Until Six O'clock
In one hour, anything and everything can happen at Kadic.
A/N: So I guess I'm back in the Code Lyoko fandom! I missed it. This is my little chance at experimenting with some of the minor characters in sixty microdrabbles more or less. Every name is from a real extra; I found a nifty site for them all online a few months back, and I've been itching to use it. Leaves room for sequels, if that's what the people want and if that's what I want.
5: 01
Delmas looks at the school as the sky is nearing darkness. As she grew up, Sissi would always say how the grounds looked magical at dusk, and he can't help but agree with her.
He sees the students making their way to the cafeteria or playing games or talking and he remembers that he really does love this place.
5: 02
Four heads pop out of the gym door. They look both ways, on the lookout for teachers, and make their way to the cafeteria.
5: 03
Rosa stares at the mashed potatoes. It was an art, really, the food she makes. Sure, it was no five star restaurant, but it was enough to feed an entire student body, the entire staff of the school, and one Odd Della Robbia.
5: 04
Christophe looks across the room at Priscilla. Her black hair fall so smoothly into place in a way that not even Yumi Ishiyama could mimic. He puts on his confident face and walks towards her.
5: 05
Priscilla looks up, to Matthias walking towards her. She smiles and he holds out his hand, silently asking her to grab it. She accepts and lays her hand in his, which he reaches up and gently kisses.
5: 06
As he leads her away, she sees Christophe standing, looking like his hamster just died. She smiles at him, but he just keeps staring ahead at nothingness. She wonders what his problem is, but then Matthias smiles at her and the other boy is out of her mind.
5: 07
Johnny peers around the corner and doesn't see anyone. He motions to Tamiya and the two make a break for the door that should be locked into the classroom that no one ever uses.
5: 08
"What do we have, Mohamed?" Tamiya asks.
"It's not a great situation; Johnny and Milly are already on it, but they need some backup fast."
Tamiya and Johnny nod and step foreword. This is what it's all about.
5: 09
Rosa smiles and gives Odd an extra helping of mashed potatoes. She gets a grin and a thank you in return, and suddenly, she's reminded of her own children.
5: 10
"No, no, no," Herve says. "It A squared plus B squared equals C squared! Not A plus B equals C. You need to find the square root of the sum of A squared plus B squared in order to find C!"
Nicolas stares at Herve. He doesn't get it. Sighing, he decides to go back to history. He can actually understand that.
5: 11
"How far back did we go?" Tamiya asked Milly. She is not happy: it's hot and humid and she's in a jungle and they're lost.
Suddenly, a loud screech is heard, forcing the group of friends to look up. Above them, a pterodactyl flies across the sky.
5: 12
Sandra smiles and takes the bag from the man. She knows that what she's doing isn't right, but she really can't bring herself to care.
5: 13
Mohamed hears the sound of Johnny getting smacked with the tale of the dinosaur and winces in his chair. "Are you alright, bro?"
5: 14
Johnny hears Mohamed talking at him (is there a question thrown in there?), and he feels someone shaking him, who is probably Hiroki because it feels like he's stuck in a broken ride at a carnival. He hears Milly and Tamiya calling his name and tries to respond, he really does.
Instead he passes out.
5: 15
Hiroki sees his best friend pass out and he cusses. It's a curse that would make Yumi blush but Milly and Tamiya don't notice.
Because Johnny's eyes are closed and his head is bleeding and there is nothing that Hiroki can do.
5: 16
Maïtena and Caroline sit in their dorm room painting their nails. Caroline examines the color and scowls and Maïtena brings her knees up to her chest (carefully so as not to disturb the paint) and looks out the window.
She and Caroline used to be so close, but now everything seems so different.
5: 17
Jean- Baptiste kicks a goal into the soccer net and wipes his eyes. He didn't tell anyone where he was going and there is no one around to see him cry. He doesn't need comfort right now and he most certainly doesn't need pity.
5: 18
Magali usually ate dinner with tons of people, but tonight she found herself at the table alone. She doesn't mind. A little bit of solitude never hurt anyone and it gives her time to clear her mind.
5: 19
Thomas smiled as he ran towards the gate of the school. He would never get caught and seriously, one night on the town wasn't going to hurt anyone.
5: 20
Jeanne looks at herself in the mirror and touches it. "Jeanne," she said, "I'm Jeanne. Jeanne, Jeanne, Jeanne."
