Life According To Amber Lynn Haner

*Amber's POV*

It was now the middle of May, and I'd been living in Cali for a grand total of three and a half months. Life's going swimmingly, I'd managed to get a tan, I'd found people who actually love me, and I had a home. What could go wrong, right?

This is what; the band are going on tour again, and yours truly is playing piggy in the middle amongst the constant "well where the fuck's she supposed to stay?" and "we can't bring her with us, can we?". This is a big issue, as for one reason, I ain't got any other family in Cali that I can stay with, I'm too young to stay in the house by myself for a year and you definitely can't leave a suicidal teenager on their own. So we ain't got an idea of where I can stay.

For the past two weeks now, there's been band meetings etc and I just sit there amongst the sea of tattoos, texting on my phone and not really paying attention. There's no way in hell that I'm being sent back to aunt Larissa, Gramps is too old to look after me, Pops (Dad's father) lives Northern California and there's no way he'll be able to drive down here. The only other option is for me to go with them, but I'm going to be missing a lot of school, and Dad's not so happy about that. We're all just screwed, basically.

-----

As this is just too stressing for me to comprehend, I'm taking a break from thinking about it, and I'm going to the gym with Zacky. But just to clarify, I'm not joining the gym, I'm not even working out, I'm just going to get out of the house. I need to do something because I've been bored out of my skull a lot recently.

"Why's it so hoooooottttt?" I whined, fanning myself with my magazine. Californian summers are too hot for me, and the house is like a sweatbox (the air con's broken and we're waiting for the air con fixers to come out).

"Do I look like I know?" Dad sighed, obviously sick of my whining. I haven't stopped.

"You should, you've lived here your whole life, whereas I haven't."

"That doesn't mean I know why it's so hot, you should ask your geography teacher about that."

"No, he hates-" We were cut short by a knock at the door, and as you may have guessed, Zacky was here to pick me up. I answered the door, and Dad followed me out, I'm guessing just to make sure I was gone.

"Thank god you're here, she hasn't stopped complaining about the heat!" I wasn't in Dad's good books, as you can see.

"But it's too hot!" I whined again, and stepped outside.

"This heat's supposed to last for the next three weeks, apparently." Zacky stated, and I nearly cried.

"Uuuuuuuugh!!" I whined again, I just can't take this heat anymore.

"Just quit whining, would you, Amber? You'll get used to the heat eventually."

"Easy for you to say, Dad! You've lived here for centuries!"

"Thanks, really appreciate that comment about my age."

"Well you're very fucking welcome."

"Mind your mouth." While our little argument was going on, Zacky just stood there awkwardly, and I felt kind of sorry for him.

"C'mon Amber, lets go, if we stand here any longer we'll get burnt." Zacky and I left, and I'm pretty sure Dad was just delighted that the house would be quiet now because I wasn't there.

-----

We arrived at the gym and headed in, while I went and sat in the corner of the room, trying to get a good wifi signal. After pacing around for about fifteen minutes, there was a really shitty reception on the signal, so I gave up. I turned on my 3G, and I knew that would cost a fortune, but like, I need wifi so it'll have to do.

"You dad was saying you dropped PE at school, how come?" Zacky asked while he was lifting some sort of thingamawhatsit (what the hell are they actually called?).

"Do I look like the kind of person who does athletic things?" I replied, tapping my phone screen with my (newly manicured) nails, because I know it drives people up the wall. I like to get on people's nerves, it's fun.

"Well.."

"Didn't think so. I hate PE, it's pointless and it makes you sweaty and sticky for the rest of the day. Thanks, but no thanks."

"It's not THAT bad."

"It is, and that's why I prefer cheer leading, because at least I can do it in a skirt."

"You're a cheerleader?"

"Yup, been doing it since I was four. I'd often debated giving it up, but my gramps always told me to keep at it, and despite being sick, he brought me every single week. It was either that or make an absolute mess of my life."

"And how would you make a mess of your life?"

"Last year, I mixed in with the wrong crowd. They were major/bad influences on me, and they made me start smoking, and they bought me drinks, but I never drank them. I'd had a few warnings from the cops about this and that, but it wasn't anything serious. Anyways, Gramps caught me smoking one time, and begged me to stop, that I was killing myself. I stopped only for him, and I turned my life around. Sure, I still ended up in detention, but I quit smoking and dropped those friends, put my head down and just kept to myself really. I only ever got detention because I was a back-chatter, but that's it. I still went to cheer leading, and slowly but surely, I got back on my feet, and here I am, alive. Just promise me you won't let anything slip to my dad about the fact that I used to smoke, please?"

"I won't, I promise. It takes guts to talk about a past like yours, and the fact that you just told me makes me feel great that you trust me. I won't tell anybody anything you don't want me to, I swear."

"Thanks, it means a lot."

"Don't worry about it. I just almost done, you ready to go?" I nodded and got my stuff together, and we left about ten minutes later.

-----

Zacky dropped me home, and I noticed the heat had died down dramatically. I dumped my bag in the hall and went into the kitchen, getting myself a can of Peace Tea from the fridge. I strolled into the living room, plonking onto the sofa next to Dad, who was engrossed in watching something on the tv.

"Hi, I'm home." I said snapping my fingers in front of his face.

"Pizza'll be here in twenty minutes." He replied, still watching what I'd now figured out was Arrow.

"Topping?"

"Just cheese, because I know you won't touch it if there's pepperoni on it."

"Wow, you're catching on fast."

"What can I say, with the attitude you have when something doesn't go your way, you gotta learn to catch on quick to avoid confliction." I nudged his side and giggled slightly, before we continued watching Arrow, both of us feeling pretty hungry.

Notes

No school again today bc I got the stomach flu t(-_-)t

Its funny bc you guys seem to like this fic but I can't write for shit in my English class >_<<br>
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