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Chapter 3: Denial
A/N:
Content Warning: This chapter contains harsh language. And a healthy dose of drama and angst.
The next day, things took a turn for the worse.
It was Thursday morning when Cylindria walked through the quiet corridors of the school, on her way to her locker. It was a cloudy morning, and heavy rains were predicted for the evening – something that she looked forward to. She loved the rain. It reminded her of home, a place surrounded by forests that sprung with new life after rain showers, rife with lively wildlife and shining in glistening dew drops.
The promise of rain made her feel calm and hopeful. Hopeful for a normal day after a tense and strange week. Or so she hoped…
The 14-year-old girl was just about to reach her locker, when she heard two distant voices from further down the hall, around the corner.
"Hey, you! You better stay away from my lunchbox this time, thief!"
"But—I already told you, I wasn't trying to steal it!"
The moment she recognised that last voice, Cylindria stopped dead in her tracks. Could it be—?
When more voices reached her ears, she broke into a run and came to a halt at the corner of the hallway, peeking around the wall to witness the scene.
There, alone and standing in the middle of the passageway, were two students. One was a short, green boy who wore a deep scowl under a pair of glasses. The other student was a meek, yellow boy – the only yellow student in the school.
Pac was holding his hands up in defence, nervously trying to appease the displeased student.
"I wasn't trying to steal anything! I-I just wanted to help—"
"That's not what the witness saw! Skeebo caught you in the act, and you're still trying to deny it!"
"Because I didn't do it!"
Cylindria watched with growing unease as they kept arguing. The green boy grew louder and more aggravated by the second, while Pac kept trying to plead his cause. Something about their words joggled Cylindria's memory. Lunchboxes? Stealing? Are they talking about the incident from yesterday? The one that Skeebo got involved in?
As though on cue, a third student came and entered the scene.
"Well, look who it is! The yellow menace himself."
Skeebo sauntered down from the opposite end of the passageway, straight towards the pair of arguing boys. On his face was a smug grin, a jarring sight compared to the severity of the situation.
As the blue jock approached them, a strange feeling wormed its way into Cylindria's gut, for reasons that she couldn't quite place. Something was off about the way Skeebo walked, so proudly and haughtily. Something was off about the fear and recognition in Pac's eyes when he saw Skeebo. Tension loomed in the air.
With nothing but instinct to guide her, Cylindria stepped away from the cover of the wall and cautiously made her way to them. She had no idea how this encounter could turn out, but maybe she could somehow prevent any incoming conflict – or another theft.
The three boys didn't notice her approach at first. As Skeebo reached them, the scowling green boy pointed an accusing finger at Pac. "This guy is still denying his intentions from yesterday!"
"Is that so?" Skeebo leered down at Pac, "Sounds like somebody didn't learn their lesson."
Pac made a meagre attempt at a brave face, masking his fear underneath.
"This doesn't concern you—" he muttered, making a timid attempt to try and get away from the blue jock's attention.
Skeebo side-stepped and blocked his path. "Oh, I think it does concern me."
He cocked his head to the side, looking down his nose at Pac. "After all, I was pretty sure the talk we had yesterday after your food heist would've made you stop your heinous lies. Seems like words aren't enough to set you straight."
Under the taunting glare of the blue jock, Pac forced down a gulp and stood his ground. "Y-You and I both know that what you did yesterday was no 'talk.' More like a one-sided verbal lashing—"
"What'cha gonna do about it, lemon ball?" Skeebo interrupted before Pac could get another word in, a deep and threatening sneer pulling at the blue jock's face.
Tension grew and a storm brewed between Skeebo and Pac, more so from the former. With each passing second, Pac seemed to shrink away under the intensity of the threat in Skeebo's eyes. The atmosphere was smothering and unpredictable, until it was graciously interrupted.
"Hey, guys—" came a small and feminine voice, cutting into the hostile conversation.
All eyes were on Cylindria as she came and stood between the two opposing parties. Her hands were slightly raised in a diplomatic manner. "Listen, I'm sure there's just been a misunderstanding. There's no need to get worked up over this—"
"Oh, you're right, Cyli! There is no reason to get worked up, especially when some of us have already been proven guilty and shouldn't have a reason to lie anymore," Skeebo said without even looking at his girlfriend, giving Pac a pointed glare instead.
