Jeremy felt guilty as he quietly entered the schools electronics lab, set down his bags and began to unpack. He double checked his watch and figured he and Yumi would have enough time. In a little over six hours Aelita would expect to be going out with him for dinner and then spending the rest of the evening together. Ulrich would, of course, be expecting the same of Yumi. He set the alarm on his watch to remind him when there were fifteen minutes left so that he and Yumi could pack it up and be gone before they got caught. He looked at the door when he heard it open, grateful that it was Yumi coming in and not someone else. It was a silly worry, with Aelita gone the only other student on campus who might even consider being in the electronics lab on a Sunday afternoon was Herve and he was too pre-occupied with chasing Sissy to be working over the weekend.
Yumi slipped into the room, caught the room key that Jeremy tossed to her then locked the door. It was a breach of school policy but it help would insure their privacy. Smiling at Jeremy she offered a warm hello as Jeremy relieved her of her of the bags she carried. As they unpacked the items Yumi had brought Jeremy filled her in on Odd's latest prank, making her laugh even though Aelita had already told her. Yumi gave Jeremy a quick rundown of her week at High school and noticed that it was making him a bit nervous. She decided to point out that the high school had nicely equipped labs and that he could participate in a national robotics contest through a school sponsorship once he was there. Jeremy broke out into a smile as he considered the possibilities.
Yumi saw him smile brightly and knew she had just given her genius friend a reason to look forward to moving out of Kadic and into high school. She knew that he had been nervous about making the transition and was determined to do everything she could to help ease that. She smiled back to him then looked around the room and took in all of the items that were laid out neatly across the lab tables. Her smile faded to a slight frown as she returned her attention to Jeremy, "are we going to have enough time?"
"Sure we will, all we have to do is assemble two more boards, test them, then put everything together. Simple," Jeremy said with an air of confidence. And he meant it, even though it looked like Yumi wasn't all that convinced.
Yumi's frown deepened, simple was not the word she would use to describe the mess laid out before her. But on the other hand they had a plan and were practiced in working together. She actually felt herself blush slightly as Jeremy laid a hand on her shoulder and one of his fingers connected with her skin, left bare by the extra large neck hole of her shirt. Jeremy squeezed supportively and answered her unspoken concern, "we'll get done in time, don't worry."
With that Jeremy sat down in front of one of the two boards that needed to be assembled and she sat down beside him. A quick look at the parts list and she began to hand parts and tools to Jeremy, acting almost like a surgeon's assistant. Soon enough they had both boards assembled and began testing them for defects. Although the whole electronics thing was not her cup of tea she was able to learn enough to help Jeremy test the operation of his circuits and point out any defects. Jeremy still had to trace any problems to their source but at least she didn't feel totally useless. Once that was done they began the process of assembly.
All the while they worked the two old friends shared a conversation, finding each other's company a welcome change of pace from their respective boy and girl friends. All the talking seemed to speed up time because after Yumi helped Jeremy set the assembled machine unto it's stand they both realized that is was 5:30 and they had a little less than an hour left. Jeremy quickly connected his laptop and a few other things then guided Yumi as she helped him run the battery of tests he had planned. The looming deadline should have added tension but both teens were too well versed in handling tension to allow it to affect them.
Thankfully, all systems checked out and with only a few minutes to spare all trace of their activity in the lab was neatly cleaned up and hidden away. Flush with the success of the project Yumi lunged forward and tightly hugged Jeremy. Everything about the moment felt good, happiness over their success, the slightly more than friendly hug, the thought of how a certain pink haired DJ was going to react when she was finally let in on the secret. She walked out with Jeremy, grateful that neither of them would need to go sneaking around anymore.
Two weeks later: Aelita walked out of the dorm building, not quite believing that in only a few days she would never make that walk again. A week of frantic tutoring for Ulrich, Odd, William, and Sissy had turned into a week of testing and now it was over. Her time at Kadic academy was officially at an end and as sad as that made her she was also looking forward to celebrating the accomplishment of graduation. She walked to the gym building and was expecting to be granted early entrance. But Jim refused and sent her away, seething and confused as to why she had been denied access. She was going to be helping DJ the school's graduation party so she should have been allowed in. Deciding to find out she called Jeremy who told her he had no idea what was going on. She tried calling Mr. Delmas but had to settle for leaving a voice mail. She looked back at the gym building, wondering what Jeremy was doing in there. She knew he had been granted early access to help set up the audio equipment and other decorations and hoped that he would help her get in to practice.
