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Chapter 5: Freak
A/N:
Content Warning: This chapter is quite sad.
"Skeebo?"
Everything in Cylindria's world stopped at once.
The whisper of shock barely left her lips, drowned out by the thrum of heavy rain.
Before her was a scene that rendered her frozen on the spot. Horrified.
Skeebo had cornered the defenceless yellow boy on the other side of the tennis field, holding Pac up by the shoulder after slamming him against the wall. Pac yelped and grimaced painfully, a bruise barely visible on his cheek.
The blue jock's voice carried through the rain on a faint and muffled tremor, but the cruelty in his tone was unmistakable.
"You've been catching a lot of attention lately, lemonhead." A cold sneer pulled at Skeebo's face, glaring down at his victim. "Enjoying it, aren't you? You've hogged all the attention before, so this must be no different."
It felt like she was watching the scene from outside of her own body. They were far away, yet Skeebo's words echoed in her ears like the gongs of a giant bell. The unfolding scene brought horror and revulsion upon her being, and yet, she couldn't move. Her body was locked up in a state of shock, frozen and unable to act. She was numb.
A weak grunt sounded from Pac when Skeebo tightened his grip on his shoulder, a fist forming in the blue jock's other hand.
"See what happens when you try taking over my status quo at this school? When I'm through with you, the only attention you'll ever get will be for being the laughingstock of this school, and an example of what a failure your gluttonous species is. A pathetic loser like you deserves nothing less!"
Something snapped within Cylindria, something soul-wrenching, but all she could do was watch as the blue bully pulled Pac up by the scruff of his neck, snarling into his face.
"There's nothing special about a yellow hog like you. You're nothing but a FREAK!"
Freak.
Freak.
Freak…
A terrible sense of familiarity wormed its way into her heart. It coiled around Skeebo's words and echoed in unison with a cruel jeer from another voice, in a distant memory from long ago.
'Little freaks like you don't belong in society.'
Words and memories echoed in tandem with each other, paralleling the sight of Skeebo threatening and mistreating Pac. A sight that proved all too familiar to a situation she herself had been a victim of in the past.
At that moment, she suddenly became faintly aware of a blur of red running past her, and Cylindria was snapped back to reality.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
Through the rain, she saw Spiral dashing across the tennis field and body-slamming into Skeebo's side, effectively knocking the blue jock away and off of Pac. The yellow boy fell to the floor, clutching at his neck and shoulder.
Skeebo stumbled back, catching his footing before he could fall. He shot Spiral a hateful glare. "Not YOU again-"
"I should beat you to a pulp for this!"
Thunder boomed and rumbled from somewhere far away, drowning out both Spiral and Skeebo's voices, most likely filled with wrathful threats and profanity. In those split few seconds, Cylindria could only make out the fury in their postures, with Spiral seemingly squaring up to start a physical fight with Skeebo – for real this time.
Until a meek voice stopped them.
"Let it go, Spi…"
The red teen's outrage deflated a little, looking down at his friend in worry and exasperation, despite his anger still coming off of him in waves.
"Yeah, listen to your weak little sidekick, redhead!" Skeebo snarked.
Spiral was about to retaliate, when the meek little voice suddenly burst out in an anguished yell.
"Just leave me alone!"
Pac's voice cracked at the end of his desperate plea, and Cylindria's heart broke on the exact same beat.
The next thing she knew, Pac got up and took off into a mad sprint. He ran across the tennis field, towards her general direction. Somehow, she just knew that behind that mask of a rain-drenched face, Pac was crying.
Almost numbly, her hand reached out tentatively when he came near. "Pac—"
But he paid her no heed, barely shoving against her as he ran past. The only response she got from him was the fleeting sound of a choked sob.
And just like that, he vanished into the distance, the mist from the heavy rain concealing his retreating form.
She stared after him, still rooted on the spot. Shock still lingered on her body, but now it was mixing with a string of woeful emotions that made her feel frozen and heavy-laden. The chill she felt from the rain was nothing compared to the hollow coldness that gnawed at her heart, the feeling of shame and dread. A despair so deep that it manifested itself as prickles of tears behind her eyelids.
"You just stood there while Pac was being shredded?"
Drawn out of her near-petrified state, Cylindria mutely turned around at the sound of the familiar voice behind her.
Angry jade orbs stared her down in disbelief, somehow even more intimidating when veiled by the wall of rain between them. She stared up at Spiral, still reeling from the revelation that played out in front of her mere minutes ago.
