Amber was avoiding Craig.
She was embarrassed about the way things had gone when he had been trying to be nice to her. He was just trying to help her, and she had blown up in his face. It didn't help matters that Spinner had come along. Craig had even tried to defend her, too. Amber was glad that at least it had ended quickly. She was glad that he cared enough to stick up for her. He had risked being beat up by Spinner.
Meanwhile, Craig was confused. He didn't know if she was keeping secrets from him because she was trying to play hard to get, or if it was because she was a secretive person. He was trying to figure out if Amber told him to back down from Spinner because she cared and didn't want to see him get hurt, or if she thought he was being stupid. He had to admit to himself that he must have looked pretty stupid getting all angry. He wondered if he was giving himself away.
Add that to the fact that Amber hadn't been talking to Craig. Every time he tried to tell her something, she had brushed him off with a, "Sorry. I need to go," or something else to that effect. He sadly decided that he had utterly failed in attracting Amber, and that she had no interest in him whatsoever.
However, he wasn't about to give up quite yet. He was desperate, though, and the only plan he could come up with was to make her jealous. So, he set out to get himself a girlfriend.
Craig set his charm level on high. He took extra time on his looks, and he smiled at every single girl that passed. Except for Amber. He had decided that he would do the same to Amber as she did to him. He would ignore her.
Now, instead of Amber brushing Craig off, every time Amber tapped Craig shyly on the shoulder, Craig told her that he was busy. He turned away from her, and so he didn't see the hurt look on her face.
After Craig had told her for the ninth time to basically get lost, she gave up. She couldn't help noticing that Craig was being nice to everyone else but her. She thought that she had ruined the only true friendship she ever had. Amber glumly walked past Craig, and restrained herself from giving him a pleading look. As she walked by, Craig glanced at her, but her eyes were firmly set on the floor underneath.
"Oh. There goes that one girl again," said one of the girls surrounding him.
"I'm much more beautiful than her, don't ya think, Craig?" simpered another.
Craig nodded vacantly, but thought, She might not be beautiful in that way, but at least her beauty doesn't come from a bottle.
"Hey, Craig? I thought Amber was your friend. What's going on between you two?" Manny asked.
Nothing. Which is exactly the problem, thought Craig. But out loud he said, "I just haven't talked to her that much lately."
"Oh."
The girls continued to flirt with him, and continued to try to get his attention. But his attention was elsewhere.
Amber was sitting in the empty classroom, waiting until class started. She could hear the noise of the other kids socializing in the hallway, and sadly wished that she was among them. She knew that they never would accept her. There was that little incident that had happened at lunch time before. And when they found out more about her...
She shuddered. She knew that things could only get worse if she told them the truth. So she chose to separate herself from the other students, and only suffered from the longings to be normal that pained her heart. It wasn't that bad; she at least had some friends. Or at least, she used to.
Spinner walked into the classroom. He faked surprise that she was sitting in the classroom alone.
"What are you doing in here? Class doesn't start for a while now," he said. His voice rang through the room. It echoed, the undertone saying that she was a loner repeating over and over again.
"I didn't want to get caught by certain people and end up late to class," she responded bitingly. Her cutting tone accused him of being one of those people, which he was.
Spinner was taken aback. He hadn't thought she had the nerve to say something like that. He chuckled in his head, but made his voice serious.
"Really. It was just a one time thing. You should be out there hanging out." The unspoken words 'like everyone else' came across clear to Amber.
"Well, what are you doing in here, then?"
"Oh, just thought I'd get a head start on studying for the science test later today."
Amber highly doubted that this was the case, but she let it go.
"So, where's Craig, your bodyguard?"
This was not going at all where Amber wanted it to go. She didn't want to think about Craig, and here goes Spinner asking her about him.
"I don't know. I guess he's out there hanging out like I should be."
"Well, you're in a bad mood, aren't you? I'm just trying to be nice."
Amber snorted outright.
"Nice? Nice? Yeah right. As nice as you were when you shut my locker the other day. As nice as you were threatening me. You call that nice? Well, I call it being a bully who only picks on other people because that's the only thing he has brains for," her voice was loud, and Spinner looked out the door, making sure no one else was hearing this. Nobody was paying any attention, but Amber's voice went up in volume, as she practically screamed, "And you know what? I bet everyone in this whole school would be a whole lot better without you! Because you're just a plain waste of everyone's time! You're useful for nothing!"
The room was quiet, except for Amber's heavy breathing. Neither of them noticed other students started peeking into the room as they stared at each other with malevolence. The other kids saw that this was a bad time, so they walked back out again.
Spinner asked quietly, "Are you having this temper tantrum because of Craig? Is Craig the reason why you're having this fit?"
Amber screeched, "NO! Craig doesn't have anything to do with this. I don't care about him anymore. This is just between you and me."
Spinner riled her further by commenting, "Oh no. I think you still care about Craig. More than you think."
Amber, furious, stomped out of the room.
"No, Manny, I'm not going out with anyone but you," Craig said, exasperated.
"Are you sure? You're not going out with Amber?"
"Where did you get that idea?" Craig turned back to his locker, where he rolled his eyes. He was getting sick of hearing her ask him if he was being faithful. This was one of the downsides of having her as his girlfriend. But, he had to admit to himself, she was better than the other girls that had wanted to go out with him.
"Oh, I don't know. You were just really really friendly. I thought you guys were really close, you know? But if you're sure..."
Craig cut her off. "I'm sure, Manny. I need to go to class now."
Amber was back in the classroom, sitting in her seat with her head on her desk. She was tired after yelling at Spinner. But when she heard Craig's voice, she sat up.
"Oh, yeah. I'm going out with Manny again. But she's really annoy..." he glanced at Amber. "I mean, she's the best girlfriend I ever could have."
"I thought you said she was annoying," Jimmy said, confused.
"When did I say that?"
Amber laid her head on the desk again, and buried her head in her arms. Craig had a girlfriend? He's going out with Manny? How come I didn't know? Nobody tells me these things, thought Amber. She resolved to go talk to him after class.
"Craig?"
"Not now, Amber. I'm busy."
"No, you're not," Amber said. She firmly grasped Craig's shoulder, and spun him around. She continued, "Look, Craig. I know you're ignoring me, and I don't know why. But that's not the point."
"Well, then, what is?"
Amber sighed, and then demanded, "Why didn't you tell me you were going out with Manny?"
"Because I wasn't...at least not until this morning," Craig said.
"Then how come you didn't tell me at all? How come I had to hear it from someone else?"
"Because I didn't get around to it, okay?"
"Are you mad at me?" Amber meekly asked.
"No." Even Craig could tell his clipped response made it seem like he was.
"Really, why are you mad at me?"
"I'm not. It's just that you were ignoring me earlier, so I decided to ignore you for a while."
Amber shamefacedly said, "Okay."
"Look, I have to go now. I need to meet my girlfriend," Craig said, stressing the word 'girlfriend.'
"Oh, okay..."
Amber watched as Craig walked away, and then sternly shook herself. Who are you trying to kid? It was all your fault that Craig was ignoring you, she thought. Then she suddenly wondered, Has he found out?