The Day After
Jérémie flexed his fingers above his keyboard. He couldn't focus or concentrate. His mind was on Yumi.
"Ulrich will kill me, Ulrich will kill me," he chanted softly.
He was a dead man. Ulrich got mad at William for looking at Yumi. What would he say when he found out Jérémie had had sex with her? And more, once Yumi sobered up, what would she say? She had taken it well that night... but now... Jérémie shivered.
How was he supposed to resist her? She was beautiful, athletic, with a great body, and she'd been hitting on him. Like any mortal boy would have done different, right?
Jérémie pushed away from his computer and stared out the window. It was almost time for breakfast to be over. He was glad no one had come to get him. Did that mean they already knew? Would Yumi tell them? What would Aelita say? He didn't want to lose her, and he didn't want her to think badly of him.
"If only I'd stayed in my room. But nooo, I had to go to the factory. Stupid me." Jérémie said aloud without thinking.
"Why should you have stayed in your room?" Aelita, who was suddenly behind him, asked.
"AH... um... uhhh..." Jérémie froze. He hadn't heard the door open. "I... didn't get enough sleep!"
"You never get enough sleep, Jérémie," Aelita said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "William is free; Xana is vanquished. Why are you still so uptight?"
"I... I... don't know," Jérémie lied weakly and stood up. "Let's go to breakfast."
Aelita could tell something was wrong but she knew Jérémie didn't like being questioned, so she settled for taking his hand and leading him outside.
Once in the cafeteria, Jérémie froze when he spotted Yumi. He tugged Aelita's hand gently, "I'm not that hungry, really. Have you already eaten? Want to go for a walk?"
Aelita, who was delighted that Jérémie wanted to spend time with her, decided she could wait until lunch to eat and followed Jérémie into the park.
"I can't avoid her forever," he thought feeling guilty. "But I do want to spend time with Aelita... she's right. I need to relax." He smiled at the pink haired girl as they walked through the trees, ignoring the manhole that lead to the factory. It was a pleasant morning but Jérémie hardly noticed. Aelita seemed to sense his distance and was quiet.
They turned back and headed for the campus after awhile. "Not exactly romantic." Aelita thought with a tiny smile, "but at least he's trying."
Jérémie, Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich headed for their class together while Yumi joined William to go to their class. Jérémie felt like throwing up when he was seated next to Ulrich. He fidgeted with his pencil and didn't pay attention to the lecture Ms. Hertz gave. Ulrich, of course, noticed his squirming.
He leaned over discreetly and whispered, "Something go wrong with Aelita? I noticed you took her on a walk. Good move, Jérémie."
Jérémie smiled weakly, shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. He could feel the sweat on his temples. "Uh, no…no. It went great. She was great. I mean. Bah." His face turned red.
Ulrich smirked then gave him an encouraging smile, not understanding the hidden meaning of his words. For the rest of the class Jérémie focused on keeping his mouth closed so nothing else stupid could come out.
Time moved by slowly but finally the class ended and Jérémie bolted from the class leaving his three friends in a cloud of confusion.
Of course Jérémie ran into Yumi. Everyone knows it's got to happen.
"Yumi!" Jérémie blustered as he skidded to a halt to avoid running into the Japanese girl, "Wh-what are you doing here?"
"So, suddenly it's a crime to attend class? You thinking I should have skipped?" She raised an eyebrow.
Jérémie hung his head, muttered a 'no' and then took off again.
"Wait!" Yumi yelled, "We've got to talk!" But Jérémie kept on running even as Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita came up to Yumi.
"What was that all about? You'd think he'd just learned Aelita was dead!"
"Odd, that's not funny!" Aelita remarked shoving Odd.
"I'm just kidding. But really, what is up with him? He's like..." Odd frowned, and then shrugged.
"Something's wrong. Something big. I've never seen him act this way."
"Oh, it's something all right..." Yumi muttered as she went after him, Aelita following her.
He was running towards the dorms and the two girls, in better shape than him, caught up to him easily.
Yumi grabbed his shoulder and forced him to a halt by spinning him around. "We have to talk."
Jérémie looked from Yumi to Aelita, Aelita to Yumi, and said quietly, "Now?"
Yumi nodded but turned to Aelita. "I'm sorry Aelita; we've got to talk privately for a few seconds." Aelita just nodded worriedly, not knowing enough to suspect anything, and turned and retreated.
Little did they know Aelita hid behind a tree within hearing range.
"Jérémie..." Yumi began, but he held up a hand to stop her. "Wait, let me go first." He took a deep breath, thought a moment, and then let it out quickly. "Actually, you go first. But don't kill me; I'd like to live long enough to at least kiss Aelita."
Aelita from her hiding spot blushed.
Yumi grinned and used her finger to tilt Jérémie's head up. "Relax. I told you, I'm not mad. I've got a major headache, but I'm not mad."
Jérémie nodded but tensed inwardly. Surely he wasn't getting off this easily. "Y-you're not?"
Yumi shook her head. "No. Listen, I understand. But remind me... you did use a condom, right?"
Jérémie nodded, his face flushed, feeling absolutely pathetic. He wanted to crawl away.
"Right then, see, Everything's fine."
He eyed the Japanese girl suspiciously. "Why are you letting me off the hook like that? I mean..." Jérémie bit his tongue.
Yumi shook her head sadly and began, "The night before—" but was interrupted by the bell. "Oh, shoot. We'll finish this later. Okay?" Jérémie nodded dumbly and shuffled away.
Aelita could have sworn she'd heard that word condom before, but where?
"I'll ask Odd or Ulrich later," she thought, checking to make sure Yumi and Jérémie had gone before dashing in the direction of her next class.