She closes her eyes and hears a gun go off and she feels her breathing pick up before she can force her eyes open again. She's fine and her name is Jeanne now, there isn't a gun around her, and even if they are still at large they'll never find her because they're not looking for Jeanne.
5: 21
Tania blinked as she looked at her finished product. A painting of the night sky that would put even Odd to shame. She'll get the A in art for sure!
But something is still missing, to her if not to anyone else. She contemplates and then quickly adds in a dark flower, in the bottom right hand corner.
Signatures are so overrated.
5: 22
Romain looks in the dorm building for Jean-Baptiste but doesn't find him anywhere. Shrugging, he goes back to his room and lays on the bed. He doesn't know why the other boy took off suddenly, but he's sure that Jean will tell him if it's important.
5: 23
Julien tries as much as he can to see what's on the TV, but eventually he has to submit and put on his glasses. The television is clearer, but his pride is hurt.
5: 24
Xavier walks onto the soccer fields in the hopes that he cold practice for a bit. Instead he sees a figure already there and sneaks to get a closer look. It's a kid in the grade above him who he's never talked to before and he really doesn't want to share the field with him. He figures he'll practice in the forest.
Who knows? Lola and Pierre may even be in the woods just to hang out. He hoped they were. Lola couldn't play to save her life, but she had an odd way of noticing every detail of someone's technique and what could improve it and Pierre was like a cheerleader that got you so mad at him you were motivated.
5: 25
Johnny still hasn't woken up and the group is on the verge of panic. Hiroki is no help to anyone, not in the state he's in. He's shaking muttering to himself and trying to wake Johnny up. Milly is right beside him, hovering over Johnny, not sure of how she should help.
Tamiya wants nothing more than to be right beside them and for Johnny to wake up and to be okay. But that's not going to happen and she has a job to do. They can't help Johnny here, in the prehistoric age, but maybe, if they get back to modern times, they could.
5: 26
Nicolas knows he shouldn't give up on his tutoring, but he can only take so much at one time. He takes a break and wanders around the grounds. He watches as the sun begins to set and sighs. He just can't go back.
5: 27
Herve knows he's tough on Nicolas, but it's for his own good. Nicolas needs a lot of help, in a lot of areas, but Herve believes that he can help the other guy. Nicolas is his only real friend, and Herve really can't bring himself to fail the only person in the whole world who he's capable of failing.
5: 28
Sissi sees the group at the table, all talking and laughing and having a good time. She's in line and when she gets her food, she starts over towards them but then thinks better of that decision. Really, does she want to be made fun of and insulted tonight?
Does she ever?
So she decides to eat in her dorm, which seems really lonely tonight, no matter how she thinks of it (sometimes being the principal's daughter comes with perks and sometimes those perks suck). No option looks really good but she just can't take one more joke at her expense. Not tonight.
5: 29
Thomas feels the triumph as he makes his way over to the coffee shop. They didn't need to know that he actually a boarder at Kadic, they just needed to make the coffee. He could smell it from across the street and he smiled.
5: 30
Romain knows it's silly to be worried about his roommate- it's a boarding school, he probably hadn't gone far. But he can't help it when he gets off his bed and starts to go looking for him.
5: 31
Herve goes looking for Nicolas after a while. He'll try to be gentler this time. Instead he runs straight into Romain and falls to the ground. Romain smiles apologetically at him and holds out his hand. Herve doesn't take it, instead pushing himself off the ground. Romain doesn't seem to care, instead he just seems preoccupied.
5: 32
Sissi arrives in her room and it's dark. She turns on the lights and sits on her bed. There's nothing to do. She's already figured out the cutest outfits, listened to the newest (and coolest) CD three times, read and reread the latest of all the hip magazines. She's practiced her cheer routine and even her homework is done!
She doesn't care what she said before, she can't stay here. She finishes her dinner and leaves.
5: 33
Tamiya dodges another dinosaur running through the jungle when she sees the cylinder that they're looking for. She looks around and makes a run for it. She grabs it and won't stop running- doesn't stop running- until she reaches her friends again.
5: 34
Nicolas finds Herve, as it turns out, in less than five minutes after Herve starts looking. Nicolas waves Herve's apologies off, he knew that Herve didn't mean anything by it. Though he never thinks anyone means anything by anything.
They walk back to their room and Herve promises to start with History.
5: 35
Maïtena knows what she's thinking is probably stupid, but she's had enough for Caroline of one night. She doesn't really know what to do, and she finds herself passing Sissi's room. Shrugging to herself she decides to knock on the door.
