Author's Note: WOO! New chapter! Anyway, just a warning that since my dad now restricts my internet time (GRRRR...HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND SOMEHOW THAT IT'S CALLED SUMMER), updates might come slower among my three stories. All right? I hope that's okay with you guys that still read this story, which I'm not sure many people still do. Still, I humbly thank aZn sIsTeR 92, AngelBolt, Doggiegal, aliice, and dreamcaster555 for reviewing my last chapter! You guys rock lots! Now read and enjoy and pwease pwease drop a review! Thank you, come again!
"Why are both of you falling asleep in your fake scrambled eggs?"
Lori looked up at Ian groggily. Her nose had been less than an inch away from her…fake scrambled eggs. "What?" she asked him. "I didn't quite catch that."
"Never mind," Ian grumbled, poking his lifeless, too-yellow eggs with his spork.
"Yeah, I know. You guys have, like, no energy. Didn't you guys sleep at all last night?" Charlie nudged Angela on the arm. A muffled groan could be heard from her. Her face was buried in her arms as she lay on the table with her head.
"Can't you see the 'Do Not Disturb' sign?" she said in a small voice.
"Okay, fighting in Lyoko for the first time couldn't be that tiring. I mean, Ian and I are fine."
Angela pushed herself up so that her face became actually visible. "Well, you and Ian didn't spend the whole night talking." Angela yawned and absentmindedly stuck a spork full of eggs in her mouth. She chewed it and swallowed it slowly. "That was disgusting."
"So that's what you guys were doing," Ian said with a grin. "And that's why you are going to be falling asleep in all your classes today." Lori elbowed Ian in the ribs.
"Shut up," she said, straightening up with an effort as well. She also poked at the "scrambled eggs". "What is this stuff made of?" She leaned in and sniffed it only to push it away from her into the center of the table they were at. "I think I'll skip breakfast for today."
"But, you can't! Breakfast makes you full of energy and gets you up and energized and ready for the day!" Charlie said with a joking peppiness. Angela and Lori groaned at him as one, which caused Ian to crack up. Suddenly Charlie wasn't smiling.
"Hey, who's that over there talking to Cynthia?" He gestured to where Cynthia was standing in the line to get food. She was chatting freely with a boy around her age in black clothes with two red belts.
"I don't know, but he looks nice enough," Angela took a swig of her orange juice in a box, her interest in what Charlie pointed out already lost. She made a face. It was too warm.
"Well, she better get her butt over here soon or she won't have any time to eat her breakfast, not like its anything worth eating anyway," Lori said, still eying her unwanted meal in the middle of the table with disgust. A flash of something bright and silver caught her eye from the right. She looked up and spotted that it was from the boy Cynthia was talking to. The odd silver pendant on the black leather cord around his neck had caught the light from the sun filtering in through the windows. Lori yawned, turning back to the table. Then her head did a double take, flinging some of her hair in Ian's face accidentally as she whipped her head back around, cutting her yawn short. "Holy shit."
Ian was busy clawing Lori's hair from his face. "What gives, Lori? Why did you just fling…oh my god…" He had caught sight of the sunlight flashing object and his mouth dropped open. Charlie and Angela turned to look as well, curious, and when they caught sight of it, they didn't even say anything. Both of their eyes widened at the same time and their mouths dropped open as well. Altogether they looked like a table full of zombies as Cynthia and the mysterious new boy approached their table.
"Hey, guys." Cynthia paused, looking at her friends' faces. They all looked like they were suffering from shock. They also seemed to be all staring at the boy next to her, but that could be just a trick of Cynthia's eyes. "Um, guys, I would like you to meet Rex. We were just talking in the food line and he said he was new and I thought that since all four of you are also new that maybe we could all hang out and get along. How does that sound?" Beside her, Rex gave the four other teenagers a huge, friendly grin.
The teenagers at the table seemed to unfreeze when Rex smiled. They went into a flurry of movement. "Huh, Cynthia, baby, we need to talk to you really quick," Angela said, thrusting her tray at Charlie who stacked it on top of his without a word of protest. Angela proceeded to practically shove Rex out of the way to nudge Cynthia by the back away from him.
"Yes, Cynthia, we really need to talk to you," Lori agreed, thrusting her untouched tray at Ian who copied what Charlie had just did. She then grabbed Cynthia by the arm and pulled her the same direction Angela was pushing her from behind.
Cynthia was completely bewildered. "But…what about break…"
"We just finished. How convenient!" Angela said cheerfully, shoving Cynthia even harder. All five of them hurried quickly through the cafeteria and out the double doors. Charlie and Ian dumped the trays in the trashcans like they were professionals and stacked them on the cart for used trays. Then they helped with ushering Cynthia out of the room.
"You guys are so rude!" Cynthia exploded at them once they were outside in the still fresh morning air and the bright sunshine. "We just left poor Rex all alone like that! He's new! How would you like it if everyone ran away from you and you were new? HUH?"
The group arrived at a bench underneath a large tree. Angela sat Cynthia down on the bench and knelt in front of her, gently taking the tray with Cynthia's breakfast still on it from her hands and handing it to Lori nearby who preceded to hand it to Ian. Ian made a face at the food and set the tray on the bench. "Cynthia," Angela said soothingly, like a mother talking to her five-year-old, "we apologize for what we did, but there is a reason to our madness."
Cynthia snorted. "I'd like to hear that."