Something close to anger came over Pac's face. "You're making things up! I'm not guilty and I'm NOT lying!"
"That's exactly what the accused would say," Skeebo threw back, smirking.
"Alright, enough,"Cylindria said with more firmness in her tone, trying to regain control of the situation. She looked between the two boys. "Nobody wants to get into a fight at school, so why don't you calm down and—"
"What's wrong with a little fight?" Skeebo interrupted her again, grinning darkly.
Cylindria shot him an irritated look. Why is he spurring this on?
Ignoring her frown, the blue jock crossed his arms. "Besides, I'm sure our yellow acquaintance here wouldn't mind a little tussle to settle the score," he said, smugly. He gave Pac a strange look – as if they were in on some secret.
One that Pac clearly recognised but didn't enjoy, because the Yellow One's eyes widened a fraction and his breath hitched.
"Absolutely not," Cylindria spoke adamantly against the prospect of a physical fight, feeling all the more perplexed at Skeebo's behaviour. She didn't get a chance to reprimand him because at that moment, Pac finally found his voice.
"No. I'm not going to fight you. Especially when I've done nothing wrong!"
"There he goes again with the excuses," Skeebo waved it off, casually and haughtily. "Is denial a fun mask for you to wear, goldie?"
"Knock it off!" Cylindria stepped between them and levelled Skeebo with a glare of warning. If he kept this up, then they won't reach an end to the conflict by the time they have to start class.
The blue jock just made a face of mock-innocence and shrugged incredulously at her, as if to say, What? I didn't do anything.
She sighed. She turned to look at Pac for the first time since she's gotten involved in the scuffle. The rumours and accusations of Pac's thieving played out in the back of her mind, and with the familiar tinge of disappointment in her gut, she prepared herself to confront the Yellow One. Time to face the music.
She gave Pac a pitying stare. "Look, things wouldn't escalate so much if you just stopped stealing. I'm sure if you talk to the staff and apologise, then they could arrange extra meals for yo-"
"But I'm not a thief! I didn't steal anything!" Pac's voice rose an octave higher in desperation, his tone angry and aggrieved.
She could've sworn she saw something close to helplessness shine within Pac's eyes.
But she willed herself to stay firm and indifferent, despite feeling sorry for him. She couldn't understand why he still insisted on being innocent – all the evidence seemed stacked against him. You can't just excuse something like theft.
Before she could try and negotiate with the yellow boy to be truthful, the green boy – who up until that point had silently watched the exchange – spoke up with a snarky and sarcastic tone.
"If you're not guilty, then why is there still food missing from the kitchens? Who else could possibly be the culprit? Ghosts?"
"Ha! Maybe he's one of those who actually believe in ghosts, too!" Skeebo snickered and smirked wickedly, completely ignorant to the look of hurt on Pac's face.
Cylindria gawked at her boyfriend. What's going on with you? This was a new level of mean that she's never seen from him before, and it was only making the situation worse.
She grits her teeth. This wasn't getting anywhere. Not with everyone being so stubbornly uncooperative.
Suddenly, a new voice sounded off through the hallway, silencing Skeebo's laughter.
"Hey! What's your problem with my roommate?!"
At once, everyone turned and froze at the sight of an enraged red Pacworlder marching towards them, his emerald eyes blazing with barely-restrained fury.
As Spiral approached them, Skeebo straightened and backed up a step, while Pac's entire body sagged in relief. The red teen came and stood by the Yellow One's side, glaring daggers at the blue jock.
Cylindria knew that Spiral was a tall person. But to see him up close and personal for the first time made her realise how tall he really was. He was practically twice Skeebo's size! She was already somewhat small to begin with, but now, standing there and having to crane her neck to look up at Spiral, she suddenly felt a lot smaller.
Small, and caught in the crossfire of a rapidly worsening situation, too.
"You have exactly five seconds to explain the nerve you have to talk to my best friend like this!"
