Page 1 of Pages of Amber

CHAPTER ONE

“YOU’RE BACK!”

The voice carried through the noisy hallway to Amber, right before its owner slammed into her. She barely missed being knocked into the lockers behind her. The air left her lungs with a whoosh but Amber wouldn’t complain. She had missed her friend too.

“Hi, Bev. It’s good to see you, but I can’t breathe.”

“Good. You left me here all alone.”Beverly pouted, her gloss and glittery eyeshadow reflecting the morning light.

Where Amber often felt pinched in her uniform, her friend looked great in hers. The dark green jacket was tailored to frame her dainty shoulders and her waist. With the crisp white shirt tucked into a checkered green skirt, they looked more likeSlytherinstudents than those of the Academy. The uniform designers must have beenHarry Potterfans. She and Beverly were usually the same height but the two-inch-thick heel of her doc martens allowed her to see the top of her friend’s dark head.

“You weren’t alone.”Amber laughed at her friend’s dramatics.“You had Lexi, Willow, Anna and the dozens of other girls who would literally die to be your minions.”

“I mean, of course they want to be my minions. Have you seen me?”

“Yes, you’re gorgeous. We know. Could you flaunt it a little less in front of us mere mortals?”Amber rolled her eyes playfully.

Beverly flipped her dark hair.“Too late, Amber. When it’s out, it’s out. You can’t hold back this gorgeousness.”

“I guess we’re all doomed then.”The friends looked at each other and immediately broke character. Their laughter echoed in the air, drawing the attention of other students milling around before the start of the school day. Amber had barely recovered from the stitch in her side when Beverly latched onto her again, squeezing her tight. She returned the favor, soaking in her friend’s presence after the last two weeks. The one day before resuming back hadn’t been nearly enough to heal over the gaping wounds in her chest.

“This,”Beverly whispered into her hair.“This is why I missed you.”

“I missed you too, Beverly. Every single day I was away.”She meant it, but Beverly pulled back and eyeballed her.

“Really? You’re gonna have to prove it. I’m still mad you missed so many of my calls.”

Amber hadn’t meant to. Before leaving two weeks ago, she’d promised to talk with Beverly as much as she could. This was the longest she would be gone after all, but a lot of things had come up. Each moment had been practice and perfection with little to no breaks. She had been stressed to the limit and she couldn’t bear to answer her friend’s calls, knowing Beverly would be excited to know how she was and how things were going. Amber never would have been able to tell her the truth. So many times she’d picked up her phone to call her best friends at the height of frustration but stopped when she felt the threat of stinging tears.

Amber put in the familiar combination to her locker and swung it open. Her gaze swept the small space, satisfied that everything was as she had left it.“I’m sorry, Bev. I didn’t mean to miss them. You know how my competition trips always go. It’s practice, practice, wardrobe, more practice and then it's competition day. It was all such a whirl-wind, you know?”

“I know.”Beverly pouted but brightened in the next moment.“Congratulations on second place, Amber! I was so excited for you. You should’ve seen me. I was jumping on the sofa and cheering you on when they announced it. My mom and sisters joined me. Everyone said you looked so graceful dancing, you should’ve won first place instead.”

Amber smiled and squeezed her friend’s hand in thanks.“It was a regional ballet competition. Dancers from all over were competing. No way would they give first place to a seventeen-year-old because she wasgraceful.”

“Even knowing who your mom was?”

“Especially knowing who my mom was. They must have expected better than I did.”

“What more could they want? You’re literally dubbed the‘Princess Prodigy’by the media. I watched the other performances and they didn’t come close. That trophy was yours.”

The warm feeling in her chest rose into her cheeks.“Thanks, Bev. Even though you might be a little biased since I’m your bestie.”

Beverly rolled her eyes but didn’t deny it.“Whatever. Those judges can suck it. They don’t know real talent when they see it.”She changed the subject.“I have so much to tell you. You would’ve known it sooner if you had answered your phone, but this way is much better. I’ll talk your ear off with all the latest gossip. It’ll be like you never left.”

Amber moved the books she needed into her arms and dropped her bag in her locker. Beverly bounced on her toes beside her as she began to talk and fill Amber in on everything she had missed. They weren’t the only ones talking in the corridor and Beverly had to increase her volume a bit. The quietness of the morning had been overtaken by the organized chaos of students moving about the hallway, their voices ricocheting against the pillars and high walls.

The buzz of activity brought a smile to Amber’s lips. It was a different buzz than the one she had experienced lately. Compared to the tension and adrenaline high of her competitions, school was a lot more relaxing of an environment for her. Being away from it made her look around with fresh eyes once more, appreciating the simplicity and predictability of the scene before her. The large corridor was buzzing with students, many of them hanging around their lockers either picking out books for the first class of the day or chatting with each other. The few students who caught her eye threw enthusiastic waves and greetings of‘welcome back, Amber’and‘congratulations, Amber.’She smiled and waved them back. A lot of the competitions and performances she danced in were televised often and Amber had something of a media presence where she posted here and there, but it still came as a surprise that so many of the students followed up on her life and were aware of her.

Beverly squeezed her arm, bringing Amber’s focus to her. Although she was sorry she had missed so many of her friend’s calls, hearing the excitement in her voice and witnessing her smile face-to-face was better than anything else.

“You wouldn’t believe that Poppy and Isla got into a fight. It was pretty bad too. The teachers had to jump in and separate them,”Beverly was saying.

Amber’s eyes widened.“They’ve been best friends for years. What happened?”

Beverly made a sympathetic noise.“You know Poppy has that skincare brand she started in her parents’ plaza. Isla leaked to the news that she used dangerous chemicals and acids in her serums. It’s still an upcoming brand so the story did a lot of damage. Rumor is, she’s always been jealous of Poppy. Her true colors finally revealed themselves.”

“That’s horrible. I can’t imagine how Poppy must feel.”

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