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[CARDIGAN]

1.01 || i'm an entrepreneur

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"When do you want me to pick you up?" 

Amber hesitates next to Lydia's car at the question. "When are you meeting Jackson?" She asks, leaning on the door. 

"Seven." Lydia responds.

"Okay, well, an hour? Hour and a half?" Amber says and Lydia nods. 

"Hour and a half then." Lydia says and Amber sends her a smile before shutting the door and heading up into the Care Facility. 

She glances at the nurse at the front desk as she walks in and Lillian nods her through. "Go on." She says and Amber heads down the hall, pushing open the door to her father's room to see him in his wheelchair facing the window and she tosses her bag onto the floor. 

"Where are your manners?" The brunette looks up with wide eyes at the question. 

"What the fuck?" She asks, staring at the back of her father's head. 

"Evidently you don't have any." He adds, turning around to face her and the brunette barrels into him for a hug, wrapping her arms tight around him.

"You're okay." She says, her voice muffled by his shirt. "Why didn't the nurse say anything?" Amber asks, stepping back.

"Because they don't know." He says and she frowns in confusion. 

"What do you mean they don't know? How can they not know you're no longer comatose?" Amber asks. 

"My nurse, Jennifer, knows. No one else. I'm hiding it." Peter says.

"Okay. Why?" Aurelia asks.

"Because if I'm suddenly awake, that's going to draw a lot of attention to Beacon Hills and to both of us. Especially from hunters. And the Argents." Peter says. 

"The Argents left after the fire and never came back." Amber says.

"Because as far as they were concerned, there was nothing left to hunt in Beacon Hills." Peter responds. "They didn't know about you." He adds.

"Speaking of me, I'm an entrepreneur." Amber says and he raises a brow at his daughter. "I give out tarot readings or tell people their futures at school during lunch." She says and he hums. 

"How much per reading?" He asks.

"Hundred bucks. I don't know why people keep coming to me. The price goes up every time they come back." Amber says.

"You start at a hundred bucks?" Peter asks.

"Yeah. Excuse me, it's my personal time I could be spending elsewhere. But instead, I'm choosing to enlighten the less fortunate on their shitty futures." Amber says and he shakes his head at her. "What? It's not a crime. It's business. If those idiots are willing to keep coming back to pay twenty bucks more each time, then I'm not going to stop them." She says. 

"How are you still in Beacon Hills?" Peter asks. 

"Well, I told Laura I wasn't leaving and if she tried to make me I'd cry abuse." Amber responds and Peter clears his throat before sighing. "So, Lydia's Mom said she'd let me stay there." She says.

Amber walks out of the Care Facility an hour and a half later, climbing into Lydia's car when she sees it and the other girl looks up at her from her phone. "You good?" Lydia asks.

"Yeah. I am." Amber responds, sending her a brief smile.

"You've got one of them feelings you get?" Lydia asks.

"Something like that." Amber responds and Lydia hums.

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Amber walks into school with Lydia, the two of them talking about the latter's date with Jackson the night before. "So, nothing different than normal? You watched a film, ate and then had sex. You do that all the time. Tell him he needs to surprise you and make an effort for once in his life." Amber says as they walk.

"Because that'll work." Lydia responds, her tone thick with sarcasm. 

"Who knows? He might actually surprise us all." Amber remarks and Lydia hums.

"Not likely." The redhead responds and Amber shrugs as they walk up the steps. "Are you eating with us at lunch?" Lydia asks. 

"Uh, lets see, sit with you and your douchebag friends at lunch or see my best friend and make some money? Sorry, Lyds. I mean, it's a difficult decision but I'm gonna have to go for Boyd and money." Amber says and Lydia rolls her eyes.

"Of course you are." Lydia responds and Amber shrugs shamelessly. "If you were anyone else,"

"We wouldn't be friends. I'm well aware." Amber responds and Lydia hums.

"You really don't like any of my friends?" Lydia asks with a slight frown and Amber hums thinking over Lydia's friends.

"I like Danny." Amber says.

"Danny doesn't count. Everyone likes Danny. That's a given." Lydia says, waving her sister's response off.

"Then no. I really don't like any of your friends aside from Danny." Amber says and Lydia hums. "I'll meet you at the bleachers to watch practice later?" Amber asks and Lydia nods. 

"Works for me." Lydia responds as they stop by Amber's locker. "See you later." She says. 

"See you later." 

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Amber glances up when someone sits next to her while she shuffles her tarot cards at lunch. "You'll ruin my mojo sitting there." The brunette says. 

"Your mojo?" Boyd asks and she nods. 

