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Chapter 4: Deception


Cylindria couldn't believe it, but as the day dragged on, even more rumours were circulating around the school.

The usual rumours about stolen food were still there, but amidst them came a whole new set of rumours for people to talk about; the fight that took place that morning.

In part, it was to be expected. The fight was guaranteed to have people talking and spreading the news. By the third period, almost the entire student body had heard about the confrontation between Skeebo and Pac. It was both unnerving and somewhat remarkable how fast word can travel. Poly was having a field day with all this new gossip.

Outside of class, it was all that the students were talking about, and Cylindria tried her best to avoid as many questions and prying eyes as possible.

Inside of class, however, tensions were so high that nobody dared to talk about it.

Why would they, when the very two rival groups they were gossiping about were all seated in their class?

Pac and Spiral were seated at the back, silent as they listened absentmindedly to the lesson. But every so often, whenever a certain popular group was looking their way, heated glares were thrown across the room. Skeebo and his group were seated closer to the front, acting aloof and stealing wry glances to the back of the class. Often, a mocking smirk or sneer was thrown in the mix, too.

Cylindria was the only one who actively avoided looking over her shoulder, preferring to keep her head down and just wishing for this day to be over.

The times she did catch either of Spiral or Pac's eyes, things were no different to the rest of her group. She either looked away, pretending not to have seen them, or ignored them completely.

It led her mind to wander back to the fight and the revelations that it brought to light. Or more like conflated accusations and finger-pointing.

If she was being truly honest with herself, she didn't quite know who to believe. Pac's explanation of what really happened yesterday with the lunchbox incident seemed honest and convincing enough, but so did Skeebo's version of it. A misunderstanding in the heat of the incident was the only explanation she could pin to it. A very, very big misunderstanding.

But yet… what about the accusation of Skeebo bullying Pac?

All those claims of him making up a story to make Pac look bad, and threatening the yellow boy while no one was looking? She just couldn't fathom it. It must be a lie.

And if the accusation of Skeebo being a bully could not be true, then Pac's other claims about not being a thief couldn't be truthful either, right? Right.

Then why am I still bothered over this? Cylindria berated herself, silently. Aside from the lingering shame from being involved in the fight, she still felt unsettled about what Pac and Spiral had revealed amongst the vehement shouting.

She clenched her pencil in frustration. The fight is over, and we learned our lesson from it. Pac is not innocent and Skeebo is not a bully. End of story.

And yet, a voice from deep inside told a different story.

If Pac was truly guilty, then why was he so insistent on proving that he wasn't?

She remembered the look of desperation in Pac's eyes during the confrontation. She remembered the way he kept trying to plead his cause, looking so lost and helpless in trying to defend himself against Skeebo's claims, even with Spiral's help.

Would a guilty person really have looked so hurt and wronged in the face of judgement?

The question alone made her feel even more conflicted than she already was. She didn't mean for anybody to get hurt from the confrontation. She just wanted to forget about the incident. She just wanted this day to be over. She was barely even paying attention to the lesson anymore.

So, when the bell finally rang to signal the end of their last class, the dark-haired girl could not have felt more relieved.

It lasted only for a few seconds though, because walking out of class was difficult when there were two rival groups staring bloody murder at each other. But she managed to get out without sparing a second glance at the back of the class. Ignoring the ever-present rumours from students in the hallway, she kept her head down and made a beeline for the dormitories.

She just needed to get to her room. Far away from prying eyes, discreet whispers and invasive questions from every student she passed. Far away from the constant reminder of the fight. The memory alone entices her to walk faster toward her destination. Right now, a nap sounds like the perfect way to get rid of the woes of the day.

But as her luck would have it, she won't be enjoying any form of relaxation any time soon.

Just as the pigtailed girl reached the corridor leading to her room, the telecommunication device on her wrist gave two shrill beeps, indicating a new message for her.

Reluctantly, she slowed down until she stopped midway through the hallway. She looked down at her wristcom.

It was a message from Skeebo.

She was tempted to ignore her boyfriend's message and leave it for later, after she gets some time to unwind. But despite the incoming headache, she felt a little bad for brushing off Skeebo's ill-timed offer to go out tonight. She hasn't said a word to him since.

She sighed and tapped open the message.

