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  Chapter 6

  The lead up to Christmas had always been Amber’s favourite time of year. Cheesy movies played on the TV, beautiful displays filled shop windows, snowball fights broke out at regular intervals, and people were generally happier.

  The first snowfall came on November 29th, and Amber had to lock herself in the bathrooms to avoid being ambushed by Darren and his group of snowballers. He had tried to persuade Hannah to go in and drop a snowball on Amber’s head, but she wouldn’t be convinced and Darren couldn’t reach her in the girl’s bathroom. Amber had thought she had been quite clever for hiding in there.

  By December 2nd, the school was filled with gold streamers and bells of mistletoe and holly. Darren had tried to corner Amber one afternoon under the mistletoe, and she had only just escaped by saying that she had an assignment to hand in. Darren was certainly improving Amber’s ability to think under pressure.

  “What are you wearing to the Christmas dance?” asked Eva on the way to lunch one day.

  “What Christmas dance?” asked Amber, while her mind chanted, please, please, please no. Dances had never been Amber’s scene; she did not enjoy throwing herself around the room, trying not to look like an absolute idiot as she ‘danced’ while half a dozen people, several of which would be in heels, stood on her feet. She strongly disliked dances.

  “The one that’s being advertised all over school,” Eva said in the manner that some one might explain that vegetables are good for you to a two-year-old.

  “Ugh!” Amber moaned, “I suppose that there’s nothing I can say that will stop you dragging me to it,” she sighed.

  “You would be correct,” Eva beamed.

  “Ugh,” she said again.

  “And you’re also coming shopping with us tomorrow.”

  “But-“

  “You need a dress for the dance,” Eva cut in fiercely. Amber decided it would be pointless to argue when she was bound to lose.

  So, Wednesday afternoon saw her catching the bus with Hannah and Eva into the centre of town. Hannah hadn’t really been sure about coming, but Amber had talked her into it, and now all three of them were going back to her house afterwards. Amber had always enjoyed shopping, if she had the right company. Tonight, Eva droning on and on about the dance, was not the right company.

  “What’s the plan?” she asked dejectedly as the three of the hopped off the bus.

  “I thought we could shop and then get some food,” said Eva, taking charge. Amber was beginning to wish Eva was slightly less over-confident again. She wasn’t even sure how much she liked the girl now; she’d never liked people who ordered everyone around.

  However, Amber listened to her, and they headed off to the first of a long list of shops that Eva had planned out for them. She realised as they journeyed around the big main streets and tiny alleyways of the city, passing boutique after boutique, that it was going to be a long night.

  “So who are you going to the dance with?” Hannah asked discreetly whilst Eva tried on a pair of high, green shoes.

  “We’re meant to have a date?” Amber whispered incredulously.

  “Well yeah, it is a dance. If you haven’t asked anyone yet then I’m sure Darren would go with you.” The only thing that could make the dance worse than it was already going to be would be going with Darren. Amber couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t just move on already. She would rather go alone, which was, she realised, the most likely possibility seen as she couldn’t think of anyone else who would be willing to go with her. Unless-

  “Are we allowed to bring people from other schools?”

  “Not really, no. Something to do with health and safety and risk assessments. They don’t let anyone who’s not from the school into the building”

  Amber sighed. She had thought she would be able to go with Will, though of course he didn’t go to the school, and so would not be allowed in.

  “Who are you going with?” she asked, trying to turn the subject away from Darren.

  “I don’t know.” It sounded like she was upset about something. “I don’t really like anyone to be honest, and I don’t care if I go on my own. I think that’s probably what I’m going to do actually.”

  “Are you going on about what a lone wolf you are again?” Eva interrupted harshly. Amber looked between the two of them, hoping that they weren’t going to start fighting, but Hannah wasn’t the type to argue. No one really tended to argue with Eva anyway. “Just ask someone, for crying out loud! What’s the worst that could happen?”

  “I could end up with a total idiot, who I then have to spend my night with. If that happens, I’d rather stay at home.”

  “Who are you going with?” Amber asked Eva dubiously.

  “I haven’t decided yet. Sam asked me first, but Dylan’s nicer. And I’ll feel bad if I don’t go with George after all the help-“

  “Wait. You’ve got three dates? How the hell have you managed that?” Hannah asked.

  “Four,” she corrected smugly. “Alan asked me this morning.”

  Four?

  “What do you think of this?” Hannah asked, holding up a strawberry-red knee-length dress.

  “It won’t suit you,” said Eva, snatching the dress out of Hannah’s hands and replacing it on the rail. Amber was really starting to get annoyed with Eva.

