Fourth story…dear God!
But I just couldn't resist writing this, so here it is: Rich, poor, Outlaw, Inlaw, Normal and Not.
So, let's start, shall we?
Rich, Poor, Outlaw, Inlaw, Normal and Not.
Prologue
Dling!
The small coin fell on the ground again. He bent down to pick it up, and looked at the writing once again:
'5 Euro Cent'
He shrugged and threw it in the air again; it spun on itself five, ten times per second, the slowed down to eight, six, four, two…
Gravity started pulling the small brown object towards the ground again; the blonde boy stretched his hand out to catch it, waiting for the warm metal piece to fall in his hand…it never came. Instead, he heard another sound, an inch from his shoes.
Dling!
"Argh!" he groaned, bending down to pick up his 5 cents for the tenth time. after the shiny coin was back safely in his pants pocket, he rolled up his sleeve and looked at the digital watch on his wrist: it said, in bright yellow highlight digits, 19:05.
When are they coming? The boy wondered.
At that precise moment, he heard footsteps approaching him. He looked in front of him: he was sitting in a courtyard, the vegetation was grey and they were two paths in front of him, separated by an old, greyish well; on these paths, two figures were slowly approaching.
The one on the left was a blonde boy with the most enormous glasses he'd ever seen, and his blue eyes sparkled of happiness behind the lenses; he was wearing a blue futuristic uniform, with a shiny silver badge on his left. In one of the uniform's pockets, a black object was sticking out, probably some techno-logic sci-fi Ipad or something.
The boy on the right was a brunette with chocolate eyes that pierced through you like daggers, examining every single emotion or thought in your brain; he was wearing a brown and yellow suit, with brown shoulder and elbow pads; his boots matched the color of his suit. Also, two swords hanged from his sides, another handle sticking out from behind his left shoulder.
His serious expression and his muscular figure suggested that this was the kind of guy you'd better not mess up with, if you ever wanted to see the light of day again.
The boy waved at them: his hair was blonde, with a purple splotch in the middle, and it stood up on end like an upside down ice-cream cone; he was wearing a long-sleeved purple jacket with a hoodie, and purple pants who nearly covered his yellow shoes. His face broke into a smile when the other two waved back.
The three of them, he thought with another smile, were so different from each other, each coming from a different dimension, and how they met had always surprised him: one second he was in his bedroom, wishing for a friend, and the next he was walking a path in that weird, grey courtyard, and met those two near the well.
Of course, there was a bit of tension between them first: the brunette threatened them with his swords, the futuristic boy was holding a gun, shaking a little, and the blonde was trying to convince them he came in peace.
Soon after they had all convinced each other they meant no harm to anyone, they started chatting like nothing weird had happened, the brunette telling them about his travels in the fairytale land he lived in, the futuristic boy confiding his thoughts about the Police Academy from the future where he studied, and the blonde didn't say much, since his life was so normal, the most exciting thing that could happen is discovering your goldfish died of utter boredom.
Then, when he told them he wanted to go back home, he founded himself back in his bedroom, lying in his bed, much to his surprise. He wished himself back in that place, and back he was!
When the whole 'traveling' part was figured out, the three decided to fix up a date to see each other again.
"Next Friday at the same hour?" the futuristic boy asked.
"Nah; I go to my mum's place on Friday and I want to spend time with her" the normal boy answered.
The brunette's eyes widened. "Your parents live in different houses? Are someone's out of werlock son or something?"
The boy shook his head. "No, it's something they do in my dimension: two married people can split up; it's called 'divorce'"
"Interesting" the brunette remarked, thoughtfully. "Why do they split up?"
"Well, sometimes husband and wife fight so much, they can't stand being within two feet of each other; or one of them has an affair with someone and the other ones figures out. There are many other reasons: my parents ended their marriage because my dad was wasting all the money he earned and hardly kept enough to buy a stale crust of bread; they fought since I was seven, and eventually divorced a year later"
"But how can people split up when they said in their vows that they loved each other?"
