I know, I know. A
new story. Don't yell at me, please. I'm doing this so I can get
ideas for my other stories. I usually make new stories when I can't
update my other ones (for the time being) Anyway, Could It Be
chap..9? Or is it 10? Whatever, the It shouldn't
be too long. Facts about story: No Lyoko, No Xana. Yumi's in
the same grade as all (Well, she isn't at firt…but yeah. You'll
find out.). Won't be rating any higher.
HER
POV
Oh. I remember him. I remember when he first moved to France. He lived right across the street from me. Yeah, I remember that. I also remember Aelita calling me every night about our new neighbor coming from…Germany? Was it?
You see, in my neighborhood- I had only four friends. And their names were: Aelita Hopper, Jeremie Belpois, William Dunbar, and Odd Della Robbia. Well, I guess you could call Odd my friend. Back then, I was pretty afraid of him. I mean, come on? What drug was he on? PURPLE HAIR? Hello! That's not natural! Aelita's pink hair was from her mom's hair. And that's perfectly normal, but Odd's parents…one was brunette and the other was blonde. I think he dyed it.
Oh, I remember playing with a soccer ball, getting ready to train my baby sibling. You see, my mom was pregnant at the time. I was only in the 3rd grade. I didn't know if I was getting a baby sister or a baby brother. Either way- I was going to force them to like soccer.
But, oh boy, oh boy! I was hoping my neighbor would like soccer too! Jeremie didn't like it, and Odd didn't like me too much.
I remember waiting…and waiting…for weeks. Literally weeks. I played soccer, hiding my real attempt to watch around for my neighbor's moving trucks- just incase they moved early.
Finally, one afternoon, on a Saturday, right after lunch, a loud honk outside. I jumped and ran up to the door, and looked out the hole (with the help of a chair, of course.)
"Mommy!" I cried, while clapping my hands excitedly, "The new neighbors are here! Can I go meet them?"
"Not right now darling." Mom called back, her voice muffled from the napkin cleaning her mouth. A hand on her growing stomach, "Let them be on their own, sweetie. I'd think they'd want to be on their own right now."
I grumbled and kicked my soccer ball across the living room, "Yes, mom. Can I use the phone?"
"Sure deary."
I quickly took the white phone and ran up to my room, going through my journal (Not diary, thank you) for Aelita's new number. She said they change companies and they needed a new number. After pressing in the ten digit number, I waited and counted the rings. Hoping that I wasn't calling the wrong number.
"Hello?"
"Hey-o!" I smiled and continued, "Mr. Hopper, is Aelita around?"
"Oh hello Yumi. Yes, she's right here." The phone was passed to my pink haired friend.
"Hello? Yumi?"
"Aelita! The new neighbor moved in! I'll be able to see her…or him, whatever, in a while. My mom doesn't want me going right now," I took a breath, "because she says they might want some time alone."
A slight shriek of glee came from the other end of the line, "Did you see the new kid?"
"No." I answered sadly, "But I will in a couple of minutes."
"Cool! Can I come over to your house so I can see him to?"
"Let me ask." I put the phone down on my mattress and skipped to the tip of the stairs, "MOMMY. CAN AELITA COME OVER?"
"For a little while, Yumi. You still need to clean your room." She ordered.
That was fine with my toddler mind! "Yes, Aelita! My mom said yes!"
"Yay! I'll be there in a few okay? Bye!"
"Bye!"
Ahh, life as a kid was good.
As soon as Aelita came over, we played a game of cards, and seeing that the new kid- uh the new family had almost two hours to themselves, I asked my mom again if we could see them.
"Did you clean your room?"
"…A little." It was true! I cleaned the closet! Honest!
"You have fifteen minutes." She tapped her watch, "You dad and I will be there shortly, okay?"
BANG.
I closed the door. I was already up to the neighbor's side walk.
The truck still had boxes in it. A boy was sitting on it, red-faced and sweaty. Poor kid- he looked like he's been moving boxes for the past two days!
"Hi!" Aelita called. He jumped up, and turned. Staring at us a bit. He didn't answer, but he waved. A 'I-said-hi-now-go-away' wave.
"Are you the kid from Germany?" I heard myself asked.
He nodded.
"Do you speak French?" Aelita questioned. The boy wasn't talking! Maybe he only spoke German!
"Yes, I speak French." He answered, looking at his shoes. Aww, he's shy, "It's just," He took a deep breath, "I'm very tired."
"Do you want help?" Aelita questioned.
"I don't think my dad would let you." He picked up a medium sized box, and walked away from us.