"What's it to you?" Skeebo glared right back, refusing to back down. "If anyone here needs to explain something, then it's you for defending this notorious thief-"
"Oh, I have plenty of reason to defend Pacster against the guy who is dead set on ruining his life! Especially against your false accusations!"
If the tension couldn't have gotten any worse than it was before, it certainly is now. Both Skeebo and Spiral squared up against each other, neither showing any signs of backing down. Cylindria quickly, but nervously, held out her arm in front of Skeebo when he took a step forward, threateningly.
The blue jock snarled. "You calling me a liar, redhead?"
"Skeebo, please—" the pigtailed girl angrily tried to reason with her boyfriend, but her protests fell on deaf ears.
"If you were paying any attention these past few days, Spiral, then you would know that your buddy here is the reason why food is being stolen left and right! You've got your proof right here!" Skeebo pointed to the green boy, who yelped and looked nervously between the two large, arguing boys now that the attention was on him.
Spiral didn't spare the other student a second glance. "I didn't need to, because Pac told me the truth of what really happened yesterday!"
"The truth of what? That he's a gluttonous snitch and a shameless liar?" Skeebo growled. This time, the faintest hint of a sly smirk tugged at his face, barely noticeable.
"No, I'm not," Pac protested through clenched teeth.
He turned to the green boy, "I didn't want to steal your lunchbox! You were distracted and I saw the box sitting unbalanced in the locker, and it was about to fall out! I was just trying to stop it from falling and splattering all over the floor!"
"And then Skeebo came and twisted the story!" Spiral added, without breaking his glare at the blue jock. "He made it sound like Pac stole the food, and Skeebo proclaimed himself the 'hero' who stopped him!"
For a very brief moment, Skeebo spluttered and looked baffled, at a loss for words. The look only lasted for a split second before his glare came back, more intense than it was before.
Cylindria stared at Pac and Spiral, frozen on the spot as she took in their side of the story – a completely different tale compared to Skeebo's version. But before the cogs could start turning in her mind, Skeebo knocked her arm out of the way and he sized Spiral up.
"Now that's a lie if I ever heard one! I saw everything that happened, and so did Green Ball over here-" he jabbed a thumb in the green boy's direction, who looked mildly offended at the name "-and he'll tell you the same story, that the lemonhead was going to take the lunchbox for himself!"
For the first time since Spiral arrived, Skeebo's glare broke away from the red teen and refocussed on Pac. There was a strange look of warning in Skeebo's eyes. "He was even going to get away with being caught, had I not pulled him aside to teach him a lesson in manners! I'm sure he lied about that part too, didn't you, lemonhead?"
The way Skeebo zeroed in on Pac made the yellow boy flinch, that familiar look of patronizing fear entering his eyes again.
But Spiral stepped between them and blocked Pac from Skeebo's view. A new, protective fire gleamed in his green eyes, so fierce that the hallway suddenly felt smaller in comparison to the red teen's anger. Spiral seethed, and every single word that came out of his mouth was laced with venom.
"Teach him a lesson? Oh, sure—if that lesson involved bullying Pac while no one was looking!"
The accusation was so sudden and jarring that Cylindria thought her ears were deceiving her.
"What?"
Neither Skeebo nor Spiral heard her silent whisper of shock, though Pac did briefly glance her way. But the fire was still raging between the two tallest teens, pulling everyone's attention back to the stand-off.
"Like I just said—" Skeebo growled, "that's probably just another lie he told you! I didn't bully him, I simply just talked some much-needed sense into his head!"
"Bullshit! You didn't speak kindly to him! You threatened him with assault!"
That revelation shook the pink girl to her very core. But this time, after she snapped out of it, repulsion and denial replaced her shock. Skeebo, a bully? But—no, it can't be! He wouldn't do that!
This time, Cylindria found her voice and her own anger slowly started to get a rise out of her. She steeled herself and glared up at Spiral. "No—that's taking it too far! Where's your proof to back up that claim?!"
The red teen's eyes fell on her and it was a gathered effort not to feel intimidated by the fire that was still seething in his emerald orbs.