A knot sprang up into Cylindria's throat, threatening to break. Her tongue felt like lead in her mouth. "I…"
"Forget it!"
Like his yellow friend did before him, Spiral broke into a hurried run and barely missed her as he ran past, no doubt on his way to find Pac to comfort him. A sharp and bitter remark was his only parting words before he left her behind.
"I hope you're happy now."
The tall red teen's running footfalls were the only sound ringing in her ears for a while, until it was replaced by the sound of battering raindrops.
Pac's bruised face left a rattling imprint in her memory, Spiral's words rang mercilessly in her ears, and the image of Skeebo proving himself to be a bully was burned into her mind. She stood there, a frozen and soaked mess, letting the terrible event play out in her mind repeatedly.
It took everything she had not to let the build-up of tears fall from her eyes.
This isn't what I wanted, I…I didn't mean for this to happen…
But she would find no comfort in the guilt that had wedged itself deeply into her chest, nor the brutal truth of what consequences her blatant denial had brought upon an innocent new student.
Because when she finally looked up across the tennis field, Skeebo was already gone, too. She was left standing there in the middle of the courtyard, just her and the rain.
Utterly alone.
That night, Cylindria couldn't get a wink of sleep.
She tossed and turned in her bed, heart too heavy and mind too rattled to ease into any sort of rest. Rain pelted against her window and thunder rumbled lowly in the distance. The shadows of her dorm room were gloomy and smothering, bearing a close resemblance to her emotional state.
She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened in the courtyard. She couldn't stop replaying the same images over and over again. She couldn't stop the all-consuming guilt from swallowing her whole.
But most of all, she couldn't stop the onslaught of flashbacks from pouring in, echoing mercilessly in her mind. Memories from a long time ago, a time when she was but a small child in middle school.
A time when she herself was on the receiving end of cruelty.
Cylindria clenched the ends of her blanket in fistful grips, burying her face into her pillow in a vain attempt to drown out the voices from the past.
'Hey everyone, look! It's the kid who was raised in a dirty forest!'
'You grew up in the woods, in a treehouse? Wow, you really are a freak!'
'You should've been named Freak-indria!'
'Little freaks like you don't belong in society.'
On and on the voices jeered, each accompanied by a flashback to her time in middle school, where she was picked on endlessly for growing up in a treehouse with her family, within a great forest. Her peers had twisted and exaggerated the story several times, to the point where it made her an easy target for insults and being singled out. The voices from her memories kept pouring in, bringing with them the foggy images of cruel smirks on the faces of her bullies.
Nobody stood up for her back then.
She was the odd one out, a kid who grew up in an environment vastly different from other kids her age, and with vastly different interests to boot.
Before middle school, her hobbies had included playing in the woods, swinging from tree to tree, taking care of small critters, and collecting interesting stuff from the forest floor, something that grossed out some of her peers. She didn't fit into the bunch who were more interested in new pac-phones and chasing the latest trends. It only contributed to her feeling more alienated.
Then came high school, in which she had transferred to a boarding school like Maze High in hopes of a fresh new start. She met Skeebo and his gang, and as time went by, she found herself in a vastly different status compared to middle school.
Deep down, she knew that the only reason she rose so high in the popularity chain was because she didn't tell anybody about her upbringing. Not even Skeebo.
…And partly because she forced herself to abandon her old hobbies and adopt the interests of those around her in high school, which landed her in the popular group.
She just wanted to fit in.
Loneliness and a desperation to fit in was what had pushed her into changing a part of who she was, and into accepting students with questionable morals like Skeebo's gang as her friends.
But at what cost?
The cost of her true self? Her happiness? Her own moral compass? Her conscience?
After agonisingly long minutes, the flashbacks from middle school slowly faded away from memory, only to make way for new and recent memories. Memories that were the reason why the images of her past had resurfaced in the first place.
'There's nothing special about a yellow hog like you. You're nothing but a FREAK!'
Skeebo's vicious words rang unyieldingly in her head, forcing her to think back to what happened in the courtyard earlier, where she witnessed her boyfriend's true colours. Something between despair and disgust rose in her throat at how frighteningly similar Skeebo's actions were to those of her bullies in the past.
Never in a hundred years would she have thought that a bully would come out of the very person she was dating.
All at once, the past week's events came rushing back to her.
She remembered all the instances when Skeebo had mistreated Pac. All the way back to when he chased the yellow boy off when they had first met, to the most recent fight they had this morning. The way Skeebo had laughed and revelled in making fun of the yellow boy with their circle of friends. The way Skeebo resorts to insensitive, manipulative, and crude remarks about him. The way Skeebo talks down on him, the way he sneers at him, the way he treats him…
All the signs that pointed to Skeebo being a blatant bully.
