💠 Amber 💠

Perhaps you guys might have forgotten the talk between Kimberly and I. Well, I thought the talk was already over. However, it seemed like there was still a long way to go.

Currently, Kimberly's parents were sitting across the dinner table with their arms folded. From the looks of their stony expression, I suppose Kimberly had told them something I absolutely did not do.

Kimberly had an irritating smug look on her face as she sat next to them. Andrew on the other hand was sitting to my right, drumming his fingers on the table. My mother exited from the kitchen with a tray of drinks for our guests. She distributed the cups and took a seat next my left. My father was out with Colton watching a football match.

"Mr and Mrs McBride, will any of you enlighten us on your visit today?" My mother asked calmly as her hands were clasped together on the table.

"We want Amber to apologise to our lovely daughter, Kimberly. For causing her to suffer from emotional stress." Mrs McBride hissed out my name like it was venom.

"Hold on. What did I do to cause the so-called 'emotional stress'?" I made airy quotation marks with my fingers.

"Amber, be quiet." My mother cut me stern look before putting on a smile for Kimberly's parents.

"I'm sure there is a misunderstanding between all these."

"Of course you would say that, won't you? This isn't the right way to raise a child, Mrs Cadwell. No wonder Amber has an attitude of a spoilt brat. Oops, I mean child." Mrs McBride returned a rather fake smile as she shot me with words that could cut glass.

What an irony, I thought bitterly. Mrs McBride was the one who definitely did not know how to raise a child right. Obviously, it was Kimberly who has an attitude of a spoilt child. Oh and of course, Mrs McBride could never admit that, because Kimberly would always the perfect child in her cloudy eyes.

If my mother was surprised by Mrs McBride's cruel words, she sure as hell did not show it on her face. She had a very neutral expression, I had a hard time figuring out what my mother was thinking.

"May I know what Amber did that made you demand an apology from her?" My mother intentionally emphasised on the word 'demand'.

"Demand? How dare y-"

Mr McBride cut off his wife in the middle of her outburst. He was being awfully quiet the whole time and kept on giving me the blank stare. Honestly, it gave me goosebumps by the way he looked at me.

"Amber and Kimberly had a talk last week. We didn't know what happened until we've noticed that Kimberly has been crying every night. Initially, Kimberly wanted to protect Amber. But, under our persistence, Kimberly finally told us the truth." Mr McBride filled us in as he looked from left to right. He made sure we had eye contact with him as he spoke.

"What 'truth' are you referring to?" I raised an eyebrow with annoyance laced in my voice.

"That you have threatened her."

"Like what?" I challenged Mr McBride as I sat a little straighter.

"You will continue to harass Kimberly until she agrees to break up with Andrew."

Andrew clearly flinched after hearing what Mr McBride had said. He turned to me with a bewildered look and confusion was clear in his light brown eyes. I reined in my temper that was about to snap.

"Mr and Mrs McBride, I'm afraid there is really a huge mistake. I did not threatened Kimberly that I would harass her. I merely advised her to break up with Andrew. There is a great difference between advising and threatening, you know? Besides, it was clear that Kimberly has been toying with my brother's feelings." I said slowly to observe everyone's reaction.

"Dad, mum, she's lying!" Kimberly scoffed as she pointed her perfectly painted finger at me, fury flashed past her eyes.

"It breaks my heart to see Andrew went through those two horrible breakups. I just could not keep quiet and do nothing about it when I knew the problem has always been Kimberly!" I carried on despite Kimberly claimed that whatever came out of my mouth were lies.

"Amber Cadwell that's enough! Apologize to my daughter right away!" Mrs McBride slammed on the table so loudly that I jumped out of my chair, literally. It was a miracle that those cups on the table had not reacted the same way as I did.

"No! I do not owe anyone an apology. This whole thing is a total absurd and ridiculous." I gave Mrs McBride a nasty glare before backing away. Andrew grabbed hold of my upper arm and yanked me back to where I was originally.

