Chapter Thirteen

I am Xandra, and yet I am not Xandra. At least, I’m not the Xandra you know.

      I didn’t want the faeries to turn to stone, or for Faerieland to fall. I had nothing against either. Yet, I spent so many nights crying from the comments of others.

      Her name is Xandra. My name is Xandra. The similarities stop there. So why can’t people just accept that?

     __

      The fact that I was named this was completely coincidental. Believe or not, there was a day when ‘Xandra’ was just a name, and not a description. You’ve probably seen them: those little Speckled Xweetoks, barely more than a year old, but born with the everlasting curse of being mistaken for an evil sorceress for the rest of their lives. Lately, they’ve been all over the place, just another strange trend. However, I was born before the plot, and have been a Chocolate Xweetok for as long as I could remember. Therefore, I wasn’t created just to sit there and resemble a popular Neopian character: I was a character in and of myself. I could change my future. They might not ever get the chance to do the same.

      My life was just fine before the Faeries’ Ruin plot came. At Laurelgrove High in Altador, I wasn’t the most popular student, but I still had friends. One, however, ranked higher above the rest, a Pink Kougra named Brynn. We’d been best friends for as long as I could remember, and we never had too many problems until the day Faerieland crashed.

      The plot started out like any other. Usually, we’d buy our own separate comics from the music store, discuss the events at lunch, and not really ever mention it again afterwards. However, we soon set a schedule for this one, which we considered ‘special.’

      “Did you read the comic yet?” asked Brynn at lunch the day after it was discovered that the faeries had turned to stone.

      “Yeah,” I told her. “Say, I thought it was pretty weird about how the new character is named Xandra, same as me.”

      Brynn looked me over, noticed my Chocolate Xweetok fur and blonde hair, and remarked, “You two kind of look alike, too. The resemblance is pretty creepy when you think about it, isn’t it?”

      I took out my copy of the comic after this, and added, “You kind of look like the Brightvale Kougra in the story. You have the same name as her, too.”

      “Yeah,” she agreed. “Though I’m not sure I’d be brave enough to be a guard. But, hey, you’re a sorceress in the book. That’s pretty cool.” Both of us began to laugh, thinking about ‘our’ characters.

      “You know,” I told her, “I actually wear contact lenses. Maybe I could get glasses so that I looked more like Xandra in the story.”

      “And I could dye my hair orange, too!” noted Brynn, who had light brown hair. “We could walk around, acting like the plot characters, almost like a roleplay. I doubt my owner would be okay with me painting myself orange, but at least we’d slightly resemble them.”

      “We could meet at my house. One of us could get the new comic and take turns reading it and discussing it. We could even try to solve the puzzles inside!” Both of us immediately started laughing.

      “This plot is going to be awesome!” yelled Brynn. “I can’t wait for the next chapter!”

      “Me neither! Hey, I wonder if I actually got that thief Hanso with my magical abilities!” I faked a wizard’s pose, clutching an imaginary wand.

      “I bet you did. I wonder how many times I’ve had to put that guy in the dungeons!”

      “You probably wouldn’t believe how often that happens,” I joked.

      “Oh, trust me,” sighed Brynn, acting annoyed. “I can.”

      The rest of the day, I could think of nothing but the next chapter and the fun that would go along with it. Now, I look back and wish that it had been that way forever...

     __

      Months passed by. As a matter of fact, just saying those three words is quite an accurate way of representing it. It happened about as quickly in real life as it probably took you to read that sentence, or so it seemed. They say that time flies when you’re having fun. And while I’m not usually one to believe cliches, I can say that this ‘they,’ whoever they are, were right about at least one thing.

      Brynn and I had read eleven chapters together so far. We would alternate roles: one of us would buy the comic, and the other would provide the meeting place in her house. We hadn’t quite read chapter thirteen yet, despite it having been released days ago, since Brynn had been on vacation with family. As soon as she got back, she begged for me to buy the new comic. She didn’t need to tell me twice, since I too wished to know if the heroes’ plan to save Faerieland had worked. So after school, I agreed to go straight to the music store where they sold the books.

