Have you ever had to make a choice? Maybe it was a hard one, or maybe it

was an easy one. Well, “Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.” according to John C. Maxwell. And he’s not wrong. Although in this situation the choice being made is really hard. 

“Darren!” my mom yelled, “Clean your room!”

“Sure Mom!” I yelled back. I shoved some clothes under the bed and climbed onto my bed grabbing my phone from my dresser. 

It has been a great summer so far, hanging out with my best friend Amber Folino, and going back to South Korea, having fun at Disney with my parents and my brother Ricky. The weather was great after we came back from Korea. August was my favorite month, the nice warm breeze complimenting the beautiful scenery. 

 Amber was a really expressive girl with fierce brown eyes and wavy blond hair. Ever since her first year here in seventh grade when we were always the last people in cross country, we had been inseparable. We had a secret handshake and all. I was involved with her. When Amber went into the dating industry she informed me on every detail I would have rather NOT know. Do not even get me started.

I loved looking outside my bedroom window gazing at Mother Nature (very poetic I know) while I gleefully pondered the predicaments of life But that day, not even the weather could cheer me up. Amber and I had an interesting message exchange. A message exchange that would pit me against the innocent. It went something like this:

Amber: Hey Darren how’s ur summer the weather is great

Darren: good, bout u

Ok when Amber says anything related to the weather, she has something bad to tell me.

When I ask her about how she is she always responds with… 

Amber: BAD

I rest my case

Darren: What’s wrong

Seems kind of generic now to ask Amber about this since something has

obviously gone wrong. There's always something with Amber and if you knew you would know. Oh, you would definitely know.

Amber: YK how u missed preseason for XC?

Darren: Ya wut

At the moment I thought oh I know is Theo “cheating on her” so she has an excuse to go date, I don’t know, Jordan Chai?

Amber: YK how Theo and I r together

Theo Hart was Amber’s newfound boyfriend during summer break after she 

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

broke up with Jason Burke. He was like the jocky stupid kind. Just the kind Amber liked. 

Oh, it was so coming. She was gonna move from Jason, to Theo, to Jordan Chai

Darren: Ya 

Amber: This girl Jessica Mulvaney has just been like flirting with him so bad. I just wanna murder her. She acts totally oblivious to the fact that we’re obviously TOGETHER. Omg I just CAN’T ANYMORE 

Darren: um what

This was not what I was expecting. Though honestly a lot of times, Amber would freak out over nothing. For example, she saw a picture of her ex (when he was still her boyfriend) hugging a girl and decided he was cheating on her. She almost ended the relationship then found out that the girl was his cousin. I mean seriously. She broke up with him anyway and it turned out she was the one cheating on him. With Theo Hart. 

Amber: She’s soo ugly too. I feel like Theo might like her. She is not athletic at all. 

If she’s ugly and unathletic, why would Theo like her? Now she’s just ranting 

Darren: Dang Amber, calm down. I feel like you're yelling at me. OVER TEXT.

Amber: sry but her code name is ZK Zombie Kid

Zombie Kid seriously? Stupidest name EVER

Darren: She deserves it. Btw I love the name 

This was not true. She most likely did not “deserve it”; she, in my eyes, was just a victim of Amber’s paranoia. You just gotta say these kinds of things to keep Amber from going all nuclear. 

Amber: thx.  U would hate her

Darren: No id probably fall head over heels in love with her  

Amber: Darren 🙄 also ik that u might not believe me but it's true. She is always making googly eyes at him. I have some weird theories and stuff. But I’m telling you I AM NOT lying to you 

Yeah sure Amber was “definitely” telling me the truth

Darren: ok… 

Amber: Darren. Please trust me on this one. Srsly, please 

Darren: IDK especially after you cheated and stuff

Amber: I lied to Jason and that was a mistake. Besides, he was ready to break up with me anyways and start dating Courtney.  

This I had not realized. Courtney and Jason did start dating not long after Jason and Amber broke up. But this wasn’t the first time Amber had lied to me or anybody else. So, in this case, I was still skeptical of whether Amber was telling me the truth, or as usual, lying to me and everyone else.

Darren: I don’t know

I mean I really had to emphasize the fact that I thought she was lying. Besides she always ended up in some emotional breakdown screaming and crying

Amber: Pls I swear on our handshake

OK, she just swore on the handshake so I mean, I gotta believe her. 

“DARREN,” my mom called, “ARE YOU CLEANING YOUR ROOM OR NOT!”

Darren: sry gtg. Cya at school 

Amber: KK byeeeeeeeeeeeeee   

I shut off my phone and lay in my bed. I do this thing where I classify people by whether I like them or not. Jessica Mulvaney was definitely at the bottom.

Then, of course, I started cleaning my room. But that’s a detail of no importance. Especially when Amber’s relationships were being ruined