Everyone was sitting around the couch. When they spotted me their eyes locked onto mine and I looked at Aelita; she'd warned them that I had news for them.
"Hey, how is everyone?" I asked.
"Waiting for your news," Odd responded swiftly as I took my seat next to him.
"My father wants me to go to America for the break," I said simply. I avoided Odd's eyes; I knew he'd be disappointed.
"That sounds great!" Yumi said. "You haven't seen your dad since you came here."
I nodded. "He sent me the plane tickets and money for the airports. The only problem is that I'm kind of terrified to fly alone… I've only flown twice and both times they weren't long and I was with Odd."
"Yeah these are going to be at least 8 hour flights," Ulrich stated. "Where in the states are you going? You said he lives in Michigan, right?"
"I am flying to New York first and then flying to Michigan from there," I clarified.
"What day are you leaving?" Odd asked sullenly.
"The flights are for next Friday," I said and squeezed his hand. "I'm not sure if my phone will work from there but I will stay in contact somehow," I assured him.
"Your phone won't work from there unless we pay extra to get an overseas deal with the company," Jeremie told me. "We can do that, if you want."
I shook my head, "No, I don't think that's necessary… Odd, do you have a computer at your house? My dad says he has one now with a webcam so I can email and video chat with you."
Odd nodded. "You can take my camera with you so you can show me what it's like," he told me. "I'm going to miss you though… I was really hoping you'd be able to come home with me."
"Well now we can spend time with our families," I said, not even convincing myself. "I mean… yeah this will be the first time since I came to Kadic that we'll be apart for more than a day…"
He jumped up and pulled me up with him. "Let's go for a walk together."
I stopped him. "No, wait. I have something else… have you guys talked to Sissi yet today?"
They collectively shook their heads. "Why?" Ulrich asked.
"She's not coming back next year," I said quietly even though we were the only ones in the rec room. Everyone was on their way to dinner, probably.
"What?" Jeremie asked. "Why? Her father is the principal."
"He wants her to spend some time with her mother. She's going to school closer to her mom so she can live with her for a while. Wild, right?" I asked. "I'm going to miss her…"
"I won't be here either, next year…" Yumi said sadly. "I wish this school moved past grade ten."
"You'll be in the city still, so we'll be able to visit you whenever you want," Aelita said with a smile. "It is a bummer though…"
"We can always use Hiroki as a go between, too," Jeremie suggested.
"Yeah, that'll go well. Better leave it to Johnny, he'll actually take the job seriously," Ulrich snorted.
Odd pulled at my arm impatiently. "Okay, bye guys!" I said and left with him. He led me off school grounds to the woods. "Do you want me to go with you to the airport?" he asked me.
I want you to come with me to America, I thought. "Yeah, that would probably settle my nerves a little."
"You know it's just two weeks… but I just have a weird feeling that we should all stay together over break," he said quietly. "I just don't want us all to be apart, I guess."
I nodded, "especially since things are going to be different when we come back… Yumi won't be with us."
"Right. Yumi has been a good friend ever since I came to Kadic in 8th grade," Odd stated. "Its sad we can't all be in the same grade."
"At least I'm in the same grade as you. I'm a year younger than you…" I stated.
"You're just a super genius," he said with a grin. "I'm glad though, classes wouldn't be the same without you."
We kept a slow pace as we continued walking through the forest; it was starting to get nice and warm outside so I pulled my hoodie off and tied it around my waist. We sat down beneath a dry tree and I curled up in his arms and we talked until it got dark out, of course we realized too late that we'd missed dinner.
"This is a really terrible habit that we have," I commented when he pointed out how late it was. "Should we grab something from a vender? I have money for some crepes."
"Sounds good. You sure you want to pay?" he asked as I stood up. I grabbed his hands and pulled him up, bringing him to a kiss.
"I got this," I told him and pulled him with me out of the forest. I knew the city well enough now to know there was a decent crepe vender nearby who liked me. He always piled on the veggies and cheese at no extra charge and never cared much if I was a euro or two short.
I ordered two crepes and he got to work making them for us and Odd and I sat down on a bench nearby to wait. When we got our food we ate and went back to the school; luckily nobody had noticed that we were gone so we didn't get in any trouble.
"Thanks for dinner," Odd said when we reached my floor. He waved as if to say goodnight and I shook my head.
"Oh, no, you don't! you're not going to your room to play video games," I told him with a laugh. "We have some studying to do."
I dragged him to my room and we spent the remainder of the night studying and cuddling until he left to go to his room at around midnight.