"I don't need any," Spiral answered, "because I trust the word of my best friend, and I've seen first-hand how he's being treated by you all!"
"And who'sgoing to believe you, huh?!" Skeebo retaliated, unrelenting as his tone grew angrier and louder.
Briefly, he looked down at the girl next to him and smirked. "You don't believe them, right Cyli?"
Despite the frustration she felt, despite the harrowing conflict of the mess they were in, Cylindria found herself unable to respond. In the few split seconds of her silence, she stared at the near-crazed smirk on Skeebo's face, feeling strangely uncomfortable at the look of assertion in her boyfriend's eyes.
But it only lasted for those few split seconds. Whatever inkling of uncertainty she felt was pushed aside by anger and the need to just get this conflict over with already.
She faced Pac and Spiral again and insisted, "Skeebo is many things, but he'd never resort to bullying!"
She knew that he was certainly not perfect in terms of his less-than-favourable obsession with popularity, but straight up bullying? Twisting and fabricating a story? Threatening someone with assault? That's just too far-fetched.
Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Pac looking astonished and hurt at her words.
Before she could fully register his reaction, a new voice suddenly spoke up from right next to her.
"You're making all this up to make Pac look like the good guy just because he's your friend! You can't be trusted either!"
Standing on her other side, as if appearing out of nowhere, was Rubix. Brown, punk-haired, and complete with spiked gloves and a nose ring, the boy stood defensively next to her and Skeebo as he glared Spiral down. Cylindria internally groaned. When did he get here?
Just as she feared, the fight just got a whole lot worse.
With the addition of Rubix taking Skeebo's side, the hostility in the hallway increased tenfold and Rubix aggressively defended Skeebo against whatever Pac and Spiral had to say.
Louder, more aggressive accusations flew across the two opposing parties, each refusing to back down and allow the other to win the argument. Their scathing words turned into outright shouting, and despite her best efforts to steer the conflict away into a controlled situation, Cylindria found herself raising her voice against the accusations, too.
On and on went the verbal fight, so much that their shouting reverberated all along the passageway. Amidst the conflict, the green boy chose that moment to scurry off and flee the scene, his original qualms completely forgotten for the sake of his safety.
It seemed like nothing could break the livid shouting and bring an end to the raging conflict.
That is, until an older and much louder voice suddenly boomed across the hallway.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"
As if a zealous fire has been snuffed out, the two parties ceased their arguing and whipped around at the sound of a teacher's yell. Frozen on the spot, they watched as none other than Mr Dome and Ms Globular marched straight towards them.
Cylindria suddenly felt like a deer caught in headlights as the reality of the situation dawned on her. Any traces of anger or frustration she's felt before was replaced by shame and nervousness. The fight had gotten so out of hand that it didn't even dawn on her that they could get in trouble for it.
To make matters worse, just as the two teachers reached them, Rubix threw an accusing finger at Pac and Spiral. "It was them, Miss G! They started it!"
Spiral whipped his head towards Rubix, some remnants of his anger coming back. "You son of a—"
"That's enough!"
Mr Dome stepped between the two and pulled them out of each other's faces. "I don't care who started it, we're ending this fight right now. What compelled you all to create such a ruckus this early in the morning?"
Before anybody could utter a response, Ms Globular held up her hand. "This is not the time, nor the place, for rambunctious quarrelling. Someone better give a quick explanation of what's going on, or you'll all be late for class."
"There's too much to explain, Miss Globular! They—"
"There's nothing to explain, they were the ones looking for a fight!"
The lilac teacher crossed her arms. "Would you rather explain yourselves in the principal's office, then?"
That got everyone to fall silent. The two opposing parties gave wary, side-way glares to each other. Unspoken accusations and insults still simmered in their eyes, but they all seem to be contemplating the same thing. Was it worth the trouble to explain this whole mess to their teachers? Was it worth it to bare being in each other's proximity for another minute? Much less run the risk of getting in trouble with the principal?
Wordlessly, they all came down to a unanimous decision.
"No, Miss Globular," they replied in a monotonous drone.
