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Chapter 2: Friend or Foe
The following week felt like a blur to Cylindria.
It had started off relatively normal, with everyone just focussing on getting through classes so they could do whatever they want for the rest of the day. Monday had felt particularly mundane… if not for the pigtailed girl spending most of the day trying to get a chance to speak to Pac about what happened last Thursday.
There were several instances where Cylindria had tried to track Pac down to apologise on behalf of Skeebo's behaviour from last week. But try as she might, she couldn't catch the Yellow One alone for just a few seconds. Either she was whisked away by her friends before she could get a chance to speak to Pac after class, or he leaves the class too quickly for her to get his attention, or she just straight up couldn't find him anywhere in the hallways, let alone the entire school.
Cylindria knew better than to jump to conclusions, but in some instances, she couldn't help but wonder if the yellow boy was deliberately avoiding contact with the other students.
It's as if he doesn't want to be found.
And despite arguing with herself that Pac had truly seemed like a kind person, she sometimes couldn't help but feel suspicious over the yellow boy's constant disappearances. She recalled Skeebo's words to her from last week when he revealed that Pac had stolen food from the kitchens at night.
Just stay away from him. He's bad news, Skeebo's words echoed in her memory.
Eventually, Cylindria gave up on trying to track Pac down. Not for lack of wanting to apologise, but because of the uncertainty she felt about the yellow Pacworlder. That, and it became practically impossible to find him and talk to him either way – the Yellow One was elusive.
Then came Tuesday morning and Cylindria had stopped reminding herself altogether to try and talk to Pac. She decided that, until she could figure out the yellow boy's true intentions, it might be best to just observe things from afar until she could make up her mind about the boy.
And so, observing was exactly what she did.
Cylindria had watched from the sidelines as Pac navigated his way through the first few days of the week, either just minding his own business or hanging out with his friend, Spiral. She noticed how students gradually took more interest in Pac, despite him trying his best to remain unnoticed.
Some students would pass by his table in the cafeteria, saying a quick hello and marvelling at his appetite. In class, when the teacher was out or distracted, the students sitting closest to Pac would try to start conversations with him, asking him all sorts of questions about what it's like to be a Yellow Orb.
"Is it true that you eat a lot?" a pink student by the name of Sherry had once asked him.
Pac's response was a nervous grimace. "Uh… y-yeah, that's true…"
"You should see him in an eating contest," Spiral came to his aid with a smile, clapping a hand on Pac's shoulder in encouragement, "he can chow down a hundred hotdogs in one go! He beat my record by a milestone."
Wow, he does eat a lot, then, Cylindria thought to herself from where she sat closer to the front of the class, having listened to the not-so-quiet conversations coming from the back, where Pac was seated. She listened closely as Sherry and some other students all whispered in awe of Pac's ability to eat.
"Can you fly?" Came a curious question from a boy sitting on Pac's right.
For a second, both Pac and Spiral looked dumbfounded as they blinked at the boy's question. "What do you mean?" Spiral eventually asked, a slight edge to his tone.
"Yellow Orbs used to have superpowers. That's what the history books say," the boy elaborated, before holding up a hand in defence, "chill, it's not a trick question. I'm just wondering if it's true."
Pac allowed a small, sheepish smile to appear on his face, "Well, as far as I know, it's not true. I don't have superpowers. I'm just a normal, regular student. Just your everyday teenager."
"But you're still Yellow, that's still special," Sherry pointed out, but her expression was friendly.
"You're so cool," said another student sitting in front of Pac, and another sitting diagonally across from him also complimented him.
Cylindria watched as Pac bashfully accepted the compliments, and she concluded that Pac was probably just not used to having so much attention on him… positive attention, that is.
The way he held himself was akin to that of a defensive teenager as if he's used to negative attention. But slowly and surely, he seemed to ease out of his shell and grew more open towards those who talked to him, while Spiral looked on proudly.
