feeling of arms around my waist from behind.
"You scared me!" I giggle, turning around in his arms to see his doe eyes staring back down at me mischievously.
"You deserve it!" He pouts, pulling me closer to his chest.
"Oh really?" I ask, only earning a head nod in response.
"You hid from me this morning, I couldn't find you." He voices his complaint.
Gosh this boy...
"I was with Liam this morning, I didn't know you were looking for me." I try to reason with him.
Pulling away from our hug, he crosses his arms over his chest, "I'm always looking for you, no excuses."
Giggling, I uncross his arms from his chest and instead hold his hands with mine, "Well I am here now, aren't I?"
"I guess... but you have to make it up to me." His face brightens as he pulls me to sit on the ground with him.
"And how would you like me to make it up to you?" I ask, taking notice of him trying to hide his smirk by puckering his lips.
"Kiss me." He doesn't hesitate to point towards his lips while looking at me through his long lashes.
"Didn't you already get a hug? I think you are being a little bit greedy..." I tease, trying to scoot away, but he quickly picks up on my actions and throws a leg over mine to stop me from moving.
"Nuh-uh, you don't get to escape from me, baby." Before I could react, he begins to tickle my sides, causing a loud laugh to escape from my chest.
"N-No... S-Stop!!" I stutter while trying to push his hands away from my sides, but it was no use since he was much stronger than I was.
I'm gonna have to tell my Dad to cut down on Damien's weight training, it's gone too far.
After a couple more seconds and my pleads for Damien to stop, he takes his hands away, causing me to let out a sigh of relief.
"Finally I can breathe-..." But I find my words getting caught in my throat as I look up to see the reason why Damien must have stopped so suddenly.
My smile drops into a frown as Annabelle stands in front of us with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Damien, can I speak to you?" She says, completely ignoring my existence.
No surprise there.
I look over at Damien who's face only held anger, "No you can't."
"It's important."
"I've got nothing to say to you."
Uncrossing her arms, she sticks to putting her hands on her hips, "You can't seriously be upset about that day."
"I actually am quite upset, I don't like people sticking their big nose in my business."
She scoffs, "How was I supposed to know they didn't know about your sister?"
"I have a better question, how DID you know about my sister? I never told you anything."
I could tell Damien was genuinely concerned on how she knew about Layla. I was too.
I don't understand how in such a short amount of time she became so obsessive over Damien. She barely knows him.
"I have connections at the hospital, I didn't mean to meet her..."
For some reason that statement bothered me. I've been helping out at the hospital for a while now, how could she have connections already when she just moved here?
"But yet you completely lied to my friends that I let you meet her, stop trying to sound innocent, it isn't working."
With anger, her eyes shift over to me, "Well safe to say I'm not the only liar here."
I couldn't help but scoff at her words, "Oh so now I am a liar also? Enlighten me then."
"I will, watch me." She says before digging in her backpack in search for something.
I look over at Damien and we share a look of both confusion and annoyance.
What could she possibly have that shows that I am a liar?
But it wasn't until she pulls out that familiar pink sparkled book that my heart dropped into my stomach.
She has it.
She has the journal.
Hey guys!!!!
I'm sorry, I hate ending on cliff hangers so that's why I'm gonna try to post the next chapter a little bit sooner than when I usually do.
I hope everything is going well for you all!!
I'm getting ready for college, and I can't believe I'm going to be moving out soon, it's crazy!
Questions...
If you were/are a college student... what ADVICE do you have??!!
I love you all!
~juls