Chapter 2

“Jeremie! Can you trace where this call came from? Can you figure out where it was from?” Odd said quickly.

Ring! Ring!

“Odd! Answer your phone! It might be Ulrich! Here, I’ll hook it up to the speakers on the Super Computer so that we can hear it too!” Jeremie grabbed the cell phone and hooked it up.

“Hello, Ulrich?”

“Odd! How are things over there? How’s XANA been lately? I really miss all you guys, you, Jeremie, Aelita,-” Ulrich began, but was interrupted

“Say ‘hi’ to Aelita and Jeremie, there right here. I raced over to the factory and we began looking for your cell pinpointed area! We’re all listening in on the conversation, well, all except Yumi.”

“Hi guys! I missed you all! – Wait! Where’s Yumi? What happened to her? Is she okay?” Ulrich stammered.

“She’s been a wreck lately. She cries all the time in her bed, sobbing, and staring constantly at your old school photo. She cries herself to sleep and eats fatty foods that are killing her body. Does that sound okay to you? Ulrich, you just took off that day! Without saying good-bye! She thinks you never coming back. She misses you so much!” Aelita stated, thinking about what Yumi’s probably doing right now.

“It’s really that bad? I . . .  I don’t believe it. I thought she had William to comfort her. That’s the whole reason I left that day. I saw them at the park, and just ran. I ran and ran and ran. I ran to her house, sat out under the tree for a little while, and then just ran downtown.”

“Ulrich,” Odd began. “Ulrich, you should have stayed around a little longer. If you didn’t run off right there and then, you would have seen her swat William’s arm down and walk away. She never liked him, she never will. She said it herself. There’s nothing happening between them, and nothing ever will. She loves you with all her heart.”

“She . . . She . . . Oh, I miss her so much. I wish I never left. Everyday that I’m out here all by myself at this stupid hotel downtown, I dread the day that I left, and I wish I could take it all back. Get a fresh start. But I thought she liked William, and I was ashamed. Ashamed that I left all my friends. Ashamed that I left Yumi to William. Ashamed that I never once asked her out when I should have. But I thought it was too late. I miss her. A few nights ago, I walked to her house and sat out on the ground under her window. I apologized out loud, and then I left.”

“Ulrich, it’s not too late to change things. You can come back. School ends in a week, and you could hang out at the factory or hide out in our dorm room. It isn’t the same without you, even Kiwi isn’t the same. Yumi needs you, Ulrich. She really does. William has even left the school early, because he couldn’t deal with people suspicions that he was part of your disappearance. Please, come back. We all need you, but Yumi needs you most of all. Please, come back.” Odd crossed his fingers and waited for a response.

Ulrich paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and answered. “Ok, Odd, I’ll come back. I can pack my stuff, and be there in like an hour. When can I see Yumi?”

“I can try to coax her into coming over to the factory, and you can see her in the morning. It’s Saturday tomorrow, so no one will be curious about why we’re not on the campus grounds. She’ll be delighted to see you,” Aelita said.

“Me neither. I can’t wait to see her again. I’ve waited for this for two months. I’ll be over there in about one hour. See you then!” He ended the phone call, and immediately started packing his old Kadic backpack. He left a weeks rent on the table, and ran out, never to return. He ran as fast as he could down the sidewalk and onto Yumi’s street. He walked slowly past her house, and sat down under her window, like he did last week. He thought he heard sobs coming from her window, so he whispered aloud: “Don’t cry Yumi. Don’t cry. I’m coming home.” With this said, he grabbed his backpack and followed down the sidewalk.

He walked for about 15 minutes, and then finally approached the entrance gate to Kadic. “Welcome back, Ulrich,” the gate seemed to say. He felt so good being in the prescience of the campus again. Thoughts about Yumi raced through his head.

As he walked along the soccer field, he couldn’t help but lie down on the ground with his arms spread out. He missed not playing soccer. Yumi and soccer were his two most precious possessions. Remembering that he had his other friends waiting, he stood up and started walking towards the factory.

When he stepped into the factory building, he took a deep breath, and felt more at home than he ever had in two months. Pressing the button to the elevator, he let out a sigh of relief. When he reached the floor where the Super Computer was, he took one step and was almost mauled over by a four-person group hug. He looked at all the faces surrounding him, his best friend in the world, Odd; the Lyoko ‘princess,’ Aelita; and the ‘genius,’ Jeremie. “I missed you guys, so much. It’s good to be somewhere where I’m not alone.”

“I’ll stay at the factory with you tonight, and we can catch up with what you’ve missed lately, buddy,” Odd said with a smile.

Aelita and Jeremie said good-bye, and headed off to their dorms. Odd and Ulrich plopped themselves down in the chairs that they put in the factory for long nights like tonight. Ulrich and Odd caught up on what happened over the last two months.

“Get some rest, buddy. You’ll need your strength for tomorrow,” Odd said, and with that, the two of them fell asleep.