Skeebo: hey babe. can you fetch my history paper from my room and bring it to the gym? gotta deal with smthg real quick. see ya x

Cylindria stared at the message. She read it again a couple of times over.

She held back a sigh. He said he had something to deal with first, but what could be so urgent that he couldn't fetch his history papers by himself? His session in the gymnasium didn't start in at least fifteen minutes—

The pigtailed girl paused in her musings. She blinked once. Twice.

A thought came to her. In fact, why is Skeebo going to the gym in the first place? He doesn't have basketball practice today…

By now, both she and her boyfriend knew enough about each other's schedules to know when they would be busy or not. Today was Thursday, which was supposed to be a day-off for Skeebo's basketball sessions in the gym with his team. If his schedule ever changed, then he always informs her about it in advance.

A strange feeling settled itself in her gut. It ached against her soul and gnawed at her thoughts. A feeling of apprehension. But over what?

After standing alone with her thoughts for a few more seconds, Cylindria shook her head to clear out her suspicions. "Maybe his schedule did change, and he just forgot to tell me about it," she concluded, softly.

With a sigh, she powered off her wristcom and turned on her heel, walking in the opposite direction of where she was headed, taking the route that led to Skeebo's dorm. She just needed to do this one last thing for Skeebo and then she can take the rest of the day off. At least, that's what she hoped for.

And yet, that strange feeling of dread never left her stomach.

She has heard stories of people trusting their instincts, and how it either saved their lives or brought them good fortune. Many preached fervently on how you should always trust your gut feeling, no matter what.

But she wasn't someone who relied solely on instinct. She believed in rationality and followed the rules before she made rash decisions. She didn't depend on mere gut feelings. She was logical.

So why did she still have a nagging feeling that something was wrong?


Elsewhere, within the walls of Maze High School, a lone yellow boy was walking along in an empty passageway.

His usually chipper and happy-go-lucky demeanour was dampened by the invisible weight on his shoulders, dragging him down as he trekked through the hallway. He was downcast and his sapphire eyes were unfocused as he stared at the moving tiles under his shoes. He wasn't going anywhere in particular. Just anywhere that was as far away from crowds and bullies as possible. Maybe he should take up Spiral's offer to go hang out at Pac-It-In Burgers later to blow off some steam.

What a mess this day has been.

Just like every other day since he's been at this school. Ever since day one.

Just like all the other times he's been a target for bullying, and all at different schools throughout his childhood, too. It's always the same.

Though, today was not quite like any of the previous bad days he had. Today was heated, tense with verbal fighting and mental exhaustion. Not to mention the plethora of emotions he felt from being wrongly accused, gaslighted, and lies that forced him into a corner. It took everything he had not to let his frustrated tears fall during the fight. Or to spiral into a state of inconsolable panic and anger. Just like the many panic attacks he's had as a child.

He sighed. At least his best friend had come to his aid and stood up for him against Skeebo and his cronies. Which reminded him of another emotion that prickled and bothered him throughout the day: betrayal.

Because out of everyone that was involved in the fight, out of all the students that were associated with Skeebo, he never expected her to take his bully's side.

The pink girl dressed in black, with red glasses and dark hair that had a streak of pink running through each pigtail. The girl with the magenta pink eyes. The girl who treated him fairly when they crashed unceremoniously into each other upon meeting. The first student who showed him kindness at Maze High, aside from Spiral.

Only for it to not last longer than a week.

The hurt and disappointment he felt were immeasurable when she took Skeebo's side in the fight. He didn't know what he had expected, seeing as she was the blue jock's girlfriend, but she had seemed so nice at the start. He thought… no, he had hoped that she was not like the others. That she wouldn't believe the rumours and wouldn't treat him differently because of it. He had thought of her as a potentially kind and caring classmate. A potential friend.

Until the fight happened, and amidst the shouting and accusations, she listened to Skeebo's twisted version of the story and defended him, firmly situating herself on the blue jock's side.

The yellow boy still didn't know what to make of the hurt and disappointment he felt because of that.

But he didn't get to ponder over it anymore. For at that very moment, as he took a left into a different hallway, a low and sadistic voice spoke up from ahead.

"Aha. There you are."