And yet, when it had mattered the most, she denied it.
She had defended him, believing that such cruelty was below her boyfriend and that Pac and Spiral were the ones in the wrong. She had wholly and completely misplaced her trust and faith in him, refusing to even consider the possibility of Skeebo being a bully, thinking that there was no proof of it.
But the signs were there. They were there. How could she have been so blind?
Now, all that was left were memories of poor Pac being picked on, ridiculed, and physically hurt because of Skeebo and his schemes. All because she refused to open her eyes to the truth sooner. Guilt stabbed at her heart sharper than the cutting edge of a dagger. Pac didn't deserve any of this…
Distraught and overwhelmed by her racing thoughts, Cylindria curled into a ball and buried her head under her blanket.
"What have I done?" she whimpered into her pillow.
She should've known better. As a victim of being bullied herself, she should've known better. Why didn't she take the signs seriously? Why didn't she do something about it sooner? Why didn't she act?
Because you're a coward, a bitter voice from deep inside reminded her. You were a coward from the start.
As though in response, thunder boomed scathingly in the distance. She flinched at the cruel sound.
The silence that followed was long and unbearable. It made the prickly shards of her guilt-ridden thoughts feel even more deafening. She lay there, tense and miserable, until it became apparent to her that she wouldn't get any sleep because of her restlessness.
The bed creaked softly as Cylindria slowly sat up. Her loose, untied hair settled around her shoulders and her bangs drooped in front of her eyes, but she didn't have the will to brush them out of her face. Not when her heart felt so heavy.
Numbly, she looked to the side and gazed at the interior of her dark dorm room. She had been one of the lucky few who had gotten a single room, meaning she didn't have to share it with anyone. Sometimes she had wished for a roommate for some company, but other times she was thankful for the solitude. This was one of those times. She didn't quite know if she'd be able to hold herself together if someone were to witness her current state.
Her eyes trailed up to the walls, where she had hung up several posters for decoration. Some were of her favourite music bands, while some were simply decorative with lots of floral patterning. Some even had a wide spectrum of colours with the symbol of peace in their centre, a gift from her parents.
But there was one particular poster that her eyes had landed on.
It was a poster of Spheria Suprema, her favourite Pac-Pong player, posed and holding up a racket with a confident grin. Someone whom she has looked up to for as long as she could remember. A headstrong, dedicated, and brave woman who would stop at nothing when fighting in the name of justice, always standing up for what's right. It's no surprise that Spheria had once been part of the Freedom Fighters, an organisation that stood as the main force of resistance against the ghostly tyranny that reigned in the last century…
Cylindria really could use some of that courage right now.
Only cowards freeze up and watch as an innocent person gets bullied.
The dark-haired girl's line of sight fell away from the poster, trailing down until they settled on her desk, where a photograph was kept on its surface for now. Pac's photograph. The memory of her defending Skeebo from Pac and Spiral's accusations suddenly felt like a slap in the face.
She looked down and stared at her hands, clenched together in fists on her lap.
This can't go on. Skeebo can't be allowed to keep bullying Pac. He's already done so much damage with the rumours, and physically and verbally abusing Pac…
Enough was enough.
She refused to see anyone else suffer from being bullied as she had once been. She refused to just stand by and watch as the bullying continues because of her denial.
She knew she had to do something. Despite the slim odds of Skeebo actually listening to her, despite the fact that none of her friends would agree with her, despite both Pac and Spiral probably seeing her as an enemy by now, and despite the fact that she was hesitant and afraid… she had to do something. Anything.
She closed her eyes and drew in a deep, wavering intake of breath.
Be brave, she coaxed herself.
It was settled, then.
Tomorrow, she was going to have a serious talk with her boyfriend.
The next morning, Cylindria got up as early as possible.
The thunderstorm from the previous night had passed, leaving the air cold and fresh. Dew drops glimmered softly in the early morning light, decorating the windowsills of the school as well as the grass outside in the fields.
The serene morning air almost felt too idyllic. It was light and calm, a stark contrast to the weight of her task at hand. It nearly felt like a façade, as if what transpired yesterday in the courtyard had never happened.
And yet, as Cylindria made her way through the quiet hallways, she couldn't help but take comfort in the silence.