Aelita and I ran up to his sides, "Are you sure? Maybe you'd like it if we got you some juice?"
"Will you just leave me alone?" He stopped to stare at Aelita and then move his eyes to me, "I'm busy. I'm tired. I'm hungry. I don't wanna talk!"
Aelita, being so sensitive, and never got yelled at, was on the verge of tears. I grabbed on to his sleeve- NO BODY makes Aelita cry, "Look what you did!" I pointed to Aelita, "You can a little nice about it!"
"I said leave me alone." He repeated, shrugging my grip off him. He tried to escape, but I ran ahead and stopped him in his track, "What do you want?!"
"Say your sorry." I demanded, and pointed again to Aelita, "She never did anything to make you feel bad. Why would you make her cry? Stop being so mean! We just wanted to help!"
"You want to help?" He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, I nodded, "Then leave me alone!"
"Fine! You're just a jerk anyway!" Back in 2nd grade, Jerk was like…the worst insult. Of course, cute little 2nd graders didn't cuss…not back then anyway.
"I'M NOT A JERK."
"You're right." He smiled in victory, "You're a big JERK."
"I'M NOT A JERK!" He put the box on the ground and came up to me, "I'M NO JERK."
"Yes you are. Now, leave me alone!" I pushed him away from me. He pushed me back. And before I knew it- we were tackling each other on the floor. Aelita wasn't crying anymore, but she looked hurt.
His mom came outside, probably for another box. She saw us attacking each other and screamed, "Ulrich Zeke Stern! What do you think you're doing!" She pulled him off of me. Hmm, his name's Ulrich…
"It wasn't my fault mommy!" He pouted, "She called me a jerk, and pushed me!"
"You yelled at my friend and made her cry!" I shouted, and crossed my cute small arms.
"Say you're sorry, right now, Mister!" The lady told him.
"But mom—"
"RIGHT NOW, YOUNG MAN."
"I'm sorry." He mumbled, not even looking at me. Aelita walked up to him, "I'm sorry to you too." Aelita and I shared a look. We didn't hold grudges.
"Good, now, ladies. We have—"
"Um." I started, and the woman looked at me with a smile, "Uh, Ulrich, isn't it? Do you like soccer?"
His face lit up, "Yes. I like soccer."
"So, um. If you're not mad, do you want to play?"
Ulrich nodded happily, "Can I mom?"
"For a little while."
Ulrich and I went to my front yard. Aelita sat on my front porch, cheering for us. Mostly me, because I was the girl.
"Oh by the way, I'm Yumi. She's Aelita."
"Oh. Right. You know…I'm Ulrich."
"Yeah." I grabbed the soccer ball from the bushes.
After about ten minutes or so, Ulrich and I were tuckered out, "Thanks for playing with me. After, you know, I was so mean to you." He said.
I smiled and Aelita joined me, "You're welcome. Will we see you in school tomorrow?"
"You sure will!" He waved to me and Aelita and ran back to his house.
That was the day, I'd never forget. That was the day I met him. Although it was a little shaky at first, it was worth it in the end.
I, Yumi Ishiyama, was never the one to be nervous around boys. I mean, please, come on. It was in my nature. I was never shy around boys.
But when my boys, met him. Well, that was a different story.
"Hello." William greeted him with a cute smile. Ulrich only nodded at him. I could already tell- Ulrich and William were not going to get along.
William and I- we were in the 3rd grade, and Ulrich, Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita- they were in the 2nd. I was waiting for the second semester. The semester of fun times! Everyone was getting ready for the summer- months in advance.
Jeremie smiled and Ulrich as he just stared at him, and at Odd, he pointed and laughed hysterically, "Do you have paint in your hair? It's purple! What a silly color!"
"Hey!" He shouted in his defense, "Purple is a really cool color, thank you. By the way, I'm Odd. Real name, too. That's William, and Jeremie."
The new German nodded with some left over chuckles skipped out of his lungs.
Now that Ulrich was wearing something different than just shorts and a greasy shirt, I could see he was very fit, like he never ate or something. And… I don't why I didn't realize it before, but his eyes… They were…like sea foam green. My favorite color- other than black, of course.
I found myself staring at him. And shook my head, trying to shake out those crush-like images out of my head.
Back then, I had only one crush. That, my friends, was William. Of course, I never told him. Because then (and now) boys would/will take it too far, so I kept my mouth shut and just broke my heart by telling everyone William and I were just friends.
