"Jeremy?"
"Mmf…"
"Jeremy? Wake up sleepy head…"
Jeremy slowly opened his eyes. His head felt really foggy. He must have slept all night…who was in his room?
"Jeremy…come on, time to get up."
His vision was blurry…but for some reason he could see her clearly. And hear her voice.
"Aelita…?"
Jeremy reached his hand over to his nightstand and felt around for his glasses. Finally he found them and quickly pushed them over his nose before he hastily sat up.
"Aelita?" he looked around desperately.
Nobody.
He sighed.
She was in his dreams again; it seemed like she never left his mind. She'd been away for so long…and now today was the day that she would return.
He sighed. What did he care anyway? She's the one who left him in the first place. How long would she even be here anyway? Even though they had just talked over the phone the night before, it was weird.
Jeremy mustered up the strength to get out of bed. He set his feet onto the cold floor, already feeling queasy.
iPull yourself together Jeremy…you can't do this today!/i he stood up and went to his closet.
This would be so much easier if he hadn't had dreams about her nearly every night…
BANG BANG BANG!
"Gyahh!" Jeremy nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden pounding on his door, followed by an annoying voice.
"Jeremyyyyy! Breakfasssssttttttt! If you don't come now I'll eat yours!"
Jeremy sighed.
"Hold your horses will ya, Odd?" Jeremy pulled on a blue t-shirt and khaki cargo shorts and went to the door.
Low and behold, there was Odd, grinning his stupid ass grin right in Jeremy's face. Odd's hair no longer defied gravity. He let it grow out normally, surprisingly, and had bits of blue and purple through his bangs that he continually had to brush to the side. His ears were pierced too. At least 4 piercings on each ear.
"You got enough earrings there?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah right. That's what I asked him." Ulrich popped up from behind Odd. His hair still pretty much looked the same, but he had grown tall, and so had Odd. In fact, Odd even managed to catch up to Ulrich in height. Jeremy had grown too, nearly reaching the same heights of the other two.
"You kidding? I'm getting my tongue pierced next!" Odd said almost as if he was proud of that fact.
Ulrich and Jeremy both flinched.
"What?" Odd shrugged at their expressions. "The ladies like it."
"What ladies are you after?" asked Ulrich.
"Whateverrr." Odd threw his hands up in the air and began to walk off down the hall. "I'm going to breakfast; you guys comin' or what?"
Jeremy and Ulrich exchanged looks, shrugged, then hurried to catch up with Odd.
"Sooo, how was your summer?" asked Odd.
"Pretty good." Ulrich said lightly.
"Spend time with Yumiiii?" Odd asked seductively.
Ulrich blushed, then rolled his eyes and nudged Odd.
"Yeah a little…" Ulrich mumbled, and then managed to grin. "What about you?"
"Pretty awesome." Odd smiled big. "Met a few girls, hung on the beach. What about you Einstein?" he looked over at Jeremy.
"Huh? Wha?" Jeremy looked up, a bit dazed.
"Wow, talk about spaced much?" Odd laughed. "You're nervous about today aren't you?"
"Nervous? Why would I be nervous?" Jeremy asked defensively.
"Well we start 11th grade today. Of course it's a bit nerve wracking, right Ulrich?"
Ulrich only shrugged, while Jeremy somewhat got annoyed.
"It's just another year…it's not that big of a deal Odd."
"Well okay, if you aren't worried about the future of your career and that we are coming up to our last years in high school, then it's gotta be something else….hm?" Odd looked at Jeremy.
Jeremy only sighed.
"It's Aelita isn't it?" asked Ulrich.
Jeremy stopped walking, and then turned to the other boys.
"I'm fine with it! So she wants to come back to Kadic, big deal! She's already been gone for a year and a half, and I'm fine! Why do you guys get so weird when we talk about Aelita….geez!" Jeremy walked ahead, leaving Odd and Ulrich a little confused.
"He's nervous." said Odd nonchalantly.
"You think?" asked Ulrich, still looking after Jeremy.
"I mean think about it…Aelita just leaves him to study abroad. Kinda broke him in the beginning remember? They even fought about it…badly."
"Oh yeah, I remember….who could forget that fight?" Ulrich sighed. "But Aelita wanted him to go with her."
"Yeah, but Einstein wanted to stay…I guess he wanted to finish up here, but Aelita wanted to see more of the world."
"Yeah…and the long distance thing didn't work…you think Jeremy still has feelings for Aelita?"
Odd shrugged.
"Hell if I know. All I know is I'm starved." Odd continued walking to the cafeteria and Ulrich followed.
As soon as they reached the cafeteria, the two were greeted by a familiar face.