  “Do you think these shoes go?” she asked after allot of um-ing and err-ing.

  Amber wanted to say something to get back for all the mean things she’d said to Hannah, but thought better of it and just nodded quietly.

  Finally, after hours of trying on dress after dress they headed for the café they where were going to have dinner, which Eva, of course, had chosen.

  “Why don’t you go to the dance with Matthew?” Hannah asked once they were sitting at a table and Eva had gone to the toilet. Amber was glad the other girl was out of earshot. She would have pushed her into answering all sorts of hideous questions. Hannah was just curious.

  “I highly doubt that he would want to go with me,” Amber said.

  “Why don’t you just ask him? You never know.”

  “I don’t want to go with him Hannah,” she said. “He’s rude and obnoxious and he’s been a real pain in the butt since the day I met him. So no, I’m not going with him.”

  “Ok, only asking,” said Hannah, who clearly thought Amber had gotten far too worked up about the suggestion. Amber thought she had too, but she blamed Matthew Pryer for annoying her all the time; that must have been why she got so worked up at the sound of his name.

  Eva trotted back to the table.

  “Are we ready to go?” she asked, though it sounded more like she meant we’re leaving.

  Amber stuck the last piece of my jacket potato in her mouth and pulled out her purse. The waitress came bustling over at once.

  “Was everything okay?”

  “Yes thanks,” Eva replied, putting on a warm, friendly visage frighteningly quickly. “Can we just pay please?”

  “Of course.”

  Throwing her share of the bill down on the table, Amber got up and pulled on her jacket.

  “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

  “Aren’t you going to the shoe shop with us?” Hannah asked, clearly not wanting to be left alone with Eva.

  “I’m good,” Amber said, holding up the heavy carrier bag that contained her outfit.

  “Okay,” Hannah mumbled reluctantly, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Bye,” Eva called, pushing Hannah out into the street.

  Amber felt bad leaving Hannah with Eva, especially after she had been so nice to her, but she couldn’t take any more shopping, or any more time with Eva.

  It started raining as Amber headed to the bus stop, making her wish that she still had a rain coat. She was glad when she reached the bus shelter. Though it was only six-thirty, it was a dark outside, with the only light filtering through the windows of the rowdy bars that lined the high street. It still made Amber nervous to be alone on a nig
ht like this, and she wondered if she would ever get completely over what had happened at Eva’s house that night.

  It was so dark that she almost didn’t notice the silhouette of something flapping in the wind beside her. Looking closer, she realised that it was a black raincoat just like the one that had blown away, pinned to the side of the bus shelter. Amber didn’t make a habit of wearing anonymous clothes from the bus shelter, but she was freezing cold and soaking wet, and ever so slightly curious as to why a random raincoat happened to be pinned up on the corner of a bus shelter. She yanked it down from where it fluttered in the wind and inspected it. It really did look a lot like the coat she’d lost.

  As she felt around the material, Amber came across a flat, rectangular shape protruding from one of the closed pockets. Reaching down, she pulled out a piece of crisp white paper, untouched by the rain, and unfolded it. Five words were written on it: Thought you might want this.

  Before the words could take effect on Amber, the bus pulled around the corner and stopped in front of her, opening the doors for her to climb in. Without thinking about it, she brought along the raincoat; she could always bin it when she got home. The bus was completely deserted apart from an old lady with a tiny brown dog on her lap, a heavily built man with a shaved head, and at the back…Matthew Pryer.

  He motioned for Amber to join him, and she moved without consciously realising to sit next to him on the back seat.

  “What a coincidence, fancy seeing you here,” he smiled, and Amber thought it looked as though he were referring to some kind of inside joke. If she was meant to understand it, she didn’t.

  “Yes, fancy that,” Amber smiled back.

  “Shopping?” he guessed.

  Amber nodded. She was always so incoherent when she was with Matthew Pryer. Which was odd, because most of the time when she thought about him, it was with annoyance or even a tinge of anger.

  “What about you?” she practically whispered; Amber was afraid that if she spoke any louder her voice would break.

  “I had to pick up a few last minute things. For the dance, you know.”

  “You’re going?” she gasped before she could stop herself.

  Matthew laughed, “Is that alright with you?”

  Amber nodded again silently. She thought it must seem she was incapable of stringing together a full sentence.

  “So what did you get?” he asked curiously.

  He was a good actor; for a moment Amber actually thought he was bothered about her trivial day-to-day information. But that was the wrong assumption, she told herself mentally, if he cared he might have bothered talking to her in the last few weeks.

  “Stuff for the dance, like you,” she said coolly, biting back some sort of comment as to why he always seemed to treat her with some kind of bi-polar state.