"It's…complicated, Ulrich"
Ulrich didn't say anymore, no matter how many questions he had: he saw the young boy starting to shed a few tears, probably thinking about his parents.
He patted his back. "Sorry, buddy"
"Never mind, Ulrich: you live in another dimension, it's normal for you to not understand"
"Anyway, guys" the futuristic boy clapped his hands to get their attention. "When shall we meet again?"
Ulrich shrugged. "Tomorrow?"
"No: tomorrow I've got training lessons"
"Good luck, then"
"Thanks"
"What about next Tuesday?" the blonde boy suggested.
Ulrich thought about it. "Tuesday's good for me"
"Every day's good for you: you haven't got anything to do!"
"Shut up, Jeremy"
The futuristic boy shrugged. "It's true; anyway, Tuesday's fine for me"
"Then Tuesday it is; at seven o'clock in the evening?"
Ulrich and Jeremy looked at each other, before turning to their third friend and nodded. "Every Tuesday at 19:00 it is" they said together.
Odd stuck his hand out. "Put your hand on mine; I'll count to three, and then, we rise them in the air and yell: 'Best Friends Forever', ok?"
Jeremy nodded and put his small hand on top of the boy's. Ulrich hesitated a second, before putting his own strong hand forward.
"Ok: One, two, three: BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!"
The three new friends raised their hands to the sky, and laughed.
"Odd?" the blonde boy was pulled back to the present.
"Yeah, Jeremy?" he said, absentmindedly.
"What were you thinking of?" the futuristic boy asked him, suspiciously.
Odd smirked. "I was remembering our first meeting"
They all smiled at that thought.
"So, how's life?" Ulrich asked the spiky-haired friend.
Odd smiled. "Well, same old at home, but something new happened at school: I met a new girl"
"What is she like?" Jeremy asked curiously, sitting down with the others: it was about time Odd had some interesting news.
"Her name's Layla" the normal boy explained. "And she's really nice; she just moved in from UK"
"Who are her parents?" Ulrich asked. Odd frowned.
"Dunno; we talked about many things, but she didn't mention her parents" he scratched the back of his neck, thoughtfully. "Maybe she's an orphan"
"Could be"
Jeremy waited patiently while Odd kept talking about Layla; when he finished, the futuristic boy literally leaped in the air.
"Guess what!" he showed off his badge. "I got promoted today! I'm a fully-fledged policeman!"
"Congrats!" Odd exclaimed, patting Jeremy on the back. Ulrich shook his hand, like an adult congratulating his business partner for a promotion.
"Congratulations, Jer!" he said. Jeremy knew that what he did was how his people normally reacted to the news, so he smiled at him.
"I'm so happy!" he told them, excitingly. "My Mum screamed her heart out and my Dad couldn't stop hugging me; I have a feeling they're preparing a celebration party as we speak!"
Odd kept congratulating him, but Ulrich remained silent: he was still pondering about what had happened in the past few days…
"Hello? Earth to the swordsman!" Odd waved a hand in front of the brunette's face, and the startled boy quickly drew out one of his swords, pointing it at his friend's chest, but put it back when he realized who the hand belonged to.
"Woah!" Odd exclaimed. "You're trained well!"
Ulrich shrugged. "I'm a fast learner"
"What were you thinking about?"
Jeremy bit his tongue when he saw Ulrich's expression: dang his stupid curiosity!
"Don't worry, Jer, you didn't say anything bad; I was just thinking of what happened recently" he sat on a grey rock and sighed, drawing out another one of his swords, the one on his back, and started twirling it with his fingers.
Odd and Jeremy looked at the blade and gasped at the slight trickle of dry blood on it.
"A few days ago" the swordsman said. "I arrived in this town; and I met this girl…" he slowly started to tell his tale…
So, I'm gonna be cruel and leave you all hanging! HA! JK! I'm leaving you all hanging 'cause it's late and I need to wake up bright and early for Code Lyoko tomorrow. Yay!
Sorry if this chapter's horrid and a bit rushed, but it's nearly midnight and I need to go. 'Till the next time!
Next episode: "Ulrich's story: Royalty Rebel"