Chapter 2

The party was in about an hour. The gang had agreed to meet back at Odd and Ulrich’s dorm, after Yumi ate, and everyone got ready. The party was just what everyone needed to boost their spirits. Things hadn’t been the same since Ulrich and Yumi returned, sure, they had gotten better, in terms of happiness, but there was an awkward silence every time one of them left the room. Also, they looked out for each other more than before. If someone took off for an unexplained reason, everyone went to investigate. Nothing would ever be the same between the group again, and everyone knew it.

Aelita and Jeremie were doing last minute calculations in Jeremie’s dorm, and then Aelita went to go get dressed for the party. Jeremie, as much as he didn’t want to take time away from his precious laptop, was coaxed by Aelita to dress up slightly, and go with her to the party.

Aelita pulled a pink top on over her white undershirt. She sighed, and pulled on a pink skirt on, which came to just under her kneecaps. Looking in her mirror of her vanity, she combed her fingers through her hair. Pulling out a star hairpin, she pinned her hair up just over her left ear. A knock broke the silence.

“Aelita, its Jeremie, can I come in?”

“Yeah, Jer.” He opened the door, slid inside, and closed the door behind him. “Are you all ready for the party?”

“Yeah, I think.” Aelita glanced at the bag hanging off of his shoulder, and saw the laptop poking out of the top.

“Jeremie, I told you to leave the laptop, we’ll be at the party for a few hours. Thats it, just a few hours. Please, leave it here?” she said, putting on a puppy-dog pout face.

“Oh, alright,” he said, as he placed the backpack on Aelita’s desk. “But if there’s a XANA attack, we’re doomed,” he commented sarcastically.

“Jer, the only way XANA’s going to attack is if he gets through the Internet. I don’t think that’s going to be tonight. Please, forget about XANA, for one night. Let tonight be a fun night of music and dancing.” Aelita took Jeremie’s hand, and laced her fingers with his. He smiled, and turned so that he was facing Aelita. He grasped her other hand tightly.

“Ok, Aelita. I’ll try to have fun. For you, Aelita.” He reached into the bag on the desk, and pulled out a pink carnation.

“Oh, Jeremie! It’s beautiful, and it matches my hair! Thank you!” Aelita took it with one hand, and put her other arm around Jeremie’s neck, trapping him in a one-arm hug. She turned to look into the mirror, and put it in her hair, just above her right ear.

“I thought you would like it, Aelita. Should we go see if Odd and Sam are ready, since Ulrich and Yumi said it would be a little, because she had to go eat dinner?” Jeremie questioned, smiling at Aelita.

“Yeah, I’m sure that Odd and Sam are getting ready. Let’s head over to their dorms.” Aelita opened her dorm door, and locked it after Jeremie walked out. He paused, waiting in the hallway, surprised that there was no one in the hallway. Spotting the nearby water jug, Jeremie took one of the cups, and filled it with ice cold water. Aelita finished locking the door, and then began walking towards Odd’s dorm.

Aelita knocked on the door of Odd and Ulrich’s dorm room, and didn’t get a response. She heard the sound of loud music blaring from Odd’s stereo inside.

“Odd? Sam? You guys in there?”

No response, just music.

Aelita reached for the handle of the door, and found it unlocked. She turned it, and walked in. Jeremie followed.

From the angle that Aelita and Jeremie walked in on, they couldn’t see Odd and Sam sitting on the end of Odd’s bed. Jeremie closed the door behind him, and Aelita spun around, she almost chocked on her own spit. She jumped up, startling Jeremie slightly. He took a sip of water, and turned around. Seeing what lied in front of him, he spit out the water all over Aelita’s shoulder.

Sam and Odd was on the bed. Well, actually, Sam was on Odd’s lap, with her hands wrapped around his neck. Odd’s left hand was on the back of Sam’s head, and his other hand was finding its way down Sam’s back. There lips were pressed tightly together, eyes closed. They hadn’t apparently heard Aelita and Jeremie come in.

