Astro Boy: Core Collision

Episode 9: The Popular Kids

Cobalt entered the school alone. He looked around, hoping he could find Astro, but there was no luck. Candace jumped in front of him, purposefully getting in his way and bent forward with her hands folded behind her back and had an innocent smile on her face.

"What are you up to, Cobalt? Wanna hang out with us today?"

Cobalt looked around once again and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Uuh, sure!"

"Great! Follow me!" Candace shouted while grabbing his arm forcefully and dragged him along with her outside to the back of the school.

Candace sat Cobalt down at a large table where Candace's guy friends were all sitting. Most of them were on their phones, but a couple of them were playfully fighting each other.

Cobalt watched as Candace stepped in between them and tried to break them up with a sad pout on her face.

"You guuuys!" She whined. "You'll get in troublllle! You're both lucky I stopped you two since I'm such a tiny thing!"

"Aaaaw! But Candace, we were just playing! You don't have to worry!" One of them said while ruffling her hair. She giggled and covered her mouth.

"Oh, stop it, Trent! You're gonna mess up my hair!"

"Too late!" The other guy said as he ruffled her hair as well. She broke down in laughter as two more guys piled up to her and ruffled her hair, but Cobalt sat still and cringed at the sight. He was starting to think again about what he was getting himself into. "Maybe Astro was right." He thought to himself.

The group split up, and Candace reached into her purse. Cobalt looked at Candace and noticed she was walking toward a girl who was sitting alone and looked very sad.

Candace gave a handful of money to the girl and patted her head as if she were a dog. The girl smiled and hugged her. Cobalt smiled to himself. "Maybe I was wrong. After all, she helped out at the shelter. Maybe she and her friends are just really outgoing people, that's all." He thought to himself again.

Candace ran up to Cobalt and sat next to him, clinging onto his arm.

"So, I've been thinking about something." Candace said with a smirk.

"What did you have in mind?" Cobalt asked, feeling concerned.

"I thought that maybe we should pull a little prank on Marionette!"

"Why would you do that to her? She clearly wants nothing to do with you." Cobalt replied calmly. Candace widened her eyes and smiled, trying her best to hide her anger.

"I was just joking! And besides, it was just gonna be something she would laugh at, too!"

Candace giggled. Cobalt thought for a minute, wondering if he should believe her or not. He shook his head.

"Alright. As long as it's a harmless prank, I don't see why you can't do it. I mean, you're your own person anyway."

"Right? You're the sweetest!" Candace said while hugging him and holding him in a tight squeeze.

The bell rang, and Candace went toward the bathrooms while everyone else went to their classes.

Cobalt entered his classroom and sat down. The teacher pulled out a pop quiz on everyone in the classroom. Cobalt felt confident in the subject.

He answered each question with ease, just like his younger brother Astro. He was just getting to the last five questions when Candace suddenly burst in through the door, mixing an iced latte with her hand. The sounds of the ice swirling around and hitting the inside of the cup annoyed Cobalt.