  “Do I get to see?”

  “Do you actually care?” Amber burst out angrily. “Or are you going to go back to ignoring me the second we get off this bus? Or maybe you’ll just do a vanishing act and I won’t see you for days.”

  So maybe she didn’t quite manage to bite back her comment that time.

  “Whoa!” he held up his hands in defence, “Vanishing act? Who do you think I am, Houdini? Why would I vanish?”

  “It wouldn’t be the first time,” she murmured furiously.

  Matthew placed a calming hand on her shoulder, and then quickly withdrew it again. Amber’s skin tingled where his hand had been.

  “I swear,” he said, holding up his hand like people do when they pledge allegiance to the flag. “Not to vanish or ignore you again…if I can help it.”

  “Hmph,” was the only response Amber could come up with. She couldn’t help but notice the very large loophole that was ‘if he could help it’.

  “Now do I get to see what you got?” Matthew leaned forward expectantly.

  “No,” she said.

  “Why not?”

  “Because you wouldn’t admit to me the truth about what happened that day I fell down the stairs.”

  “I told you, you-“

  “Fainted, yes you did tell me. That doesn’t make it true.”

  “Well, it is. Can you please just let sleeping dogs lie and leave what happened alone?”

  “Can you please just tell me?”

  “No.”

  “Fine then,” said Amber, and she crossed her arms and sat firmly in silence, staring straight ahead of her.

  “So what did you buy?” Matthew asked again.

  Amber sighed and picked up the carrier bag, extracting from it the ocean blue satin dress that she had bought just a few hours previously.

  “I’m sure you’ll look beautiful,” Matthew murmured thoughtfully. “Now can I show you what I bought?” He reached under his seat and pulled out a large cardboard box with a fancy Italian name inscribed on it in big curly letters. Lifting the lid, Matthew revealed a beautiful black suit that was just a few shades lighter than his own hair.

  “Wow,” was all Amber could muster.

  “You like it?”

  “No,” she said. If Matthew still wasn’t going to admit he had been lying about her fainting, she was not going to be friendly to him. She shouldn’t have even shown him her dress; she wasn’t even sure why she was still talking to him.

  “You said wow,” he smiled. “That’s a good thing, you can’t take it back.”

  “Well I am.”

  Matthew sighed.

  “I’ll do you a deal,” he said. “I’ll admit that I lied about you fainting that day, but I won’t tell you what really happened, and you aren’t allowed to ask.”

  “I’m not allowed?” Amber asked sharply. She couldn’t help but be annoyed with the way Matthew worded this.

  “Deal?”

  She sat in silence for a couple of minutes, before sighing and nodding.

  Matthew Pryer smiled.

  “Are you looking forward to the dance?” he asked.

  “Not at all,” she said.

  “But I thought all girls liked dances?” He sounded confused. Amber wanted to look at his face so that she could read his expression, but she could never have a proper conversation when she was looking into those blue eyes, so she continued to look straight ahead. Also, she was still slightly angry, and didn’t want to let it show.

  “I don’t dance,” she said.

  “Never?”

  “Never.”

  Amber allowed herself a glance in Matt’s direction. He was staring at her like she was some complicated maths problem he was trying to solve.

  “That’s a very strange coincidence,” he said. “I don’t dance either,” he sat silently for a moment. “If you like, we could…not dance together?”

  “Matthew Pryer, are you asking me to the dance?” said Amber, half-smiling as she still looked down the aisle of the bus.

  “I think so,” he said; he looked slightly puzzled himself. “And you can call me Matt, by the way.”

  “Well Matt, I’m not sure if I’m going to the dance yet-“

  “You’ve got the dress,” he reminded her.

  “Indeed I do,” she said. “But I have to admit, that’s more to please Eva than anything else.”

  “If you don’t want to go you shouldn’t go, and certainly not to please Eva. But if you do, I wouldn’t mine going with you.”

  The bus pulled smoothly onto Amber’s street.

  “This is my stop,” she said.

  “Why don’t you get back to me later?” Matt said. “Think about it.”

  “I will,” she promised. “And remember, you’re not allowed to ignore me anymore.”

  She walked off towards her house oddly happy. She had not been expecting to see Matthew Pryer-Matt- and she had certainly not expected him to ask her to the dance. But now he had, which she supposed meant they definitely weren’t enemies any more. However, Amber didn’t particularly love the idea of going with Matt. Firstly, there was the fact that every five minutes his attitude seemed to have changed, and th
at on the day of the dance he might have decided he wasn’t talking to her again, and secondly there was the problem that she didn’t really like Matt; she liked Will, who wasn’t allowed to come to the dance. Amber had actually been planning on staying in with him that night or to go bowling or something. But the good thing about having your best friend as your boyfriend was that you could really talk to them.