No one answers and she figures Sissi probably has better places to be.
5: 36
Theo, Mattheiu, Emmanuel, and Azra sat in the library. Not because they particularly wanted to read books, but because it had the best tables for table soccer. They hired some kids- Tristan and Emilio, they said their names were- to stand as guards, for a fee, of course.
Azra is in the lead by all of their points combined and they all have to work hard to contain their laughs as they keep playing. It's an amazing night and this is exactly what friends are for.
5: 37
Caroline knows she's not the easiest person to get along with, and she's heard the whisperings that people have said in hushed tones. She's changed. She's gotten meaner. She's not worth anyone's time. She's a brat.
She had been fine with it: let the people talk. But she had always thought Maïtena would be different.
5: 38
Thomas is crossing the street again, another coffee gotten successfully. He smiles to himself, takes a sip and closes his eyes while shoving his school ID into his wallet with one hand. He doesn't realize he has slowed and he doesn't see the car barreling towards him. He feels weightless and then he crashes.
5: 39
Sandra reaches a spot where she has always felt safe. No one can see her here. She takes out the needle and is about to put it to her arm when she hears the screeching tires. She doesn't think anything of it but looks anyway in time to see the body sailing through the air. She puts her needle back in the bag and feels herself go to see what happened.
5: 40
It takes her awhile but eventually she realizes just who it was who was hit by a car. Or maybe not just who it was, she only recognized him but she didn't know his name. But she knows he goes to Kadic.
And she knows he's injured. The drugs are forgotten as she rushes to him.
5: 41
Magali finishes her dinner which had taken her much longer than dinner usually took and decided to head to her room. She feels refreshed and ready to take on the world, not that there's anything in the world that she feels the need to take on. Perfect.
5: 42
Emilie had climbed the tree over an hour ago. Trees were nice places to get work done, and led to easy distraction, both of which suited her well. So she would alternate between reading her assignment for her first class tomorrow (rereading, actually) and staring at the sun that had already started setting and the birds as they flew.
Of course it wasn't her fault that it was the tree that Ulrich and Yumi decided to have a deep conversation beneath. She doesn't like it (because really, she likes to think one day Ulrich will like her too) but she listens in. It only makes her fall for him more, even though he may be a little psychotic- she's never heard of a country called Lyoko where there are monsters, and she was president of the school's geography club.
5: 43
Jeanne watches as Magali comes into their dorm. She smiles in her most perfect way and doesn't think that Magali looks just like the girl she saw get shot. Which isn't helping her and the nightmares won't stop coming. She knows it's only a matter of time until she's free but it really can't come fast enough.
5: 44
Delmas gets the call from a hyperventilating Sandra Dialo. He doesn't ask her why she's off school grounds and he doesn't ask why Thomas is off school grounds. Instead he reassures her, grabs, his jacket, and rushes towards town.
5: 45
Magali notices the stares Jeanne has been given her and the tension of the room. She needs somewhere to go- anywhere. She makes an excuse that she's planning on staying over in a friend's room and exits. She and Jeanne breath a sigh of relief at the same time when the door closes.
5: 46
Jim doesn't know why the principal took off in such a hurry or why he's left in charge, but he sits down at the desk and looks out the window. It reminds him of the time he had to pretend to be The President of the French Republic. He'd love to talk about that story one day, but it's classified.
5: 47
Noémie practices the drums in a small closet in the basement of the school. She has special permission to use it and no one else is ever there. She's going to be good some day, she knows it. But she also knows that you need hard work to achieve anything. So she practices and practices and she knows that it's going to be another one of those nights where she falls asleep at her drums and only wakes up when she hears the bell to get to her first class. She keeps her backpack filled with snacks with her for that occasion.
One day she's going to be amazing, she thinks to herself. She doesn't realize how true that is.
One day, people will talk about how Michael Jordan didn't make the basketball team when he first tried out and how Noémie N'Guyen didn't make the Pop Rock Progressives.
5: 48
Jean- Baptiste stops crying just before Romain enters the soccer fields. But his friend seems to know that something is up because he grabs the soccer ball and kicks it over to him without any words.
And Romain talks all the time. All. The. Time.
Jean- Baptiste decides that he does really need a friend though. And lucky for him, he has one.
