Secrets
written 2017, last edit 2020
Amber Esma walked into her 3rd period class on her first day of her 2nd year of high school. Her friends, Stephanie and Rachel happened to both be in her history class.
"Steph, Es, you won't believe who our teacher is!" She said happily, as she loved their teacher last year. Since they were friends since the summer before their freshman year, they had created codes and nicknames for each other.
"No way! Otis, is that you?" Amber voice was bursting with excitement as she turned to see who Rachel was talking about.
"My favorite students! Stephanie, Rachel, and Amber! How was your summer? I was so happy when I saw that the three of you where going to be in my class together, I just had a feeling this year was going to be great!" Otis replied. He had been facing the chalkboard, scribbling something about history and herstory, as he called it.
"Oh my god, I am so excited that you are our teacher! I worried we were going to get one of those super old, super mean history teachers that probably lived through what they are teaching." Steph rolled her eyes going over what she said in her head as usual. "But you definitely have some explaining to do. You never told us you were moving up to sophomore last year. You had me worried all summer long, except while I was at the beach, cause you know, you can't be worried at the beach. That's just like totally not possible." Steph looked at him with her lips pinched into an angry little line, while her eyes betrayed her and showed everyone how she was struggling to not burst out laughing.
"I didn't know! I swear! I found out, do you really think I would keep a secret like that from you guys? You're my favorite students, I would never, you know that. So, how was your summer? Did you hang out with any cute guys?" The girls were so happy to have Otis as their teacher again. He was always there when you needed someone to talk to, or when you just wanted to joke around.
"They had me! All summer long." Connor Kidd walked up behind them, obviously proud of his perfect timing.
"Your not cute. He was asking about guys that we might find attractive." Steph replied in the flattest voice possible. A moment later he was laughing along with Otis and Rach, not even trying to hold it in, unlike Amber, who simply knew him longer then they did, so was evidently struggling to keep a straight face.
"Geez, all of you are so mean." Connor walked over to his seat. He was a good actor, at least he thought he was. He thought that it was funny too, but kept his stone-like face until he got to his seat.
"Hey, so, how has your first day been so far? Other than getting the best teacher and classmates for 3rd period." Amber grinned and gently nudged Connor. "Come on, lighten up!"
"Yeah, I guess. I have 2nd period with Zach, and coincidentally, also with Brittany and her clones. Ugh, this is going to be a long year." He looked tired, but smiled. That smile you give when you know your friend is trying to cheer you up, and it's working. "But, I am glad that this is my 3rd period class. And I'm glad to get to see you and your friends and Otis. Even if that means I am walking straight to my death." At this point he was laughing and she joined him. Amber was glad that she was able to help her friend.
"OK class, as much as I would love to play games on my phone and chill with my BFFs all period long, you have a test at some point during the school year which is not only going to see how much you learned, but also how good my teaching skills are. Although, if you want to fail, than go ahead and fail. I won't stop you. Unless, you are Amber because she is a genius and if she ever stops being a genius that means that someone took her brains and that's not ok." Otis looked up to where Amber and Connor were sitting and smiled. "No one took your brains over the summer, right?"
"Of course not! To be entirely truthful, I thinks it's because they are scared that you might fail school and have to be in high school forever." Amber was comfortable with these jokes he would make, since he made them all the time last year. She had memorized a list of answers for the times he asked for her thoughts on the subject.
"I don't know why you go along with this." Connor seemed mildly concerned about, something. Amber looked at him, her face flooding with confusion. "Yeah, I really don't think you should agree with him on this, in front of everyone. I mean imagine if one of our classmates is a zombie. You would be leading them straight to you, straight to your brains!" Now Connor laughed, catching strange glances from the students around them. Amber laughed along with him, but knew, without a doubt, that he was hiding something, something big. She decided not to bring it up, because he was happy and that was good enough for now. Otis kept talking, and everyone took notes, and Amber asked questions about things that know one else was understanding. The class went on as usual, but the thought that something was up with Connor kept picking at her. As the class was ending, the other kids started packing up. Amber looked over to see if the something he was hiding went away, if it was just first day jitters.
"Shoot." Amber said to herself, but obviously not as quietly as she thought. The look was still like he was waiting for something bad to happen. But, Connor heard her frustrated sounds, and immediately turned to her to see what was wrong.
"What, what's wrong?" He looked so worried, like that's what he was waiting for. His eyes searched her face, but came up only with a few drops with frustration.
"No, nothing. I just remembered that I have to wash my hair tonight. You know how I hate washing this crazy ball of fluff people call hair? Yeah. Ugh, I wish I could just sleep." No one notices, but Amber was not just the school know it all, she was an amazing liar, and was great at hiding things, like how she felt or what she was thinking about.
"Are you sure? Nothing's up?" Amber could read Connor like a book, but this was something she had never really seen before. Definitely not first day jitters.
"Yeah, I'm sure. You too? Are you ok?" Amber tried digging through him, to see what was up, without him noticing. Without raising any suspicion.
"What? No, yeah, everything is great. Everything is.." He was cut off by a soft ding from his phone. He grabbed his phone so fast, Amber knew that was what he was really waiting for.