But, at this point, the crush was fading, very quickly. Everything I once liked about William, was Ulrich. Ulrich's hair, Ulrich's eyes, Ulrich's clothes, Ulrich's speech.
Did I tell you he had an accent? Oh, my! It was so cute! William had an English accent, and Ulrich had this adorable German accent! Sometimes, it was hard to understand him because of his accent, but I loved it- none of the less.
The bell rang, sending us to homeroom.
Don't you remember those days? Back then, the classes you had were: Homeroom, Math, Reading, and Intergraded Curriculum. William and I had Homeroom together. Homeroom was just like a forty-five minute class that let you get everything together, and even do some last minute homework. We had warm ups. It was usually something about life. A Quote and a few pages out of the book we read at this time… I believe it was Double Fudge. But I don't remember.
Anyway, William sat next to me, and during our warm-up, he whispered to me, "I need a pencil, Yumi." I gave him my pencil and got out my other pencil, "Do you like that Ulrich kid?"
"Like? How like? Like…like like? Or just…like."
"like, just like. Like…do you…think he's cool?" William questioned.
"Mmm Hmm. He plays soccer." William nodded and made an 'Ahh' sound as I continued, "Too bad he's way to shy though."
William kept nodding, "Yeah, I think so too."
"William! Are you done with your warm-up?"
"No."
"No what?"
"…No, ma'am."
Ahh. How I wish I could relive these days.
But, no. Life went on, and we were walking into the doors of the last year at my elementary school. 6th grade, here I come! It was the beginning of this year, and my older "friends" people (from camp…long story) said this was the year people actually 'went out' with each other.
I got nervous.
What if a boy asked me out? What was I supposed to do? What if I didn't want to go out with him? Well, I mean, I'd say no. But, I don't want to be mean. Is there a nice way of saying that? What if my friends get mad if I have a boyfriend? What if Aelita gets a boyfriend first? And just why am I so nervous about boyfriends?
By this time- Everyone had gotten to Ulrich- except William, that is. And my camp friend- Jenna, who just happened to go to my school without me knowing. She had just met him, but she seemed to think he was a nice person.
William refused to talk to Ulrich altogether. When I asked why, he said "He's a whole year younger, Yumi. This can ruin our '6th grade' image!"
Yeah, and since when did he care about popularity?
Jenna and I headed off to Science class. William stormed off to P.E. Which, he had with Ulrich. I laughed in my mind. I wanted to know what he had to report everyday during 2nd class- History.
And everyday, it was the same- "Ulrich's such a showoff. He wants to show off to the girls, Yumi. He's bad news." I sware, sometimes, I even said it with him.
That wasn't true.
William was never really the sports kinda guy. I mean, he was good, but he wasn't goooood. He played, and he did well, but there's a difference between well and…Ulrich-like.
How did I figure this out?
Well, I believe the conversation went like this:
"Hey, Yumi!" Ulrich stopped me in the cafeteria, "Soccer practice is after school today, are you going to try out?"
I shook my head, "My parents say no after school activities until I get an A in all my classes. Japanese heritage."
"Aww, that stinks." He looked down at the ground, "Do you…want to come anyway? And…watch me? You know, I could really use someone to cheer me on! Odd's going to be there too."
Still, even three years later, Odd and I weren't the best of friends. In fact, I believe it was worse now that Ulrich came. We'd fight for his attention, sometimes. This made Odd and I almost rivals. I was not going to let that purple haired toothpick take my friend away.
"Sure." I shrugged. I also heard that William was trying out too. Ahh, three boys to cheer on. I guess that won't make William mad at me. I told him I was going to come for him anyway, I can say it was just coincidence that Ulrich and Odd were there, and I just merely cheered them for good luck.
It was the perfect plan.
Ulrich smiled as he walked away, to sit with his fifth grade friends.
I went to my way, to sit with my sixth grade friends.
I couldn't get those green eyes out of my mind.
SIXTH GRADERS TO NOT LIKE FIFTH GRADERS. It's the unwritten law— not rule, of the sixth grade.
In fact, I believe it was this for all years. No tenth grader could like a ninth grader. No ninth grader could like an eighth grader.
Oh well, looks like I'm about to break the law. Better not say that out loud!
NOW, before you guys go crazy: All I'm saying is that I like his eyes. Okay?! JUST THE EYES.
He's not my crush. He's my friend.
Even if everytime his name is called I get butterflies in my stomach. Even if I want to talk to him, I get a lump in my throat. Even if I want a handshake from him, and my palms get sweaty.
Even if- OH. DON'T GIVE ME THAT SMILE.
Hey, what do you know anyway?!