Jeremie Belpois walked along the hallway of Kadic Jr. High. He passed the ten doors before he reached his own. He fumbled through his pocket, his blond hair getting in his eyes. The teenager stepped into his roo, thinking of the day's events.

Mr. Delmas had called them all to his office, and said hello.

"Hi, Mr.Delmas, how are you?" Odd had asked, in his usual sarcastic tone. Jeremie rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Fine, Odd," the man replied, but his voice was more serious than the teen's, "but we're here to talk about more, um, important situations. I hear that, no, I know that a boy whose name is William is friends with some of you."

"Uh, I know him," Yumi said. Ulrich snorted.

"Well," said the principal, "then you should know well that he's missing."

"We do, well," said Ulrich, but he quickly corrected himself, "word, uh... gets around fast here."

"Yes. But I also have to say that all of you were missing in class the exact time he ended up missing." The group was silent. Aelita and Jeremie exchanged worried glances.

"Surely you all know what I am going to say," Mr. Delmas told the worried teenagers, "you are going to court. In a weeks time. You will be expelled if you come up guilty and will be sent to jail. And you know for what reason?"

Aelita shook her head, and the rest were silent.

"You have been blamed for murdering william Dunbar. Any comments? No? please go back to class then."

Jeremie buried his face in his pillow, wanting to set off the return to the past mechanism, but there was no tower to use it with. He turned, remembering the argument that he and Aelita had had earlier that day. It was heartbreaking to know that the couple seemed to be drifting apart each moment of every second.

Aelita had walked into the lunchroom, a troubled look on her face not unlike the others'. Where would she go if she were to be expelled? She sat across from Jeremie, and bit of hope on her face.

"Jeremie?"

"Yes, Aelita?"

"Do you think that we could... um, well, see if there are any, uh, traces of my father on the internet?" She cringed, knowing that Jeremie would either burst out laughing or start screaming.

"Aelita, if there were any traces that we could materialize, it would be impossible!"

"Yes, but he sent you a message, didn't he?"

"I don't know if that can count as the complete Franz Hopper. It might have been some of his bytes that are still working."

"But Jeremie-"

"No." He stood up, gave his tray to Odd, and walked out of the cafeteria.

Jeremie giggled at the thought of materializing anything floating around the web. He imagined a fully real Franz Hopper stepping out of the scanners, but scolded himself for thinking such nonsense. The young genius sat up at the sound of footsteps coming towards his door. But they passed, and it was nothing. His computer's fan whirred, and he lay back down, putting his pillow over his face. I can't stay like this forever.

He was just thinking of who to turn to when Yumi came into his dorm. She blushed at seeing him in this state, but quikly regained her real face color before he sat up. She was silent for a moment, but talked in what she thought was her more realistic voice.

"Uhh, Jeremie, you know we're all really upset about what's going on, huh?" She sat next to him.

"Yeah," Jeremie said, he sounded dull, "but we all accepted William onto our team. It's only fair that we get punished for him not being here."

"But then where is he?"

"I'm not sure," the blond stood up and walked to what seemed to him his only friend besides Yumi at that point. His computer. She watched sadly, then walked away.

There was never any cure for what Jeremie was going through. 

Jeremie typed in the email to his mom. He couldn't help but think about one topic, though.

Aelita.

The way she had yelled at him at lunch the other day. Or was he just being oversensitive? He didn't know what to think, besides what she would say to him when she saw him. It was for once something that overloaded his brain. It seemed everyone was staring at him, but he was alone. The sound of paper sliding against carpet woke him up from his trance. He got up and opened his door, but there was nobody in sight. A note was at his feet, his name written neatly in cursive on it.

The blond picked up the paper and unfolded it. He first, of course, looked at who it was from. Zanna.

Dearest Jeremie,

         I know this is sort of a shocking note, but I’ve really like you for a long time. No matter whom it has seemed I’ve been going out with, I have always thought about how you would feel. I’m not going to tell you who I am, because I’m too embarrassed, but it would surprise you if I put my real name. To give me notes, on the left side of the science building there is an empty space near the fourth brick up and third brick over from the right. Put your notes in that crack, that’s where I’ll put mine. Maybe someday I’ll tell you who I am.

        Sincerely,

                Zanna

Jeremie looked at the note with disbelief. Someone liked him? And how did he care about who anybody was going out with? You’d care about who Aelita went out with, he told himself, but quickly shook off the thought. He didn’t care about her. But I do, don’t I? Just because of some stupid argument yesterday. He didn’t want to think about her anymore. He had other things to worry about, like who this Zanna girl was. He quickly dug through his desk for a piece of paper. He pulled it out and grabbed a nearby pen, ready to write right back to this mysterious girl.

