The Real & The Fake

Have you ever been betrayed by a friend of yours? Well I have. Hi, I’m Katie, Katie Welles. People call me Kat and I like it. Let me tell you a bit about myself. First of all, I’m 12 years old and I go to an international middle school. I have 2 brothers; one little & one big, and 1 big sister.

          
 I am also a Fangirl as what people describe me… Usually, I would sit around with my Macbook, while typing some fanfictions in Wattpad. The fanfictions that I often write about are Big Hero 6, fantasy/science-fiction and Anthologies of my own stories, which are really immature for me to write – as what my big sister said – but I guess most people write about them now…                                                            

Did you guys know that I have a whole complete collection of Pokémon figures? Yup, there’s even a special glass case to keep them, just for safe keeping. I know; I’m really selfish (or am I?) to not let anyone touch my figures except me. Hahaha…

          
My BFF, Ella Walters, and I are super Fangirls. Being a Fangirl is our life… We both write in Wattpad, we post pictures of Hiro x Gogo & The Modern Big 4, sometimes the two of us also make a delivery order of making special Fanfics covers in Wattpad and Tumblr. Ella & I’ve been best friends for 6 years and nothing broke us apart… But one day, she did something horrible to me that best friends wouldn’t possibly do to each other.

           
Here’s how the story begins…

          
It was rainy and cold outside. I was wearing my indigo sweater and dark jeans, followed with a pair of dark mint converse. As I sip through a mug of hot mocha-chocolate, I typed in my Macbook in a high speed.

           

         “Hiro, we have to get rid of Patty! She’s completely useless, besides she’s just slowing us down!” Kath told Hiro as she glared at Patty who was standing next to him, completely useless.

          “Yeah! Get rid of her, Hiro!” Gogo agreed Kath’s idea. Everyone else agreed too, except for Hiro. It was true; Patty had been completely useless to them, even though Kath already made a super weapon for her. All she did was hiding behind Hiro while cuddling him tightly, which quite annoyed Hiro pretty much.

          “I don’t know guys…” The leader bit his upper lip. “…Maybe we should give her another chance.” Hiro Hamada had developed a small crush on Patty, but still holds his heart with Penny.

          “Are you kidding me, Hiro? Have you fallen for her?!” Kath Hamada yelled at him suddenly. “As your sister, I know you do! How about Penny?! Are you just gonna ditch her?!” The messy-haired teen looked down, ashamed of being snapped by her twin sister about his relationship between him & Penny.

          “No…” Hiro replied quietly. Kath sigh deeply at her brother before putting on her helmet.

          “Let’s just get out of here…” She said. The others followed her, with Hiro walking slowly behind them all. The seven flew off on Baymax, leaving Patty alone in the dark alley.    

           

          
I was writing chapter 11 about a crossover of Big Hero 6 and her own characters – called ‘How to Be a Hero’ - who were put in the team, so, it made it into Big Hero 7. In this chapter, the seven were on their way to catch a huge criminal, the team used to be Big Hero 8, but one of the members got a job in Australia D.C. So, they’ll need some more help to catch a criminal who killed children and teens.

          
After I wrote a short Author’s Note in the end of the chapter & published it, I got a notification from Ella’s account. It said: ‘Summer_ILY23 mentioned you in a chapter.’ The chapter was the fifth chapter from her new fanfiction about Gogo x Hiro x Abigail; ‘Triangle in Paris’. 

          
I clicked Ella’s story chapter and scrolled down all the way to the Author’s Note. What she said is something that I don’t understand.

           

         ‘Summer_ILY23’ AUTHOR’S NOTE: Hello, my fans!!! Can I tell you something? xxxLunarFangirlxxx is a glorg, cuz she rarely updates her stories, like duh, people. Why did you vote for her stupid stories and follow her? Ugh, she’s such a bookworm. Ok bye…

           

