Chapter I
The day had started out just like any other. Four months after the Lyoko Warriors had defeated XANA, they spent their summer vacations in blissful ignorance, trying to decompress from the events of the two years prior. Only now they were partway through the fall semester at Kadic, where everything had remained pretty much the same as before – save that, of course, Sissi was now a permanent fixture in their group.
"I still don't understand why you were always sneaking off all the time," she commented bitterly. It was breakfast time, and they were crowded around their usual table. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aelita flinch as she bit into a croissant. "What was so mysterious? It's like, now you all suddenly have so much time on your hands."
The table was silent. Across from her, William was brooding as usual; only Sissi didn't fail to notice how different he was coming across compared to his typical behavior. He seemed more depressed somehow, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She distinctly remembered Hervé and Nicholas, who had a room next to his, telling her once that he often woke up screaming something about Xanax? But why would he need anti-anxiety meds if he was so downtrodden? She assumed they had misheard him, but at the time she also realized how his fitful sleeping habits were similar to Aelita's screaming about wolves during the night.
However, she chose to ignore whatever it was that plagued William – it didn't really interest her as much as it may have otherwise.
They were still silent. No one had answered her. Odd cleared his throat, and Ulrich opened his mouth as if to say something, but promptly shut it. It was eventually Jeremie who quelled the awkwardness.
"Obviously, you noticed we were off campus a lot," he started off, "but it wasn't anything super interesting. We just wanted to get away from the stress of school. It was difficult to meet up with Yumi at night, since she's not a boarder, so we'd just hang out in the park or something." He took a sip of his juice. "Really, you wouldn't have wanted to come along with us even if you'd known."
Somehow Sissi didn't think that was the truth, but she chose to ignore it. More than once she'd had weird dreams, almost like déjà vu; she was on the bridge that ran over the Seine, and then she was in an abandoned factory on an island. Occasionally she was in a circular room lit by green lighting that reminded her of something from a science fiction movie. She distinctly remembered Jeremie being there, sitting at some command module, but another time it was Ulrich. But she had never mentioned anything to them, as she didn't feel it that important.
There was movement off to the side that caught her attention. A girl who she didn't know was navigating the breakfast line and visibly very anxious about it; but the weird thing was, to the girl's left, a black dog stood wearing a harness with a handle on it, like a guide dog for someone who was blind.
Her father's voice floated into her mind from a conversation they'd once had: Sissi had seen a few children who were blind at a park once when she was little, and asked her father if they went to any of the specialized schools in Paris.
"Sissi, dear," her father had started off, "although the Institut National des Juenes Aveugles, and l'Institut d'Education Sensorielle de Paris are quite fine schools indeed, those children are just like you, except they might not be able to see that well. I'm sure some of them may go to either establishment, but there's no reason for their parents not to put them in a mainstream school. Take Kadic, for example…"
She knew there had been more to the conversation, and her mind was probably paraphrasing what her father had said, but the point was still the same.
"Who's that?"
Aelita snapped her out of her reverie by discretely motioning toward the girl, who was now walking toward them. Somehow, she was able to maneuver, deftly, by holding on to the tray with her right hand while her dog guided her on the left. She didn't even drop anything, which was more than Sissi could say for Nicholas, even, and he could see perfectly!
She was a little bewildered, but a quick look at the faces around the table showed that no one else really cared; Odd wasn't even looking, but instead his face was deep in the giant cup of hot chocolate he'd used to dip his croissant in, much like Aelita. She was beginning to see how they were related.
The girl had approached their table. Up close, she actually looked a mixture of exhausted and mildly terrified. She had an olive complexion and wavy dark brown hair, that was almost black and was about the same length as Sissi's. Her eyes were a similar color to her hair; she was also fairly short, probably an inch or two taller than Aelita.
"Hi," she started boldly. "I'm Giana. Can I sit with you?"
"Sure," Aelita said, smiling. "I'm Aelita. It's nice to meet you."