While she considered her next move she saw Odd hitting on a couple of girls in hopes of getting a date to the party. It made her consider everyone's behavior over the past few months. It hadn't escaped her notice that Jeremy and Yumi had been sneaking around and generally acting slightly off. Yet She and Jeremy had never been closer and Ulrich wasn't nearly as jealous as she would have expected if Yumi was cheating with Jeremy. But the thought lingered even as she realized that her entire group was acting as if it had something to hide from her. It was as if everyone shared a secret that she was not to be let in on. And she wondered if it had anything to do with her music because everyone had suddenly seemed totally enthralled with techno and they way she mixed it. It didn't make any sense but all further pondering was cut off by a phone call from Jeremy. He explained that her refusal of entry was a mistake and that she could come in to practice if she wanted to.
Jeremy escorted Aelita back to the dorms after everything was ready. He was trusting William to un-hide the surprise and reconnect everything. It made him nervous as he hated to have such an important task left to anyone but himself. But he could tell that Aelita was upset over something she couldn't explain and he refused to deepen that concern. As soon as Aelita was in her room he called William and made sure everything went smoothly. Reassured he went to his own room to get ready.
Aelita stepped up onto the stage along with all of her former warriors. She was guided to the large, covered item that had been drawing her curiosity ever since arriving. Jeremy and Yumi took positions on either side of it, grabbed unto the covering and pulled off the large blanket to reveal what was underneath. They watched as Aelita's eyes went wide and flooded with happy tears. She squealed in delight and began to jump energetically on stage as she realized what this was. In front of her was a brand new mixing board with all the trimmings and then some. Across the text display on one side the words "Congratulations From All Your Friends - You've Earned This" scrolled by in blue letters.
She let herself calm down then slowly reached out and let her hands feel the board even caressing the board. Its construction felt very solid, and it was adorned with a beautiful pink and blue color scheme. She brought her hands to her face and wiped away the tears then took another look at the board. It's controls were laid out in exactly the manor she had always envisioned as optimal. The spacing felt nearly perfect for her small hands, maybe just a little on the large side. She began to experiment with the controls, finding them to slide smoothly and easily with just the perfect amount of resistance. Suddenly she understood all the attention paid to her mixing and realized with a start that Jeremy had built this with Yumi's help. That this was the big secret everyone had been hiding from her.
Happiness filled her being to the bursting point and without a word she stepped to Yumi and pulled her into a bear hug. Next she turned to Ulrich and did the same thing, repeating the feat for Odd and William. Finally she turned to Jeremy and jumped at him, landing in his arms without even realizing that they had both remained standing. She pressed a hard kiss to Jeremy's lips and held it, not caring that they were standing in front of the entire school or that they were in violation of school rules. All that mattered was that she express the depth of her happiness in this kiss. Eventually she pulled away and just stood in Jeremy's arms, hugging him tightly. The cheers and jeers from the crowd of students drowned out Jim's commands for the couple to separate so he stepped forward to with the intent of walking across the stage and separating them. Principal Delmas restrained Jim, seeing as Jeremy and Aelita began to disentangle themselves on their own.
Aelita's face was alight with the joy of discovering her new board and she listened with rapt attention as Jeremy tried to explain the boards features over the noise of the crowd. Slowly the noise in the gym died down and Aelita, hoping she had heard enough of Jeremy's explanation to not screw something up, held up her hands for silence. With Jeremy's help she queued a couple of base tracks and configured the remapable controls to a set of effects she had created with Jeremy almost a month ago. Her eyes shining brightly, she looked out at the students one last time then and began the music.
Everything she felt she poured out into her song, the fast upbeat tracks encouraging the throng of students to dance to her rhythm. Jeremy stood behind her, enthralled by her music and swaying with the beat. Songs blended into one another as Aelita played on through the night and Jeremy could sense the change in her music as she played. The initial energy of her gift had dissipated and her style had calmed somewhat. Her confidence with the new hardware showed as the music took on more complexity. All the while Jeremy remained fixed in place at her side, admiring the beauty that was his angle and absorbing all the emotion she threw into her music. He briefly wished he could be on the floor dancing with Aelita but he would never deny her the stage she loved. So at her side he stayed until the last few songs of the night.
Pulling herself away from the board, she called William to the stage and asked him to take over. After having Jeremy show him the basics of her new board she pulled Jeremy down to the dance floor. After two fast songs, William put on a slow and soft tune for all the couples. About mid way through the song Aelita settled her head on Jeremy's shoulder as she whispered into his ear "thank you."