His head snapped up to look ahead of him, frozen on the spot as he recognised the blue Pacworlder standing several feet away from him. A cruel smirk tugged at his blue face.

"You didn't think I was going to let you off easy, did you?"

The yellow boy saw the blue jock square up, saw the threat approaching.

And ran.


She's been searching for nearly ten minutes.

On the desk, in the drawers, behind the closet, even under the bed. She's been thorough in her search, and yet there's still no sign of the history project that Skeebo had asked her to retrieve for him. The longer the search went on, the more baffled she felt.

How hard could it be to track down a stack of academic papers in one tiny dorm room?

Very hard, apparently, Cylindria thought disdainfully as she looked through Skeebo's desk for the fifth time.

She flipped through books, scanned through several other paper stacks, and checked the drawers again. Still nothing. Granted, she didn't expect to find a stack labelled 'HISTORY ASSIGNMENT' on its cover, but she would've appreciated some clear form of writing to indicate which was which.

Why didn't Skeebo bother with telling her the specific location of his assignment? She's searched high and low and still hasn't found anything in the span of twelve minutes.

Her last resort had been to try and text him, asking for specifics, but he never answered - either he didn't have his wristcom on him or he was busy with basketball. Either way, it didn't help her track down the requested assignment. Nor did it improve her mood.

"This is ridiculous," she muttered after another search through the drawer proved as fruitless as her previous attempts. She was just wasting time at this point.

Frustrated, she shoved the drawers back into the desk to close them. But she put a little too much of her strength into it than intended, and as the drawers slammed shut, it jostled the desk and knocked it slightly askew from its original position.

That was when she saw a brown file sticking out from under the foot of the desk.

Cylindria paused to stare at it, briefly wondering how on Pacworld did it get down there, before bending down and carefully prying it out from under the desk. A spark of hope ignited within her, thinking that this was the history project she was looking for.

But as she stood back up and flipped through the file, it quickly became apparent that this, too, was not the paper stack that she was looking for. The brown file was small and worn down, with barely anything in it. All it had were a bunch of loose papers and clumps of notes held together by paper clips.

She flipped through the loose papers in a vain attempt to find anything related to what Skeebo had asked for.

Flipping faster, she nearly reached the end of the file when a bunch of pinned notes were accidentally nudged out of their position.

The notes slide down to the bottom of the file. The paper clips that held them together loosened.

And a photograph slipped out.

Cylindria watched as the tiny picture floated out of the file and flittered down to the ground. It landed softly on the tiled floor, facing upwards.

Where it showed a picture of two embracing Yellow Ones staring back up at her.

Every muscle in her body ceased to move. She stood there, frozen on the spot as she took in the sight of the familiar photo.

Slowly, almost mechanically, she bent down and picked up the picture, a million questions racing through her head. No, it can't be—

But it was.

Standing up and holding the photograph in her hand, she took in the image of the two yellow Pacworlders. Two adults, holding each other in a loving embrace. The man with black hair and the fedora, the red-haired woman with the soft lilac eyes…

This was Pac's photo.

This was the exact same photo that he dropped when they ran into each other, the day they first met. It was the exact same photo that Skeebo had promised he returned.

And yet here it was, hidden away in his dorm room.

Unfathomable dread washed through her being, as if someone had dunked a bucket of ice-cold water over her. Questions plagued her mind and denial raced through her system. The answer lay bare in front of her, but she desperately didn't want to believe it, because the fact that Pac's photograph was still not returned to him could only mean one thing…

Skeebo lied to her.

He broke his promise of giving the photo back to its rightful owner. He had looked her in the eye and lied. He lied through his teeth.

"But why—" Cylindria whispered in bewilderment, unable to understand why Skeebo kept the photograph instead of returning it like he claimed he did.

That's when her eyes trailed back to the brown file in her other hand. The loosened notes were still tucked precariously inside the file.

Gingerly, she placed the photograph on the desk and turned her focus to the file. After confirming that the loose papers had nothing written on them, she took out the smaller notes and discarded the rest of the file. She flicked off the paper clips and spread the notes out in front of her, laying them out upon the surface of the desk.

What she discovered made her doubt everything she ever believed in.