"Important, huh? Where you waiting for that or something?" She could tell she was slipping a bit, but she really wanted to find out what was up.
"Important text message? Must be a date!" Amber had been so distracted with Connor she hadn't noticed Steph and Rach walk up behind them. Steph was always crazy about getting a boyfriend since she was about 10 years old, according to Rach.
"Doubt. I don't think that he would be able to land a date on the first day of school. He's not that cool. Well, actually he's not cool at all." Everyone, at this point, knows Rach hates guys. No one really knows why, Steph always says that it's simply not her secret to tell. And Amber has accepted it, as did Connor. The only boy that she can talk to without getting into a fight with is Connor, and she still hasn't learned to just talk normally with him. She always finds a way to insult him, or get under his skin.
"Wow, he's not even paying attention. Nothing to say. MUST be a date. There is absolutely no doubt." Steph turned her attention to Rach now, pushing her insult down, by completely ignoring it.
"Uhh, sure you guys. I gotta jet, I have to meet with my, um, my 1st period teacher about my homework." He put his phone back into his pocket and started to walk out of the door.
"Hold on, you are forgetting your jacket." Amber knew something was going on, but it wasn't a date. He wouldn't have been so distracted, and would have told her the moment he walked into class. This was different, this was something big, and bad. Something he didn't want her knowing about.
"Oh, thanks. You're a lifesaver. I don't know what I would do without you guys. Except, Rach. Without Rach I know exactly what I would do." Connor grinned, a soft and playful smile as he took the jacket from Amber's hands at the door.
"Oh, really? What would you do then?" Rach was short, but intimidating. She was a football player, but even though she would have been the best on the team, she was turned down from the school team. She was about 2 inches shorter than Connor, but still succeeded in forcing him to move back for personal space.
"I would be happy. I would sing and dance down the halls and live a full and complete life. It would be awesome." Now he knew that he was walking on thin ice. He turned and started to walk the other way.
"When then I am sure glad I am here to save all these innocent people!" Connor looked like he was about to laugh, but with another message from his phone, Connor's face turned completely pale. Without another word he turned and started walking down the hall. Rach always had something to say back, but now she seemed unusually annoyed.
"Come on, it's OK to not always have to better comeback. You can't always be right, like me." Steph tried to cheer her up. bring her back to her normal I am mad at everyone except my best friends state.
"OK, I have to get something from my locker. I have a free period now so I think that I was just study in the library, like last year. I will see you after school. We can stop by the café before parting ways. Cool?" Amber was itching to follow Connor, she was certain that he would lead her to the heart of whatever was happening.
"OK, I know you like being little miss know it all, but you are such a nerd. Seriously, though." Rach commented, happier that she found something to add.
"We would join you," Steph added, trying to fix what Rach said, "but we have Ezecki next, and I heard from the cheer squad that he is super strict and mean." She grabbed her best friends arm and started walking in the opposite direction. Amber waved back, and started to trace Connor's tracks. He had just turned the corner, but Amber caught him in her sight quickly. She was careful not to make any noise, not to hint at her presence, but also not to look weird to all the other people walking by. He turned to the staircase and started to descend to the first floor. She quickly followed, walking at a fast paste, but quietly. she kept her head down, to indicate that she had somewhere to be and couldn't talk at the moment. She never took her eyes off of him, even though the hallway was very crowded. He stepped down once more, finally reaching the first floor. When Amber finally reached the ground she made sure that Connor would not be able to catch her sneaking around, because the people that had been rushing to get to class had been her only camouflage. She was surprised when he turned into the first classroom on the left. No one ever went in there, and it was definitely not an office or classroom. So, the natural thing for her to do was to follow him, not into the room, but close enough to get to hear what was going on in there. She had been expecting something along the lines of needing to call his parents because he got into trouble the night before, but instead she found a group of four other boys, waiting for Connor. She didn't know that he had friends that she wasn't aware of, although something about them rang a bell somewhere deep in her subconscious. She made sure that her head was not popping up above the window to the inside of the class, and pressed his ear to the wood of the door. She had no idea what she expected, but it was definitely not what she heard.
"Took you long enough. What were you doing? Right, Luke?" It was one of the two boys who looked like identical twins. As he spoke he looked at his brother, and they shared a smirk.
"Leave him alone, Leo. I bet he has a perfectly good explanation for being late." This time it was the tall blond that spoke. Now she knew she had meet these boys, somewhere.
"Like flirting, or maybe he had to say goodbye to a date?" It was the other twin this time, with a smug look on his face. The two twins laughed together, obviously the trouble makers of the group.
"I don't think that he would be able to pick a girl up that fast, since he's, well, Connor." The short one with glasses snickered. The nerd, Amber thought. There was always that one that just knew everything, and she of all people would know. The only difference between her and the shortie was that he was a shortie and had freckles all across his face.
