Requital hope

Forty-four

Yibo's Pov.

With all that's been happening over the past week, I feel like giving up. What's there to live for? If I'm never going to be happy, why should I keep on living? Even though these thoughts kept on recurring in my head for some reason I kept trying. Today I'm going to get my answer, I don't care if Meng is hanging around someone I'm just going to ask. And if that doesn't work I'm going back to step one, Zhan.

When I arrived at school I saw Zhao, Meng, and Cindy chatting near the entrance. I marched over to them and pulled Meng to the side to speak with her. She looked over to the others, probably scared.

"Hey what are you doing?" Zhao called out.

"I just want to ask her something." I responded before turning back to Meng.

"Can you please tell me what's going on with all of you?" I asked, desperately.

"Y-you should really ask Cindy." She
responded in a valley girl accent, chewing
bubblegum. I almost pulled out my hair in
frustration. Why Cindy? I've already asked her and she didn't tell me a word. I just marched off into the building, again noticing all the prying eyes. Just as I was turning a corner I bumped into Xichen.

"Hey man." He whispered. Well at least someone was talking to me.

"Do you know why everyone is acting this way towards me?" I asked, hopeful that he'd give me an answer.

"Not really, just some stuff about you targeting people in the school." Great, now I'm even more lost.

"Targeting people?" I inquired.

"Yeah, like breaking stuff or stealing homework or whatever." He continued to whisper. I can't believe I didn't think to talk to him earlier. Now I finally have something to go off.

"Do you believe them?" I nervously asked.
twiddling my thumbs.

"No... not really, I'm still on your side dude. It's just..." He paused.

"It's just what?" I asked, tilting my head to meet his gaze.

"I can't be seen with you...'

"W-why?"

"My new friends might think I'm a traitor. I've tried convincing them that you're innocent but they think otherwise. The people of this school just want drama. It's been a while since a rumor of this caliber has been started." He explained, with a sad look.

"Alright, well I have to go.' " His voice went even quieter this time, looking side to side. I understood why he didn't want to be seen with me but I still felt heartbroken. It was crushing knowing that no one was willing to stand by me.

On my way to class I thought about what
Xichen said. If Zhan was mad at me for destroying something then what would it be? What could it be that he thinks I've destroyed? The only thing that came to mind was his locker, but if that were the case wouldn't Cindy have backed me up on this? She knows I'm innocent since we were doing Operation Zhan together. I'll just confront him about it when I can find him.

During lunch, I sat away from everyone else like I'd been doing the past couple of days. I mean, it's not like anyone from school would've wanted to sit near me anyway. But something caught my eye. Cheng was up to something, the guy we met during the trip. He always seemed focused and concentrated, that hasn't changed but now he's moving around a lot. I've seen him cross the school from point A to B. I would've liked to ask what he was up to but with the rumors going around I knew that wasn't something I'd be able to do.

Before my final class, I waited near Zhan's locker in hopes of catching him. I waited for at least ten minutes and wasn't planning on leaving until our break was over. People gave me strange and threatening looks as I stood there suspiciously. I could tell not everyone believed the rumors but it seemed like the majority of the school did. Zhan eventually arrived but with Cindy in tail. They both came to a stop and eyed me awkwardly.