         
Wait. What’s a ‘Glorg’? That’s what I don’t understand. The other things that she said were easy to understand, thank God. But what’s a ‘Glorg’? It’s not even a word. Well, the only way to find out is to ask her at school tomorrow.

~~~~*~~~~
TRRRIIIINNNNGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

           
The school bus pulled up in front of school as I checked all my things in my indigo backpack before coming down off the bus. Once I came off the bus with my backpack strapped to my shoulders, I was greeted by a voice that belongs to the person who I was going to ask about the ‘Glorg’ thing…Ella.

          
“Hey, Kat!” Ella called out to me. She was wearing Ray-Bans, aqua blue miniskirt, and a salmon-pink crop top. The usual outfit of Ms. Walters, always skin revealing. Creepy…

          
“Hey… Ella.” I laughed nervously before clearing my throat. Ella caught up with me and so, we walked down the halls of our school together. Our first class was Advanced Technology.   

           
“So…I read your fifth chapter yesterday and…I saw that you mentioned me in your Author’s Note.” I started the conversation. In the corner of my eyes, I could already see Ella sweating hard as if she was hiding something from me.

           
“By the way, what does ‘Glorg’ mean?” The inquisitive me, got straight to the point.

          
“Um… I don’t know…” My BFF replied as she played around with her pig-tailed brown hair. “Oh, hey, look! There’s Mikaela!” She pointed out to a jet black haired girl who was – as usual – flirting to the most handsome boy in school, Eric Landsman.  Ugh, Ella always hangs-out with that flirtatious girl more than me these days. 
Is it because Mikaela’s prettier than me? Or is it because she’s more popular than me? Jealousy has been taking over me ever since that pervert girl showed up.

          
“Hey, Kaela!” Ella called Mikaela in her nickname. The flirty girl turned her head to look at us before whispering something to Eric and sashaying towards us.

          
“Oh, hey, Honey Bunnies!” Mikaela Stewart greeted the both of us. I gave the flirty girl a death glare as I clenched my knuckles until it turned white. Will she please stop saying that?! God, that girl is so freaking me out!  I said internally so nobody else would hear it except me.

          
“Ugh, come on Ella! We’re gonna be late for Advanced Tech!” I made an excuse to stop those two from talking unimportant girl talk. Ella bid goodbye to Mikaela and followed me to Advanced Tech, huffing.

           
“What’s wrong with you, Kat?! Mikaela’s my friend! Can’t you just walk to class yourself?! You’re like a cry-baby.” Those cold words which escaped out of my used-to-be BFF’s lips felt like millions of daggers stabbing me all around. I can’t believe she said that to me, plus, she told my followers that my stories were stupid! How dare her?!   

          
Once we got into class, I looked around in search of my next closest friend, Cyli Alistair, pronounced like Miley. Usually, Ella and I would sit together but I guess not today. Cyli was also my best friend, she knew Ella as much as I do. Finally, I noticed a girl with triple-colored hair streaks (pink, grey & black) and magenta eyes, who was the one and only Cyli. Her real hair color was actually black, but she wanted to look more tomboy, so Cyli dyed her hair with those two other colors.

           
“Cyli! Hi, you have a seat?” I walked over to her desk which has an empty seat beside her.

           
“Oh, hey, Kat. Yeah sure, nobody wants to sit with me…” Cyli half pouted while smiling. She patted on the empty seat as a gesture for me to sit down.

          
“Thanks.” I smiled back. Cyli was my second best friend. We both were fans of Transformers, Pokémon & Naruto; sometimes she comes over to my house to watch new episodes of Naruto, Pokémon or Doraemon and when there are discounts of Anime figures in Toy stores, we go there alone to buy them. Cyli is also a fanfics writer in Wattpad, she writes fanfictions about Transformers, Pokemon and Naruto.     

           
Anyway, back to the story…

           
Mr. Huckerfin , the teacher, came into the class and lectured us about Advanced Tech. It was quite fun learning Technology. We can sometimes draw our own invention in blueprints.  

~~~TIME SKIP UNTIL LUNCHTIME~~~

          
          
Cyli and I went out to The Cinnamon Snail café nearby to eat lunch. We went there just because in the cafeteria, they were serving New York Deli Platter which was our least favorite lunch food.

           
The two of us ordered two Korean BBQ Seitan Sandwich and three Vanilla Bourbon Crème Brule doughnuts, with 2 take-away cups of ice tea. As we waited for our meal to be delivered to our table, we started chatting.