"Cameron, you're super smart right? Then tell me why is everyone saying that I am not cool enough to have a girlfriend? I am not even kidding, Stephanie and Rachel were saying the same thing at the end of history." Connor set his bag down by the chair he dropped himself into it. Amber couldn't help but smile at the last comment her friend made. She pulled away for a single moment to collect the information she had gotten so far. The twins name were Luke and Leo, and they were the troublesome ones. The nerd had a sense of humor and was named Cameron. There was a tall blond one, not as tall as Connor, but taller then herself, and he seemed to be the only thing keeping the group together. But she still wasn't satisfied, so she pressed her ear back to the side of the door.
"Why do you have to be such a buzzkill, Jack? Lighten up!" Leo said to the one that seemed to be the most responsible, the tall blond. OK, another piece of information.
"Look, we have to get to work, or else the chief is going to move us down to the beta team. And you know what happens if he does that." Jack seemed to be so calm, so relaxed. But Amber could see through his disguise, like she could with everyone. She knew that he was really worried, and stressed, but why?
"OK, let's go then. We can practice some outside while we wait." Jack said. He started to walk closer to the door, but stopped half way through to check his phone.
"Pack up your stuff, nerd." Luke said as he nudged Cameron. Amber didn't want to test her chances. She walked away, as fast as she could she turned down the hallway, so that she would be out of sight, but not out of her hearing range. She pulled out her phone to start writing down what she had learned so far.
"I don't know why we have to meet here, at Connor's school. We could just meet at the base, like everyone else." Cameron, the nerd said. Jack kind of looked like all the prince charmings in the stories Steph would tell, and would be very happy to meet him. She noted that he was kind, and responsible, but also stressed and worried for his team. What kind of team, she wondered. She was sure it wasn't a sports team, because Connor hated anything with running, but then again, if she was only finding this out now..
"Hey, you know why we have to meet here. If I leave alone then people would start to ask questions. Especially Amber, I've known her since I moved in next to her the summer before middle school. I feel bad not telling her." Connor seemed almost disappointed. He laughed and looked to the sky, like he did when he was glad that somethings were just out of his control.
"Oooooh, Connor's got a crush!" Leo and Luke said simultaneously. She sighed a sigh of exasperation. Twins always got on her nerves, but these two seemed to be especially aggravating.
"Drop, it you guys. Connor just has a friend, who knows him well. But even though, he shouldn't be worried. She won't find out, and if she does and hates you for it, than she isn't a real friend." Jack said. His eyes were blue, as encouraging as the mid afternoon sky.
"No, it's not that. If she finds out, she will go crazy. She will do everything in her power to get me to quit, saying "It's to dangerous, you could get hurt!" and will probably tell Steph and Rach and they can't keep a secret to save their lives." His eyes held worry and his faced looked as if he had given into it a long time ago. Amber just wanted to go up to him and give him a hug, to comfort him, but she held herself back, as she didn't want to get caught. Though it was great to see him thinking about her, he would never have any idea of how much she hid from him. Her worry, her stress, the fact that she had been boxing since she was young, and most of all her private secrets. But through it all, he had no idea. No one did, they all thought that she told her best friends everything, and the interesting stuff, they told everyone else. Everyone thought that she wasn't capable of even keeping a secret, let alone lying. She watched as they left the school, and as soon as they were out of sight she walked to the stairs, to go to the 4th floor library. She had to make sure she did plenty of work to show her friends, if they asked what she did while she was up there. As she climbed the stairs, she pulled out her books, to get everything out the moment she got there. She was friends with all the teachers she encountered during the school day, and the librarian was not an exception. When she walked through the huge double doors, she complemented the lady sitting at the desk and polity asked for the main librarian.
"Amber! How was your summer?" Ms. Nanette always had a smile on her face. She walked to Amber and sat down with her, tying her hair up into a messy bun. Bits and pieces of her dirty blond hair spilled out of its bindings and onto her relaxed shoulders. She sat back on her chair, her eyes holding the question.
"It was fun, you know. I didn't do to much, other than read and chill out with my friends. What about you? It seems like forever since last year." Amber responded. The library was mostly empty, only a few other people studying and finishing up work they didn't get done in class.
"Yeah, I know. I had a busy summer, like usual. The whole family went to visit my parents and that was crazy, but everything else was calm." Ms. Nanette was always traveling. Sometimes she even left in the middle of the school day to go get on a plane or finish packing.
"I have the summer reading challenge thing, and I finished it, but I would like if you could look over it before I hand it in. If you can and aren't doing anything else that is." Amber started to rummage through her bag, looking for the short papers she wrote for extra credit.
"Of course, of course! I am sure that they are amazing. I will add that in right afterwards. Do you want me to put it up on the wall or not? I could really use a good example like you to encourage the new freshmen." She took the papers from Amber and readjusted in the chair.
"Yeah, sure, go ahead. I would be honored to be a role model." Amber smiled, and mimicked Ms. Nanette and pulled her hair back. She opened her notebook and began to review the things that she had learned so far. There wasn't much she didn't understand, but it was always better to make sure. The two sat quietly, and soon Amber was satisfied with everything. She grabbed another notebook, an extra, and opened it up onto the first page. She thought it would be better to transfer her notes onto paper, so that no one would be able to hack into her phone and steal any of the information she had gathered so far. She wrote down the names and the personalities, but also put a simple title on it, as if it were a story she was writing and not notes she had gathered from something she was obviously not supposed to know about. She wrote down everything else as the plot. She was just putting the finishing touches on when the bell rang.