Bit by bit, as the day went by and Cylindria trekked through the corridors to each of her classes, she hears how more students are talking about the Yellow One. Nobody seemed to suspect anything bad from Pac. They all just had good things to say about him, some being more curious than others. Even though he seemed quite introverted, he was always kind towards anybody who spoke to him. He seemed so nice in contrast to what Skeebo's been observing.
By the end of the day, it was no surprise that Pac became the talk of the school.
But oddly enough, not everyone was jumping onto the bandwagon of enthusiasm about the yellow Pacworlder.
"Did you give it back to him?" Cylindria had asked Skeebo that Tuesday afternoon after school, the two leaning against each other while sitting under a tree.
"Give what back to who?" Skeebo asked, an arm draped over her shoulders.
"The photograph," she looked up at him as if it was obvious, an amused smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Her smile faltered when Skeebo's expression went from a lazy smile to an annoyed deadpan.
"Yeah, I already returned it," he answered. "Why? You interested in the guy or something?"
"Don't be silly, I'm just checking in to make sure you kept your promise," Cylindria assured her boyfriend, slightly taken aback by his choice of words.
"Hmm," Skeebo hummed unconvincingly, a noise that sounded an awful lot like he didn't believe her. It poked at a small nerve within Cylindria, but before she could voice her feelings on the matter, Skeebo changed the direction of the subject.
"The Yellow Orb is the only thing that's been coming out of people's mouths, lately. I don't get the hype," the blue jock muttered, staring off into the horizon with the beginnings of a frown on his face.
"I don't get why you won't give him a chance," Cylindria implored, softly. "Everyone else seems to like him."
"He's nothing special."
The bitter edge in his tone made Cylindria tense up, resisting a flinch as she stared up at Skeebo in surprise. An uncomfortable feeling wormed its way up in her gut. This was a side of her boyfriend that she's never seen before. She didn't know what to make of it.
She watched as he absentmindedly fiddled with the cobalt ring on his middle finger, a gift from Cylindria from their one-year anniversary a few months ago. He always fingered it whenever he was deep in thought—or planning something.
Hesitantly, she whispered, "Skeeby… why do I get the feeling you're not telling me something?"
Skeebo didn't say anything for a few long minutes. In that time, the setting sun shone a deep orange onto them, casting Skeebo's silhouette in a strange, intimidating glow. His frown deepened as he stared off into space, a glint of red light bouncing off his eyes from the sunlight.
"Trust me, you'll see soon enough. He's not as special as everyone thinks he is."
His words settled ominously in the air between them. It didn't do anything to ease the twinge of unease in Cylindria's body, shoulders tense in confusion and wariness. She didn't say anything in response to her boyfriend's unusual words, mostly because of the way Skeebo was determined not to say anything more on the matter. If he was going to be vague about it, then there was little to no point in trying to pick at his mind over it.
As the day ended, the pigtailed girl tried her best not to think too much about what Skeebo had said. Why should she, when he kept assuring her that she's got nothing to worry about? He wouldn't keep secrets from me, she kept telling herself. They've been dating for over a year, and Skeebo has always been honest and faithful. Maybe it was just the new year that's stressing him out. Yeah, Cylindria concluded, that's all there is to it.
Despite her gut feeling saying otherwise, the 14-year old girl shrugged it off and paid little heed to the matter. She spent the rest of her afternoon dutifully attending to her homework and preparing for the next day of classes, whilst hanging out with Poly and Tetrah in the evening. Everything couldn't have felt more normal.
Then came Wednesday, and that's when the week suddenly took a strange turn.
"Hey, did you hear what happened last night?"
"I did! I couldn't believe my ears when I heard about it."
They were in their first class for the day, when Cylindria heard hushed whispers coming from some students sitting in front of the class. At first, she merely kept her attention on her textbook as she calculated and solved math equations, but as the whispering continued and the students exchanged gossip, Cylindria couldn't help but listen in on their conversation – they were whispering loud enough that anyone within a five-foot radius could hear them, albeit faint.