Giana sat down next to her, tentatively, putting her tray on the table in front of her. She told her dog to do something in English that no one seemed to understand, and it slid under her chair to rest. But Sissi did notice William perk up ever so slightly. She forgot that he was originally from England.
"You speak English?" he asked.
"Yes," she responded. "I'm from the United States, however my mother's from France and my father's from Italy. I basically grew up speaking three languages."
"I'm William," he said. "My mother's French but my father's English – I was born and raised in England but came here last year."
She smiled, taking a bite out of a croissant.
They went around and continued introductions. Odd made a passing comment about how Kiwi would have a new friend to play with.
"What's your dog's name?" he asked. He must've finally realized he had chocolate all over his face, because he was in the process of trying to wipe it off.
"Vega."
"How come you started school a month into the semester?" Sissi found herself asking.
"My mother went here when she was younger. I was supposed to start at the beginning of the year, but the paperwork for my visa took a lot longer than we'd anticipated, especially since I was bringing Vega into the country."
"Where in the US are you from?" Ulrich asked. "I went to Disney World when I was younger – are you from near there?"
"No," Giana laughed. "I'm from Boston. It's in Massachusetts."
The idle chitchat died down as they all finished their meals. Then the warning bell rang.
"We'd better get going," Jeremie said. "We don't want to be late to Ms. Meyer's class."
"Yeah, she might actually give us detention this time," Ulrich said dryly.
"Is she that bad?" Giana asked. She then told her dog to do something in English, and appeared to have praised her for finding the trash bin and tray disposal.
"Trust me," Odd said. "I've gotten in trouble more times than I can count, and Ms. Meyer's punishments are probably one of the worst. Like Ms. Hertz, she's really strict."
"I'll see you guys later," William called out. "I gotta meet up with Yumi. She and I have art with Mr. Chardin."
As soon as William separated himself from the group, Hervé and Nicholas approached, flanking Sissi on either side just like normal. She supposed she shouldn't hem and haw too much, as she had been ignoring them lately in favor of Jeremie and his friends.
But the two boys had other ideas.
"Who are you?" Nicholas asked, indicating Giana. "And why do you have a dog?"
Sissi gave him a sharp elbow in the ribs as a signal to shut up, but that hardly seemed effective.
"I'm Giana," the new girl said. She was a few strides ahead of them, but turned her head back briefly to introduce herself. "And I have a dog because I'm visually impaired. She's my guide dog."
Nicholas introduced himself, and gave Hervé an opportunity to say hello, but the other was very curt. He kept making sidelong glances at Sissi, and sat down next to her once they got to the classroom, as if on autopilot. She chose to ignore him, as per usual.
"Why haven't you been making time to hang out with Nicholas and I?" he accused. "Ever since you were accepted into Jeremie's friend group last year, we've hardly seen you except for classes! You barely even acknowledge us when we do see you."
She balked. "Sorry," she said meekly. "I guess I need to learn how to better balance my friends."
"Or, you could include us as well."
"But you and Jeremie are always rivaling each other at everything. No offense, but I hardly think it would be a good idea to–"
"Good morning, class," Ms. Meyer greeted, having appeared out of literally nowhere at the front of the room. "Please welcome me in saying hello to a new student." She gestured to the new girl. "This is Giana De Luca."
Sissi and Hervé looked up to find Giana standing at the front of the room with Ms. Meyer, clearly uncomfortable. The whole classroom seemed to have gone quiet, as everyone stared at the new girl with the dog. Sissi glanced sideways at Hervé, and she knew that even he realized Giana must've felt awkward being the center of attention. She noted that she did a good job masking her feelings, but if you really knew what to look for, one could tell that she had anxiety written all over her face.
"Hi," she introduced herself shyly. "Um, I'm Giana. I'm from the United States. Nice to meet you."
She muttered something to Vega, who took her to an empty seat next to Heidi Klinger. Clearly Ms. Meyer had expected her to say something about the black lab, but she chose to ignore it, instead starting another boring math class with a pop quiz.