"Andrew! Let go of me! You're hurting me!" I winced under the intense pressure of Andrew's strong grip on my upper arm.

"Amber I want you to hear this before you leave." Andrew drew a shaky breath before turning his gaze to Kimberly.

"Kim, we're over." Those three words reverberated around the silent dining area like an echo.

I blinked my eyes several times to make sure that this was not a dream. Everybody gave Andrew their undivided attention. Andrew loosened his grip on my upper arm and used the other hand to rub the back of his neck. Kimberly planted herself in front of my brother with her hands on the hips.

"What the hell do you mean by 'we're over?' Andrew?" Kimberly's voice tremble as she questioned my brother.

"This time, we're breaking up for good." Andrew replied as he looked at Kimberly straight in the eye.

"Andrew Cadwell, no one ever dumps me. Do you understand? This is not over. As for you Amber Cadwell, I will make your school life a living hell." Kimberly sneered at me and out of the corner of my eye I could see the exact same expression on her mother's face.

"HEY! I had enough of your horrible attitude. Kimberly McBride, no one ever threatens my children. Do you understand? This matter is over! Now, get out of our house!" My mother shouted with a broomstick raised up high.

Kimberly was taken aback by my mother's action and ran to hide behind her parents in an instant. Mr McBride seemed to be surprised by the turn of events. He took a step forward and was about to snatch away the broomstick, my father's loud deep voice boomed across the house.

"Are the three of you deaf? Mr McBride, I would not touch the broomstick if I were you." My father kindly warned Mr McBride as my mother raised the broomstick even higher.

Without wasting a second, the three of them dashed out of our house as fast as lightning. I actually found some humor in this situation and cracked a smile.

"Now they will know that the Cadwells are no pushover." My mother gave herself a pat on the shoulder and went to put back the broomstick.
............

The whole house was quiet because everyone were in their rooms snoring away. After a series of tossing and turning, I gave up on trying to sleep. I tip toed quietly around the house in search of our house keys.

"Where are you going in the middle of the night?" I heard a whisper behind me and covered my mouth to stop a scream from escaping. I squinted my eyes to find out who just scared the shit out of me.

"Identify yourself." I had trouble locating where did the whisper came from.

"Geez, you can't even recognise your brother's voice?" Colton finally came out from the dark as he switched on a small lamp to my right.

"Colt! Do you want to wake the whole family up?" In a flash, I turned off the only source of light.

"Why are you being so secretive?"

"I don't want mum and dad to know that I'm going to the rooftop."

"I'm coming with you." Colton said as he went into his room and came out with a jacket.

"Whatever. Just keep your volume down."

Colton and I stood next to each other in the elevator while he shot me a sideway glance. I arched an eyebrow because Colton had a small smile playing on his lips.

"You've done the right thing, sis."

"I know. But, Andrew probably broke up with Kimberly because he didn't want to see the McBrides to continue bully me."

"I would have done the same thing as Andrew."

A genuine smile of gratitude was on my face as Colton pushed open the door. Strong, cold wind blew in our way as soon as we stepped out. The both of us pulled our jackets closer to fight off the coldness.

"Well damn, I knew it." Andrew's voice greeted us before we could even see him.

"What?" I turned back to find him standing at the doorway.

"I had a feeling you can't sleep too. But I didn't expect Colt to be here."

"Woah, I feel the love big bro." Colton mumbled with sarcasm laced in his tone.

"I have no regrets about what happened earlier on, Am. No one could ever replace my baby sister." Andrew placed a hand on my shoulder as I felt my eyes warmed up with tears.

"I'm starting to feel like an extra." Colton muttered under his breath.

"Aww you're never an extra, my baby brother." Andrew and I said in unison which earned us a chuckle and eye roll from Colton.

A/N :
Sup guys! :) Dedicating this chapter to the lovely @MediOgress ❤ She made the new cover for this story! If you guys haven't read any of her stories, I suggest that you start now 😊 Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! 😄 Don't forget to vote/comment/share the story, if you like it! ♥