"I heard about the rumour last week, but I didn't believe it until he did it again last night."
"I can't believe he'd do such a thing. I thought he was nice."
The titbits of information caught Cylindria's attention. Her hand paused from writing in her textbook, and she tilted her head to the side, trying to listen to the whispers as best she could among the soft buzz of chatter from the rest of the classroom. The whispers went softer at some point, and it became harder to pinpoint where the conversation went, but she did manage to hear one more piece of information.
"What if he keeps doing it? Do you think he's going to eat us next if he doesn't get enough food?"
At that, Cylindria furrowed her eyebrows and stared dubiously to the side, trying to make sense of the strange sentence. She tried to listen more intently to where the strange conversation was heading, but the whispers faded away within the ever-rising chatter from the classroom. They only settled down when Ms Globular hushed them. Afterwards, the class went quieter and there was no more whispering.
Cylindria could've just ignored what she's heard, but her curiosity was piqued – especially over the strangeness of the whispers. She wanted context.
And out of everyone in the school, there was one student who was notorious for knowing about everything that happens in Maze High.
When a few minutes have passed, Cylindria leaned over to her right and discreetly poked the bottom of her pencil against Poly's shoulder, trying to get the girl's attention without being caught by their teacher.
The gossip looked up from her textbook and blinked at Cylindria, raising an eyebrow in question at the pigtailed goth.
"Do you know what they were talking about?" Cylindria whispered as lowly as she could, gesturing out towards the students who sat a few seats in front of them. If anyone was up to date with the latest gossip in the school, it was Poly.
And just as she expected, Poly's expression went from an indifferent stare to a happy smirk. After checking that Ms Globular wasn't looking, the gossip girl leaned closer to Cylindria.
"Apparently," she began in a slow whisper, "food went missing from the kitchens last night. Again. The staff claim that it's been stolen, they just don't know by who yet. But you won't believe who's the suspected thief…"
Before Poly even finished revealing what she knew, an awful feeling of recognition struck Cylindria. Skeebo had told her something similar last week. The familiarity of the rumour combined with the knowing look in Poly's eyes…
"No way…" Cylindria mouthed wordlessly, eyes wide in disbelief.
Poly merely nodded, smirking. "The Yellow Orb. It was him."
"But how do you know?" Cylindria whispered back. Underneath her shock, disappointment welled up in her chest. She had truly hoped that it wasn't true.
"Apparently, someone saw him sneaking in and out of the kitchens. But even if nobody saw him, who else could it be? He's yellow, they're always hungry. What better proof is there? It's definitely him."
Cylindria leaned back into her seat as she processed Poly's revelation.
Why would Pac steal? Being constantly hungry was one thing, but surely it shouldn't be an excuse for theft? Maybe it wouldn't have been such a big deal if the kitchens had a midnight snack policy, but both the school and the dormitories had strict rules in place for mealtimes. The cafeteria was open throughout the day, but access to the kitchens was strictly limited to staff only. Every student knows that.
Maybe I was wrong about him, Cylindria thought to herself, saddened. From the little interaction that she had with the yellow Pacworlder, he had seemed like a really kind boy who was just trying to settle in with a new high school. But his constant disappearances, the stolen food, the rumours all pointing towards him as the culprit… It didn't paint a pretty picture.
As much as she had hoped that they were nothing but rumours, all the evidence seemed to be piling up against Pac and her opinion of him slowly started to sway.
And as the day carried on and even more strange things came to her attention, her feelings on the matter grew more conflicted.
Cylindria was strolling through the corridors, on her way to her next class, when she noticed something different about the students piling the hallways. They occupied the space as they usually did, either walking towards their classes in crowds or leaning against lockers as they chatted amongst themselves. But compared to a day ago, the topic of their conversations had taken a drastic turn.
"I won't let him anywhere near my food!"
"He probably thinks he's being sneaky, but I'm sure the teachers will catch him in the act, soon."
