Written by
Corinne Platt

Photographs by
Joanna B. Pinneo

Amber lives in Florida, with her mother, who works as a nurse at night, her brother, and her sister.

She is 13 and in 8^th grade. Sometime in 7^th grade Amber decided she didn't want to wear dresses and cute shorts anymore, and began wearing all black, in the gothic style.

Some of her friends dress in gothic and she feels that most people don't understand them. They like to listen to music and talk about ghosts and vampires. School is okay for her, and she'd like to learn how to dance and thinks some day she'll be a writer. Anne Rice, the famous vampire writer, is her favorite author.

"I don’t get attention at home. Most of the time it’s the way I dress. I’ll walk down the hallways and people just stare at me. If I go to the mall people stare at me. In the beginning of 7^th grade I wore dresses and I won’t wear dresses anymore. I like to wear slips with a long T-shirt. I like the color black. My sister doesn’t like the way I dress. My mom doesn’t really care its just like some places she doesn’t want me to dress like that. One day I went to church and I had a plaid shirt on and a flowered skirt and she didn’t know I went out like that. That’s the only places she doesn’t want me dressed like that. I agreed with her. It depends mostly not how you dress but how you act."

"There’s not much I like about the way I look. It’s just I like it. Its me and I’m an individual … I look good in black and black makeup, like eye shadow, looks good on me. My mom gave me some hiphuggers from her age and they fit me and I liked them. Bell bottoms are coming back but I don’t like them."

"School’s not really important to me but I have to go. I’m really good at dancing and I’m into writing stories and poetry, so I’m thinking about maybe being a writer. I like to write scary stories – I’m into it."

"Me and my friends like to do light as a leather, stiff as a board, and we like to do seances and different things cause we’re into vampires, ghosts, aliens, you know, stuff like that. You can’t live without friends. Your life would be a total bore. We like to go the mall. We like to go swimming. Sometimes we’ll just sit around."

"My dad lives in Virginia. But he comes down to visit sometimes. He’s a funny guy. I think he’s getting kind of dull for me. He does stupid stuff like stick out his tongue and I’m expected to laugh at it. But it’s not funny anymore. He’s not here to see me in my changes. Its nice to spend time with him since I hardly ever see him. I don’t care if he won’t come back and live because I’m so used to not having him here that I don’t really care."

"Me and my mom weren’t really good friends. I’d yell at her a lot and get really mad and once she thought about sending me to boarding school because I was so bad but I think I’ve changed in the way I acted too. Me and my mom get along now and me and my sister do too. Once I got so upset with her I pulled out most of all her hair. And I do mean stuff to her. And me and my brother, I’ve always hated him."

"Most of the girls like boys I guess. Most of them are like ‘oh I have a boyfriend, whoopdedoo.’ I don’t like going out with boys. It’s just another problem in your life you’ve got to deal with. I’m never going to have a boyfriend. I don’t really care for them. I don’t see any point to it. I’m not going to get married. I’m not having kids. I’ve made up my mind and I know I’m never going to change it because I usually stick to that. I’m not the kind of person that says something and changes my mind."

"I hate most vegetables. And I never go near a scale. I will not step on one cause every time I get on one and see how much I weigh I think I have to stop eating so much, so I just flat out don’t go on them. I can tell. Just look at yourself. Am I fat or not? I’m skinny."