          
“Hey, Kat, when are you gonna update ‘Love, Hero’ and ‘The Hard-Headed’? I’m so looking forward to when Kath and Patty fights. Hehehe…” Cyli asked about my two fanfictions of Penny x Hiro x Patty (Love, Hero) – it’s the one which I wrote last night – and Sasuke x Sakura (The Hard-Headed) in Wattpad.

          “Uh… I guess I’ll update them on Wednesday.” I reckoned the day, if you’re asking, this day was Monday. “When will you start writing chapter 1 of ‘Life of a Celeb’?” It was my turn to mention her fanfiction about Jackunzel also known as Jack x Rapunzel.    

          “Later, later… Be patient, Kat!” She laughed as she threw a pillow cushion – which she took from a sofa seat next to our table – at me. The pillow hit me and I laughed as well.

          “So, how’s your BFF relationship with Ella?” Cyli changed the subject with a friendly smirk across her face.

          “Um… Quite good, well, except for the fact that Ella said bad words about me in Wattpad.” I answered at the same time when a waitress delivered our meal.

          “OMG, no way!” Cyli gaped her mouth open a bit in surprise. I gave her an I-know-right look as I sipped my ice tea. Just then, she added. “Wait, hold on. Don’t tell me it’s the one in Chapter 5 of ‘Triangle in Paris’s Author’s Note?”

          “Yup, that’s the one. If you know about it, what does ‘Glorg’ mean?” I replied, before taking a bite out of my sandwich.

          “Uh…” Cyli fiddled with her fingers nervously. “I don’t know how to say this, Kat. But, ‘Glorg’ means Troll.” The word ‘Troll’ almost made me choke down my sandwich. I was like: Are you serious?!

          “Are you serious?!” I repeated the word in my head to her.

          “Yeah… Last Thursday, Ella and Mikaela were talking about you in the cafeteria – you don’t know, of course, you were sick that day –, they said bad words about you, then I heard Ella said ‘Kat is such a troll.’ And Mikaela added ‘What about ‘Glorg’? So Kat won’t know that it means troll.’” Cyli told me the whole story. She came into a pause before continuing.

          “So, yeah… They planned out the whole thing. Try talking to Ella this evening…” My second BFF placed her hand on my shoulder. “…I’ll accompany you there. Don’t worry.” Thank goodness I have Cyli to replace Ella. She’s such a great friend. She never bullies, teases or say bad words about people, Cyli was the only friend who always stands beside me – not in front of me nor behind me, but just beside me so she can be my friend.

          “Thanks, Cyli. You’re the best.” I gave her a bear hug and she returned it.

          “You’re welcome, Kat. Best Friends always stand by each other, no matter what.”

~~~BACK AT SCHOOL~~~

          After the two of us ate lunch, we rushed back to school and into English class. While Cyli and I were walking down the hallways of our school, we noticed Ella talking to Mikaela…again. They were babbling about unimportant + mature girl stuff. Ugh, yuck.

          As we got closer to them, we heard some talk that included boys & those icky mature things. Cyli and I exchanged disgusted glances before I patted on Ella’s shoulder. Ella turned around to face us, followed with Mikaela.

          “Oh, hi, Kat.” Ella simply greeted me with a blank expression.

          “Hey, Ella and Mikaela.” I greeted back, blankly also. “Ella, I know what you’re hiding from me.” I quickly got to the point.

          “Y-you do?”         

          “You called me a troll, didn’t you?” Firstly, I was calm and nonchalant.     

          Ella Walters pursed her lips together and shut her eyes. “Y-yes…”

          “Why did you do that? I thought we were best friends!”I snapped at my used-to-be-best-friend. Ugh, this time my anger was rising up so bad that I actually wanted to yell at her. She betrayed me! I never did that to her!

          “It’s just a joke, Kat! Don’t take it so seriously!” Ella told me. A joke? A joke?!  How dare she called that a joke?!

          “A joke?! If it was supposed to be a joke, it wouldn’t be so hurtful! It’s more like a hard core prank that you do on April Fool’s Day!” I yelled at Ella. Behind her, I could see Mikaela starting to get all nervous, weird and uncomfortable. After what I said, Ella sent a death glare at me and Cyli. I felt a tug on my loose white t-shirt, so I turned around to see Cyli pointing at her Swatch watch.

          Class is starting… I thought. Cyli and I bid a harsh goodbye to the both of them before walking off to our English class.

          “That was tense…” Cyli said, shrugging a bit.

          “You got that right. I guess I don’t have any best friends now…” I replied with a disappointed frown.

          “Now that’s just hurtful.” She told me as she fake-pouted. “How about me? Don’t forget about me, Kat.” I face-palmed. Oh, yeah, I forgot that I have the only REAL best friend who had been there for me since Elementary, meanwhile Ella had never been there for me even though we became friends since Kindergarten – which was longer than Cyli’s and my friendship.

          “I will never forget about you, Cyli. You’re my one and only real friend. Thanks for being such an amazing friend.”

          “Welcome, anything for my most amazing friend.”

*****

          Cyli and I were getting along well, better than Ella’s relationship. Usually, when I hang-out with Ella, we would talk about boys, K-Pop stars, and all those fan girly things. But, when I hang-out with Cyli, it was different; we both would talk about favorite ships or fandoms and write fanfictions, but sometimes, we would study or do our homework & projects together. Still have fun and study…

          Hanging-out with Cyli is much better than hanging-out with Ella. Our friendship grew tighter, stronger and better day after day… Hopefully, our friendship will still stay strong no matter what chaos brings us.   