"Yeah, but have you heard about the other things people are saying about him? Apparently, he's a liar and a delinquent, too."
"What kind of name is 'Pac' anyway? That's like, the namesake of literally everything."
"I heard he smells like lemons, too."
Cylindria couldn't believe her ears. On and on went the rumours, some sounding a bit more outrageous than others, but none of them was positive in the slightest.
Up until yesterday, everyone had seemed so welcoming of Pac. Now, it was as if a switch had been flipped and everyone was jumping at the opportunity to gossip and poke fun at him. Sure, some of the sillier rumours couldn't be taken seriously, but the accusations of theft and deceptive motives…
Maybe Skeebo was right, the pigtailed goth thought to herself, contemplating the signs. If it really is true that Pac wasn't as kind or as truthful as he seemed, then would it be better to heed Skeebo's warnings? Was it better to stay away from Pac…?
Her feelings rolled into a conflicted knot in her chest. On one hand, she had hoped that Pac was a kind student who was just new to his surroundings, but on the other hand, one just doesn't get so many bad rumours and accusations out of nothing. To say she was disappointed was an understatement.
Later that day when it was lunchtime, another situation came up – and it didn't improve her feelings on the matter at all.
"Yo! You guys won't believe what I've just gotten into!"
Cylindria looked away from her and Tetrah's conversation and watched as Skeebo ran over to their group, where they all sat at the table of their usual hangout. He seemed out of breath, but he had a wide grin plastered all over his face.
He reached the table and took a second to catch his breath. Worried, Cylindria was about to ask what was wrong, when Skeebo looked up and pointed a thumb behind him, all the while sporting a victorious grin.
"I just caught the Yellow Orb in the act! He was about to steal someone else's lunch!"
"No way!" Cubo gasped, as did Poly and Tetrah. Rubix leaned closer, cutting in between Cylindria and Tetrah as he gestured for Skeebo to keep going, "Well then? Keep talking, we want details!"
Cylindria barely managed to shove Rubix out of their space when Skeebo came and took the seat on her other side, sitting down and puffing his chest out proudly.
"That yellow thief was about to snipe a lunchbox straight out from another student's locker," Skeebo began his retelling of what took place. As he did, his one arm made animated gestures while the other arm was draped across the table behind Cylindria.
"The other student was distracted, and the lunchbox was sitting in plain sight inside of the locker. The Yellow Orb was seconds away from snatching the box when just in the nick of time, I ran over and stopped the vile thief from stealing the innocent's food!"
"You did?!" Cubo gawked at the story, while Poly and Rubix listened attentively. Tetrah was listening with only half of her attention on Skeebo, looking more bored than anything else. Cylindria, on the other hand, listened tensely to Skeebo's story. She felt something between surprise and dismay rise in her chest as she listened. All of her hopes, doubts and reservations about Pac came crumbling down in a heap.
"And then, the little lemon head had the nerve to try and accuse me of trying to steal the food and being a bully! When I was clearly the one who stopped him! He would've gotten away with lying, too, had I not given him an earful on why stealing and lying is wrong in the first place," Skeebo said, smirking and looking unusually proud of himself. "But alas! Before I could even finish giving the thief a lesson in manners, he turned tail and ran! Completely tried to escape the crime scene! But nah, I let him go. After all, it's more important that the student's lunchbox was safe and sound, thanks to the Skeebster."
"Oh my gosh!" Poly exclaimed. Not a second too soon, she whipped out her phone and began texting, "I've got to put this story on the school's socials! Gossip will fly for this!"
The blue jock's proud smirk never left his face, especially as his friends peppered him with more questions. They all awed and praised Skeebo for his heroic act.
All, except for Cylindria.
While her friends were lively and clamouring over Skeebo's story, her heart felt sad and heavy. Sure, a part of her felt relieved that Skeebo intervened and prevented another theft case, but a bigger part of her was feeling more disappointment than anything else.
