(Yumi’s POV)
Mom said it rained all of Christmas Eve morning. But around noon, it quit raining, and some of the one-cloud sky split to let broad rays of sunshine through everywhere. It was slightly hazy, and the sunshine mixed with the mist was absolutely lovely. It lasted all day. I lounged in my room for at least two hours just gazing out the window.
Around the end of said two hours, my cell phone rang, nearly causing me to soar through the ceiling. It was Aelita. Instead of a friendly “Hello?” or “So, what’s up?”, I answered with “You scared me!”
She snickered and apologized. “Sorry to break up your thought clouds. Oh, bad pun. Anyway, I didn’t want you to come back Thursday and wonder what the heck is wrong wth Kadic, so I decided to tell you that Sissi and Odd have a date tonight!”
It wasn’t like Aelita to lie, but how could she be telling the truth? I replied stanchly, “You’re lying. Sissi and Odd are not dating.”
“Oh, it’s true. They are going out tonight. Café de Margerie, 8:00 p.m. - Odd wants to keep it a secret while Sissi wants to shout it out, but it doesn’t matter because everyone already knows.”
I gave up. They were dating and there was nothing anyone could do about it. “Wow. Aelita, I guess you’re right. This is pretty big. How could those two possibly...” I trailed off.
“I know! Everyone’s shocked!” Aelita cried. “We don’t know if it’s just one date or a blooming romance. Odd won’t tell us any more.”
I admit that I was getting into the gossip thing. I curled up under my blanket and held the phone closer to my ear. “So,” I said, “how did you find out about this?”
I heard a sipping noise from the other end. It sounded like Aelita was getting comfortable too, probably with her favorite drink, hot chocolate.
“Sissi told Ulrich,” she explained, “and Ulrich told me. I told Tania, she told Jean-Baptiste, he told Priscilla, and it was plain sailing from there.” More sipping. “You’re going to Japan tomorrow, aren’t you?”
“No, I’m not going anywhere. I have a great-aunt back in Tokyo whom I’d like to visit, but Dad says it would be better for me to stay here. Why do you ask, Aelita?”
Out of the blue I heard Mom’s voice: “Yumi dear!”
Aelita released a heavy sigh and took a long drink of chocolate. “It’s just that...I’m going to be lonely for Christmas. Everyone seems to be going somewhere tomorrow. I asked Ulrich if he would let me come with him to Germany, but he didn’t want me along.”
Though she couldn’t see, I nodded understandingly. “It would have been a bad idea to start with. You don’t speak German.”
“Yumi!” Mom again.
“I’m sorry,” I interrputed myself, “but I’ve gotta go, Aelita. See you later, okay?”
“Sure, bye.” Sip. Click.
A minute later, as I swept the living room floor as Mom had asked me to do, I thought about Odd and Sissi getting together. Of course Sissi wanted to tell everyone, but I thought it strange that Odd tried to keep it bottled up. That really wasn’t like him. In any case, I was reasonably glad they were getting along and then some. I hoped it worked out between them.
- - -
(Jeremie’s POV)
It was in the late afternoon of Christmas Eve that Odd burst into my room and screeched, “I can’t take it anymore!” I had been working on finding Franz Hopper peacefully. I really hadn’t expected this.
When I tried to calm Odd down, he leaped onto my bed and covered his head with my pillow. “It’s unbearable. They’re all after me,” he muttered.
I pulled the pillow off of his head. “Make sense, will you, Odd? Try to tell me what’s going on, because I’m lost here.”
After a lengthy pause, he sat up and took a deep breath. “I guess you heard about me and Sissi,” he began.
I shook my head.
Odd fiddled with my blanket and continued. “Well, we have a date tonight at 8:00.”
“Why?!”
“Because”--Odd was blushing feverishly--“we think that we really like each other. We’re going to that Café de Margerie tonight. I thought that people would be happy for me, especially you guys, my friends. But instead of being happy, no one will leave me alone. They’re always smothering me and asking me questions. Sissi is enjoying every second of her new popularity. But I can’t breath; I’m drowning in boarding school students! You’re a genius, right, Jeremie? What should I do now?” He buried his face in his hands.