"This is great! I will put it in the grade book and then on the wall. Thank you so much for stopping by!" Ms. Nanette said waving goodbye to Amber who was already standing and heading towards the door.
"Oh, thank you so much. I will see you tomorrow, and I hope you have a great rest of your day!" Amber waved back, and turned to begin racing down the stairs before it got to crowded. She was still confused about Connor and who his friends were. What was the beta team? Even though she hated proving Connor right, she was worrying about him, now that she knew he was doing something dangerous, but at least he had friends whom he knew well with him. She walked to her class, passing her best friends in the hall.
"What's Ezecki like? I have him next period and what you said made me worried." Amber lied with a smile on her face. She always got along with her teachers and they always respected her.
"Wow, you look really worried, like not even kidding though. How did you do that?" Rach asked, seemingly intrigued. Amber knew that she wouldn't be able to hide her worry that quickly, so she had to instead give her friends an excuse before they could question her.
"Stop it Rach, but she's right. Anyway Ezecki's not that bad, actually, I think that you will really like him. He is strict, and already has his favorites in our class, but I think that the two of you will get along just fine." Steph was pulling out her phone, most likely to text one of her friends from cheer. She waved it off and proceed to text in hyper speed.
"Oh, ok." Amber pulled herself together, now faking a less worried look. She kept telling herself that Connor was fine and that she was worrying for no reason. "Ugh, here comes Brittany and her clones."
"Haha, well good luck, I have to get to cheer, they are already texting me that I'm late. But you know how much I would love to stay and talk to her with you guys." Steph laughed while she did a kind of half jog down the hallway and around the corner to the main gym.
"Amber, this is war, we don't share any information about our lives. Actually, how about this, you don't say anything, cause I know how you and secrets are, and I can talk them into leaving us alone, or maybe even this school." Rach made a very intimidating face, almost as if she was about to integrate a murder suspect, and she was playing the bad cop. Amber laughed quietly, because she was keeping so many secrets and yet this was how everyone imagined her. As if she couldn't keep a secrets to save her life.
"Alright losers, do you still understand everything from last year or do we need to go over it again?" Brittany stood almost as tall as Amber, even with her extremely high heels. If she took them of, Amber imagined she would be about Rach's height. Amber stood quietly next to Rach, her head looking past Brittany and past everyone else. Rach stared at Brittany with a stone cold glare.
"I think that we should make some new rules, my rules, this year." Rach said, as if it were an ending to a very important presentation. As the two stood there, Brittany's two friends, or clones as everyone called them, started to move towards Amber. Although this was usually the moment that Rach would step in, she was preoccupied with Brittany. The two stalked her, as if a predator would stalk its prey.
"So, you seem quiet today, what do you think of Brittany's rules?" Erica said. These two were twins and they looked exactly alike, and always wore the same thing everyday. No one could tell them apart, not even Brittany. Amber hated twins.
"I think that we should all just mind our own business and get to class before the bell rings." Amber said, trying to sound a bit intimidated, to satisfy the two. Although she knew that there were a thousand different ways she could get them to leave her alone, but all of those ways would raise questions, so she kept quiet. She ducked around them, and pulled rach with her. She felt the same way she did when she saw Connor. She wanted to do something but held herself back.
"How about we just get to class, ok?" Amber asked her friend, who seemed to be intent on going back and settling things with Brittany.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, she just gets me so worked up, you know?" Rach was calming herself down, taking breaths and slowly unballing her hands. Although Amber had seen Rach very mad before, this was different, it was like she felt trapped, or caged, maybe? It was always hard to tell with her. Something had happened between Rach and Brittany. Maybe they used to be close friends?
"I know. I will meet up with you after class, ok? Then we can walk to PE together. All good?" Amber hadn't known Steph and Rach for very long, but she knew them long enough to know when they need to talk.
"Alright, cool. See you then." Rach turned and headed to her next class. Amber watched her sit down, and take her notebooks out, evidently calmer than before. Amber headed to her own class, with a new teacher she was supposedly going to like. She walked into class, excited to see what her friends were talking about, and to finally have a distraction from her worries. She walked up to the first desk she saw that was not yet taken. She looked around to see who her classmates were. She found Zach and his buddies at the back of the class, laughing over something stupid. She also found a few familiar faces from the year before, not close friends, but friends nonetheless. But she also found a new face, a boy about two desks from her. No, now that she thought about it, she had seen that face, he was also in her first period class, and he had just moved here. She was going to say hi, and introduce herself, but the teacher walked in and told everyone to sit down.
"Alright class, I am your science teacher this year. You may call me Mr. Ezecki." He turned around and began to jot a few things down on the bored. Naturally, Amber pulled out her notebook and began to copy it all.
"Ok, we are going to start..." He looked over to where Amber was quickly writing. "Amber Esma. I have heard great things about you, and I expect greatness from you too." He turned back to the class and began speaking again. Amber was surprised by this, but continued to write down notes. This same sort of thing happened in first and second period.