On every single note was a bunch of scribbles and short sentences, the tell-tale sign of someone quickly jotting down ideas or brainstorming. Upon closer inspection, she realised that they were all written in Skeebo's handwriting. And upon reading through them, she realised that written on each note was every single rumour she's ever heard in the school from the past week. The rumours about Pac.

It ranged from the rumours of Pac stealing food from the kitchens to the latest rumours of him being a delinquent and a liar. One note even read 'yellows smell like lemons' and had a crude drawing of a laughing emoticon underneath it.

Each of those rumours had a little checkmark drawn in the corner of its corresponding note, as if it's a task being checked off from a list.

But there were also notes with new rumours written on them, ones without a checkmark. Ones that she has not heard of yet.

The last two notes in the pile seemed freshly written, with one note saying, 'yellows are half Pacworlder and half lemon' while another note read 'lemonhead was probably made in a lab to be brought out of extinction.'

Dumbfounded, her eyes flew across the notes in rapid succession, feeling more stunned by the second. These weren't just notes of observation, they were all written in a very planned and concise manner. As if they were steps to an organized operation…

Cylindria braced her hands against the desk, the only thing keeping her upright as every racing thought brought with it a succession of dreadful realisations.

Why do all these notes contain the exact same rumours that have been spreading around the school? What is it doing here in my boyfriend's room, written in his handwriting? Why would he write them down? He couldn't just have predicted the rumours, unless—

Unless…

The cogs turned rapidly in her mind, putting the puzzle pieces together. The more she put two-and-two together, the sharper the horror stabbed against her heart.

Unless Skeebo was the one who started them.

Shock mixing with denial, Cylindria tried desperately to think of a different explanation, a different reason for why Skeebo would plan these rumours. But she couldn't come up with an alternative. The evidence was right in front of her.

She didn't realise her hands were trembling until she pulled them away from the desk and let them fall numbly to her sides. Why would he do this…?

All at once, the events of the past few days came rushing back to her. The way Skeebo talks about Pac, the way he sneers at him, the way he treats him… it opened up a door of truth that she had adamantly kept shut out of denial and trust in her boyfriend.

Trust that she now slowly realised was gravely misplaced.

A small part of her still didn't want to believe it, a part that was confused and uncertain about what this discovery meant. A part that was hesitant to jump to conclusions – could it really be true that Skeebo was the one who initiated the cruel rumours about Pac?

Only one way to find out.

With a renewed sense of urgency, she gathered all the notes and shoved them back into the brown file before stashing it away in one of the drawers. Heart racing, she made a half-hearted attempt to tidy up the desk so that it wouldn't seem like someone had been snooping around.

Just before she made a dash for the door, she paused and glanced over at the photograph of Pac's parents, still settled on the desk. Without a second thought, she grabbed the photo and took it with her, safely tucked away in her pocket.

She was going to confront her boyfriend about this. She needed to hear the truth for herself.

Even if she had to force it out of him.


The pigtailed girl ran through the passageways of the school, not caring if she garnered several curious looks from bystanders.

Her heart drummed in her throat from the mad run, but all she could think of was what she discovered in Skeebo's room. She was still desperately trying not to entertain the idea of Skeebo being dishonest with her, but those notes were too suspicious to just brush off and forget about.

She had to find him. She didn't care if he was busy or in the middle of basketball practice. It can wait. This was too urgent and serious to be left for later.

Cylindria slowed down when a corner came into view, but she didn't break her run. She took the turn to the left, hoping that memory served her right and that she was taking the route to the gymnasium.

She rounded the corner, had split seconds to register the unsuspecting student running towards her, and barely slammed on the breaks in time before she went barreling into an all-too-familiar red boy.

"Whoa—!"

SLAM!

In the midst of seeing stars and ricocheting back from the impact, Cylindria thought to herself, huh, this certainly feels like déjà-vu.

Both she and the red boy stumbled back from the collision, but the taller one of the two quickly regained his footing as if the impact barely bothered him. Cylindria eventually found her footing, too, but held her head and took a second to clear the dizzy stars in her vision.

She looked up at the boy. And cursed her luck.

Spiral was standing in front of her, wincing as he rubbed the sore spot on his shoulder where they collided. "Ouch! Sorry about that, I was in a hur—hey, are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Despite the state of her emotions, Cylindria stared at him dubiously, unable to tell if he was genuinely concerned or if he was just messing with her. Surely he must remember their fight from this morning, right? Why is he being nice?

