Ten minutes later, Yumi stumbled into math class. "I-I'm sorry, Mrs. Mayer," she panted, trying to catch her breath. "I overslept."

Mrs. Mayer looked pointedly at Yumi, but nodded. "Very well, Ms. Ishiyama. I'll speak to you after class."

Yumi nodded gratefully, and then took her usual seat. William, his overlong hair falling into his grey-blue eyes, leaned over so he could speak to her once the teacher had turned away. "I was starting to get worried," he said in a low voice, flashing a quick smile in her direction.

"Oh yeah?" Yumi asked playfully. "You think that I can't take care of myself?"

"I know you can. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't sick on your birthday."

Yumi felt a little shiver of pleasure. He had remembered! William continued, "Listen, I was thinking… If you don't have any plans with you family tonight, maybe we-"

"Mister Dunbar!" snapped Mrs. Mayer. "As interesting as your love life may be, I believe that this is my class and you are inclined to pay attention in it!"

Yumi blushed furiously. She glanced over at William. He did not seem remotely embarrassed.


The morning classes passed quickly. It seemed to Yumi that she had simply blinked, and suddenly she was sitting down to lunch with her friends.

Jeremie looked up as Yumi set her tray down. "Hi, Yumi." Jeremie had eyes that were the clear, crystal blue of the sky on a cloudless day, and today the usual dark circles under them were lighter. He must have gotten a full night of sleep yesterday, Yumi deduced. His white-blonde hair was cut short, but was so tousled that he looked as though he had just rolled out of bed. His shirt was light blue with some unknown brand's emblem on the front, and contrasted shockingly with his light skin. He wore thin, wire-rimmed glasses and had on plain cargo pants. To anyone else, Jeremie would have looked like an ordinary nerd, but Yumi knew him better than that. He could be very brave, and had a heart of gold, which belonged to Aelita.

"Weweroodismooring?" Odd asked around a mouthful of food. Odd, in contrast to down-to-earth Jeremie, had a unique personality that displayed itself in his fashion sense. His hair was a darker blonde than Jeremie's, and had a violet spot above his forehead. But what really made his hair stand out was the shape, curving back to reach a sharp point. His shirt was white with a homemade sketch of his dog, Kiwi, on the front, drawing attention to his love of the arts. He wore the same blue jeans he had almost every day of his life. Odd's skin was tanner than Jeremie's, though still not very dark, and his lavender eyes shone with the glow of mirth. He was the class clown, but Yumi had memories of his brief serious moments. Most of the time, though, Odd was just looking to get the most fun out of life as was possible.

"You do know that's really gross, right?" Yumi commented, sitting down next to Aelita.

"I think he said 'where were you this morning?'," Ulrich translated. "We were all wondering. Ulrich had overlong brown hair that hung down most of the time into his electrifyingly green eyes. His skin was tanned from all the hours that he spent outside playing sports, which showed themselves in the rippling muscles under his black shirt and blue slacks. Even though he was a year younger than her, he was already a head taller than Yumi.

Yumi glanced over at him when he spoke. Her dark brown eyes met his emerald ones before they were hidden by his hair as Ulrich dropped his gaze.

"My alarm reset itself," Yumi answered, addressing the group at large and pretending not to notice Ulrich's shyness, "And my parents weren't there to wake me up. They're at Hiroki's soccer tournament."

Aelita patted her shoulder sympathetically. Aelita also had an interesting style about her, though it was not as bold as Odd's. Her hair was cut tom-boyishly short, but was a bright bubblegum pink, which reflected her sunny personality. Her eyes were forest green, and seemed like two dark pools in her shell-pink face. Her skintight shirt was red with the word "Princess" on the front. Yumi smothered a giggle. Good choice, Aelita. Aelita's jeans were covered in stylish patches and were just a little too long for her. She and Yumi had been best friends ever since Jeremie had first materialized her, which people found a little strange. One was joyful and bubbly, while the other one was a goth. But regardless of what people thought, the two were inseparable.

"At least you weren't the only one late," Aelita told her. "Right, Ulrich?"

"Really? What were you doing?" Yumi turned her dark gaze on him once more.

"I'm still working the morning shift." Ulrich, who couldn't drive for another year, was already earning money for a new car. He had his eye on a Mustang, but it was way beyond his financial reach. He had been spending every spare moment working as a cashier at Wal-Mart.

Yumi smiled warmly. "How much do you have now?"

While Ulrich rattled off some four-figured number, Jeremie looked over at Yumi, one eyebrow raised. "Something electronic malfunctioned?" he asked in an undertone.

There was a note of suspicion in his voice, and Yumi thought that she knew why. "Don't worry," she told him. "I don't think that this has anything to do with XANA. Unless-" Yumi laughed "-XANA's evil plan was to ruin my sweet sixteen."

Smash! Ulrich had just dropped his glass. He dropped to his knees and started picking up the small shards of glass, his face flaming red. Everyone stared at him for a moment, and then looked away. All of them knew that Ulrich would just be more embarrassed if anyone commented.

"Oh, yeah." Aelita bent over and rummaged through her bag. "We weren't sure what to get you, so we just got you a $50 gift card to that one store. What was it called?" She pretended not to remember. "Hot something or other…?"

"Hot Topic?" Yumi grabbed the card that Aelita held out. "Oh, thank you! You rock!" She gave Aelita a quick hug.

"We all pitched in," Odd said proudly. Yumi privately wondered if Odd was hoping for a hug as well.

She was about to thank the rest of the group as well when she was interrupted by Ulrich swearing loudly under the table. Yumi ducked down. "Ulrich? Are you all..?" She trailed off as Ulrich came into view. He had picked up all the glass, but it seemed that he had cut himself anyways. Yumi reached out and touched his injured hand. Ulrich jerked away as if he had been burned, but Yumi ignored this, turning the hand over so that she could see his palm. The fingers had been sliced, and in the middle of the palm a deep cut ran freely. As she wiped the bloody glass away from it, Ulrich drew a sharp breath and tensed. "You'd better go to the nurse's office," Yumi told him, a note of concern in her voice.

Ulrich nodded and got to his feet. Cradling his injured hand, he stumbled out of the cafeteria, and headed to the infirmary.

Yumi was very subdued for the rest of the meal. After she had thrown the rest of the glass away, Yumi sat and listened to her friends talk. "Don't worry," Aelita said softly to Yumi as she got up to go to her next class. "I'm sure Ulrich will be fine." Yumi sighed. She certainly hoped so.