"Mojo. And you have a murky aura. You'll mess with the reading. Don't ruin my business." She says and he rolls his eyes.

"Nobody's here yet." He argues and she glances up. 

"Okay, fine. But when I do a reading, sit there." She says, pointing at the bench behind her. 

"Deal." He responds and she hums before smiling at him. 

"Then hi." She says, kissing his cheek before going back to her cards.

"You're Amber?" She looks up to see a boy with a buzzcut stood in front of her. 

"What gave it away? Was it the crystal ball, the tarot cards or the box that says money?" Amber asks.

"All of the above. Are you really psychic?" 

"Yes."

"No."

Amber turns to look at Boyd with an expression of mock hurt on her face. "You're hurting my business! Stop telling people that!" Amber exclaims.

"You're not. There's no such thing as psychics. Like I've said before, you're just observant." Boyd says.

"Don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Yes, I'm psychic." Amber says, looking back at the boy. 

"Like reading minds?" He asks.

"Like reading your future. I'm psychic, not a telepath." Amber says.

"Borderline psychotic, maybe." Boyd says.

"Okay, what did I say about harshing my mojo?" Amber asks and he raises his hands briefly before looking at the boy. "Look, it's a hundred bucks for a reading. You want one or not?" Amber asks. 

"Excellent business woman. Bullying your clients." Boyd mutters. 

"That's it. Bench." She says, pointing at the bench behind her and he smirks briefly before grabbing his bag and moving to sit on the bench behind her. 

"No, I had a question." He says and she gestures to the bench opposite her. 

"Fifty bucks for irrelevant questions, eighty for queries about psychics." Amber says. 

"Wh- Are you serious?" The boy exclaims. 

"I'm running a business here. You're holding up other people." She says, gesturing to the people stood behind him.

"Christ." He mutters before pulling out his wallet and tossing fifty in the box. 

"Okay, ask away." Amber says and he grumbles briefly before sitting down and leaning in. 

"Werewolves. They're real, right?" He whispers.

"Are we whispering because you're embarrassed about asking stupid questions? Because everyone can still hear us." Amber whispers back and she hears Boyd chuckle. 

"So no?" He asks.

"Don't be stupid. Of course they're real." Amber says. 

"Seriously?" The boy asks and she nods with a hum. 

"Just don't believe everything you read on the internet. I have books if you want to look through them." She offers. 

"Really?" He asks.

"For a hundred bucks." She adds and he groans. "What? They're family heirlooms." She says.

"Jesus, you're a nightmare." He complains and she smiles.

"Thank you. Look, I'll give you my number and you can text me if you want to look them over. For a hundred bucks." She says, scribbling her name and number down on a piece of paper before holding it out to him. 

"Your last name's Hale?" He asks, frowning at the paper.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, do you have a problem with that?" She asks.

"No. No. Just weren't the Hales," He trails off and Amber straightens up slightly.

"Go now." Boyd instructs, moving to sit next to the brunette and the boy glances at him as he rests a hand between her shoulder blades. 

"Thank you." The boy says before running off and Amber's jaw twitches briefly in frustration before she shrugs it off. 

"You okay?" Boyd murmurs and she nods. 

"Yeah, I'm okay." She says and he kisses her temple before moving back to sit on the bench behind her, pulling out a book to keep himself occupied. "Okay." She says, smiling briefly at the girl waiting opposite her.

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Amber runs over to the bleachers, sliding into the seat beside Lydia just in time to see a ball hit the goalie in the face and she winces instinctively. "Where were you?" Lydia asks, looking at the girl as Jackson calls some stupid remark, letting the Hale know it wasn't Danny in goal.

"I got distracted." She says and Lydia raises a brow. "I was talking to Boyd and then one of the girls I gave a reading to wanted to thank me for warning her about her asshole boyfriend cheating on her and then Boyd started going on about my readings being a scam because no matter how many times I tell him I'm psychic, he just won't believe me." Amber says.

"You told a girl her boyfriend was going to cheat on her? Your tarot cards really told you that?" Lydia asks.

"No. But the girl I saw him making out with did. That one was just me being observant." Amber responds and Lydia rolls her eyes. 

"Uh, hi." Someone says a few seconds later from the other side of Lydia.

"Oh, uh, Allison, this is Amber Hale, my adopted sister and best friend. Amber, this is Allison Argent. She's new." Lydia says and Amber hesitates slightly at the name before plastering a smile on her face and offering the girl a hand. 

"Nice to meet you." 

