Aelita's POV
I have no idea on how this happened. Cassidy was fine when she entered the classroom and then she seemed to lose her memory and fainted. Our class was in uproar. They were shouting Cassidy's name, asking if she was okay, and some of them were in a panic.
We as the Lyoko Warriors stayed calm while, at the same time inside, we were panicking. Ulrich tried to wake our friend up, but she stayed unconscious.
"Give me room! Give me room!" Jim yelled at some of the forming crowd. Some of the students gave him room and he got to my roommate. He knew the scene was safe as there was nothing dangerous around. He then checked Cassidy's vitals.
"She's breathing, and has a pulse. No need to do CPR, thank the Lord," his gruff, but caring, voice relieved us. He turned to me next. "How did this happen, Stones?"
"I don't know. She was doing fine this morning. We read one of her stories and came here. Mr. Devon was about to start class when this started," I said honestly.
"What did she have for breakfast?" Now that was strange to ask, but if her breakfast caused it, then it must've been poison or worse.
"Her usual croissant and hot chocolate," I knew what she had.
"If her heart and breathing are okay, then it's not poison. Did anyone slip her something in her hot chocolate?" he asked.
I turned out my pockets. "Not me."
The rest of my friends did the same. Odd had a ticket to see the Subsonics this afternoon. Ulrich only had his lucky Euro. Jeremie had nothing but his phone. XANA had his cell phone on him. We all had our phones on ourselves. What if Duo attacked?
Yumi was asked to come in by Jim. She was then asked to turn out her pockets. She did so as told. She always did what she was told unless Duo attacked.
Again he found nothing on her except her phone. He then asked to check our dorm rooms.
Jeremie's room was first. His closet was cleaned out to find nothing. His drawers were emptied but all they found were files of computer notes and CDs of data.
His regular journal was checked for any intent to kills but found none. His shelves were cleaned off to find absolutely nothing.
In short, Jeremie's room was clean.
Odd and Ulrich's room was next and Yumi was trusted with Kiwi for a few minutes. She hid him in a backpack that would help keep him from thrashing and scratch out.
Odd's drawers were emptied but Jim only found paint tubes and any various art tools of the trade. His closet was checked, but he found only an asinine Tamagotchi game (I can't believe he called it Jean-Pierre, after the principal).
His shelves were checked but nothing reared an ugly head. Since he didn't carry a diary or keep a blog or anything, there was no way of knowing his thoughts.
Ulrich was next to being checked. Jim found nothing, though, just a picture of Yumi, but that was all.
After, Kiwi was cleared to go back to Odd and Ulrich's room.
I was last but not least to be checked. I wasn't in the least nervous. All I wanted to know was would Cassidy be alright all alone at the infirmary.
Jim found nothing on me either. Next he called Yumi's parents to ask them if he could check Yumi's and Hiroki's rooms. They cleared him to go, but when he came back, there was nothing on my friend or her brother. "Everyone checks out with a clean slate."
That left the interrogation. He, now partnered with the principal, asked us all separately several questions about Cassidy's behavior, our behavior, and any intent to kill. We all answered with clear honesty. The principal rubbed his beard a little and said, "Well, since you five are totally honest and there is nothing to bring suspicion to you, you are all free to go."
"Thank you, sir," we chorused, relieved that it wasn't any of us.
We visited Cassidy. She was still out cold, but she was still alive. The nurse came in with something kind of half-serious half-positive. "I checked her blood earlier as Jim was interrogating you, and it turned out that she wasn't drugged."
We were in direct relief. That meant she fainted of natural causes.
At thirty minutes to five, Cassidy woke up. We all flew to her side. She blinked a few times before saying, "Whoa…"
"Are you okay?" Yumi took her hand in hers.
"Woozy," she lifted the other hand, rubbed her head a bit, and winced.
"What's wrong?" Ulrich asked in concern.
"Arm…hurts," she let go of Yumi's hand and nursed her sore arm.
"Yolanda had to take a blood sample to check if you were drugged," I said.
"Was I, Aelita?" She looked to me in a way that, to me, said, "I'm tired. Do I really need to have a big speech?"
"In one word, no," Jeremie told her.
Cassidy looked like someone rolled over her with a monster truck and a steamroller at the same time.
"I'm…" she tried to say the words she wanted, but we could tell that all she really wanted to do was sleep.
"Say no more," Ulrich smiled caringly. "We'll leave."
She nodded slowly as the words registered in her head. She lifted the arm that nursed the other and slowly signed to all of us the sign language term for thank you.
We all nodded and left.
"What a relief!" Odd said as soon as we were in the dorm area.
"I know," Ulrich said. "We nearly were arrested. My dad would have loved that." He dripped sarcasm in that last sentence. His dad sounded like a jerk, but I have never met him. Ulrich had always said to me every time I asked what his father looked like, "Trust me, Aelita. You don't want to ever meet him. He'll chew a person like you out like gum."
"Well, at least we aren't in jail," Odd suggested, trying to ease the tension.
"That's true!" Yumi agreed. "If we ended up in jail, we wouldn't be able to go to Lyoko again."
XANA nodded beside Jeremie. "And Duo would win."
"No kidding!" Ulrich shouted. "That would end humanity as we know it."
"Let's get off the subject," Jeremie finally broke his silence. "I'll check for any towers, if in the case Duo is attacking us."
I nodded. "I'll be in our dorm. I need to check something."
As I walked away, I thought back on that morning. Lucy Scarborough, the main character, had fainted in Animals of Emotion, so I had to check if Cassidy was going to go through the same thing the next day.
I made it to our trashy bedroom. Thanks to G.I. Jim, our room was a mess. I cleaned our room first then went to my computer to check the story again. It told of fainting spells, weird dreams, sporadic pain, and animal transformations. Getting my fill, I checked my time. It was dinner time. And it was Odd's favorite: Mashed potatoes and gravy.
We got to the cafeteria on time, Odd getting his massive portion, and sat down.
"So you had a Subsonics ticket in your pocket for this afternoon," Ulrich teased.
"And I could've gone to the concert if it weren't for our situation. It started at five, but I didn't feel like going for Cassidy's sake," Odd admitted.
"I've asked my parents if I could stay with you for tonight, Aelita," Yumi told me. "They said yes."
I understood. When something got this bad, sometimes the best thing to be was together with your friends.