Dear Zanna,

       I am a bit surprised with the fact that someone likes me. But maybe I’m like that. Don’t tell me you’re Sissi Delmas? That would really be shocking. I hear that she calls me a bigger nerd than Herve behind my back. But, I’ll write notes to you just to use up my time.

      Sincerely,

                 Jeremie

        The teen thought for a moment. He stood, leaned on his desk, and stared at the paper until his eyes became unfocused. He snapped back to reality. D’you think we’d fight if she lived here, in our world? a voice teased inside his head, and he blinked to realize it was his own words, years ago. We would fight.

He went through a mental list of girls he knew attended Kadic. He last landed on Yumi. No. Not Yumi, impossible! But was it true? He added a PS, which he hoped that, no he wanted someone he knew to read it.

He left the room.

PS

Maybe I like you, too.

The bell rang. Yumi began putting her belongings into her backpack, and stood to walk to next class. As halfway to it, she saw Jeremie. He looked around, and she sensed secrecy in his presence. She hid on the corner of the building, and watched as he tapped bricks separately, then stuffed a folded paper into an unseen crack. He began walking the direction Yumi was in, and she slowly started from where she was a, as not for him to realize she had watched. At the near exact place where he had stood, she stopped and looked at the crack, with a sliver of white protruding from it.

She heard a gasp; for the blond must have heard her footsteps stop. Yumi saw from the corner of her eye Jeremie twirl around to see what she was doing. They stood so for what seemed forever, Yumi observing the note, and Jeremie, Yumi. She then, reluctantly, began walking away.

Yumi walked along the what seemed endless hallway towards the office. She pushed through the heavy door. The girl hoped it would take forever for the secretary to get off the phone. Nonetheless she stood in front of the dest and waited, her frantic heart beating a mile a minute.

Why am I afraid? Afraid of the man who has been so nice ever since I attended Kadic? The kind father of a royal-

"Yes, Yumi?" The secretary asked. Yumi  implored if the principal was in. The woman stood and poked her narrow head through the door to Mr. Delmas' office. She then beckoned the frightened teen to go in. It was a comforting gesture, but it made Yumi sick to her stomach anyway. Each movement she made made her want to pee her pants.

She pushed through the door, and stood, sweating, in front of the principal. "Sit down, Yumi." Why did I volunteer to do this? I'm already in danger of being expelled, but with William dead I'm in more danger than ever, not to mention I'm trying to save the world!

The entire original group of Lyoko warriors had been in Jeremie's room. Yumi was the only one to volunteer to talk to Mr. Delmas. Yumi snapped back to reality when the man clapped his hands in front of her face.

"Oh, uh, Mr. Delmas...." "Yumi, you've been in my office for five minutes without saying a word. Are you feeling okay?" "Yes, I'm just... there are so many things on my mind... I'm about to be expelled... I mean, I really-" "Yes, Yumi, now why are you here?" 

Maybe I should refrain from what I'm really doing and talk to him about the horrible fact that he even had his wife give birth to that little-

"You see, sir, we are going to court next week."

"Yes," the principal sat back down and began stroking his goateein thought, "yes, and you were wondering what time?"

"No! I mean, how did you suspect that we had something to do with it?" Yumi brushed a few strands of hair out of her eyes nervously.

"So you admit that-?"

"No, how did you suspect us?"

"Well, you and your group were the only people who weren't there when William disappeared. You had to be the only ones, no?"

And your daughter, did you even realize what she did to Odd one time? Kissed him right there in public, sir! Oh, you knew? Well, Odd happened to tell everyone that he knew how gross she is. And can you believe what a turd of a nickname she carries around? Did you start that, sir?

"Is there any way to get out of this... questioning? My parents will have to pay a lot if I'm in jail." Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass "Go." Do not collect $200.

"No, you have to go."

"Mr. Delmas," the secretary poked her head in, once again, "the guidance counseler is out, and a young boy wishes to speak to you about his grades."

The man turned his attention back to Yumi as the woman withdrew to tell the boy to wait. "Yumi, you should go now. There is nothing you can do to prevent this, unless you have some sort of return to the past thing."

The teen started out, and Ulrich stood in front of her. While she walked out the doorway he nodded. Successful? She blinked twice. No.

Later she told the warriors about her not-so-good experience. While she was heading out like everyone excpet Jeremie, she looked back at him. He gave her a look. What is wrong with you today? You could have done better. He stopped and put a hand on her shoulder. "We need to talk."