"Steph, Es, you won't believe who our teacher is!" She said happily, as she loved their teacher last year. Since they were friends since the summer before their freshman year, they had created codes and nicknames for each other.
"No way! Otis, is that you?" Amber voice was bursting with excitement as she turned to see who Rachel was talking about.
"My favorite students! Stephanie, Rachel, and Amber! How was your summer? I was so happy when I saw that the three of you where going to be in my class together, I just had a feeling this year was going to be great!" Otis replied. He had been facing the chalkboard, scribbling something about history and herstory, as he called it.
"Oh my god, I am so excited that you are our teacher! I worried we were going to get one of those super old, super mean history teachers that probably lived through what they are teaching." Steph rolled her eyes going over what she said in her head as usual. "But you definitely have some explaining to do. You never told us you were moving up to sophomore last year. You had me worried all summer long, except while I was at the beach, cause you know, you can't be worried at the beach. That's just like totally not possible." Steph looked at him with her lips pinched into an angry little line, while her eyes betrayed her and showed everyone how she was struggling to not burst out laughing.
"I didn't know! I swear! I found out, do you really think I would keep a secret like that from you guys? You're my favorite students, I would never, you know that. So, how was your summer? Did you hang out with any cute guys?" The girls were so happy to have Otis as their teacher again. He was always there when you needed someone to talk to, or when you just wanted to joke around.
"They had me! All summer long." Connor Kidd walked up behind them, obviously proud of his perfect timing.
"Your not cute. He was asking about guys that we might find attractive." Steph replied in the flattest voice possible. A moment later he was laughing along with Otis and Rach, not even trying to hold it in, unlike Amber, who simply knew him longer then they did, so was evidently struggling to keep a straight face.
"Geez, all of you are so mean." Connor walked over to his seat. He was a good actor, at least he thought he was. He thought that it was funny too, but kept his stone-like face until he got to his seat.
"Hey, so, how has your first day been so far? Other than getting the best teacher and classmates for 3rd period." Amber grinned and gently nudged Connor. "Come on, lighten up!"
"Yeah, I guess. I have 2nd period with Zach, and coincidentally, also with Brittany and her clones. Ugh, this is going to be a long year." He looked tired, but smiled. That smile you give when you know your friend is trying to cheer you up, and it's working. "But, I am glad that this is my 3rd period class. And I'm glad to get to see you and your friends and Otis. Even if that means I am walking straight to my death." At this point he was laughing and she joined him. Amber was glad that she was able to help her friend.
"OK class, as much as I would love to play games on my phone and chill with my BFFs all period long, you have a test at some point during the school year which is not only going to see how much you learned, but also how good my teaching skills are. Although, if you want to fail, than go ahead and fail. I won't stop you. Unless, you are Amber because she is a genius and if she ever stops being a genius that means that someone took her brains and that's not ok." Otis looked up to where Amber and Connor were sitting and smiled. "No one took your brains over the summer, right?"
"Of course not! To be entirely truthful, I thinks it's because they are scared that you might fail school and have to be in high school forever." Amber was comfortable with these jokes he would make, since he made them all the time last year. She had memorized a list of answers for the times he asked for her thoughts on the subject.
"I don't know why you go along with this." Connor seemed mildly concerned about, something. Amber looked at him, her face flooding with confusion. "Yeah, I really don't think you should agree with him on this, in front of everyone. I mean imagine if one of our classmates is a zombie. You would be leading them straight to you, straight to your brains!" Now Connor laughed, catching strange glances from the students around them. Amber laughed along with him, but knew, without a doubt, that he was hiding something, something big. She decided not to bring it up, because he was happy and that was good enough for now. Otis kept talking, and everyone took notes, and Amber asked questions about things that know one else was understanding. The class went on as usual, but the thought that something was up with Connor kept picking at her. As the class was ending, the other kids started packing up. Amber looked over to see if the something he was hiding went away, if it was just first day jitters.
"Shoot." Amber said to herself, but obviously not as quietly as she thought. The look was still like he was waiting for something bad to happen. But, Connor heard her frustrated sounds, and immediately turned to her to see what was wrong.
"What, what's wrong?" He looked so worried, like that's what he was waiting for. His eyes searched her face, but came up only with a few drops with frustration.
"No, nothing. I just remembered that I have to wash my hair tonight. You know how I hate washing this crazy ball of fluff people call hair? Yeah. Ugh, I wish I could just sleep." No one notices, but Amber was not just the school know it all, she was an amazing liar, and was great at hiding things, like how she felt or what she was thinking about.
"Are you sure? Nothing's up?" Amber could read Connor like a book, but this was something she had never really seen before. Definitely not first day jitters.
"Yeah, I'm sure. You too? Are you ok?" Amber tried digging through him, to see what was up, without him noticing. Without raising any suspicion.
"What? No, yeah, everything is great. Everything is.." He was cut off by a soft ding from his phone. He grabbed his phone so fast, Amber knew that was what he was really waiting for.
