I am so, so sorry that it took me such a long time to update! I've been crazy-busy lately, and trust me, I feel horrible for not updating sooner. In other news, rating change! Since I've decided that there will be no swearing in this fanfic, I see no real point to having it rated T. So, now more people can read it 'cause it has a lower rating!

I'm going to shut up now so that you can go ahead and read. Enjoy!

Yumi took off, leaving her friends in the dust. "Ms. Mayer is going to kill me," she thought as she pulled open the door.

Ms. Mayer, in the middle of taking attendance, was on the last names starting with "J". "Jamison, Paula – Oh, I see Ms. Ishiyama has decided to join us."

"Sorry ma'am," Yumi muttered as she slipped into her seat, and wishing that she had arrived a minute earlier. If she had gotten into class before her name was read, she wouldn't have been counted as tardy. Yumi bent down to take her notebook out of her backpack, and then remembered that she had ripped it. "Oh no," she moaned.

"Something you'd like to share with the class?" Ms. Mayer asked tartly.

Yumi's face flushed. "I-It's just that I left my homework out in the courtyard. May I go get it?"

Ms. Mayer raised her eyebrows. "I'm surprised by your boldness. First you're late to class, and then you ask to leave? Ordinarily, I would allow you to, but under the circumstances: F."

"Great, just what I needed," Yumi mumbled. Ms. Mayer continued her lesson, and Yumi spent the period in a thoroughly bad mood.

When the bell rang, Yumi got up from her seat and left the building, returning to where she had left all her books and papers. To her dismay, she found that the wind had blown them all over the courtyard. Groaning, she bent down and began to pick them up for the second time that day.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and saw Ulrich. Wordlessly, he offered her an armful of neatly collected papers. "Oh, thanks," Yumi panted, taking them.

"You should take better care of your stuff," Ulrich told her, the corners of her mouth twitching.

"That's not fun-!" Yumi started to protest, but broke off as William called to her from the entrance to the science building.

"Hurry up, Yumi! We'll be late!"

"You'd better go," Ulrich told her quietly before disappearing into the crowd of 9th graders.

Yumi stared after him for a moment before shaking her head and following William.

Yumi fidgeted in her seat. She just couldn't sit still today. Mrs. Hertz was droning something about the periodic table of elements. "So bored," Yumi sighed to herself.

"Did you say something?" William asked, turning around in his seat.

"No," replied Yumi, checking her watch. 9:22, it read. Yumi remembered that her secret admirer had asked her to meet him at 9:15. She gave a small laugh. Well, not only was she late, but she had no idea where to look for him. "A place to rest", how much more vague could he get?

Fiddling idly with her pencil, Yumi tilted her head to stare out the window. Just outside, she could see the Crossroads and the Administration Building behind it. But something was different about the scene today. Yumi squinted, trying to put her finger on it, when she figured out what was out of the ordinary. What's that little pink thing? And what's it doing on the bench? And then it hit her. "A place to rest," she whispered.

In an instant, Yumi's hand shot up. Mrs. Hertz stared at her for a moment. "Yes, Ms. Ishiyama?" she said imperiously.

"I'm not feeling well, ma'am," Yumi told her.

"Not well?"

"Not at all well," Yumi lied. "I think I need to go to the infirmary."

"Okay… Well, off you go then." Yumi stood up, amazed that it had worked. "Mr. Dunbar, will you please escort Ms. Ishiyama to the infirmary?"

Inwardly, Yumi groaned. William stood up eagerly next to her. Rolling her eyes, Yumi led the way out of the classroom. "What's wrong with you, anyway?" William asked outside. "You seemed fine this morning."

"Umm… Actually, I'm not really sick," Yumi confessed.

"Oh. So you just wanted to get out of class, didn't you?" said William, an expression of dawning comprehension. "Well, it's lucky that I came with you. I have something… just a second…" He un-slung his backpack and started rummaging through it. Yumi waited until she was sure that William couldn't see her… then turned and ran in the opposite direction. She stopped behind the Administration Building and waited. "Yumi…?" came William's confused voice. "Yumi? Yumi!"

Yumi stayed out of sight for a few more minutes just to make sure that he was gone. When she was sure that she was alone, Yumi abandoned her hiding place. She felt a twinge of guilt for deserting William like that, but she had needed to shake him off to find the flower. Besides, he got kind of annoying sometimes.

Shaking her ebony hair out of her eyes, Yumi made her way over to the bench. Sure enough, there was the flower. This one was a bright tulip with white veins spider-webbing through the bubblegum pink flesh. The corners of Yumi's mouth twitched as she was reminded of the color of Aelita's hair.

Yumi removed the note and opened it. A ring, almost identical to the first one, fell out. Yumi placed it on her finger and found that some of the grooves matched up with those of the silver band from this morning. A puzzle ring, Yumi deduced, fitting the new band into the original. Glancing at the note, Yumi quickly read:

Everyday

The morning goes on. And

You're so close

But yet so

Faraway.

And so, today,

I give a gift.

The flower of

Tierce.

At the

Highest point,

Look for me at noon.

Yumi stared at the note. Well, apparently whoever this person was, he was planning on continuing. Something about the flower choice rang a bell, though. A tulip… Like a tulip, Yumi recalled from last Valentine's Day. It was part of a poem that she had heard read once before that had been written for her. So, did that mean that her secret admirer could be…Ulrich?

Just as Yumi reached this conclusion, she felt a drop of wet against her cheek. She brushed it away only to have another land on top of her head. Unnoticed by her, a light rain had begun to fall. "Oh, great!" Yumi shielded her head with her backpack as a light drizzle set in.

So, there you have it. Not the greatest, kinda short, but oh well. I made two references to episodes, one to "The Secret" and one to "St. Valentine's Day". Did you catch them? (If not, you didn't really miss much, trust me.) The next chapter will be coming soon. (Really!) Anyway, I'm taking off. Until next time,

Railynn