Her grandmother had always said that a new day is like turning over a page in a book; it's a new beginning, a fresh start with a brand new perspective on things. A new day always brought with it an abundance of new opportunities and should be treated optimistically.
She repeated her granny's words in her mind, trying to use them as a means of encouragement – she was surely going to need it for when she confronts Skeebo about his bullying antics.
Her footsteps reverberated faintly on the tiled floor, the only sound in the hallway. Being up this early meant that most students were either still in bed or already sitting in the cafeteria for breakfast. Some would even hang out in groups at various spots on campus, socialising before they were to start with their classes for the day.
She was hoping to catch Skeebo at his dorm before he headed off to the cafeteria, opting for a quiet place to talk to her boyfriend about his unacceptable behaviour.
Unfortunately, fate had other plans.
She came to a junction and took a left, only to hear the soft murmuring of voices coming from somewhere nearby. At first, she didn't pay any heed to it and kept walking, even as the voices grew louder. Until one very familiar voice caught her attention.
"Watch your backs and guard your lunchboxes, everyone. The Yellow Thief has arrived!"
Cylindria came to an abrupt halt in her step.
It was Rubix.
His low cackle came from somewhere up ahead. Within a whim, she broke into a run to get to the source of the voices. From the sound of it, Rubix had announced that Pac was nearby, and if the condescending tone of Rubix's voice was anything to go by…
She arrived at the end of the hallway and took a right turn into the passageway that contained their lockers. Her suspicions were confirmed as soon as she saw who stood several feet away from the corner of the passage.
Rubix was hanging around the lockers with a pair of unfamiliar girls at his side, all three of them snickering at Pac as he walked past them. The Yellow One deliberately ignored their bitter remarks as he walked to his own locker, barely keeping his chin up.
He was a pale shadow compared to the chipper, friendly yellow boy whom she'd met just a week ago.
His shoulders were slouched as if carrying a great burden while his head hung low, tired and crestfallen. His eyes were devoid of any optimistic light, as if he no longer had any fighting spirit left in him. She didn't need to be close by to know that the darkness under his eyes must've been from lack of proper sleep. The bruise on his cheek was barely healed. He looked absolutely miserable.
A familiar prickle of guilt came back to gnaw at her heart. Oh, Pac…
The Yellow One tiredly rummaged through his locker, closing it after he's taken out some books for classes. Despite his clear intention of ignoring any snide comments, he couldn't stop Rubix from snickering and whispering not-so-quietly to the girls next to him.
"I bet he stashes all his spoils in there. How much food debt do ya bet he'll be in once they catch him?"
More snickers echoed down the hallway, travelling along the walls. Pac didn't show any signs of reaction to the whispers, as if he was too numb to be bothered by it.
But she was.
For the first time since yesterday, a surge of anger coursed through her system, crawling and prickling hotly under her skin. Only this time, it wasn't aimed at Cubo.
She had to get Rubix away from Pac. Far away. With a clever plan formulating in her mind, she walked resolutely down the hallway, passing the lockers and passing Pac, until she stepped right up to the teen whom she'd mistakenly considered a friend for far too long.
When the punk teen's eyes fell on her, Rubix smirked lazily and held up his hand in greeting. "Wassup, dudette, come to join us in exposing and poking fun at the Yellow Snitch?"
"Actually," Cylindria started, crossing her arms and levelling him with a hard look. "I came here to say that a little birdie told me that Mr Dome is looking for you. He wants you in his office, pronto."
All traces of laughter melted away from his demeanour as soon as he saw the narrowed look in her eyes. And once she finished talking, the lazy glint in his eye was replaced by great confusion. He looked at her, suspiciously.
"Mr Dome? What's he want?"
She shrugged, nonchalantly. Despite her anger, she couldn't help but allow a devious lilt to filter into her tone. "Don't know. From what I heard; he's very upset with the football team he's been coaching. Pretty sure I heard your name in there, too. You're in big trouble, you know."
Rubix stared at her perplexedly, taken aback at the news. "Me? But my team and I have been doing great recently—"
"That's not what I heard when I walked by his office about an hour ago. In fact, I'm pretty sure I also heard how you skipped practice yesterday without a given reason. He's furious."
"But we didn't have practice yesterday, it was our day off—" Rubix said, agitatedly and with growing concern. He looked down in thought, "maybe I got my schedules mixed up…?"
"Don't know, but I don't think it matters. If I were you, I'd come up with a good excuse for yesterday and make haste to get to his office instead of picking on an innocent student."
