Chapter 57

We walked down from the podium and as 2nd placers, we were given chocolate.

Having done nothing, I was happy and satisfied with our results. I haven't researched enough on this world to know superficial Trivia questions. Don't blame me.

Elijah wrapped his arm around my shoulder and grinned,

"You seem happy having done nothing huh."

I poked his side,

"Get carried, kid."

He recoiled after being poked and laughed.

"If I had pressed the button faster we would've won first place," Lia complained to us.

"It's okay. If I had done something maybe we would've gotten more points for first place."

"What do you mean Charlie? You did everything dude." With the final event of the auditorium schedule done, our friends also got up and approached us from behind.

"Definitely the MVP," Lizbeth joked.

"Yeah, maybe I should give my chocolate to Charlie since he did everything."

"Chocolate?"

"We got chocolate as a reward, yeah."

Natsumi's eyes seemed to radiate like stars and like a kitten she sneakily swiped at my hand holding the chocolate bar.

"Let go!!!111!"

"Nop."

She held on to the chocolate bar adamantly and looked at me with defying eyes ready to rebel against the world.

And so she did,

"Poopoo head."

Wow, my heart aches.

"Congrats, Charlton."

Our moment was interrupted when I heard a familiar yet unfamiliar voice.

I shivered at the name.

In my entire two lives, there's only one person who's ever called me that.

From both Earth and Pangaea, she had the same nickname for me.

Glancing behind me, I saw the face I least wanted to see smiling at me. It was my ex and she was currently with other female students I never noticed her with before.

They looked like nice people, who like Maya, got the long end of the stick on the looks side of things.

I did also recognize a few who were customers of the cafe.

"...Hello Maya."

She pouted trying to seem cute but I cringed seeing her act like this.

"Why aren't you calling me Mayi anymore?"

I almost vomited. What type of cringe nickname is Mayi? Really Charlie? You called her that? Mayi?

I felt waves of grumbling and complaining inside my soul.

"Awww, you have nicknames for each other?" Her new friends with shrill voices smirked at each other.

I stayed silent and looked at her while my friends conversed with each other while keeping an eye on us.

Funnily enough, Natsumi was still gripping the chocolate bar while staring uninterestedly at my ex.

"So how long have you guys been together?"

I sweat-dropped at her remark.

"Sorry?"

"Yeah, how long have you been together? By the way, why do I never see you two together or doing anything, like what's up with that?"

"We're not together," I smiled politely at them.

"Yeah, it's been quite a while since we've broken up."

"Aww, that's so sad."

I saw some of them smile pleasantly and they approached us even more.

"By the way, I heard you're friends with The Felix. Is that true?" One asked while staring intensely at my eyes.

"We're acquainted, yeah. You like his songs?"

"Yeah yeah, I'm like his #1 fan. Could you help me get his autograph? I have all his merch and everything."

I smiled amusedly at her.

"Maybe."

"Charlton, why'd you suddenly stop talking to me? I know we broke up but you didn't have to do that."

She had her eyebrows scrunched up. It seems she had other intentions greeting me out of nowhere.

A normal person would settle this matter privately.

"Haha, I've been busy. Sorry."

Funny. You were the one who stopped talking to me.

"By the way what happened with the others? They were all just so upset at you?"

Maya inquired about our past friend group.

I shrugged and exchanged smiles with Natsumi remembering the petty drama they instigated.

"I dunno…"

Natsumi's extroverted personality came out and interrupted me with a giggle,

"Haha, one of them blamed Charlie for spilling iced tea on him the other week."

The girl's eyes lit up at Natsumi being engaged in the conversation. Seems she's popular not only with boys but with girls as well.

"Who was it?"

"Ah, I think his name is… Carl."

Oh wow, I didn't even remember his name as his supposed friend yet she knows it.

Maybe that's why everyone likes her. She remembers their names.

"Haha, you spilled tea on Carl?"

Remembering his dumb face yelling at me for no reason, I grumbled, "No, he just wanted to pick a fight and blamed me for it."

The sound of their aggregate giggles sent a terrifying shiver down my spine.

Or was it their giggles that made me shiver?

Natsumi began narrating the two confrontations that occurred while the girls paid close attention to her.

I smiled, appreciating her caramel hair and hazel eyes.

She's a natural conversation leader.

I glanced at Maya from the corner of my eye.

It's a relief that I'm not vomiting or stumbling around like a block when seeing her. I guess I've gotten way past her now.

I felt deep emotions which ranged from sadness to relief, and acceptance deep within my soul.

My Pangaea self has finally gotten over her.

A tension I felt bearing on my mind dissipated fleetingly like a cloud and my face eased into a happier-looking smile.

[Modeling has gained 33 points.]

Wait wait. Hot damn! Let me memorize this exact face.

33 points with the 5x from streaming would be one of the greatest boosts I could ask for in my life.

If I could spam this same smile, the winter fashion show would be easy peasy lemon squeezy.

I was abruptly shaken out of my thoughts when my friends were waving their hands in front of my face like absolute clowns.

Damn, I'll just keep the smile plastered on my face and memorize it later.