It was lunch at last. Odd was hungrily devouring his meal and Jérémie's, who hadn't shown up yet but had told Odd he could have his portion. Besides him Ulrich marveled at the speed and the mess of his best friend's eating habits like he hadn't really noticed all the other times. Yumi and Jérémie weren't there, and Aelita decided to ask the boys.
"Um, Ulrich? Odd?" Aelita asked nervously. Both boys looked up but Odd continued to wolf down his food like he was starving. "What does the word condom mean?" Odd froze and began to choke, while Ulrich nearly fell out of his chair.
Odd managed to swallow his food and gape at Aelita. What had Yumi and Aelita been doing during those "girl talk" times!? Odd pushed graphic images from his mind, humbled, and managed to say, "Uh, well, who said it?"
Aelita blushed. "Jérémie."
Ulrich and Odd looked at each other and mouthed at the same time, 'Jérémie??'
"It... it's something you use when... you're having sex, so the girl won't get pregnant. You do know what sex is, right?" Ulrich ventured, and nearly fainted with relief when she nodded.
"So... what was…? Jérémie saying when he mentioned condoms?" Odd asked not believing that Jérémie was thinking of going that far with Aelita when he'd barely had the guts to ask her out.
"Well... I heard them talking, and Yumi asked Jérémie if he'd used a condom."
Odd gaped for a second and then shut his mouth. Jérémie, a sex fiend? Ulrich was thinking the same thing. Yumi walked in, and Aelita gave the boys a look that said 'not in front of her' and they remained silent.
Yumi eyed her friends as she sat next to Ulrich, who grinned at her, and Odd resumed his famished eating. Lunch was half over when Jérémie showed up and took a seat next to Aelita. It was everything Ulrich had not to stare at him in wonder. The computer nerd's ears were red and he stared at the table like written on it were the answers to the universe.
"So... what's with the silence?" Yumi asked eventually.
Between mouthfuls of food Odd said, "Eat first. Talk second." She winced and rolled her eyes, and then focused on something outside the window. Odd finished his food in record time, and the gang went outside to lounge around.
"I never thought I'd say it, but I miss Xana," Yumi said sitting on a bench next to Aelita. "Odd was right. Now what do we do with our spare time?"
"Soccer," Ulrich said.
"Food and girls." Odd.
"Pencak Silat," Yumi suggested.
Jérémie mumbled something inaudible and stood up. "I need to be alone..." he trailed off, looking pained, and shoved his hands into his pockets. He walked with his head down towards his room, planning on skipping his next few classes - something he'd never even dreamed of before.
The rest of the gang was deeply worried. "Maybe... someone should go talk to him?" Yumi suggested after a few minutes, then looked at Aelita, who nodded numbly and started after him.
Jérémie couldn't figure out how other guys blew sex off so easily. He felt like a traitor, both to Ulrich and Aelita. He just wanted to be alone, or at least away from them and Yumi... he needed to think. Condoms didn't always work. Damn what would he do if it didn't work??
"Jérémie!" Aelita called out as she spotted him on the stairs, and he turned around to look at her, wincing.
Of course she'd come after him...
He walked down the steps to greet her. "Hey."
Aelita gazed at him for a few seconds. He looked sad. "What's wrong, Jérémie? You haven't been acting like yourself... I'm really worried about you."
Jérémie stared into her eyes for a few seconds, feeling even more like a jerk. "Well... I'm not feeling too great... I'm sorry Aelita." He scratched the back of his neck uncertainly.
"You can talk to me. Do you want to go to your room?"
He stiffened and shook his head wildly; not wanting to think about what had happened when he'd took a girl to his room. "No. Let's talk out here."
Aelita led him to a nearby bench and they sat down. "Okay, so what's wrong?"
Had to think fast. "Uhh... Well... How do you feel about Odd?"
"Odd?" Aelita sounded surprised. "Well, he's a good friend... Why?"
Jérémie shrugged and stared at the ground, messing with his hands. He wasn't sure what to do with them. "Just a friend?" He asked timidly, still not looking at his pink haired friend.
Aelita caught on. "Yes, he's just my friend, nothing else." She paused and let the words sink in, and then continued slowly, "But what about you, Jérémie?"
"Me?" He looked up and fixed his glasses. "I-I'm your friend, aren't I?" He looked worried.
Aelita let him worry for a few seconds, and then said, "Yes." Jérémie sighed with relief and relaxed, leaning against the back of the bench. Then Aelita went on, "Is that all you want us to be? Friends?"
Jérémie sat up. "No!" He said a little too loud. "AH... uh..." he blushed and shrugged helplessly.
"I want to be... more than friends, but... I... uhhh."
Aelita grinned happily. "Really? I want to be more than friends, too," She spoke softly, blushing suddenly, and looked at Jérémie's hands in his lap. The twitched and his fingers flexed and he stammered for a few minutes, and then finally managed to hug her tightly. The pink haired beauty buried her face in his neck and wrapped her arms around him. He was grinning from ear to ear as he held her, feeling like the luckiest guy in the world. Him - a nerd - with Aelita - in his opinion - the cutest and smartest girl at Kadic.
Who would have guessed? Probably about half of the school...
Jérémie suddenly felt confidant, like he was about to ace a master test. He leaned down and kissed Aelita's forehead softly, and then stood up and released her reluctantly.
"There's something I've got to take care of..." He said simply, smiling and promising he'd be back.
Grinning as Jérémie searched for Yumi, grateful that she had understood that he was all for Aelita, and for letting him off so easily. He had to say thanks, and he was also curious...
What had happened the night before?
