Author's Note: Okay, so, I read all your reivews over again and you guys shamed me into updating this story. Seriously, I have not touched the internet in TWO FREAKING WEEKS. I'm, like, a deprived child. Anyway, I've been writing my other novel so my writing is so much more improved than this chapter (I wrote this a while ago, I think, I don't remember). PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, all of you, check my profile (which I am updating right after this) for news and stuffies like that. Okay? I'm not going to even attempt to explain it all here. But sorry for the long delay and hopefully you'll enjoy the chapter. Thanks immensely to all my reviewers and sorry in advance for the cliffie at the end of this one. Please review.
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"Where are those two? We have got to show Cynthia the symbol and what it really is. Or she'll never believe us." Angela looked around the cafeteria nervously, scanning the huge swarm of people.
"I don't know," Lori said, scanning as well. "The last time I saw her was at break."
"I don't think she's in here," Charlie put in. He was staring at the two doors that people were still walking through. "She should be."
"You think she would be the kind of person to skip out on a meal?" Ian asked off-handedly.
Angela and Lori looked at each other at the same time with looks of panic. "Yes," they said. Then they grabbed their backpacks and ran out the cafeteria doors before the two guys could even offer to join them.
"Well, since they left us, I guess we can just eat our lunch," Ian said, shrugging and looking down at the food.
Charlie stood up. Ian looked up at his friend. "Dude, where are you going? Aren't you going to eat?"
"It's not right just letting them go look for Cynthia by themselves while we eat. I'm going to join them." Charlie grabbed his tray and backpack and walked to the trashcans. Ian grumbled and swore underneath his breath, but relented and followed Charlie reluctantly out the cafeteria doors.
Just as they left, Cynthia and Rex walked in through the other set of doors. Cynthia scanned the room for her friends cautiously and let out a sigh of relief when she didn't find them. Where are they? She couldn't help but wonder. Shrugging, she turned to talk to Rex as they waited for their food in the lunch line.
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"I feel like I'm a criminal," Ian hissed to Lori beside him. They were both running in a crouch around campus, trying to find their young friend and her new "pal." "I don't think this is a good idea. I mean, what if they just got to the cafeteria late and they are there right now, eating away happily without our watchful gazes? I mean, they could…"
"Shut up, Ian," Lori hissed back. "You are just cranky because you didn't get to eat lunch."
Ian stood all the way up, indignant. "Well, of course! I need my food, you know."
"Just shut up and get over here. We need to keep looking. They could be anywhere on school grounds…" Lori hesitated as she considered the other less appealing prospect. "Or, they could even be off grounds, but its Cynthia we are talking about, so we'll only look there as a last resort…"
Ian crept over to where Lori was and poked her gently. "Lori…are you talking to yourself again?"
She gave him an annoyed look. "Don't be stupid, Ian, of course not. Now come on."
Ian shrugged and followed her. "Okay, if you say so."
Meanwhile on the other side of the school grounds, ducking from tree to tree was Angela and Charlie. Both were silent and entirely focused to their task. At times, Charlie found the strange urge to hold Angela's hand a little unnerving, but most of the time, he was alert and on the look out for their friend. It made him feel like he was almost back in Lyoko, scanning the surroundings for any anomalies, any monsters, any threats…of course, he'd only been in Lyoko once, so he couldn't draw on much experience from that.
Presently, they stopped to rest on a nearby bench. Angela immediately drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them, burying her face between her knees. She rocked back and forth slightly and silently, making Charlie just a bit nervous as he sat there helplessly and looked at her.
Finally, he blurted out, "Hey, Angie, are you okay?" He didn't think that he had ever called her by her nickname before, but it just slipped off his tongue.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm fine," at first her voice was muffled, but when she tilted her face up out of her arms, it cleared up. "It just…I don't know. I guess it's still just too much for me to take in."
"This whole Lyoko and Xana thing?" Charlie guessed, hoping beyond hope that his stab was correct.
"Yes," Angela answered immediately. "First we go to and fight for the first time in the place and everything is chaos. And then we meet this boy with the same exact symbol around his neck and now we are running around all over the place trying to prevent him from harming our other friend that has no idea what kind of danger she is potentially in because she is just being stubborn and blind and…" she had run out of air and was gasping. Charlie wasn't too sad about that. He gave Angela a sympathetic look, however.
"I understand exactly what you mean," Charlie said, trying to help. "It just is…overwhelming."
"Exactly," Angela said with a big sigh, as if she was relieved that someone had finally found the right word to explain how she was feeling. She gave Charlie a smile, which he thought was brilliant. "Thanks for understanding."
"That's what I'm here for," Charlie said, with what he hoped was a warm smile. "Now, about searching for that Cynthia girl."
"Sssh, wait, do you hear something?" Angela said, suddenly standing up. Charlie stood up with her and looked around. He didn't see anything. But then he heard it too. It was a rustling sound and it was coming from a nearby bush. Exchanging a look somewhat nervously, the two of them crept up to the bush that had made the sound and then pounced on it.
