Chapter 3
The blaring music could be heard from many dorms away. It was surprising that Jim hadn’t found out about the little ‘Welcome Back!’ party for Ulrich and Yumi. Rumor had it that he was passed out in a deep sleep on his couch reading his wrestling magazine in the gym. How he could not hear the music was beyond many people.
As the group approached the door, Yumi and Ulrich couldn’t help but grin. After all, this party was based entirelyon themThem and their happy return.
Jeremie knocked on the door three times. William and Sissi answered the door.
“Ulrich dear!” Sissi’s annoying voice whined, pushing through the others like they weren’t even there. Ulrich cringed at the name, and Yumi balled her hands into fists.
“Sissi, don’t ever call me that!” Ulrich said, speaking through his teeth. Sissi smiled.
“But Ulrich, you know that you love me calling you that! I can see it twinkle in you eyes!” Sissi moved closer to Ulrich, gazing into his eyes.
“Sissi, you must be blind then. What you see in my eyes is hatred for that name, and love for –”
“Your love for me? Hmm, Ulrich? Come on, admit it Ulrich! You fancy me!” Sissi interrupted. Yumi became furious.
“Sissi! Stop it! Leave him alone! He’s not at the party with you, he’s with ME! Me! His girlfriend! Can’t you just leave him alone for one night so that we – me and him – can enjoy a party based on us!?”
This hit Sissi hard, almost as hard as an anvil on her foot. She was speechless, dumbfounded, and completely dazed. The spoiled teen lowered her head in slight shame, and pointed to the party, muttering under her breath. Aelita and Jeremie nodded to the completely puzzled William who was lingering in the doorway as they passed into the party. Sam glanced at Odd, and he put his arm around her waste, entering the very crammed party. As Yumi and Ulrich entered the party, they were amazed at how many people were there. William and Sissi had moved all the furniture to the perimeter of the room, leaving a big dance floor. Sissi followed the duo in, and William closed the door behind him.
The party was huge. There had to be at least fifty-some-odd kids crammed in the dorm. Granted, William had a medium sized dorm, but that’s still a lot of people. There were some of Ulrich’s friends, like Emily, Milly and Tamiya; there were also some of Sissi and William’s friends.
Sissi glanced at William, and he nodded her head. “One . . .” she whispered, holding up one finger. “Two . . . Three!” William pulled a rope concealed near the door. A rolled up banner reading “Welcome Back!” in colorful colors opened from the ceiling, spraying confetti into the air and onto the partiers. The group whooped and cheered, clapped, and turned to look at the center of attention, Ulrich and Yumi, who were in the center of the dance floor. Yumi’s face lit up with a smile, and Ulrich put his arm around Yumi.
William nodded to Sam, then to the turntable music stereo on William’s desk. Sam smiled, and just on cue, started DJ-ing the dance, starting with her favorite pop song.
Aelita turned to Jeremie, grasped both of his hands, and asked him to dance with her. Jeremie refused.
“Aelita, you know I can’t dance. I’ll watch you dance, but I can’t dance!” Jeremie said, sitting on the bed. Aelita was slightly sad.
“But Jeremie, please?” she said, with her best please puppy-dog eyes. “Pretty please with sugar on top and chocolate syrup and all the sprinkles in the world will you dance with me? You don’t even have to dance, just get out on the floor and move your body!” Aelita tugged on his hands slightly.
“Aelita, I can’t dance.” He smiled, and glanced over in Odd’s direction, seeing that he was on the dance floor by himself, watching Sam. “Look at Odd, he seems so . . . alone. Why don’t you go dance with Odd? He loves to dance.”
Aelita glanced over to Odd, and turned back to Jeremie. “Jeremie, I want to dance with you. You,” she repeated. “Won’t you care that I’m dancing with Odd? Won’t it bother you?”
“No, Aelita. I give you my say to dance with Odd, because I know that it means nothing, and that it’s just because I’m a horrible dancer. It won’t bother me, and me, you, Odd, Sam, Ulrich, Yumi, and everyone else here knows that it means nothing, just a dance between friends.” He took her hands and stood up. “Aelita, I really like you, and you know that.” He smiled, and Aelita blushed to match her pink hair.
“I know, and I like you too.” She leaned in, and placed a kiss on his lips. He blushed, and motioned towards Odd. She waved, and went to go dance with Odd.
Meanwhile . . .
Ulrich and Yumi were in the corner of Williams’s room, enjoying some alone time. Everyone else but them and Jeremie were dancing. Even William and Sissi were dancing together in the center of the floor.
Sam let the pop song end, before grabbing the mini-microphone off of the DJ table. Tapping it slightly, she made sure that it had a little sound, but not enough to arouse suspicion in any adults who might be on the next floor. Everyone knew that if you were anywhere near this floor that you would be able to hear the music. After all, a party is never a party without loud music, right?
After making sure that the microphone worked, she began a small speech.
“Hello, everyone. I’m sure that we all know why we are gathered here tonight in this slightly-small dorm together. We’re here to celebrate the happy re-admittance of Ulrich and Yumi back to Kadic.” She paused, and waved at Ulrich and Yumi in the corner. They smiled happily. “Will you two come up here, please?” Sam questioned, her voice echoing all around the small room.