      For the first time in a long time, that day seemed to pass by incredibly slowly. Everyone turned their heads as I walked through the door. That should’ve been my first clue that something wasn’t quite right, as I wasn’t all that popular and most students just seemed to ignore me. I just shrugged, assuming that someone had merely played a prank on me behind my back, and went off to class.

      “Hey, Xandra!” yelled one student. “Did you have fun crashing floating lands over the weekend?”

      My eyebrows raised in confusion. I moved closer to that student who thought he was being funny, but wasn’t. “What did you say to me?”

      “You know,” said another, “she really does resemble her. Similar looks, same glasses, identical angry tendencies...” Over the course of the plot, I had gotten glasses and part of my hair was now a shade of green, as a way to commemorate the character.

      “Tell me what you said!” I yelled at my classmates again. “If this is some kind of inside joke, it isn’t funny!”

      “Don’t you keep track of the news?” joked a third. “You’d think it’d be easy when your face is on every newspaper.”

      I was about to lash out at the others yet again when Brynn nudged me and merely whispered, “Come on, Xandra, we’ll be late to first period.”

      This was one of the few times I’d ever actually been bullied in school. And Brynn hardly lifted a finger to defend me.

      But then again, after I read chapter thirteen, a greater question came to mind. Who would even want to defend me, after the way I’d associated myself with the other Xandra?

     __

      At the end of that day, I couldn’t wait to leave Laurelgrove High and go straight to the music store. Something had to have happened this weekend to make the students go from outright ignoring me to going out of their way to accuse me of something I clearly had nothing to do with. The only question was just what exactly had made them this way.

      “Bye, Xandra,” called Brynn. “Meet me at my house today with the comic! My mom made cookies!”

      “Okay!” I agreed. I put on my roller blades and then skated off to the music store. As a matter of fact, I almost forgot where I was going in the first place. Altador, after all, is such a hilly place, and on a nice day with a pleasant breeze, it can feel as though you’re part of the wind. The sky was sunny with a few clouds, lulling me into a sense of relaxation. After this, what had happened today was the last thing on my mind.

      When I went to the cash register after selecting a copy of chapter thirteen, I noticed that a Speckled Xweetok was running the register. Her tag read ‘Xandra,’ and she looked barely old enough to be working at a shop.

      “Hi!” I greeted. “I’d like to buy this comic!”

      “You haven’t read it yet?” asked the cashier. “You’ll probably be in for a surprise then, assuming no one’s spoiled it for you yet. Come to think of it, I’m surprised this volume isn’t sold out. One of the characters, a sorceress named Xandra, is quite popular now. Everyone’s naming their pets after her.” She looked down behind the register, as though not wanting to admit to a secret.

      “Oh, that’s strange,” I answered. “My name’s Xandra, too. I was made before the plot, though.”

      “I wasn’t,” the other Xandra answered. “My owner back home only wants me to act exactly like the character. It’s like she doesn’t even want me to be my own person!” She sighed in exasperation and continued, “So, are you getting any trouble for this?”

      “I don’t know anything about what happens in the comic, but some people at school have been bullying me around. They think I crashed Faerieland or something.”

      “Honestly, I just don’t understand why people have to pigeonhole us as being the same as some character, just because we share a name,” admitted the Speckled Xweetok. “I don’t even want to learn magic, to be honest. My dream is to have my own rock band, but I don’t tell anyone, since my owner might get mad if I said that to her face.”

      “You shouldn’t let that keep you down,” I advised. “If you want to be your own person, you can do that, no matter what anyone says.”

      Then I realized that it wasn’t just me being treated this way. It was all the Xandras. Something had to have gone wrong to make our peers act this way. And all I had to do to find out was to turn the page...

     __

      I bet you already know what happened next. But for those who don’t, I’ll recap. On that last page, Faerieland crashed. The spell had backfired. Everyone except our two heroes, Brynn and Hanso, was turned to stone.

      And as for why Xandra wasn’t included in the list of heroes? She was the one who had done it. She’d been behind this. She’d betrayed Neopia. She’d betrayed the ones who knew her best.

      She betrayed the ones who shared her name.

      That day, I left immediately after reading chapter thirteen. Brynn didn’t say a thing to stop me from doing so. Back home, I put my blue contact lenses back on. I washed the green streak out of my hair. I was Xandra again; the real Xandra.

