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Chapter 1: New Boy in Town
He's yellow.
The info registered slowly in Cylindria's mind as she, along with several others, stared in awe as the yellow boy took a seat in the back of the class, along with other newcomers.
It was the start of a new school year, and nothing was as ordinary as a few new students joining their class. Each of the new students gave an introduction of themselves and were given their seats, as per usual.
What was unusual, was that the boy who introduced himself as Pac was a colour that none of them had ever expected to come walking into their classroom. He was yellow.
A Yellow Orb.
All eyes were on the yellow newcomer until they had to cease their staring when the teacher called for their attention.
As Ms Globular was starting with her lesson, discreet whispers floated around in the class, particularly within a certain popular group - one that Cylindria was part of.
"He's yellow," Poly whispered loudly to the group, her eyes wide in something between alarm and wonder.
"I thought they were extinct?" came a softer whisper from Tetrah, Poly's twin sister.
"My dad says that yellow people used to have superpowers," says Cubo as he nervously looked over to the back of the classroom, where the yellow boy was sitting.
"What if it's a joke and he's actually just covered in dye?" Came a theory from Skeebo, the only one who wasn't as riled up as the rest were.
"Make-up stores don't have yellow body dye anymore, ya dingus. The only customers who used them are extinct… at least up until now," Tetrah retorted, casting an annoyed frown at Skeebo, who merely shrugged.
As her boyfriend continued discussing and whispering discreetly with their group, Cylindria found herself stealing a glance at the newest additions to their class.
The yellow boy – Pac – was doing his best to focus intently on their teacher's lesson, but there was an underlying nervousness to the way he held himself. He must be aware of the class's attention on him. But he loosened up when the red boy sitting next to him whispered some words of encouragement. I think that's Spiral? Cylindria thought, vaguely remembering how the taller, red teen had introduced himself in front of the class earlier. Most of them had paid more attention to Pac to care about the other new students.
"I think it's kinda cool," the pigtailed girl whispered, rousing her friends out of their tense debate. She didn't see the way Skeebo frowned at her remark.
"It is cool," Cubo agreed, although hesitantly. "But if that thing about superpowers is actually true, then what if he's a secret government spy? Or even an alien?" the burly, dark blue teenager theorised, eyes as round as the twin moons.
"He's none of those, you conspiracy monger," Skeebo said, dismissively. "He's just another student. Probably a total nobody, if you ask me."
Cylindria frowned in confusion at Skeebo, a look that her boyfriend clearly missed as he leaned back in his chair and focused on the lesson. Why would he already label a new student as a 'nobody' when he's barely met him?
"Eyes on the board, students! I'm sure your rapt discussions among yourselves can wait for recess," Ms Globular called, snapping everyone out of their gossiping and forcing them to pay attention. The whispering stopped, but it didn't stop a few more stray glances towards the back of the class.
Cylindria picked up her pencil and got to work on writing notes into her textbook, following her teacher's instructions down to every detail. As she worked diligently, she heard Tetrah and Poly murmuring to each other about the latest fashion trends, and Cubo was leaning back in his chair to talk to Rubix about football practice. The topic of the yellow Pacworlder went away as quickly as it came, and already her group of friends were focussing on their daily chatter and chasing the latest trends. Nothing new.
As the lesson went on, Cylindria took one more glance to the back of the class.
The young Yellow One seemed more at ease now that he wasn't the centre of attention anymore. He still looked out of place, figuratively and literally, but despite that he still listened to the lesson with rapt attention, writing in his textbook attentively. Cylindria couldn't help but wonder what the boy was like, and how high-school life will be now that they've got a Yellow Orb in their midst.
This will be interesting.
Recess was uneventful at most, until Poly came running towards them with her signature, hyperactive look in her eye.
"You guys! You will totally not believe what I just saw!"
They were all sitting at their usual spot, a table under the shade of a tree. Other than the indoor cafeteria, it was the only table in the block that had shade, with the rest of the area consisting of nothing but cemented pavement and grass.
Poly came barrelling towards them and flew into her seat, nearly knocking her twin sister down to the ground in her excitement.
