High Impact || Genshin Impact H.S AU

Chapter 9.4

Rushing down the hallways, her long legs sprinting to her next class. She checked her wrist, looking at her clock as her heart pounds in fear, due to being late to her class with Albedo.

Albedo of all the teachers is one who hates students being late, not hesitant to give detention to them. She shuddered, remembering the weekend spent in a rainy forest searching for mushrooms for an experiment of his.
It was painful, wet, and agonizing, especially with the mushrooms being rare.

She was only late because she got way too invested in making her platform speech. She heard that Mona was running and with Noelle running as well, she had serious competition, needing to put everything into her speech. It also didn’t help that she had no idea what to say, unsure of what her platform should be or why she would want to run again, leaving her confused and stumped.

She turned a corner and she saw in the farthest edge of her eye, a sign that said wet floor but before her body could react, she slipped and fell. Hard.

“AGH!” Amber cries out, feeling something break and pain shoot up her left arm. She looks to her left arm, seeing bruising and swelling all over her wrist.

“Oh god,” she whispers, wincing in the pain. She felt tears prick down her cheeks.

“Amber? Are you alright?” a familiar homely voice called out. She looked out and saw that it was Noelle, her usual counterpart when it came to Student Council activities.

“H-hi,” Amber says weakly, her wrist still hurting very much. Noelle rushed forward, picking Amber, and supporting her up.

“I can see you’re hurt, lets go to the nurse’s office,” Noelle says, commanding as always when the time calls for it. Amber smiles weakly, appreciative that Noelle was nearby to help.

“P-please tell Albedo that I broke my wrist,” Amber asked, Noelle, nodded, understanding as always.

A few days later

Amber grudgingly walked down the hallway, on her way to her next class. She sighed, looking down at her red cast, having to get it due to her broken wrist. The doctor said it would take a while for it to heal, making it difficult to do certain things, like writing, or typing, or anything involved in making a speech for Student Council.

Also due to her wrist breaking, she couldn’t help students or be as active as she used to be, leaving her with nothing. Meaning no more helping teachers find their papers, no more helping students make useless clubs to add to their college resume, and no more helping Fischl with Oz.

Weirdly, Amber reveled in it. For once in her life, she had an excuse to say no, doing what she wanted. A luxury she hasn’t had since elementary school.

She smiled, checking her schedule, and seeing it was just homework, a simple few hours, and then she could spend the rest of her day doing whatever makes her happy. She could finally watch those shows that everyone kept talking about. She felt giddy.

Then in the corner, she sees Noelle, perfect and sweet Noelle who was helping another student and she was reminded of her campaign for Student Council.

She felt a sudden heavyweight press down on her, remembering that what she should be doing instead. She adds it to her schedule, whining a bit inside her head.

“Oh, hey Amber, I hope you’re alright,” Noelle says, giving a wave and following alongside Amber.

“O-oh yeah, again thanks for helping me when I broke my wrist,” Amber says, remembering the painful hour spent with Noelle as they waited for the nurse to call for an ambulance, something that shouldn’t have taken so long if it weren’t for the District’s small medical service system.

“It’s no problem, it was my pleasure,” Noelle says sweetly, always willing to help. A trait that Amber felt somewhat irritated at sometimes.

“I hope it's not too much work for you now that I have a broken wrist,” Amber adds, not wanting to overwhelm the girl.

“Oh no worry, I am having fun and enjoying myself,” Noelle says sweetly.

Amber felt her eye twitch. Having spent years as part of the Student Council even in middle school, she had spent countless hours helping people and commanding projects, breaking her, and stretching herself to limits. She didn’t have fun doing all of that.

“Oh, that’s good,” Amber says. A brief silence interludes the two, before Amber quickly breaks it. “Uh Noelle, do you always enjoy helping people as part of Student Council,” Amber asks, remembering days where she wanted to strangle others for even speaking to her.

Noelle seemed surprised, almost caught off guard but at the same time, it was Noelle, the girl was always prepared.

“I enjoy helping people, it's what makes me happy. Part of the Student Council is helping people therefore that’s what I love to do. It's my hobby, my interest, and my passion in life,” Noelle answers.

Amber clenched her fist, annoyed at how perfect the response was.

Over the years, the two girls have worked together countless times. Both of them were perfectionists, except Noelle was the one who could get it done perfectly in one try, in some sort of terrifying way. Meanwhile, it took Amber time and trial and errors to perfect something, always annoying her.

So at the moment, it felt like another situation in which Noelle had outshined in one try while Amber was still stumbling in the dark.

“That’s very admirable, Noelle,” Amber said, doing her best to sound nice and not petty. She knew that she was just being jealous of Noelle for her perfection, but she also felt about herself, wishing she could feel the same. Yet she didn’t.

“Anyway, my class is up ahead, see you later,” Amber says, waving goodbye to Noelle who turns a corner.

“Okay bye Amber, good luck running for Student Council,” Noelle says, reminding Amber of her idea. Amber looks back down at her phone, seeing it scheduled for later. She groans at the thought of it.