"Did you happen to notice what he was wearing? Rex, I mean?" Lori asked casually.
Cynthia rolled her eyes like Lori was being stupid. "Well, yeah, I…"
"Especially around the neck area," Ian interjected. "Was he wearing anything around his neck?"
Cynthia sighed at what was turning into an interrogation. "Well, yeah, I saw that he was wearing a…"
"And did you happen to catch a glimpse of what was on that necklace thing?" Charlie interrupted, looking down at Cynthia.
"I wasn't really paying attention to his neck, no. I was watching his face while he was talking. That's the polite thing to do." She glared flaming daggers at all four of them.
"Well, we happened to see what was on the leather cord around his neck," Lori said, as if she was a detective.
"And what we saw kind of worried us," Ian supplemented.
"Now, we're not exactly sure if it's what it appears to mean," Charlie warned.
"But we are going to have to be cautious all the same," Angela concluded.
Cynthia was going crazy. "Just tell me what is on the necklace already!" she practically screeched.
There was a moment of silence where the four teenagers exchanged worried glances. Then they said it all at the same time.
"The Xana symbol."
"What's the Xana symbol?" Cynthia asked, not at all impressed by the attempt at a dramatic revelation.
"Hey, guys!" a voice suddenly called from behind them. They all turned and Cynthia broke into a grin and waved at the speaker. Rex grinned back at her. "What are all your first classes of the day?"
"Scatter!" Charlie whispered and ran to his left. The whole group was dispersed in a couple seconds, Ian running forward, Lori running to her right, and Angela running for one of the hallways, dragging a protesting Cynthia the whole way behind her.
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First and second period was over. And good riddance at that, thought Angela as she walked to where they normally met for break. Everyone else was already there. Everyone except Cynthia, she noted immediately. She quickened her walking pace.
"Where's Cynthia?" she asked as soon as she got to the benches underneath the trees. She put her backpack down where everyone else's had been flung. Three shoulders shrugged. Angela sighed and looked around. "We need to keep her away from that Rex guy at all times. I am not convinced that his intentions are good ones."
"Who died and made you the new head of security?" Charlie asked, looking up at the black-haired girl while chewing on a chocolate chip cookie he had bought earlier at the snack bar. Angela frowned at him and stuck out a hand. Charlie broke off a piece of his cookie and gave it to her. She munched on it.
"I'm not kidding, Charlie. I'm really suspicious about that guy."
"And look, here they come," Lori said, nodding with her head.
"They?" Ian asked, looking at where she had gestured.
Cynthia and Rex were walking towards the four of them, talking and laughing. They seemed to be agreeing with each other at something, since there was a lot of nodding involved. Was it Ian's imagination, or did he detect that Cynthia's cheeks were pinker than usual. Is she…blushing? Oh crap, this is worse than it looks.
"Hey guys," Cynthia said when she reached the four teenagers. Her tone was cheerful but her eyes were deadly as she looked at them. "How was class?"
Angela shot them all discreet glances which said, just act normal for now. Then she gave Cynthia and Rex a big smile. "Boring, as usual."
"How were your first two classes of the day, Rex?" Charlie asked in a friendly tone. Angela could tell that he was making an effort.
"Pretty cool, actually," Rex said with a smile. Lori found it odd that he was so friendly to them. It was as if he hadn't noticed how odd the four of them had been acting toward him before. "The teachers are okay so far and the work isn't that hard. Plus, Cynthia is in both of my classes, right Cynthia?" He nudged Cynthia in the arm, who giggled and blushed. When he touched her, all four of the teenagers stiffened.
"That's nice," Lori said with a fake smile.
"Say, Rex, that's a really cool necklace pendant thing you've got there," Ian suddenly cut in. He made sure his voice only indicated casual curiosity.
"Oh, this?" Rex asked them, reaching up and running fingers over the metal symbol. "Yeah, I guess its cool. I found it on the ground one day while I was just playing around with my pals and I thought it looked cool so I attached it to a cord and decided to wear it around my neck. A reminder of good times, I guess you could call it."
"Huh, interesting," Ian said, his eyes dead set on the pendant. He watched as it glittered in the sun. Good times, eh? I wonder what you mean by "good times"…
Just at that moment, the bell rang. Cynthia breathed out with relief. The tension between her four friends could have shattered a window. They exchanged parting greetings and vows that they would see each other at lunch. Cynthia and Rex turned to walk the other way.
"Your friends seem cool," Rex commented as they walked to their classes.
Cynthia was a little surprised. "You really think so?"
"Yeah," Rex nodded his head and looked down at his schedule. "Why wouldn't I? Well I have P.E. next, so I'm guessing I'm not going to be with you next period."
Cynthia nodded, impatient. "But don't you think my friends are sometimes a little annoying?"
Rex looked at Cynthia, puzzled. "No. Why?"
Cynthia looked away at the ground. "Nothing. It's nothing. Anyway, how about you meet me at the cafeteria at lunch. Maybe we can eat our lunches fast so we have time to take a walk around campus or something."
Rex gave Cynthia a warm smile that made her blush. "Thanks Cynthia. That would be nice." Then he turned and walked back down the hall. He turned around and yelled at her, "Bye Cynthia! See you at lunch!" A couple faces turned to stare at them, wondering what the ruckus was all about. Cynthia blushed even harder and waved back at him.
"Bye Rex. See you at lunch."