"Pacness, Poly! You nearly ruined my make-up," Tetrah grumbled as she gingerly touched her cheek to check if there was any smudging. Poly ignored her and looked at everyone with a crazed grin.
"I've got gossip," she said as if she was about to reveal tip-top secret information.
"Spill," Rubix said with a lazy grin, taking a bite out of his sandwich.
"That yellow kid has a bottomless pit for a stomach!"
All at once, everyone froze with what they were doing. Some even froze in eating their lunch, mid-bite. They stared at Poly as if she had just gone crazy – literally.
Cylindria took the initiative and cleared her throat, "Um… metaphorically, you mean?"
"Of course I mean metaphorically!" Poly yelled at them all with a glare, making Cylindria wince at her tone.
But as soon as the glare came, it quickly got replaced with a mischievous smirk. Gossip was Poly's passion, after all.
"But maybe still not so metaphorically, because it's true! The Yellow Orb scarfed up the entire cafeteria!"
"I didn't see him anywhere in the cafeteria when I was there. You sure you got the right dude?" Rubix asked, twirling a piece of cheese around his finger.
"I'm ditzy, not blind, Rubz," Poly stuck her nose up at the boy, "and yes,it was the same guy! He just came in after most of the other students left. And within less than 2 minutes, he ate the entire menu in one go!"
"So, he's a glutton," Skeebo mused, "that explains why he's so round."
From where she sat next to him, Cylindria saw a weird look enter Skeebo's expression. Something between a smirk and a contemplative smile. Nevertheless, she shrugged it off and spoke, "Weren't Yellow Ones always round, naturally? In fact, we learned in History last year that they had to eat a lot in order to-"
"In order to hone their superpowers!" Cubo interrupted her and burst out with a bright grin. He was still not letting go of the theory on superpowers.
"We learned that in History? Meh, don't remember," Tetrah commented, more focused on flicking dirt out from under her polished nails. "Anyways, so Poly just confirmed that he's a glutton. What else do we know about him?"
"Don't know, don't care. When can we change the topic to stuff that's less lame?" Came a drawl from Rubix.
Tetrah pretended she didn't hear him. "Well, I heard that he's friends with the tall red dude, Spackle, or whatever his name was. He's kinda hot."
"You mean Spiral?" Cylindria provided with a raised eyebrow, remembering how the red boy had discreetly talked to the Yellow One during class.
"Yeah, that's the guy! Leave it to Cyli-babes to remember every detail."
Cylindria gave Tetrah a tense smile. She never liked that nickname. But Tetrah always followed her own rules, no matter how many times Cylindria asked her to drop it.
"Hey, speaking of which!" Poly forgot about the current topic and instead turned her attention to the black and pink girl. "Cyli, could you help me with the assignment for Thursday?"
Cylindria's fork froze in the middle of being stirred around on her plate, and she looked at Poly's too-eager grin with a bit of apprehension. Something close to dread settled in her gut – she already knew where this was going. "The one for Physics?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Poly nodded vigorously, "Tetrah and I are supposed to be in a group for the assignment, but sister dearest won't have enough time to help before the hand-in."
Tetrah scoffed, "I already told you, sis, there's a new fashion show this week and I have no intentions of missing it."
"You'll help me, will you, Cyli?" Poly's grin grew impossibly wider.
After a small pause, Cylindria gave her a sad smile, "I'd love to help, Poly, but Skeebo and I already have our hands full with our own assignment."
"Nah, don't worry about it, babe. I can finish our assignment in my sleep, so you can help out with Poly and Tetrah," Skeebo smiled and nudged her with his shoulder.
She looked up at him in mild surprise. Skeebo wasn't a big fan of Physics, much less math, and there was a big chunk of it included in the assignment. "Are you sure, Skeeby?"
"Sure I'm sure," he shrugged with a prideful smile, "I've got it all covered."
Cylindria still felt a little unsure, but after giving it some thought, she couldn't see too much harm in it. She'd help Poly finish their assignment while Skeebo took care of their own one. Technically it was supposed to be a group project, but if Skeebo insisted…
"Alright, I'll help."
Poly's sharp cheer echoed in the air so shrilly that some of them had to cover their ears, including Cylindria.
