10 Closer (Part 2)

The doorbell rings and I went to open it, a girl is standing at the gate of my house waves at me with enthusiasm. I go and open the gate and let her in; she greets me with a smile imprinted on her face as she speaks while going inside,

"Morning Ash, let's get this done so we can have time to play."

"Sure, wait for me in my room, I'll be there in a sec."

the gate emits a clanking sound as it collides at the other locker. We both went inside the house and Amber greets my mom as soon as she sees her at the kitchen washing the dishes we used for breakfast; the freshly cooked bruschetta's aroma hovers around the room,

"Morning aunt!"

"Oh, my. Morning Amber, it has been ages since I last saw you, pretty as always."

"Aww~ you too aunt, no wonder why Ashley is so beautiful."

she starts with her sweet talk again, I continue eating the bruschetta while they are flattering each other. The hissing sound of running water ceases and a sudden yell that echoes within the room shock the hell out of me, I saw Amber with an incredulous expression while she yelled

"NO WAY!!!! ASHLEY HAS A BOYFRIEND??"

"Ok, mom the morning talk show ends now..."

I brush away the crumbs that got a stick on my hands and went beside them to forcefully push mom towards the main door,

"...dad needs your help at the shop. Go now or you'll be late."

"Fine, fine. See you later sweetie, bye Amber~! "

I shut the door after they said their farewell, Amber standing behind me chuckling and staring at me with mocking filled eyes; I sigh and return to the kitchen to finally finish my breakfast so we can start the study session. I sit at the dining table and continue eating the food that I left, Amber sits at the chair beside me and stares at me with curiosity and a grin that reaches up to her ears. I already know what will this be, she will start barraging me with questions about this boyfriend of mine even though I do not have one. I pinch her cheek since it is irritating,

"Can you please stop that. And you know that I don't have one."

"Ow, owowowwowoww! Okay, I get it, stop pinching my cheek!!!!"

"Really? You won't bombard me with questions?"

"Y-yes owwww I won't!"

I chuckle and let her cheek go, the pinched part got a bit reddish and swelled, she stares with menacing eyes as I finished eating. I washed the plate and glass before we go to my room and study, the door of my room screaks as I open it slowly, Amber sits on the floor taking the reviewing materials out from her bag and puts on top of the center table, a heap of papers that contains the lessons from the first day until the recent day of school. I scratch my cheek upon seeing mt. Everest's paper version,

"Umm. Amber? Are you sure that we can finish all that in one day? We just need the lessons from the finals."

"Oopsie, my bad."

she sticks her tongue out for the mistake and returns 3/4 of the papers into her bag, I sit beside Amber scanning at the paper on top of the table. A complete summarization of all the subjects lessons; Amber is one of those diligent students even though she doesn't really look like one, dressing up as a rebel teen with those tattered jeans and leather jacket, you'll surely think that she's one of those malignant students who spread chaos within the school. Truth to be told she graduated valedictorian in her high school and got a recommendation at Harvard University, but she rejected the offer simply because she hates uniforms and grandiosities. Also now she is a dean's lister and she has the freedom to wear whatever she wants, that is why she is living her life to the fullest.

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"...now you get it?"

Amber asks as I finished the 3rd example of the Sum of Constant equations from Statistics, I look at her with tired eyes, my mind is worn out from calculating. I plop my head on the center table and whine,

"I'm getting the hang of it so please gimme a five-minute break. My brain can't cope up any longer."

she laughs out loud as if she enjoys torturing my brain, she stretches her arms and lays on the floor.

"Okay, just five minutes. We still have a lot of things to review."

"Thank God. I'll bring something to drink and snacks too."

she simply nods as I leave the room, I head to the kitchen and made some iced-tea and grabs something to eat on the cupboard, some biscuits and crackers, maybe this will do. I put them on the tray and head back upstairs. As I arrive at the corridor the doorbell rings, I put the tray on the nearest table with caution and head to the window to look who's outside; Yohan is behind the gate, waiting for someone to open it for him. I head outside and he waves at me, I simply smile at him as a response, the gate opens and we go inside the house together. I noticed that he is carrying a guitar case on his back, does he have a gig after?

"Hey Yohan, why the guitar?"

I ask him when we are heading upstairs and carrying the tray of snacks. He grins and looks at me with pride and mighty,

"We have a band practice later, wanna hang out after reviewing?"

"Sounds fun."

I reply since I also love to hear a live band performance, as we arrive on the second floor the door of my room suddenly opens, maybe Amber heard our footsteps.

"Took you so long Ash, who was-- YOHAN?!?!"

She yells upon seeing him beside me, he waves his hand at Amber and chuckles as he sees the surprised Amber for the first time.

"Hello there."

"Well, let's have a snack and resume our review."

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The session finished at past four in the afternoon. My mind tired from memorizing names, dates, formulas and even theories; Ambers looks at the guitar case laying on the floor beside Yohan while munching a biscuit

"So you have a band Yohan? What do you play?"

"We just started, I'm lead and vocals."

he replies while nibbling the cracker and rocking his body, me and Amber stare at him unconvinced. He then stops from rocking his body back and forth.

"You can come with me to the studio if you don't believe me. You'll gonna enjoy, promise."

"Really? Then let's go, Ash! Let's grab this opportunity to unwind!!!"

I sigh seeing Amber all excited, once she becomes like that it is really impossible to halt her.

"Okay, gimme a minute to change, just wait for me downstairs."

Amber suddenly hugs me and smiles, then drags Yohan with the guitar case on his back downstairs. I sent a message to mom that we'll be outside for a while and then changed quickly. I rushed downstairs and joined the two.