The sun shone brightly on the lush green soccer field at Kadic Academy, causing the players in the present game to squint and lose the ball in the sun- except one. Ulrich Stern didn't mind the sun. In fact, he didn't mind anything while he played soccer. Wind, rain, or shine, Ulrich could be found on the field practicing, whether alone or with the team, which may explain why Ulrich's grades were… less than stellar. Strange as it may seem, learning the quadratic formula or the history of the French Revolution didn't give Ulrich the rush that dodging his opponents and scoring did. While playing soccer, Ulrich was "in his mojo," and it showed. The star striker scored yet again in the final minute, leading Kadic to a 6-1 victory, and he walked off the field with a smile.
Seeing his parents, the brown haired boy quickened his pace and arrived at their side. His father grinned and clapped Ulrich on the back- he loved soccer too, and seeing his son perform well- nay, spectacularly- made the elder Stern happy like nothing else could. The Stern family walked away from the field, Ulrich and his father chattering incessantly about the game, rehashing and analyzing each play as though it were a matter of life and death. Mrs. Stern strolled quietly beside them, finally suggesting they head into town and eat.
Sitting at the table of their chosen restaurant, the conversation progressed much as it had outside: the Stern men discussing nothing but soccer, soccer, soccer, while Mrs. Stern said virtually nothing. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, and she nudged her husband.
"Tell him," she hissed nodding her head towards her son.
Mr. Stern looked pained. He sighed, looked at his son, and said,
"Ulrich, we need to talk."
At this point, Ulrich groaned inwardly. "Ulrich we need to talk" usually, if not always, meant "Ulrich, you are in so much trouble."
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Yumi Ishiyama stood up and yawned, running a hand through her jet-black hair. Kadic Academy had just won yet another soccer game thanks to its star, Ulrich Stern. Big surprise. She filled out a notecard in her hand, the only reason she'd even come to the game. At Kadic, all students were required to attend a certain amount of school-sponsored activities, i.e., sporting events, dances, theatrical productions, etc., "to get students more involved in their school." Most of these events bored Yumi to tears, but the soccer games weren't so bad, thanks to the mad skill of their star player. Easily, they were ten times better than the theatre department's most recent rendition of The Sound of Music, starring the principal's own daughter. "Can you say nepotism?" Yumi'd thought. Luckily, she'd thought in advance to bring headphones, so she hadn't really watched the musical, but anything was better than watching Sissi Delmas get up and attempt to sing. It didn't hurt that the soccer team's star player, Ulrich Stern, was a total hottie with perfectly messy hair, beautiful chocolate brown eyes, and an adorable little half-smile. Yumi blushed and shook her head to clear the thought. It was unbelievably shallow. "I sound like one of those stupid fan-girls." The mere thought of likening herself to someone like Sissi Delmas, Ulrich #1 fan, made Yumi cringe. Yumi had many dreams and goals for the future, and to be an Ulrich Stern fan-girl was not one of them.
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Only a handful of Kadic students ever missed a home soccer game. Most were in the infirmary and thus not missing by matter of choice. Jeremie Belpois was one of the few who intentionally did not attend. Instead, he sat at his computer, as he did every day for hours upon end. His parents encouraged him to go out more, make some friends, but he didn't. He couldn't. Jeremie was living proof that sitting in front of a computer all day wouldn't give you people skills. He was painfully shy. So instead of going out with friends and having fun, Jeremie stayed inside and studied. Being quite sharp to begin with, Jeremie's studies had molded him into a certifiable genius.
Sadly, this only earned him the "nerd" label at Kadic, or "teacher's pet" if his branders were feeling generous. As such, Jeremie had exactly one friend, Yumi Ishiyama. Yumi was a grade ahead of Jeremie, but since he was so advanced, he shared some classes with her anyway. Yumi and Jeremie laughingly referred to themselves as "untouchables," a.k.a. "people you shouldn't talk to if you care at all about your popularity." Truthfully, Jeremie felt sorry for Yumi. He knew he was a nerd, and accepted it. He'd be the boss of half these people some day anyway, and they'd "get theirs" then. But Yumi was a really fun girl, and deserved to have more friends than she did. The only reason she wasn't more popular was because people had wrongly assumed she was Gothic when in fact she wasn't. She wore black at all times, true, but ask her about it and she'd smile sadly and tell you she was in mourning. Jeremie wasn't sure what she mourned. Possibly she mourned for her generation, like American music legend Johnny Cash (The Man in Black), but Jeremie suspected it was something more personal.
Regardless, Jeremie enjoyed her company. He didn't care how she dressed- he didn't even care how he himself dressed, usually choosing to wear his much-needed coke-bottle glasses, blue turtleneck, khaki pants (Yumi called them high waters because they were an inch or two too short) and plain shoes. Rather nondescript, just the way Jeremie preferred. He didn't like a lot of attention, believing it only attracted trouble. Thus far he'd avoided bullies for the most part, and he wanted to keep it that way. Jeremie's only wishes were to write a computer program or two, hang with Yumi now and again- strength in numbers, right?- and wait for graduation so he could escape.