  “I don’t know,” he said over the phone. “This is the Matthew Pryer who you’ve hated for months, and he’s presumably felt the same way towards you, are you sure you can trust him?”

  “I think we’re friends now,” Amber said. “He seems nice.”

  “It’s up to you. I trust you, it’s only one night, and if you really want to go to this dance, you should go,” said Will.

  “I still don’t know.”

  “Oh, I have to go,” he said. “My mum’s calling me. Like I said, it’s all up to you. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Bye,” Amber said quietly, and listened for the long beep that followed after the caller had hung up.

  It was the day before the dance, and Amber still didn’t have anyone to go with. Technically, she thought, she still had Matt’s offer. But, truthfully, Amber didn’t want to go, at all. She preferred her original plan of staying in with a rented film. All she had to do was talk Eva out of forcing her into going.

  “I don’t even have anyone to go with,” she moaned to Eva on the way to class, “Are you still making me go?”

  “Firstly, you promised you would go. Secondly, I think that your problem will be solved by lunchtime.” She smiled to herself. Amber felt her stomach drop.

  “What-“

  “See you in Maths,” Eva called over her shoulder as she walked away.

  Amber headed for Biology, trying to figure out what Eva had meant by ‘your problem will be solved by lunchtime’. Surely Eva couldn’t know about Matt’s offer. She was trying so hard to puzzle it out during the lesson that she almost set fire to her sleeve using a Bunsen burner.

  Amber was relieved when the bell finally rung, planning on finding Eva and getting some answers. She was walking towards the lockers to look for her, when she heard voices behind her. She glanced around and saw Darren talking to one of his friends about the dance.

  “Who are you going with?” asked the squat blonde boy who was with him.

  “Amber Wells,” Darren said confidently. Amber ground her teeth angrily, suppressing the urge to turn around and tell him just where he could stick his chances of going to the dance with her, then something clicked in her mind your problem will be solved-was this what Eva had meant?

  Amber doubled her pace; Darren hadn’t noticed her walking just a few yards in front of him, and Amber figured if he couldn’t ask her then he couldn’t go to the dance with her. She had almost cleared the corner when Darren caught sight of her.

  “Hey Amber!” he shouted.

  Amber pretended not to hear him.

  “Amber!” Darren started jogging to catch up with her.

  She sped up so that she was practically running, heading outside where it would be easier to hide. As she ran, she also pulled out her earphones from her bag, and jammed them into her ears, so that if Darren found her, he would at least think she was listening to music, and hopefully go away.

  She opened one of the last doors on her route and ran flat out into Darren, who was doubled over gulping in air. He must have run the outside way to beat her there.

  “Will you go to the dance with me?” he gasped before she could turn in the other direction.

  Amber pretended not to hear him; for all he knew, she was deep into some Britney lyrics right now. She actually started bopping her head to make it look more realistic. It didn’t really work, because the end of the earphones that usually plugs into the player was dangling down near the ground, and Darren spotted it pretty quickly, and held it up in the air.

  “Are you alright?” he asked, watching Amber slowing the head bobbing down as though she was having some kind of seizure.

  “Yeah, I was just feeling a bit sick,” she said.

  “But you’re better now?”

  “Yes,” said Amber. “It comes and goes.”

  “Well, as long as you’re feeling better, I have a question to ask you.” Darren took a deep breath to ready himself, and Amber held her breath as she tried to come up with an excuse. “Will you go to the dance with me?”

  “Um…” she said. “Someone already asked me…and I said yes.” What am I saying, she thought. She could have said something like I’m not going to the dance, I’m busy that night. But no, she had to say the first stupid thing to come into her head. Amber felt like kicking herself.

  “Who?” Darren asked suspiciously.

  “Matthew Pryer.” What? Shut up, shut up, shut up! Amber’s brain yelled abuse at her, but it was too late, the damage had been done.

  “Oh.” Darren sounded surprised. Not as surprised as Amber was.

  “Well, see you.”

  “Yeah…um…bye.” Darren had a look of deep concentration on his face, but Amber didn’t have room in her head to worry about what he was thinking. Matthew Pryer?

  Well, she supposed that settled things. Matt had offered, and now she would have to take him up on that offer. She could curse Darren.

  She avoided Darren after that, not wanting to be questioned any more. Amber took the longest possible route to classes, arriving at the last minute and sitting on the opposite side of the room when they had a lesson together.

