Title: Sissi's secret
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, though a part of me will always wish I could write for it.
Rating: K
word count: 1697
genre: Romance/general oneshot
Summary: Everyone knows Sissi as a stuck up, mean beauty queen, but there's so much more to Kadic's princess. She's got a secret and no friends to tell it to. Being at the top is a very lonely business. Sissi x Odd. Oneshot.
Time of Completion: 12:02 am, July 23, 2007
Dedication: To all the girls who feel they must be mean to prove their worth, remember there shouldn't be a mean in beauty queen, and you are wonderful. Listen to me, I learned it the hard way.
Thanks to: lovingo0Kawaii0oGirl, yumified, shadowbloodhawk, and Tourmaline91 for the reviews to Uh-Oh.

It wasn't fair. Why? Why did she do this to herself? He put her down, he made fun of her, he always had, and somehow she always came back for more. If she dressed up pretty, he called her a clown. If she changed her hair, he didn't even look her way. If she asked for his help, he'd laugh her off. If she told him her secret she'd just about die.

It wasn't easy keeping a secret like this, especially not for someone like her with a big mouth, but she had managed to do a good job so far. All she needed was her mask and his best friend. She'd die of embarrassment if anyone ever found out about this though.

She was unusually surly most days. Most people would chalk it up to her being spoiled and mean as beauty queen, but that wasn't it. She was frustrated. Angry more at herself than she'd ever let on.

Contrary to common belief, it's not easy being the principal's daughter. Anything she did, any test she failed, any guy she dated her dad would find out about. He let her get away with small things, but grades were important, and the day Ulrich kissed her she got yelled at a lot. Her dad didn't like Ulrich because he felt Ulrich was not up to the educational level any guy that dated his daughter should be. The worst thing was she didn't even want it. She claimed she did, but she didn't love Ulrich. She thought she had at first, but seeing how hurt Yumi was every time she intervened, she felt bad. She'd never say that aloud, and she'd never apologize, but she did back off slightly. She had to keep up her act though. If anyone knew she was no longer obsessively in love with her supposed perfect Ulrich Stern she would face a whole lot of press trouble.

Well, the annoying Milly and Tamia for press would consider that a real scoop anyway. The girls irritated her, not so much with their questions and constant pestering, but with their closeness. Elizabeth Delmas had never had a best friend. The way the two girls acted, comforting each other, laughing together, and playing together made Sissi hurt. She was catty with other girls, trying to show dominance and worth, but it just made her alone. She wanted to change, but no one was around to show her how. She was a guarded soul, hurting and lonely, but unable to break through her walls.

She surrounded herself with two mindless boys who were more than willing to comply with her attitude and demands. They didn't know enough to question why she was so bossy, why even if she was the beauty queen of Kadic she had no other friends, and they didn't know enough to question her secret.

The baton twirling cheerleader had a big secret. One so painfully, honestly potent that she didn't dare to write it down anywhere. Not even her diary was a trustworthy enough place to keep it. The only place it was kept was in her mind, and it hurt her more each day.

Every day having to play pretend. Every hour having to hope he looked her way because she was too afraid to look his way. Every minute having to fight back the tears that she just wanted to let go, and every second feeling that she'd never be good enough for him.

Or maybe she was too good for him. Maybe that's why she'd never say she liked him. He wasn't as socially acceptable to date even though over the half the girls at Kadic had dated him. She hated that too, the jealousy she felt rip through her when he found a new girl. Luckily his relationships lasted about as long as her lip gloss did. A day at most.

It wouldn't seem so lucky if he did that to her though. Although she was sure she'd wrecked things up pretty bad for herself anyway so she didn't even have a chance. He hated her, could it be any simpler? But she loved him and that made everything complex. Loved? The self-conscious wreck never used that word. The L-word just wasn't something she consciously believed in. Beauty magazines, yes. Fairy tales, no.

There was something so forlorn and melancholy in her voice when she spoke to William at the pool that day long ago. It was the closest she'd come to admitting her secret, but she managed to muddle up an excuse in time to respond. She wanted to end the act to say "yes" she believed in Destiny (with a capitol D), and that she was meant to be with someone other than Ulrich. If she told him that much then he might have asked who, and she might have spilled, but she didn't say the words. She said simply "I don't believe in love."