Aelita shrieked when she saw the scene in front of her. Jeremie gagged on the water that hadn’t exited his mouth when he spit out the rest involuntarily. Odd and Sam stopped abruptly from kissing, and stared at one another for a second, slightly confused.

“What were you doing, you two?!” Aelita asked, slightly dazed. She partly didn’t want to know the answer.

“I – we – we were . . .” Sam stammered. She glanced at Odd, and there faces went scarlet red.

“You’re supposed to be getting ready for the party! It’s in about forty-five minutes! Get your butts ready for that dance!” Aelita said, shaking her head. She grabbed Jeremie’s hand and walked out of the room. Jeremie closed the door behind him, and Aelita paused.

“Sam hasn’t left yet! She should be leaving to go get ready!” Aelita opened the door of the dorm again, and saw Odd and Sam kissing again. Anger rose inside of her. “YOU TWO!” she shouted, furious. Odd and Sam broke apart, and Sam blushed slightly. “AT THIS RATE, YOU’LL NEVER BE AT THE DANCE! CAN’T YOU SAVE SOME FOR THE DANCE?” Aelita stormed out of the dorm, pulling Jeremie behind her. Sam came out of the dorm, glanced in Aelita’s direction, and walked to her dorm to get changed.

Meanwhile . . .

Yumi placed her bowl in the sink, and washed off her chopsticks. Then, she headed upstairs to take a nice, warm bath before getting ready for the party. She reached the second step before hearing the doorbell ring.

Ulrich, she thought to herself.

She walked to the front door, and peered through the peek hole in the door. Sure enough, a brown haired kid stood there. She smiled, and opened the door.

“Hi, Yumi. Am I too early? I figured I’d give Odd and Sam a little while in the dorm. I walked in on them while they were kissing. Odd got a little mad at that,” he said with a chuckle. Yumi smiled, and gestured for him to sit down. She closed the door, and turned around.

“No, you’re fine, Ulrich. I was actually going to run upstairs and hop into the tub for a little before we go to the party. I havn’t had a hot bath in a while, but now that you’re back . . . I can give myself that time to relax.” She smiled, and also slightly frowned at the same time.

“Okay, Yumes. Should I wait for you, or should I go back to the dorm?”

“You can wait here if you want. Then after, we can go over to the dorms, and you can get ready while I chat with Sam and Aelita.” Ulrich smiled, and Yumi climbed the stairs. She headed into her room, picked out her outfit, and then headed to the bathroom.

She closed the door behind her, and locked it. The Japanese girl turned up the bathroom radio, and began to fill the tub with hot water. Yumi ran her comb through her hair one quick time, and then waited for the water to fill up. Once it was filled to her liking, she removed her clothes. As she sank into the hot water in the tub, she sighed. She could finally have some time to herself, rather than spending all of it being upset. She hadn’t had decent alone time since Ulrich ran away. She closed her eyes, and let her mind run free.

Time seemed to fly by, because Yumi didn’t even realize that she had been in the bathtub for almost a half hour.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Yumi, are you still in the bathtub? You’ve been in there for about twenty five minutes. We have to go to the party soon!” Ulrich said, as Yumi snapped back to reality. She opened her eyes, and looked around. She tried to see the time on her watch on the sink counter, but couldn’t read the numbers. She pulled the plug out of the tub with her toes, and then grabbed a towel.

“Yeah, Ulrich. I’ll be right out, I lost track of time.” Yumi pulled on a black top that came just above her navel. It was sort of like her normal tops, but this one had more of a ‘v’ neck. It wasn’t too low thought, since she didn’t like very low-cut tops. Then, she pulled on a pair of her normal black pants. She ran a comb through her hair, and checked to make sure that her outfit was to her liking.

As she turned off the radio with the remote, she opened the door, and stepped out into the hallway. Ulrich was on the couch downstairs watching television. When he heard Yumi close the bathroom door, he turned the television off, and looked at Yumi.