~~~FIVE YEARS LATER~~~ 

          “I now announce Bronx High School of Writing & Communication Art’s graduation day!” The principal announced on the stage. Most students in my Fiction Writing class went here to major in writing fiction. Cyli, me and many other High School students threw their graduation hats in the air and jumped up & down happily. Then we both squealed excitedly.

          “Long live, writing!” The both of us shouted in unison and laughed. “Hahaha…”

          “Hey, Kat, maybe we should publish our fanfictions into Anthology books with our friends. And how about we write our own stories?” Cyli suggested an incredible idea.

          “I haven’t thought of that! Good idea!”       

          Back at the seats, our parents took pictures of us and then hugged us both. My Mom was the one who squealed mostly. “I’m so proud of you! Proud of both of you!” She gave us a giant bear hug.

          “Thanks, Mom…” I smiled at her as Cyli said. “Thanks, Mrs. Welles.”

          A few weeks after our graduation day, we applied in Cornell University, but before that, my friends and I wrote 3 Anthology books that were suddenly famous. We won the Goodreads Choice award and Pulitzer Prize award for our books. Yay!

          The first Anthology book was titled ‘How to Be a Hero’ which was filled with fanfictions of Big Hero 6 and a few other Marvel superheroes. The first book was a hit! Everyone from school, outside, and online were waiting in line to buy it. In this book, the stories were quite long, so we only put 4 fanfictions in it.   

          The second Anthology book was titled ‘Five Slippers for One Princess’ which was filled with fanfiction covers of Cinderella. The fanfictions were all different from each other and were in different genres. We’ve sold most of it by then, but this one didn’t beat the popularity of ‘How to Be a Hero’.

          And the third Anthology book was titled ‘Enchanting’ which was filled with our own stories that contains wizards, unicorns, owls & all mystical creatures. Of course, everyone had their own genres. This one was quite a hit; this book won the World Fantasy Award.                                                                                          

Meanwhile ‘Five Slippers for One Princess’ won the New Berry & Hugo awards. And ‘How to Be a Hero’ won the Goodreads Choice award & Rebecca Caudill Young Reader’s Book award.  

          Life was starting to get better… Oh, do you know what happened to Cyli? Well, she got a scholarship to The University of IWOA, so, she had to stay in IWOA city for a few years. Then, a few months later, after I published another book, with my parents’ permission, I moved to Los Angeles with my little brother named Jack. He’s a bit of a prankster…

          The two of us rented a house nearby his working place. We both moved there because Jack was offered with an acting job for a Comedy Drama in Nickelodeon, I followed him there cause I’m on an Over-protective Sister Mode. Hahaha… And I also wanted to start a new life & write more books.

          Cyli finished her college at IOWA and moved to LA to join me in writing more books. We made a huge project on writing a sci-fi plus romance novel, then after we published it, the most incredible thing happened…Disney & Dreamworks suggested that our book should be made into a movie, so, we agreed and they did it! I’ve never been so happy in my entire life!