She saw the questions racing in his eyes, especially at her last few words. But she didn't give him a chance to question her, lest he catches onto her bluff or argues with her about whose side she was on. With her stone-cold gaze still boring into him, she lifted a hand and jabbed her thumb into the direction behind her, indicating his next destination.
"Now get going. Don't want to keep your coach waiting."
Rubix gave her a hard look, clearly not appreciating the authoritative tone, but right now her bold attitude wasn't his priority. He cursed under his breath and ran past her, jogging down the hallway in a haste towards Mr Dome's office. Soon after, the unfamiliar girls who had hung out with him slowly started to disperse as well, with nothing left here to entertain them anymore.
After a solid minute, Cylindria let out a shaky breath of relief.
She had made up the story on the spot and lied through her teeth, and with incredible ease, too. She didn't quite know how to feel about that. She'll deal with the consequences of her lies later. If anything, perhaps she could chalk it up to being a prank if Rubix ever confronts her about it.
A tense silence came upon the air.
Almost by instinct, she knew that somebody was staring at her back. She only had a hunch on who it could be. Slowly and hesitantly, she turned around to look at Pac, wondering if he was still there.
Only to find that he was staring straight at her.
The atmosphere was awkward and uncertain as they stood just a few feet away from each other, not breaking their stares. She didn't know how to read his expression. His eyes seemed hollow, yet there was a strange look in his gaze. Something between surprise and wariness.
She opened her mouth to speak, but Pac beat her to it.
"If you're here to lecture me about 'my thieving habits' then you're wasting your breath. I still didn't steal anything."
Her mouth felt dry. She's never felt more aware of her past actions than at that moment, standing in front of the boy whom she'd wrongfully misjudged. She regained her thoughts, and before Pac could walk away, she spoke in a small and meek voice.
"I believe you."
Pac seemed to pause, blinking and staring at her as though he had misheard. Cylindria held onto her arm and nervously averted her eyes, before looking back at him remorsefully.
"And I… I wanted to say that I'm sorry. For not believing you sooner."
For a moment, a spark of light came back into his blue eyes. A mix of hope and disbelief, but it vanished as quickly as it came. She was about to continue, to ramble on how much sorrier she was for everything else, but Pac's eyes narrowed slightly, staring at her suspiciously.
"Why do you suddenly care?"
She silently conceded, biting her lower lip. She completely understood why he'd be defensive. After all, up until yesterday, she had taken Skeebo's side and completely disregarded Pac's side of the story, which only resulted in him getting even more bullied. She didn't blame him for being suspicious after all that he's been through.
But she's also been in his shoes before. And it was for that very reason that she refused to let the bullying continue. It was the reason why she cared.
She took a deep breath, preparing to owe up to her mistakes.
"Because I-"
"There you are, Cyli!"
Both Pac and Cylindria jumped in surprise, startled by the new and shrill voice.
Whipping around, the pigtailed girl saw none other than Poly running down the hallway towards them. The gossip girl came and completely ignored Pac's presence, approaching and stopping short from Cylindria with a distressed look in her eyes.
"Where have you been, girl? I've been trying to text you all day yesterday, it's like you've become a ghost! I needed help with my homework!"
Put off by Poly's hysteria, Cylindria took a step back to create distance between the two, still reeling from the loud and sudden interruption. Fleetingly, she glanced at Pac and saw that he looked just as surprised and confused as she was. That's when Poly grabbed a hold of her wrist, looking ungraciously desperate.
"Come on! There's still time before classes start, you're gonna help me!"
"Not now, Poly-"
Cylindria didn't get to have a say in the matter. Before she knew what was happening, Poly tugged at her arm and turned on her heel to walk urgently back to where she had come from, pulling Cylindria along and nearly making the pigtailed girl trip over her own feet. "Poly-!"
"Quickly, now! We can't delay this any further!"
Bewildered, Cylindria tried to find some sort of leverage against the gossip's iron grip, but Poly already had momentum in her stride. Amidst the confusion, the pigtailed girl could do nothing but stumble after her, only able to glance helplessly over her shoulder at Pac before being forcefully dragged away. She wasn't done speaking with him…
Poly picked up the pace, dragging her down the hallway and taking a turn at a junction, all while ignoring Cylindria's protests.
"Poly, let go-"
"Honestly, Cyli, you can't just disappear in my time of need! You've been so spaced out lately."
On and on Poly rambled, pointedly mentioning Cylindria's unavailability and lack of attention to their circle of friends – even though she's technically only been absent for a day. The gossip marched them down an empty hallway, gradually slowing down their pace as they neared the pathways to the dormitories.