"Important, huh? Where you waiting for that or something?" She could tell she was slipping a bit, but she really wanted to find out what was up.
"Important text message? Must be a date!" Amber had been so distracted with Connor she hadn't noticed Steph and Rach walk up behind them. Steph was always crazy about getting a boyfriend since she was about 10 years old, according to Rach.
"Doubt. I don't think that he would be able to land a date on the first day of school. He's not that cool. Well, actually he's not cool at all." Everyone, at this point, knows Rach hates guys. No one really knows why, Steph always says that it's simply not her secret to tell. And Amber has accepted it, as did Connor. The only boy that she can talk to without getting into a fight with is Connor, and she still hasn't learned to just talk normally with him. She always finds a way to insult him, or get under his skin.
"Wow, he's not even paying attention. Nothing to say. MUST be a date. There is absolutely no doubt." Steph turned her attention to Rach now, pushing her insult down, by completely ignoring it.
"Uhh, sure you guys. I gotta jet, I have to meet with my, um, my 1st period teacher about my homework." He put his phone back into his pocket and started to walk out of the door.
"Hold on, you are forgetting your jacket." Amber knew something was going on, but it wasn't a date. He wouldn't have been so distracted, and would have told her the moment he walked into class. This was different, this was something big, and bad. Something he didn't want her knowing about.
"Oh, thanks. You're a lifesaver. I don't know what I would do without you guys. Except, Rach. Without Rach I know exactly what I would do." Connor grinned, a soft and playful smile as he took the jacket from Amber's hands at the door.
"Oh, really? What would you do then?" Rach was short, but intimidating. She was a football player, but even though she would have been the best on the team, she was turned down from the school team. She was about 2 inches shorter than Connor, but still succeeded in forcing him to move back for personal space.
"I would be happy. I would sing and dance down the halls and live a full and complete life. It would be awesome." Now he knew that he was walking on thin ice. He turned and started to walk the other way.
"When then I am sure glad I am here to save all these innocent people!" Connor looked like he was about to laugh, but with another message from his phone, Connor's face turned completely pale. Without another word he turned and started walking down the hall. Rach always had something to say back, but now she seemed unusually annoyed.
"Come on, it's OK to not always have to better comeback. You can't always be right, like me." Steph tried to cheer her up. bring her back to her normal I am mad at everyone except my best friends state.
"OK, I have to get something from my locker. I have a free period now so I think that I was just study in the library, like last year. I will see you after school. We can stop by the café before parting ways. Cool?" Amber was itching to follow Connor, she was certain that he would lead her to the heart of whatever was happening.
"OK, I know you like being little miss know it all, but you are such a nerd. Seriously, though." Rach commented, happier that she found something to add.
"We would join you," Steph added, trying to fix what Rach said, "but we have Ezecki next, and I heard from the cheer squad that he is super strict and mean." She grabbed her best friends arm and started walking in the opposite direction. Amber waved back, and started to trace Connor's tracks. He had just turned the corner, but Amber caught him in her sight quickly. She was careful not to make any noise, not to hint at her presence, but also not to look weird to all the other people walking by. He turned to the staircase and started to descend to the first floor. She quickly followed, walking at a fast paste, but quietly. she kept her head down, to indicate that she had somewhere to be and couldn't talk at the moment. She never took her eyes off of him, even though the hallway was very crowded. He stepped down once more, finally reaching the first floor. When Amber finally reached the ground she made sure that Connor would not be able to catch her sneaking around, because the people that had been rushing to get to class had been her only camouflage. She was surprised when he turned into the first classroom on the left. No one ever went in there, and it was definitely not an office or classroom. So, the natural thing for her to do was to follow him, not into the room, but close enough to get to hear what was going on in there. She had been expecting something along the lines of needing to call his parents because he got into trouble the night before, but instead she found a group of four other boys, waiting for Connor. She didn't know that he had friends that she wasn't aware of, although something about them rang a bell somewhere deep in her subconscious. She made sure that her head was not popping up above the window to the inside of the class, and pressed his ear to the wood of the door. She had no idea what she expected, but it was definitely not what she heard.
"Took you long enough. What were you doing? Right, Luke?" It was one of the two boys who looked like identical twins. As he spoke he looked at his brother, and they shared a smirk.
"Leave him alone, Leo. I bet he has a perfectly good explanation for being late." This time it was the tall blond that spoke. Now she knew she had meet these boys, somewhere.
"Like flirting, or maybe he had to say goodbye to a date?" It was the other twin this time, with a smug look on his face. The two twins laughed together, obviously the trouble makers of the group.
"I don't think that he would be able to pick a girl up that fast, since he's, well, Connor." The short one with glasses snickered. The nerd, Amber thought. There was always that one that just knew everything, and she of all people would know. The only difference between her and the shortie was that he was a shortie and had freckles all across his face.