          Cyli and I became so much closer than before, I really love spending time with her. But, as you know, friendship can’t last very long, and I had to move on because of Cyli entering a new job of being an Inventor. So now I’m moving on to writing more books and making more movies. But, my best friend still keeps in touch with me from Skype & Facebook.

          As years went by, my productions became popular and I won some Oscar Awards on my movies. I’ve heard in news that Cyli made a success with her inventions.

           
         One day, I was calling my manager in my living room, when suddenly news came out on the TV. I told my manager to hang up as I increased the volume of the TV. A reporter was standing on the road with a young 20 or so woman whose body was flooding in blood. A big wound spread out on her chest making more blood to flood out of her body. Somehow, the woman looked like Cyli Alistair…my old best friend.

          I bit my lip and crossed my fingers behind my back in hope that she wasn’t truly my Cyli…but when the reporter announces out loud:

          “Cyli Alistair, a chemical engineer, died in a car accident at 6.45 AM this morning… We will have her funeral ceremony in Everdoe Graveyard. Ms. Alistair’s relatives, family and friends will be instantly invited to her funeral today. That’s all from Crime Channel 6. This is Harriet Willis, Crime Channel 6.”

          I gasped, dropped the remote and slumped myself on my couch. No… It’s only been 2 years since we graduated from college. How can time go by so quickly? It seemed like yesterday that we started being best friends, and today, she died…

          I looked down in despair when the doorbell rang. I walked to the door, opened it and saw Cyli’s brother, Max, handing out a black envelope to me. It must be the funeral invitation. I gave Max an I’m-sorry look before taking the envelope out of his hand. Suddenly, a flash of lightning shone in the sky, and not long after that, it started to rain.

          “I’m sorry, Max… I feel the same way.” I hugged him as he returned it back.

          “I’m sorry too, Kat…” The two of us started dropping our tears on each other’s shoulders. A few minutes later, Max and I pulled away from our warm hug.

          “I gotta go now, Kat. I have to deliver these envelopes to the others.” Max told me, smiling. “Thanks anyway…you know, for the hug…”

          “Anytime…” I smiled back. Just before Max turned around to walk off, I pecked his cheek and hugged him once more. I started pulling away, blushing and tucked a strand of my dark brown hair behind my ear.

          “Sorry…” I said, still blushing in a tint of pink. “…I guess I should go.”

          “No, it’s fine. I kinda like you too…”

          My face lit up a bit. “Really?” I never knew that Cyli’s brother would like me. I mean, he’s a prankster. Well, I am a bit of a prankster too, because once, I tricked my sister to eat Oreos with toothpaste frosting. Hahaha…

          Okay, we’re getting off the topic. Let’s get back to the story.

          “Yeah, Cyli actually has always wanted us to get together.” Max told me, chuckling cutely. Wait, oops… *blushes* Hehehe…

          “Seriously? That’s so weird.” I laughed as well. Cyli is so cheeky, but I’m still glad to have a kind and cheeky friend like her. LOL. “So, I’ll see you at the funeral.”

          “Okay, see ya!” Max waved goodbye to me before pulling on his hood over his head and sprinting down the pathway. I smiled to myself and closed the door calmly.

          Inside, I began preparing a black sleeve-less dress and white leggings for the funeral, and cook some of my special brownies to share there. I was quite happy about Max liking me back, but I’m also sad & angry that Cyli died so quickly. She was just 22 years old… Well, I can’t blame God, it’s God’s decision when is the time when people die and born.

          Once I dressed up neatly and pulling up my hair into a messy bun, I went downstairs to fetch my car keys & brownies, then finally, went inside my black Lexus car. I started up its engines and drove all the way to Everdoe Graveyard.         

          I shut my car door and strolled to the black gate. It was still raining, so I brought out an umbrella which was also black. Max and Samantha, Max’s little sister, waved at me from the gate. They were greeting guests who had come to Cyli’s funeral.

          “Hi, Katie.” Sam greeted me with a warm hug and a smile. I returned the hug back to her. We both smiled at each other as Sam dripped a tear out from her eye. I wiped it with my jacket’s sleeve.