There was a brief little struggle in which everyone got a little bruised, but when everyone got themselves untangled, Angela and Charlie only realized that had pounced on their allies, Lori and Ian. All of them were glaring at each other and wiping leaves and twigs from their hair and clothing.
"You were supposed to be on the other side of the school," Angela accused her other two friends.
"Well, we didn't find anything on the other side of the school, okay?" Lori retorted. "What, are we splitting the school in half now?"
"We are such incompetent losers," Ian mourned, extracting a particularly prickly twig from his hair. "We are never going to find them."
Charlie just sighed. He didn't want to talk about it.
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Cynthia and Rex laughed as they emerged from the stuffy cafeteria, fresh air immediately buffeting their faces. Cynthia felt like she had been floating on a cloud all through lunch so far and she hoped that it wouldn't dissipate anytime soon. She found herself wishing that the bell wouldn't ring any time soon either. All those things that her friends were paranoid about were just that, paranoia, right? She risked a glance at the silver pendant on Rex's neck. It glinted eerily. Cynthia turned away from it quickly.
"Are you okay?" Rex asked her, concern gracing his face.
"Yeah…I'm, uh, fine."
Rex looked down at the ground as they continued walking. "It's the pendant, isn't it? That's what's bothering you and your friends?"
"O-Oh, not me. Just my friends. But I'm…"
"Don't lie to me, Cynthia." Cynthia's eyes could not betray how she truly felt. Rex sighed and his hands reached for his neck. "I'll take it off, if it really bothers you." He undid the cord and slipped it into his pant's pocket. Suddenly, his right hand came down and found Cynthia's left one. "I'll take it off just for you."
Cynthia flushed visibly and she felt as if she had been doing too many somersaults at once. The cloud inflated and lifted her higher in the sky as she felt their fingers intertwining. Nothing could fetch her down now. She was up permanently. That was when they turned to pass a couple of trees and she caught sight of her four friends arguing. Her body tensed as she tried to pull Rex away. "Let's go over here…"
Too late. The next second, Lori had looked up and stared straight into her eyes. Uh-oh. I'm doomed.
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Through the whole journey to the warehouse, Lori had her grip on Cynthia's upper arm, as if Cynthia was a convict that could escape at any moment. Cynthia rather resented the action, but she clamped her mouth shut and refused to say anything. Her friends were taking her to the warehouse to make a point, that much she had already figured out. But what they didn't understand was that no matter what they said to her or whatnot, nothing could make her change her mind about Rex. She didn't know how to describe the feeling…not exactly love but not exactly a crush either. She decided on somewhere in between.
The trip to the warehouse and even down the floors in the old elevator was silent. No one spoke or looked at each other. When they got to the floor where the program chip was located, they all filed out and waited as the program slid into view. When the huge glittering golden object slid into view, Angela stepped forward and pointed at a very familiar looking symbol.
"What does that mean to you, Cynthia?" she said, with a little defiance in her voice. Cynthia could feel the underlying I told you so poking at her violently.
"Oh my god. No…" Cynthia's hand went to cover her mouth. Then she realized it had been the one that Rex had held just a couple of hours ago at lunch. Quickly she put it down back at her side. Then she shook her head, remembering her vow that nothing they could do would affect her. "Probably just a freaky coincidence. It doesn't prove anything."
Ian sighed. "What will it take, Cynthia, to prove to you that we can't trust this guy?"
Cynthia's gaze slid to Lori who was looking at her intently, not saying anything. Something told her that Lori hadn't told every else about what she had seen at lunch. Cynthia took a deep breath and decided she would if Lori hadn't. "It's too late. He's…" she squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, testing out the word she had never used before, "…my boyfriend." Sort of, she added to herself.
Charlie and Ian gaped at her. Angela looked startled. Lori was the only one whose face stayed the same at the news she already knew. Cynthia thought she saw disappointment in Lori's gaze. Suddenly, Cynthia felt angry. "Why can't you just be happy for me?" she almost yelled at the four of them, who drew back, alarmed at the sudden outburst. "He's my first. I've never had one before and I was so happy." She felt herself edging on tears. What was happening to her? Sighing, she tried to comfort herself with the thought that it was hormones. But nevertheless, she felt herself breaking apart from her other new friends, her first friends at this school. A jagged crack was forming in the ground between them: on one side her friends, and on the other side her and Rex. "It's not fair," she said out loud, rubbing at her eyes to try to hold the tears back. Then she made for the elevator, sniffling. The other four trailed after her, as silent as ghosts.
By the time the elevator reached the top floor and was prepared to open, tears were falling silently on either side of Cynthia's cheeks. She hastily tried to wipe them away before the sunlight shone on her and her friends could see that she was freely crying. But before she could do that, she looked out and her eyes widened, her tears forgotten. Beside her, her four friends froze and tensed up, like deer poised to run.
Rex was standing right in front of them, his face innocent, his eyes wide. "Whoa!" he said in greeting, "I didn't know that elevator still worked!"