"I—I'm fine," she stuttered, raising an eyebrow at him while taking a cautious step back.

Spiral gave her an odd look in return, either finding her behaviour odd or not believing her when she said she was alright.

Before she could form another response, Spiral gave her an apologetic look and spoke hurriedly, "Look, I'm sorry about this but I can't stay, I need to track down my best friend before he gets—"

That's when he stopped himself mid-sentence, pausing and staring at her as if he just realised who he ran into. Recognition sparked in his eyes. He squinted at her, suspiciously.

"Wait a minute, aren't you part of Skeebo's gang?"

As if a switch had been flipped, all traces of kindness vanished from his face, replaced with contempt.

Well, so much for pleasantries, she thought, equally as contemptuous.

Sensing an imminent hostile atmosphere, Cylindria willed herself to think clearly and to focus on her task at hand. She looked the red teen in the eye, despite being adequately shorter than him. "I can't stay to chat either, I need get somewhere as soon as possible-"

"Yeah, I'm sure the high and mighty have PLENTY of places to be," Spiral scowled. His eyes glanced around the area searchingly before giving her a pointed look. "Where's your snooty boyfriend?"

Affronted and taken aback, Cylindria's mouth parted slightly in shock, not sure whether she felt more insulted by his first comment or the second. Her left eye twitched. "Excuse me?"

"Forget it, I don't have time for this!" Spiral glowered before breaking into a run. Passing her, he threw a few more words over his shoulder.

"Pac is missing, and I need to find him. If Skeebo does anything to him then I'll make sure he'll regret it!"

Before the appalled girl could say anything in response, the red jock disappeared behind the corner, the sound of his running footfalls being the only sound that accompanied her until they gradually faded away.

"I—you…!" She spluttered, red-faced and still reeling from the quick but snappy exchange. Once she got her thoughts together, anger bubbled out of her. "High and mighty?! He's one to talk!"

Tempted to yell after him but knowing that she's pressed for time, the pink girl could only stomp her foot angrily in frustration. She turned on her heel and begrudgingly continued her trek to the gymnasium.

"Jerk," she growled under her breath.

Still fuming, she picked up the pace and hurried down the hallway. The gym shouldn't be far from here. All she needed to do was take a left down the stairs and then a right.

Which was exactly what she did, but just as she reached the bottom of the stairs and turned to her right, she saw a student walking down the hall a few feet away from her.

She stopped dead in her tracks upon recognising who it was.

"Cubo?"

The dark blue, football-loving Pacworlder looked her way and slowed down in his step, giving her a lazy smile. "Yo, wassup?"

Cylindria didn't return the smile, even though he was part of her friend circle. She merely stared at him perplexedly, her pink eyes flicking between him and the gym up ahead.

"Hey… aren't you and the boys supposed to be at practice right now?" she asked, pointing a finger down the hall toward the gym.

Cubo and Rubix were part of the football team, unlike Skeebo who was in basketball. But all three of them had matching schedules, and so all their practice sessions lined up on the same days of the week. They shared the gym. If Skeebo was supposed to have practice right now, then what was Cubo doing outside?

Cubo merely shrugged. "Nope, nobody has football or basketball practise today. 'Tis our day off."

Something unpleasant prickled at her gut. A familiar sense of dread.

"That's what I thought, too," Cylindria trailed off, remembering her confusion when Skeebo had asked her to bring his assignment to the gymnasium. "But Skeebo told me he's going to be in the gym right now, and I assumed he meant he had basketball…"

Cubo popped a piece of gum into his mouth before answering, casually and without looking at her. "Yeah, he told that story to whoever he thinks will get in his way this afternoon. He's not really going to the gym, he's busy with something else. Something to do with a scheme he has going on against the yellow kid."

"What?!"

She exclaimed so suddenly that Cubo jolted out of surprise. He took in her staggered and shocked expression before his own eyes widened and his face paled. He cursed.

"Oh, shoot! You, uhh—you weren't supposed to hear that…"

To say that Cylindria felt horrified was an understatement.