  People kept looking at her strangely in the corridors. Amber could have sworn that she heard them whispering. Or maybe she was just paranoid or going crazy and hearing voices. Or both.

  “Is it true that you’re going to the dance with Matthew Pryer?” Eva asked, taking her aside at lunch that day.

  “What?” Amber decided acting dumb was probably her best bet.

  “You heard me. Is it true?”

  “Yes,” Amber sighed. “At least, I think so. He asked me a while ago, and I haven’t said yes yet, he might have asked someone else.”

  “As much as I’m glad that you’ve got a date to this dance, can I ask why Matthew Pryer? I mean, he’s good looking, but don’t you just think there’s something about him that’s a bit…weird?”

  “I think he’s a nice person,” Hannah said. “And I don’t think you should be saying anything bad about him to his date.” She winked at Amber jokingly. Eva squirmed without her friend’s back up, and let the subject of Matthew Pryer drop, for which Amber was very grateful.

  “I still don’t understand why you didn’t accept Darren’s offer,” Eva muttered.

  “Because I-wait, how do you know about that?” Amber asked.

  “No reason.”

  “You set it up, didn’t you?”

  “No.”

  “Yes you did,” she said. “Thanks a lot.”

  “Well I was trying to get you a date for the dance, seeing as you never seem to be bothered about getting one yourself.”

  “Because I don’t care,” Amber said.

  “Well I do, and Darren was perfect.”

  “He was annoying and embarrassing, and I can’t believe you did that to me. I don’t need your help, believe it or not.”

  Amber didn’t talk to Eva for the whole of Physics, still annoyed that she set her up with Darren. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t notice when Mr Sackson set the class to work and she was the only one left in her seat.

  Amber headed to French knowing-but not entirely dreading-that she would be seeing Matt there. Amber knew every single lesson she shared with him: French, Art, and History. For some reason, this knowledge cheered her up a little, making her less angry. It was wrong that Matthew’s presence could change how she felt so drastically, but there was no point in pretending that it did not effect her. It was the same way with Will.

  Amber sat at the back of the room as usual, staring out the window at the slowly setting sun. She didn’t take in a
ny of Madame Bothe’s lecture on irregular verbs and their meanings. She had been fighting a losing battle attempting French anyway.

  Amber was still zoned out as she packed up her bag at the end of the lesson, and so didn’t notice the tall figure standing beside her until she almost walked into him.

  “Hi Matthew,” she said.

  “Hey.”

  “Sticking to your promise, I see.” Amber tried to speak casually whilst staring at the floor.

  “Naturally.”

  “So…can I help you with something?” she asked, puzzled about why Matthew would want to talk to her. He wouldn’t need help with his French homework; Amber was bottom of the class in the subject, perhaps because she spent the entire lessons staring out the window.

  “Yeah, I was just wondering if you’d thought any more about my proposal?”

  “The dance?” Amber asked. “Actually, I have, and…” she thought for a moment. “I would love to go with you.”

  “Great. Well I’ll see you outside the hall then,” and with that he walked off.

  Amber was glad that she had someone to go with to the dance, and that she definitely wouldn’t have to go with Darren. And she was glad that she was going with Matt. Yet, at the back of her mind she was disappointed that she couldn’t take Will, especially because she knew he would want to go. And she knew it must feel bad that he knew she was going with someone else.

  “Eva told me to tell you that she talked to Darren and he says he’ll still go to the dance with you if you really want,” said Hannah when she saw Amber by the lockers.

  “Tell her no thanks,” Amber snapped.

  “No thanks? Aren’t you going any more?”

  “I’m going,” she said.

  “Alone?”

  “No.”

  “Then who with?” Hannah asked curiously.

  “Matthew Pryer.”

  “Matthew Pryer?”

  “Yes, I told Eva he’d asked me. Didn’t she tell you?”

  “No, she didn’t,” said Hannah quietly. “Are you pleased?”

  “Yes, I suppose. I just wish Will could have come. I feel really bad for leaving him alone while I go off to a dance. I wouldn’t have gone if Eva hadn’t forced me into it.”

  “It’s only for one night,” said Hannah. “You’ll enjoy it, honest.”

  “I just wish you could have met Will.”

  “You can introduce us some other time-you’re going to the dance with Matthew Pryer. You probably don’t understand how big this is, he never goes to the dances. Ever.”

  “What did I miss?” Eva said, running up behind them.

  “Amber is going to the dance with Matthew Pryer.” Hannah said out before Amber could answer

  “Oh, that’s nice,” Eva said. Amber could see there was a tinge of something in the girls expression that she just wasn’t quite able to mask. But she smiled anyway.