The party-goers clapped, before letting Sam get back to her speech. “About two months ago, two months and eight days to be exact, Ulrich all left us abruptly from the school and disappeared somewhere in the city. Of course, everyone was shaken by his disappearance. But, no one was shaken as much as Miss Ishiyama.” Sam gestured to Yumi, who blushed slightly. “Yumi was so confused and saddened by this that she was forced to leave school. The next part of my speech I feel that Aelita should tell, since she was the only one who Yumi would talk to. Will you take over for now, Aelita?” Aelita nodded her head, and walked up to the DJ equipment.
“Being one of her closer friends, I learned that she had been locking herself in her room for the whole day, only to open the door to receive the food that her mother would drop off on her bedroom doorstep. Being slightly stubborn, she would only eat only the foods that she asked for, which mostly was fattening. She didn’t care anymore, her mind told her that she had no reason to get up in the morning. She would stare at Ulrich’s photo on her nightstand, and weep all day long. Then, one day, Odd received a phone call that changed her life forever. Her life, Ulrich’s life, and everyone else’s lives as well.” Ulrich’s grasp tightened slightly around Yumi’s hand. “Odd, would you like to take over now?”
Odd smiled, nodded, and took the microphone from Aelita. “Eight days ago, I recieved a phone call from Ulrich from another cell phone, apparently he switched cell phone numbers so that we couldn’t reach him. Well, he called me, and he explained to me what happened the day he ran away, how he freaked after misinterpreted something, and how he grabbed his most prized possessions. Well, he didn’t take all of his prized things, as he left behind one certain person at the center of what he misinterpreted,” Odd winked at Yumi, and continued. “Then, Ulrich told me of how he ran as far as he could, and ended up staying at a hotel somewhere downtown for two months. How he pulled that off, he never told me. Well, I ran to Aelita and Jeremie were, and put the next phone call on speaker. Ulrich got really freaked when we told him that we were all there except for Yumi. He panicked, thinking the worst had happened. So, we worked together, the three of us, to coax him into coming back. It worked, and so the next day, Aelita went to Yumi’s, and magically coaxed her into coming to the park,” Odd slightly lied. He, and the gang, knew that he stretched the story places slightly, knowing that in reality, he ran to the factory, not to Aelita and Jeremie, necessarily, and Aelita ended up coaxing Yumi into coming to the factory, not the park. Well, the fate of XANA and the world depended on them keeping their secret a secret, so they intended to keep it a secret no matter what. “We all surprised Yumi very much when she walked around the path corner and saw Ulrich standing there. And so, here we are, only eight days later, celebrating their return to school. Everyone wishes them well, especially us.” Aelita placed her left arm on Jeremie’s shoulder, and her right one on Odd’s, whose arm was around Sam’s waste tightly, and everyone smiled. A bright light suddenly broke the slightly dim room, and fell upon Ulrich and Yumi, who were now in the middle of the dance floor. Ulrich’s hand was around Yumi’s waste, and her hand was on his far shoulder. They looked up, and saw that William must have installed a temporary spotlight.
Sam began playing the music again, but this time with a slow song. Everyone moved to the perimeter of the room as best as possible, exempting Ulrich and Yumi. Every pair of eyes was upon them, the center of the party, literally. Ulrich held out his hand, and Yumi took it without thinking more than a second. Then, he placed one hand on her waste, and she placed her other hand on his shoulder. They began dancing graciously across the carpeted floor, and Ulrich spun Yumi on her heels, catching her at the end. They danced as if they had practiced countless times before, which they hadn’t. Some dances just come naturally, they guessed. Just as the song was ending, Yumi and Ulrich finished off perfectly with a series of fast spins, and Ulrich catching her in his arms, reclining her slightly. The room clapped, and cheered them on for a stunning performance. Sam switched the song to a faster hip-hop type song.
The rest of the part went by quite smoothly. The rest of the night up until 10:00 (anywhere past this would have been pushing getting caught and punished by Jim), was filled with dancing, chatter, and loud music.
At five-of ten, William and Sissi gave a “thank-you-for-coming” speech, and everyone gathered up their things, said “good luck” to Ulrich and Yumi, and went to their dorms. Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Jeremie, Aelita, and Sam were the last people to leave Williams dorm, after helping to clean up after the mess. Sissi had left at ten o’clock on the dot, saying that if her father found out about her being out of her dorm that night, she’d be in deep trouble, hence leaving the seven of them to clean up the mess.
As the gang left, Aelita and Jeremie headed to their dorms, Odd to his, and Ulrich decided to walk Yumi home, even though he was seriously risking being discovered that he was gone.
The moonlight was beautiful. It shone in all places for all to see. As Ulrich walked Yumi home, they took the long route through the park, stopping at the pond edge. Finally, Yumi was safely home, thanked Ulrich for walking her home, as he kissed her in return. She unlocked the door quietly, and slid inside, discovering that her parents, thankfully, were sleeping. She raced silently up the stairs, and slid into her neat, untouched bed. She had the most wonderful night.