It was insanity that he should ask me. First of all, I’ve never been on a date, even with Aelita; second, I’ve never dated Sissi, nor will I ever. So I was at a loss for words, however I knew I had to say something.
“Well, Odd...” Think, Jeremie, think! “Have you considered telling them to back off?”
Odd looked up at me. “You mean grabbing a fire extinguisher and waving at them?”
I said nothing. There was nothing to say. Out of all the words in the French language, I couldn’t pick out any to give to him. The scary thing is, I don’t know if it was merely speaker’s block or the weirdness of the concept of Odd brandishing a fire extinguisher at a crowd of students trying to dig the latest news on his date with Sissi.
Then it came to me, as though out of a dream. I stood up and announced with glee, “I have an idea!”
Odd waited.
“Why don’t you lie to the beautiful crowd? Tell them you’re not dating Sissi! Then, behind their backs, continue your plans.”
Odd made a wild lunge out of bed for the door. “Hey, that’s a great idea! You really are a genius!” he yelled merrily.
As I watched my friend disappear down the hallway, I realized it was good to be an advice-giver. I just hoped my advice worked.
- - -
(Odd’s POV)
I soon as Jeremie told me to lie, I was excited because I knew this could work. It was a brilliant plan! And I soon got a chance to put it into effect. The moment I confidently waltzed into the cafeteria for some fresh coffee, Sorya Abulabbas waved to me. I flew over to her table and said, “You called?”
I knew what she would say, and I was right on. “Hey Odd! I have to know. Is it true what everyone’s saying about you and Sissi?”
“No.” The word had never been so sweet. “No, it isn’t true, Sorya. I don’t know where that rumor started from, but it’s nothing more than that: a rumor.”
“But Sissi said that--”
I sighed. “Sissi is spreading that story because she wants me and knows she can’t have me. She’s just not hot enough for me. I’m going to get some coffee!”
On her days off, Rosa let us wander into the kitchen - even against school regulations - to get a snack or something. Kitchen drinks are very admired because they are 10 times fresher than that slime from the vending machine. As I now meandered into the kitchen, out of the corner of my eye I caught Sissi chatting with Millie and Tamiya near the coffee. I had to drink coffee today, but Tamiya was holding a recording device and Millie was scribbling into a notepad.
Millie spotted me. “Hi, Odd!” she said sweetly. “We were just talking with your new girlfriend! We’re covering the big event tonight at 8:00. Care to contribute a word or two?”
New girlfriend? Sissi was clearly exaggerating; a date didn’t make us a couple. But I knew I couldn’t say to Millie and Tamiya what I had just said to Sorya. At least, not in front of Sissi. And the sight of more students asking me about the date was beginning to sicken me. I needed coffee immediately.
I approached them and made a waving gesture. Sissi stepped back. I grabbed a cup, picked up the coffee pot, and poured steamy deliciousness into the cup. I downed the whole cup without either sugar or cream, feeling alive and refreshed.
“Actually, you know, we aren’t going on a date,” I responded, with a wink at Sissi.
Tamiya’s eyebrows went up. “What do you mean, Odd?”
“I mean just what I say. It’s just a lie. We’re not dating.” Another wink at Sissi.
“What are you talking about?!” Sissi squealed furiously. Obviously she didn’t pick up on it. “After we made all those plans! I can’t believe you, Odd Della Robbia!”
“Sissi, I wasn’t going to...”
“I don’t want to hear it! The date is officially off! Write that down, Millie! Off!” Sissi stormed out of the kitchen, adding, “I never want to hear from you again!” I heard the door slam shut.
I remembered that Tamiya was still recording. When the two amateur journalists published the Kadic Academy Herald this Friday, they would include every word Sissi screamed. Not only had I just lost a date with a kind, beautiful, smart girl, but now everything she said to me would be printed in a small-time newspaper for the whole school to read.
I definitely had a bone to pick with Mr. Jeremie Belpois.