  “You won’t tell anyone though will you? I’m sick of everyone talking about me behind my back.”

  “Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone, will we Eva?” said Hannah, looking seriously at the girl with the long blonde hair.

  “No,” she sighed and looked at the floor.

  Eva didn’t look too pleased at being forced to keep such a juicy secret under wraps, but agreed after Hannah threatened her with a secret of her own. Amber wasn’t quite sure what this secret was.

  “So when are you planning on letting people find out?”

  “As late as possible.” If she was lucky, no one would find out about this until the moment Amber walked onto the dance floor.

  “Are you ready?” Matt asked the next night, linking his arm around Amber’s own.

  “As I’ll ever be,” she returned.

  The hall was bedecked with garlands of holly and mistletoe, as well as strips of crate paper and inflatable Santas. A fast song blasted out of the sound system and the dance floor filled with people jumping up and down to the beat.

  Matt pulled Amber around to the centre of the dance floor, from where she could see Eva dancing with her date, one of the members of the school football team, and Hannah talking at a table with a tall blonde boy with spiky hair.

  They danced the length of several songs, each of a different pace or beat, before Matt pulled her over to the drinks table.

  “Take your pick. There’s orange and strawberry or lemon and lime,” he said, holding up two different coloured glasses.

  “I think I’ll have the orange please,” Amber said politely. She was pleased with herself so far; she hadn’t fumbled with her words once and was finding it a lot easier to be around Matt than she used to. For some reason though, she couldn’t stop herself being overly polite.

  Eva came trotting over from a bunch of laughing girls.

  “Hi Amber,” she greeted the girl warmly.

  “Hi.”

  Eva raised her eyebrows.

  “Oh, um…Matt, this is Eva.”

  “You’re in my English class,” he said, and smiled friendlily.

  “Yes, I am. You’re the one Amber punched in the nose.”

  Matt’s smile faltered for a moment, but he pulled it back and said, “Yeah, happy memories.”

  “Yes, so…I’ll just…be off now.” Eva looked slightly confused as she walked back to the group of friends.

  “She doesn’t like me, does she?” he asked.

  “Actually, I think she doesn’t like me,” Amber corrected him slowly, thoughtfully.

  “And you don’t like her?”

  “I used to,” she said. Matt let the subject drop; the song changed to another more upbeat tune, and the hall was filled with cheers. Amber bounced up and down on the spot feeling like an idiot while her mass of copper hair swung around her face, blocking all vision.

  Amber felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked around.

  “Darren what are you-?”

  “Can I talk to you for a second please?” His tone surprised her; it shook like he was trying to keep strong anger at bay.

  “Erm…sure.” Amber turned around to tell Matthew where she was going, but he was nowhere to be seen. “Have you seen Matthew anywhere?”

  “No,” Darren sounded distracted. Amber wasn’t even sure if he’d really heard her question.

  As they headed away from the hall, the music got quieter until it was only background noise. Darren opened a door and stepped outside into the cold night air. Amber followed him. Suddenly, he spun around so quickly that she almost fell backwards just avoiding his swinging arms.

  “I can’t believe you came with him.” Darren made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat.

  “He has a name Darren.”

  “Whatever,” Darren dismissed her.

  “Is that all you wanted-to criticise my choice in dates? I guess I’ll just go back in then.” Amber turned to leave, but Darren grabbed her arm harshly. In all the time she’d known him, though admittedly that wasn’t long, Amber had never seen Darren like this. She’d never seen anyone like this. His whole expression was blank, and it was like the words he was saying weren’t his own.

  “Ow. Darren, let go, you’re hurting me.” she tried to shake off his arm, but it wouldn’t budge. “Darren, let go!”

  Smack.

  Amber jumped back from the sudden noise, unsure of what had just happened, and tripped on her own feet, landing in a heap on the wet ground. She couldn’t see where Darren had gone.

  “Stay away from her!” yelled a smooth voice, contorted in rage. She could see a tall figure, standing over Darren-who was clutching a bleeding lip. She thought at first that it was Matt, but this person was taller, and his hair was light against the glow from the hall.

  “What the hell, who are you?.” Darren squared his shoulders and drew himself to his full height, which was about five foot nine.

  “The names Will, and I’m you’re worst nightmare.”

  Smack. Of course it was Will, Amber thought. She wondered how long he’d been saving the ‘worst nightmare’
line.

  Amber didn’t dare look to see who had been hurt. She covered her eyes with her hands just as Darren made to punch Will.

  Crack. Someone yelled out, a pain-filled stretch of every swear word under the sky. The noise made Amber feel nauseated. She didn’t want to watch these people fight, and she didn’t want to see Will get hurt.