“Like the outfit? Nothin’ fancy, but I think its fine for this party,” she said, spinning on her heals.

“Like it? It’s perfect, I love it, Yumes.” He started walking towards the stairs, and she started descending down the same stairs. They met halfway so that they were standing on different stairs, and smiled at each other. Ulrich climbed up one more step, so that he and Yumi were on the same stair. The kissed Yumi lightly on the lips and Yumi kissed back. She deepened the kiss, and placed her hands around Ulrich’s neck. Ulrich put one hand around her back and one on her hip, and gently moved her closer to him, so that their bodies touched. Yumi could feel Ulrich’s body warmth, and Ulrich could smell her fruity shampoo cent in her hair. Oh, how he loved that smell.

Ulrich and Yumi seemed to be frozen in a time warp, and after what seemed like forever, Yumi pulled back, due to lack of air. She breathed in through her nose, and Ulrich smiled at her. Yumi smiled back, and placed a kiss lightly on Ulrich’s lips. He took the hint that Yumi sent to him, and deepened the kiss again. Ulrich didn’t take a deep enough breath this time, so he had to pull away for air after only a few seconds. Ulrich removed his hands from Yumi’s waste, and Yumi removed her hands from around Ulrich’s neck. The couple smiled, grasped hands, and walked down the stairs.

Glancing at the Japanese clock on the wall, Yumi realized that the party would begin in about fifteen minutes. She glanced at Ulrich. “Ulrich, we have to go meet the rest of the group, it will be par-tay time in no time!” She shot a smile at Ulrich, and he took her hand in his, intertwining her fingers with his.

The world around was silent. The silence was broken when Ulrich unlatched the old, slightly rusted gate to Kadic. A nearby squirrel scampered up a tree, frightened at the squeaking hinges of the gate. Ulrich and Yumi looked in the direction of the squirrel, and then glanced at each other, smiling. They walked onto the school grounds, latching the gate behind them. Off they headed towards Ulrich and Odd’s dorm, since it had been decided to meet there at about fifteen minutes before the dance.

Ulrich and Yumi snuck quietly up the flights of stairs, to the dorm. Aelita and Jeremie were outside the dorm, with smug looks on their faces. “Why aren’t you guys inside?! If Jim sees us in party clothes, he’ll get suspicious and investigate!” Ulrich questioned, as Aelita rolled her eyes slightly.

“We’re stuck outside until Odd finishes changing, since we had a little bit of a delay,” she said, motioning to Sam, who was walking towards them.

“What type of a delay?” Yumi questioned. Sam realized what Aelita was talking about, and spun on her heals, attempting to escape away, in embarrassment.

“Get back here, Sam!” Aelita turned to the bewildered Ulrich and Yumi. “Jeremie and I went to go see if they were ready for the party, and the door was unlocked when I knocked, so we went in. But, we walked in on Sam and Odd kissing, with the music blaring. They didn’t see us, either, so they never stopped. They had been in the dorm for at least a good half-hour before we went in, so Jer and I believed that they must be ready. Well, we were mistaken.” Sam blushed, and Odd opened the door, dressed in a purple shirt similar to his regular one, but had the word ‘Party!’ on the front, and a pair of his purple pants.

“Huh? Did I hear my name? Hmm?” Odd questioned, as he exited the dorm room doorway, closing the door behind him.

“Yeah, Odd. We learned about your kissing episode earlier, when you were supposed to be getting ready!” Ulrich said, as Sam blushed even more. Jeremie checked his watch.

“Guys, it’s five-of-seven, and I don’t think that we should be late for the party? Everyone agree?” Jeremie asked, as the rest of the group nodded. Aelita took Jeremie’s hand, Odd took Sam’s, and Ulrich laced his fingers around Yumi’s fingers, and they all marched in a two-by-three group to William’s room for the party.

“This is gonna be fun!” Yumi whispered into Ulrich’s ear.