She didn't believe in love? Who was she kidding; she'd been in love all along. She allowed herself to at least consciously believe in like, hoping that it would steer her right, and it had almost.

It was more socially acceptable to chase Ulrich, but she wanted Odd. He was funny, and he was kind of cute. He was mean to her, but she was mean to him first. It started when he came and she'd been icy early on, but when he melted her heart her attitude never thawed, and so she had to pretend she didn't care.

"Why?" She cried out in her dorm room. She had everything he could want, she was pretty, and not exactly smart, but she could be if she tried...maybe. She was helpful when she wanted to be, she knew how to cook (she'd learned that just for him), and underneath the attitude she was a really nice girl.

The vanity mirror she was looking into showed a raven-haired girl whose heavy mascara was running. Hoping desperately that no one was in the hallway she snuck out. It was a little after dinner and she was sure most people were still sitting and talking with their friends. She had to get to the bathroom to wash it all away. The nice thing about makeup was that it could be washed away, unlike her fears of never being good enough. She almost made to the girl's bathroom when Aelita, Jeremy, and Odd came walking down the hall.

"Ahhhh! Somebody call animal patrol, we have a drowned racoon that needs to be taken out!" Odd teased in mock fear. Jeremy and Aelita laughed along with him.

Normally Sissi would have fought back. She would have bitten her lip to stop the tears and insulted him right back with vicious venom, but not today. She turned quickly on her pink boots and ran back to her dorm room sobbing.

"Sissi?" Odd called confused. He was honestly in shock. Of all the reactions he expected from her this was not one of them. "What do you suppose is wrong with her?"

"I dunno." Jeremy replied shrugging his shoulders.

"I'll go and see if I can talk to her," Aelita softly sighed. She didn't particularly like the girl since she always gave them trouble, but she was too nice to just let a crying person run, and she was a little curious.

Aelita walked to Sissi's dorm room door. Just as she was about to knock she overheard Sissy saying something.

"Why me? Why do I have to like Odd Della robia?" she wailed.

There was so much pain in Sissi's words, that Aelita stepped back. She wasn't supposed to hear that and now she had two options: She could tell Odd and hope he'd be nicer to Sissi, or she could keep it a secret herself and let no one know she knew. She decided on the later feeling a little bit sorry for being mean to the Sissi in the past. It made sense now.

Slowly Aelita walked back to her dorm where the two boys sat waiting.

"Well?" Jeremy asked.

"Both of you be a little nicer to Sissi, she's got a pretty big secret that she has too keep." Aelita said gently.

"What's the secret?" Odd queried instantly interested.

"It's not my business to tell you, sorry." Aelita smiled apologetically, hoping for Sissi's sake things would work out in the end.

In her room Sissi lay on her bed face down, crying. Soon the tears began to slow and she looked at the face in the mirror. Maybe he didn't see her as pretty today, but she'd try again tomorrow. It was all she could do.

At the present time she would never tell a soul, but Elizabeth "Sissi" Delmas was secretly in love with Odd Della robia.

Secrets, secrets are no fun unless they're shared with everyone.

Finnies

I'm making predictions and guessing at feelings here, but not too many write her as a good guy and I think she deserves to be the hero at least once. The connections to the show made sense to me, but keep in mind that they're just guesses. Hopefully you enjoyed it, and hopefully I changed some minds about Sissi. Every character has an unseen story, every one of them has something, but you don't get to see enough about them to know it. I wanted a chance to expose what I think Sissi's story would be, and hopefully it was good enough.

Flames are welcome, just two requests if you flame use proper grammar and full words, and make it helpful information. Telling me "it sucked", or "I hate Sissi" is not going to help me with my writing. I understand most people don't like Sissi , and that's exactly why I wrote this story. (and I know the site spells it "Sissy" but I like spelling it the french way better.)

Thanks so much in advance for all review this story! You are wonderful to consider reading a little off-beat and random one-shot. Thanks again.

Much love,

Heart