5: 49
Magali sees Sissi walking pointlessly across the grounds and figures that they both look the same amount of lost. She runs up to the other girl with her most desperate eyes and begs to sleep on the floor of her room. She explains that her roommate and her have been having problems and she just has to stay somewhere different.
5: 50
Sissi nods numbly at Magali's request. Neither of them know it yet, but a friendship will be formed that night, along with new room arrangements (at first unofficial- later real). The room arrangements will last until a little after college, the friendship will last a lifetime.
5: 51
Sandra watches as Thomas is loaded into the ambulance. She's not going to go with him the hospital- she barely knows him. He's just a kid that she goes to school with and who she's never talked to. The principal is there and walks over and puts a hand on her shoulder and tells her that the paramedics think that he'll be alright. She wonders how bad she must look in order to be consoled like this.
5: 52
When Tamiya gets back, Johnny is sitting up with his eyes open. Hiroki is still right by his side and so is Milly. She comes to a stop and is panting so hard she can't talk. But she holds up the cylinder and wiggles it, smiling.
Milly runs over and grasps it and smiles.
Tamiya smiles back before going against the tree right next to Johnny and resting. She hates dinosaurs. Maybe the next mission will bring them somewhere fun, like the Phoenicians or the reign of Alexander the Great. Or even Greek civilization. Heck, even the plague would be better than dinosaurs- they're as creepy as lizards and a hundred times more dangerous.
5: 53
Romain knows something is up, because Jean-Baptiste is beating him this game and Jean never, ever, ever beats him unless he's really trying. And he doesn't try because in most cases he just doesn't have the aggression needed for sports. But now it's here, and it's filled with anger and something else and Jean-Baptiste could beat Ulrich Stern right now if he set his mind to it.
And Romain knows what his friend needs- he doesn't know why he needs it, but he does it anyway. He's always had good intuition.
5: 54
Heïdi and Sorya didn't know why Jim wasn't in his office, but they didn't care. They grinned as they held up the toilet paper and threw it as fast as they could. They may feel sorry the next day, but chances were against that.
5: 55
Paul jams to his music while his roommate wears noise cancelling headphones and covers his ears with a pillow as he works on a drawing. The pillow is just there to try and make him feel sympathy. Paul knows this because he bought the headphones last year and he knows how expensive they were. They can cancel out a herd of elephant stampeding, as he found out once on a very interesting day.
5: 56
The youngest class is also the tightest, with the exception of just a few. So there's a small get together in Anee and Ninon's room. Julie has a tendency to be excellent as smuggling in food and drinks from wherever she wants with the help of her roommate Veronque who has the best taste in music in anyone else in the history of Kadic. Hiroki, Johnny, Milly, and Tamiya are going to come later- apparently they had an important project. And everyone else will arrive soon enough.
5: 57
Sophie fixes her hair and smiles. She's not going anywhere, not even out of her dorm. She just likes to play with her hair- like playing with dolls only in real life. There are over fifteen little braids that she has in it right now, and she takes those off in favor of using some gel on it.
It's sad because in the morning she'll just wear it straight, maybe with a barrette or two. It's not like she has a ton of options.
5: 58
Bastien and Anaïs are friends because they both play cards, and they play them super fast and with super skill and the concentration and aggression usually reserved only for sports.
So when a group of three guys: Alexandre, Thierry, and Yannick challenge them, the two smile at the boys sweetly and each other wickedly.
These guys don't know what they have coming to them.
5: 59
Milly, Tamiya, Johnny, Hiroki, and Mohamed breath a sigh of relief when the cylinder is placed carefully in the lock box. Another one down, a thousand more to go.
Mohamed hasn't gotten an exact lock on the next one, but all signs are pointed to England. In the mid 1300s. Mohamed knows what that means but doesn't tell them that yet.
6: 00
Principal Delmas doesn't return to school that night, but even if he had been there, there is no way he could have known everything that was going on. Not even the students could ever possibly know everything that was happening and set in motion in one single hour of the day.
At Kadic, anything could happen in the space of an hour.
A/N: So, I hope you enjoyed this little piece of work. Like I said, I was experimenting in micro-drabbles and minor characters. I love using minor characters, because you barely know anything about them. It's like a sandbox!
Also, this was another experiment. I was trying to see if I could get you, as the audience, to care about characters that, let's face it, you normally don't care about. If I could make you feel for them, empathize with them, support them. And like I said, continuations are possible, unlikely but possible.
So tell me what I did and leave a review! Go ahead, make my day.
-SeeMeInTheShadows