The three of them watch as the goalie shakes himself out before catching the next ball thrown his way, drawing a cheer from the bench and Amber spots the boy with the buzzcut from lunch before turning her attention back to the players, watching the goalie catch the rest of the shots thrown at him. 

"He seems like he's pretty good." Allison remarks.

"Yeah, very good." Lydia agrees and Amber spares the redhead a slightly surprised look before looking back at the field to see Jackson pushing his way to the front.

"Oh, here we go." Amber mutters and Lydia nudges her with her elbow. "What?" Amber asks and Lydia rolls her eyes before they watch Jackson run forward and throw the ball.

And a surprised look forms on Amber's face with the ball lands in the goalie's net before Lydia is standing beside her, cheering, sending Jackson a smug look.

"What the hell got into you?" Amber asks as Lydia sits back down. 

"Maybe he'll finally surprise us." Lydia says and Amber smiles before laughing softly. 

Amber and Lydia walk towards the latter's car when Allison splits off from them. "Hey, you mind taking me to the Care Facility before we go home?" Amber asks as they climb into the car and Lydia looks over at her. 

"You went yesterday. Is everything okay?" Lydia asks.

"Yeah. I just think I left something there. My coat, maybe. I'll be ten-fifteen minutes. Tops. Depends on if the nurse left it in the room or moved it." She says and Lydia nods. 

"Okay." Lydia says. 

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She heads into the Care Facility, smiling at the nurse on the front desk before walking through to her father's room. "The Argents are back." She says, shutting the door and he looks over at her. "I met this girl at school today. Allison Argent." She says.

"Why are they back?" Peter asks.

"Well, I was going to ask you that. What did you do?" Amber asks, folding her arms over her chest. 

"What did I do? I don't know if you noticed, but I've been in a coma for six years." Peter says.

"Yeah, exactly. You were in a coma for six years, you woke up and now there are hunters in town after six years of nothing. So, tell me. What did you do? And don't lie to me because you think I won't be able to handle it. What did you do, Dad?" Amber asks and he sighs before his eyes flash red. "Christ." She mutters, rubbing her forehead. "Who'd you kill?" Amber asks.

"Laura." Peter responds and she hesitates.

"You killed Laura?" Amber asks.

"Amber, I was out of my mind when I first woke up. I didn't know what I was doing. I'd been trapped in my own mind, healing, for six years." Peter says.

"But it's Laura." Amber says. 

"It wasn't me." He says and she glances to the side. 

"I have to go. Lydia's waiting for me outside." Amber says, moving towards the door.

"I do one thing when I'm not myself and you give up?" Peter asks.

"I just need a little time to process this. Because Laura was the one who went out of her way to make sure I could stay here with you six years ago. And now she's dead. And you killed her. I'll come back. I just need time." She says before opening the door and walking out, grabbing her coat from the floor by the door before shutting the door behind her. 

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Amber sits down on the bleachers beside Boyd at try-outs the next day, scrolling through her phone idly. They were only here because they needed somewhere to sit and they didn't want to go back to either house because Natalie always gave them slightly judgemental looks and never let them shut the bedroom door when they were alone while Boyd's mom, Ada, always tried to force-feed the brunette and while she appreciated it, the woman never did it when she was actually hungry.

"Who's Stiles Stilinski?" Amber asks, frowning at her phone in confusion. 

"The guy you made pay fifty bucks to ask you whether or not werewolves were real." Boyd responds. 

"Oh, right, this text makes a lot more sense then. He wants to see my books. I thought it was a really unfortunate typo and he was trying to say he wanted to see my boobs." Amber says, tapping the bar at the bottom to respond to the text while Boyd shakes his head at her. 

"You were serious?" She hears someone ask a few moments later and she looks up to see the boy with the buzzcut looking at her.

"Are you talking to me?" Amber asks.

"It's seriously going to cost me a hundred bucks to look at some books?" Stiles asks.

"They're family heirlooms." She and Boyd both respond at the same time and he scoffs.

"Dude, in case you missed it, there's like four Hales left and one of them is in a coma. So, yeah, it's going to cost you a hundred bucks to look at the priceless heirlooms I got when the majority of my family died. Keep arguing with me and it'll be two hundred. So, if you can fork out two hundred bucks to look at 'some books', then please, carry on." Amber retorts and he sighs, relenting slightly.

"Fine. Okay. Fine. A hundred. Can I see them after practice?" He asks.

"Send me your address and I'll bring them by." She says and he nods before returning his attention back to the lacrosse try-outs. "God, people never learn there's no point arguing with me about this shit. They never win." Amber mutters under her breath and Boyd chuckles quietly before kissing the top of her head and she sends him a small smile. 