Despite it, she still forced out a smile for the hyperactive girl's sake. This wasn't anything new. She's had to help the twins with their homework several times in the past. She just hoped that this time around, with the new year and all, they'd learn to take better responsibility with their time…
But Cylindria told herself to stay positive. After all, it's a new year and a fresh new start, what are the chances of it turning sour?
She should've known better.
That Thursday morning before school, Cylindria was in a nervous craze. Flipping through the incomplete pages of their assignment, she rushed down the hallway with Skeebo at her side.
"Why didn't you tell me? I thought you had it covered!" the spectacled girl said agitatedly while taking mental notes on how many pages didn't have finished equations.
"Yeah, I did until it got to the hard parts! You know that I'm not good at math, babe…" Skeebo trailed off with an air of aloofness.
"So, you just left it until the last minute, without telling me!" There was hurt in her voice in-between the nervous fretting. She was now rearranging the papers after seeing that they had been sorted in the wrong order.
"Look, babe, the hand-in is still only until the last period, I'm sure you can finish it by then," Skeebo tried to calm her, despite not sounding that bothered over the issue.
They passed the lockers, and Skeebo stopped walking when they reached his locker. "I'll catch up to you, just need to get my stuff."
But Cylindria didn't acknowledge him. She kept walking ahead – since her locker was in a different corridor – and tried her very best not to lose focus in trying to fix the papers. Deep down, she was feeling a mix of negative emotions.
This assignment was supposed to be handed in today, and as her partner in a group, the bare minimum that Skeebo could've done was tell her that their assignment wasn't finished yet by the time she was finished helping with Poly and Tetrah's yesterday.
And even that didn't go as planned.
I should've known, Cylindria thought, bitterly. Poly had asked for her help with the twins' assignment, and so she helped… all on her own. Turns out, while Cylindria had worked tirelessly, Poly had up and gone with Tetrah to that fashion show, doing absolutely nothing for her part in the assignment and leaving it all up to Cylindria to finish. The pigtailed girl only found out about it after she finished doing the work for Poly, and the gossip's only excuse was that she changed her mind about the fashion show and conveniently forgot to tell Cylindria.
She had hoped that they had changed, but this just proved her wrong. Now she felt convinced it was just a ploy of theirs to trick her into doing their homework for them, just like the many times they did in the past.
"This is what I get for being too nice," Cylindria grumbled under her breath, picking up her speed as she took a left into a different hallway.
BAM!
One moment she was speed-walking around the corner and the next thing she knew, she collided head-first into an unsuspecting student coming from the other direction.
The collision knocked the wind out of her and she stumbled back, holding her head as papers and the contents of a box flew everywhere.
"Ow!" the pigtailed girl groaned, seeing stars for a few seconds as she regained her footing. "Watch where you're going–"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Came a frantic apology from the other student and Cylindria cracked open her eyes as she rubbed the sore spot on her head.
She froze and her eyes flew wide open in recognition of the boy standing in front of her.
It was the Yellow One.
He, too, was rubbing at his forehead where it hurt from the collision, but his focus was entirely on her as he apologised rapidly. His eyes were a deep blue as he looked her over in concern. "Are you okay? I-I'm sorry, I didn't see you coming and I…"
They both looked down at the mess on the floor. The papers of her assignment were scattered everywhere, but among them, there was a box that had half of its contents spilt out as well, such as pictures, books, figurines, and the likes. The box surely must've belonged to the yellow boy, having dropped it when they ran into each other.
Snapping out of her stupor, Cylindria's shoulders slumped as she sighed in defeat. This is just not her day. "Great…" she muttered, kneeling to start picking up the papers.
"Let me help," he insisted, still apologetic as he helped gather her papers.
"It's fine," Cylindria didn't know if she was trying to assure herself or the yellow boy, "at least at this point, things surely can't get worse."
"Rough morning?"
She faltered, realising that she was thinking out loud, before sighing dejectedly. "You could say that…"
"Well… I guess I'm in the same boat. My roommate and I were moved to a different dorm, and we only have this morning to move all our stuff over to the new room," he said as he placed some figurines back into the box.
After he compiled some of the papers and handed them back to her, he paused and offered her a tentative smile.
"Um... Cyli, right?"