"Ah, quit it. You guys look like circus monkeys."

We began laughing.

Natsumi, still holding onto the chocolate bar snatched it from my hand at last and stuck her tongue out at me.

We began chasing her around like 40-year-old aunts at family gatherings would to a two-year-old baby.

Maya and her friends watched us stunned at the sudden closeness and childishness.

I smirked. That's right, I made them turn from arrogant popular kids they were a few weeks ago to the 5-year-old kindergarteners they are now.

Natsumi jumped on my back and started fighting off the demons.

Maya and her friends once again looked even more surprised. It wasn't every day they saw the smiley and polite Natsumi acting like such a cutie.

"Hey hey, you're clinging to me for help when you stole my chocolate?"

Natsumi's clear eyes began panicking in realization and tried jumping away.

Like a demon king, I held a vice grip on her legs in a forced piggy-back ride she put herself into.

Exactly like my sister would, she put me in a headlock and began choking me while pressing on my back.

I let go of her legs and tapped her arms but it was now her who was clinging on to my back.

Still on my back, she began nom'ing the chocolate bar she stole from my hands.

Soon after, the others were not very interested in conversing with Maya and her friends and we left.

…

"Charlie, is that your ex?" Catherine asked.

"Yup. Her name is Maya."

"Wasn't she the one that made you almost vomit the other day?" Arlo asked while keeping his tone down.

Unafraid to admit it, I nodded.

"What'd she do to get you like that?"

"Nah, it was nothing. I was just dizzy that day."

How am I going to tell them that I merged with the soul of another version of myself suffering from depression?

"Huh, yeah. I was kind of worried you'd start vomiting when she walked up to you."

"Pfft, imagine if he did," Ronan teased.

"If I had, I know I would've used your shirt as my vomit bag."

Some jumped away from me and we laughed.

"By the way, why were you lost earlier today?"

I raised my eyebrows and promptly took out my phone to show them to comments I had been receiving on my Instagram post.

Though the hate comments weren't enough to make me sad, they did bother and take me out of my mind for a little.

It's been the whole weekend and today in the morning that I've been getting spammed.

Though I've been ignoring the messages, it's a little disturbing when even your family is getting insulted.

"The hell, why are you getting those comments, dude?"

Reed had a knowing look on his face and it seemed it had been bothering him a little even though he wasn't directly involved with it.

"Got into an argument with some guy on the internet and it turns out he's got a lot of followers."

Lizbeth took the phone out of my hands ferociously and her eyes ate at the screen.

Her posture shifted from the happy-go-lucky vibe she always exudes to a hot-tempered violent one.

She took out her phone and started mashing her fingers on the screen furiously.

Soon enough, I reloaded the page and saw her shooting down the comments.

"Turns out she's a keyboard-warrior."

The group gave each other a thumbs up.

…

After school, I dropped off my sister at home, went to the daily Modeling sessions, and landed at the gym for my daily workout.

Mid-exercise, I was surprised to see my friends staring at my back while I completed the intense regime.

The boys smirked with vicious intentions and raised their hands to start slapping my back, yelling 'How good!' and the girls just facepalmed.

Hanging from the pull-up bar, I recoiled from their back slaps and shot away.

They said they were a little concerned after I admitted I was a little bothered by the hate comments and nagged Natsumi to tell them where I was.

They dragged my sorry figure to Arlo's house against my wishes. Even with my great body and recent muscles, it's a little hard to go against more than 18 people dragging me while fatigued.

(KazPiano: hey man how are you?)

(Charlie: sup good thank you and you?)

(KazPiano: great man thanks)

(KazPiano: I wanted to ask you if i could have you for a video?)

(Charlie: totally man. when will it be?)

(KazPiano: are you free next tuesday?)

(Charlie: hmm yeah I think so. probably after 6 pm pacific time. would that work?)

"Alex, you sure do like pulling on my hair, huh?"

Arlo began pulling on my hair as well.

"Pull Alex's hair, why are you pulling mine?"

(KazPiano: okay man ill send you the details in a few hours. see you soon.)

"Charlieee stop being anti-social, it's your turn now."

Catherine yelled and Natsumi started banging my shoulder.

(Charlie: okay, see you.)

"Alright, alright."

I slapped the +4 card on the floor.

"Out of the 20 people here, you were the one that had to have a plus-four card, huh?"

Natsumi slapped my shoulder while I sweat-dropped.

"Well, there are actually 12 plus-four cards since we're using 3 sets."

"Woah, that many?"

She flicked out a +4 card.

"What, you also had one?"

Natsumi smirked, "Always hide your real intentions."

"Stop acting mysterious and cheesy, it's making my stomach hurt."

She slapped my shoulder again.

…

[Author Note:

Hullo! Good day! The chapter was uploaded late because once again, I was away from my house.

Thank you all so much for the comments, they're very motivating and supportive! :)

Still, don't be afraid to add critical feedback to better the future chapters. Thank you.

Saw a reader request for more song recommendations. It makes me happy that others like the music I enjoy.

SHRK & Shiloh Dynasty - I Miss You

sadeyes - you deserve better