"We were just messing around," Skeebo crossed his arms, shooting a bored glance towards Pac and Spiral. Both the Yellow One and the red jock gave him resentful looks in return.
"You're all good students," Ms Globular chastised further, "so I don't understand why you would resort to such juvenile behaviour. Especially you, Cylindria, this isn't like you."
Having been silent up until now, the pigtailed girl shied away from her teacher's disappointed stare and avoided everyone's eyes, shamefully. By some act of mercy from the heavens, she didn't have to wallow in humiliation anymore when Mr Dome spoke up to change the subject.
"Now, you are all to head off on your own separate ways and prepare for class. If anyone still has something to say, then you're more than welcome to resolve your conflicts in our office, but not with each other in a cacophony of shouts and insults. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Now get going, classes are about to start."
The teens slowly strode off, each party heading in opposite directions. Walking not far behind from Skeebo and Rubix, the pigtailed girl stole one more glance over her shoulder, watching the retreating forms of Pac and Spiral as they disappeared behind a corner.
Her nerves were still on fire after the intense exchange, but slowly the feeling of dread started to settle in, until all she felt was regret and shame.
The fight had escalated so quickly that she had a hard time trying to process it all. It shouldn't have escalated in the first place. She went in trying to prevent a fight, only for her to become part of it. Ms Globular was right, it isn't like her to get involved in fights like that. Mom and Dad must be so proud of me right now, she thought, miserably and sarcastically.
All that she got out of the fight was a weary start to her day, and the terrible accusations about Skeebo coming from Pac and Spiral. Now, she was left with humiliation and her emotions all tied up in a knot. And a bad taste in her mouth.
Above all, she felt like she just made two enemies.
"Tsch, what a waste of time that was," Rubix drawled from up ahead, pulling her out of her quiet lamentations.
"Hey, at least we can now be certain that the lemonball is a filthy liar," Skeebo said, emphasising each word.
Almost expectantly, Skeebo looked down at Cylindria and snarked, "See what happens when you side with thieves like him?"
Cylindria nearly stopped dead in her tracks. She looked up at her boyfriend, incredulously. He was still going on about that?
"Alright already, you proved your point!" She muttered, unable to hide the hurt in her voice. They just got out of a fight that made her realise the truth about Pac, and all Skeebo cared about was rubbing it in on how she was wrong for thinking the Yellow One was nice?
"Hey, just looking out for ya," he shrugged. And yet, the blue jock seemed indifferent to her grievances.
The three of them reached a junction in the hallway. Rubix took the turn to the left and gave them a two-finger salute. "See ya later, chums!"
Cylindria and Skeebo watched in silence as Rubix walked away. The hallway was empty now, aside from the two of them. The pigtailed girl sighed, wondering what could've gone so wrong that her morning had to start out so vile.
Then, Skeebo draped his arm across her shoulders, pulling her against him. "So, babe, how about we head out for dinner after school—"
His words were drowned out in the air when Cylindria abruptly reached up and pried his arm off her shoulders. She stepped away from his side.
"Skeeby, I'm not feeling well."
Her downcast face didn't look up to meet his eyes. "Let's just get this day over with," she said with finality and walked ahead towards their class.
She didn't see the narrowed look on Skeebo's face as he watched her go.
A/N
Something fishy is going on, and it's got Skeebo written all over it.
If only our girl didn't have so much faith in her deceiving boyfriend. But not for long, I assure you.
Man, there was so much chaos to write in this chapter, and I really hope it doesn't seem convoluted. I had to split this chapter up with the next one so that it wouldn't get too long. If all goes well, then the next chapter will be posted somewhere next week! Afterwards, Call Me Cyli will go on a break while I prioritise the next chapter for The Veil.
To Hope: Thank you so much! I'm glad the chapter wasn't as weak as I thought XD Poor Cyli is going to go through a few more harsh revelations before she realises how terrible her friends and boyfriend really are, but she will eventually end up with the right set of friends, don't you worry. Stay tuned!
To SunnyDelightzzz: Welcome to the fanfic! Thank you so much for your energetic and enthusiastic review! I'm happy to have your support here!
See you all in the next update!