  “What did you do to my hand you little-“ Darren called Will a long list of things that Amber didn’t care to repeat, holding his limp, now misshapen hand, but Will ignored them, squaring up to hit Darren again if he didn’t back away.

  “I was about to say that I wasn’t going to fight you. I don’t think I’ll need to now though. You’d have to be really thick to carry on trying to fight me after that, and you don’t strike me as the thick-” Will paused. “Sorry, I was going to say you don’t strike me as the thick type, but I’ve made a promise that I wont tell any more lies.” He turned around to Amber, and smiled cheekily “Surprise.”

  Darren lunged, taking advantage of the fact that Will’s back was to him. Will took a tiny step to his left at the last moment, and Darren hit the concrete pavement with yet another resounding smack.

  “Are you okay?” Will asked, concern flooding his voice.

  “I think so,” Amber said, still lost at how the massive Darren had ended up as a heap on the ground with apparently very little effort on Will’s part. She tried to pick herself up out of the pile of leaves she had landed in, but Will pushed her down by the shoulders.

  “You’re not going anywhere until I’m sure you’re okay,” he said, his voice full of authority.

  “But my dress-“

  “Is already ruined, I’m afraid.”

  Amber sighed and slumped back onto the ground. She suddenly started shivering, aware of how cold it was outside for the first time.

  “Here.” Will took off his coat and quickly wrapped it around Amber’s shoulders. “I would have thought you’d have a running supply of jackets by now.”

  “Thanks,” Amber murmured gratefully. The coat was warmer than standing next to a hot stove.

  Will crouched down beside her, his oak leaf eyes boring into Amber’s obsidian.

  “So what are you doing here?” Amber asked.

  “Well, I heard there was a dance, and then I contemplated sitting in all night watching the sports channel, but about an hour in the channel shut down because of technical difficulties, so I thought I’d come and see what my girlfriend was up to.”

  “Just as well you did.”

  “It is isn’t it?” Will smiled despite the situation, then, looking Amber up and down, he stood up and hauled her to her feet. She winced slightly and realised that she had sprained her ankle. Amber’s dainty shoes squelched under the mud and water that had saturated them when she fell.

  “How do I look?” she asked.

  “Well you look great. As for your dress…”

  “Well, I guess that’s the party over for me,” she said

  “Do you want me to call you a taxi?” Will offered. Amber wished that she could tell him how grateful she was to him for coming to her rescue, but the words wouldn’t come.

  “That would be great, thanks,” she said.

  Amber half walked, half hobbled back towards the nearest bathroom so that she could attempt to clean herself up. She almost tripped again on her bad ankle, but Will slipped his arm around her waist before she could do any more damage.

  “Do you think that you can last five minutes without injuring or endangering yourself?” Will asked when they reached the door of the girls’ bathroom.

  “I think I’ll be okay,” Amber said, a little indignant at Will’s assumption. She absolutely refused to think that she was clumsy in any way.

  “I’ll go and call a taxi then.” He spun on his heel and headed off in the opposite direction, pulling a black mobile phone out of his back pocket as he went.

  Amber pushed open the door of the bathroom and groaned at her appearance. The dress had turned from the pale shell colour to a mud-brown, with leaves making an appearance at regular intervals. Her hair was glued together with water and mud from the ground, and filled with so many twigs that it could easily have been mistaken for a bird’s nest.

  Turning the on the hot tap, she soaked a paper towel with soapy water and attempted to clean herself up a little. Mum is going to kill me when she sees this, Amber thought

  Tap tap tap.

  “You ready?” Will’s voice came muffled behind the door.

  Amber sighed yet again and switched off the tap, resigning all hope of trying to make herself presentable. She opened the door and walked straight into Will, who she hadn’t realised was standing so close. He caught her again before she could fall over for the second time in one night.

  “You really do find it a challenge to put one foot in front of the other without messing up, don’t you?” he muttered. Amber wasn’t sure if Will had meant for her to hear, but she countered him anyway.

  “I can walk perfectly fine, thank you very much! It’s not my fault you can’t stop getting in my way!”

  “You’ve got quite a temper on you, too.”

  Her mum had always said that Amber should watch her temper; she didn’t want her to end up like her father. Of course, that was when her father’s name was still mentioned.

  “You’re saying I’ve got a temper? After you just brought a five-foot-nine teenager to the ground?”

  “I was provoked,” he muttered.

  “I thought you threw he first punch?”

  “Yes, but that was to get him away from you.”

  “How did you find me anyway?”

  “I…heard you shouting.”