She perked up and stared at him in surprise, her hand frozen halfway from picking up one of his scattered books.
"How do you know my nickname?"
"I heard some people call you that."
Must've been Poly, she concluded silently, since the gossip is notorious for having word travel fast in the school. She handed the book over to him before responding, "My real name is Cylindria. Only my friends call me Cyli."
"Ahh, gotcha," Pac nodded in understanding, looking sheepish.
She took in the way he looked a little awkward as he put the last of his stuff back into the box, and she decided to cut him some slack. He was new, after all. She offered a small smile, "and you're Pac, right? You're new in my class."
Pac perked up. "We're in the same class? Cool!"
The brief flash of excitement on his face vanished as quickly as it came and he rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly. "I mean, it's nice to meet someone else in my class, you know? I'm still trying to get to know everybody here. Sometimes it's a little overwhelming."
They both stood up from the floor, with Pac holding the box containing his belongings and Cylindria holding the full stack of her assignment.
"I can imagine…" she sympathised. "Especially since you're-"
"Yellow?"
"I was gonna say the new boy in town, but yeah, that too."
The two stared at each other for a few seconds, before the silence was broken as they both burst into a fit of giggles and chuckles.
"Okay, point taken," Pac chuckled, finally wearing a genuine smile on his face. "I'm sorry again for bumping into you like that. I guess we both just had a bit of bad luck this morning."
He's nice, Cylindria thought, pleasantly. She didn't quite know what to expect from the Yellow Orb after crashing into him and subsequently talking to him, but he seemed like a nice guy, and she was starting to enjoy the conversation.
Or at least she did until the friendly atmosphere was rudely interrupted.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing!?" A familiar voice boomed from behind Cylindria, startling her and making her jump. She whirled around to see Skeebo storming over and glaring daggers at Pac.
The pigtailed girl found herself frozen on the spot, confused and put off from the intensity of Skeebo's glare. She never saw that look on her boyfriend before. It unnerved her.
The blue jock zeroed in on Pac, towering over him as he came and stood between the Yellow One and Cylindria. "You've got a problem with my girl, goldie?"
Pac shrunk backwards, staring nervously up at the jock. "N-No! I was just-"
"Just leaving. Now get!" Skeebo sneered.
Aghast, Cylindria looked rapidly between Pac and Skeebo, at a loss for words as she witnessed the hostility in the blue jock. Her eyes met Pac's for a brief second, and at that moment Cylindria saw a change in the way Pac looked at her. She didn't know what it was, but it somehow made her feel self-conscious. Before she could figure it out, the Yellow One turned tail and scurried off.
"Wait-" Cylindria's hand reached out towards Pac, but he already disappeared into another hallway, out of sight.
A beat of silence passed before Cylindria got her bearings back and she whirled around to face her boyfriend.
"What was that for?!"
"He ran into you and messed up our assignment!" Skeebo said, looking down at her as if he was stating the obvious.
"It was an accident! And he apologised..."
A little voice in her head whispered that she wasthe one who should've apologised since she kept her focus on rearranging the papers and didn't watch where she was going. Even so, she frowned accusingly at Skeebo, "He was being kind and courteous, you had no reason to be so mean to him!"
"Well, as the top boy in this school, I'd say I have every right to put newcomers in their place. We're the ones at the top, and we should be given our due respect," Skeebo crossed his arms, and his frown rivalled her own.
Cylindria stared at him, incredulously. "Are you seriously saying you care more about status than being kind?"
She's no stranger to being aware of their status as popular students, but surely Skeebo would know better than to use it to gain leverage over others? Especially new students? Skeebo was many things, but she never expected him to act this obsessed over the popularity chain…
Was that the reason for Pac's change in demeanour earlier? When they locked eyes and there was a change in the way he looked at her? Did he put two and two together and realise that she's part of the popular kids? Someone whom he didn't want to associate with, lest he gets ostracised…?
She was pulled out of her thoughts when Skeebo responded to her question, "Hey, if it comes to dealing with people like him, then I don't see any reason why I should be kind to him."
Discreetly, Skeebo looked around them as if to check that nobody was around before he leaned closer and lowered his voice into a not-so-subtle whisper, "Like, haven't you heard?"