"Cameron, you're super smart right? Then tell me why is everyone saying that I am not cool enough to have a girlfriend? I am not even kidding, Stephanie and Rachel were saying the same thing at the end of history." Connor set his bag down by the chair he dropped himself into it. Amber couldn't help but smile at the last comment her friend made. She pulled away for a single moment to collect the information she had gotten so far. The twins name were Luke and Leo, and they were the troublesome ones. The nerd had a sense of humor and was named Cameron. There was a tall blond one, not as tall as Connor, but taller then herself, and he seemed to be the only thing keeping the group together. But she still wasn't satisfied, so she pressed her ear back to the side of the door.
"Why do you have to be such a buzzkill, Jack? Lighten up!" Leo said to the one that seemed to be the most responsible, the tall blond. OK, another piece of information.
"Look, we have to get to work, or else the chief is going to move us down to the beta team. And you know what happens if he does that." Jack seemed to be so calm, so relaxed. But Amber could see through his disguise, like she could with everyone. She knew that he was really worried, and stressed, but why?
"OK, let's go then. We can practice some outside while we wait." Jack said. He started to walk closer to the door, but stopped half way through to check his phone.
"Pack up your stuff, nerd." Luke said as he nudged Cameron. Amber didn't want to test her chances. She walked away, as fast as she could she turned down the hallway, so that she would be out of sight, but not out of her hearing range. She pulled out her phone to start writing down what she had learned so far.
"I don't know why we have to meet here, at Connor's school. We could just meet at the base, like everyone else." Cameron, the nerd said. Jack kind of looked like all the prince charmings in the stories Steph would tell, and would be very happy to meet him. She noted that he was kind, and responsible, but also stressed and worried for his team. What kind of team, she wondered. She was sure it wasn't a sports team, because Connor hated anything with running, but then again, if she was only finding this out now..
"Hey, you know why we have to meet here. If I leave alone then people would start to ask questions. Especially Amber, I've known her since I moved in next to her the summer before middle school. I feel bad not telling her." Connor seemed almost disappointed. He laughed and looked to the sky, like he did when he was glad that somethings were just out of his control.
"Oooooh, Connor's got a crush!" Leo and Luke said simultaneously. She sighed a sigh of exasperation. Twins always got on her nerves, but these two seemed to be especially aggravating.
"Drop, it you guys. Connor just has a friend, who knows him well. But even though, he shouldn't be worried. She won't find out, and if she does and hates you for it, than she isn't a real friend." Jack said. His eyes were blue, as encouraging as the mid afternoon sky.
"No, it's not that. If she finds out, she will go crazy. She will do everything in her power to get me to quit, saying "It's to dangerous, you could get hurt!" and will probably tell Steph and Rach and they can't keep a secret to save their lives." His eyes held worry and his faced looked as if he had given into it a long time ago. Amber just wanted to go up to him and give him a hug, to comfort him, but she held herself back, as she didn't want to get caught. Though it was great to see him thinking about her, he would never have any idea of how much she hid from him. Her worry, her stress, the fact that she had been boxing since she was young, and most of all her private secrets. But through it all, he had no idea. No one did, they all thought that she told her best friends everything, and the interesting stuff, they told everyone else. Everyone thought that she wasn't capable of even keeping a secret, let alone lying. She watched as they left the school, and as soon as they were out of sight she walked to the stairs, to go to the 4th floor library. She had to make sure she did plenty of work to show her friends, if they asked what she did while she was up there. As she climbed the stairs, she pulled out her books, to get everything out the moment she got there. She was friends with all the teachers she encountered during the school day, and the librarian was not an exception. When she walked through the huge double doors, she complemented the lady sitting at the desk and polity asked for the main librarian.
"Amber! How was your summer?" Ms. Nanette always had a smile on her face. She walked to Amber and sat down with her, tying her hair up into a messy bun. Bits and pieces of her dirty blond hair spilled out of its bindings and onto her relaxed shoulders. She sat back on her chair, her eyes holding the question.
"It was fun, you know. I didn't do to much, other than read and chill out with my friends. What about you? It seems like forever since last year." Amber responded. The library was mostly empty, only a few other people studying and finishing up work they didn't get done in class.
"Yeah, I know. I had a busy summer, like usual. The whole family went to visit my parents and that was crazy, but everything else was calm." Ms. Nanette was always traveling. Sometimes she even left in the middle of the school day to go get on a plane or finish packing.
"I have the summer reading challenge thing, and I finished it, but I would like if you could look over it before I hand it in. If you can and aren't doing anything else that is." Amber started to rummage through her bag, looking for the short papers she wrote for extra credit.
"Of course, of course! I am sure that they are amazing. I will add that in right afterwards. Do you want me to put it up on the wall or not? I could really use a good example like you to encourage the new freshmen." She took the papers from Amber and readjusted in the chair.
"Yeah, sure, go ahead. I would be honored to be a role model." Amber smiled, and mimicked Ms. Nanette and pulled her hair back. She opened her notebook and began to review the things that she had learned so far. There wasn't much she didn't understand, but it was always better to make sure. The two sat quietly, and soon Amber was satisfied with everything. She grabbed another notebook, an extra, and opened it up onto the first page. She thought it would be better to transfer her notes onto paper, so that no one would be able to hack into her phone and steal any of the information she had gathered so far. She wrote down the names and the personalities, but also put a simple title on it, as if it were a story she was writing and not notes she had gathered from something she was obviously not supposed to know about. She wrote down everything else as the plot. She was just putting the finishing touches on when the bell rang.