  “I wasn’t shouting.”

  Will didn’t seem to be able to come up with a response to that. He opened and closed his mouth a few times like he had a comment to make, but then thought better of it and kept quiet.

  “We should probably head out to the taxi,” he said, heading over to the door and gesturing for Amber to follow.

  She wanted to know where Matt had gotten to. Amber knew she ought to tell him she was leaving, but she didn’t want to leave Will alone in a school he didn’t know. She satisfied herself by telling herself that Matt had wandered off before Darren had shown up, so he probably wouldn’t miss her that much.

  A taxi arrived and Will opened the door for Amber and climbed in after her. The excess material of Amber’s dress occupied most of the backseat, making it hard to sit comfortably. It was only now Amber realised that Will was wearing a grey striped shirt that was now covered in mud after he had tried to support her. The taxi drove away without the driver asking for an address; Will must have told them on the phone.

  “So, before it ended so abruptly, how was your night?” he asked.

  “It was good. I had a really great time, thank you.” Amber was again mad at Darren for ruining the party for her.

  “I would say we should do it again some time, but parties don’t seem like somewhere you should be spending a lot of time, judging by what I’ve seen tonight.”

  “I’ve been to parties before and nothing bad has happened,” said Amber

  “And tonight?”

  “I’m mad at Darren, but I wasn’t in any danger.”

  “If you say so.” Will didn’t sound happy.

  The taxi pulled up in front of Amber’s house before she could ask Will what was wrong. It had only taken the driver ten minutes to make a half-an-hour journey, and Amber felt slightly resentful for it.

  She reached into her purse to get the money her mum had given her before she left, but Will had already paid by the time she found it.

  “Thank you, again.” Now that she was home, Amber was looking forward to a hot shower and clean clothes. Will walked her up the path, hands ready to catch her if she caught her toe on one of the many cracks in the concrete.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess,” he said once they reached the front door. It was so dark outside that Amber could ba
rely see his pale face.

  “Yeah, see you tomorrow.” Amber fumbled inside her bag for the door key, forgetting that her mum would probably be in the house already. When she eventually unlocked the door, Amber opened it and allowed light from the hall to flood the front step.

  “Thanks again for saving me,” she said to Will. “Do you want to meet up at the weekend?”

  “Yeah, that sounds great,” he replied.

  Amber reached up and pecked him on the cheek, before smiling to herself and walking into the house, shutting the door behind her.

  Amber said ‘hi’ to her mum, who was shocked at the state of the dress, before heading upstairs to take a long shower.

  While in the shower, Amber marvelled at how Will had saved her tonight. He had come out of nowhere and dodged any attempt Darren made to hurt him. She also wondered what had happened to Matt. It was only now that Amber realised she had been thinking of Matt as kind of her own personal saviour. He’d always been there when she’d been in trouble, like at the fire or when she’d fallen down those stairs that time, which he never had explained.

  But it was Will who had saved her tonight.

  The memories overcame Amber, and she was surprised when all the hot water ran out and she began shaking in the cold. She climbed out of the shower mindlessly; still focused on how many odd occurrences Matt had saved her somehow since she’d arrived here. Amber lay in bed motionless, recalling every memory that she could and seeing new meanings behind them.

  It was hard to distinguish where reality ended and the dream began, because at first it was just a swirling mass of memory and time. But then it began to become more defined, each memory highlighting as Amber focused on it. A doorway billowing with smoke and flames, a steep staircase of concrete steps, every stumble, every fall, repeated in her head over and over and over, each time sharpening in detail until it was like she was still there. Then it all changed, suddenly Amber was watching Matt on the ground by a pair of feet. The feet belonged to the most glorious and yet most terrifying creature she had ever seen. It was the height of a man, with locks of fair blonde hair piled on top of the most beautiful face she had ever seen. Its crimson eyes were full of malice as it stared down at the twisted figure that was Matthew Pryer, it’s sculpted mouth parted in a terrifying sneer. Long robes of smoky black flowed down around its perfect body, giving the effect that the creature was floating in the air. Amber should have been able to call it a monster, given that it was now smiling to itself as it stared down at Matt’s broken body, but it was so magnificent in it’s beauty; nothing that perfect could ever be called a monster. It lowered itself down to the ground until it’s glorious face was level with Matthew’s, deadly intent glinting in it’s eyes. The creature stooped lower over the body, and Matt cried out in pain.

  Far away, a figure with midnight hair and sky blue eyes fought hard to do the duty he was assigned, to protect the girl that had become so important. It was an uneven battle, but the defender would gladly die to protect the girl, because she was his life now, and without her he did not want to live.