Cylindria's frown deepened in suspicion of his actions. "Heard what?"
"That yellow boy is a thief. He stole food from the kitchens during the night."
The magenta girl's eyes widened an inch, slowly taking in the new information. "How do you know that?"
"Just stay away from him. He's bad news," Skeebo said, dismissively.
Pac? Bad news? That didn't add up in the slightest. Feeling conflicted, Cylindria looked down the hallway, where the yellow boy had disappeared off to mere moments ago. She couldn't understand how someone so kind could be capable of theft.
He seemed so sincere…
"Hey, what's this?"
She looked back at Skeebo, only to see her boyfriend kneeling and picking up a lone photograph from the floor.
At once, Cylindria knew that it belonged to Pac. In their mess of trying to pick everything up and talking, Pac must've missed this one picture.
As Skeebo held the photograph up for them to see, Cylindria stepped closer to have a look.
In the photo were two people, a man and a woman, holding each other in an embrace that could only be attributed to a married couple. They were both Yellow Ones. The man was tall, with a fedora covering his unruly black hair, and his blue eyes were kind and spoke of years of experience and adventure. The woman had red hair, wore small glasses, and had the softest lilac eyes that Cylindria's ever seen.
"It must be his parents," Cylindria said out loud, realising that the resemblance was too similar to be a coincidence. Especially since they were all yellow.
"Huh, so Yellow Orbs really aren't extinct," Skeebo said, although his tone was not the friendliest.
"We should give it back to him," Cylindria decided, eyeing the photograph in Skeebo's hand.
"Hmm…" Skeebo looked closer at the photograph, gears turning in his mind. "Or we keep it" he whispers, lowly. "Could be useful for blackmail."
"What?" Cylindria looked up at him, sheer disappointment and confusion shining in her eyes. "Why would you want to do that?"
"Well like I said, he's not innocent," Skeebo insisted, raising an eyebrow at her.
As if the weight of all the troubles from the morning came crashing onto her shoulders, Cylindria's demeanour visibly deflated and she sighed, tiredly. First Poly tricking her into doing the twins' homework for them, then Skeebo letting her down in their own assignment, the haste of getting the still-incomplete-assignment fixed, crashing into Pac and witnessing Skeebo chasing him off, and now this? The day barely started and Cylindria was already tired from all of this nonsense.
"Two wrongs don't make a right, Skeeby," she implored, tiredly and with pleading eyes. "Promise me you'll return it to him."
Skeebo was quiet as he took in her tired state until he finally sighed and gave a curt nod. But there was also a hint of defiance in his eyes, something that Cylindria couldn't quite place or understand at that moment.
"Alright, I promise."
She gave him a small and appreciative smile as Skeebo put the photograph away in his pocket.
On cue, the school bell decided that now was the perfect time to ring and announce the start of the new day for classes, and Cylindria gripped the papers of their assignment in one hand.
"Shoot! We're gonna be late!" She exclaimed and grabbed Skeebo's wrist, pulling him down the corridor as they rushed to get to their class in time.
Author's Note: You ever get that moment where you have to write two characters as a believable couple even though you despise the ship? Yeah, that's me with Cyli and Skeebo :') BUT they'll break up eventually, don't worry!
So, here I am with a new pmatga story :D This one isn't going to be too long, I only expect to make around 5-7 chapters for this story, and it's also noteworthy to say that I'm going to slightly alter a feeeww scenes from the canon for the sake of this fanfic, and I'm gonna go very in-depth with writing the unseen scenes (or behind the scenes) of the first two episodes. I'm excited :D
This does NOT mean that I've stopped working on The Veil, though! I have every intention of continuing and finishing The Veil, no matter how long it takes me. I just got this idea in my head for a while and really wanted to write it down and see where it goes. It also helps me to take a break from The Veil's longer chapters and longer plot, and then come back to it with a fresh pair of eyes. I'm going to balance out updates for both The Veil and Call Me Cyli, so I'll try my very best to update The Veil next, hopefully within a few weeks!
For anyone interested, this is the geometric inspiration behind some of the side-characters' names:
Poly – polygon
Tetrah – tetrahedron
Cubo – cube
Rubix – rubix cube
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Read and Review! :)