"This is great! I will put it in the grade book and then on the wall. Thank you so much for stopping by!" Ms. Nanette said waving goodbye to Amber who was already standing and heading towards the door.
"Oh, thank you so much. I will see you tomorrow, and I hope you have a great rest of your day!" Amber waved back, and turned to begin racing down the stairs before it got to crowded. She was still confused about Connor and who his friends were. What was the beta team? Even though she hated proving Connor right, she was worrying about him, now that she knew he was doing something dangerous, but at least he had friends whom he knew well with him. She walked to her class, passing her best friends in the hall.
"What's Ezecki like? I have him next period and what you said made me worried." Amber lied with a smile on her face. She always got along with her teachers and they always respected her.
"Wow, you look really worried, like not even kidding though. How did you do that?" Rach asked, seemingly intrigued. Amber knew that she wouldn't be able to hide her worry that quickly, so she had to instead give her friends an excuse before they could question her.
"Stop it Rach, but she's right. Anyway Ezecki's not that bad, actually, I think that you will really like him. He is strict, and already has his favorites in our class, but I think that the two of you will get along just fine." Steph was pulling out her phone, most likely to text one of her friends from cheer. She waved it off and proceed to text in hyper speed.
"Oh, ok." Amber pulled herself together, now faking a less worried look. She kept telling herself that Connor was fine and that she was worrying for no reason. "Ugh, here comes Brittany and her clones."
"Haha, well good luck, I have to get to cheer, they are already texting me that I'm late. But you know how much I would love to stay and talk to her with you guys." Steph laughed while she did a kind of half jog down the hallway and around the corner to the main gym.
"Amber, this is war, we don't share any information about our lives. Actually, how about this, you don't say anything, cause I know how you and secrets are, and I can talk them into leaving us alone, or maybe even this school." Rach made a very intimidating face, almost as if she was about to integrate a murder suspect, and she was playing the bad cop. Amber laughed quietly, because she was keeping so many secrets and yet this was how everyone imagined her. As if she couldn't keep a secrets to save her life.
"Alright losers, do you still understand everything from last year or do we need to go over it again?" Brittany stood almost as tall as Amber, even with her extremely high heels. If she took them of, Amber imagined she would be about Rach's height. Amber stood quietly next to Rach, her head looking past Brittany and past everyone else. Rach stared at Brittany with a stone cold glare.
"I think that we should make some new rules, my rules, this year." Rach said, as if it were an ending to a very important presentation. As the two stood there, Brittany's two friends, or clones as everyone called them, started to move towards Amber. Although this was usually the moment that Rach would step in, she was preoccupied with Brittany. The two stalked her, as if a predator would stalk its prey.
"So, you seem quiet today, what do you think of Brittany's rules?" Erica said. These two were twins and they looked exactly alike, and always wore the same thing everyday. No one could tell them apart, not even Brittany. Amber hated twins.
"I think that we should all just mind our own business and get to class before the bell rings." Amber said, trying to sound a bit intimidated, to satisfy the two. Although she knew that there were a thousand different ways she could get them to leave her alone, but all of those ways would raise questions, so she kept quiet. She ducked around them, and pulled rach with her. She felt the same way she did when she saw Connor. She wanted to do something but held herself back.
"How about we just get to class, ok?" Amber asked her friend, who seemed to be intent on going back and settling things with Brittany.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, she just gets me so worked up, you know?" Rach was calming herself down, taking breaths and slowly unballing her hands. Although Amber had seen Rach very mad before, this was different, it was like she felt trapped, or caged, maybe? It was always hard to tell with her. Something had happened between Rach and Brittany. Maybe they used to be close friends?
"I know. I will meet up with you after class, ok? Then we can walk to PE together. All good?" Amber hadn't known Steph and Rach for very long, but she knew them long enough to know when they need to talk.
"Alright, cool. See you then." Rach turned and headed to her next class. Amber watched her sit down, and take her notebooks out, evidently calmer than before. Amber headed to her own class, with a new teacher she was supposedly going to like. She walked into class, excited to see what her friends were talking about, and to finally have a distraction from her worries. She walked up to the first desk she saw that was not yet taken. She looked around to see who her classmates were. She found Zach and his buddies at the back of the class, laughing over something stupid. She also found a few familiar faces from the year before, not close friends, but friends nonetheless. But she also found a new face, a boy about two desks from her. No, now that she thought about it, she had seen that face, he was also in her first period class, and he had just moved here. She was going to say hi, and introduce herself, but the teacher walked in and told everyone to sit down.
"Alright class, I am your science teacher this year. You may call me Mr. Ezecki." He turned around and began to jot a few things down on the bored. Naturally, Amber pulled out her notebook and began to copy it all.
"Ok, we are going to start..." He looked over to where Amber was quickly writing. "Amber Esma. I have heard great things about you, and I expect greatness from you too." He turned back to the class and began speaking again. Amber was surprised by this, but continued to write down notes. This same sort of thing happened in first and second period.