Chapter 3, Who's new?

I woke up, my head throbbing in pain. Ow.., I thought, my hand immediately shot up, rubbing the sore part. My vision was blurred, and I felt like my whole body went numb or something. "Amber! Carefully now, we don't want you to get another injury again," Was my father's voice. My vision cleared quite quickly, and I shut my eyes immediately due to the blinding white light. "What's this stupid bright light for?" I said, turning away. I could hear a switch flick, and the light got dimmer. "Lora, now," I could hear my dad whisper. "Amber honey, we need to talk." My parents said in unison, with a serious tone.

"About what?" I asked, wondering if they had found out about Alice. "It's you that we're worried about," My mother said in a seemingly worried tone. The last thing I ever wanted, was to make my parents worry for me. I heaved a sigh. "What seems to be the problem?" I asked. Dad spoke first. "Your mother and I are concerned about you. You seem so exhausted, with those dark eye circles, too. You seem less bubbly and you don't seem like yourself anymore. And look at you, nothing but skin and bones! And your complexion, it's gone from fair to pale. Did something happen?" He asked, hoping I would answer him honestly. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just some work that made me stay up late at night," I lied without thinking. Shit, what was I thinking? I lied! Not to anyone, but my parents! I'm such an ass, I thought, kicking at the floor. Stupid, stupid, stupid. "Well, if there ever is anything wrong, don't forget that your dad and I would be here for you," My mother said calmly, forcing out a smile. She couldn't help worrying. Well, mum would always be mum.

After dinner, I rushed upstairs, looking for Alice in vain. Still, there wasn't any sign of her. "I guess I should be sleeping now, huh?" I asked Nanami, who's always following me around. How loyal, I thought. I woke up the next day to the smell of Bacon and Cheese. I sat there eating silently, while the little golden retriever waited impatiently for her food. That day, I walked to school wondering why Alice didn't stop to visit last night. There seemed to be a commotion in the cafeteria, but I headed to class, anyhow. My classmates came bustling in just in time for the school bell to ring. Gosh, I wonder why'd they'd come in so late today. "Hey Amber," Linda whispered. "There's this new guy in our class, you should check him out! Half of the school girls are already trying to get their hands on him!" She continued. "Oh, thanks for the info," I said, and continued in stroking my pen on the paper, drawing Alice and I by the beach.

"Class stand," Andrea, the class chairperson commanded. Everyone stood up at once, and waited for Mr Zen entered the class. "Today, we have a new transfer student. I hope that you guys would get along well and help each other out on the way," He said. The new guy, his hair a messy patch of dark brown, eyes a minty ocean blue, and to tip it off, an impish grin on his lips. I stood there glancing at him. Oh my gosh, he was totally cute. But then again, I don't really care. Whatever-his-name-is scanned around the small but homey classroom, only to find out the only vacant seat was beside me. "Joel, you'll sit beside Amber, then." Mr Zen said, pointing to the empty seat beside me.

At first the girls were like, "Ooooh Joel.." And then they went, "Stupid. Why does he get to sit with that tall, skinny, blond girl?" , "Why am I not the one with the vacant seat but her?", of course there were a few rude comments here and there, unexpectedly. The girls in my class were actually fine, and nice people. I guess I couldn't blame them, he was cute anyway. They're just jealous, I guess. I would be too, if my mind wasn't so full all the time. "Hey there, you're Amber, right?" The American accent greeted me. "Umm.. Yeah." I said, shifting my sketchpad nearer to me. "You draw too?" He said, looking curiously at what I was trying to hide from his view. "Yeah, do you?" I replied, amused. That was how we met. We've exchanged quite a number of questions that I didn't bother to count. And that's how we got to know more about each other.