Cylindria grit her teeth frustratedly, trying to find an opening to speak in between Poly's incessant talking. "Would you let me go?! I've been gone because I got caught up in something that I need to fix-"
"I'm sure it can wait! After all, I've waited a whole day to find you so I'm sure you've got plenty of time on your hands. In fact, you can fix that problem in that smart head of yours while doing my homework for me at the same time!"
"Wh-"
That's when it clicked. After being overwhelmed by the rude interruption, Cylindria hadn't gotten a moment to consider what Poly was talking about regarding her homework. At first, she had just assumed that the gossip had truly struggled and needed her help, but that theory was quickly rebuked. Now, the truth was like a slap in the face. Poly didn't simply want help with her homework, she wanted Cylindria to do it all for her and at her immediate command, just like she's always done.
The realisation felt like a bucket of ice being dumped over Cylindria's head. Suddenly, the frustration she felt at the gossip was replaced by deep anger. You dragged me away just because of that?
That's it. She was tired of being too nice with Poly and Tetrah. She's tired of being taken advantage of for her kindness and willingness to help. She's tired of being a doormat.
With a renewed sense of vehemence, Cylindria ignored whatever else Poly had to say and slammed her feet down against the ground to bring them both to a stop. Without thinking, she brought up her free hand and slapped Poly's hand off of her wrist. The reaction was instantaneous.
A yelp of surprise escaped the gossip, whirling around to stare wide-eyed at the pigtailed goth. She held her hand, gawking and looking ready to demand an explanation for Cylindria's actions, only to remain in shocked silence upon seeing the glaring fury in the goth's eyes.
It took everything Cylindria had not to let her anger burst out of her in waves. She suppressed her emotions by clenching her fists and staring Poly dead in the eye.
"No. What I do with my time is none of your concern! You chose not to do your homework and you will have to bear the consequences. What you choose to do with your time is not my responsibility!"
"But-"
"No. Do your own homework! There's something much more important going on that I need to take care of."
"What could possibly be more important than helping your friends?!"
I'm seriously starting to doubt if you even fit in that category anymore, Cylindria thought, bitterly.
She unclenched her fists, but the fire in her eyes never faded. After taking a deep breath, Cylindria said her final, parting words.
"That's rich, coming from you. You don't really care about me as a friend. Not as a true friend would. All you want out of a 'friendship' is reputation and big favours while you do absolutely nothing. I'm not doing your homework for you anymore."
Cylindria turned on her heel and began her trek back to where she had left Pac. She paused only for a second to look over her shoulder at Poly. "Oh, and tell Tetrah that the same goes for her, too!"
With that, she broke into a run and made her way through the winding paths of the school's passageways, leaving a flabbergasted Poly behind.
If Cylindria had not been in a hurry, then she probably would have given more thought to what she had just said to Poly. It all had come out so suddenly and without filter. All the frustration and hurt she's felt for being treated unfairly by her so-called friends, all the doubts and reservations she's held over their haughty dispositions. Skeebo's deceptive antics were just a stark reminder of it all. It had to be said.
Deep down, she felt fretful. She's never talked so boldly to Poly before, much less pointing out all her flaws to her face like that. A little voice from her conscience told her that it was probably not a good idea to have confronted the school's notorious gossip like that, but quite frankly, she didn't care anymore.
She's got several apologies due for a yellow boy, and a much-needed talk planned for a blue jock.
A/N:
I think this is my favourite chapter so far :3 I love me some angst and drama. You can't tell me that Cyli grew up in a treehouse and didn't get her fair share of ostracization for it.
This chapter would've been a little longer, but I'm juggling a lot of projects in real life at the moment, and I really wanted to get this chapter out as soon as possible so I don't have to worry about it on top of my projects for uni. That, and I think enough has happened in this chapter to keep the plot going. Next chapter will have the confrontation between Cyli and Skeebo!
This is not relevant to the story, but as I was writing this chapter, I really couldn't help but think of the song 'Freakshow' by Skillet. I ended up listening to it on repeat throughout various stages of this chapter. Some of the lyrics are kinda fitting!
To Hope: Aww, thank you so much! It means a whole lot to me that people take the time to leave reviews for my fanfics, especially within a fandom that's already so tiny. My way of showing my appreciation is by replying to each review, it's the least I can do :) I'm honoured that you consider me your favourite fanfic-writer, like wow! Your reviews are always the ones that I look forward to the most! Thank you so much!
