Chapter 6
Slade Princeton knew as he climbed up the tall oak tree that he was most likely going to need an alibi for his actions. If Amber or Ally caught him sneaking into their house, he was most likely to be pushed out the window if he didn't have an amazing and believable excuse. He had one more branch to climb before he was at her window. I never thought I would be doing this again marveled the eldest Princeton who had been quite the tree-climber in his teen years.
As the long-haired man collapsed onto Amber's carpeted floor. "I'm getting too old for this," he moaned. He looked around his ex-girlfriend's bedroom only to find it had changed from three years ago, but then again, Amber never had changed anything about her room for as long as Slade had known her. Time to find her diary thought Slade as he looked under the green-blanketed bed.
"Not there," he muttered as he went to her bookcase.
Dictionaries
Encyclopedias
Atlases
Other Books…It wasn't at all what the Princeton was looking for. He wondered how looking for some dumb collection of secret thoughts in a brown book could be so hard to find in a clean room. Although he was regretting his decision, he had his reputation to save which meant stealing from his ex.
"Where is it?" he whispered softly looking in her closet. Obviously, I am not looking for t-shirts, suits, skirts, and heels Slade's brain wracked. He felt a shiver run up his spine. He had forgotten that Amber kept her bedroom cold so she could stay awake to get work done easier. He always wondered how she managed to even stand the cold when she did try to sleep.
His head perked up as he heard a door slam. Oh shit he thought as he grabbed the eldest Rhode's diary. He turned around as the door opened to reveal unsuspecting Amber with a mutt and a small kitten. Slade hid in the large closet mainly filled with clothes and art supplies. He held his breath trying not to breath or make any hint of a noise.
"Slade Princeton," Amber haunted, "What are you doing in my bedroom?" Slade wondered how she could tell he was there. There was no possible way they could see each other from that angle, and Slade was inaudible. Amber continued, "Slade, get out here now!" Slade arose from his crouched position in the closet.
"Give me my diary," commanded Amber expressionlessly before Slade Princeton handed the diary back to her. He rolled his eyes, but he had to know something.
"How did you know I was here?" He asked annoyed at another failed attempt of getting information on any trouble Amber had possibly caused.
The young woman sighed as she stroked the kitten's fur. She hid her smile of the pleasant memories that the businessman had led to her mind. She whispered, "It's your strong cologne. It's very distinct; you've worn that since I have known you. How could I miss that scent?" The man who was listening to his ex-girlfriend talk about his cologne really resented the fact that he always used it.
"Jagger and I wear the same type…" began Slade but was cut-off shortly.
"No, Jagger wears Tommy Hilfiger," retorted Amber, "I've been in your house before." That answered more of Slade's questions such as if she had canine senses or if she was addicted to cologne.
"Slade, what are you doing here?" she asked to the businessman, "Are you trying to get revenge, because that brown book maybe a diary, but I write songs in there so you're not going to find anything in there useful." Slade wished there would be something in there that would help him.
"My reputation is at stake," he replied demonically, "and to restore mine, I must destroy yours." He observed the slight shrug of the woman's shoulders. Why he couldn't get her to just be a good sport about things was beyond his comprehension.
Amber replied smoothly, "Then, you are not attempting to save your status or your company's for that matter. How is it my fault people detest the very name 'Slade Princeton'? You caused your own demise once again." The businessman wondered if she was completely correct in her assumption or if she was trying to scare him out of her house.
He snarled in reply, "What makes you say that? What can you possibly know about me and my business? You are stuck in your hippie magazine world. You may be aware of the world around you but not everyone else's."
"At least I didn't succumb into looking through someone else's stuff to protect my reputation," She yelled making Slade back away from the angry woman and her animals.
"Haven't you ever done something like this?" demanded Slade hoping that the magazine editor would spill some evil deed or two that was unknown to his knowledge.
Amber replied as she held the kitten, "No, I haven't because I am not some deranged control freak that is obsessed with money and breaking down my younger brother's spirit. I am nothing like you nor will I be anything like you. Now, get out!" Slade went through her window and landed on a sturdy tree branch.
Slade said before he fled from her condemning sight, "You do have a secret, I can sense it, and one day you will regret not telling me because I will find it and exploit it to prove myself better and you as not such an angel that people make you out to be."
"Get lost," yelled Amber throwing a twig from the tree at Slade's head. The young woman smiled to herself knowing that she did have a secret, but not a deadly one, just something she hadn't bothered to mention to anyone before.
Flashback
Amber stood on top of the roof of the school during biology class. She didn't have to nerve to watch little frogs being dissected by immature high schoolers who planned to throw frog guts at one another. She prayed no one would find her during her secret mourning of the disrespect towards the amphibians. She looked down to see a sharp-dressed man beckon her. She wondered who this man was, but if anything should happen to her, she knew how to fight from watching enough Kong-fu movies. She went down the ladder until she saw the man who summoned her to that particular spot.
"Shouldn't you be in class, young lady?" he asked stiffly as he rubbed his hands through his brown hair. He was well-built as if he were a body guard.
"Shouldn't you be at work, Sir?" she responded unaffected by his laugh. She didn't know him, but she was certain she wasn't in need to be frightened by him.
"I am working, my employer is in that building. He is trying to allow a duel convention for children to be held here," He responded. Amber rolled her grey eyes still taunted by the idea of duelists running the earth. "You should be in class though."
"I refuse to dissect frogs, and if I go in, I will have to. It's a moral decision in my opinion," Amber stated hoping that he would here her out on her outlook. He grinned as he sat down on the bench.
"My friend was the same way," he said, "He felt sympathy for anything smaller than he, but I don't want you to get into trouble for your belief." Amber nodded unsure on what her course of action should be. She didn't want to look at the scalpels that were going to open up the amphibians or smell the stench of the chemicals that preserved the frogs.
"What should I do?" asked Amber looking up at the man. He gave her a duel disk with a deck in there.
"I challenge you to a duel," he replied. Suddenly, Amber understood this particular duel's purpose. No one in the entire world would ever disrupt a duel, and anyone in a duel for a good reason or company was exempt from work. It was a perfect strategy.
After the duel had ended, school was done for the day. Amber returned the duel disk to the body guard and said, "Thank you for getting me out of class. May I ask what your name is? I should know as your former opponent and such."
"I am Tristan Taylor. I'm sorry I didn't give much of a fight, but dueling isn't exactly my forte. What about you?" He said as his boss, Seto Kaiba, came from the high school.
"I'm Amber Rhodes," she said as Tristan jumped onto his motorcycle to follow Kaiba's limousine. She watched as the bodyguard left making her truly wonder if the world was soon going to belong to some game or if it was all a phase that society was going through.
End of Flashback
Amber smiled sweetly to herself. Nobody had ever figured out she had skipped school through dueling a bodyguard. She was sure that many people did that since that law was placed. She hated the whole idea of the matter, but she had to give it credit for how it helped her escape biology.
"They don't know what I am truly capable of," she whispered as she glanced out the window to make sure that Slade had left her property. She said to herself Slade wants a battle, so maybe I should give it to him for old time's sake. He is messing with the wrong lady. She closed the window and wondered what was to come next.
Mew Kazurinu: Well,
that was a horrible flashback. What will Slade do next? Is Karma
going to help Amber or Slade? What about Jagger? Find out most of
this in the next chapter.