"Where have you two been? I was waiting!" Yumi smiled. She had pretty much kept her same hairstyle, only with side bangs now. She wore a dark purple plaid skirt and a black tank top with a silver chained necklace. She kept the trademark black boots. Ulrich's face nearly lit up when he saw her as she hurried over to him. He was now taller than she, which still took some getting used to.
"Well, where's my love?" asked Ulrich with his arms open. Yumi rolled her eyes and fit herself into Ulrich's arms, getting wrapped in a tight hug, but not before getting a surprise kiss on the lips. Just a quick one though.
Yumi blushed.
"I missed you." Ulrich said quietly, only to her.
"Don't be stupid, you saw me over the summer." Yumi smiled.
"Yeah, but not enough." Ulrich said playfully and held her close with his arm around her hips, causing her to blush and laugh a little.
"HEY HEY! Stern! Ishiyama! Watch it with the PDA!" Jim in all of his glory appeared behind them, barking orders as usual. Hey, it was his specialty after all.
"Awww Jimbo cut em' a break! They've been together for almost 2 years don't you know?" Odd protested and grinned.
"What did I say about calling me Jimbo? And wow…2 years? Ahem…well congratulations then you two."
"Thanks Jim." Yumi smiled.
"But if I catch you too…I dunno, making out or dry humping or whatever it is you sick kids do these days, I'll have to start handing out referrals, ya hear?" Jim said before walking away, leaving horrified faces on the two at his strange comment.
"Yeah guys, no dry humping!" Odd began to make pelvic thrust movements. "Unf unf unffffff!"
Yumi and Ulrich blushed.
"Shut up Odd!" Ulrich growled.
"You're such a freak…" Yumi mumbled as she turned her back.
"Nice to see you again too!" Odd walked over to the lunch line. Yumi looked up and saw Jeremy and immediately hugged him as well.
This managed to put a smile on Jeremy's face…finally.
"You cut your hair." Yumi smiled.
"Yeah, it was getting kind of long…"
"How was your summer?" she asked as the three began to walk to a table.
"Same old, I guess." Jeremy said a bit quietly.
Yumi could see he was not himself…like he was upset about something.
"So, when does Aelita's flight come in again?" she spoke up.
This stirred Jeremy a little.
"Oh yeah…what did she say…um…" Jeremy pulled out a small notepad from his pack and opened it up.
"Hmm…ah. 5:30 this evening." Jeremy said.
"You don't sound too enthused." Yumi cocked her head.
"I'm fine."
Yumi didn't say anything else.
"So we get to use the car, right Yumi?" asked Ulrich.
"Oh yeah, it's totally cool with me."
Odd set his tray down and got in on the conversation.
"Can I drive?"
"NO!" everyone nearly said at once.
"Why not?" he whined.
"How about you're barely16 and have already gotten your license suspended twice?" asked Jeremy.
"Or that you drive at 104 miles an hour?" asked Ulrich.
"Or that you like to drive while drunk?" asked Yumi.
"Hey! My license got suspended because the cops were being assholes. I don't drive 104 miles an hour, it's more like 90. And I don't drive drunk! Just a little tipsy that's all…"
Everyone sighed in unison.
"You know, it really breaks my heart that you, my own best friends, don't trust me behind the wheel." He looked at Yumi with puppy dog eyes.
"No. You are NOT driving my car and that's that."
Odd rolled his eyes. "Fine." He grumbled and began to dig into his breakfast
Yumi sighed and looked over at Jeremy. He looked really out of it.
She put a hand on his arm and he looked up at her.
"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked gently.
Jeremy looked down, the back at Yumi.
"I'm alright, really..." He said and stood up. "I have to go. See you guys later." And he walked off.
The three just stared after him.
"Man…Poor Jeremy." Odd said; his mouth full of oatmeal.
"He's still hung up on Aelita isn't he?" asked Yumi.
"We think he is." Ulrich ripped off a piece of his croissant. "But he won't talk about it."
Yumi sighed. "Well, let's hope Aelita coming back to Kadic will lift his spirits a little."
"You think they'll get back together?" Ulrich looked up.
"I don't know…"
Meanwhile Jeremy sat in an empty classroom. He was early and nobody else was present yet, not even the teacher. But he had to be alone.
Stop thinking of Aelita….stop thinking of Aelita….stop thinking of Aelita!
Jeremy had to pound these thoughts into his head all morning. He would be seeing her again tonight…after a year and a half of barely speaking and no visual contact…she soon would be back again; back at school and back in his life. He wondered how she looked…did she still look the same? Idiot…she probably grew a bit at least…would she still act the same?
He sighed.
He had to get her out of his head…it wasn't worth making himself sick over.
It wasn't a big deal. Aelita was returning, so what? Let her come back. It wasn't going to affect him at all…
Not one bit…he hoped.