          “I’m sorry, Sam…” I whispered to her. In reply, Sam nodded and went inside the graveyard. “…really…”

          Max comforted me by settling his right arm around me in a hug, and then he said. “Sam forgives you, Kat. It’s fine… She’s just having a hard time. When Cyli and Sam were little, they used to fight a lot. They forgave each other last year, and now, Cyli died…so, I guess Sam regrets everything that happened years ago.”

          “I know… It’s also hard for me. Cyli felt like my own sister than a friend. We loved each other so much… I wanted to make her a surprise for her today. But, I didn’t know it was happening so quickly.” I replied as the two of us walked side by side into the graveyard.

          “And what is that?” Max asked me, which probably was about the surprise.

          “A 5 Seconds of Summer fanfiction that includes her as my own character…” I chuckled a bit. “…you know how much she loves 5SOS.”

          “Yup.” He laughed too. “Did you bring the fanfiction papers?”

          “Uh…yeah.”

          “How about after you make a speech for Cyli, you can place them on the memory slash gift table?” Max suggested. We finally arrived at Cyli’s grave and suddenly, Mrs. Alistair – their Mom – embraced me with a bear hug.

          “I’m so glad you’re here, Katie… I’m really sorry of your best friend’s loss.”

          “It’s okay… I’m sorry for your daughter’s loss too. She’s a good daughter, Miss.” I said. Just then, Mr. Alistair announced that everyone must gather up inside a building near Oxford Library for the speeches.

          Of course, we all obeyed. In the building, all of us sat on foldable chairs as one by one, we came up to the stage to read out loud our speeches.

          I was the last one… When my name was announced by Mr. Alistair, I went up to the stage. I looked nervously at Max and Sam before they both gave me thumbs up as an encouragement.

          “I’m Katie Welles. My relationship with Cyli Alistair is really close… We were the best of friends. Cyli was the best friend that you could ever have; she was the one who encouraged me to perform my invention & story in front of class even though they were lame, she was the one who cheered me up when I’m blue, and she was the one who stood up to me whenever I was bullied.

          “When we were in elementary, we both promised each other that we would marry at the same time, be successful together, and die together. But, I guess fate already decided our life endings. I’m really glad I became friends with her… Or else, I would end up stuck with a fake friend like Ella Walters.

          “I wished time never would go so fast. I wished that accident never happened. Mr. and Mrs. Alistair, you are so lucky to have a great daughter like Cyli. I really wish I could be her sister. But, I’m still lucky to have an awesome family. Sam and Max; thanks for always being there for me when Cyli isn’t there… Maybe we could be best friends too.

          “Thank you for letting me read out my speech… Good evening, ladies and gents.” Applause came out of every corner of the house, some people cried a bit including Cyli’s family members. I smiled to myself as tears ran down my cheeks.

          The whole night flew by quickly, and now I was already back home, writing a story called ‘Letters to Cyli’ in Wattpad which is based this true story. I wrote it because I want everyone to know that the amazing writer SnowflakeQueen123 died and that we would always cherish her beautifully written stories.

          Well, if you wanna know my future, I’ll give you a peek:

           I stayed single until I aged 25, then at that age, Max proposed me. Of course, I said yes. Hahaha… We got married 6 months after the proposing day. 9 months later, we have a pair of fraternal twins which Max and I named Cylindria Wren Alistair & Jackson Grey Alistair in memories of Cyli and my deceased brother; Jack. Sentimental, aren’t we?

          I continued working as a best-selling author, but I also added two more jobs which are being an interior designer and a responsible & loving parent, along with Max. My life developed better and better… I wonder what will happen in the future. Oh, well, time to find out later…  

          Bye, guys! Thanks for reading my life story. See you all later!                

           

         “Choosing a perfect friend is kinda hard, but once you get to know them, you’re sure that there’re fake ones and real ones. Sometimes, you don’t know which one is the real or fake, so make sure you decide good or you’ll end like me.                                   It took me a long time to notice, but with a help from a friend, I guess you can figure it out. 

          Ella is the fake one & Cyli is the real one. And I’m thankful I know which one is my true friend…” – Kat Welles

-THE END-

Story by: Fairuza Hanun Razak

IWEC Level: Level 3 for Kids

Age: 11 years old

School: Homeschooled

Inspired by: the novel ‘Fangirl’ by Rainbow Rowell & my life