benefits-lrh

01

Amber plops down behind her desk next to her best friend, Michael, who tended to be balding due to excessive bleaching of his hair, and hands him a small pink sticky note that said nothing more but her address and a smiley face.

It's Ambers third week of school in Australia and Michael was her very first friend, they became pretty close on the first day. She had came from Wisconsin and flew to Australia just because she got into an extremely high class High School for her last year of it, which Michael thought was totally pointless but was happy since he had made a new friend.

Amber watches as his eyes light up once he sees that she obviously had wanted him to come over, whether it was to play Super Smash Bro's or to just do something stupid the two of them would enjoy, Michael would still be happy. He was weird that way, and that's what Amber liked about him.

"Amber-Marie," Mr. Joseph says slowly, he was more focused on the papers he was reading than on his class which was supposed to start a little over 10 minutes ago.

"It's just Amber." She says softly with a slight smile following the three words that she found herself saying almost everyday.

"Sorry, but may I talk to you after class?" She looks at Michael for reassurance that she's not in trouble but of course, him being Michael, a huge smile just plasters on his face and he bites his lip. She rolls her eyes and looks back to Mr. Joseph.

"A-Am I in trouble-" She was cut off by the infamous Luke Hemmings barging into the classroom with a loud entrance.

"Sorry Tyler, my bus was a little late." But this is 3rd period... Amber thinks to herself.

"Hemmings, that's Mr. Joseph to you." He looks up from his papers and to the back of the class where Luke always sits. "I will need to talk to you after class as well."

"Yep, you're in trouble." Michael whispers over to Amber, who was frozen in her place. She was nervous. Not so much about being in trouble, since she knew she didn't do anything wrong, but more worried about the fact that she'll be staying in class with Luke Hemmings.

Michael has told her just about everything anyone should know about him, even a little more, and he apparently breaks every heart he gets close to. It was the other way around, once. Plus, she's super shy around people other than Michael and her boyfriend who's in Hollywood, and she would hate to make a fool out of herself in front of Luke.

Mr. Joseph tells the class what to do, but Amber just stares at the clock, horrified. What if he sees my scars? What would I say? What would happen if he tried talking to me? I can't stutter, no, you better not, Amber. She mentally yells at herself, but her thoughts were interrupted by Michael whispering her name.

"Amber, calm down. You're the smartest kid in the class, you'll figure something out." Michael nudges her with his elbow and gives her a cute wink.

She actually decides to do her work after 15 minutes of doing nothing, but her heart skips a beat once she notices her only pencil was broken. Why is she scared? Well, the pencil sharpener is directly next to Luke, and she knew she wasn't going to go up there, so she started rummaging through her stuff to find the pencil sharpener she keeps in her bag. And that's when she remembers she gave it to Michael.

"Michael can I have my pencil sharpener back?" She whispers over to him, loud enough for him to hear, but quiet enough for no one else to be disrupted.

"Yeah, about that, I broke it. Sorry." He bites the insides of his cheek trying his hardest to not laugh at Amber who's face was turning red, she hated when that happened.

"Michael-" Both of their heads snap up to the front of the class where Mr. Joseph was sitting behind his desk.

"Amber, do you mind?" Embarrassment smacks her in the face as 17 pairs of eyes are placed on the two of them.

"S-Sorry," She looks down at her paper and kicks Michael's shin. She ends up taking Michael's and finished up the last few sentences of her essay that she started yesterday, it being due in two weeks.

And that's when the bell rings.

And that's when the class is empty except for Amber and Luke.

"Now, don't be shy. The two of you, come to the front please." Mr. Joseph waves his hand towards the front so the two of them will move closer. Luke and Amber move to the front desk, where the two of them sit next to each other. In the corner of her eye, Amber sees Luke look her up and down and he bites his lip, which starts to make Amber uncomfortable.

"So Amber, as you may have suspected, Luke is failing." Luke rolls his eyes and Amber tries to not laugh. "And Luke, as you may have suspected, Amber is the smartest student in the school. And as you both may have suspected-"

"What the f*ck is suspected?" Amber's eyes go wide at his choice of language, she was confused as to why he just cursed at the teacher.

"My point exactly." Luke sits back in his chair and messes with his lip ring. "Amber, I wanted to ask if you would tutor Luke. He's failing this quarter miserably already and his mother and I have discussed this. You're our best hope, Amber."

"I-I guess, i-if you want." She shrugs and looks over to Luke who seemed to be staring at her for the past five minutes. She quickly looks away and tucks her hair behind her ear.

"Great! 15 bucks an hour sound good to you?" She nods her head and gives him a smile.

"It'll feel good, too." Luke whispers in her ear before getting up from his seat and walking towards the door.