She felt like everything in her world had suddenly come to a crushing halt. Dread prickled at her nerves like ice. Struggling to absorb Cubo's revelation, it took a gathered effort for her to process what she's just heard.

Skeebo lied to her about that too? No, he didn't just lie to her – he deceived her. He deliberately deceived her and tricked her into thinking she was doing him a favour, when all this time he only wanted her out of the way so she couldn't stop him from doing something bad. He probably didn't have a history assignment to begin with.

And now she hears that he's going after Pac—

"Cubo," she levelled the boy with a harsh and steely glare, ice seeping into her tone. "Where is Skeebo?"

He started sweating. "I-I can't tell you! I'm not supposed to tell you—"

Fire surged through her. "Cubo, I swear on anything that is good and holy on this planet, if you don't tell me where Skeebo is right now, I'll—"

"He's in the courtyard!" Cubo yelped, jumping back at the intensity of the fire in her eyes. "O-Or at least I think he's in the courtyard! I saw him chasing the yellow kid in that direction just a few minutes ag—"

She didn't wait to hear him finish.

Breaking into a run, she shoved past Cubo and practically flew through the passageway. She thought she heard him calling after her, but she kept running without looking back. She ran as fast as she could, all while trying to prevent the numbing dread from consuming her whole.

As she sprinted through the halls and took the nearest route that would bring her to the courtyard, a plethora of fears and puzzle pieces raced through Cylindria's mind.

Skeebo lied. He lied about the history paper, and he lied about Pac's photograph. Then there's also the origins of the rumours that she found in his room and how they were all written to target Pac. How much of those were just lies as well?

Did Skeebo lie about everything he's ever said about Pac, too? Was it true that he fabricated a story to make Pac look bad? Was it true that he threatened him?

Was it true that her boyfriend is a bully?

Oh Overlords, please don't let it be true, she thought in despair. The implications of the truth made her think back to certain times in her past, times that she had wished to never revisit ever again.

Spiral's urgency to find his missing friend suddenly made a dreadful amount of sense.

And now, a new emotion had wedged its way deeply into her soul.

Regret.

A regret so sharp and harrowing that the dread she's felt before simply paled in comparison. Regret for not believing Pac and Spiral's side of the story, regret for thinking that Skeebo would never lie to her. Regret for not listening to her gut feeling.

Now, all she could think of was finding Skeebo before he did something terrible to Pac.

After what felt like years, Cylindria finally reached the front doors of the school and burst out of them, running outside.

It was raining. The clouds that had been gathering in the sky since that morning were now finally breaking, leaving behind a torrential downpour in its wake. Usually she would've enjoyed the rain, but not even the cleansing qualities of the rain could wash away the turmoil in her chest. She didn't even care that she was gradually getting soaked.

She ran through the downpour, until she finally reached the school's courtyard. She skidded to a halt, nearly slipping over the wet ground, and frantically looked around in search of a certain scheming blue jock.

The hazy rain was making it hard to see, and so she hurriedly walked around to try and track down her target.

She rounded several corners and checked behind every wall. Eventually, she ended up at the side of one of their smaller tennis fields, looking around and trying to spot anything through the rain.

That's when she heard a loud thud accompanied with a cry of pain, on the other side of the field.

She whirled around to her right and froze at what she saw took place far away at the opposite wall.

There, slammed against the wall and holding his bruised cheek, was Pac. And towering over him was—

"Skeebo?"


A/N

Caught red-handed.

Or should we say, blue-handed?

Kudos to anyone who saw through Skeebo's lie in chapter 2 when he claimed he gave the photo back!

I feel like I've been really dragging out the tension (and the Hurt from the Hurt/Comfort tag) in this fic, mostly because I'm a little bad at chapter pacing. Either way, I promise that there shall be sprinkles of comfort coming soon! (Just maybe not in the next chapter yet :'D)

Now, I know that this is quite a cliffhanger to end on, but updates for Call Me Cyli will go on a little break. I'm now going to focus on prioritising the next update for The Veil, and afterwards I'll come back to CMC. I am, nonetheless, excited for what I've got planned for the next few chapters of CMC! I hope you all are, too.

To Hope: Happy to see that the cuss words were well received! I'd very much love to see Skeebo get his comeuppance too – it will come! Thank you so much for your review!