"Manipulator." He mutters. 

"That doesn't offend me. You should know that." Amber says.

"Oh, I do. I just thought I'd make sure you were aware." Boyd says.

"You wanna come with me to that stupid party at Lydia's house?" Amber asks.

"I thought Mrs Martin was home." Boyd says.

"She is. For like another twenty minutes and then Lydia is going to start setting everything up because she doesn't get back until Sunday. So, I have Saturday to clean up. Lydia says she'll help but she won't." Amber says. 

"I hate parties. You hate parties. Why would we go to a party?" Boyd asks.

"Well, I don't really have much of a choice because I have to be there to make sure no miscreants try to go in my room and end up trashing my paintings again." Amber responds.

"I will sit in your room with you while the party is happening like last time. But I will not interact with the party like last time." He offers and she hums.

"Works for me." Amber responds and he nods. 

"I'll go call my Mom and tell her I'm staying over. I can help you clean up tomorrow then." Boyd offers. 

"You're the perfect best friend. Why on earth do you put up with me?" Amber asks.

"When I figure it out, I'll let you know." He responds before getting up and she smiles as she leans back.

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After dropping Boyd off to grab a bag and talk to his Mom after she'd demanded to talk to him in person about it, Amber makes a stop at home to pick up the books before heading to the address Stiles had sent her. 

"You get forty minutes. Then I have to go and I take the books with me because I'm not leaving them with someone I don't know." Amber says when he opens the front door and he ushers her into the house. 

Once Stiles had looked through all of the books and wrote down everything he needed from them, he hands them back to the brunette, still taking pictures of the last one. "So, have you seen Derek?" Stiles asks.

"Derek's in New York." Amber responds, her arms folded over her chest.

"No. He's here. In Beacon Hills. Scott and I saw him in the preserve the other day." Stiles corrects and Amber hesitates before humming. 

"You finished?" She asks and he takes another picture before closing the book and handing it back to her before grabbing the money from his desk and handing it to her. "Thank you. Pleasure doing business with you, Stilinski. Don't come back." Amber says, shoving the money in her pocket before putting the last book in her bag. 

"Believe me, at your prices, I won't. Can't afford to." Stiles responds and she shrugs.

"Don't come crying to me for sympathy. Everyone but Lydia and Vern get the same treatment from me. Good luck." Amber says.

"Good luck? What's that supposed to mean?" Stiles asks as she goes to leave the room and she glances back at him. 

"It means until you feel like handing over a hundred bucks for a reading, good luck. Trust me, you're gonna need it." Amber responds before walking out of the room.

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After picking up Boyd again, she heads back to Lydia's and walking through the front door. Lydia looks over at the two of them when they walk in before narrowing her eyes at them. "Don't injure anyone if they go near your room." Lydia instructs. 

"Aye, aye, captain." Amber responds, saluting her and Lydia rolls her eyes before the two of them head upstairs. 

The two of them end up sitting on the bed, with her laptop balanced on their legs as they watch a film, each of them with an earbud in. "What is this?" Boyd mutters about halfway into the film while the brunette sits with her head on his shoulder. 

"Uh, American Gangster." Amber responds, shifting slightly so she was more comfortable. 

After the film, Amber shifts, glancing at Boyd. "I'm going to get some food and see if I can find something non-alcoholic. You want anything?" She asks. 

"Anything. I don't mind." He responds and she nods.

"Be right back." She says before climbing off the bed and heading out of the room. 

When she gets back upstairs after managing to find two bottles of water and a bag of chips, she sees two people outside her bedroom, about to open the door. "When you see a shut door that says don't open on it, stay out." Amber says impatiently and they both look at her. 

"Amber! Sorry!" The girl says and Amber gestures with her head for them to leave and they head down the hall, back to the party before Amber opens the door, shutting it. She drops the bottles and the bag on the bed before opening her closet and grabbing the tie in the back, hanging it on the door. 

Boyd raises a brow at her when she turns back around. "What? To prevent interference. At least the door blocks out most of the music. If people keep trying to come in here, I'm going to have to injure someone." Amber responds and he smiles briefly before she sits back down, passing him a bottle of water.

Amber looks over at the door later that night when it opens a crack, squinting slightly at the light. "Get lost." Amber grumbles, burying her face in the pillow to block out the light. 

"Everyone's gone. I'm going to bed." Lydia says softly. 

"Okay. Go then. Jesus." Amber grumbles before settling back down, rolling over to shift closer to Boyd and Lydia shakes her head slightly with a small smile before shutting the door and going to bed.

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