      But it wasn’t the same. Tears came out like a waterfall. I was destined to be this way. I had associated myself with that traitor. And I couldn’t go back. After all, after you associate with a traitor, aren’t at least a little bit of a traitor yourself?

      At least, that’s what the students thought. The accusations didn’t stop. They could clearly tell the difference between me and her, but they just didn’t want to. They wanted someone to accuse, someone to blame. I was merely the easiest target.

      Everyone seemed to pity Brynn after that for being friends with someone like me. The popular kids (or ‘the pops,’ as some students called them) thought that she had potential. She dressed right, looked right, was the right color...

      ...And lastly, she treated other people just right. She’d wanted this chance all along. She’d sacrificed everything. A few times, she’d claimed to have ‘forgotten’ to buy the comic, when she was clearly with her new friends. Brynn was now too busy for me to stay at her house.

      And finally, she gave up the last barrier keeping her from being popular: me. It didn’t take long before she actually started not just ignoring me, but actually joining in. We had been friends for as long as I could remember. But apparently, it didn’t take much for her to forget.

      Not all the students shunned me, though. There was an all-girl group called ‘the Antis’ who were dedicated to doing as many unpopular things as possible. The only way to advance in that clique was for your reputation among others to decrease; needless to say, my sudden unpopularity attracted their attention quite a bit. Their leader, Diamond, was cold and only seemed to care about lowering her own social status. There were two other members named Nico and Tigris, who tried to make me feel welcome, but I still couldn’t help but feel that I wasn’t one of them. I never became one of them, but still talked to Tigris and Nico occasionally.

      Life seemed hopeless for me. However, one day, I noticed that I could see the light again. I knew that things would turn out fine.

      That was the day the new student came. I had hardly noticed him, fearing that he would treat me the same as the others. That day, I just sat alone in my usual place, trying to ignore the jeers from the cafeteria as others walked by. Just then, I heard something that I hadn’t heard in such a long time.

      “Hey!” yelled the new student. He was a clean-cut Blue Ixi with handsome brown hair and an argyle sweater. “What are you doing to her? Last time I checked the Code of Conduct, Laurelgrove High has a no-tolerance bullying policy! So stop.”

      The students just cleared out of the way, not wanting to bother with me. But I just looked admirably at him and the courage he’d shown. For once, I finally felt as though I had a friend here.

      “Sorry about that,” he responded. “Some people take the plot too seriously, you know. They pigeonhole us into these personalities, just because of our names. I thought this school would be different, honestly, but I’ll suppose I’ll have to deal with it.”

      “So, you realized my name’s Xandra?” I asked.

      “That’s what I figured, at least,” he answered. “A lot of the Xandra Xweetoks went to my old school and got treated no better than you did.”

      “But how do you know what it’s like to be treated like a character?” I wondered.

      “Simple,” he replied. “My name’s Hanso.”

      “Hanso?” I repeated. “But other than your coloring, you’re almost nothing like him!”

      “Precisely,” he confirmed. “Back before the plot, I was just known as your average honor-roll, mild-mannered kid. The only time I ever stole anything was when I got cast as the lead in the school play, and even then, that was just acting.” He paused. “But that doesn’t stop the accusations, does it? Next thing I know, the moment something goes missing, I’m blamed for it! But... at least you understand.”

      “Completely,” I answered. Hanso was someone who finally understood me, knew me better than anyone, despite the fact that we’d only just met. But there was still something nagging at my brain...

      “Hanso?” I asked. “Wouldn’t you rather be with that Pink Kougra, Brynn?”

      “She’s just like the others,” he told me. “Despite her name, she wouldn’t understand me. She’d just accuse me like everyone else.”

     He took out a CD and showed it to me. It read ‘Xandrea.’ And even though she looked just like all the others, even though she was using a stage name, I knew that it was the cashier at the music store. She’d set herself free. She’d fulfilled her dream.

     “Don’t think for a moment that you can’t be successful,” advised Hanso. “People like us have to stick together, you know? I won’t abandon you.”

     And it was time for me to fulfill mine.

The End