Morning came once again. It was pouring down rain and the wind was blowing really hard. Aelita opened her eyes after being waken up by the sound of the rain.
“Huh?” she looked around and noticed that she was not in her own room. She was on the floor looking around. Aelita turned her head and saw Jeremy lying on the floor on the other side of the room, still breathing hard and his eyes still closed. Just then, Odd walked in the room.
“Hey, Jeremy, it’s time for…Uh?!” he paused when he saw Aelita. “What are you doing?!”
“I was helping Jeremy,” she blushed as she spoke.
“Oh,” Odd said. “What’s wrong with him?”
“It’s the virus,” she replied.
“Well,” Odd looked at Jeremy. “What do we tell Jim?”
“Uh,” Aelita thought for a moment. “I don’t know. You’ll think of something.”
“What?” Odd asked. “You have to show up at gym. Otherwise Jim will suspect that something’s going on with our group.”
“Fine,” she said. “But, we can’t just leave Jeremy on the floor unconscious.” “Forget it, Aelita,” Odd told her. “He’s too heavy for us to carry him. Besides, Jim is waiting for us down in the gym. He’ll be fine.”
They walked down to the gym and stood next to Ulrich and Yumi.
“Where’s Jeremy?” Ulrich whispered to Odd.
“In his room,” he answered.
“Working?”
“Not exactly.”
“Stern!” Jim yelled.
“Oh,” Ulrich looked at Jim. “Here, Jim.”
“Belpois?! Belpois?!”
“He’s not here Jim,” Aelita said.
“Where is he?”
“He’s not feeling well. So, he’s resting.”
“I see,” he replied and then continued calling out names. “Alright,” Jim said. “Today we will be doing various exercises. First we’ll stretch. Everyone…”
Everybody watched as Jim attempted to stretch.
“What a shame that Jeremy had to miss this,” Odd laughed.
“How far has he gone with the message?” Ulrich asked Aelita.
“Uh,” she started. “He’s getting there. But, I think he should focus on fixing his virus before finding the rest of the message.”
“What?” Ulrich said. “That message is important. Jeremy will have time.” “Aelitas right, Ulrich,” said Yumi. “What if you had the virus? Wouldn’t you want it fixed first?”
“No,” he answered. “I would focus on what’s important first.”
“That is important!” Aelita fussed.
“Is there a problem?” Jim asked them.
“No,” said Odd. “We were just stretching.”
“Good. Keep it up.” Jim walked around the rest of the gym as everyone stretched.
“Personally I agree with Ulrich,” Odd told them. “But, it’s really not up to me.”
“We’ll have to ask Jeremy,” Aelita said. “I just hope that he votes with me.” “No doubt that he will,” Yumi assured her.