Skeebo's tale had just proven to her that she was wrong about Pac. Wrong for thinking that he was a good person, despite him being so kind when they first met. It confused her and made her question everything. If Pac was just going to end up doing bad things, then why did he bother being nice to her when they met? Why did he bother with being sincere? Unless he had ulterior motives?
She was roused out of her thoughts when Skeebo spoke from beside her.
"Anyway, it's a good thing I showed up when I did. Looks like the lemon ball's true colours are starting to show," he said, smugly.
"You were right, Skeebo. That boy was trouble from the start. At least now we don't have to worry about him climbing higher on the ladder," Rubix said, leaning back in his seat as he chewed on a piece of gum.
Cylindria looked over her shoulder at the punk-haired teen. "What do you mean?"
Rubix momentarily stopped chewing to raise an eyebrow at her. He gave her a strange look as if to check if she was being serious with her question.
That's when Poly's too-cheerful answer came. "Why, the ladder of popularity, of course!"
"Indeed," Tetrah intoned, "the ladder grows higher every year, but I'd say we've secured a good spot at the top. Best we keep it that way."
Something close to astonishment and dread washed over Cylindria. The pigtailed girl was not aware of how visibly her feelings came through on her face until Poly pointed it out.
"Don't look so surprised, girl. Everyone wishes they could be where we are!"
"Yeah," Cubo quipped in, "you should see how quickly people make way for us in the hallways. It's like we're kings or something! Definitely beats being in middle school."
"It gets tiring, but being popular certainly has its perks," Rubix drawled, and said nothing more as he leaned back into his seat and perched his boots on the top of the table.
The more she listened to them, the more she lost her appetite.
It wasn't that she was oblivious to their status – she was perfectly aware that they were popular students. Tetrah and Poly were trendsetters, with Poly acting as the engine of influence with how quickly she can get word to spread in the school. Skeebo was the captain of the school's basketball team, while Rubix and Cubo were highly revered in football. As for herself? She was best known as the smartest student in their grade, scoring best-in-class for nearly every quiz and exam.
But despite all the attention, she never allowed it to go to her head. She always tried her best to stay humble and kind. That's how her parents raised her.
But her esteemed group of friends never saw things her way. For as long as she's known them, she had hoped that they will eventually drop their superiority complex. But every time she tried to sway them from that mindset, they either brushed it off or tried to convince her of different reasonings. Nothing gets through.
And when that happens, then she usually stops arguing with them over it, for fear of rejection…
Because they were the only friends she had.
And so, as her friends basked in the glory of their status, Cylindria did nothing but remain silent as she aimlessly stirred her lunch around her plate with a fork.
"I, for one, am perfectly content with our position. Would be a shame if some yellow anomaly came and hogged all the attention without ever even working for it," Skeebo said, casually popping a grape into his mouth.
Cylindria stared ruefully down at her food. "I thought he wasn't that bad, though."
When silence met her, she looked up to find several eyes staring holes into her.
"You're taking his side?" Skeebo glowered next to her.
"N-No, that's not what I meant—"
"He's a gluttonous newbie with a hunger for trouble, and clearly has a history of theft. What were you expecting?" Tetrah asked, pointedly. The condescending tone in the older girl's voice worsened the turmoil in Cylindria's chest, making her doubt her own thoughts and feelings even more. She looked away.
"I don't know," she shrugged forlornly, food and appetite completely forgotten. "I'm just saying, he seemed nice…"
A/N:
I feel like this chapter is one of my weaker ones. It was so hard to write, mostly because it's hard to figure out how the main characters would act in these situations. There's a deeper reason why Cyli is unwilling to go against her current friends. You'll find out why in upcoming chapters.
Call Me Cyli will have 1 or 2 more updates before I'll take a break to work on the next chapter for The Veil.
Comment what you guys thought about this chapter, I love reading your thoughts!
To Hope: Oh trust me, I cringed as well at all the moments of Skeebo and Cyli being together in the show! Especially in this chapter, too. Thank you so much for your support on this little fanfic as well! The plot is thickening :D
